Toothpaste 1st, Thanks to Katy, 2nd (though definitely not an afterthought!)

Ok. What is it about toothpaste and tooth brushing in general? Here’s what I mean. You have all seen commercials, television shows, and movies in which some goofball is brushing their teeth, right? Have you ever noticed how there’s never any toothpaste to be seen, and when the tooth brusher (is that a word?) needs to spit, you simply hear a noise that’s supposed to indicate spitting, but never actually see the glob of toothpaste you KNOW should be there? Or, if you do see them spit, it’s just a trickle of nothing? (This is usually the case, unless you’re watching some kind of extreme comedy that is funny simply because of their over-exaggeration – you can then be sure to see plenty of toothpaste foam and spit globs.) When I brush my teeth, I almost always have toothpaste all over my face, even if I try to be careful about it, and I’ve always got a mouth full of minty goo to liberate when I’m done. Let me just tell you, folks, it’s never pretty. So how do you commercialize or advertise toothpaste? You get a good-looking person to smile vacantly, stand quietly, and pretend to brush their teeth with none of the sloppy stuff that gets all over the faces of “the average person.” This is why commercials, television shows, and movies never use “the average person.” Just my two cents. TTFN JMS PS: Thanks to my friend Katy for providing me with the answer to my “Where to have Charlie’s birthday party” problem. She is the President of the Oak Ridge Convention & Visitors Bureau and works closely with the Parks and Recreation people and thus was able to not only redeem the Parks & Rec Department in my eyes (though I really wasn’t upset after about five minutes...I just moved on) but she also suggested several options, one of which should work perfectly. Now if only the weather holds up, we’ll be good to go!