E: Energy Efficient Clothing

Posted on April 6, 2022 by hdh

Energy Efficient Clothing

April 6, 2022

Dear Garment Industry,

I’m concerned about the amount of time, energy, and money you spend on designing clothes and where your focus is. Looking at your designs, based on what people are wearing, clearly, your emphasis is art over functionality. Now don’t get me wrong, even though I don’t agree with many fashion trends with their flair for color and uniqueness, and ripped jeans, I do like what I see at times. I’m a rather conservative and down-to-earth dresser myself. I believe that the clothing that one wears should serve a purpose beyond just covering up the body, and be useful in everyday life. 

Take for example temperature. How many couples can go out on any particular day and find that each one of the partners has a different reaction to the temperature? Or with pajamas and room temperature? One feels cold, whereas the other feels fine. Or one is sweating and the other feels cold. Your clothing is designed for a unique range of temperatures. In these cases, neither partner can be adequately attired, especially if the weather changes. 

I recommend that you work with scientists and other notable people and design clothing that is weather/temperature resistant. 

Imagine an article of clothing comprised of nanite material that can sense the internal and external temperature and adapt to any changes. Think of how energy efficient that would make the person wearing it. They could focus on their work and let their clothing deal with changes in the environment without having to change clothes all of the time.

You set the temperature you want to feel like. If it’s too cold, the nanites activate the temperature-controlled heat producers, so without any change in the look of the garment, your body warmth can be maintained. If the nanites sense any moisture from sweat or just heat from the sun, they activate the temperature-controlled cooling producers. Clothing like that would be invaluable and worth purchasing. 

Imagine having clothing with color sensors. You can decide which color your garments were at any given time. Have a shirt and pants that don’t match? No problem. Just choose the colors you want and they are automatically programmed into your apparel. You can even design your own patterns.  Then all you need are different shapes and designs of clothes made up of that material. Much more useful. 

Will these articles of clothing cost a lot of money? I’m sure they will initially. But as the technology improves and these clothes become easier to make, the costs will go down. Think of the money that can be saved on these energy-saving clothes in the long run and how these products would improve the environment by having less waste of clothes and materials being discarded. 

I implore you to seriously re-funnel your money into science research. Let the fashion people do their thing and create different designs, but focus on how technology can be used to enhance the clothing selection and adaptability experience.  I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. 

                         Sincerely,

I.M. Waring

                                   Dressup, AK

Posted in A to Z Blog Challenge 2022, Original Stories, Writing | Tagged , | 2 Comments

D: Deep Snow

Posted on April 5, 2022 by hdh

Deep Snow

February 14, 1969

Dear Jeff,

I hope you are doing well with all this snowfall. It’s been kind of fun for me. Lucky for me I’m not in the city anymore, at least for the school year. I hear it’s pretty bad there. This is my freshman year at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. I think I wrote you last August that this is where I decided to go to school. My sisters convinced me that I needed to get out of the house (they had already moved out) and be away from home. So given the choice between City College in Manhattan (and living at home) or SUNY Stony Brook. I took my sisters’ advice. 

The first semester was kind of tough. I’m not sure I’m cut out to be an engineering major. We’ll have to see how this next semester works out. If it doesn’t I can still go here but have an undecided major. That would give me the opportunity to explore other options.  

Other than the two juniors from across the hall that tried to hang me out of their window, during the first few weeks I was here, I’ve survived without any other incidents. In fact, I’ve become friends with one of the perpetrators. Speaking of hanging out of the window, this is why I’m writing. 

I’m not sure what you did over the last 4 days, but we got at least 20 inches of snow from this blizzard. Most classes were canceled initially but as the week went on they resumed even though the paths weren’t completely cleared. The biggest problems came due to the wind. The wind created super high drifts against our dorms. These drifts were almost taller than we were. It created an interesting activity, that I’m not sure the administration wasn’t too keen on, though they didn’t stop us from doing it – jumping out of dorm windows.

I am on the second floor of a three-floor building. My dorm is called James and is part of H-Quad. My friend across the hall and another student decided that the drifts were so high against the building that they would jump out of his window to the ground below. It wasn’t long before other students from our hall came running to his room and started jumping.  And then some crazies decided to jump from the third-floor windows. Nobody got hurt that I know of. After my first jump, I decided that one experience was enough. My friend even got his girlfriend to come to his room and do a tandem jump. I sure hope she likes him. If some girl asked me to go jump out the window with her I might be a little wary of her. Then again, I’d probably be pleased if some girl asked me to do anything with her.

Later on in the day some of us went outside on the lawn to play football. We decided to play tackle football, after all with snow that deep, the chances of us getting hurt was diminished. Running in deep snow, though, wasn’t easy. The games didn’t last too long. 

Dining for us is easy as it is in Benedict Hall. That’s the H-Quad building next door. So far there has been no problem getting food there. I think next year I’m going to try and get a room in Benedict, which would save me the trudge through the snow, should this happen again.  

I’m hoping that next year I start the year in a double. This year, freshmen had to triple up in rooms. I got the upper bunk of a double bed. I got along with one of my roommates, the one in the lower bunk,  but neither of us got along with the other roommate, who managed to commandeer the single bed. Lucky for us, a room opened up down the hall where a junior in a double dropped out, so the roommate we don’t like is going to move in with into that room now and we can finish out the year in a double.  It’s never dull here. 

If you write back, tell me about your experiences with this Blizzard. I’d really like to know what you’re doing.

                   Your penpal,

                             Harvey

 

—–

February 21, 1969

Dear Jeff,

Glad to hear that you survived the blizzard. I can see why they’re calling it the Lindsay Snowstorm, based on your experiences due to the terrible cleanup job, Mayor Lindsay did to try and get the streets cleaned up and mass transit running. I can’t believe you had to wait a week before your street got cleared. 

Even though we had more snow here in Stony Brook, the results were not as bad as it was for you in New York. 

I feel for those people that got stuck in airports that got closed down. I can’t imagine having to sleep in an airport like your father did. I’m sure there wasn’t enough food to feed everyone. 

Lindsay wouldn’t get my vote if I was old enough to vote. I can’t wait until I’m 21 and am allowed to vote. They really need to change that law. With my luck they will change it the year I turn 21. 

Keep me posted on how things are going with you and how school is.

            Your penpal,

                    Harvey

 

To be continued in H – Hurricane Gloria – 1985

Feel free to add your thoughts in the comment section,

if you were around during the 1969 Blizzard. I’d love to hear them.

Posted in Original Stories, Personal Stories, Writing | Tagged , | 4 Comments

C: Conflict and Cooperation

Posted on April 4, 2022 by hdh

Conflict and Cooperation 

April 4, 2007

Dear Board of Education Negotiating Team,

Having been on both a district negotiating team and a Union negotiating team I am very displeased at the process that you have been involved with regarding your contract negotiations with the Teachers Union. 

Might I suggest you rethink your strategy as you go forward with your discussions? It seems to me that the underlying focus for both sides should be the education of our students. I don’t want you to ignore the costs involved in this education process for obviously that is a factor in the type of education that you can provide. You want to keep the taxpayer’s money down and the union wants to keep the salaries and benefits up. But what is the value of this product (educating our children for the world they must live in and providing them with the skills needed to make it a better place) compared to the costs of providing it? 

This world is very competitive and the means needed to survive and excel do not come cheap. It not only takes money but time and understanding. And I believe that both sides of this conflict are losing sight of that. You are putting blinders on and seeing only the present, and not the future, which is what we should be planning for. Fifteen years from now, will not be the same as today. There will be conflicts we haven’t even thought of, jobs and careers that don’t even exist yet, and demographics that might be totally different than you who are making these decisions. How do you prepare for that?

I believe that the first step is to be realistic together with the union. You should both sit down and not talk about money first, but discuss where you are now and where you hope to be in the future. Then determine, again together, how you think best to get there. When you know where you are going, it is much easier to plan the route. 

My memories of being on negotiating teams is this: First, you think of the most outlandish, extravagant proposal. The “Pie in the Sky” ideal.  The concept is that you know the other side won’t accept it, and since they are doing the same thing, you start weedling it down until both sides get to the point where they agree. This I assume is the process that you are engaging in right now. 

But why was all this necessary? If you know what you propose is unreasonable, to begin with, and will never be accepted, why propose it? When both sides know what is best for the students and determine a common ground first, then the end result should be a better contract sooner than later. 

Once you know the direction you are going and why you want to get there, the next step is to educate your voters. Help them see what’s beyond the trees blocking their view. Because if they can’t see the forest for the trees and they only see dollar signs and are using their own childhood education experience, they will not be willing to vote to support your goals.  

The choice is yours to make. Please consider my points and make the right decision.

 

                  With due respect,

                              A concerned resident.

p.s. A copy of this letter has also been sent to the Teacher Union’s Negotiating team.

 

Posted in A to Z Blog Challenge 2022, Original Stories, Writing | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

B: Blackout

Posted on April 2, 2022 by hdh

Blackout – 1965

October 1, 1965

Dear Jeffrey,

I was given your name and address as part of an assignment by Miss Gersch my English teacher. Everyone in our class had to pick a name out of a box and write to that person and become a pen pal. You could trade your card with someone else if you wanted to. Your card said that you were interested in sports and science. That sounded like a good match for me, so I’m writing this letter to you. I’m into some sports, mostly baseball and ice hockey. My father was a big soccer fan. He played for one of the German national teams before World War II. He and my mom both came from Germany. Since we are Jewish, it wasn’t a good place to be in the 1930s. I have two older sisters Marion and Leslie that are 8 and 5 years older than me. I like science also, especially when doing experiments.

I’m writing this letter during our 7th-period 10th grade English class. Miss Gersch said that she will mail the letters this time, but from now on any writing between the two of us, we have to pay for. 

I hope to hear from you soon.

          Your penpal,

                Harvey

 

—-

 

November 9, 1965

Dear Jeffrey,

Thanks for your last letter. You seem to be very busy with extracurricular activities in your school. I don’t do any yet. I’m thinking about maybe trying out for the school newspaper. Soccer didn’t work out for me. Too many of the other players knew too much about playing on soccer teams and made fun of the fact that I didn’t know much at all. I was too intimidated to go back a second time.

I’m not sure if this is happening to you, but on my way walking home today I noticed that none of the traffic lights were on. When I got home the elevator in our apartment building didn’t work either. I only live on the second floor. It wasn’t hard to walk up the stairs to get to our apartment. It turns out that nothing worked, power is out in the whole city. 

It’s not a problem now since there is still some daylight outside, but if we don’t get power back soon, I’m not sure how the night will turn out. We don’t have many candles in our house and though I tried our flashlight and it’s working okay, I don’t think we have any spare batteries if the batteries die. 

Cooking meals should be okay since we have a gas oven and water is flowing well. I hope the blackout lasts a while, this could be fun and with no power, they’ll probably have to cancel school tomorrow. I wouldn’t mind that at all. 

Let me know if you’re affected by this blackout. I’ll mail this out tomorrow.

           Your penpal,

                   Harvey

 

p.s. November 10 – It turns out the blackout lasted only 10 hours, but it was more than just where I live. The radio said that they are calling this the Great Northeast Blackout since it affected so many states. Hope it didn’t affect you. Unfortunately, the power was back before school started, so school wasn’t canceled. 

            Your penpal,

                      Harvey

 

—-

 

November 20, 1965

Dear Jeffrey,

I’m glad you wrote back to me quickly. Your family sure had more problems than mine had with that blackout. I feel bad that your father was stuck in the subway, underground for so long. I would have been pretty scared. My parents don’t drive at all, so they have to rely on subways and buses all the time. My mom’s job is within walking distance of our apartment building. My dad does take the subway but got home okay when the blackout hit.  I guess we both learned how important having more candles and batteries in our houses is. 

I hope we don’t have to deal with this kind of blackout again. Of course with enough batteries and flashlights and possibly no school, it might still be fun. At least for us. 

Till next time.

           Your penpal,

                    Harvey

 

To be continued in D – Deep Snow – 1969

Feel free to add your thoughts in the comment section,

if you were around during the Great Northeast Blackout. I’d love to hear them.

Posted in A to Z Blog Challenge 2022, Original Stories, Personal Stories, Writing | Tagged , | 2 Comments

A: Alice

Posted on April 1, 2022 by hdh

Alice

July 4, 1862

My dear Alice,

It’s fine to enjoy a tea party every so often, and it’s certainly fun to go on adventures, provided that one is adequately supplied to prepare for all conceivable eventualities. That said, however, your recent escapade seems more like a nightmare than an actual outing. 

I understand that you enjoy sitting in your field and talking to all the animals that abound there. But a talking rabbit that you follow down a rabbit hole? Who, I wonder could possibly believe such a story? I can imagine trying to follow a rabbit and tripping over the hole, although those holes are rather small.

Speaking of holes and small, seeing something on a table labeled “Drink Me” doesn’t justify drinking it. Likewise the cake in the box. Is it any wonder you had all those hallucinations? I suspect it was the result of some hallucinogenic concoction in the drink and cake.

Regarding the talking caterpillar, I wonder if there is any creature you are incapable of speaking with.  And then he persuades you to sample a wild mushroom! Have you learned nothing from your parents, nursemaids, and teachers? 

As for that pigeon, pig-child, or whatever it was, and the Cheshire  Cat, I can only observe that your stories sometimes go a bit too far.

That was quite a tea party you got yourself invited to, the participants of which had some rather unusual eating habits and modes of conversation. 

And where does this little adventure end up but in the Queen’s Croquet-Ground, where croquet is played with live flamingos as mallets and live hedgehogs as balls–certainly not an easy game to play. And does that peculiar queen ever say anything besides, “Off with his or her head”? 

As for that robbery, I wonder who gets arrested for stealing tarts? Why is taking some food an offense? How long did that trial take? 

And then you wake up from a dream. Rather a cliche, don’t you think?

Someone should write a book about these dreams of yours, dear Alice. It would be a classic. Perhaps I’ll take a shot at it myself. I’ll be sure to let you know if it turns out.

 

                 Your friend,

                            Charles Lutwidge Dodgson

 p.s. If I do write this story, I would probably opt not to use my real name. What do you think of the name Lewis Carroll?

 

Posted in A to Z Blog Challenge 2022, Original Stories, Writing | Tagged | 6 Comments

Never Fool Me, Once is Enough

Posted on March 31, 2022 by hdh

Never Fool Me, Once is Enough 

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I wondered where and when that quote came from?

I’ve read: The earliest recording of this proverb in print is from a book called The Court and Character of King James by Anthony Weldon, 1651, where it reads: “The Italians having a Proverb, ‘He that deceives me once, it’s his fault; but if twice, it’s my fault.’”

I’ve also read: “For once deceiv’d, was his; but twice were mine” said by Achilles during the “THE EMBASSY TO ACHILLES” in Homer’s Iliad (Translation Alexander Pope), which would be much earlier in time. 

Regardless of its origin, I question whether or not this is a rule to always live by. Being unwittingly made a fool of may not be so bad and shameful depending on the situation. 

I’m a storyteller and a writer. I profess in both activities, I tell lies at times. Or as I like to think of it, I embellish the truth. The purpose of those embellishments is to captivate my readers and audiences so that they become part of the stories I share. In some cases, I am fooling them. If asked, “Is that a true story?” I’m usually honest. I bear no shame for I will admit to the falsehoods. Now if they don’t ask me if it is true. I still bear no shame, for they have been entertained and have hopefully accepted the fact that it could have been true. I call it plausible lying. 

There is an occasion when telling stories to young children I give the truth but they have to listen and be deductive regarding my response to determine the truth. 

“Is that true?” they ask.

My answer is, “Well if it isn’t, it should be.” They generally have never followed up on that answer.

We all share stories with others. Our memories are not infallible. So what if we add a few things to make our tellings more interesting. In most cases the heart of the story is true. There is no intention of making fools out of the listeners. In fact, if we are good, they ask for more. Whether or not they believe in its truth, they like being fooled. There’s no shame either way in that. 

There are some storytellers that make a living being professional liars. Their stories start off so real and it’s not until you get deeper into the story being shared that you have to pause and tell yourself, “Hey, wait a minute, this couldn’t have really happened. He got me again. I love it.”

There are times when “Fool me once, shame on me…” makes sense to follow its message. If you’ve been fooled once, beware so that you’re not fooled again. In those cases, it is wise to learn from your first experience. I certainly learned when I was in my 20s and I received a call on the phone and was told that I had won a trip to Bermuda at a great price. I just had to pay upfront $167 for some amenities and they would send me the tickets. Today, I consider that $167 I paid well spent, considering how many other times since then I have received these types of phone calls and can now recognize that they are scams. Had I paid on those subsequent calls, I would have still gained nothing and the money would be gone no matter how hard I tried to get it back. So by being fooled once, I avoided the shame on me. 

So remember, not everything is black and white. Don’t totally believe in the be fooled more than once, you are a shameful fool. Sometimes you just have to enjoy the story and let the foolery happen. Would I lie to you? 

Posted in Personal Stories, Storytelling, Storytelling general, Writing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Follow the Leader

Posted on March 22, 2022 by hdh

Follow the Leader

The definition of the word “leader” according to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language is one who is in charge or command of others. In the animal kingdom, the leader would be the foremost animal, such as a horse or dog, in a harnessed team. 

A follower is one who accepts the guidance, command, or leadership of another; or one who has a strong interest or pays close attention to something. 

When you put the two together – “Follow the Leader”, you get a very popular game that was played in my childhood. 

Growing up in the Bronx we had lots of chances to play Follow the Leader. It is basically a game of copycat. Depending on which version of the game you played and who was decided upon by the group to be the leader, determined various levels of difficulty. 

The basic game of Follow the Leader was very simple and for the most part safe. It was a parade of sorts. The leader walked around doing weird things like shaking arms, dancing, walking backward, and the like. Whatever the leader did or sounds they made, all the people behind them had to follow and repeat the same actions. 

For you Monty Python fans, imagine John Cleese doing his Ministry of Silly Walks routine https://youtu.be/eCLp7zodUiI with a whole line of kids following him, mimicking every step he takes. Add to that sounds he might make and you have the basics of Follow the Leader. 

The younger you were, the simpler it was. When you were really young it was possible that an adult would take the role of leader. But as you got older, it was all kids around your age. And with kid leaders, each time played it became more and more unique, potentially involving trespassing on other people’s properties, running across a street where there were potential vehicles coming. You get the idea. In fact, it didn’t take us long as a group to determine that my friend Ronald was never to be allowed to lead. His comment, “What could possibly go wrong?” was pretty much ignored after the results of his first try at leading. 

As we aged, Follow the Leader became stereotyped as a game for little kids. As we were much bigger, we needed more of a challenge in our followings. In fact, to be part of any pre-teen and older-aged group, you had to be a good willing follower or if you refused to follow, you were ostracised and potentially left out of group activities. Peer pressure became the norm. This version of Follow the Leader was called, Truth or Dare. 

If Follow the Leader was Copycat, Truth or Dare was Truth or Consequences. 

In Truth or Dare, you were asked a question by the leader, which you had to answer truthfully if you chose to; if you chose not to answer, you then had to accept a dare that was given to you. This was not a simple choice since you did not know what the dare was going to be, until after you refused to answer the question asked. 

These “truth” questions were always very personal and potentially very embarrassing, generally involving secrets untold.  “Who do you love in class?” “Have you ever seen your parents naked?”  Sometimes an insider, who knew a secret about you, would ask you a question that would make you divulge it.

The “dares” on the other hand were meant to embarrass you or get you in trouble. “Tell a girl/boy you are in love with them.” or  “Make a prank phone call to your teacher.” Though sometimes they were just silly things to do, like run around the block backward. 

In Truth or Dare, the role of the leader changed hands throughout the game. Being the first one to be a leader set the tone. Knowing that if you asked someone to do something really dangerous or bad, there was a good chance that when it was your turn to be asked by a leader to do something it would be worse. So it tempered what you asked others to do.  It was always advisable on your turn as the first leader to be good in your demands as you set the bar. In general, all dares had to be agreed upon by consensus, so no one could get really mean unless you were an outcast in a group of mean kids. Even still, Ronald was never allowed to lead first. That was not a tone, one wanted to set.

Whereas in Follow the Leader, being the leader only did things that they were capable of doing, in Truth or Dare the leader did not have to lead by example, which meant they could make dares that were things the leader would never do. 

And finally, as most of you must agree as we moved into adulthood Follow the Leader didn’t stop. There were and are lots of real-life Follow the Leader situations, not so much in the form of games, as in our jobs and relationships that we have to play.  

If you follow what I’m saying.  

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Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Posted on March 17, 2022 by hdh

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Rainbows are such beautiful sights. The colors that arc above you in the sky and their contrast to the rest of the world you see. Did ever try to follow a rainbow and see where it starts and ends? There’s supposed to be a pot of gold awaiting you there. I wonder since there are officially two ends of a rainbow, can you, in fact, gain two pots of gold, if you are fast enough. 

Such was the case that fateful day when I decided to try and get to an end. The thought only crossed my mind because based on my position, I was near the bottom of the arc. I ran as fast as I could to get there. Of course, when I reached the bottom I realized that the bottom of the rainbow was not a single point. It was a ribbon of colors that was at least a city block in length. This made it more difficult for me to determine exactly where this pot of gold might be stashed. 

Lucky for me the bottom of this rainbow was on a field and not a concrete walkway or street. Unlucky for me, I had mis-assumed that the gold would be visible once I got there and I did not have any digging tools. 

I surveyed the ground to see if there was any evidence of something being buried. There was nothing apparent. I decided to dig my shoe into the ground, which happened to be soft enough, and drag it along the line of where the rainbow touched the ground. I got about one-third of the way across the field when my foot struck something hard.

I got down on my knees and started to dig. As I dug deeper, it appeared that I was uncovering what could have been a metal box. It wasn’t a pot, which was what I was looking for, but I thought maybe whoever had buried the gold had run out of pots and decided to use a metal box instead. 

I dug faster, as the sun was beginning to shine brighter and I had a sense that the rainbow was beginning to fade. Just as the rainbow disappeared I finished my digging and pulled the box out of the ground. Success, in the nick of time.

The box had a label on it. It read, 

“Registered box for gold. Property of L. Eprechaun Incorporated 

 If found no need to return to sender. The box is all yours.”

 

I was ecstatic. I was sure to be rich. I slowly opened the box and looked inside. Inside was a note. It stated that I should look at the bottom of the box.

I closed the box and turned it over. It read in big letters. 

OPEN AT OTHER END…

That would be the RAINBOW! 

Better luck next time. 

 

I guess there are two ends of a rainbow for a reason. Never trust a leprechaun.

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What to do with it all?

Posted on March 12, 2022 by hdh

What to do with it all? 

John sat in the basement, looking at all the accumulated things he had gathered in his lifetime. There were the school notebooks that he had used in high school and college containing all the notes he had taken. There were the record albums and CDS from all the music he had loved during all the stages of his life. There were the calendars and checkbook registers from all the years dating back to his first job. There were all the photo albums from his childhood to the present day containing pictures of his parents and other relatives, events he participated in, places he visited, his marriage, the birth of his children, and times shared with his family.

But it was time to move and the house he was moving to was much smaller than his present one. It was suggested by a number of people that he should throw it all away. Start afresh. Begin a new history. Let the past be past. 

But how could he do that? These were antiques. They may not have value in the real world, but to him they were treasures. How do you decide what to give up? History is only history and of value, if it is remembered, not thrown away. 

Those notebooks, tell of a time past and what was considered important in those eras. Those records and CDs represent a culture and how it changed. Calendars and old checkbook records tell a story of a life lived. And the photos represented a visual history. 

Yes, one person can remember those instances and share them, but once that person is gone, without the evidence, that history is gone. 

So what was it that he should throw away? I’m sure he is not the only person ever to sit in front of a pile of memories that had to make a decision like this. 

What memories and pieces of your life are worth keeping? How do you intend to make those pieces remain beyond your existence? Photos? Stories shared? Artifacts? 

Do not throw it all away. You are part of a bigger picture and deserve to be remembered. How you choose to do it is up to you. My suggestion: stories, photos, and recordings. Save what you can digitally and most importantly share while you’re there. We should not be forgotten. 

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Time’s Up!

Posted on March 10, 2022 by hdh

Time’s up

I considered it a shopping spree. I was told I had 15 minutes to load my cart with as many items I needed from the supermarket. As I entered the store my mind went blank. This was not helping. 

I finally decided that going to the deli counter would be a bad idea as there was a line there and I knew it would take too much time. How should I manage my 15 minutes? The question was, should I shop for most essential items or easy to grab and put in the cart items. 

I decided that my best strategy was to just go up and down the aisles and grab whatever I thought it was we needed. 

The produce aisle was easy. I added tomatoes, lettuce, zucchini, bananas, and oranges. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t a good idea to put the tomatoes in first at the bottom of the cart. 

Then came meats. I limited myself to some chicken cutlets and ground turkey. Any more and we wouldn’t have had any room to store them safely at home.

The next aisle I attempted was the pasta and sauce aisle. I grabbed a number of boxes of pasta and jars of spaghetti sauce, diced tomatoes, pizza sauce, and tomato paste. 

Then came soups. In that aisle, I grabbed at least ten cans of soup. I should have paid more attention to the type of soup I was grabbing. Consumés do not make for good meals. I did manage to get some cans of vegetable broth. They would be useful.

In the canned fruit and vegetable aisle, I just grabbed whatever cans I could find quickly. Again, probably paying more attention to what was in the cans would have been a wiser choice. I guess our future will involve eating a lot of baked beans. 

As I like baking, I added a lot of bags of flour and cake mixes to my cart from the baking aisle. The cart was getting pretty full. 

Bread, eggs, butter, yogurts, cheeses, milk, Silk, and orange juice, finished out the dairy row. 

With a minute to spare, I rushed down the soda aisle, grabbed some 6-packs of Coke, ending up in the frozen food aisle, where bags of frozen dinners and ice cream topped off my wagon as the time ran out. 

It did take me a while to check out and pay for all the food I got. Then I went with it all back to my car.

“It took you long enough, you were only supposed to be in there for fifteen minutes!” said my wife who was waiting for me in the car. “Did you get the Coffee filters, I sent you in for?”

I replied, “I may have forgotten that. I forgot to put them on my list.”

“What list?” was her response, “You mean the one you left at home?”

“Yeah, that one. But don’t worry, I’m pretty sure I remembered everything else.”

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