Woof

A while back, my office upgraded our computers to include two monitors for each of us who work from traditional desktops ... one of the perks of working for the ad agency I do is that the managing partners make a huge effort to keep all of our technology up-to-date, and if it happens to look really cool in the process, that's an extra bonus. One of our most recent upgrades was getting rid of our desk phones and transferring our phone system to a computer-based operation. Now all of our calls come through our computers, and we all wear bluetooth thingys in our ears or headset thing-a-ma-jigs on our heads. My use of the words "thingys" and "thing-a-ma-jigs" should tell you just how savvy I personally am when it comes to describing technological items. But back to my two monitors ... they are attached to my desk via a metal arm contraption, and one monitor is large and the other is small. I use the smaller one for keeping my email open during the day, and the bigger one for editing digital proofs and such or checking facts and spelling via the Internet. And all along the bottom edge of both of my monitors are sticky notes ... the smaller monitor's notes are client-related, reminding me of certain things I need to be sure and check on each piece of work; and the larger monitor's notes are quotes I've read that have inspired me along the way.

Sitting at my desk today, one of the quotes that's been stuck on the bottom of my monitor for quite a while caught my attention, and I've been thinking about the statement all evening. It says, "How to handle stress like a dog: If you can't eat it or play with it, then pee on it and walk away." As I watched Julie and Ollie eating and playing tonight and the sheer joy they have when they are involved in either of those activities, I couldn't help but think about the quote. And when I took Ollie for a walk on the trail and he peed on every light pole, stop sign, fire hydrant, tree, stick and blade of grass he passed and then did his little moonwalk backwards digging thing and stuck his chest out and walked proudly down the trail when he was finished, I thought about the quote again. I ran across the bridge with Ollie and played our "chase me and bark with me and look like a crazy woman" game, came home and tossed the ball in the back yard with Julie and that's when it struck me ... I think perhaps I've been approaching the stress in my life all wrong ... I need to think and act more like a dog. If I can't eat it or play with it, I need to pee on it and walk away ... in a figurative sense, of course, in a figurative sense. I'm pretty sure that I won't be hiking my leg like Ollie ... well, not today anyway.

Woof. Woof. Woof.