While having lunch in Old Town yesterday, I picked up a bike map for the city of Scottsdale at a kiosk. Reading it, I discovered that you can register your bike with the police department online. Sweet!

Driving around doing errands with my family today, we saw no less than four street corners at major intersections with puppies being given away. I’ve seen this before on occasion, so the fact that they were there was nothing unusual, but the number of people doing it on this beautiful Saturday afternoon was what caught my attention.

Our two dogs are 13 1/2 years old and their health is unfortunately deteriorating quickly, so it was almost tempting to stop and scoop up a couple of those adorable pups, but we know it wouldn’t be fair to our old girls to bring new young un’s in just yet.

Anyone else seeing a rise in the number of free puppies out there?

…and it’s full tonight.

Ever feel like you live in an endless sea of houses? Well, that’s because you do, if you live here. I was doing a little research today and came across some facts about Maricopa County. The site has a feature on it that displays growth over time, from 1900 to 1999. Click it! To me it was like watching the cities explode over time. Very cool. And especially interesting to me because I’ve lived here for coming up on 30 years now.

What does that mean? Means it’s gettin’ cooler in Phoenix. Finally. I was so happy I went out and bought a bunch of long sleeve shirts to celebrate. Well, ok, my girlfriend dragged me along with her on a dress hunting mission. I must say it’s utterly ridiculous that anyone, and I do mean ANYONE would pay $80+ for a nice long sleeve button down. That’s pure insanity, especially when a little bargain hunting turns up shirts just as nice. I bought 7 long sleeve button-downs, for a total of $74 + tax. Hooray for Ross, Marshalls, the $7 rack at Kohl’s and that 80% off clearance rack at Robinson’s May during their 12 hour sale. If you want to save even more, and you have good credit, you can sign up for one of their store credit cards and usualy get 10% to 15% off on top of sale prices.

On another note, if you have an unheated pool, USE IT NOW, because in a matter of weeks the water temp will likely drop 10 degrees, rendering the pool unswimmable for all but the brave souls.

I just got back to my room after a wonderful speech given by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. He was asked by a member of our Board of Trustees to come and speak with the students. I was amazed by how friendly he was. As he walked down the center aisle of the packed auditorium, flanked by Secret Service, he paused at the end of each row to shake hands and share a few private words with those lucky enough to be seated on the ends, or near the ends. He spoke about our roles as individuals in the global community for about 30 minutes, and then answered questions for the next hour. I, and many around me, were amazed at how personable he was. I’m sure if it weren’t a security issue, he would have had lunch in The Commons with all of us. I found his speech inspiring not because of its content, but because of its underlying message of compassion and tolerance.

Unfortunatley, this event was only open to Thunderbird students, and select members of the press, or else I would have posted about it. But I hear that he’s giving a 3 day teaching type thing in Phoenix starting Saturday, so if you can, I’d recommend attending.

I know that sometimes you’re so bored on your commutes to and from work that any distraction is a welcome respite from the monotony of the drive; however, please refrain from suddenly slowing from 65mph to 7mph to gawk at individuals stranded on the highway via flat tire or major collision. Unless you see Michael Jackson dancing on the top of a van filled with small children and signaling with flares and pelvic thrusts for roadside assistance, I doubt that any roadside situations are worth your severe rubbernecking and slamming of brakes.

I mean, sometimes I really enjoy the thrill of the drive. Will someone not signal but swerve into my lane 5 inches in front of my car, forcing me to slam on my brakes while I simultaneously keep an eye on the rearview mirror to ensure the 18 wheeler behind me is not, in turn, sucking me under its grill? Will a 20 ft high Dodge Ram with Calvin peeing on a Ford logo race up at 75 mph in a lane that needs to merge with mine and try to cut me off? And will I be mean and speed up to drive in the exact middle of the lane to ensure they can’t reach this goal? All of these scenarios are HIGHLY thrilling and EXTREMELY entertaining for me.

But most times I just want to freaking get to work or home on time without having to drive so defensively and worry about rubberneckers or gawkers or adults with the vehicular mentality of a 16 year old so I can enjoy the music or NPR or silent daydreaming that usually carries me pleasantly through my commute.

All I ask is for you to cease the unnecessary gawking and resulting slamming of brakes and be cognizant of the reckless driving. And please remove the Git-R-Done stickers while you’re at it.

Thanks.

If so, you may want to check out the scrapbooking convention this Friday & Saturday at the Phoenix Civic Plaza. It’s put on by Creating Keepsakes Magazine. There will be classes (actually it looks like some of the classes are tomorrow too) and of course tons of stuff to buy. (Who couldn’t use some more paper or embellishments?) For details, go to the Arizona Scrapbook Convention site.

Been a little sluggish posting lately, but I’ve got a good excuse. New camera!

I took that shot in my back yard yesterday. Though I’m thinking back to all of the great shots I could’ve captured over the years, I’m also looking forward to capturing a lot more fantastic photographs of Arizona and other scenic spots.

After looking into APS’s other rate plans last month, I took a shot and switched over to a split rate option. 9am-9pm, Mon-Fri, it is now a no-no to run major appliances in my house. But it looks like it paid off- I just got the bill and was relieved to find that I cut my utility bill by over a third. That’s especially impressive since that was the bill for most of August. Hooray!

It’s getting to be that time of year where the months are running short and the vacation time is running high. I’ve got nine vacation days left to use before the end of December. There aren’t a whole lot of American cities left on my to-do list. I could go to Chicago, I haven’t been there since I was a kid. Maybe Portland, Oregon, or maybe somewhere in Alaska? I’ve got a free round trip on United that’s good for another nine months… so the list of destinations of is pretty wide open, I’ve just gotta make a choice and book it. Any ideas?

The nightlyl low temperatures are finally cooler than my air conditioning setting! This is very exciting. Fall is on its way….