From time to time I get it wrong. An instance of this most likely took place this past Sunday when I boldly declared that Disneyland is better than Disney World. Some of the comments I received both on Facebook and in person made me realize that while I might have liked Disneyland better as a fourth grader, the park really doesn’t match up to what Disney World offers. Blame it on grandiose memories over two decades old.

Too bad it wasn’t my first time getting something wrong in my blog. After four plus years of writing Don’t Blink, I can admit that I have not always been perfect. Tonight I want to go back through the archives and pull the five posts where I especially messed up. As you will see, every now and then I actually am capable of blinking.

(these five posts are not ranked but rather organized in chronological order):

JACKED 4 JACK3D (June 1, 2011) – For probably a six-month period I took the only workout supplement I have ever used. Called Jack3d, it was a caffeine-powered drink mix infused with creatine. About 30 minutes before my workout I would prepare a drink and let my body and mind race. It gave me a major boost and I praised the supplement in my blog post. However, as time went on I started to question whether it was healthy to subject my body to Jack3d on a daily basis. The way the mixture made me feel and perform was definitely not natural. I stopped taking the supplement and it has since been banned by the FDA. Four years ago I would have recommended it, today I would not.

Vine (May 14, 2013) – I pretty much dubbed Vine the future of the social media kingdom when it first started to pick up major steam in early 2013. In fact, I even had the audacity to tell Snapchat to move out of the way and make room. To make matters worse, a month later I even penned a follow up post in which I told readers how they needed to use Vine to diversify their social media content. Just days after that post, Instagram introduced its video feature. Although it didn’t completely kill Vine, Instagram’s video response caused the six second looping video service to suffer a major fall from grace. No longer was Vine a major player in the social media landscape, instead relegated to a tool that can be used every now and then in conjunction with Twitter.

A screen capture from my first ever Vine I took.

Praying for Peace in Sochi (February 5, 2014) – Although I crossed my fingers for a smooth two and a half weeks, I was convinced that something terrible would scar the 2014 Winter Olympics. With so many problems plaguing Sochi prior to the games and all the threats that seemed to keep pouring in, I noted in my post that I had “a very uneasy feeling in my stomach.” However, I was more than happy to be completely wrong as the Sochi Games went off without a hitch.

Where All the Restaurants Taste the Same (August 16, 2014) – Last summer I proclaimed my belief that you could pretty much randomly choose any Mexican restaurant in your local town to eat at because they all taste the same. I reasoned that enchiladas, beans, rice, and chips taste very similar at Mexican Restaurant #1 as they do at Mexican Restaurant #2. I will admit though that over the past several months my thinking has shifted a little bit. I paid a visit to a restaurant where we were the only non-Mexicans there, chowed down at a place that served eggs, and dined at a joint that I felt didn’t even meet the standards of the million family Mexican restaurants I ate at before. So in conclusion, no, I don’t think all Mexican restaurants are as equal and identical as I thought before.

This was a plate of Mexican food that I ate in Albuquerque at a restaurant called Sadie’s.

Welcome Back to Relevancy, McDonalds (February 3, 2015) – When McDonald’s introduced its “Pay With Lovin’” campaign during this year’s Super Bowl, I thought the struggling restaurant had achieved its breakthrough. Combined with the other changes the chain was making, I believed that the slump was finally over. But unfortunately the “Pay With Lovin’” campaign never took off like I thought it would. I really believed that it would make a much bigger dent in pop culture and on social media than what it actually did. As updated sales numbers continue to come out, McDonald’s is still declining. Another wrong prediction by me!

I thought recent changes would bolster McDonald’s. Not quite so.

**Honorable Mention: My Vendetta Against Cupcakes (January 21, 2015) – I practically crucified cupcakes at the beginning of this year. I called them boring, disappointing, and unsatisfying. I want to rescind some of my scorn. As I have given cupcakes a second chance and tried some of the fresh creations from the bakery at a local grocery store, I am starting to turn around a little. This past weekend we celebrated the birthday of Sidney’s niece with cupcakes and they tasted lovely. I want to admit to everyone that I was a little too hard on cupcakes. That doesn’t mean I like the chicken wing and Bud Light variety, however.

My attitude has changed regarding cupcakes but that doesn’t mean I like the Bud Light and chicken wing variety.

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When you have written over 800 posts, you can be wrong every now and then. I mean a 99.25% correct rate isn’t bad, right? Okay, I will stop with the jokes. This post was meant to illustrate that I make dumb predictions and statements every now and then. It is true and the above examples prove it. I will try to do better and I thank you for your continued readership throughout my blunders. Don’t Blink.