Next week

Y'all, it's nearly spelling bee time. And as you know, I really like spelling bees. A lot.

So you can imagine how excited I am to go this year.

Watch the bee! Maybe you'll see me.

On the road

Three vehicles worth noting:

• An open-backed truck, like the ones people use for landscaping equipment, stuffed with helium tanks of various sizes;
• At a construction site near my office, a truck that says WATER TRUCK and underneath it, in smaller letter, NON POTABLE WATER;
• A truck with a trailer full of donkeys (the sides were down, so I could see the donkeys) with what looked to be a handmade, carved bumper decoration that said, "HAULING ASS."

Ode to a Pear

O, pear you are
juicy and awkward, requiring me
to slurp you up
before I chew. I eat you with
a pile of paper towels,
soaked through. Your bulbous bottom
bumps my lip, your tiny stem
evades my grasp, your subtle core
hides beneath pearflesh, a sad surprise
when I bite seeking more fruit and find, instead,
something new. I eat you and think
of Jelly Belly candies, of summer days, of
my mother, who loves the flavors you
imbue. I will not bake you. You are
a fruit to be devoured raw, dripping, sticky,
sweet. O, pear, you may frustrate my desires
to elegantly consume, but pear?
I savor you.

A thousand kinds of awesome

I discovered this blog today, about a month after it ended. It's a similar idea to our little Internet-place, though certainly that one was much more disciplined in the author's daily postings, much more universal in its aim and much more widely read. It even spawned books!

But I'm cool with all that (for so many reasons!). Because now that I've found it, I can link you to 1,000 other reasons to smile.

I've only read three or four so far, but I love the combination of seriousness and whimsy. And the fact that so many of them mention farting.

Smiles all around

I have a big grin on my face for two reasons.

The first is that even though I talk to executives and important people with a kind of regularity, there are still some whom I get excited about. Particularly when they're chatty and friendly and generally jovial. I just got off the phone with one such CEO.

I e-mailed a friend of mine to tell him that the conversation made me think of him, and the response I got made my smile even bigger:

Your email made me smile :)  (well, YOU make me smile, but I settle for email from you when I have to).

He's far too far away (despite efforts to move him closer), so we have to settle for email more often than I would like. But I'm just so glad that we've been able to stay (close!) friends despite the distance, and I'm glad that my grins are contagious.