My Second Favorite Kind of Fling

The first being, of course, quite obvious.

Yesterday was the first day of Spring, wee hoo! Birds are happy, grass is grinning, and Pagans are ritualizing. My favorite part so far is the warming sun on my arms as I pedal around and the blooming dogwoods.

Ever since Daylight Savings kicked in, I feel like all the peoples of Earth must have after the sun suddenly got off it's lazy ass and did it's job, courtesy of the ever-hot Cillian Murphy taking care of business. Seattle (and all you other rainy states), I love the idea of you and your bike culture, but this boy can only take so much grey sky.

The wind we've been having lately is very... remarkable. About twenty miles an hour constant with gusts up to thirty. In the morning this means I get a fun ride as it blows right up my skirt. Evenings though, it's punching me in the chest. Twenty pound bike + twenty mile an hour wind = gruntin' and groanin'. Plus it's a diagonal affair, and once in a while I'm pushed towards the area cars normally like to be when they pass me.

Speaking of which, I finally got to execute a little maneuver I've had in mind since before I got Jenny. Public transit buses and I have a fun relationship. We both use the same side of the road, we go about the same speed cruising up overpasses, and we both feel entitled to the lane we're currently inhabiting, whether the other party likes it or not.

Yesterday I had a bus behind me at the light right before the major climb of my commute (which I have come to enjoy, actually) and I briefly entertained thoughts of falling back so I could try to grab the wheel-well and let it pull me up (another maneuver I think about a lot lately). Instead I pedaled my ass off up that hill, gaining exactly 6.4 meters for every pedal rotation, and glanced back occasionally to see that not only was the bus not passing me, but I was pulling ahead. Take that!

Of course it passed me as we got to the flat parts and got in front of me so that it could make it's stop, which I felt was more of a statement than a necessity as there wasn't even a block until the bus stop. I start checking the lane next to me to see if I had room to get over, then decided to use the leftover space in the lane I was currently in. The bus doors were still open and passengers were still boarding, so I felt confident that it wouldn't be pulling forward and squashing and/or pushing me into another lane.

I checked behind me again just to be sure and surged forward, whooshing alongside the long smooth wall of the vehicle. I reached one hand out and ran it down the side as I went, laughing and hoping my paranoid fear of having a finger or an entire arm ripped off by a tiny screw was unfounded. It was something tiny and awesome I've been looking forward to for ages.

I had a lovely lunch hour with my lacky Michael and the lovely Kasey yesterday. Just as she was getting off work we were going to lunch, and we all went to the Olive-a Garden and got stuffed.

I veered away from my old friend eggplant parmigiana and opted instead for nearly half a dozen cheeses and ziti. Kasey had coffee and dessert as she'd already eaten. Michael had a ton of mushrooms and big-ass noodles full of white cheese. We spoke irreverently about everything and I snatched up all the Andes mints on the way out.

It's Friday bitches! And the weather is lovely. I've had two of my foreign friends asked my why I was working today, and I had to look at my calender to see just what day that is. Good Friday, of course! I had to ask what that was. Apparently other countries love Jesus more than us, or at least feel worse about his death than we do, as they get today off. If you're offended by that statement, then we're probably not friends.

My boss just left for ten days, so I'm going to lunch. A loooong lunch. But not too long. I have responsibilities after all.

You guys take care, be safe, and look for pics and/or video from the alley cat going on tomorrow. Hopefully next time our inter-paths cross I'll have a shiny spoke card proclaiming me the first, second, or third place winner. Or I'll battle damage to explain why I don't.

Adi!

- David