I was today years old when I learned there is such a thing as a forensic podiatrist. Thanks to the “Crime Junky” podcast! 🎙
Waiting.
Friends
“I’m worried about her, Jan,” Marta said. She doodled on the notepad in front of her as she spoke. Each of the little doodles was a little frantic scribble in some random shape. “I think she really needs some help.”
There was a pause before Jan replied, “Well, what do you think we should do? Don’t you think she’ll be upset with us if we confront her?”
Marta shrugged. “I don’t know, but I can’t do nothing. We’ve been friends for over 20 years. I feel like I’d be turning my back on her if I did nothing. She may be upset for a little bit, but I think she’ll come around.”
Jan sighed, “Yeah, you’re right, I guess. Still, I can’t believe this is happening.”
There was a tap on Marta’s shoulder. She turned around and found her boss looking down at her disapprovingly. Marta turned back towards the phone quickly and in a hushed voice said, “Listen, Jan, I gotta run. The boss is here.” She hung up before Jan could respond knowing that Jan would understand. Marta had told her all about her dictator of a boss before. Marta wheeled around to face her boss once again.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Georgan,” she said. “My friend is in some trouble, and I was trying to rally the troops to help, as it were.”
Mr. Georgan frowned. “Not on my dime, Marta. You know better than that. Now where is the Freedman report?”
This is purely anecdotal, but it seems like there’s a boom in the self storage space. Everywhere I look, here in Tampa, there’s a new one being built. Very curious.
I finally did it. I deactivated my Twitter account. Goodbye, you toxic little bird.
Making pulled pork sandwiches for dinner tonight! Yes, sometimes I can cook. TBD, InstantPot is my life, though! Such a damn handy device.
My Elizabeth Warren merch arrived! It’s a tad bit late, but I’m still hella proud of her!
Got my Elizabeth Warren merch (a little too late), but super proud of it. Whatcha think, @Philly? 😀
Practicing with Procreate. 😀
If you would like to know who the most amazing, strong, kind, and wonderful person is, simply reread the second word of this post!
Personal Privacy Crackdown
I’m trying out something as a continue to migrate away from services that vacuum up my personal data. I’m transitioning over from Gmail to Fastmail (harder than I thought, but mostly because I just need to commit and make it happen), I’m starting to use Brave as a browser (despite Safari also having most of the same privacy features), and I’m using DuckDuckGo. Next up: I need to ditch Facebook completely.
The Hard Part about Breaking Up with Facebook
I find that I use it for a few things that would be difficult without it. For one, I’m signed into a few different apps and services by Sign In with Facebook. I do use Instagram, and lately that’s for marketing my t-shirts and stickers, so it’s kind of a necessity. I’m using it less and less for personal. I don’t post to Facebook personally anymore, nor do I have the app installed on my devices. I need to figure out a way to transition away from Sign In with Facebook on the services that use it and replace it with something like Sign In with Apple.
What About Twitter?
I’m trying to get rid of Twitter entirely, and I have no excuse for not just ripping the band aid off. The only thing I use Twitter for is politics, and even that is mostly retweets and commentary on other tweets. I could actually do most of that stuff in other venues.
If you’ve managed to make the switch away from these services, how has it gone for you?
While I understood she would most likely drop out of the race soon, it hit me HARD when Elizabeth Warren dropped out today. I was seriously hoping she would hold out through the next debate.
More and more I believe we should have stacked rank voting in all states. 🇺🇸 🗳
You know what brings me great joy? Watching “American Idol” auditions. When they have the talent, the passion, and the celebration of friends and family when they get through…that’s pure.
An Encounter
He leaned over the counter and touched her hand gently. She smiled and leaned in closer.
“What do you think you’re doing?” She asked, playfully. “I’m at work.”
He flashed her an impish grin. “I know. I just like you.”
She blushed, casting her gaze at the counter for a brief moment before looking him in the eye. Her face was soft, the corners of her mouth turned up slightly. He held her gaze for a moment or two before leaning in and kissing her. She breathed out through her nose as she met his kiss. After a few moments, she pulled back, her eyes still closed. When she opened them, he was grinning at her. She blushed again.
“What?” She asked, almost defensively. He just shook his head all while maintaining that grin. His eyes sparkled fiercely.
“That was excellent,” he said. He stayed at the counter, his hand settled on top of hers. She smirked.
“Well, you’re a little sure of yourself, aren’t you?” She said, pulling her hand out from under his and giving his hand a playful slap. His face fell, and his jaw dropped open.
“What? No…I…I just mean…,” he stammered. It was her turn to grin this time.
“I’m just messing with you,” she said. He breathed out as he stood back, straightening his button-down shirt. He smiled quickly at her.
“Yeah, I knew that,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Listen, when you get off of work, do you want to grab a coffee?”
I’m no expert, but I feel like the overuse of hand sanitizer, bleach, Lysol, etc is ultimately going to make things worse. An unintended consequence, I think. Time will tell. 🤷♂️
Because I want to be a better writer, I’m reading “Dreyer’s English” by Benjamin Dreyer. An interesting quote from the first few pages:
“…except for ‘actually’ because, seriously, it serves no purpose I can think of other than to irritate.” - Benjamin Dreyer, “Dreyer’s English”
My view currently. 🌴 ☀️
Be a peacock in a world full of pigeons.
😮 I feel so attacked. From “Contagion:”
“Blogging isn’t writing. It’s graffiti…with punctuation.” - Elliot Gould