Ok, once again I'm listening to how terrible it is that the poor travelers have to put up with bad security and the government is once again pouring money into the airlines. How about the rest of us travelers? No one gives a shit about that, do they? After all, our precious elected officials don't travel by Greyhound. God forbid! They might have to rub shoulders with their (oh the horror of it) consituents who don't have as much money. They might have to actually see the country instead of flying from one speaking engagement to another.

The news is also, again, going on about SAD syndrome. I'm sitting here on a Saturday morning with the sun streaming in the window. I either am somewhat susceptible to SAD or just get depressed by gray skies. No wonder I spent so many winters in Oklahoma and Iowa so totally depressed. Well, I'm sure, in fact I know, that isn't the only cause but it certainly didn't help any. But you know I miss the Iowa winters when I wandered around in the snow and checked out what the creek was doing under the ice and gathered the first growth of the spring wild edibles. I loved it and still miss it. I doubt that we will ever know the exact causes of anyone's depression and why some people deal with it and some don't. I think I'll go for a walk today.

I'm watching something else which is the gold medal being given to the canadian figure skaters because one of the judges judged badly, perhaps even fraudulently. This is another thing I don't understand. Why would anyone try to steal a gold medal? The whole point of the olympics is to be the best and if the medal is stolen, what good is it? I also looked askance (askance is one of the cool words) at women (other minorities also but I'm not the others, so I'll stick with that) who felt they should get a job, or whatever, even if they weren't the best, because they're women and have been discriminated against. I would hate to have a job that everyone knew I got because I was a woman, not because I was the best candidate.

I walked a long way today, inadvertently but still a long way. I took the bus to by my work to pickup my mail at my po box. The next bus was a long time coming so I walked to the post office downtown to check the bus groups po box, which had nothing in it but a letter to a guy who must have the box before us because his mail keeps showing up in our box. The area between the university and downtown is so full of alleys. The alleys have alleys as people have built tiny houses in the interior of blocks. These are full of students and not a prefab or look a like in sight. I stopped at the Native Seed Search store to pickup some mole. Such good stuff. They didn't have mole poblano which is comfort food to me as it reminds me of childhood in Mexico.

It was over half an hour till the bus would come so I walked up to the Greyhound station just to fill my water bottle and see what was going on. Not a bus in sight but people were waiting though not lined up yet. Usually one decides to get at the front of the line then everyone's in line. This is unlike places such as Los Angeles where I have never gotten in line first except once when I was over an hour early and it was seven in the morning.

I walked through the 6th Street tunnel to see if I could get another inflatable pillow at the army surplus store. That was 2 1/2 miles. The surplus store is such a cool place. Of course, anymore most of their stuff is not surplus but they still have good prices and strange things. I did find the pillow but all they had left was a bright orange one instead of the silvery gray I've had before. Oh, well, at least I won't overlook it.

The bus was late but I spent the time trying to figure out how to blow up the cushion. You have to pinch the valve just right. It's called a safety valve but it makes it hard to blow up. A trip over to Campbell and then the fun part. I got to talk with the bank about the bus group checking account. I had to explain that Cathy had cleaned out our account leaving two checks still to clear. One did and the bank charged us $30.00. The lady was very sympathetic as she could see that Cathy took in cash the whole amount in there. I paid for the overcharge and the check and enough to cover the second check when it comes through. . with my personal check. I am so totally pissed at Cathy. She is such a scuz. Just because she did not agree with the way the rest of us were going was no reason for her to act like a kid taking their ball and going home. Mad.

I just missed another bus and this one is also running only once an hour on the weekends. I started walking towards the transit center and got there about when the bus got there. I walked up Campbell enjoying the warm weather. I even broke out my tevas today, with socks, but still it was nice to have a little air on my feet. It's so cold in the mornings that even when the days warm up I usually choose to go with closed shoes plus they do give me better support. Oh, the things that remind me that I'm getting older.

I walked along the Rillito to the Transit Center. Everything is so dry and brown. We need rain so bad. If we'd had decent winter rains everthing would be green with this weather. We'll be lucky if we have any flowers this spring. That was another three miles.

Just a short wait for the bus and then over to the bookstore. I spent a little too much on magazines and books, but life is short. One magazine was Ancient American which I pick up occasionally. This magazine is big on all sorts of archaeological stuff that main stream archaeology considers so wrong and refuses to consider. Still, even mainstream archaeology is starting to consider diffusionism that Ancient American has been pushing for years. This is the idea that there was more than one migration into the americas and that it started long before was previously thought. Most of the writing is so so but it's fun to read it sometimes. And wonder.

Another 1 1/2 miles to the grocery store and then home by bus. My feet hurt but it was a good day. I enjoy rambling around town without a schedule to keep.