I ordered a few books from Amazon. Nothing too outrageous, the latest Steven King "Duma Key", "Naked" by David Sedaris, and a book on Ayurveda. I open the box and there are the three books, something else which will remain unnamed at this point for security purposes, and the packaging material. I did not notice anything odd about the packaging material until after I had removed said unnamed product, and one of the three books. There were three "air bag" type units, which are filled with air, and used to keep the items safe in the box, in lieu of packaging peanuts and the like. Additionally, crammed down on one end, was a crunched unopened mini 1 ounce box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch brand cereal!

This miniature cereal box apparently had been added to my order as additional packaging. The cereal, I noticed, had an expiration date of January 28, 2008, which just so happens to be in two days. I was baffled. I thought that perhaps they included it as a free sample, but I deduced that there would be some sort of documentation for it as such, telling me about the product in terms of product information, and where I could pick some up. Also, cereal typically can last 4-6 months, and the fact that this cereal expired in two days, was proof that the cereal was old. I suppose also, that it is altogether possible that whoever packed the box, was simply lazy, and didn't want to walk to a trash can, or perhaps was even playing some sort of weird prank, where they have a good laugh with their friends and make up wild stories about what whoever opened the package would think. Then I suppose there is the chance that they simply ran out of normal packaging material, and, in a pinch, decided to lean towards the MacGyver-esque decision to improvise packaging material with their breakfast. What a sacrifice! Richard Dean Anderson would be so proud.




Ok readers, you get a 2fer this time.... On a completely different subject.

As I have gotten a little bit older, I have this strange desire to become slightly philanthropic. I use the term 'slightly', because any philanthropy I get involved in will have to remain proportional to my means. I will not be donating a million dollars a year to a library, and I will not be giving five hundred thousand dollars to the local Kiwanis club. No, my philanthropy will be shared with a couple of friends, to create a scenario where we can give more by giving less individually. Right now, the only thing on the table is the idea of creating a scholarship for a lucky student at our old high school to receive. If there are three of us, and we all pitch in just $100, then someone can get a $300 scholarship.

I understand that with today's ever increasing higher education costs, that this is not all that much. But in the lager picture, doesn't every little bit help? I am from a pretty small town, and a lot of the local kids go on to junior colleges either prior to, or instead of, going to a lager 4 year university. Our $300 dollars could provide a student with enough money to purchase a few books, or other such supplies.

The silver lining here is that my friends and I can go to the school, and present the student with one of those huge fake three foot by five foot checks a la Publisher's Clearing House. While this is happening, someone will be taking a photograph for the local news outlets, which will land us in news papers, and possibly even a quick "feel good" spot on the local ten o'clock news. "Private Local Almuni/Philanthropists Donate Money to Student Lucky Student." Its perfect, and you know it.

The other thing that struck me today is the old Adopt-A-Highway program. I know you might think this is a takeoff of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer did this same thing, but I can assure you that this idea has been in my head since the day I started seeing the Adopt-A-Highway signs, and I am not alone, so NO, Seinfeld didn't invent the idea, and I am certainly not copying if from that. If anything, the show copied the concept from the thousands of people who always wanted to adopt a highway long before that show ever aired.

Anyway, We have been toying with the idea of the scholarship for quite sometime, and have done a little virtual footwork towards making it a reality. I think it may be time to get the fire going again, and finally become a slight philanthropist.