Big-city Realities on the Way to Work

I'm really a small-town girl at heart, so my commute to the big city has been a bit of an eye-opener for me. I lock my doors before passing through an area that makes me uneasy. I rejoiced when I spied a police station in that area.

The other day, I had to switch lanes because someone was avoiding the snowy sidewalk by walking in the traffic lane. This person was pushing a shopping cart that I would guess contained his or her belongings.

I drive by a business that has a dog patrolling the building after hours. One day, I felt sorry for the dog when it was left out in the pouring rain without any shelter.

But I feel much worse for the unwanted babies whose lives are snuffed out at a building I pass on the way to work. Pro-life protesters outside drew my attention to what happens at that address. I am struck by how many people I know who've tried to have babies. If someone dropped a baby off at any of their doorsteps, those couples would surely accept that baby as their own. And yet there are those who just throw their babies away.

Planning and Adapting

I took a day trip for work yesterday. It went well, but what struck me was this recurring truth: the things I thought could be problematic weren't, while other things I never thought would be an issue became problems. I guess I could argue that because I anticipated certain things and planned for them, they did not become problems. For example, I allowed extra travel time because I expected heavy traffic during rush hour. Oddly enough, the traffic wasn't heavy. I still can't believe it.

No matter how prepared I think I am, something always seems to surprise me. Life is like that. I guess that helps us learn to adapt.

Trimming the Tree with Memories

I was on a mission to decorate the Christmas tree today in between loads of laundry and dishes. I was thinking it would be nice if the ornaments would just march up the tree and snuggle up into branches on their own without any assistance from me. Since I knew that was not going to happen, I began an efficient process of box opening and ornament hanging.

Then something happened. As I unwrapped Christmas ornaments that had special meaning to me, I slowed down and paused to think about them. I thought about how one friend gave me glass ornaments she had decorated with beads, pearls and ribbons. I marveled at the fact that another friend was able to get a glass ornament home safely from her trip to Italy and give that handmade art to me as a gift. I smiled at the popsicle-stick star that a niece made when she was little. I remembered a trip my hubby and I took to Universal Studios, where we found the Cindy Lou Who ornament after exploring a Dr. Seuss-inspired world. I hung up the first ornament my hubby ever gave me, and I looked at all the skating-themed ornaments from him and my family, who accepted my fascination with skating long ago.

Sentimental Jane won out over Practical Jane, but the decorating job still got done. It was just a lot more meaningful task when Sentimental Jane took over.

Back to Cash

Last night, I was watching Suze Orman sound off on her show in response to credit card companies' increasing fees and interest rates. I love how she is so protective of consumers. She is not afraid to address the credit card companies by name on the air when she hears about how they are treating consumers.

Suze's response to the increasing fees and interest rates is to challenge everyone to quit using credit cards and go back to spending cash -- you know, that green stuff. While I like her idea, I would add another component to it: challenging people to track their spending. Keeping track of where the dollars go can be an eye-opening experience. I would guess that most people underestimate how much they spend on everyday things like coffee and lunches out. A few bucks here and a few bucks there may not seem like much. However, if you are buying a $4 cup of coffee every day on your way to work, that adds up to $80 a month.

What do you think of Suze's idea?

Graduation Day

Today was a graduation day of sorts. I completed the last class I needed for my technical writing certificate from Cleveland State University. Since a bunch of other students were finishing that last class today too, it was a happy day.

If I hadn't been in transition, I don't know if I would have looked into technical writing. I was vaguely aware of it, but the field appealed to me when I learned more about it. Although I'm happily employed now in my original field, it's nice to know that I have some more skills at my disposal. I've also marveled at how what I learned transfers to other types of writing, like a how-to article I wrote for a freelance writing assignment. I had all those years of journalism experience, yet what made the assignment so easy was that I had a mental blueprint of how to structure and organize the story.

Thanks for the knowledge and for making it so much fun to learn, Jackie!