This has been one hell of a week, I mean, just top to bottom really something else.
I have had good days, and bad days (…but when the day is through, I’ll always get lucky with you…this song goes out to The Good Man on an overcast and rainy day in the Bay – thus ends my Merle Haggard rendezvous) but overall I can actually say I learned some things this week.
Yes, that’s right, this old dog has seriously learned some new stuff over the past several days and I want to share it with you.
Maybe I should start by sharing something I learned just right now: the distance between typing “share” and typing “shart” is only two keys away on the old keyboard. Dangerous.
Now seriously, let’s get to the learnin’
1) It turns out that the song Let It Be, made famous by the Beatles and written by Paul McCartney, was actually originally intended for Aretha Franklin to record. And record it she did.
Unfortunately, some fiddle-faddle with her label prevented the song from being released, so the Beatles went ahead and recorded it and released it first.
Give the Aretha version a listen and tell me if you don’t get chills, because I started crying when I heard it, it’s so beautiful and so different from the Beatles version.
I know that song became a bellwether for the Beatles, marking when the group first broke apart, but damn I wish the Aretha version was first to the scene.
(If for some reason the video doesn’t play or the link to the YouTube above doesn’t work, please just Google “Let It Be Aretha” and you’ll find it.)
2) Then there was a space item of edumacation I discovered. Here it is: If there was air in space, the sun, our own little fireball, would make sounds like ringing of cathedral bells at a volume just above that of a train whistle.
If space were replaced with air and we could hear the Sun, it would be incredibly noisy – the output of the Sun is equivalent to 10 million keys, or notes, of a piano. In fact you would struggle to hear little else! Throwing out an energy of 383 yottawatts per second, we get a translation of 290 decibels which makes for a very, very loud Sun indeed.
And it would go on ALL THE TIME.
It seems like that would be cool at first and then it would be like “rip my ears off my head, I’m done now.”
3) I even managed to learn something about my Fair New Mexico this week. On Facebook I noticed a graphic with all of the applicable New Mexico State symbols, most of which I knew quite well.
One I did not. Let me drop my new knowledge on you.
New Mexico has a state slogan and that slogan is:
Everybody is somebody in New Mexico
Is that because no one is anyone everywhere else? I mean, huh?
It’s certainly a noble thought but of course brings out my inner comedian. I’ll spare you.
By the by, there is also a State Motto (that I already knew) which is:
Crescit eundo (loosely translated to mean “it goes as it grows”)
And what about the state nickname “Land of Enchantment”?
Since I am a good soulless corporate drone, I think we should create efficiencies!
New Mexico: Somebody grows in enchantment
Let’s call that good, huh?
And there you have it. Is your mind blown? Mine is.
Actually there is no more space left in my brain. Better start drinking so I can clear out some brain cells for next week.
On Saturday the sun shone down so brightly on the Bay Area that it was too hard to stay inside. Roaming and marauding were the order of the day.
Yes, I know as a Californian I am supposed to feel Very Guilty about these sunny winter days we are having. I get it.
But instead of guilt, The Good Man and I went outside and basked in the sun. We decided to wander not our own neighborhood but the one just one city over.
It’s a really fun and funky block of shops and restaurants.
They day started with some chilaquilas that were rated as acceptable to me. You see, I grade Mexican food on a very tight scale. Sadly, most Californian Mexican food fails.
Once we were full to overfilled with good eats, we moved on to a really awesome bookstore that I had never been to before.
I do love bookstores. Especially local bookstores with both new and used books on the shelves. You really get a feel for a town by what is stocked on those used shelves.
As I often do in a bookstore, I wandered over to the art section. I am looking for a used copy of a particular Henri Toulouse-Lautrec book. Hope springs eternal.
This particular art book section was more eclectic than I usually find, which was great. A lot of things I hadn’t seen before.
While perusing, I found one very small section of books under the heading of “Wild, Wacky and Wonderful.”
Boy, this small collection lived up to the billing.
There were just five titles. I can’t quite remember them all. One was Toilets of the World. I recall that. Quite an interesting tome, may I add. One was the Pipe Handbook. One was the Diary of a Sword Swallower or something like that. I can’t seem to recall the other two.
As I browsed I kept walking back to that section and laughing. It was *too* perfect. Just too.
So then I decided to take an iPhone photo so I could remember what five titles were there. But how to snap a photo without incurring the wrath of the storeowners? They are sick, I’m sure, of people finding something in their store then buying it on Amazon. Snap click is a means to that end.
My intentions were good but I didn’t want to be a pain in that charming store.
Then I remembered, oh yes, that you can use the volume buttons on the iPhone to fire the shutter. I decided that I could hold the camera at about waist level and take a surreptitious snap.
I went over to the side of an aisle and thought, “Ok, I better give this a try to make sure I know how it works.”
I pushed the button and then loudly echoing through the store was the shutter sound that iPhone so helpfully adds to camera app.
You see, I always, always, always have the sound off on my phone. Always. I mean seriously, always.
Except on Friday afternoon when I was expecting (and didn’t want to miss) a call from my boss. After the call I then forgot to switch sound back off.
The shutter sound caused three people around me to snap their heads up and give me “grrrr” eyes.
Busted. Flat busted.
So there you go. I have no photo of the crazy fun titles, only my hazy memory.
And this piece of photographic art of the wrong shelves. *sigh*
Growing up in New Mexico, I was used to being around a certain amount of wildlife. I knew from an early age: Stay away from rodents (bubonic plague), keep off the snakes (bitey) and if you happen across a bear, well, nice knowing you.
Ok, just kidding on that last part. Kind of.
My dad and brother were both avid hunters and I spent more than my fair share of time in the mountains and wilderness of New Mexico. Still some of my best memories.
I live in the Bay Area now, which is a huge urban area (seven million and counting!) that is surrounded by lots and lots of open land and wildlife.
When wildlife happens to wander into areas where a lot of people hang out, insanity ensues. It seems most folks weren’t raised with both a healthy respect and a dose of circumspect when it comes to wild animals.
I got to thinking about this because just two days ago, while running late to a meeting at work and trying to find a spot in a cramped parking lot, I narrowly avoided hitting both a white Honda Civic and a rather grumpy wild turkey.
And I don’t mean the kind of wild turkey that comes in a bottle.
The Honda (who was taking their half out of the middle of the road) just kept going but the turkey gave me a fair piece of its mind. I nodded knowingly and muttered “sorry turkey” and kept rolling.
When this happened, I remembered that about six months ago, we received an all employee bulletin regarding the turkeys that are running a bit rampant on our main facility.
Here is the text of that bulletin, with identifying information redacted:
Recently, an employee got too close to a wild turkey, and the bird flew up and brushed against her. The incident serves as an important reminder that the turkeys are untamed animals and need to be given space. Allow at least 10–15 feet of clearance, try not to turn your back on the birds if they are close, and do not feed them.
It sort of paints a visual picture for me of some lady sneaking up on a turkey and it going all hockey style hip-check on her.
Of course, I laughed my butt off when I got that bulletin because, well, sheeyah! Leave the wild things alone. I quickly emailed it to my best friend who passed it along to her husband and two kids because, coincidentally, they were turkey hunting in New Mexico (and not having much luck).
And since we have so many turkeys and deer and lots of other wildlife here at my place of employ, we also have mountain lions who think a nice turkey dinner and a nap is the right idea.
So while I’m enjoying lunch today and thinking about life, and my coworkers who are batbonkers crazy, I came to some conclusions.
1) People are weird.
2) Not everyone was granted the education I had regarding wild animals or animals in general. Though for the most part I think they mean well.
3) Don’t touch the bitey things.
3a) Most animals will bite, even the tame ones.
4) Turkeys are not very agile. Skinny legs and big old body are all out of proportion. Still, I’m glad I didn’t hit that gobbler. That might have been sad.
5) Man I could go for a turkey sammich right about now. Anyone else?
Ok. Back to work. I’m headed out on foot to the next meeting.
I started writing today thinking about how crazy or wacky I am regarding the topic of this post.
Then I realized something. I bet I am not that crazy. I bet I am not the only one that has felt this way.
Here’s the scoop:
I have found that if I take my lunch to work, I have a much better day. My office is situated in an oddball industrial slash office neighborhood. It is an area that is rapidly gentrifying.
While we do have some nearby places to go and grab lunch, and on certain days food trucks, the choices are not robust. Also, I work in the far back corner of an office building that is a converted warehouse. It takes me about ten minutes at a brisk clip just to walk to the front door.
This means if I don’t have a lunch packed and I am super busy, I end up with no lunch.
No lunch makes Karen a very cranky girl.
In the New Year I have been working a lot harder on bringing my lunch so Karen is a less cranky girl.
That’s just good for everyone.
Sometimes I lack imagination when making lunches and I eat the same thing day after day. But if it’s good food, then all is well. I’ll eat it and become a manageable and reasonably peaceful person.
When I am able to get my lunch packed the night before that is even better. Oh how I love myself on those days.
Anyhow, this morning I woke up groggy and tired. It’s already been a long week.
As I struggled to break the surface of fatigue and start my day, I remembered that I needed to make my lunch.
It’s Thursday which means most of the good eats in the fridge have already been eaten, and there wasn’t much left that looked good.
The one bit of leftovers we have is something I have eaten for the past three days in a row, and I just wasn’t feeling it.
So it was time to be creative, and creative isn’t something I am in the small dark hours of the morning.
I saw that we still had some of this really good bread that The Good Man had bought. Ok, yum.
I poked around the fridge to see if I could put anything into a sandwich.
Hey, I have a fresh jar of pickles! There is some tasty cheese! Still have a tomato for slicing and some sprouts for fiber and a few other good items. Hey, we still had half an avocado left. SCORE!
This made me so happy. I laid out the details on the countertop and hand crafted one hell of a good-looking sandwich. I did this thing up like an artist in her studio.
When it was completed, I carefully wrapped it up in wax paper, cut it, and wrapped it again, then put it in my lunch bag.
Now here’s the crazy-not-crazy part.
Now that I have made this delicious sandwich for my lunch, I can’t stop thinking about it.
All the way on the ride in to work I was thinking about eating that sandwich. Mouth watering, full anticipation. Oh yes. Gimme my sandwich!
Now!
Sammie sammie sammie sammie sammie is all my Pavlov brain is giving me today.
It’s about 10:30 and I have had a little breakfast but still all I can think about is that damn lunch I packed.
Gimme!
I have work to do and real world grown up decisions to make and I have to be a boss and employee but damnit, all I can focus on is my sandwich!
I will do my best to wait until noon, but I’m not making any promises.
I’m not the only one, right?
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Edit 1: You know who really loves a good sandwich? The British. It’s like a religion to those folks. I should write a whole post on that.
Edit 2: It’s now 12:40 and this sandwich is *delicious*. Worth the wait? Of course. Worth the OCD? You know it. Happy tummy!
