SIDE NOTES

Welcome to Side Notes - a collection of essays, excerpts, and reflections shaped by two decades of building things from the ground up. These entries pull from the margins of business, creativity, reinvention, and everyday life. The parts we often overlook but always learn from.

You’ll find moments of humor, clarity, nostalgia, and insight. Whether it’s a chapter preview, an observation, or a personal truth dressed, everything here comes from a place of experience and curiosity

Why Do I Cover Up Food in the Garbage Like I’m Hiding a Crime?
RaeAnne Conat RaeAnne Conat

Why Do I Cover Up Food in the Garbage Like I’m Hiding a Crime?

Why do I flip uneaten food upside down in the garbage like I’m covering a crime scene? Childhood trauma? Oscar the Grouch? Maybe.

Welcome to the weird guilt of the Clean Plate Club era, where leftovers come with shame, and the trash can is judging you like some green monster with a lid hat. We’re diving into food guilt, parental programming, business burnout, and the ridiculous things we still carry as adults—from napkin-smuggling bites to rebellion in the form of garbage rituals. Trust me, it’s funny. It’s honest. And it might just make you feel normal for once.

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Hi, I’m Business Bleu Cheese

Hi, I’m Business Bleu Cheese

You know what goes great with cold, lumpy mashed potatoes and overcooked peas you’ve been avoiding for an hour?A big ol’ glass of milk.At least, that’s what my grandpa thought when he tried to induct me into the Clean Plate Club. It did not end well. I decorated the family dinner table in a way no one appreciated, and to this day, I still can’t do cooked peas.

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