Traffic

It's bad enough to have a long day. But when your long day is topped with a bumper-to-bumper commute on what's laughingly called a "freeway," it feels like the world has it in for you.

I had one of those days yesterday. It wore me out. When I got to the Colorado Street Bridge I was glad to be home (and no, I didn't take this picture during a Friday rush hour).

I used to be a radio traffic reporter. People would call in to ask about accidents, rules of the road, the back-up on the 605. Often they aired their traffic frustrations to me and I reminded them, as I reminded myself yesterday, that if you're not involved in the accident that created the backup you're sitting in, then someone out there is having a much worse day than you are.

Plus how often do you get to just sit and listen to the news? Yesterday was a fine day for that.

Social Media

I finally made it to a meeting of the Social Media Club of San Gabriel Valley. The group meets monthly at the Business Technology Center in Altadena to discuss--

--well. I've given it away, haven't I?

It's not like this is the wave of the future anymore. Potential clients, customers or employers no longer ask for a resume or a flier, they just Google you. You have a good deal of control over your online presence and it's important to know how to shape it.

I can operate a blog one-handed. My Facebook page is doing okay. But I'm awful at Twitter and I keep forgetting to use my LinkedIn page. I figure maybe, just maybe, these Social Media people have a few things to teach me.

Still Life

The news says the president has quit smoking. It's not easy and I congratulate anyone who achieves it. I did it myself once and it was so hard I haven't so much as taken a single puff since August 31st, 1991, because I never want to have to quit again.

I feel sorry for people who are addicted to cigarettes and I try not to be too hard on them. I remember feeling shame associated with smoking--you're sent outside to indulge in your habit. You can't smoke in civilized places and many people don't even smoke in their own homes.

To those who have never experienced addiction, the need is difficult to describe. The nearest I can come is to say it's like hunger. Your body tells you when you need food and if you don't get it, you crave it. The longer you go without food the stronger the craving gets.

The craving is the same with cigarettes.

The difference is, your body is lying to you.

True Luv, Written in Cement

We've begun a pedestrian theme this week, of shoes and feet. I didn't know if it would continue or not, but I happened to have this sidewalk shot in my files. I say it counts because sidewalks are for walking.

And for lovers, apparently.

Do you suppose Chris and Patty are still in true luv, 4 ever?

Boz's Feet

Boz has the prettiest toes. As he ages his fur has turned white but you can see the golden brown color they were when he was younger. Look at those black claws/toenails! I am enamored of Boz's feet.

Boz doesn't particularly care about my feet. Shoes, however--shoes he does take an interest in. If I'm wearing my slippers, he knows I'm staying home. He can relax. No change is on the wind.

But if I put on a pair of shoes, he needs to know which ones and why. If they're my good shoes, are we going to Hollywood and does he get to go? If they're the walking shoes that smell like mud and weeds, I'd better put them on last unless I want him to follow me around the house until I've collected the camera, water bottle, sun visor and leash because he knows those shoes mean fun and he expects to get some.

Boz has shoes. He once injured his foot and had to wear a bandage while it healed. He could still walk, and we wanted to get him a shoe to keep his bandage clean. The only thing we found in his size were little doggy cowboy boots, and the store sold them exclusively in sets of four. We only have a couple of pictures.

Something was bugging his ear.

He didn't much mind the shoe. (We still have three clean ones.)

Zen Monday: #132

Students of Zen are taught through experience. Or so I'm told.

Please experience the photo and tell us, in the comments, what you have learned.

(Your first Zen Monday? Just have fun.)

Not Everyone Watches Football

Everyone has stocked up and gone indoors. They have their wide screen TVs, their sofas, their chips and salsa, their chicken wings, cole slaw, sandwiches and noisemakers, and enough beer to last a dozen people all day.

Everything else is all yours.