Can I get a doctor?

   I know it may seem I beat up on Toys "R" Us a bit too much, but when you overwhelm your competition to become the bully of the industry, you can expect some deficiencies to emerge.

  Let's take my most recent visit as I attempted to purchase a doctor's kit for my daughter (who had days earlier been strutting around with a make-believe thermometer declaring, "I'm a doctor").

  Mind you our nearest T"R"U establishment includes a Babies "R" Us, so the place is massive, I figured I'd need help locating the item.

  Though glad I grabbed a clerk to help locate the doctor's kit, I was disappointed (as was he) that we couldn't locate the item despite being instructed by someone {allegedly} more versed in the store's merchandising that it was located in the Imaginarium section.

   [Imaginarium used to be a great store that I used to go into before I even knew I was going to be a father: a vast array of items that made science more accessible to young minds {and dimmer one's such as mine}. Unfortunately the chain struggled and was apparently cannibalized in 1997 after a bankruptcy filing.]

   So the clerk and I searched through Project Runway designer sets; Barbie and her plethora of fashion trend accouterment; Dream Dazzlers chic salon stylist sets; Bratz dolls and their accouterment; Disney Princess dolls and their accouterment; LIV fashion dolls and their accouterment ... you get the picture, and could not find anything approaching a doctor's kit.

   I thanked him for 'helping' and continued to hunt for another product. Minutes later the clerk reappeared with another lead which proved fruitful: a few Fisher Price Doctor's kits located on the very back wall of the store!

  Thrilled to find exactly what I wanted, I still could not help but think — as I trudged past aisle after aisle of over-priced princess and World Wide Wrestling-themed junk — that it should be no surprise the as a nation we are getting our collective asses kicked by the rest of the globe.

  I guess most of the doctors' kits are in India.

Let's get cereal for a moment

   Taking another swipe at childrens' obesity, General Mills announced plans today to drastically reduce the amount of sugar in Lucky Charms, Trix and Cocoa Puffs.

   The cereal pusher appears to be bowing (thankfully) to nutritional value concerns from consumers, regulators and health groups.

   Sugar levels in Cocoa Puffs will be reduced by a quarter — from 18 to 11 grams per serving.

   My favorite cereal for myself and my daughter — Cheerios — already has only 1 gram of sugar a serving and was not a product included in the overhaul.

    General Mills said the healthier, slimmed-down products will begin appearing in 2010.

   The Minneapolis-based company follows the health-affirming move by Kellogg's who last year cut up to 3 grams of sugar from such cereals as Froot Loops, Apple Jacks and Corn Pops. Kellogg also boosted fiber content to some of its products.

   Post Foods has also sucked as much as 20 percent of the sugar from Cocoa Pebbles and Fruity Pebbles while increasing vitamin content.

   Now if we can separate the little ones from video games and get them off the couch we may start to see some wight come off as well.