Mittwoch

• I don't suppose that's Mr. Romney's real first name?
• Last week I was north of Bowie, stopped at the pet cemetery to 'visit' my pups.
• When it's my time, heck, they could put me by the curb in a Hefty bag.  But, for whatever reason, it's comforting/cathartic for me to have a place to go commune with them. 
• Strange, huh?
• It's not unusual to see ad hoc roadside shrines.  This is much more than that:

• Had lunch today at my favorite Asian fast food place, Rice Express.  Since I've changed territories, I don't get over there much anymore.  I think the manager there is a good marketer.  When I walked in, he asked "Where've you been?"
• Now, I was never really a 'regular' there - maybe once a month or three weeks, in the day.  But feeling like you're recognized is a powerful thing - kinda like going to 'Cheers'.
• And when I signed the debit card slip - there's a 'tip' line.  Who tips at a fast food place?
• In this case, I did.  Not a lot, on account of it being a fast food place, but if they'd treated me like any other dirtbag off the street, it'd been nothing.  Like I said, good marketing.
• The red sauce at a Chinese place - Is that Dexron or Mercon?
• I am an Apple-phobe.  Don't get me wrong - they've got some cool products - I just don't want to be locked into the whole Apple-think hegemony.  But I'm thinking I'd like a tablet.
• If circumstances come together, I'd like to get something more than an e-reader, like maybe the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 - to websurf, Bible research, e-magazines, and archive reference materials for the coming Zombie Apocalypse.
• For people who think the SmartForTwo is just too much car:

• A month or so ago, I was driving into the setting sun when a car splashed muddy water on my windshield.  As I ran the wipers, I found that the washer fluid line had ruptured, and it made a streaky, nearly opaque, mess.
• I pulled into a 7-11 gas station in Southlake, lifted the wipers off the glass, and washed the windshield.  Daughter got out to watch.  Then it occurred to me to lift the hood to confirm that the washer line had ruptured.
• Crunch!  It seems that the brilliant engineers at FoMoCo created a situation where the wiper blades contact the hood if you open it while the wipers are off the glass.  Daughter started to ask me a question.
• "[Daughter], please get back in the car" were the words, not loud or angrily, but not entirely concealing my frustration at having done something bonehead stupid.  She got back in the car, I closed the hood, and we drove the rest of the way home.
• As we got out of the car at the house, she asked me, "At the gas station, did I do something wrong?"
• If her mother and I did anything right, we instilled a sense of straightforwardness in her to be direct enough to ask the question.
• "No, you didn't do anything wrong at all - I was frustrated because I did something dumb.  Thank you for asking, and allowing me to explain myself."
• How many times are our words or actions interpreted in a way we don't intend?  I am thankful to God my Daughter has the courage to ask for clarification if she doesn't understand something.  (We subsequently had a conversation of that very subject.)
• Pleeeze, y'all pick up yore trash around the rock or it'll git tore down:

• I didn't get a picture, but the oddest thing I saw today was a guy in an electric wheelchair, cruising along the curb apron on East Hubbard in Mineral Wells (by the Whataburger) - talking on his cellphone.  At least he wasn't texting.
• Of course, I also couldn't help but wonder: Is the gerund/present participle form of the verb HoverRound called HoveringRound, or HoverRounding?
• This looks kinda like fun, huh?

• A colleague from my previous work emailed me telling me she liked a forwarded message I'd sent, and: "I waved at you last week. I'm the one in the black Corvette convertible that meets you on ---- ----- Parkway on occasion.   Hugs, -----"
• This is not-a-good.  I mean, I understand maybe Jarhead would not notice a hawt (albeit married) blonde in a Corvette convertible waving at him, on account of he's busy watching for  Adam Lambert Adam Levine (or Adam Ant, Adam West or Adam-12) to give him a 'Hey, Sailor!' shout out.  But not me.
• I'm losing it in my old age.
• Lakeside Baptist Church message: Forbidden fruit creates many jams.
• I'm going to bed tonight without the melatonin - because I don't want to become a melatonin addict.