I used to say any road trip was a good one. But this one was different. The PingWi-Fi wagon was headed north on US 287 for the funeral of a loved one. What a long drive, Amarillo by (way of) mourning … apologies for that one, Mom.
Anywho, the road is long … and it seemed really weird/luxurious to be cruising along on four wheels, air conditioned, instead of riding a Triumph … the sound of my iPod rather than the rumble and wind …
As I zoomed toward Amarillo, all long-haired, and said to be “looking somewhat like one of The Allman Brothers” (LOL) … the irony was not wasted when the iPod shuffled up some “Brothers of the Road” by those Georgia boys. (The second song it selected.) Does your music shuffle ever mimic your daily life? (If you don’t know the song, it is about life on the road, and the loss of loved ones along the way …)
Most of the lyrics don’t apply, but the title and the chorus keep running through my head … In remembrance of Billie Jean Pieratt (Pingel) Long … “Heaven Is A Better Place Today.” A creative force. A positive spirit. A nurturing mother. A teacher. A volunteer. A survivor. A woman who simply would not quit. What I wouldn’t give to see her dance to this. She will be missed.
During my first brush with entertainment writing in college, there was a joke that I was a “not-in-good-standing” member of the book of the month club. As entertainment editor, all of the major and some minor publishing houses sent me dozens and dozens and dozens of books to review for the college newspaper. Ha … I could barely get my assignments read, much less spend time reading books for fun. So, the books were lined up, end to end on the front of my desk, like a little Great Wall dividing my space from the reporter whose desk butted up against mine. It was the joke of the newsroom … about how “well unread I was” … “the world’s largest library of unread books” … stuff like that.
The side job — “The Dirty Gig” — that keeps me traveling the country sometimes also landlocks me right here in Fort Worth, such as now. So, the other day I started looking around for a weekend adventure … a short roadtrip … and some Wi-Fi exploration close to home.
Man, my muse must be occupying Wall Street with the other lazy arses. No blogging whatsoever since I have been off the road. And then, lo and behold, a story of interest, brewing right under my nose.
Yesterday my friend on Facebook broke the story that Starbuck’s is allowing no more smoking on their ash pad … I mean patio. What did they say, “25 feet or further”?
Maybe I should change the name of this site to PingSerendipity. Yes, two blogs in a row are about those weird little coincidences in life.
A little set up first:
To promote the PingWi-Fi brand, I started a thing a few years ago where I send out little blurbs called HisTweets on Twitter. The HisTweets are little factoids on “this day in history” with a little PingFlava added, and usually a side order of YouTube video regarding that event in history.
My friend Randy and I were just texting about how much we enjoy those serendipitous little things in everyday life. Here’s why we were on the topic.
Two weeks ago, back home in The Texas Panhandle near Vega, he and I were at the ruins of an old stone wall of a sheepherders’ camp on a remote ranch, a site where Billy The Kid once hid out when he wasn’t stealing horses or whatever.
