"Walking" Errands

It had been some time since I had gone hiking so I decided to walk to the three places I had to go to for my errands. They were more or less in a shortest distance to each other without any long side trips. The only real problem was that most of the walking was along what turned out to be a much busier street than I thought would be the case mid-morning on a Friday and some of the cars and pickup trucks were polluters.

I did get all my "errands," well at least the ones I'd planned, done. I mailed my absentee ballot. I returned a DVD that wasn't late even though I forgot to return it yesterday when I drove to the Toastmasters meeting. I got a couple extra house keys made. (I only needed one but now have one that I can hide outside to let unplanned guests without keys get in. Or, I could do what I currently do, which is leave a door unlocked. I think that my son and daughter-in-law may want the doors locked more, particularly after December 4th, the due date for my first grandchild.) And I walked over seven miles.

On the way home I passed a church sign that said, "Only pray on days that end in y." Perversely, I remembered more of my high school French than I had in years: Lundi, Mardi, Mercredi, ... Further and perhaps deeper thoughts had me wondering what I would pray for. With free will, I don't see myself praying to change someone else. I certainly don't see myself praying for myself for any material gain or even my own health. Those sentiments seem selfish.

However, if blessings and good wishes are a form of prayer, I am doing that every day. While I certainly am thinking of these blessings and good wishes for people I know who may have needs, I am also doing my utmost to think such thoughts for those I pass and encounter who show signs of stress and thoughtlessness. I'm also making it a point to smile, if I should be so fortunate to catch their eyes. It is amazing how many people go out of their way not to look at those around them. Other than my stop in Starbucks and a few dog walkers, I didn't pass that many people while I was on my walk. It was about 50/50 for any semblance of friendliness in those with whom I did make eye contact. This hike had a much higher ratio of both eye contact and friendliness than my previous walk along the Crystal Springs Reservoir trail over a week ago.

While I'm currently only scheduled for one more speech before I have to start out on my cross country trip to make it to West Virginia in time to travel to Alaska with my parents, I have three more to give to finish out the first book and attain some Toastmaster rank. Since I'm going to be gone one of the four meetings that are left before I travel, I don't see how I will get them in. I wouldn't have even thought of it, if the outgoing president hadn't asked. I guess being able to report member advancement is a feather in his cap. At least I already have this next one prepared.

As I have discovered, I normally think a lot on my walks, particularly when I forget to carry one of my iPods. Now that I have 16 conversational Spanish lessons on the nano, I should have been able to complete at least three lessons on my walk today. In lieu of listening and learning, I thought of a couple more speech ideas. One was triggered by a speech last night on "Speaking Up." It also has a little Stephen Colbert in it. The first idea was, "I can speak on anything and so can you." For this idea I couldn't help but think of Howard Cosell who was reported to be able to speak for an hour on any topic and four hours if he knew anything about it. Surely I can make it into the five to seven minute range, even speaking about being able to speak on anything. The second idea was triggered by a number of quasi-related things: the economy, a Tonight Show Katie Couric interview where she was talking about a gold seller in Saudi Arabia that just tied the flap of his booth shut and went to lunch, my getting keys for a door that I rarely lock, ... In this idea I want to just barely scratch the surface of nature vs. nurture, as in why do we ascribe selfish grabbing of more than a persons fair share to human nature. Indeed, why do we almost to a person make decisions that only affect the size of our piece of the pie rather than the size of the pie?