WWSD

When I got back to work, someone made bracelets out of thick rubber bands with the letters WWSD

Try Not to Eat Like a Bat

Last night I was walking the dog around the block at dusk because it was too hot earlier. We rounded the corner and a bat flew between me and the dog. Before I could scream the bat was halfway down the block and by then it was too late to scream so I didn't. I could see it clearly against the sky and it flew down the block and back up again never veering from the road. That bat was eating above the road. I thought it was strange that the bat was eating on the road. I realized that on busy days, days where we're driving between violin lessons and school events or doctor appointments and book club meetings, I eat on the road too. We go through the drive through and eat while traveling. I've heard that isn't good for the digestion. One should really sit down at a table and eat like a civilized human being. I imagine it's safer too. So from now on, I will try not to eat like a bat and eat at a table instead.

Here's an interesting link - try it. It has nothing to do with bats.

Japanese One-Click Award <http://www.1-click.jp/>!

I want to drive a Bulldozer

I went back to work today. I had a very nice welcome. I had cards and a plant and signs and e-mails welcoming me. That was very, very nice. I felt wanted and needed. And I love my job.

But someday I want to drive a bulldozer - not necessarily as a paid job. I just want to move some earth. I want to flatten a hill or create a hill or demolish a building.

Girlfriends I Have Known

I have been thinking back about old television shows and the friendships between women on these shows. Some of my favorite shows had female friendships as a theme in the show. My favorite by far was Lucy and Ethel. The Lucy and Ethel friendship reminds me of a friendship I once had - I was the Ethel. Lucy and Ethel had a lot of fun together that they never would have had separately. Lucy was always pulling Ethel out of her comfort zone and Ethel would protest but eventually go along. Many people like the episode where Lucy and Ethel work in a candy factory. That one is funny but my favorite was when they tried to fix a shower. Maybe this was past the "I Love Lucy" time and into the next show. Lucy and Ethel are trying to fix a shower but, as I could predict, Lucy's idea is flawed and the shower starts filling up with water. The opaque shower doors hold the water in as it rises to the level where they are swimming. In the Flintstones, Wilma and Betty had a good friendship even though most of it was uniting against the dumba$$ husbands. I don't remember seeing Betty and Wilma planning any of their own fun. Mary Tyler Moore had girlfriends and they had issues just like real girlfriends too - jealousy, misunderstandings, etc. In Will and Grace, Grace and Karen are both very intriguing characters but to me, their friendship doesn't seem very real. They don't like each other. They only tolerate one another because of their male friends. And how about Donna and Jackie in the 70's show? If Donna were real, she would have a ton of strong female friends but instead she just has airhead, shallow Jackie. What about Half Pint and Nellie on Little House on the Prairie? With friends like that, who needs enemies? Aunt Bea had a friend named Clara on the Andy Griffith Show but they seemed to be enemies too. You really can't count the Brady Bunch or Petticoat Junction - those were sisters which are an entirely different species. I know of what I speak here.

Lucy and Ethel were the best. RIP

Noble Gas Argon

This week I learned something about Argon that I think is fascinating. Argon is a noble gas. On the periodic table, it comes in at number 18. It is colorless and odorless and heavier than air. Argon is available in small amounts on earth - in our atmosphere. Argon does not react well with other elements - tends to stay the same no matter what else is near. So far that is not the fascinating part. Here it comes, wait for it, wait for it - We are breathing the same molecules of argon as our forebearers back to the beginning of time. And our descendants will be breathing the same argon that we have used in our bodies.

We are all connected.

Back To Work

A day and a half away from going back to work. I have mixed feelings. I have enjoyed my time off. I like getting up, walking the dog, having breakfast and reading the entire newspaper from start to finish and spending as much time on each article as I like. Then I clean up and by then it's 9 or 10 a.m. I like doing things when I feel like doing them. Watch a move, do the laundry, read a book outside - when I feel like doing that, I can do that. That will all change come Monday. I am sure to have a huge pile of paperwork awaiting me. I will have to go back to using to do lists. I will have to be economical with my time. I will have to set the alarm - uggh. That bugs me most of all. I have gotten up at 5 or 6 a.m. 80% of my days off but now I will have to set the alarm. I will be happy to see people though and to get back to my old routine. I am going to make a big batch of frog eye salad for my coworkers because they've been so nice to me while I was gone. I have missed my work friends. I must not be ready for retirement because I can't imagine being without my work friends.

I got carded!

I know what you are thinking - I am too old to be carded. Yet I do not lie. I got carded at Home Depot. I was out shopping for spray paint (color? Yep, orange). I used the self serve check out. I scanned my can of orange spray paint and the screen told me to wait for a teller. The teller approached and said, "May I see your drivers license?" She smiled and was polite but I felt affronted. Do you have to be able to drive to paint? If so, I can think of a few other activities that would require a drivers license. Anyway, I said, "Seriously?" She smiled again and said some kids like to buy paint and get in trouble. So she looked at me license, pressed some numbers on my screen and I was on my way. I assumed she meant the kids would huff the spray paint but after thinking about it, Home Depot might also be concerned that kids would use the paint for graffitti.