It's a jungle out there

Just finished a class on DRIVING for senior citizens. It was enough to make one paranoid. Even if I don't DO any of those things, there are a lot of people out there who are not yielding when they are supposed to and who are making crazy left hand turns. Those are the two biggest causes of accidents with the aged. We learned about how it becomes more difficult to SURVIVE an accident after age 75. I'm not there yet, but it was somewhat depressing to contemplate. Also learned a bunch of curious facts, such as you can be booked for a D.U.I. if you take your medication wrong. I know I drive other people crazy by driving too slow (the speed limit) but they drive me bonkers by turning out in front of me when they are going 10 miles an hour and I am going 50. So which is greater...the people who HONK at me, or the people at whom I would like to honk? I try not to honk, as much as I may want to. Teacher advised us not to encourage ROAD RAGE but to avoid it at all costs.

I tried to COOK the other day. It was pretty much a failure. I tried to make tuna casserole with a recipe with no measurements, just a list of ingredients. I may try it again with some adjustments. Or, maybe I will just rip up the recipe and forget about it. I had just suddenly gotten an urge for an old fashioned casserole with potato chips on top. I don't have the patience for cooking. Although, as the driving instructor pointed out, we have all EARNED the right to be patient.

My local paper is going to regionalize. I HATE that. It started out being the Bridgeton Evening news. I still call it that even though they changed the name to The news of Cumberland County. Now, any day it is going to become The South Jersey times. Libraries and newspapers and social service organizations do not IMPROVE when they regionalize. They just get more out of touch with the local needs. But of course freeholders and politicians LOVE regionalization. My paper drove me nuts the other day. A guy got murdered. Instead of James Penn III, they wrote James Penn!!! on the caption. Lame!

Feeling kinda rushed

Don't have the Internet at home yet, and am having trouble getting my work (and play) done at our local public libraries, including the one I used to work at! They all have different rules....some of them only allow ONE hour per day online. Now, how in the world do they expect a person to function with THOSE rules? Guess I should investigate how to get online at home. A friend kindly pointed out that I am probably spending as much on GAS to get to all of my hangouts as it would cost me to get online at home. Not to mention the shoulder pain I have what with lugging all of my folders, binders, file boxes, calendars everywhere with me. That comes to MORE than one bag per shoulder.

Hmmm...just imformed that the SWAT team is in the neighborhood. What a day! Bad accident this AM forced me to go way out of my way to get where I was going. Road was entirely shut down. Had to get the heaphones going. Annoying patron chatter around me. Playlist not working, as is often the case, so fell back on Youtube.

Really enjoyed this book, Blogging for creatives : how designers, artists, crafters, and writers can blog to make contacts, win business, and build success, by Robin Houghton. I need to examine it page by page but can't really due to FEELING KINDA RUSHED. I could actually spend four hours a day on the computer to feel fulfilled.
The book is a good how to do it but also lists a lot of cool blogs I would like to look up. I am equally passionate about READING blogs and WRITING blogs.

I hate neck tattoos

Chris Brown got another one. Facial jewelry is a pretty disgusting second, in my book.

I saw a funny sign in a library yesterday. "Persons engaging in inappropriate restroom behavior may be denied restroom privileges". There was also a limit of ten minutes in the restroom. I got it. I have worked in a library and there is no limit to the wacky things which can occur when you are working with the public. Every time something happens, a new rule/policy is devised. Then they do something ELSE you have never seen before.

"The GOOD news: the library got the DVDs I requested
The BAD news: They were stolen"

"Do not CHEW on the headphone cords. These headphones are provided as a courtesy so your child can play the games with sound. If they are damaged, they will no longer be provided".

I wrote a note to myself: "The mother load blog". But when I looked it up, there were several such blogs and spellings and I do not remember WHY I wrote that note to myself! And WHY would I be interested in a blog about motherhood, anyway? I am single and childless. Not sure why SOME family blogs are entertaining and some just plain boring. So, I just added one of them to my read list and tore up the note.

The market's gonna do what it's gonna do in spite of the victor on November 6th

Someone (?) said this this morning on CNBC (?) I am very worried about the election. I am not a safety investor and thought one should be very concerned if the president changes. I am not buying any more stocks. I have my own little mutual fund but the losers always equal the winners and I never get anywhere.

I love rice pudding. When we were at Indian Chaat and sweets in Berkeley, California, I got all excited cause it seemed they were serving rice pudding WITH RAISINS. Raisins in your rice pudding are very hard to come by. Now, this rice pudding WAS really delicious, but when I bit down on the raisin, it turned out to be a cardoman pod. According to the Internet, they are edible, but you should have seen the look on my face.

Got in a panic this morning cause I thought I lost my water bottle. Who cares, you may ask? Well, I haven't had a new water bottle since the dangerous stuff was discovered. And my sister had bought it for me, I think for last Christmas. I just got it when I was at her wedding. But I had to go all the way to the top of the Berkeley Hills to get it. So, I even called the airport cause I thought it had rolled out of my bag on the plane. I know, I know, it was a long shot, but hope springs eternal. After called the 800 number for Virgin Air, I was referred to Philadelphia airport lost and found and thence to the "local" Virgin America number where I had to leave a message. Then I found the gosh darn water bottle. I was very heppy. I also brought home another water bottle cause it had touristic information on it about the San Francisco Bay. And a really cool Diet Coke container that we don't have in New Jersey. This is why I have a problem with STUFF.

Other people's TVs

Just returned from 12 hours of traveling to get back from San Francisco. Traveled by car and then train and then plane and then bus and back to car again. Finally broke down and bought the headphones to fully appreciate the interactive screen on Virgin Air. I enjoyed listening to songs by Bob Dylan and Jay Z. Strange juxtapositions of artists on the list...Bach or B.o.B., Brahms or Bo Diddley? Catching a glimpse of all the other people's screens, I also wanted to be watching Seinfeld, Everybody loves Raymond, Sex in the city and Vanguard, this (illegal) American life.

I have a new brother-in-law. He does a good demonstration of someone trying to use a computer while sitting in those cramped airline seats. The trip home was a bit better than the trip out in some ways. There were more noisy kids, but the trip is an hour shorter coming East and I think the headphones helped.

I was also intrigued by the books people brought on the trip:
- Me: Monkey mind : a memoir of anxiety, by Daniel Smith
- My sister: Parallel communities, the Underground Railroad in South Jersey, by Dennis Rizzo
- Her boyfriend: The nautical chart, by Arturo Perez-Reverte
- Guy behind me - Beyond the wall, exploring George R.R. Martin's A song of fire and ice, edited by James Lowder
- Woman beside me - The men they will become : the nature and nurture of male character, by Eli Newberger

Stuff people ask the concierge

Lady wants to know why there is a discrepency between two different weather sites and what is the weather really going to do? Cripes!

Had a decent little breakfast at the Super 8 Berkeley. Found out it is reunion weekend at U.C. Berkeley. Ear plugs tonight! Am having a SECOND breakfast at the Hotel Shattuck Plaza where my sister is staying. Walked from my hotel to her hotel admiring the variety of stores and restaurants. Even the homeless people seem to have something "deep" to say when you are away from home.

All of my pills fell out of their containers in the airplane. I may or may not have gotten them back in the right places.

People and their phones

Really, MUST you talk on the phone when you are in a stall at the Philadelphia airport!?!?!

Am really enjoying being out of town. I hate packing but once I get going...look out.
Getting up before the crack of dawn is not my idea of a good time, either. When I went into the tiny cubicle they call a bathroom on the airplane, I discovered that I had my blouse on INSIDE OUT. That is what happens when you get dressed in the dark.

Had a great time flying Virgin Air. Now I LOVE Virgin as much as I HATE Spirit. They leave on time, the seats are somewhat roomy, they serve Diet Coke, they have a cool interactive screen you can play with, and the stewards are friendly. I am fortunate to be DRIVEN for a change, TO the Philadelphia airport and FROM the San Francisco airport by my sister. We drove over the University Avenue Bridge into Berkeley and almost slammed on the brakes to stop at the first Indian restaurant we came upon. I think I deserve an extra meal today due to the three hour time difference, don't I?