Today I have four flavors to add to my Pringles ratings. These are four flavors that I have not seen in stores yet, they were shipped to me straight from Proctor & Gamble.* Three of the four are from a series call Family Faves. I believe the Family Faves series recently hit the market, so look for them in store near you.

Here are my thoughts on the new flavors. You can find my complete Pringles rankings at the Pringles page on my blog.

Taco Night (Family Faves) Grade: A-

I’m a big fan of Mexican food, especially tacos. I like authentic Mexican food and the Americanized version of Mexican food. This Pringles flavor smells and tastes like the taco seasoning contained in Ortega or El Paso taco kits.

If you’re eating crisps alone this is a great flavor. It can stand on its own two proverbial feet. I envision a Sunday afternoon in the near future that involves watching a football game, eating Taco Night Pringles, and drinking a cold beverage.

This is a welcome addition to the Pringles line-up, superior to the Mexican Layered Dip Restaurant Craver flavor that was released a year or two ago.

Cheddar BBQ (Family Faves) B+

I really like barbecue sauce when it is slathered on pork or beef or chicken. On potatoes, not so much. This flavor adds cheddar cheese to mix, however, which really helps. The cheddar serves as an intermediary that allows the crisp and sauce to coexist.

With each crisp I tasted I tried to determine if the cheddar or the BBQ sauce dominated the flavor. While the scent of BBQ sauce prevails, I think the cheddar flavor makes a stronger impression on the palette.

This is an upgrade over the regular BBQ flavor. It makes a nice companion crisp for sandwiches and other picnic style foods.

White Cheddar Pop (Family Faves) B+

When I saw popcorn depicted on this can I felt some reservations about trying it. I am not a fan of popcorn. I did my best to put aside me bias and give it a fair chance.

As I went through my tasting and evaluation ritual my opinion of this flavor was initially slightly positive. No popcorn flavor exists. Instead it has a very smooth white cheddar taste, with slight hints of butter that I might be imagining.

By the time I started writing this post my opinion of this flavor had improved. I really like its subtlety. While the Taco Night flavor hits like a heavyweight right hook, this flavor is more like the left jab of a welterweight. I see real potential for this crisp as a stand-alone flavor or as a companion crisp.

Hot & Spicy Wonton C-

This is the most unique Pringles flavor I have sampled. The can has “Limited time Only!” written on it. At first taste I noticed it really reminded me of wanton soup. The flavor has a strong chicken broth element with just a hint of spiciness.

Since my appreciation for wanton is limited (I do like it, just in moderation), I would not purchase this flavor often. It is a flavor unlike any other I have experienced in a chip or crisp.  I suppose it would compliment Asian-themed foods well, since it really does taste like wanton soup. That being said, I’ve never had potato-based chips or crisps with any type of Asian food before.

*For the sake of full disclosure: The Pringles I reviewed in this post were supplied by Proctor & Gamble at no cost to me. P&G did not charge me for the products or the shipping.

I’m not a fan of fireworks. It is difficult to enjoy the show when all I see is money exploding in the sky. As I watch I try to guess how much each burst of color cost. And it quickly becomes depressing.

Fireworks in Altoona.

That being said, I enjoy going to baseball games that feature a postgame fireworks show. Why? Because the vast majority of the crowd stays to watch the pyrotechnics and that results in light traffic as I leave the ballpark.

Fourth Fest in State College.

Outdoor Christmas decorations (to be politically correct maybe I should say winter holiday decorations) do not bother me unless they are grossly in excess. As a kid I found Christmas lights more enticing than fireworks.

A December late afternoon in State College.

I thought about this on Monday as I walked home from campus. The afternoon was preparing to change into evening, the temperature was cold (I normally walk home in the dark, but my stats class wrapped up early that day, so a bit of light remained). During the walk I decided that my preference for Christmas lights over fireworks can be traced to these reasons:

Season. Christmas lights signify the presence of the cold season holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Parties, presents, and all sorts of fun. I do not associate fireworks with a particular holiday. Yes, they are common on the 4th of July, but I’ve seen more non-4th of July fireworks shows than 4th of July fireworks shows. Fireworks are associated loosely with the summer, but it is a weak association because I frequently went entire summers without seeing fireworks.

Duration. Watching fireworks feels like eating with chopsticks to me. Lots of effort for little payoff. The dramatic sights are elusive. A particularly nice explosion is there and gone, leaving a void. You have no idea what is coming up next. Christmas lights are consistent. When it is dark they are lit. They don’t disappear for extended periods of time, making you wonder if the show is over. You can savor them, see what they have to offer, then move on.

Cost. Christmas lights have a cost, and when coupled with the electricity bill I’m sure it is more than pocket change. But the cost of a humble assortment of lights pales in comparison to a fireworks show.

Noise. I’m not a fan of loud noises. Christmas lights tend to be quieter than fireworks.

Christmas lights in State College.

So if you host an ultimate cage fight in your mind which emerges victorious, Christmas lights or fireworks?

In the past week my computer really slowed down. Not to the point of being worthless, just to the point of being aggravating. It would take about five seconds for my home page to load (five seconds in computer time is three weeks in real time) and I noticed a similar lag in most page loads.

My computer was walking, not running.

Tonight I did a bit of research to see what was causing the problem. After chasing a few dead ends I found a site that mentioned detecting and removing registry errors in Windows. I decided to pursue that angle.

A little digging revealed that CCleaner is the most reputable and effective (and free) piece of software for the task. So I downloaded the program and ran the detection process in about three minutes. It found several problems and I gave it permission to deal with them. That process took another minute or so.

I closed CCleaner and opened a browser. Boom. Instant page load. My computer is back to the speed of its youth (or at least very, very close to it). And that makes me very happy.

In my research I read various accounts of frequent registry cleaning inducing problems, so I don’t plan to do it often. But if things slow down I’ll run the detector to see what CCleaner has to say.

**Edit: 12/12/09**

Within  a few hours the slow pace returned. I am beginning to suspect Firefox is the issue. IE and Chrome run much faster. Hmmmmm. I need to look into this further.