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.
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?
