PICTURES OF THE WEEK
The Magnolia tree out my window has decided to bloom, despite that it’s winter. I love you, tree.
My Next Smartphone Is A Magazine!
Or, how leaving my cell phone at home on a Saturday was one of the best holidays I’ve had in awhile...
I’m in traffic, and realize my phone isn’t in the car. I left it at home.
I _could_ turn around, and go grab it. But, it’s getting late and my plans for the day include taking my truck to get inspected - and before I do that, I want to drive to Pacifica and back to make sure the catalytic converter gets hot enough to do it’s thing before the inspection. (And in case you don’t know, the drive there is BEAUTIFUL…)
And so I decided: I’ll just spend the day without the phone.
I follow road signs to Pacifica, and do a big loop back to the city. It was great knowing the way, and having the road signs to help out, and not keeping an eye on the little screen with the arrows.
I get to the smog inspection place (Clean Air Smog Star Station, across from DNA lounge), and luckily they are open, and the truck passes!
I decide to head to Costco, and get groceries. While wandering the aisles, I thought that maybe a good idea to help keep the cell phone at ba is to start carrying a magazine with me, so I have something to read besides the phone...
“No, I’m already in line” I heard the guy behind me say, as we were waiting to check out. We were a couple/few carts back from the register, so a few moments later, the phone goes into his pocket, and I turn to him and say, “Want me to watch your cart?”
In retrospect, I felt a little bad: I was admitting I overheard his conversation, and was inserting myself into his life. But, it was just the way I was raised, I guess: Mom always had a knack for striking up conversations in check out lines, and I guess I picked it up along the way.
He smiled, and said, no, that it was ok. It was his wife, and he had checked a few times before he got into line, and he wasn’t going back into the store now. (It also seemed to be something they didn’t really need.)
From there we talked about his kids, NPR, his working for MUNI but how he takes BART back and forth from the East Bay, and how he was going to grab a slice of pizza and eat it on the way home. A friend invited him to play soccer that night, and he didn’t want to eat too late. We also talked about how both of us were bearish on social media and cell phones these days. Thanks, Julio, for a nice chat. I don’t think it would have happened if I had my cell with me.
I just picked up a copy of Harper’s magazine tonight, and have been inspired by the writing. I’m looking forward to plowing through it, in it’s full three dimensions. And, my cell? Well, I’m a lot less worried about my cell running out of batteries...
Whenever I buy a dried spice, I write the purchase date on it, so I know how old it is. Here is some basil I bought this week!
When is a dime worth $7? When it is in mint condition and from 1967! Ok, while this dime I got is from 1967, it is not in mint condition, so closer to 10¢, but I still love finding old coins!
