For 2013, Less Is More

I'm a big believer in resolutions. This year, 2013, is no different. However, the way I write this year's resolutions will differ from years past.

The theme for 2013 is "Less Is More." For example:

• I will eat less candy and more fruit to satisfy my sweet tooth.
• I will sit less at my desk at work and walk more during my lunch hour and weekends.
• I will do less sleeping and more Pilates, weight lifting, and ballroom dancing.
• I will be less snarky and more compassionate. (Even if that means I keep my mouth shut more.)
• I will watch less less television and read and write more.
• I will buy less "stuff" and invest and save more.
• If I have to buy things or services, I will spend less and find more values.
• I will spend less time on Facebook and Twitter and more time connecting with family and friends face to face.
• I will procrastinate less and spend more time cleaning and managing my finances.

I will print this and place this list in front of my computer in my home office to see how I'm doing. I will also post a progress report July 1. Wish me luck!

Writing Diva

Friends Don’t Let Furry Friends Fly in Cargo

Family and close friends know that I love animals. I am a “cat mom” of two felines. So, when I read that a cat who had been lost for 61 days and later found had to be euthanized, I wept.

For more than two months I had followed on Facebook the saga of Jack the cat, a 7-year-old café-au-lait-colored Norwegian Forest cat traveling with his “brother” Barry in the cargo hold of an American Airlines plane. On Sunday night, November 6, Jack’s extensive skin wounds were too difficult to treat, and the feline had to be put to sleep.

More than 25,000 fans read about the ordeal of Jack and his “mom” Karen Pascoe, who was moving from New York to California for a new job. After Pascoe checked Jack and Barry in to American Airlines as cargo on August 25, Jack escaped the carrier’s baggage center at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. Hurricane Irene reached the northeastern states, causing travel chaos.

Pascoe’s sister Mary Beth Melchior created a Facebook page “Jack the Cat is Lost in AA Baggage at JFK,” which eventually earned more than 25,000 followers. “Friends of Jack” searched the American Airlines terminal searching for Jack but finding other homeless cats. The searchers then found “forever homes” for those felines.

On October 25, two months after he disappeared, Jack fell through a ceiling tile in the customs area at JFK’s Terminal 8, according to the Los Angeles Times. He was taken to a veterinarian in Queens to be treated for malnutrition.

After his condition improved a bit, Jack took a turn for the worse and had to be removed from his suffering.

Some of the Facebook page followers want a law where a global positioning system (GPS) device would be on every animal that travels in cargo. After I initially supported it, I changed my mind after a post from my sister Black Woman Blogging. Furry family members should not travel in cargo. They are treated like luggage and stored with them. As BWB said, “No one can hear your pet scream.”

If I had to travel with my cats Tuffy and Diva, I would rather drive and find pet-friendly lodging than subject them to the indignity and danger of flying in cargo. I have a somewhat “psychic” relationship with my cats, where I can “hear” them crying if they’re in trouble or pain.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram quoted the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, which stated domestic airlines reported 39 pet deaths, 13 pet injuries, and 5 lost pets in 2010. The newspaper quoted American spokesman Tim Smith, who said the carrier hired a pet detective and searched many times at the airport over the two months.

There are options for animal lovers who need to transport their pets cross country. There is a company based in Delray Beach, Fla., called Pet Airways. Instead of flying in the cargo hold, pets travel in the main cabin with a pet attendant on board caring for them during their journey. Although the service hasn’t reached Northern California yet, Pet Airways serves eight airports, including Los Angeles. If it comes to San Francisco, it’s on like Donkey Kong!

There have to be a better ways for our furry friends to travel with us and not be treated like luggage. I pray that Jack’s journey across the Rainbow Bridge won’t be for naught.

Writing Diva

More Facebook Rules for Single People

I just deleted someone I dated from my life for the second time. This time the deletion was via Facebook.

I made the stoopid mistake of befriending someone I used to date via Facebook. In a moment of weakness and loneliness, I sought him out and sent him an e-mail saying "Hi." He, in turn, send me an e-mail saying he wouldn't mind being a Facebook friend. So, I befriended him.

What the $*@! was I thinking?!

I had dated the guy 21 years ago before I joined a journalism program and went to my first journalism job in Bellingham, Wash. Eleven months later when I interviewed for a newspaper job in Northern California, I went to see him and wanted to pick up where we left off. But there was no place to pick up. He uttered those "six words" no lovesick adult wants to hear: "I'm not in love with you."

The plane ride from Sacramento to Seattle and the flight from Seattle to Bellingham were the longest I've ever spent. Even when I flew from Oakland to Miami with a sinus infection, that flight wasn't as long as those.

Anyway, once I signed up for Facebook in February, I became curious about whatever became of the guy. He was indeed on Facebook. It wasn't until a month ago when I sent my e-mail and he responded.

This week he announced on Facebook that he is in a relationship with this trim, petite, beautiful brunette. (He proudly posted the picture. She looked like Sacramento "arm candy.") I mentally kicked myself for befriending him. After 21 years and an involvement that had nothing to do with love on his part, what was the point of being his friend?

I asked a coworker if the guy would know immediately if he'd know that I removed him from my list of friends. When the coworker said, "No," I logged into my Facebook account, found the guy's photo, and clicked the X. When the prompt asked if I was sure I wanted to delete him, I clicked "Proceed." Buh-bye.

I read Facebook's rules and regulations as well as a commonly used list posted by a blogger. I want to add the following: "Unless you are on very good terms with your ex-significant other, do not look him or her up on Facebook. Also, do not befriend him or her on Facebook. It is not worth your dignity."

Writing Diva