Heard from two men running by as I put my bike up in the rack on the back of my car:

Guy 1 (huffing): So what does he want?

Guy 2 (puffing): He wants us to settle down and have kids.

Bwah! I love it! :)

So okay it was time to deflect attention from my "Crap" entry. So now I'm writing about dogs.

Just something I've been noticing.

Somebody somewhere in doggy obedience land must have passed an edict that every dog will learn how to sit at a curb before crossing a street by September 1 or something because *every* dog walker I see is stopping and waiting for their dog to do that before crossing a street.

I mean, everybody. Tonight I watched at least 15 different dog owners in a row get to a curb, stop, wait for their dog to sit, watch for traffic, and then proceed when the coast was clear.

It's often impressive and comforting in a way, but I'm just seeing it happen so often I'm left wondering if somebody put out a  mandatory training requirement that, if not fulfilled by a "certain date," will cause your pooch to disappear in a poof of doggy hair.

You dog owners out there -- can you enlighten me?

I've discovered that my new favorite phrase to utter when I express my complete disgust/disbelief/disinterest/dismay is "Holy crap."

Or just "crap."

A couple of my current fav TV characters use it and I think it's just a lot of fun. Even more than that other scatalogical "s" word.

Try it. It just feels *good*. And it's multi-situation applicable.

Next time someone cuts you off on the road (bad) or you get a 50% discount from a rub-off coupon (good) or your kid volunteers to vacuum the house (good, albeit suspicious) or your desktop/laptop/thumb drive/hard drive back-up all manage to mangle the latest version of some uber-document (truly bad) or you actually sight Dick Cheney (bad beyond imagining), say "Holy crap!"

ETA: Jane Espenson said "holy crap!" last week.  And the "crap count" continues.

ETA (and until Squarespace fixes the "post a follow-up feature"!): Harry Dresden of the inimitable "Dresden Files" books says it. (And there are plenty more wonderful reasons for you to pick up these books, by the way, but if this is the one that gets you there, fine by me.) And MaryAnn Johanson at my fav site flickfilosopher.com says it, too. And the "crap" count continues. This *is* more fun than an Olympic medal count, any day.

For a moment while riding my bike this morning on a local trail, I could feel the vibrations from the pedaling and the motion of the wheels against the pavement in the toes of my shoes.

A tingling vibration, right in the toes of my shoes.

Everything was in motion and knew it was in motion at the same time.

Maybe it was there before, but I just wasn't aware.

It felt cool.

I've never "canvassed" before. Don't like knocking on people's doors -- not since UNICEF days. Don't like invading privacy. But, after the start of what was eventually 46 doors, I figured out that , if people don't want to talk to me, they won't bother opening the door. Plus I wasn't asking for anything other than information and which way they were leaning in November. It was actually not too bad.

The best part was seeing all the other volunteers who came to the Alexandria office for Obama/Warner that Saturday morning. There were lots of people volunteering, and even more were there in the afternoon when I got back from my shift.

People are jazzed. And hopeful. And inspired. All good stuff.

I actually talked to a registered Republican who was very thankful for my volunteer work -- he thinks it's very important. Even if he is voting for McCain. (But he's voting for Warner for Senate.)

So, in the end, there really was nothing to be scared of. And, in the end, I figured I've been jabbed enough with the Fear Needle  with all the crap that's been going on the last eight years. So, what's a little more?

If your local office calls you to help out in the next 100 days, go for it. You feel more like yourself, you feel part of your community, you feel part of the world. Part of the "people of the world."

Now that's progress.