Crying little boy, about four years old, proclaiming loudly: “I am NOT too cute for words!!!!”

I went to buy a card for my nephew’s birthday at the local card shop, and overheard this exchange:

“Last night I tried to come by, but it looked like the power was out.”

“Yep. A raccoon got into the substation and managed to mess something up.”

“Oh my gosh — was he okay?”

“The raccoon was fine. But they had to turn off the power and call Animal Control. It took awhile for the Animal Control guys to get there, capture the raccoon, remove him from the substation and release him. They couldn’t turn the power back on until after he was safely out of the way.”

“Wow. Now that’s not something that happens everyday.”

Indeed.

Needless to say, I smiled. First, because I happened to be in that shop at the very time the conversation was taking place. Second, because the source of yesterday’s three-hour time-out was not some horrific accident as I had feared, but rather an adventurous wayward raccoon. Third, because said raccoon survived his little escapade, and lived to see another day.

There’s some kind of poetic justice in the fact that the cause of my reversion to “camping mode” was none other than a furry nocturnal creature who is more likely to be found in a campground than in the local substation. He had to plug in, so to speak, so that I (and my neighbors) could unplug.

Profound. Interesting. And, no matter how I look at it, still somewhat amusing.

A few weeks later, I saw a car with a license plate that said “UNFROWN.”  I smiled. And I thought – what a great name for a blog!  So I rushed home and registered the domain. 

This blog will be about all the things that make me (and hopefully you!) smile.   We’ll talk about products, cool happenings, techniques you can use to increase your happiness, and so, so much more.  I invite you to come on this journey with me and see what we can discover. There will be room for comments and dialog as we go. 

So, without further ado, let’s get this blog rolling!