Mild Amusement

We moved into our current place less than a year ago, so I don't know all of my neighbors.  It probably doesn't help that my long commute keeps me away from home for a while, but it is what it is.  Sure, I've seen a few of them every now and then, but we're hardly friends.  They're definitely in the "greet them with a head nod but no words" zone. So, I was most definitely surprised when the next door neighbor rang the doorbell.  My mom said something about the neighbor wanting to talk, and I raised an eyebrow.  Then my mom figured that I should tag along in case she needed a second set of eyes and ears.  I'd also like to think she needed someone intimidating in case things went sour with the next door neighbor (that'd be me).  Luckily, the lady was nice, so I didn't have to bust any heads. However, she started telling us about these suspicious dirt piles on/in our small little grass/garden patch in front of our house.  Apparently, there is ...

If you remember the hippy medicine I took a while back, you know that I'm no stranger to odd labels.  When I scanned that label, I definitely raised an eye brow.  I think I may have recently topped that, though.  I can only imagine the moxy that would be required to come up with the labels on the items below.  I want in, I tell you. The first thing that made me think this was a trail mix snack from the vending machine.  I normally try to away from the vending machine, but on this day, I was particularly hungry and I needed an extra snack.  Part of the reason why I stay away from the vending machine is that most of the options aren't exactly healthy.  So when I do cave in and plop down a dollar for an item, I usually aim for something that's not going to clog my arteries (much). Luckily for me, the little items have these little labels of a green leaf to indicate which items are healthy/good for you.  Scanning through the green-leafed items, I...

If you've been reading this blog for any extended period of time, you probably know that I have a few rules for myself.  Each week, I try to work out three times, do at least one good deed , and eat two vegetarian meals .  Each of these rules has a back story (read the links if you're curious), but the point is that I try to live a certain way.  I'm not hardcore about it, either; it's not like I'm about to commit harakiri if I mess up one week. Over time, however, I've also developed rules for other people around me.  Those, on the other hand, are far stricter (and far funnier, truth be told).  It all started when I was on a business trip with a coworker/friend of mine.  She ended up getting pretty sick, and I had to pick up medicine for her while she rested up in a hotel room (as an aside, customs officials get very, very curious if said friends ask for "drugs" instead of "medicine" via text message).  Well, it actually got bad enough tha...