1. I have noticed that the
cost of a regular haircut at most of the chain stores (Supercuts,
Great Clips, Procuts, etc) is in the neighborhood of $23 and up. I
had to figure this out. So since 2010, I have used my own pair of
clippers to buzz my head weekly. I’m just not a fan of my own hair.
Anyway, in the last 14 years, I have bought 2 sets of clippers, both
from Walmart, and likely totaling $45. Now, how much money have I saved if the average person gets a haircut every 6-12 weeks, maybe 4-8 times per year? At $23 a pop if you get a haircut every 12 weeks
in the last 14 years you’d have spent nearly $1,400. Every 6 weeks?
It’s nearly $2,800. That’s a lot of cash to save. Now I’m not
saying everyone should buzz their own hair like me, but hey at least
my odds of screwing it up are slim, plus that extra money would come
in handy.
2. It’s amazing how weird it
is for me to see that the Tupperware company has filed for
bankruptcy. Their food storage products have been a huge part of my
life all throughout growing up. Honestly, I think the quality of the
product might have been their undoing. Think about it. Their name is
literally synonymous with the product they made. The product was of
such high quality that they last seemingly forever unless you drive
over it like Kip in Napoleon Dynamite. So in the end the consumer
ended up buying fewer Tupperware products because they lasted so
long. I don’t know if this bankruptcy spells the final end for
Tupperware, hopefully not, but their products will still be in use
long after they’re gone.
3. I know they are just doing
their job, but sometimes it gets a bit obnoxious how quickly
salespeople run up to you when you walk into a store. I went to get a
new wireless mouse for my laptop at Staples and you would have
thought I was some kind of celebrity with how fast the person nearest
to me came flying over. They asked if I was looking at computer
accessories and I tried to be as polite as I could when I said ‘No,
I’m just looking around.’ They left me alone after that but I bet
if I had glanced for more than a second in their direction they’d
have been running like a dog wanting a treat.
4. Boy summer decided to get
out of here fast in New England. The last week before fall started
was filled with tons of rain wind and chilly temperatures. Fall
is my favorite season but I do like to ease into the change. This was
like an anvil on the head. We ended up getting somewhere between 6-9”
of rain over 3 days. Of course, you do know soon is the point in the
year where you think summer is dead but like Michael Myers, it will
rise again and, uh, strangle you with warmth, and stab you with
sunshine.
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| Summer's final scare, |
5. I am blessed that as I get
into my late 40s my eyesight is still really good. That being
said I do have a tendency to misread things, at least initially when
I look at something quickly. The latest addition of this had to do
with an energy drink. While in Market Basket I was looking at energy
drinks and I saw a new flavor of the Celsius drinks. The flavor is
Astro Vibe and I guess it’s a sort of raspberry. When I first saw
the can I thought it said it was Astro Glide. That is definitely not
an energy drink and is a far different product. I don’t recommend
trying to drink Astro Glide if you had any desire.
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| It's Astro VIBE |
6. The nearest Market Basket
to me is a little over 20 minutes away and that’s over the highway.
I don’t go often and this week I chose the perfect time to go. I
say that sarcastically. I guess they were doing inventory during the
evening. I thought they announced it was the annual inventory but I
might be wrong. All I know is that there were dozens of employees
there, it was like every person who worked there had been called in,
and then they called all Market Basket employees from nearby
locations and brought them in as well.
7. Do you ever think you’ve
found all of the dryer sheets as you’re folding your clothes only
to have one sneak into one of your pant legs? This foolish occurrence
happens every so often to me. It’s typically pant legs, although
sometimes it’s in long-sleeved pullovers as well. One time I pulled
a dryer sheet out of my sleeve inside of a store but luckily nobody
saw. That sort of event would have been horrifying while in school.
I’d have been known as Dryer-Sheet Boy forever after that.
8. I bumped into a woman at
the beach who had a dog that reminded me of the dog the family had
when I was growing up. Patty was a yellow lab, the quintessential
‘good dog.’ One that you could take for a walk off-leash and
never have to worry about her running away, or attacking someone.
This dog I saw was an older yellow lab, not quite as heavy as Patty
was though. In her last years, she looked very much like a Twinkie
with a head. This yellow lab at the beach was named Chelsea and had
her own step to help her get up into the back of the woman’s SUV.
It brought back lots of good memories.
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| A reasonable facsimile of a good memory. |
9. I saw 2 guys in the
supermarket. 1 was normal, and the other was wearing the following:
shorts, flip-flops, and a gigantic oversized blue trench coat with
large gold buttons. This coat had obvious stiff shoulder pads and was
a XXL when this guy needed a medium or large at most. It looked like
something that a Disney character would have worn in the 1950s. I
quite literally did the shocked double-take that you see done on TV
shows.
10. I had a day this week that
began with a horrible migraine headache. I did not want to go to the
gym. After getting angry at myself, and having a good dose of
caffeine and ibuprofen, I dragged myself out for a 4-mile walk. I
have been listening to the audiobook of David Goggins Can’t Hurt
Me. His life story is incredible and highly recommended for
inspiration. I was at the point in the book where he lost over 100
pounds in 3 months, yes for real. I willed myself through my walk
after that because if Goggins could drop all of that weight for a
chance to be a Navy Seal surely I could do a leisurely walk along a
bike trail. They’re equally challenging, right?
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