Well, another strange coincidence happened regarding one of the stories in this edition of The Pulse.

I sat in Santa Fe having lunch one day and was talking to Chig about doing a story on his customer and my possible cousin Terry Mayo, who studies paranormal activity. In the midst of this conversation, up walks Mayo.

“Speak of the devil,” Chig said.

Now that’s not the weird part. Just prior to Mayo’s leaving for the restaurant, he sent me an e-mail regarding my interest in doing a story on S.P.I.R.I.T.

It must have been in the stars. Or maybe it’s a Mayo thing. There must be something to his claims of being psychic, though.

Get out of my head Professor Charles Xavier!

Although we didn’t encounter any ghosts (that I was aware of) when we went hunting, I know there is a spiritual realm and some are more in tune with that than others.

Ghosts supposedly stir more often in cold weather, but maybe they’ll get spring fever like so many of us.

I hope everyone has a great spring break, and if anything too crazy and noteworthy happens, remember to send your stories to The Pulse.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to have many travelling adventures for a while, I need to hold down the fort here.

That doesn’t mean I can’t travel with everyone’s favorite Food Network celebrity, Rachel Ray, to dine in cities across the country as I watch “$40 a Day.” The show makes my mouth water as she eats fresh seafood on the banks of the Atlantic one episode and takes a break from skiing with some chili the next.

The program, as its name suggests, gives Ray a $40 budget every day to find the best values in gourmet food. Now if I had the time and money, I would certainly take her up on some of the suggestions. However, $40 a day is quite steep for an entrepreneurial newspaper publisher, not to mention students and the unemployed.

So I have outlined a plan which allows one to eat (not necessarily like a king, but eat) for $40 per week.

For starters, buy at least five packs of Ramen noodles. These can be found for 10 cents each sometimes. And all you have to add is water, not outrageously pricey ingredients like butter. Additionally, these cheap bundles of noodly heaven come in a variety of exotic flavors like shrimp.

The second step in the $40 a week plan is eggs. A dozen eggs are almost always under $1, and that should last most people one week. Unless of course you’re Hulk Hogan, I hear he eats 24 eggs each day, but I also recall a time he drank gasoline, so he might not be the one for dietary advice.

Peanut butter is also essential for an economical diet. Although the price of peanut butter has risen over the past few years, you can still find a jar for $1.50. Of course you must now purchase bread and jelly or honey, or both, splurge, we’re still well under budget.

This brings us to my favorite aisle in the grocery store: the cereal section. Pirates of the Caribbean is available in cereal form, and with both chocolate and marshmallow pieces it is one of the most significant contributions to cereal in the past 50 years. However, at around $4 a box it is quite impractical. I suggest generic cornflakes, which cost $1.25 for a similarly sized box. While milk is always above $3 a gallon, I see it as necessary to cereal. Plus, you have to have some calcium.

Keep in mind bananas can go on both cereal and peanut butter sandwiches, but wait until they’re 49 cents a pound or so.

Buy some cheese for grilled cheese sandwiches, some frozen pizzas (spotted at 59 cents apiece last week) and maybe a can of soup.

With the remainder of your cash, I suggest visiting Slick Pig on Tuesdays or Whitt’s Barbecue on Wednesdays. For help with making up your mind on which one, see page 9.

Peace

Bracken Mayo,

Editor in Chief