***
I dropped John off at the AT&T building at 722 North Broadway. We talked a little bit about general meta-data, security, privacy and digital whatnots. He's a project manager there for the last 25+ years. No corporate or state secrets were divulged. Other than that there’s a family reunion he’s looking forward to in a couple weeks. Good for him.
***
I called Michael ‘Richard’ by accident when he got out of the van. I feel kind of bad about that. He's had other customer service issues regarding parts, his prior recall and the least I could do was remember his name.
We talked mostly about stress reduction, physical health and lucid dreaming. He can easily drop off into a 10 minute meditation at lunch.
He practices lucid dreaming and keeps a dream journal. He doesn't recommend any specific technique, it just comes naturally to him. He has seen his hands and can change locations if something’s bothering him. In the dream. Real life is still real life.
Once he saw himself floating above himself and was so freaked that he sucked himself back in shifting the bed so violently he woke his wife. That only happened once and it's still quite vivid. Too much like death.
***
I met Nyan again, a civil engineer originally from Bangladesh. We talked about the winter. He asked. He started.
“How is the winter going for you,” he asked.
“Talking about a long hard winter all day long is harder than living through it.” I said.
“Well, not for me.”
Nyan has only been in America seven years and so this was a bad winter for him. I’ll grant him that. I’ve had a little more practice.
***
Wed Feb. 13th.
Oklahoma and Lake Park Freeway
Heiser Toyota - Metro Ave. off Good Hope
Wilde Toyota - Hwy 100 N of Beloit Ave.
Illinois and Oklahoma
E. Oak Lane- SE of Howell and Ryan
1007 N. Marshall - Downtown
Whitnall & Pine-ish
19th and Wisconsin
3rd and Cherry
Third longest distance in a six hour shift today: 130 miles around town.
***
Jamal, a balding Arab businessman, and I, had the most minimal conversation during our ride. He was thumbing and thumbing and thumbing through his photos looking for something.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an app called Find Photo where you could search them by keywords?” I asked.
“You must be reading my mind.” He said.
“No, I can hear your thumb.”
He didn't laugh. He was busy thumbing.
So when we got to a stop sign I got my phone out and made myself an audio note to search the app store for ‘find photo’ with keyword search functionality. I like to think that I invent things sometimes but usually someone has beaten me to the punch. I did not find an app. I did discover a need. Any developers out there?
Anyway Jamal told me he found a couple photos and while we were driving he posted them to a social media board called Tango. Never heard of it. I think he said he's on Facebook but not as much as Tango. He likes Tango. His friends like Tango. Et cetera. A little search finds this: www.tango.me
***
So here is the remarkable idea of this day. Why don't I take a few minutes to talk a story into Notes; a text capture, rather than continue to employ my regular habit of audio capture of the notes? More often than not the stories do not get transcribed, edited and published because ... I just do not sit down and do it. If I speak to text most of it will get done more often. My goodness - how long simple things sometimes take.
***
I took Mary home to Shepard Avenue south of Ryan Road.
“What are you going to do while your waiting for your car?”
“With three boys I'm probably doing laundry.”
“Maybe you could sneak in something fun to do for yourself. What might that be?”
“Laundry.”
“I heard a book mentioned on the radio yesterday about training your spouse like you were training Shamu. Maybe you could train your boys to wash their own clothes.”
She laughed.
“Really,” I said, “a woman actually trained her husband to pick up his socks and otherwise help around the house by rewarding positive behavior."
She giggled and thought that might be some fun.
(The book is: What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love, and Marriage: Lessons for People from Animals and Their Trainers, by Amy Sutherland.)
At any rate Mary thought she might sneak over to the arena and ride her horses.
“Horses? Well, my goodness,” I said, “horses plural?”
It turns out she has a Paso Fino and a Rocky Mountain. Apparently there is life beyond laundry. She grew up in the city, always wanted a horse, and now they have a couple of them boarded at a place with an indoor arena. It didn't seem like she had a truck and trailer to take these horses anywhere although they do ride some trails south into Racine County.
So, I took the grand opportunity to talk about my Annie Oakley mother Lois, her Morgans, and the free pony that my brother Roger brought home way back in the day.
By the way, there is no such thing as a free pony, in case you were wondering.
