Musings of a Compulsive Thinker

I went to Salt Lake City and all I got was...

- Dry, irritated eyes and nasal membranes (really, their air quality isn't great)
- Bigger sleep deficit (Discovery Channel in the hotel, and not sleeping in my own bed)
- Up-front, standing-room-only view of Chris Sharma's awesome whipper off the top crux move of the USA Climbing men's national final route
- Bad case of nerves from seeing a bunch of tractor-trailers and RVs blown sideways off of I-80 by strong cross-winds in Wyoming
- A new perspective on pantry management

It's really the last item that I'm here to talk about. When we were in town in late January, the local supermarket chain Macey's was having their annual "Family Preparedness Sale." They were advertising great sale prices on gallon-deep cans, five-gallon buckets, and ten-pound (and larger) sacks of freeze-dried blueberries, dried beans, rolled oats, cracked wheat berries, instant milk powder, powdered eggs, and myriad other items, pretty much all you could hope for.

I don't have anything against Mormons personally; I'm not going to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't believe. However, there are two things I really admire about the whole Mormon culture: this preparedness thing (if the apocalypse ever comes, the world will be rebuilt afterward by Mormons, and by fortified back-country mountain folk and the paranoid freaks who have fully-stocked fallout shelters in their back yards), and their work ethic. There's a lot to be said for a serious work ethic, too.

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Labels: everyday, food, philosophy, ponderings, travel

posted by the alygator @ 8:26 AM