CluePhone

My friend called me the other night, and I was all “Hey, what’s up with you?” He replied, “Roz is with Gigi now, I had to have her put down.” Mixing the joy of hearing from a friend along with this incredible loss almost left me speechless. Then I remembered, when I had to have Gigi put to sleep, and I just needed friends to hear me out. I hope I did that for my friend, as well.

Roz was a great dog. She was so loving and gentle, after you first approached the front door. She’d bark like you were trying to burglarize the house, until you actually got inside. Then, it was all tail-wagging and doggie kisses. She was named after a character on “L.A. Law,” the one who fell down an elevator shaft. (And, heee!) She was also nicknamed “The World’s Largest Sheltie” because she was pretty much regular collie size. She also put up with suddenly having a “younger brother-dog” when Art came onto the scene. Art is a big galoot, and loved to lick Roz’s fur. So much, that she’d end up all matted. If ever there was a “Dear Lord!” look on an animal’s face, it was on hers when Art was licking/bothering her.

Knowing how much I miss her, I can’t imagine what my friend is going through. Roz was 15, though, so she had a good life.

As my friend says, she’s probably catching a squirrel (or eighteen) in Heaven right now.

(The picture is of me and Roz, in Chicago.)

As some of you may or may not know, we now have a “hands-free only” cell phone law in place for when you are driving your vehicle here in California. It went into effect on June 31st. This, to me, is like a gift from baby Jesus. With smiley faces. My commute to and from work is 25 miles, each way. And it’s all on the freeway. You may think you can drive just as well while chatting on your cell phone about your new haircut, the color you’d like to paint your bathroom, or how the 49ers are doing, but you’d be wrong. It never fails, you’re driving down the freeway and suddenly there is somebody in the 2nd lane from the left, going about 50 mph. Inevitably, they are either elderly, or talking on their cell phone. Hopefully not both. Personally, I do my absolute best NOT to be talking on my cell phone while driving, because although I can multitask with the best of them, “driving” is not one of the skills that fit into that category for me. Plus, I drive a manual six speed. The couple of times I did talk on the cell while driving, I would occasionally have to holler “Hang on, I have to shift” and then I’d throw the phone on the passenger seat.

Before our big road trip, I had a stereo upgrade installed, including a bluetooth device that displays the call on my stereo and works like a charm. The sound comes through the speakers, the stereo mutes itself, YAY gadgets! (Well, it works like a charm for ME. Not so much for the people on the other end of the call.)

Anyway, I have been very pleasantly surprised with the decrease in the number of idiots still holding the phone up to their ears. So, the point of this whole story? Remember that funny picture that was circulating awhile ago, about the “Cheap Version” of a hands-free device, with the guy and a cell phone taped to his head? Yeah, well, I’m on my way to work, stopped at a stoplight. I look over, and the guy in the car next to me has his cell phone RUBBER-BANDED to his head. And he’s chatting away. I just about died. Hey, it’s hands free, right?

Bully for him!

I had a really fun 4th of July, at my friend’s house. She always has an awesome barbeque with fun friends and great food. When it was time to go, I made my first trip to the car and noticed how very dark it was outside. Dark as Pitch, it was. Her development doesn’t have any streetlights. Very nice for the ambiance, not so much for the actual moving about. As I was returning to the house, I forgot that they also don’t have sidewalks, and rammed my foot into a curb something fierce. I went down. It’s very scary to be falling and not know what you are about to fall on, except for maybe that curb to the right. I got up, seemingly, mostly unscathed. As I hobbled back to the house, I realized that my big left toe was hurting something fierce. (In hindsight, I totally had second thoughts about wearing open-toe sandals before I went.) Then I felt the blood. Damn. So, I hobbled back to the car and got a napkin to wrap my toe with, before getting the last load from my friend’s house. She has white carpeting and everything. I don’t think the nail is going to fall off, although I did crack it about a half-inch down. Even with the gauze and bandages, I’ve wrecked two pairs of socks. (Don’t worry, it’s not bleeding anymore. Really.)

The fireworks I felt at the end were not enjoyable, at all.