And now for something entirely unrelated.
[Update: The tube is still going as of November, 2017]
[Update 2: The tube finally depleted itself and achieved Vaseline nirvana on March 27th, 2018 – meaning that it achieved at least a full decade of service.]
It’s been a long while since I last did a “Odd Things” post, going on two years in fact. The last post focused on my high-quality scissors that I was so proud of (and are still around, in case you were wondering). However, this time around I’m going to focus on something even older than the scissors, this weird little tube of Vaseline Lip Therapy
So what’s weird about this little tube, which by all accounts looks very normal? Well, it seems to be infinite. Yes, this finite tube seems to contain an infinite amount of Vaseline. A bold statement I know. However I’ve had this tube since I think 2008. I can remember having it when SB and I lived in our first apartment and we moved in together in 2008. I have no definitive proof that it has existed since 2008, as sadly there is no “Creation Date” – at least not one my mind can decipher. The closest I can get to its manufacturing date lies somewhere in this code “08208HU17” which is printed on the sealed lip of the tube. So, it came into existence sometime in the 2008 – 2010 range, so at the very least its six years old.
Now, in fairness, I have not consistently used it for six plus years. In fact a lot of the earlier years (which sounds odd in the context of a tube of Vaseline) it just set next to my bed and was only utilized a couple times a month. However, I started using it a bit more extensively once we moved to Boston and I had to start walking outside in those harsh winters. So, I started using it a lot more, pretty much nightly. It was around this time that I started to realize that 1: the tube didn’t seem to be depleting, and 2: this tube was old (but still worked well). But, being a tube of Vaseline, life went on. And, I probably would haven’t thought about it again if not for my time in Denver.
As my first real foray into the Rocky West I quickly learned that the air was quite dry out there. Thankfully being the over-planner that I am I had brought along my Vaseline Lip Therapy. However, about 1 week into my stay I noticed that the tube seemed low, so I sent an emergency pigeon out to SB who was kind enough to send me two Carmex tubes (and also my swimming goggles – yay pool!). Well, if it wasn’t obvious the Vaseline tube didn’t run out. Not that week, or for the rest of the summer. Not only that, it kept going for the rest of the year. Then, it came with me to Santa Fe where the air was even drier than Denver, and despite heavy use, it lasted all through my New Mexico trip as well. But, not content to be a two-internship kind of tube, the Vaseline lasted throughout the rest of 2L and has now followed me to Bozeman. Unsurprisingly, Montana is also dry (though not as dry as New Mexico) so my Vaseline tube is getting near-nightly use, which, as you might expect, doesn’t seem to be depleting the tube.
Still, there have been a few nights where I thought “Yep, it’s finally running out.” But then it doesn’t, and those were the same thoughts I had over a year ago in Denver. So maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but for now the “infinite” hypothesis stands.
Yes, yes, I understand that it really isn’t infinite (or is it?) but half the fun in all the little “Odd Things” that life throws our direction is to just believe. 🙂
Until next time,
-Taco