Power Ranking Lenny and Larry cookie flavors

A few months ago I stumbled across Lenny and larrys complete cookies. They have become popular the past couple years and the idea of a vegan, all natural, healthy cookie intrigued me. These are massive sized cookies that are billed as healthy, they can't possibly taste any good can they? Wrong! these are delicious and in fact I havent even bothered having another type of cookie since my first encounter with Lenny and Larry and over the past four months have probably had 3-4 of these things a week. Lenny and Larry boast eleven different flavored cookies and like with anything some stand out as much better than others, so I decided to rank all their flavors from gross to most delicious. Here we go

11. Coconut Chocolate Chip: Honesty time, I have not tried this flavor. There's no point. There are two flavors in this world I find completely repulsive: Pineapple and Coconut. Even if I would have tried this flavor there is no doubt it would have been dead last and I wouldn't have been able to finish it. Moving on.

10. White Chocolate Macadamia: We move on from the only flavor I didn't bother to try to the only flavor where I couldn't finish a whole cookie. I have had white chocolate macadamia cookies before that I really liked so I had high hopes but they were shattered. What I got was a bland and pretty gross base cookie flavor with way too many macadamia nuts and not nearly enough white chocolate pieces. The disproportion made me stop trying to eat this one after about half a cookie. This is the only flavor I'll never have again.

9. Lemon Poppy Seed: If this was simply a lemon flavor it may have bumped up a couple slots but the inclusion of poppy seeds added a texture that I didn't find all that appealing. This tiny seeds keep getting stuck in your teeth and make it less enjoyable to eat the cookie. The lemon flavor itself was fine enough, though a little too muted for my taste, I would have preferred it a little stronger. Still a flavor I wouldnt go out of my way to eat again, but I wouldnt be opposed to the though either.

8. Birthday Cake: I quite enjoy birthday cake flavored things so again had high expectations that were somewhat let down. The confetti adds a nice texture that I really enjoyed but the cake flavor starts to vaguely remind you of those days as a toddler eating playodh after awhile. Still an enjoyable enough flavor.

7. Oatmeal Raisin: I am not the biggest fan of oatmel raisin cookies so this one was up against the wall from the start but in the end was probably the best oatmeal raisin cookie I have ever had, though I haven't had many. The base flavor of the cookie was really good and the proportion of oats and raisins was perfect and added nice texture and flavor.

6. Chocolate Chip: The classic cookie flavor that ranks way lower than I would have thought going in. This is the one that suffered from being a healthy cookie. Unlike the other flavors I have had a ton of different chocolate chip cookies in my lifetime and this version just wasnt up to par with the others. This is the only flavor where I could really tell i was eating a healthy cookie with different ingredients. Still not a bad flavor.

5. Pumpkin: Now we're getting to the really good stuff. The first couple times I had this flavor I thought it was pretty decent, but probably would have ranked it seventh on this list. Then one time I decided to microwave it for ten seconds, and it made this flavor so much better. Warm is the way to go for this one as it really brings out the spices and makes the flavor explode. Lenny and Larry did a good job at nailing this classic fall flavor.

4. Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl: This flavor combines two flavors that will be seen later in this list (spoiler alert.) You would think combining two of my three favorite flavors into flavor would be even better combined right? Thats what I was expecting too but sadly after trying it these flavor are better separate. Its still a really good cookie though, as evidenced by its selection at number four.

3. Peanut Butter: Now we are getting to the absolute heavenly flavors. This is another flavor that shines when microwaved for a few second. The peanut butter flavor is so much more authentic than any other peanut butter cookie I've ever had, and the baked in peanuts into the cookie make this flavor a slam dunk top three.

2. Double Chocolate: Every flavor up until this point was super easy to rank. But then I got to the top two and I honestly couldnt decide which one was number one and which one was number two. Honestly consisder this 1A, because I have a hard time saying this incredible flavor isnt the best. I am usually not a huge fan of chocolate cookies but the rich moist flavor in this one is so good. Bonus points for being a great pairing with mountain dew.

1. Snickerdoodle: There are few things better in life to me than a good snickerdoodle cookie, and this is the best one Ive ever had. First of all, the amount of cinnamon caked on top of this thing is obscene. I can never eat this one without my hands being covered in cinnamon by the end. The texture and doughy taste is perfect for a cookie of this flavor. This flavor also pairs perfectly with an Orange Mountain dew kickstart. With this one (and Double Chocolate) Lenny and Larry have created cookie perfection. 

Mom House Count

Krampus: 5

Exorcist: 4
H2: 5
TCM: 4
Tomb: 5
Ghost: 3
AHS: 1
Lunatics: 2
Walking Dead: 1

Bill and Ted: 9

Final HHN House Rankings

HHN is almost over once again, as my 7th years attending the event draws to a close. Every year my favorite houses at the beginning of the season change over time and vice versa, but by this point, after 23 nights, I finally have a solid ranking of how each house holds up this year. Here is my final house rankings for the year, along with where that house ranked on my first rankings after 3 nights and at my midpoint rankings after 15 nights.

1. Ghost Town (Opening Rank: 7, Midpoint Rank: 5)
Every year there is one house that I'm feel meh about at first and it slowly grows on me to the point where I love it. This year that house was Ghost Town. The tone and beautiful scenes in this house were top notch. The facade with the gallows leading into the first scene sets the stage perfectly, and the wide open scene in the city is one of the more impressive scenes HHN has ever done. A House I will miss for sure.

2. Tomb of the Ancients (Opening Rank: 2, Midpoint Rank: 1)
A consistently strong house, TOTA is one of three houses to spend time in my top slot this year, but finishes at number two. At then end of the day there a little too much dead space to stick at number once, but still a fantastic house.

3. The Exorcist (Opening Rank: 3, Midpoint Rank: 3)
Continuing to hold steady at number three is the exorcist. The buildup and tension in this house is top notch. One thing HHN houses do better than any other haunted houses is tell a story, but this house stands out in that aspect even among other HHN houses. No other house based off a movie I can remember besides Maybe "Halloween" two years ago tells the full story of the movie better than this one.

4. Halloween Two (Opening Rank: 4, Midpoint Rank: 2)
After a stint in the top two, this house settles back down at the number four slot it started in. The Michal Myers masks, the Halloween music, and some truly great scenes put this in the top two for awhile, but the cracks started to show towards the end. Fact is that while the first few and last few scenes are great, the middle is so generically themed that its hard to put this house higher than four.

5. American Horror Story (Opening Rank: 5, Midpoint Rank: 7)
The Freak Show section of this house is the whole reason this house gets a top five spot. I would have loved an entire house based just on Freak Show. The other two parts are solid, but Freakshow steals the show.

6. Krampus (Opening Rank: 6, Midpoint Rank: 6)
Another house holding steady near the middle. Some real strong scenes, including maybe my second favorite of the entire event with the killer gingerbread man, but simply not scary, no costume variety, and some heavy pacing issues. The house just kind of.....ends. it weird, I cant remember any other house ever at HHN ending so suddenly and strangely. Still a lot to like though.

7. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Opening Rank: 1, Midpoint Rank: 4)
A house that started off incredible and fell like a rock, but still a very good house overall, just showed it flaws causing it to drop. I still adore the opening scene with the skulls and bizarre sights, and the smell in the house it gross yet awesome at the same time. However, this is the shortest house this year, which really ended up hurting, and like Halloween two, after repeated run throughs  you started to notice how generically themed some of the rooms are.

8. The Walking Dead (Opening Rank: 9, Midpoint Rank: 8)
This is the second best Walking Dead house out of the five, and it still ends up as the second worst of the year which is a testament to how strong the house lineup is this year, and also a testament to how terrible some of the Walking Dead houses have been. Not much else to say, its a Walking Dead House, been there, done that.

9. Lunatics Playground (Opening Rank: 8, Midpoint Rank: 9)
The 5th 3-D house at HHN since 2010 and by far the worst. I didnt think there could be a worse 3-D house than Afterlife in 2013 but this one somehow managed.

My only real gripe with HHN this year is that literally everything involving Chance was awful. And I mean awful. Her house was awful. Her scarezone was awful. Her parkwide dialogue over the speakers is awful, and annoying as hell. Her merchandise was awful, it looks like shes throwing up the HHN logo.

It was still a great event though, as always. Not my favorite year, but still a strong installment. Soon the countdown to HHN 27 will begin.

Official HHN 26 House Rankings

I have had such a hard time ranking the houses this year. 1-7 are all fantastic houses and all are so close to being in the top three. Because of just how close they are, the rankings tend to change throughout the event and that will likely hold true this year as well. Last year I didnt officially decide that Freddy Vs Jason was my favorite house until the last weekend. But as of today here is where it all stands

1. Texas Chainsaw Massacre
2. Tomb of the Ancients
3. The Exorcist
4. Halloween 2
5. American Horror Story
6. Krampus
7. Ghost Town
8. Walking Dead
9. Lunatics Playground

My Ranking of all 7 Bill and Ted years after this years show would be as follows

1. 2014
2. 2011
3. 2015
4. 2013
5. 2016
6. 2010
7. 2012

After a Brutal July, a timid August

Through the end of July Orlando was experiencing its hottest summer ever. July 2016 in Orlando was the second hottest month in the history of Orlando (Only August 1903 was hotter.) After that brutality we needed a mild August and thankfully for the most part we got it. Despite that, through August 31st the Summer 0f 2016 remains the hottest ever showing how insanely hot it was before August. Lets delve into August just a bit more:

For starters, there was 24 90 degree days this August, this was just one off the average of 25.
There was four days where the temps made it to at least 95 degrees, two below the average of six.
The coldest temperature recorded in August was 71 degrees. This was the coldest recorded August temperature since 2008.
Only eleven days in August reached a heat index of 100 degrees or higher. Last year had 24.

Here are our 90 degree days through August the past few years

90 Degree Days Through August
2010: 90
2011: 100
2012: 81
2013: 63
2014: 90
2015: 92
2016: 97
Average: 88

And our 100 degree heat index days through August

100 Degree Heat Index
2010: 48   
2011: 36   
2012: 11
2013: 9     
2014: 36    
2015: 59    
2016: 47    

As you can see our mild August allowed last years days with triple digit heat index surge way ahead of this year. But I still yearn for the super mild summers of 2012 and 2013. 

Looking forward to September our average 90 degree days go down from 25 to 18. The dew points go down, the sun angles get low and fall sets in. Cant wait.

How hot was July/How hot has summer been overall

July 2016 Orlando was one for the record books. Its never good when a place that already has brutally hot and humid weather even in a normal July has their hottest July ever but thats what we have dealt with the past thirty one days. Just how hot was it? Lets dive into the numbers

first of all, for the first time in the history of Orlando weather keeping (122 years!!!!) all 31 days in July got to at least 90 degrees. That is incredibly remarkable. In fact no July since 1988 before this one had more than 27 ninety degree days in July. July 31st marked the 40th consecutive 90 degree day in Orlando, which is still a couple weeks shy of the all time record of 55 consecutive ninety degree days, but with no end in sight if I were a betting man I would be that we will get there.

July also saw 10 days make it to at least 95 degrees, the average over the past 122 years is 3.

It hasnt just been the middle of the days that were super hot, the morning were much hotter than normal as well. The temperature fell below 75 degrees just two days in July, compared to the average of 11.

Luckily one area where this July was much milder than last July has been the average humidity. The average dew point this July was 73, which is right in line with the average. Last years average dew point in July was a downright unbearable 75 (two degrees may seem marginal but when we are talking dew points it makes a huge difference.) Needless to say last years July was one of the most humid ever so it was good to at least go back to normal in that respect.

Two things to look at to compare this summer to very recent summers. Here is the total number of 90 degree days for the year through July 31st.

2010: 69
2011: 74
2012: 59
2013: 36
2014: 60
2015: 67
2016: 73
Average: 63

Of course Floridians know actual temperature doesn't really tell you much in the summer. Much more important is the heat index which gives you a better idea of the heat/humidity combo. A 95 degree day with a 65 dew point feels much more comfortable and has a lower heat index than an 88 degree day with a 75 dew point.  Here is the amount of days through July 31st where the heat index made it to at least 100 degrees

2010: 31
2011: 17
2012: 7
2013: 2
2014: 15
2015: 35
2016: 36

One of the main components that  has played a part in ensuring such a hot July was the rain, or complete lack thereof. There was rainfall in an astoundingly low 14 of 31 days in July (the average is 22.) Without rain to cool things off it allows temps to soar in the middle of the day and makes for a much slower cool down after sunset and therefore hotter nights and mornings as well. In terms of average temperature and dew point August is essentially the exact same as July. The differences between the two months is August has shorter daylight hours and a little bit less rain (19 days on average.) On average the hottest day of the year in Orlando is August 3rd, which means starting on August 4th the average temperature starts going down, albeit very slowly for about 1.5 months, but at least cooler days are getting closer!

Top 100 Songs of All Time #80-66

80. I Don't Want to be -Gavin Degraw
79. Nine in the Afternoon-Panic! at the Disco
78. Only One-Yellowcard
77. Boston-Augustana
76. Moneytalks-AC/DC
75. 1985-Bowling for Soup
74. Burnout-Green Day
73. Thunder-Boys Like Girls
72. Addicted-Simple Plan
71. 50 Ways to Say Goodbye-Train
70. Vanilla Twilight-Owl City
69. Shake it-Metrostation
68. Pulling Teeth
67. Welcome to the Black Parade-My Chemical Romance
66. Jesus of Suburbia-Green Day