Friday, November 13, 2009

Equal Time!

It was a cold wet commute coming home tonight. The sun had long set so it was night-dark even though it was still in the thick of rush hour. I take to the left lane to make a left turn, lit up like a christmas tree as I always am for my darkness commutes. Traffic is slow so I just merge into the left lane but I miss the light so I am stopped waiting in the rain for the light to change when a guy in a pick up rolls his window down and and says, "Be safe!" while giving me a thumbs up.


There are two sides to every coin and this guy totally made my Friday commute and restored my faith in human kindness and set my weekend off on a pretty good note. I had almost ten miles yet to go in the steadily increasing rain but I smiled with every turn of the cranks. It's easy to whine about the morons but isn't it really the random acts of kindness that keep the whole thing stitched together?

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Bucolic Parkway

I have, as part of my commute, a bucolic little parkway that many moron drivers use as a high speed shortcut from the Hiawatha corridor.

I've
screamed and been screamed at,
flipped off and been flipped off,
banged on windows,
doors,
fenders
(and anything else I could reach)
been driven off the road by
people passing way too close,
people driving up onto the grass
(one guy telling me he won't be that nice next time)
people swerving over at me from the oncoming lane
(generally telling me to get the $%^&* off the road)
So

After too many morons drivers have put my life at risk, I have surrendered to the bike path for this section.

It has a 10 mph speed limit and during warmer weather is filled with
dogs stretching their leashes across the bike path,
meandering baby stroller pushers,
squeaky cruisers wobbling from side to side,
occasional punk clusters practicing their rudeness skills
(they're already rude enough and don't need more practice)

As annoying as these all are, none of them are as likely to kill me as the pea-brained cagers who seem confused between the terms Parkway and Raceway.

The good part is that all the fair-weather path users have abandoned the path so I generally have it to myself except for the occasional fellow commuter refugees who all nod knowingly.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Who has time for this?

I face this sign every day in the locker room at work.
 


I don't leave things in the locker room but damn if you've gotta spend two whole weeks contacting Facilities to get your stuff back.