Commuting Musings

Goose Greifs

There are too many Canadian Geese in my area. There are hordes of them, and while Horde is good and Alliance is baaaad, (do not trust the living...), these hordes are a nuisance. They're mean - they hiss and snap at you if you get too close. They're filthy - anywhere they choose to hang out becomes a goose-sewage-treatment-facility within hours. This morning, however, I felt sorry for the geeses.

I was coming up to a red light when I noticed a van in the next lane was stopped about 10 yards behind the car in front of him. In front of the van were 2 geese, honking quietly and walking in confused circles. Then I saw the third goose. He was on the line between my lane and the turn lane - quite deceased. Apparently quite recently deceased.

The van would not move until the geese totally cleared his lane. I let them walk thru my lane, and watched as they walked around their "friend" and honked a bit, then made their way to the median strip and I swear that if geeses could cry, these would have.

Anthropomorphism, I know. But it seemed very sad.


Squirrels In Love

Or maybe having a fight.

Two little red squirrels (I guess they'd be "ginger" to the UK group) chasing each other down the alley, up and over a fence into someone's back garden, back over the fence, along top of the fence and back down - all the time no more than 12 inches from the tail end of the front one to the nose end of the back one. I LOL'd - for real. If it wasn't a fight, they looked to be having one hell of a good time.

The Interwebs as a Community

When I first discovered the "Internet" it was back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth GUI's were the "new thing" and WIN3.needtoupgrade was the HOT "new thing".

Even if I never get near a fax machine again in my life, I'll still always be able to replicate the SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE bbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr OOBAHOOBAHOOBAH of a modem connecting. I'll never forget the interminable "blue line" of AOHell every single stinking time you switched screens...

I still keep in touch with a number of people I met in those dark old days before flashing banner ads and popups/unders. Most of them are near my age and are professionals who were also expected to "Find out what this "internet" thingy is all about" for our bosses.

I've walked away from any number of internet communities - chat rooms, BBS's, forums, &etc. Some I've walked away from sadly, wishing the community hadn't changed so drastically that I didn't feel comfy anymore. Some I walked away from because they had always BEEN uncomfortable and I wasn't comfy being uncomfy... yes, that DOES make sense in there somewhere!

What I've noticed as a trend lately is that the "fad" of blogging seems to be running its course. Lots of bloggers are leaving the "blogosphere" and moving on to something else. One wishes them luck. One also wishes they wouldn't delete their farking blogs!

I can understand someone deleting a blog if it had become, for instance, an addiction and that if they knew it still existed they couldn't stop - but a large number of folks seem to just wantonly decide "Well, I'm done with this, so out it goes..." - and I find both of these reasons annoying. I understand them - but they annoy me. Because I've learned a lot from other bloggers.

I've gotten recipies, and I've learned about diseases and how to pronounce words I knew to see but not to say. I've learned a lot about other cultures, and found some terrific resources from the blogs of others. Thing is, I have been known to lose links or forget something - and like to be able to re-read and reacquaint myself with those gems of knowledge. Which I can't do if YOU DELETE THE DAMN BLOG.

Just sayin'

283 days