First Day of Spring and Incident at Work

Well, it was a few days ago, but it was truly springlike and Phil Collins-like (No Jacket Required--yes, I'm dating myself). I walked around for a couple of hours, admiring all the flowering trees and trees beginning to leaf out. Lovely.

More interestingly, when I got into work on Tuesday (I work from home on Mondays), a co-worker greeted me and asked me about this conversation piece/science experiment I've had on my desk for the past few weeks. It started out looking like this. After adding water and waiting a few hours, it ends up looking like this.

Well, this co-worker is one of the few people that has never asked me about these things.* I was happy to fill her in. As soon as the name of the compound (which sounds very sciencey and chemically) came out of my mouth, her face fell. She informed me that the previous day (while I'd been working at home), she'd come into my office and had EATEN two of these things.

I thought, for sure, she was joking, and laughed and said, "You did not." but she was dead serious and informed me that they hadn't tasted very good. OK. Maybe these look a little bit like candy, but as soon as you pick one up, it doesn't feel anything like any kind of normal candy--it's like very stiff cubes of Jell-o. It is true that I had it in a bowl that looks a bit like a candy dish, but hasn't every ADULT learned by now not to put something into your mouth and eat it if you don't know what it is? Apparently, not. Also, she ate TWO of them. Since they didn't taste very good, how is it she didn't stop after eating one?

I hastily informed her that they are nontoxic, but I was a little freaked out. Then I started wondering if I really should trust that "nontoxic" claim on the package. I double-checked a number of sources to make sure that the substance is indeed not harmful and fortunately it isn't (it even occurs naturally in some foods), but still. Kind of scary.** I guess I feel like maybe I'm partly to blame here for putting the stuff in what essentially is a candy dish (although I only ever use it when I serve a cheeseball, so I don't think of it as a candy dish).

Then again, it is weird (right?) to steal into someone's office when they're not there and eat an unknown substance that happens to be sitting on that person's desk. My boss informed me that on the day of the incident, she'd spotted this same person in another absent person's office grabbing handfuls of Reese's Pieces--throughout the day. Not quite the same thing, as Reese's Pieces are obviously edible, but still kind of bizarre that she's sneaking around in people's offices when they're not there. Anyway, I learned my lesson. Those bad boys went home with me last night and never again am I going to have anything nonedible on display in my office. (She'd better not try to take a bite out of my keyboard or gnaw off the arm of my chair.)

So there you go, a pretty picture of spring and a blog entry about work. Hopefully, I've been vague enough that no Google search the Reckless Eater might ever happen to perform will turn up this blog.

*These things were of such great interest to just about everyone I work with, that I brought in and distributed close to 20 packets to various folks.

**When she left for the day yesterday, she waved at me and called out, "You tried to poison me!" WTF?!!!!!???? She was joking (I guess).

Spare Parts Cat

This cat looks like its tail was swapped out for another cat's tail. It reminds me of a Harlequin Golf or of one of those old cars that has one door that's a different color than the rest of the car. You know what I'm talking about.

P.S. Of all the people I know in the world, only one of them owns a Harlequin Golf. I just did a Google search to find a photo of one, and the first photo I found has the guy that I know sitting in it. What are the chances of that??????????????????????????????