Salsa

To my handsome, sexy, benevolent, virile, and intelligent loyal readers this post will probably feel more like my normal writing then the recent stuff I've put out. Why? Because once again it is spurred by boredom at work.

It's Sunday and I'm seven hours into a ten hour shift. Today marks the start of my pemenant schedule of Sundays through Wednesdays, 7:00 AM to 5:30 PM. (As an aside, for someone who takes pride in being a grammar and spelling Nazi I have no idea how times should be correctly written out and am too lazy to check. Everytime I write out a time I think of that.) In seven hours I have taken three calls and my Average Talk Time is six minutes, fourty-two seconds. It's fantastic. I have all this time to read away from televisions, chores, dogs, and girlfriends who need some attention from Y.T.

The downside is I'm a bit sleepy. My new book The Tao is Silent has kept me awake and entertained thusfar, but getting up around 5:30 catches up with a person. I'm over one hundred and seventy-two pages in and just now read the back cover to find that the author is a mathematical logician! I don't even know what that is but I would never have guessed someone with "mathematical" and "logician" in their title would be able to write with such humor and spontenaity. Which is how I like my learnin', especially about philosophies of which I currently subscribe.

Walking around today trying to find cream and sugar for my office coffee I spotted a strategically placed co-worker napping. Strategically placed both in location and position as he was away from the bulk of traffic and slumped just out of sight behind his quarter-cubicle partition. Attempting in my own subtle way to practice Taoism in my daily life I decided to take a nap too. The Head Resting on Hand technique did nothing for me as my apparently unbalanced head kept falling off my arm everytime I passed a certain point of unconciousness. I opted instead for the Laid Back school, resting my head on the back of the chair.

Success! After waking up a few times to find my mouth hanging open and stifling the rising fear of drooling I even managed to have a little dream in which someone was debating me about marshmellows. I awoke fifteen minutes later or so, refreshed and energized, just in time for two tech leads to walk by looking for magnetic letters to stick up on a whiteboard. To you this may seem deplorable, unprofessional, and irresponsible but to me it makes perfect, natural, sense: I'm sleepy, the beeping phone would wake me up if there was a call, and if you could get away with it at work you'd do it too. Plus, all last week was a shit storm of varying degrees so I'm owed a slow day. Or at least I'm prepared to take full advantage of one.

Kasey's car is busted, still. Turns out it was the alternator or something. Her dad is currently in possession of the White Talon, a tow truck having picked it up yesterday afternoon in literally ten seconds. I have never seen anything so efficient involving one vehicle, let alone two. I hope that guy get some kind of recognition for being able to back that truck up, lowering the crucifix-like tow arm in the process, hooking the front tires, and lifting it up all with perfect precision. A bowling trophe with an abandoned car on top instead, perhaps.

One of the fun things that happens to me a lot in life is that things work out nicely all by themselves. For instance buses don't run Sundays but one of the guys I went through training with is on nearly my exact schedule, so I car-pooled in today. I'm now working Sundays and out of the blue Kasey gets offered to switch schedules for one that would includes Sundays for her, too. This type of thing happens so frequently, it seems Kasey is even to the point where it's no longer remarkable.

Okay, I'm off to locate some sugar for my instant grits while I take the last break of the day. Or maybe I'll try some more of this napping thing in the Quiet Room, which is really just a restroom with a lockable door and a plastic chair.

Happy Sunday.

- David

We've Got the Power...Oh Wait, Nevermind

Today I was enlightened as to how important electricity is. You really take it for granted until something like, oh, I don't know, your power gets switched off in one of the hottest months in Phoenix and can't be reconnected it for twenty-four hours.

It's my own damn fault. I'm a lazy bastage. But in my defense...I'm a lazy bastage. So now because of this whole situation I'm going to be broke for two weeks and wah wah wah. On the plus side I kinda like being broke. It makes me feel like my life is more simple. So does shaving my hair off but some people don't like either of those things so I don't do 'em. Damn womens! *shakes tiny fist in anger*

So laying in bed the other night I got this great idea. Normally the great ideas that come to me in that particular place at that particular time revolve around Getting Some, but tonight was different. I had just seen on the news how in only eight days this month twenty-four people had died heat related deaths. Mostly homeless people.

So I thought to myself, why couldn't I buy a bunch of bulk water bottles from like Sam's or Costco and drive around Phoenix after work and for a few hours on the weekend and hand out water bottles to the homeless? And hey, while I was at it I could print off little cards with the addresses of all the homeless shelters in the area and give those out with the water! It wouldn't be much, but it'd be something I could do that might help out.

Then my idea snowballed from there to getting a website with tips and info if other people wanted to do the same type of thing and a bumper sticker with the address on it and the humble but helpful speech I'd give during my news interview.

Then I realized, crap, I'm being vain! Again! It had turned into me being famous instead of my original intention of trying to help homeless people. All in the span of like ten minutes. Kinda sad. It took awhile to get those thoughts to run their course, but after I bit I just realized all I needed to focus on was the necessary things, the helping part, and everything else was unnecessary and would work itself out naturally. Then I felt a lot better and all those fantasies about people seeing me and going, "That's the wonderful boy who helps homeless people! Isn't he dreamy?" began to fade away and I felt better.

I encourage other people to do the same. You don't have to save the world but it's really easy to help. There's tons of problems out there. Just pick one, see what you can do, and do it. You'll feel really good. More updates to come as I actually begin to take action. Wish me luck!

In other news, Cuban cigars are good, and I likes to smoke 'em. The Night Before the Power Died I sat at my compy and had a Pinar 3000 and chilled live a villain...-ed. It was nice, and I was happy, as you can see above. Although I did get a bit light headed when I was done and needed to drink some watah. I'm not a lightweight! That tobacco is like sixty-four years old and pretty full. So there.

I'm outy. Have a good night/day.

- BuddhaDave

Zen Thought of the Day!
Everything that exists and happens is a necessary, perfect part of reality and should be accepted as such.


P.S. What is up with "country pride"? Or "state/county pride" for that matter? "My section of land separated by imaginary lines is better than your section of land separated by imaginary lines!" Ooookay.