It was a tough battle for the My One Favorite Thing award this week, with some noteworthy candidates. Certainly, jilted bachelorette Melissa Rycroft, who was forced to undergo a breakup on national TV a  mere six weeks after being proposed to on national TV (live by the reality show sword, die by the sword, I guess) was a top runner-up.

You see, Miss Rycroft was a cast member of the latest season of The Bachelor which just ended this past week, and the ex-Dallas Cowboys cheerleader deserved a much better fate. She's beautiful, fit, great with kids, sweet, sensitive, and apparently totally unlucky in love.

You can just tell that she totally lacks confidence, and my guess is that guys keep getting annoyed by her insecurities and simultaneously taking advantage of them. Right after being dumped on the Bachelor postscript show, she sincerely wondered what was so wrong with her that she always ended up as the jiltee. She swore she was going to be more skeptical from now on in matters of the heart. Let's hope it ain't so! (I can't believe I'm discussing this snark-free!)

Melissa was great, but so was this week's Daily Show clip where Jon Stewart took CNBC to task for their atrocious, myopic coverage of the current economic crisis.

For me, CNBC carries this kind of weird magnetic pull. It's bad enough I have to watch the market go down every day; do I also have to watch the carnage be commented upon by people who are frighteningly bullish, unabashedly pro-business, and completely unwilling to consider alternative viewpoints? I am always totally astounded by the lack of insight and reflection by most of the network's inane talking (or more accurately, 'rabidly barking') heads, yet I cannot for the life of me get myself to turn off the TV or change the channel. It's like I watch merely so I can feel my blood pressure rise.

I even happen to enjoy watching the worst of the worst in terms of wrong-headed, one-note ideologues - Larry Kudlow. I find him utterly fascinating, despite (or maybe because of) the fact he has yet to admit how wrongly bullish he was all last year or how the free market which he loves so dearly played at least a part in our current crisis.

In any case, Jon Stewart does a pretty good job skewering CNBC in the video below. Oh sure the network is a rich, almost too-easy target, and some of the clips used don't show the full context of the remarks, but trust me when I say the video could have been 100x more harsh and still have been fair and accurate.

But the winner of this week's MOFT award goes to Blue Diamond, for their lineup of 'Bold' flavored almonds. These nuts pack quite the wallop. I've tried three different flavors so far - Lime 'n Chili, Salt 'n Vinegar, and Maui Onion & Garlic - and they are all excellent. My favorite is the onion and garlic (salt 'n vinegar is a close second), though I don't recommend eating them and then breathing on anyone for several hours.

Plus, bonus: As far as snacks go, almonds are pretty darn good for you!