winter obsessions

Last weekend it was the two state search for the perfect duffle bag. I covered over 100 miles of malls and stores looking for it. Didn't find it, either. Color wasn't important as long as it wasn't black. Size and shape mattered more, and quality to some extent. Finally ordered one from ebags. Then, there was the tote bag search. Most of the searching was done on line. I got really, really hung up for two days at the llbean website where you can design your own canvas tote bag. You pick pocket or no pocket, zipper or no zipper, one of four sizes, and then colors. Oh MY GOD! the colors. Color for handles, then color for gusset, then color for main part of bag, and the color for the pocket, and the color of the bottom part that curls up the side. The potential and combinations are vast. I spent hours (HOURS) creating bags from ugly to lovely. I couldn't decide. So while I was looking at duffles across two states, I took ganders at totes. Ended up ordering it from ebags also. It came in the mail already, and I like the material, color, features, but it might be too small. If it stays cloudy and cold much longer, I guess I'll be back at the llbean website admiring ugly but unique bags again.

And now for this week's obsession...........(drumroll.......)......a scanner radio. This is commonly known as a police scanner. I impulsively decided that it would be a good thing to get to listen to trains. (Believe it or not, a lot of people apparently listen to train chatter on one of these scanners). The one that was on sale was the NASCAR version, which means it is red, has a little cute nascar logo, and has the frequencies of nascar drivers pre-programmed into it. I guess people go to races and listen to the drivers and crew talk. I even got a list of drivers and their assigned frequency. But, that's not why I got it. I got it because it does the same thing as the radios that cost twice as much and aren't as cute, just so I can listen to trains. Except, this radio is not user friendly. It's not intuitive. I'm fairly good at these electronic devices, but this one is beyond me, so far. I haven't given up, and I"ve listened to enough to whet my appitite for more, but I'm far from proficient. What I've learned so far...

Everyone but me has a gun. People walk around all the time with ball bats and pipes. The police give out your driver's license number, name, car tag number and your social security number over the airways everytime they stop you. The dispatchers are all calm, all the time. There's a lot more going on than I thought in the world of crime in my little area of the world. I have a pretty low tolerance for the anxiety that is produced by hearing about people they can't find, fights among spouses that get physical, suicide attempts and fires in houses filled with drugs. I have to turn it off after a little bit of listening.

And so far, I've only heard one train.