1.  Thanksgiving is the only meal where I’m typically full before dinner is finally served. Throwback Thursday pix of Syd Rose.  Ain’t she cute?? I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving!  I’ll miss Syd Rose and I’m counting the days to when I get to see her at Christmas.

2.  I’m a big huge proponent of buying local and supporting small business owners.  I’m also a fan of receiving gift certificates (not necessarily buying them).  That being said, I had 4-5 gift certificates for Star Bucks I’ve been working my way through the past week or so.  I stick to the Venti Roasted Brew Blonde, nothing fancy.  I typically brew my own coffee at home and if I run out or I’m running late, I’ll grab a cup of Joe at the local doughnut shop (small business owner) around the corner.  I kind of feel guilty going in there!

3. I overhead a germaphobe talking about how disgusting the habit of spreading germs via birthday cake really is.  Think about it, there’s a dozen or so candles and the person is blowing their germs via hot breath and spittle out over a lovely cake which is then sliced up and handed out to unsuspecting friends and family and then we’re suppose to eat that?  Perhaps we need a new tradition while singing “Happy Birthday”. Next time I’m going to look into one of those handheld fans…not that any of my family or friends have any germs or anything. 😉

4. A few weeks ago on a hot Autumn day, I was in the Vons parking lot near my home when two guys were standing next to their car debating what to do with the small dog they had with them.  They agreed they couldn’t take him in the store, so to my surprise, they started to walk away leaving the dog in the car with the windows rolled up.  I told the closest idiot to me, calmly and matter-of-factly, and with no hint of a question, “You’re not going to leave that dog in the car.” He looked at me guiltily and said, “Yeah, I guess not.” I didn’t use any invalidation and I would like to think he realized I was the voice of his conscious.  I sincerely hope that poor pup is still alive.

5. I miss Stevie Ray Vaughn.

6.  I love that some of us at City Hall have a sense of humor.  This was found hanging upstairs outside one of the popular conference rooms.  The signage describing the artwork is priceless.

7. I had the MRI.  They take twenty minutes and you’re suppose to remain at rest.  I think I would have been more relaxed if the MRI technician hadn’t said just as he was leaving the room, “Alright.  Don’t move!”  Great! That was all I could think of for twenty minutes…holding perfectly still yet wanting to move, stretch, and just wiggle about! The only thing worse than the torture of actually holding still, was the threat that I would have to start all over.  Yeah, I remained virtually lifeless.

8.I witnessed something that was about the most sexy thing I’ve ever seen a man do.  Ready for it?  I saw a man pick up his friend’s baby and he comfortably held it and spoke to it and just gave the baby love and affection. OMG!!  Crazy or what? To be fair, I feel the same way when I see a man treat animals with love and compassion.

9. I’ve always been a fan of Aerosmith.  I saw them a few times in concert in the Seventies so I was looking forward to reading Joe Perry’s autobiography called, “Rocks: My Life In and Out of Aerosmith.”  I was really enjoying it and it came as a surprise to me how much my memory sucks sometimes when I remembered I actually interviewed Perry for Buzzine Magazine when he came out with his own brand of barbecue sauce around 2002.  He was a nice guy! No degrees of separation!

10. I’m on a quest to improve my cooking skills.  I tend to get irritated and give up when I read a recipe which uses some ingredient I’ve never heard of or some equipment that I’ll never use again, or some skill I’ve never mastered.  So I had the bright idea to start with REALLY simple recipes (there’s actually a website for clueless cooks like me), and I mastered my first poached eggs.  Bam!

11. I figured out that “Comfort Food” is code for “fattening”.

12. From my favorite quotes file:  “For I don’t care too much for money, for money can’t buy me love.” The Beatles

Thanks for your time!

Yeah, I’ve decided to end my blogs with a different sign off.  I was signing off with “Thanks for listening”, but are readers actually listening?

Dictionary.com gives these definitions: LISTEN verb (used without object)
1. to give attention with the ear; attend closely for the purpose of hearing; give ear.
2. to pay attention; heed; obey (often followed by to): Children don’t always listen to their parents.
3. to wait attentively for a sound (usually followed by for): to listen for sounds of their return.
4. Informal. to convey a particular impression to the hearer; sound: The new recording doesn’t listen as well as the old one.

I guess definition #2 is close, but I’m going with “Thanks for your time.” 🙂