Meet Bella

About a month ago, I decided, out of the blue, that I wanted to get a puppy. I have no idea why. I've never wanted one before. I never wanted the responsibility...or the hassle. But now, apparently, I'm over that.

I told everyone I knew in Ojai that I was looking to adopt a dog. A friend of mine told me about her neighbor's puppies. I went over to the house and fell in love with the little blond girl puppy. I brought her home and named her Bella because she is soo beautiful.

Bella is the perfect dog. She doesn't bark, she doesn't whine. She shit's and pees where she's supposed to and she never chews my shoes. I couldn't ask for anything more. I heart Bella!

FOCUS!

Do you ever feel as though you have a really, really long way to go before reaching your destination? Does that make you want to give up or does it make you more determined?

Last week, my boyfriend and I went to Death Valley National Park. In the middle of this barren desert is a beautiful huge sand dune.

We decided to climb to the peak of the tallest dune. It's been a long time since I tested my determination like that....at least physically. As we approached the crest of the 4th or 5th peak (where we saw that there were about 6 more to go), I thought of the significance of the moment.

I've been contemplating my mental determination lately. Where do I fall short? Where do I excel? How can I improve? I decided that I sometimes lack focus. As I was climbing the dune, I found it very easy to focus on the destinination: the peak. And so, the journey was pretty simple, not easy, but simple...you just put one foot in front of the other until you get there. That's it.

Why can't it be that easy with mental focus? Why is it that when you have a mental goal, you have this distraction and that distraction that takes you from your goal, at least for the moment, or the day, or the week? I decided that it doesn't need to be that way. All I need to do is get very clear on the goal, then the journey becomes very simple, not easy, but simple.

Stop Complaining!

So apparently there's a bunch of people on Tribe that are miffed by the new profiles. What's the big deal? Why is it such an issue when people want to express their individuality differently than others? Isn't that the whole point of individuality?

I think it's interesting to watch all these people get there panties in a wad over where a person places their personal information or how they list their friends. I don't understand all the fuss.

One of the people on the "New User Profile Feedback Tribe" singled out my profile because I had a "shit list" with one of my friends posted on it. She was worried that I had taken the pic of this person from someone else's list of friends and was ridiculing them. Why would I do that? If I have a friend who is on my shit list then they usually know it. I hope I get the same courtasy from them. I would hate it if someone were upset with me but didn't let me know.

It's funny to note that the person who was complaining about the new profile thing, still has the old profile. In fact, everyone who has complained about the new profiles has the old profile format.

When the new profiles are rolled out to everyone I trust that there will be a lot less jeers and a lot more cheers. So lighten up people! It's not that big a deal. Really.

Brain Lapse

Have you ever had one of those days when you just don't feel very creative? Here I am trying to come up with short, witty titles for my new Tribe modules that capture the nature of the topic. And what do I come up with-->My Geeky Tribes. Blah.

Oh well, I guess I'll just rely on weird photos off the internet to spruce things up. That always works.

No Wheels. Grrr

When we had that torential rainstorm last week, my car went from perfectly fine to entirely unusable. The hazards turned on and stayed on (without blinking) and the windows automatically rolled down, and stayed down (weird). Then, when I tried to start the car, nothing happened.

This happened once before...the last time it rained, actually. I let the car sit for a day then tried starting it again. It started right away.

I figured it just needs to dry out or something. Problem is, I've been waiting for my car to dry out for a whole week! Grrr.

I called a number of different mechanics to see if they could give me some insight into this weird phenomenan. One guy suggested it had to do with my alarm system. I said "Now that I think of it, this did all start after the batteries died in my keyless entry remote"

With a renewed faith in the possibility that the fix may cost me $10 rather than $1,000, I gleafully walked to the nearest Radio Shack and purchased two little watch-like batteries for my remote key. You should have seen me. I was so sure that this was all that was wrong and somehow I beat the system by avoiding a major mechanic bill.

I walked back home and followed the instructions for re-synching the remote keyless entry system exactly: pointed, pressed for x seconds, locked door, unlocked door. Then tried using the remote as I used to. Nothing. Tried it again. Nothing. Grrr.

Back to the drawing board.

I broke down and called the dealership hoping that they would have pity on me and give me a morsal of useful information without charging me $69.95.

The guy was very helpful. He said that it definitely sounds like an electrical problem. "Is there any water in the cabin or the trunk?" I said no, not that I know of. He said that it sounds like the sensor in the rear of the car was triggered. (Apparently there's a sensor that rolls down the windows if it gets full of water in case your car gets submerged in a lake or something.)

What?? There's an actual sensor that tells the car when it's submerged in water? Wow, what will they think of next. Hell, what have they thought of already that I don't know about?

Anyway, I went out to the car and searched for little puddles of water in places where they don't belong. I found an itsy bitsy bit of water underneath the styrofome that's underneath the spare tire that's underneath the protective covering that's underneath a small pile of personal junk in the trunk (all of which was bone dry). How on earth did that little puddle get there?

My CSI-self started to come out and I sleuthfully began to investigate. I looked inside the cabin, inside the trunk, inside the inside of the trunk....nothing.

As I was standing there, looking at the rear of my car with my chin in my hand, I noticed something. Hey! That's it! The bumper!

About a year ago someone bumped into my rear bumper on the passenger side. It left a little dent but now I noticed that it also created a couple of millimeters of space between the back panel and the bumper. That must be it. That little sensor thing must be underneath the bumper/panel area. I crawled underneath the car to investigate further. Yep. Sure enough. There was water leaking out of what appeared to be a box with a covered wire. I pulled the wire to the side to make room in the gasket. Water poured out. Sheez, how much water is in there?

Ok, so you're probably wondering (or not) what happened next. Well, I let the car sit for a while more and tried starting it again. Nothing. Now the battery is dead. GRRR. HUF.

Ok, so the saga continues. In the meantime, I'm sitting here on a Friday night without a car, writing my first entry in my Tribe Blog to an audiance that probably doesn't exist. Well, at least I have this bottle of wine and a seemingly cool movie rental (I heart huckabees) to distract me.