Trying to Keep Cool

June 12, 2008

Literally and figuratively. Yesterday morning, right as I was coming down the homestretch of a fairly challenging run, I was forced to stop dead in my tracks.

I was about to step off the curb and cross the street when a guy in a white Chrysler 300 came hauling ass through the intersection. He gave me the “my bad” wave for running the stop sign, and I agreed with him by flipping him off.

I’m tired of dealing with people who drive like they own the roads. He unfortunately, got to see how I felt about the issue.

He made it about 20 feet past the intersection, where he stopped, got out of his car and looked at me.

I simply pointed to the stop sign. I was too busy enjoying my iPod to really care about what he had to say. Wouldn’t have mattered.

But that’s Scottsdale.

There are a lot of things here that match the stereotypes everyone has heard about. There’s a lot of cool stuff too. Like anyplace, it is what you make it.

It’s too easy to blame the heat. With the temperature now above 100 basically everyday, it’s too easy to say that the heat makes people crazy, tempers rise, blah, blah, blah.

Just another excuse for being selfish and not caring about anyone else but yourself.

I hope when people visit Sarah and I, people understand that not everyone here is like that. Sure there is a lot of evidence to suggest there are, but there’s a lot of us who are different.

And I plan on keeping it that way.

So if you see the neo-hippie looking dude wandering through a parking lot with a banana hanging out of his mouth, a cup of coffee in one hand, and car keys in the other, wave. Smile.

Slow down. You might actually enjoy it.