Get a Gripz

Monday. Grocery time. The empty fridge takes no holiday, nor do I. Today's majestic shopping discovery was a product called GRIPZ, which are not designed, as far as I can tell, to keep one upright in the shower. These snack foods come in specially designed pouches with instructions to "RIP n' TIP." It is not stated if the bag should be ripped open with one's teeth, though the tipping action, I cautiously assume, should be directed toward the mouth.

I got Cheez-Its and Chips Ahoy. There was a special offer should you purchase two, which is not so much a discount as a Stupid Tax for paying more than planned. But the savings! And I get the salty AND the sweet!

One of the realities of the semester, of teaching many classes on two campuses on the same days, is the lack of a proper mealtime. A couple days a week, I eat with one hand and drive with the other while shuttling between schools. A temporary situation, as are most semester/schedule-based problems, but it has caused me to be temporarily obsessed with practically packaged foods.

The GRIPZ aren't the first. I have also succumbed to Go-Gurt and its limited yogurt flavor options (picture Flavor-Ice but less fun.) The most tolerable is Berry, which happens to come in a box with another flavor that, as far as I can tell, is "Blue." The main course is sandwich-like, because anything that needs heating is out: enrollment's up and parking's static, so I'm a circling lot vulture for the chunk of time that could be spent getting civilized with the department microwave.

Today is Labor Day, which means no school, and I have so far eaten two meals at a table. A third's in the works; chances are high this will also not be eaten in a car. Small victories, laborers. Because tomorrow I'll be swinging my insulated lunch bag, ready to Rip n' Tip.