Blast from the Past is where I republish an old blog post of mine. This one here is a specifically entertaining one. It was originally published on March 11, 2008.

Today, we will learn what happens as a result of mixing chemicals.

Example:

Caleb prepares to clean the bathroom. He grabs a bottle of cleaner off the shelf and begins to spray down the shower. Unfortunately, the spray nozzle no longer is functioning on the bottle, rendering it useless. Through a stroke of genius, he grabs the sprayer off an almost empty bottle of Multi-Surface Cleaner w/bleach and begins to spray. This time, with the functioning nozzle, the chemicals begin to disperse and prepare for battle against the rust, mold, mildew and soap scum. Suddenly, in the middle of the battle, the chemicals turn on each other. Caleb is made aware of this situation when, after a few seconds of spraying, he realizes that the spray does not smell “lemon fresh” at all. In fact, it’s starting to burn his throat. That is the precise moment Caleb realizes his stupidity of mixing bleach with other fun chemicals. Immediately, he closes the bottle up, throws it in the trash, grabs a shirt and ties it around his face, holds his breath and runs into the bathroom. Upon his re-entrance, he opens the window, washes down the tub and walls (thus subduing the the battle), retreats and closes the door. After the air has cleared, Caleb opens the door and gazes upon the battlefield. The rain had washed much of the blood and bodies away. There was not but a trace of what had befelled that tile field just minutes before. Caleb completed the cleaning of the bathroom without incident after that–making sure not to mix chemicals.

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Update after two hours: My throat is sore and feels slightly swollen, but not too bad. At this point, it’s still not as bad as when I drank coffee from an “empty” brake fluid bottle.

Update: The next morning my throat was incredibly swollen and I couldn’t talk above a whisper for a few hours.