Small things to make me smile

• adularia introduced me (several months ago) to Google SMS -- you can text "466453" (Google) with address queries, directions, weather, and just about anything else. It's often faster than running an app on a smartphone. (And it's free, unlike 411). In short, it rocks. Also, my friend Jen just about knocked me off my feet in a hug for passing on the tip (as we were hunting for a lunch place).
  
  
• Mediterranean Schwarma, in Greenpoint, which is where Jen and I settled on, has the best baba ghanoush ever. I don't even like eggplant and I think it's incredible stuff.
  
  
• I was singing along with the chorus to Moxy Fruvous' "King of Spain" while I was waiting for the train. It was a relatively deserted platform. Then I heard someone hum along, and I was so startled at not being alone in my own head that I felt my ears turn scarlet (before recovering myself enough to laugh at the fellow in the Falconridge tshirt and sandals). Apparently you're never as alone in the city as you think you are. I like these random moments of connection.
  
  
• Finally, there was a man on the street with a largeish looking handbag. As I walked past him, a fluffy doggy head and paws popped out. The man promptly tried to put the paws of the dog back in. The dog's eyes went wide and it pushed stubbornly back up against the man's hand. The man won, and the auburn fluffiness retreated from view for a while. I stopped walking, turned to see who got the last word, and sure enough, a few seconds later, the doggy head stuck out again, his tongue out in a hilariously smug dog grin.