I looked across the four busy lanes of the street in front of our house to see my bus apparently pulling away.\u00a0 I could have seen it as a precursor of the ride I was about to take.\u00a0 I dashed crazily across the road, dodging cars to make the bus, only to realize the driver was just pulling it forward a little.\u00a0 I wasn’t late at all.\u00a0 I boarded, sat down and waited for what was to be an interesting wild ride to work.\u00a0 Because I had to spend the day at another office location than usual, the route and riders were entirely different from normal.\u00a0 It was so interesting, I sent several text messages to my wife, describing it all.<\/p>\n
“Mr. Toad is driving today.\u00a0 Likely won’t be late assuming I do arrive at all.”<\/p>\n
“Let’s sip coffee some morning in one of these cute Del Ray sidewalk cafes.”<\/p>\n
“Just drove by the ‘Wafle’ Shop.\u00a0 Am vaguely hungry for one though am not certain I know what a ‘wafle’ is.”<\/p>\n
“Bare Feet Shoes store.\u00a0 Odd name.\u00a0 I like it.”<\/p>\n
“Have never heard a driver honk the horn as much as Mr. Toad is today.”<\/p>\n
“Rode past the pool hall in Shirlington where we had our daughter’s 16th birthday party.”<\/p>\n
“A jolting, jarring ride through a crazy maze of streets.\u00a0 Gary of the MTA.”<\/p>\n
“Had what seemed like two seconds to pull the cord.\u00a0 The stop appeared as if by magic.”<\/p>\n
“My stomach is tough, but after this ride…where’s the coke syrup?”<\/p>\n
By the way, composing a text message is writing.\u00a0 I try to make sure even these brief sentences are well-written.\u00a0 Sending quick messages, whether texting on a cheap phone like mine or using Twitter or Facebook on a smartphone, has become an integral part of how people communicate.\u00a0 My plea to texters and tweeters and anyone sending quick, short messages is: make them good.\u00a0 At least re-read it once, before hitting send, to check for and get rid of typos.\u00a0 Maybe even take the trouble to erase a word and replace it with something better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I looked across the four busy lanes of the street in front of our house to see my bus apparently pulling away.\u00a0 I could have seen it as a precursor of the ride I was about to take.\u00a0 I dashed … Continue reading