by Marty Coleman | Dec 4, 2010 | Products, Reviews & Sponsored Posts |
I got some publicity for The Napkin Dad Daily last year. A marketing company found out and asked me if I would review some ‘MAN’ products, which I did.
The marketing company thought highly enough of that to ask if I would review another product, this one not as manly, Vaseline. I said yes because I could get a free mini-vat of the stuff and my wife uses it. I would score points.
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| Jewel encrusted. This is not the one they sent me. |
We got the mini-vat and it’s cool. It has a flip top lid. That is the big innovation since the mini-vat is the same otherwise and Vaseline the actual product hasn’t changed since about 1346.
Ok, make that 1872. Some guy had been visiting oil fields and found the workers were using some gunk that came from the working of the well to heal burns and cuts. They called it Rod Wax. Imagine if that stuff was discovered today. It wouldn’t end up being called Vaseline, I can tell you that! But it was 1872. The guy took the gunk and made Vaseline out of it.
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| Also not the one they sent me. |
Now, out of the gutter and back to Vaseline. First thing to know is that it is not spelled VasOline. That would make it like GasOline, and it isn’t so don’t be confused. It’s VasEline.
Next, since I don’t use the stuff, ever. I really couldn’t review it very well. I think my mom used it on me for something, but it involved a thermometer and a place the sun don’t shine so I have buried that in the catacombs of my memories. Before the modern, civilized era (meaning the advent of electronic temperature getters), it was really the only way to find out that certain number so it had to be done. oh, the trauma.
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| The thermometer style jar I try to forget. Not the one the sent me. |
But my wife does use it. She has a jar in the shower actually. Here is what she likes about it.
- Moisturizer – She swears by using Vaseline after her shower to keep her dry skin moist. Her Dermatologist actually recommended it.
- Pure – She also tends to be allergic to stuff so she loves that it is pure and without all sorts of fillers, scents, chemicals, etc.
- Scentless – She also likes that it doesn’t smell. It’s odd to see a product like that that doesn’t smell, isn’t it.
I know for a fact she never feels greasy, smelly or broken out in hives after she uses it or like she has been on an oil rig so I think it does it’s job really well.
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| oh yea, works on lips too. Not the one they sent me. |
I started asking around, telling my friends about my mini-vat score and got some good responses.
Here is what my running buddies said about it.
- Chafing – More than one person told me they use Vaseline on the various body parts to avoid chafing when they run. Chafing is a big problem if aren’t a stick figure and you run more than say, 100 yards). They use it instead of the expensive stuff sold in running stores. I might try that some day.
- Cold protection – I also found that many of my running friends use it on cold days on their face as a barrier between them and the cold, dry wind. Another thing I might try some day.
I also have heard of long distance
swimmers using it to cover their bods, so if you happen to be one of those folks about the swim the English Channel (or any Channel) you should use it.
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| Also not what they sent me, but cute. |
So, there you have it. My official review of Vaseline, the best stuff to come out of oil rigs since Rod Wax! You should use it.
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| The one they sent me. |
p.s. There are a gazillion more uses, just google it and you will find more than you ever wanted to know! Here’s one.
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Oh, and for you photographers out there to get that soft-focus look, if you don’t mind getting your lens covered in Vaseline. Personally, I would do it in Photoshop.
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by Marty Coleman | Dec 3, 2010 | Lillian Hellman, Tulsa |
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Times change, and some things become accepted wisdom, the uninvestigated way of thinking.
Here in Oklahoma it is fashionable recently to have a hissy fit about how the majority religion, Christianity, is being sidelined. A current example of this is the hissy fit our senior Senator Inhofe is having over the annual parade that occurs this time of year. In the past it was called the Christmas Parade of Lights. Last year the name was changed to the Holiday Parade of Lights. Sen. Inhofe has made a grand proclamation this year where he says he will refuse to ride his horse in the parade unless the name is changed back. We also have a City Councilman and others threatening to not allow a parade permit unless the name is changed back. The argument is that ‘Jesus is the reason for the season’ and so it should say Christmas in the name of the parade.
The reason given for changing it from ‘Christmas’ to ‘Holiday’ is one you have probably heard before. It is that many people in the community are not Christian, they celebrate other religious (or non-religious) events during the same time frame and in the interest of having them feel included in both the parade and the seasonal atmosphere the word Holiday is the better word to use.
But there is another argument that I have not heard. It is more Christian to have the parade name include ‘Holiday’ than it is to have ‘Christian’ in it.
The essence of the day-to-day practice of Christianity is love. Love is made manifest by, among other things, kindness, gentleness, thoughtfulness, patience, selflessness, sacrifice, and inclusion.
If I know that some in my community are celebrating holidays other than Christmas, then why would I not want to reach out to them and find ways to include them in the community wide celebrations. If by one simple word change that doesn’t affect my religion, doesn’t affect my worship, doesn’t affect me being ‘Christian’ in any way I can reach out a hand of love and joy to Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and those who don’t believe anything in particular, then why wouldn’t I want to do that? Why woudn’t that be the Christian thing to do?
If I do so, then my church is still intact, my worship is still secure, my example is still as it should be, Christian.
That’s my conscience speaking to me. What is yours saying to you?
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by Lillian Hellman, from a letter to the chairman of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, May 19th, 1952.
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by Marty Coleman | Dec 2, 2010 | Decisions, Dietrich Bonhoeffer |
And what if you are on the wrong train? You need to relax, do the best you can while on the train and get off at the next station. BUT before that you have to be self-aware enough to know you are on the wrong train to begin with.
How do you know that?
Maybe you are not happy, not healthy, not satisfied? Yes, those could be signs you need to get off the train. But what if you were not happy, not healthy and not satisfied before you got on the train. Maybe it’s not the wrong train, you just have a bad attitude and mind set?
It gets back to what I mentioned yesterday. You have to know your self. And to do that you need to be honest. As the quote yesterday says, it’s not just hard to do, it’s inconvenient as well. It isn’t easy facing and exploring who you really are, but it is ultimately worth it, just as exercise is ultimately worth it.
So before you jump off the train, make sure it’s the train that is going in the wrong direction and not you that is thinking and acting in the wrong direction.
It’s just another example that to be happy you have to ‘untie the NOT’!
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Quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (from his book ‘The Way of Freedom’), 1906-1945, German Lutheran pastor and author. He is worth reading about and remembering, especially if you are Christian.
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by Marty Coleman | Dec 1, 2010 | Josh Billings, Self |
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Imagine you are a leaf blowing in the wind. You take off from the tree and land on a well mowed lawn. You feel big, but you also feel not so colorful. The lawn is green, you are yellow/brown.
The wind takes you again, this time to the field next to the lawn. You land between some very overgrown patches of weeds and shrubs. You feel small, but you also feel pretty because you have a nice shape and are all of a sudden colorful, while the weeds are all bedraggled, shapeless and dull in color.
Once again you are blown away, this time landing on an asphalt parking lot. You feel even more colorful but also alone. Suddenly you feel worthless because a shopkeeper has come out and swept you up with other trash and tossed you onto the bulging garbage can around back. Why didn’t he see how pretty you are, maybe you aren’t pretty after all.
Finally you get blown away one more time, and you land under a tree similar to the one you came from. Surrounding you are hundreds of other leaves just like you. You are happy and feel safe.
In all of your journey what hasn’t changed? YOU haven’t changed. You are still the leaf with the same color, size, texture, pattern, origin.
That is how real life is. You truly are an individual out in the world. Sometimes the world is safe and complimentary, sometimes it is alien and cold. Some people don’t understand or like you and you may just have happened upon one of those people randomly. You might even marry one. One might be your boss.
Whoever they are, they aren’t defining you, they are either reacting to you or more likely they aren’t actually paying attention to you since they are thinking about themselves.
They might be a weed who doesn’t like your leafiness. That doesn’t mean you should change your leafiness, it means you should either ignore the weed, help the weed not be so fearful of others different than it or get in a place where the wind can move you on.
They might be a lawn of grass, obsessed with it’s own prettiness, and really don’t really notice you. You worrying about it’s judgment and wanting to be more green, but they aren’t judging you, they aren’t actually paying any attention to you at all. You can either demand attention from them, be satisfied to just be safe but unknown, or you can once again get in a place where the wind can move you on.
It’s not other people who define you, it’s YOU who defines you. Until you do that and know who you are you are at the mercy, not of the wind, but of where the wind places you.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by Josh Billings, 1818-1885, American humorist and writer
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