One of the nice parts about this time of year is it causes me to be in a retail environment with a much different perspective. When it comes to shopping, I tend to be a creature of efficiency. Get in. Stalk the prey. Put it in the cart. Pay. Leave. However, when I’m out with the family and picking over the retail offerings, it puts me in a different mindset. For some reason (circumstances, perhaps?), I find myself looking at shopping in an entirely new way. I browse. I think of people other than myself. I look for the unique. I shop.

At a recent excursion with wife and child 1 and child 2, I happened upon a product that I thought exemplified Zeus’ philosophy. Pangea Organics makes a nice bar soap. (We chose Indian Green Tea with Mint and Rose Petals — you should smell me in the morning!) The packaging design is simple, intriguing and functional. That’s because, according to their Web Site, it is made using a “Zero Waste process and 100% post-consumer paper and organic seeds like basil.” [my emphasis]

Once you’ve place the soap in the dish, you soak the package in water and plant in the ground. In a while, you have a living, breathing, carbon-dioxide-eating herb.

I think that’s swell.