sniffology

What? You didn’t know?

4 Comments

Given the comments on the previous post about the picture of the armpit sniffers, it is clear to me that many of you weren’t aware of the great career opportunities in sniffology. Just think, you too could have a business card with your title listed as Armpit Sniffer.

A job as an armpit sniffer entails sniffing armpits of people of all sizes, who stand in a line with their arms in the air. Generally, the work is as a tester for deodorant manufacturer. After all, the cosmetic companies employ hundreds of armpit sniffers to make sure that we all smell good at all times. The power of antiperspirants and deodorants is still tested by sniffing, using human noses, in hot rooms. Sniffers generally sniff about 60 armpits an hour, or close to 500 in a busy day. Each sniff of an offensive odor is recorded on a scale of 1 to 10.

There is an established protocol for sniffology, including the requirement that the sniffers sense of smell should not be dulled by cigarettes or coffee or other odors. The people on whom the deodorant or antiperspirant is tested can be all men, all women, or mixed. Even the fact that humans are one of the sweatiest species on the planet does not deter the intrepid sniffologist (in spite of the fact that many people find the odor and job completely intolerable).

Some tidbits of odd information about/from sniffological studies and professional sniffers:

  • Studies using women sniffers on male subjects have determined that women are more drawn to the odor of men who are genetically dissimilar to them.
  • Professional sniffers are trained to understand everything about the human body and the role of the sweat glands.
  • When asked how it feels to be an armpit sniffer,  a professional replied “if you’ve sniffed one, you’ve sniffed them all.”

So the next time you think you hate your job, remember that it could be worse!

bo, walk

BO?

6 Comments

I must have BO (Body Odor). Either that or Molly has it. Why you ask?

When Molly and I went for our walk yesterday, we went to the park. The walking path around the park is about three quarters of a mile long, so eight laps and you have your 6 miles done. In any case, when Molly and I got to the park we ran into people and dogs galore during the first lap. We must have seen 20 or 30 people. But … by the second lap there was nary a person to be seen walking in either direction. We saw no one else for all the rest of our laps. The only explanation I can think of is that we had really bad BO or something. It must have been as bad for them as for the ladies in the armpit sniffing line below.

What do you think?

Boy scouts, church, finance, taxes

Mishmash -or- How the mind rambles on

3 Comments

It was a glorious weekend here with temperatures in the 70s and winds mostly below 25 mph. L and I spent time walking with Molly, enjoying the sun in shorts and Ts. Spring must really be getting here. (Although I note that the weather forecast for the rest of this week is for wind and more wind. There is a reason why this area is famed as the “Saudi Light” of wind for all the wind turbines in the energy fields.)

(Photo by Wolfgang Schlegl )

Of course, there is a blizzard coming. Why you might ask? Well, I was in attendance at church on Sunday with L and the MIL. L and I snuck in late and hid in the back so mom wouldn’t see me. She was being awarded with the Silent Disciple honor and it was a secret that she didn’t know about. (One of the few times I knew something church related that mom didn’t. {*grin*}) The award clearly caught mom by surprise and she was moved to tears. It was great to see all her peers congratulating her. Yea mom! (The reason for the blizzard is the rarity of my attendance at Sunday services. Once every 3-5 years is about right. I am more than willing to work and help, I just don’t like Sunday services.)

I had to write a dunning letter this weekend, an experience that is fortunately rare. As some of you know, I sit on a Boy Scout troop committee and serve as treasurer for the troop as well. (This is the same troop I was a scout in and the Son was a scout in … as described here and here.) One of the checks from the annual popcorn sale was returned for NSF.

This is a rare happenstance – it was only the second bad check in all the years I have been the treasurer for the troop. Two bad checks out of literally hundreds or even thousands is a pretty good record. It bears out my belief that people in this area honor their commitments and understand that the funds raised go to defray the costs of going on summer camps at places like Yellowstone, etc. Many of the boys would not be able to afford the expense of the summer camp trip without the mechanism of popcorn sales and the community steps up to help. In the back of my mind, I assume it was just a mistake on the check writer’s part.

Last but not least, the taxes are done. L balanced it out pretty close – we ended up owing the state a whole $3. I think we can handle that. {*grin*}


bad day, phones, politics

Bad Hair(less) Day

2 Comments

Today has been one of those days. You know the type. Things go wrong and nothing works like it should and you aren’t quite thinking straight.

It started this morning with the phone service for the Animal Officers missing (all of their phones being unreachable with the dreaded “You do not exist!” message from the cellular carrier).  That left all the calls routing to me with no way to get the officers to respond. Finally got that sorted out by 1pm when the cellular carrier finally fessed up to screwing it up. You never want to hear the words “Oh, we changed all our internal coding last night and forgot to handle your subset.” Getting everyone to pull the batteries out of their handsets and then pull their sim cards for long enough to reset and putting it all back together again was interesting. It seems that many good animal people are a bit technology challenged and can’t figure out how to open their phones without detailed instruction. Which is hard to do when their phones aren’t working. Thank heavens for internet connectivity and email and laptop video.

The day of snafus left me a bit discombobulated (and of course well behind schedule on all the things I had planned to get done). It was in the upper 60s and glorious outside and I didn’t get to enjoy it. Then, as I was making supper, I found myself opening the microwave to get a fork and putting a dish of food in the silverware drawer to heat it up. Needless to say, that was untenable. But I did finally get the meal made and it was edible, so I couldn’t have made too many really bad errors during preparation.

I’ll leave you with this succinct view of the current idiocy occurring in congress:

food, jello, pineapple

Nectar of the Forgotten Gods

5 Comments

Do you ever have foods that you forget how good they taste until you have them again? I do.

 +

The other night I made strawberry Jello (sugar free, of course) with pineapple (ditto) in it. I hadn’t made that in a while and had forgotten how good it is. In fact, it was so good that I had it for breakfast. Strawberry Jello with pineapple and a side of cottage cheese. The breakfast of the gods -Yum!

In any case, it brought to mind several thoughts:

  • Do you have foods that tickle your taste buds but that you forget/fail to make for long periods?
  • Do you eat foods at non-traditional meal times (like Jello for breakfast)?
  • Do you find yourself falling into food ruts (like an apple and a piece of cheese for breakfast everyday)?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Things Done Right