Posted by Brad on August 31st, 2009 — Posted in Toothpaste
The last time I was at the tree-hugger grocery store, I checked out the toothpaste aisle. There were a ton of non-traditional selections there. First I disqualified any toothpaste that had saccharin in it. Only a few dropped out. My next check was for fluoride. I don’t want to use a toothpaste that doesn’t have fluoride. Otherwise, what’s the point? I might just as well be swishing water around in my mouth. After the fluoride check, there were only three or four toothpastes left to choose from, so it came down to flavor. JASON brand had an orange on the label. It said “orange, cinnamon, and mint” flavor. Intriguing. I got it.
After finally using up my previous toothpaste, I’ve finally tried the JASON. The flavor is really more mint than anything, but I can taste the other flavors. It foams well. But I do have a bit of an odd aftertaste in my mouth after using it. I’ll keep using it. Maybe the aftertaste is from all the TUMS that I’ve been chewing before bed.
Now if I could just figure out what J/A/S/O/N stood for…
6 Comments
Posted by Brad on August 30th, 2009 — Posted in Journal
Because I’ll be at school for a long time today, I decided I wanted to do something weekend-y yesterday. I ended up going to the mall, because there’s nothing like the feeling of spending money. I got some new school pants at TJ Maxx. They were only $14! Cool.
When I’m at TJ Maxx, I always walk through the housewares section because there’s fun stuff there. This time I enjoyed feeling all the rugs. There were a lot of soft ones. I would loved to have gotten some, but soft rugs never stay soft. They’re soft until the first washing, then they’re just sort of nubbly. After a little use they don’t hardly even feel like cloth anymore.
Anyway, while I was in the housewares, I saw a message. I don’t know who left it or what exactly it might mean, but it seemed important enough that I should take a picture of it:
10 Comments
Posted by Brad on August 29th, 2009 — Posted in Gardening
My waiting has finally paid off. On April 3, 2008, I planted a Garden Gold peach tree hoping it would bring me edible fruit. It did! It did! My back yard peaches are ripening. The peaches aren’t giant, but they are definitely peaches. I keep forgetting to get some sticky tape to wrap the trunk with, so ants are attacking my beautiful peaches, but some of them are unscathed. I picked some yesterday. They taste like peaches. Woo hoo!
There are still more ripening on the tree. I hope to get one so ripe and juicy that store-bought peaches are ruined for me for the rest of the summer.
3 Comments
Posted by Brad on August 28th, 2009 — Posted in Journal
Happy Birthday, Beth! Are you feeling presidential?
I’m on the email list for Baltimore Research. I’ve been there several times, including last year, when I talked with them about RLS. This time, I was doing something that I’ve heard about, but never dreamed I’d actually do: a taste test! I was being asked to come in, eat some pizza, tell them what I think, and they’d give me $60. Amazing!
There were about thirty people in the room. First, a woman would walk by with a pizza and we’d rate it on how it looked. Then we’d get a slice to eat. We were asked to rate the cheese, toppings, sauce, crust, and overall taste. We tried two different formulations of pepperoni, and two different formulations of supreme. It was definitely pizza from a chain, but I couldn’t identify it because I always get pizza from Zorba’s.
I didn’t like it at all, so I only gave it fair scores. But it was free dinner. And I can’t overstate how amazing this is: I was PAID to eat!
7 Comments
Posted by Brad on August 27th, 2009 — Posted in Journal
Depending on the year, word can get out pretty quickly that I have a lot of ties. This was a quick year. It started when an eighth grade girl requested that I wear my M&M tie. She remembered it from last year. I wore it yesterday. It’s bright and colorful, so lots of people commented. I responded to their comments by telling them it was a request. After they asked me to explain, it would come out that I have around two hundred forty ties and that I never repeat during the course of the school year.
One sixth-grader I was talking with asked me to wear the most girly tie I own. At least I think he said girly. Do kids still say that these days? It was in the lunchroom, and things are usually pretty loud in there. I repeated the word “girly” back to him and he seemed to think I said the right thing. It was hard picking out a girly tie. What does that mean? Pink? I have a couple of those. I settled on a flowery tie. …One that is pink and orange. 
Later in the day, another sixth-grader asked me to wear my Bob the Tomato tie. He’s a younger brother, so maybe he saw it last year some time? I told him he’d have to wait until Monday. Tomorrow is a dress-down day.
7 Comments