Writing

Funny thing about writing, it takes practice. When I first started thing blog, I felt like words flew off my fingers. It was nothing for me to have at least one entry a day. Then, for some reason, I stopped. Don't know why but getting back into it has been more difficult than I thought. Seems like I got caught up in the whole facebook thing. It's a lot easier to type a few words into the status bar and move on. But what I realized is, facebook is like fast food, convenient, easy, and filling but has not substance. At least writing on a blog feels more like I have to think about what I am doing or saying. Regardless if any one is reading, it feels better and more useful to me. In some ways therapeutic.

Hard to Believe it is Winter

Here it is, January 18th, and the weather is like a spring day. It was a little cool when we first went out (arrived at 7:30) but nothing like it should be for a winter day. By the time we left, it was sunny and 61 degrees. It felt like a spring day. I love this weather but can't help but worry about why it is this nice. We desperately need rain and are way behind our normal rainfall totals for this time of the year. January and February are supposed to be our rainy months. I don't think we have had more than half an inch during this time. This is the second year in a row. If we don't get some soon, it will be water rationing time. Oh well, in the short term, I will just have to enjoy it.

Another Industry's Hand is Out for the Bail Out

I was reading through the CNN website and saw the headline, Porn industry seeks federal bailout. The first thing I did was check to see that I was not diverted to another website such as "the Onion.com". Nope, I was at CNN alright. So the next thing I did was read the article. No way this could be serious. I wanted to see what the joke was. Well, the joke was on me (or us taxpayers). Larry Flint (Hustler) and Joe Francis (Girls Gone Wild videos) were trying to make the case of how important the porn industry actually is to the US and of course they should be bailed out. That made me doubt the article that much more. How could they actually go to Congress with a straight face and ask for the money. Then it occurred to me...they have to have pictures on many of the members. How else could they possibly bring this up? Further commentary by Campbell Brown said it best, Leave it to Joe Francis and Larry Flynt to show the absurdity of the bailout. Let me just say this, if they get it, I am going next. I would require far less to get me through this tough time and once I am through it, I will be a strong contributor to the economy again.

Tough Times...Living at the Beach (Seriously)

Today I took the pups back to Fort Funston. We arrived at 7 am. It was just us today. The purpose for this post is not to talk about the beach walk (although it was truly lovely) but to remind me how lucky I am to have a home, job and nourishment. When we were on our walk yesterday, we came upon a fir tree that was decorated with obviously hand-made ornaments. About 50 feet away was an encampment with a tent and fire pit. I remember thinking that the sight of this tree and the tent was somewhat bittersweet. I had intended to mention it on my blog entry yesterday but got caught up in my own life's minutia and didn't. So today, while we were on our walk, I was reminded of this again because there was a fire going which I presume was to keep these folks warm. I had heard that the tent was where a family was staying. Well, obviously the parents wanted to give the kids a somewhat normal Christmas by decorating a tree for them. I was touched by that as well as somewhat saddened. I can't imagine how hard it must be to be a parent, have your family be homeless and still try to make Christmas "normal". I sure wish there was a way that everyone could have what they needed. Naive...I know.

With All the Bad News...Thank Goodness For Pups and Parks

There has been a lot of bad news lately and I just learned that many of my friends from a previous company have been laid off. A horrible time of the year to lose a job normally but particularly hard given what is going on in the economy. I felt a bit bummed out and realized how grateful I am to have good friends, wonderful sisters, loving pups and parks to walk in. Going on a hike always picks up my spirits a bit so I am glad to have the dogs because it forces me to get out there everyday. Even days like this where it is drizzling, foggy and cold. There is a beauty in this weather as well. Below is a picture of the hills covered in clouds. If it was clear you would be able to see the snow that had fallen.

Here is a picture of Dixy waiting patiently (not!) for me to throw the tennis ball. Her joy in the simplest things makes me envy her.More cloud covered hills.

The dogs running up the side of the hill, hoping to catch the birds that were constantly taunting them. No such luck (for the dogs at least. The birds were very lucky)

I hope that I can maintain a positive attitude through this mess of an economy. I hope that I can be a positive support to my friends who need it. I hope I can continue to be grateful for all that I have and not worry about what may be on the horizon.

News That Makes Me Pause...

Then just irked me.

-Okay please need to get over the fact that Barack Obama won the election. There are several suits that have been filed arguing that Obama is not a natural born citizen (he was born in the US) and therefore can't be sworn in as president. Can I just say to all you folks out there trying to argue this point...."He won the election fair and square! Get over it and get on with your lives"!

-Here's a CNN headline for you, "Seductive mom gets son's juror to 'fess up ". Seems this mother went to extraordinary lengths to save her son from prison even though he was convicted of ordering the killing of a 19 year old boy. She gave herself an extreme makeover and hit on one of the jurors for a number of months until she was able to get the desired information from him. Too bad she didn't put that much energy into keeping her son out of gangs.

-And another CNN headline reads "Commentary: Pregnant woman asks for help, gets ticket". Apparently there was a major traffic jam on the road the pregnant woman took to get to the hospital. Her contractions were three minutes apart so they drove on the breakdown lane until they met up with a state trooper who they asked for help. Instead of helping them he humiliated the woman by questioning if she was really pregnant and them made her proved it. On top of that, he gave them a ticket and didn't help them get to the hospital. In order to keep my language clean let me just say this, What an Idiot!

And my last bit of disturbing news for the day...

-"Craigslist baby sitter used tot in porn film". I am not even going to go into the story. The headline is disturbing enough.

Sometimes I have to wonder...what is wrong with us?!

Random Observations

Not too much to say today with the exception of a few random observations and thoughts. So without further adieu, here goes:

-Listening to the radio today I heard an ad for a company selling giant teddy bears, stuffed rabbits, you named it. You can even have a personalized t-shirt made. The final question the ad asks, "wouldn't you love a teddy bear taller than an NBA basketball player?". Ummm...no I would not.

-Also heard on the radio that the polar bears are so hungry they are eating each other. Thankfully though, Sarah Palin informed us there really is not any man made problems with the environment. I guess they have always eaten themselves.

-Looking out at the park outside my office window, I noticed a woman practicing her line dancing steps. The question my friend Staci asked..."is it really line dancing when it's a line of one.". Excellent question Staci.

-While taking a lunch time walk, I notice a commotion. There were five or six men holding down another man while they waited for the police. The held down man was screaming bloody murder. Apparently, he had just robbed some tourists. It was quite reminiscent of the show "Cops". Just goes to show, big cities don't just have high profile crimes.

-Can someone please tell how "Forbes" magazine can publish an article the "Hollywood's Most Influential Infants"? How in the world are these infants influential? And if they are...Shame on us!

Okay, before I get on to things that really peeve me, I will end this post. Whoo...feel a Little better now.

Monday Morning...And A Vacation Day

I am happy to report that I have decided to take a vacation day today. Tomorrow is a bank holiday so I decided to take the day off and extend the weekend to four days. I can't tell you how nice it was last night to know I was going to work today. I love long weekends. Truth be told, I would love to be retired. There are so many fun things I could fill my days with. Unfortunately, that may not happen as soon as I like with the way the stock market and economy is going. Hey...maybe a can will the lottery. It could happen. :-)

Trying to Escape

I am sitting in my office, playing free video games and doing whatever I can to avoid the election coverage. I can't stand it anymore and don't want to see a bit of it. If I could, I would sleep until tomorrow, when the results would be known and I could either mourn the state of our nation and our dashed hopes or could celebrate the possibilities of getting things back on track. I know that this is cryptic but that is how I want it to be.

Currently, all the pups are in the office with me. Each are in their sleeping bags and Colvin is snoring. Why can't we be as carefree as them? I love that about dogs. They are eternally optimistic and have such low expectations. We could learn a lot from them.

Colvin-Still Playful At Over 11

Even at a little over 11 years old, Colvin has a little spunk to her and still wants the tennis ball tossed so she can chase it. Unfortunately for her, there is no way she can out run Dixy so she never has a chance. What I usually end up doing is pretending to toss the ball in one direction which sends Dixy running like a bat out of hell and then lobbing the ball in the opposite direction so that Colvin can trot over and pick it up. I can usually do this about 4 or 5 times before Dixy catches on. Then she waits until she actually sees the ball leave my hands. Until that time though, Colvin is in her little piece of heaven acting like a puppy again. It is very sweet.

Below are a few pictures of Colvin with the tennis ball.

Back to the Tide Chart

So when we got to the beach today, the tide was higher than I had anticipated. Not to worry though, I brought my Muck shoes. I figured my feet wouldn't get wet and all would be good. We walked along for an hour or so and all was going as usual. Dixy was chasing tennis balls, Grady was pestering Dixy, Sara was trying to get Grady to chase her, and Colvin was enjoying her leisurely walk. I was so focused on watching Dixy and Grady run up and down the sides of the cliffs chasing after the tennis ball that I completely lost track of where the tide was. With my back to the water and my eyes on the cliff, I was suddenly overcome with ocean up to 15 inches on my legs. Needless to say (but I'll say it anyway) the muck shoes do little good if the water goes into them. So I proceeded to walk another 45 minutes back to the car with squishy, soaking wet pants socks and shoes. All in 57 degree weather...Good times. :-)

Things That People Will Buy

I went to Barnes & Nobles to look for images of southwestern, US birds and reptiles. While wandering around the store, I spotted this, "Toilets of the World". Don't ask me why, but I just had to have it . I mean who would think of putting together a book of pictures of toilets and their descriptions from around the world. As I was flipping through it, I found an assortment of toilet types. Everything from your basic outhouse to really elaborate hi-tech toilets. There were a few that I just had to share though. More for their really bizarreness. This one moves and shakes. Can you men imagine using this?

Who knows where they got the idea for this one. Kind of reminds me of someone I might see in a Gay Pride Parade.

This one made me feel uncomfortable even thinking about using these toilets. I mean who wants faces staring at you the whole time?

And then there was this one. Frightening on so many levels but funny too.

Anyways wanted to share.

The Bailout Explained

So it has been a few days since my last entry and I was thinking about what I wanted to blog today. Initially I thought I would just let everyone know the mundane things that have been going on. BUT as luck would have it, my friend Staci passed along this gem of a video. It gives me the opportunity to better understand the reasons of how we ended up in this financial mess and how our bailout numbers were derived. You see, it is clear that these leaders of men went to the Ma & Pa Kettle School of Mathematics And we, the uneducated masses, just need to see this little video to understand that the numbers will add up. So...here's to educating as many as possible. Now we can all relax knowing our financial futures are in good hands.

Three Day Weekends-Yeah

With all the craziness that is in the news, it was nice to have an extra day to recharge the batteries. It was a little difficult to realize how bad of a hit my 401k took. At this rate, I will never be able to retire. That being said, there is not much I can do about it in the short term so what better way to get my mind off everything but a trip to the beach. The weather was perfect. The norm is for September and October to be beautiful in San Francisco. Today it didn't disappoint. The temperature was about 72 degree with an ever so slight breeze. An added bonus was that since it was a holiday that only about a quarter of the population gets off, there were very few people at the beach. It really was relaxing. We were there for a couple of hours. I really envy the way the dogs are so carefree too. I wish I could get some of that feeling. That being said, I did come home feeling a little more serene, realizing that most of what's going on is out of my hands and I can only do what is in front of me. So that is my mantra re-enforced again.

Beach Story-Light Reflections and a Naked Man

Wanted to tell another story about our trip to the beach yesterday. First off, I can't remember the last time I went to the beach in the late afternoon. There is something about the light on the water that is special. I tried to capture it in the pictures above. It was high tide when we arrived so there was little beach for the dogs to run on. So the dogs and I walked along the trails in the dunes. Periodically, we would find a spot where we could walk along the beach for awhile. When I couldn't walk on the beach without having the tide come up over my shoes, we would take a path back up to the dune trails for a time until another path led to an area with more open beach. After being back on the beach for awhile, I noticed there was a naked man walking from his set up into the water. He was about 100 yards away from us and I saw him before the dogs (thank goodness). They would have wanted to run up and greet him and that is the last thing I wanted to do. Don't get me wrong, he was harmless. Having lived in the bay area for so long, there are lots of areas where you will see a naked person at certain times of the year but that is expected. The craziest thing...the guy went swimming in the ocean. Do you know how cold that water is? Anyways, I decided to stay up on the dune trails after that. I was still able to see the light reflection on the water and the dogs had a perfectly wonderful time running all over the place.

Well...Why Not....

He couldn't possibly do anymore damage than those who are already in there. Right? Seriously though, all I could think of when I saw this sign was the cartoon kid with the big head who had a crush on the little red-headed girl AND always had the football picked up by Lucy before he could kick it. If this was you, wouldn't you have change your name to Charles, Chuck, even Fred? Anything other than Charlie(not that Charlie is a bad name). I don't know how much confidence this would instill in his potential constituency. I mean (although his intentions are good) do you want to vote in someone who can't even manage his own little league baseball team? Or whose beagle always gets the best of him? Just wondering what his handlers are thinking.

Just Curious, But Do You Think He Needs One?

I'm thinking...Not so much.

Pigeon Picture and Curious Actions

Here is a picture I thought was interesting. I went to meet a friend for lunch today and as I was waiting for her I noticed this running water "fountain" in the center of the plaza. The birds obviously thought it was their personal bird bath. They were perched on the edge of the fountain as the water was running, just as comfortable as can be. Every once in awhile they would start bathing and preening. It was interesting to watch as I passed the time waiting for my friend. I tried to capture their reflections in the water but the angle and lighting weren't quite right. I am sharing it anyway.

Here is a curious thing. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home today. I usually go in there after a hike while I am usually in shorts. Today I went in wearing my work attire (business suit) and it was interesting how differently I was treated. The employees are always nice to me but today they went out of their way to see if they could help me. I am sure that they didn't recognize me even though I have shopped there for years. I just think it is interesting how we are perceived in such a different way based on what we are wearing.

Trolls, Leprechauns, and Gnomes-Fun Facts

I don't think I have laughed as hard as I did today in a long time. I was speaking to a friend of mine and somehow the topic of Gnomes came up. She is very afraid of them and thinks they are creepy. I told her my mom collected them and I have a tattoo of one on my ankle (come to find out it is really a fairy). This led to a discussion about trolls (I think of the plastic dolls from the sixties, she thinks of the creatures from under a bridge) and how evil they are. Which further led to conversations of Leprechauns and their nastiness. Again, our images of them were completely different. She-Leprechaun the movie, me Lucky Charm Cereal. That led to her finding all kind crazy websites including one one Gnome that play really goofy music and another http://www.badmovies.org/ describing the Leprechaun movie.

Fun Gnome, Leprechaun & Troll Facts

Gnomes-There are several types. Woodland, Dune, Farm, House, Garden, & Siberian. The Garden gnome belongs to the general type. He lives in old gardens, even those hemmed in between the new houses of modern "model" cities. His nature is on the somber side, and he rather enjoys telling melancholy tales. If he begins to feel too closed in , he simply goes to the woods. But, as he is quite learned, he sometimes feels out of place there. The Siberian gnome has been the most affected by crossbreeding. He is centimeters larger than the European type and associates freely with trolls. In certain regions there is not a single gnome to be trusted. The Siberian gnome takes revenge for even the slightest offense by killing cattle, causing bad harvests, droughts, abnormally cold weather, and so forth. The less said about him, the better. There is even a Free the Gnome Society. Pretty funny really.

Leprechauns-One of a race of elves in Irish folklore who can reveal hidden treasure to those who catch them. But they don't like humans.

Trolls-don't see very well. They are as blind as a bat and can't see their own hand in front of them. Trolls hate the daylight (Unless you are Wendy's Troll Doll). If they are caught in the sun, they will turn to stone. The worst thing you could ever do to a troll is be happy. They hate happiness and things that make people happy. So be careful not to be too happy, you might make a troll mad. If you do, a troll will not take kindly to you.


Thanks for indulging my weirdness today.

In a World Gone Mad-Maybe I'll Sell Avon

Now what would be crazier? Really...anyone who knows me knows this would be equivalent to reality television shows becoming unpopular. If you are wondering where this came from, well I was watching TV (first mistake) and an Avon ad with a chipper little woman comes on talking about how happy she was with her first big sale of Avon products. It went on to imply this was a good career choice. Now mind you, I have nothing against sellers of Avon but with all the craziness that is the state of our national finances it just really struck me as funny that anyone could suggest this is a viable career choice. But with everything that is going on...maybe this IS where the future is. Crazier things have been known to happen.