I'm addicted to my smart phone.

I know it's pretty sad, but what do you expect? I got a smart phone for the first time last week, and I haven't been able to put it down.

I'll try to blame it on my majoring in Public Relations and needing to be in constant contact with social media and news and all, but let's be honest. I spend a lot of time playing games. A LOT of time.

Before I got this smart phone, I had a prepaid phone, which was pretty reliable for calling people. I also had an iPod Touch that I could basically use as an iPhone when I had WiFi. I always carried both of these devices around with me, and they worked pretty well, even though it could be a little awkward to carry both of them around when wearing dresses without pockets, and all.

After all, most of the buildings here at Tech have WiFi throughout them, so I could check social media and everything on my iPod in between classes and when going to meetings that have been cancelled while I was walking across campus in areas without WiFi.

But now! I no longer need to switch between my devices to text and be connected to social media. I have it all on one marvelous android device.  And I'm addicted to it.

It is easy to make phone of people absorbed in their phones and not socializing with people right in front of their faces. However, it is all too easy to become one of those people. The important thing to remember is that there is not substitute for face-to-face communication and socializing. Even if we have the power, through these small devices, to keep up with every constant update in world events and friends' lives, not to mention apps that provide entertainment galore.

I enjoy watching dog shows.

The sequence of my favorite cooking-competition dogs was over, so I switched from the Food channel to watching the dog show tonight. Well, to be more exact, it's a rerun of the 2013 dog show (137th Annual Westminster Dog show), before the 2014 dog show starts tomorrow.


So many pretty (and some not-so-pretty) dogs! It reminds me how much I want to have a dog. Someday I will be finished with school, have a stable job, and have a house so I can have a dog (or three, along with some cats, who even knows).

Looking off into the distance -  not just for human models

Anyhow, one of the announcers for the dog show mentioned
that one of the dogs was the state dog for some state (I forget which state). That made me wonder if Texas has a state dog, and guess what - we do!

Texas' state dog is the Blue Lacy.

That is one pretty dog.

Apparently this breed was developed in Texas in the nineteenth century, so it makes sense that it was made the state dog breed in 2005.

The "Blue" Lacy dog can actually be several different colors , but the charcoal/gray coats look a bit gray-ish, so the breed name still makes sense.


According the Wikipedia, the Blue Lacy breed is a mix of "English Shepherd (or perhaps coyote), greyhound, and wolf." So, that's cool.

They're pretty dogs, so I'm glad that Texas has the Blue Lacy as the state dog breed.

He looks so friendly

Looking forward to dog-sitting this next weekend,
The Purple Writer

It's amazing what one more layer can do.

Baby, it's cold outside.

Really.

It's cold and I don't want to go outside. 

Okay, I'm generally pretty weird because I've always loved cold weather. And I live in Texas. But after enough time at college, I've realized that I enjoy cold weather a lot more when I don't have to trudge through it to classes across campus. 

One of my biggest wishes right now is that it will snow. Yes, that may seem strange to you, especially if you live somewhere up North and are surrounded by a ridiculous amount of snow right now. But just a little bit of snow here, and classes might be cancelled. We get plenty of freezing weather during the Winter out here in Lubbock, and every once in a while there is enough moisture to create ice, which is a pain to deal with. But usually there is not enough freezing weather and moisture at the same time for classes to be cancelled. 

Just last week, the weather jumped from a high of 34 degrees one day, to the high 70s for a couple days, then back down to the 30s. Today the low was 9 degrees, and on Saturday it will get up to 60 degrees and melt any remaining snow that we might get tonight. 

Lubbock weather is confusing, but one thing you can always count on is the wind. Lubbock is windy. And usually very dusty as well, but mainly windy. No matter what other kind of cold-weather clothes you bring out here, a windbreaker is probably the most important. It's the wind that can take an average-temperature day and blast you with deathly chilliness. (Although rain boots are also very important to have in Lubbock - whenever we do get rain, everything floods because there is no drainage)

I generally just walk around with my wind-breaking coat when it gets cold. I can wear boots, a scarf and a hat to add some warmth, but usually a wind-breaker is all I really need. Today, however, it was too cold. After walking around to classes all day, I came to the conclusion that I needed another layer. So, before heading back out to go to my Sigma Tau Delta meeting, I put on a sweater underneath my windbreaker, paired with a warm-knit scarf and hat, and I was much happier. I guess it doesn't take too much to combat coldness, especially in Texas, but it is good to be prepared and know how to add some layers.

Although, even knowing how to layer, I really hope classes are delayed tomorrow. I don't want to walk to the Rec tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. That would not be fun.

Wishing for snow,

The Purple Writer

P.S. It started snowing while I was writing this post! <3