Earlier today, I was covering a donation of motorcycles to Ft. Worth police so they could more easily reach calls along the Trinity Trails and in parks.

I had to stop taking pictures, though, because my phone filled up. This is something that happens frequently. You see, a few years ago, we were ordered to start tweeting more pictures. At first, I was concerned that I didn’t have enough “followers.” The TV reporters all have thousands of followers; I just have a few hundred.

An associate who is a TV reporter once told me I’d get more followers if I started interacting with people on twitter instead of just posting things. Then it hit me: I don’t want “followers.” I want people to blaze their own path! So I’ve stopped interacting with people on twitter entirely. I may still post this blog there, though. Also, if we’re being honest with each other, many of the picturesI tweet are quite similar.

Those pictures, though, take up quite a bit of space on my phone, so at the police motorcycle event, I had to delete some older pictures. Then I saw that old text messages took up quite a bit of space as well, so I started flipping through some of those.

The problem with Kids Today is they never actually call people. I suspect some employers, when they post job openings, are now getting resumes texted to them. Or “instagrammed.” Or “tindered.” Now, I’m not going to be some ogre from the middle ages who doesn’t know his cell phone apps. That quick look through my phone showed some quite poignant texts.

For instance, an associate had taken a job as a transportation beat reporter for the Dallas Morning News a few years ago. She was worried she wouldn’t be able to speak authoritatively on the subject.

In radio, we cover transportation stories frequently. It’s almost as if people are listening while they’re in the car, so I was able to give her some pointers.

We’re all learning, though. Just now, I was having trouble identifying what an abutment actually is, so I had to google it.

In other cases, it would appear my texts are workshops for lines I think would work in a blog. No one tell this associate I recycled this text about the Popcornopolis Pita in a blog referencing Texas SnowBalls, all right, Internet?

It’s a good line, though. I can only imagine what other bon mot is hidden in my cell phone.

A look in the “Notes” section calls to light this literary gem:

I think I made a mistake
I put arsenic in the cake
All the Norwegians will be killed
I think I made a mistake

Look at the elegance, with the AA-BA rhyming scheme. Sure, I have no idea what this poem is in reference to, but I suspect Shakespeare had no idea what most his sonnets were about (at least when he wasn’t writing about how into Shakespeare he was). Or maybe he bet Thoreau he could get people to analyze and compliment a love poem that includes the term, “reeks.”

I’ve now deleted a bunch of pictures and texts, so that should free up enough space to take a bunch of pictures of the same thing tomorrow