Nobody talks about sidewalk rage. It exists. You’re peacefully walking along – oh, look! Pretty flowers! Bang! You’re suddenly bumped onto the grass. You didn’t see it coming. You may have been off to one side like any polite pedestrian. Don’t matter. Sidewalk rage. Someone’s havin’ a baaaaaaaaaaaaad day and you’re conveniently close. You think, “Was I on the right side? I mean, is there supposed to even be a ‘right’ side?” Probably won’t matter which side you take there will someone out there that wants it. And woe to the one who doesn’t move quick enough for mommy and baby buggy. I suppose being in possession of this tiny entity supersedes all other considerations? I procreate therefore I dominate? And beware the scooter! Not quite a vehicle – it’s potential good – deadly in the hands of an older citizen having a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad day. Sidewalk rage. Be careful out there...

So every time you go through the check out, you now have to formally state whether or not you want a plastic bag to carry your purchases home in. It used to be a foregone conclusion that you’d need one. But now conscientious people carry a cloth bag with them so as not to contribute to harming the environment. But if you’re a bit like me you don’t always happen to remember to. In fact, you may rarely be on the ball here. Soooooo, every single time it’s like you have to go on record as someone who hates the environment. “Yes, please.” you quietly acknowledge hoping no one will call you to task. But recently my guy happily avowed – “Yeah, give us a plastic bag – we’re all about global warming.” The clerk laughed out loud. I suppose she gets a bit tired of having to ask it a couple hundred times a day. Everything adds up and I know I could do better with recycling etc. To make it easier for everyone more companies are making biodegradable bags that allow for the consumer to keep their usual habits. It’s hard to train us – don’t you know...

I’m a bit of a throw back to a time when a person could actually be incommunicado and not swiftly and easily contacted by any and all with a bit of information to share. I don’t feel impelled to answer every ring of the phone or knock at the door. Perhaps because too often the ‘news’ aint all that good or necessary to my happiness. However, I am not by any stretch of the imagination allergic to modern technology. (This is a blog after all....) There is just the fact that it usually brings with it a good and a bad side. In the case of cell phones they certainly have allowed us to feel safer in certain situations, such as walking or driving alone at night. And they have cut down on missed occasions because we just ‘happened’ to step out of the house when a call came through. Recently my Dad was hospitalized with a heart attack and during his lengthy stay in the hospital they allowed him to use his cell phone to call us and let us know what was happening when we weren’t there, if he needed anything, or just wanted to talk. I was never more thankful for cell phones. But as we’re all well aware they have also allowed for anyone to interrupt what previously may have been a private. quiet interlude or activity. And not just for you but whoever else may be in the area as well. It really comes down to each individual how they balance technology in their lives. Just because it’s readily available doesn’t always mean that it’s absolutely necessary all of the time. Sometimes it does a soul good to reach for the ‘off’ button...

One of the THE most important aspects of chugging through a day or a week or a month is having enough available caffeine. Whether the day is going good or going bad it is essential to have some form of that beautiful black gold. Now Starbucks may not be everyone’s cup of tea (Forgive me) but it certainly performs a valuable service in being so universally available. Oh yeah, people make jokes about a Starbucks on every corner but when you need a coffee you kinda wish it was set up in the next cubicle.  So, just to let you know out there that  Views from my loft is underwritten and sustained by java.  And I have few prejudices there...