October 2006

Can’t say that I ever thought I’d find myself blogging about a trash can. Gadgets? Yes. Desks? Yes. Laptop Computers? Yes. Coffee? Hell to the Yes. But trash cans? What’s up with that? I honestly couldn’t help myself, though, as unexpected as it was - I fell hard for this guy. No, he’s not what I was looking for - he’s more.

Okay, first of all, it isn’t just a trash can. It’s actually a Thrash Can. Created by a Chicago design firm intent on producing goods with a low environmental impact, the Thrash Can is composed of 99% reclaimed automobile tires. How freakin’ clever is that? It’s built to last and to withstand any abuse thrown it’s way.

Plus, further prove that it was designed by a brainiac: Its smart design features incorporated top handles and a size perfect for re-using grocery bags as can liners.

You can find the cool Thrash Can at www.UncommonGoods.com. Simply enter Thrash Can in the search box and you’re there.

Make no mistake about it, we all have those moments when we wish we were just about anywhere else, doing just about anything else - sitting in just about any other chair than the one we’re in. But for most of us, the feeling passes and we climb down from the moment, unharmed.

However, there are plenty of people who hate the chair they’re in so badly they’d rather just stand. Even if it’s in the unemployment line.

So, how do they know when it’s time to fight the good fight and when it’s time to flight the good flight? I’ve never worked outside of the home, so I really don’t know how a person would handle these feelings. It must be close to the inner circles of hell to have to go someplace you don’t want to go each and every day. Personally, I don’t think I’d make it long. I don’t have a very high tolerance level for discomfort, so I’m sure that if I found myself in that situation - I’d make an early, ungraceful exit. The kind that would have the workplace buzzing for years.

So, no - I’d be the last person in the world to offer up any workplace advice…..unless, of course, you’re looking for someone to say, “Who needs the drama? Quit.”

On the other side of the following link, there is some good advice - from people with their heads on straight. Check it out, you might help you make sense out of your own situation: 10 Signs It’s Time to Quit

We lived in Florida for a while a few years ago. It was like a vacation that just wouldn’t end - day in/day out, miles of white sand, sunshine, emerald water pounding against our feet, dolphins we could watch from the back deck, pelicans that dared you not to love them, and on and on and on and on and…. Ivan. If someone really wanted to be a fright on Halloween, they’d find a way to go as a Hurricane. Not many things scarier or more devastating.

Anyway, there are many, many things I remember vividly and affectionately about our life there - like the ones I named above (especially the pelicans and dolphins). But one of the things I remember the most vividly is Bad Ass Coffee. It was a sexy little coffehouse in Pensacola - everything you’d want a coffehouse to be. The coffee was bold and perfect, the workers a little off the beaten path, and the customers unaware there even was a path. Waaaay locked in their own little caffeinated world. It’s in the eyes, you can tell.

Oh man, I can almost smell and taste that coffee now. Not long ago I was feeling nostalgic and threw up my beloved Google. Come to find out, Pensacola isn’t the king of bad asses. Hawaii is.

Bad Ass Coffee Co. originated in Hawaii - but it now calls Utah home. They have stores all across the states - and judging from the store locator map, the nearest ones to me are in Alabama and Illinois.

But as luck would have it, the beautiful people at Bad Ass have an Online Store - and they have lots of great, fun goodies in addition to the coffee. There are golf towels, mugs, t-shirts, bumper stickers, hats, gift baskets, candy bars, chocolate covered coffee beans, etc. And the prices are absolutely unbelievable. They have a little stuffed ass that I really must have. Husband, hook me up with that, kay?

Go check them out and leave no page unvisited - you’ll love them long time. Here’s the link: Bad Ass Online Store.