Pea-sized, pea-brained idea

My friend and I were looking online for used furniture that we could restore to our liking. Most pieces were pricey, even on ebay, but we continued our search. And then we found it, or so it seemed. $23 for a whole bedroom set at Hobby Lobby? The photos looked great but what was the catch? Little did we know that the photo was true to size and that it was miniature furniture for a doll house. Must search on, must search on.

Salads and tea

I went to Hen House's salad bar with a coworker the other day during lunch hour. My coworker laughed at me because I grabbed the large plastic container, but, I only put a couple pieces of lettuce in it. So I confessed. I don't like eating lettuce in my salads.

Salads and lettuce are virtually synonymous, so I feel obligated to add a couple of pieces of lettuce to my salads even though I don't eat it. Now, crispy lettuce on a cheeseburger is different; it adds a little tasteless crrrunch to the bite. I suppose it adds a crunch to the salad as well, but why eat that when you can eat the cheese, black olives, raisins, and so on? Okay, maybe if you are carb-conscious, but even then, when I order lettuce wraps at Houlihans or PF Chang's I guarantee that 30 minutes later my stomach will begin to growl. And the cheapest way to fill up that tummy after eating a $9 plate of lettuce is by filling it either with free water or free refills of pop.

This brings me to another thought--I love tea. I love it. But sometimes, I don't know, it tastes sooooo...watered down. That's the best, and most ridiculous, way to describe it which is why I'm describing it that way. But boy, oh boy, I cannot wait to drink my watery tea tomorrow morning.

Dual-purpose products

It amazes me that certain products can have dual purposes. Take Clorox Toilet Bowl Cleaner for example. Yes, it can make a bowl shine, but were you aware that it can also rid white linen skirts of pesky blueberry stains?

Don't ask me why, but while drinking a blueberry shake at my desk, I opened my mouth--wide enough for blueberry shake (mixed with saliva) to drip onto my white skirt. Annoyed with myself, I walked into the bathroom to attempt to dab it with water, knowing that it would be a hopeless cause. But, once there, I miraculously bumped into a coworker who had an absolutely brilliant idea to dilute the toilet cleaner with H2O to dab onto my skirt. Without a doubt, I knew it was my only hope to save my new white skirt. And it worked perfectly. The only downside was that I had to walk around the rest of the afternoon smelling like toilet bleach.

The big idea

I am extremely interested in entrepreneurship. There are so many things about it that make it appealing to me. I've had so many ideas over the years, but I must admit that I am pretty sure that I came up with the money-maker of all money-makers today. I'll definitely post more about it in the coming days--just make sure you don't steal my idea!

Daily forecast music

I attended the Corporate Woods jazz festival this beautiful evening with some friends. I'm telling you, it was a truly gorgeous evening to be outside with thousands of other Kansas Citians. I adore going to large community events where people have a good time, particularly when the proceeds go to a good cause--it's a win-win situation.

I expect to get somewhat razzed for this, but one of my friends made the comment that he didn't have cable television at home, and that the jazz music to which we were listening was like flipping through cable and landing on The Weather Channel. And it was, but without a verbal daily forecast for the region.

I tried to appreciate the jazz--truly tried--but it is just not my thing. A tiny part of me feels like I should like jazz, being from Kansas City...I do appreciate the time and effort and love that the jazz musicians have for their music and I respect the listeners who have an ear for the stuff...but I just can't get into it. You can't expect me to like jazz music just because KC has a history of it. I do like the idea that jazz can bring Kansas Citians together, like it did at the festival, but I must admit that I was a bit disappointed when I figured out that Don Harman was not in anyway affiliated. Perhaps next year.

The braided pretzel

While eating some miniature pretzels this afternoon, I couldn't help but think how life sometimes resembles a pretzel, whether it is shaped like a stick or like the photo to the right. But, I pondered, is there anything more twisted than the photo to the right? And then it came to me--a braided pretzel. I'll point out some characteristics of each shape and let you create the meanings of each for yourself.

A pretzel shaped like a stick has a distinct beginning and end, though it can be difficult to determine which is which.

A pretzel shaped like the photo to the right has multiple paths with a couple of distinct ends. However, it you nibble off the protruding ends, it becomes an endless shape of turns, kind of like the symbol for infinity only much more complicated.

And then there is my concept of the braided pretzel. A shape where everything is so intertwined that each part of the braid continues along the same path, even through all of the twists and turns. Once it seems like you've found the end, you actually end right back up at the beginning.

After making up my own mind about the pretzel, I then decided to do some legitmate research about the history of the pretzel, finding that there are many claims of origin, but many historians consider them apocryphal. What I found interesting is that the pretzel is often considered a religious symbol for Lent, which is the 40 days leading up to Easter. Apparantly in the old Roman Empire circa 4th century, fasting christians shaped their breads to resemble arms crossed in prayer, using the Latin term bracellae, meaning "little arms." From that, the word bretzel was used and then it turned into the word pretzel.

I would be interested in learning my readers thoughts as to what I mean by the different shapes of pretzels and how they pertain to life.

Rolling roof proposal

No, this post isn't about the stadiums.

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous this spring, leading me to create a proposal that has to do with my everyday life. I propose that my company create a retractable roof for those beautiful sunshiny days like today for those of us who sit in a cubicle without a window. The new convertible office would be the ornament on top of the icing on top of the cake that my company already is.

Balancing nonprofit work

I've spent a good portion of my 20s receiving free things, such as concert tickets, delicious dinners and front-row seats at sporting events. But to tell you the truth, I am now much more interested in purchasing these types of items for my friends and myself on my own. Receiving free stuff isn't as appealing as it used to be. I'm almost positive that the appeal came from the idea that the people who didn't need to receive free items were the ones most likely to receive free items. But, my favorite memories of receiving those free items was when I was able to pass them on to others and to see the joy, gratitude and surprise that the gifts brought them in being able to experience something that was otherwise unobtainable.

If ever again I'm in the position to receive free items, I want nothing more than to be able to pass many of them on or, rather, be there to share in the receivers' joyful experience. I find it true that the more you give, the more you want to give, so much so that I have found myself at several times in my career devoting more time to nonprofit work than making money for myself. And to a fault, if you can find fault in that. Now I'm trying to balance that out, because I figure, if I made more money doing something that I absolutely love to do, then I can devote that money as well as myself to the organizations or individuals that fit in with my interests.

The lost whole numbers

I've got another Post It to post. This one is a bit more cerebral than the last. What I want to know is, who determined that the world number system would be based using the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10? Yes, it seems to work just fine. I mean, look at all the theories that have been proved in all areas of mathematics and applied to everyday life and art.

But, think of all the NEW theories you could come up with if you started from the beginning and assumed that the current series of numbers between 1 and 10 were actually missing whole numbers (see Post It). You could surely argue exactly how many whole numbers are missing between 1 and 10, but I chose to represent only two new whole numbers for the sake of argument. Please note I wrote "whole numbers" and not "invisible numbers."

The same rules would apply after 10, such as 11, 12, 13, 14 and so on, but would include the two new numbers in every set of 10.

Unfortunately, you can't create these new theories with a current calculator or computer. Perhaps this is where I come in and partner with a scientific calulator company and work with them in developing (revolutioning) the way we view numbers in mathematics.

I will probably add more to this post as I think of things.

Instant Messenger

The problem with instant messager at work is that despite how loud my headphones are, I still can't tune out my coworkers.