Share the fucking road. Next time you see someone pedalling their bike on the side of the road–please yield so fucking space. You were so close to me twice that I could have held on to the side of your truck. Would it have killed you to slow and move your big ass truck over? One swift gust of wind and your truck would have knocked me flat on my ass and I don’t think it would have ended pretty. I accept my place as a cyclist at the bottom of the right to be on the road chain. But there are signs everywhere that tell you and remind you and scream at you to “Share the Road”. My tax dollars pay for it equally as yours.

Sincerely,
Ticked off and Angry cyclist…

PS–to those few of you who also today didn’t really “see” me and pulled out right in front of me. You’re right in thinking my bike wouldn’t do much damage to your car but my life is worth more that those pieces of metal and fiberglass. Are you really in such a hurry that the 15 extra seconds you would have had to wait were worth almost hitting me? If so, you really need to free up your schedule.

Can you believe it there are still books being published. Okay, so I am only half joking. Now that it is summer and I am totally bored and irritated by TV. I was already starting to move in this direction way before summer. Anyway, TV sucks. Minnow is going to bed on his own at a reasonable hour–sometime between 8:15 and 9:15. He even asks in his toddler way to go to bed when he is ready. He stands at the bottom of the steps, pounds on the baby gate and says “pweez“. How can I resist. If the man wants to go to bed then I will be more than happy to let him. Of course he cries when you put him in his crib. But the only lasts a few minutes–on the outside maybe 5 and then he is off to sleepyland.

So, I have been spending the time after he goes to bed and before I go to bed–get this–reading. Yes reading. Oh how I missed reading. I have read 3 books since Sunday. I must also add that the books I am reading are not literary masterpieces similar to what I have to read for graduate school. But I am getting to read fun books. I love reading.

What are you reading? What have you read and is it good? I have another 6 weeks before grad school starts again. I need some suggestions–I could possibly read another 12 or so books. Hit me with your bookshelf picks.

that is right. I said it. Minnow is no longer perfect. Let me amend something here–he is no longer physically perfect. But perfect in every other way. He chipped one of his front teeth being a boy. He was running and playing and his upper body moved just ever so faster than his lower body and he chipped his tooth, split his little lip and ended up with a big old fat lip. Grandpa gave him a popscile to help with the pain. Minnow really liked that, but daddy eventually took it away as Minnow was making a really big mess.

Well, I am getting ready for another Century. Yes, if you must know I am a little bit crazy. I was planning on doing one in early September near the small beach town in Indiana where my brother and his partner have a house a few blocks from Lake Michigan in the Dunes National Park. But it turns out I cannot do it as there is a football game that weekend and I work all of the home football games with my mom and brother and family friend to raise money for a small catholic church downtown that just happens to be across the street from the football stadium. Anyway…long explaination for really something not so important.

I really wanted to do a second century this year and I wanted to do one at the end of the summer, so I could really get some training in–so I really haven’t started training yet. I was going to start this coming week. So, I was looking for a ride to do that was somewhat close to home. Well I did happen to find one in Chicago–Naperville really that falls on Aug 5th. It is perfect. We are going to Chicago on the 4th to see the Mesgana dancers and then going to my brothers beach house in Indiana for 3-4 days so Minnow can play at the beach. I know that my brother was hoping that we would spend more time at the house over the weekend, but that really just isn’t going to happen. So now I am forced to be ready by Aug 5th to ride 102 miles. I have mapped out my training and it should be doable. On the bright side, it should totally help me with the weight loss. I am excited about that prospect.

Century goal–6.5 hours total time (including stops)
Last Century–7 hours and 48 minutes–acutally riding time.

“In a move that has gained nation-wide attention, New York City officials announced on Monday the details of an anti-poverty program that will offer, amongst other things, cash incentives to low-income students with good grades and classroom attendance.”

I can’t even begin to speak to what is wrong with this. On so many levels this is disturbing and wrong. It is also just a band-aid and an turning a blind eye to the real problem. Mayor Bloomberg is serious about ending poverty. Well $50 a month is really not going to do it. What lesson is this teaching our children and our parents. I know we all get paid to go to work, etc. But paying students for attending school when it is the law just seems ridiculous. Getting parents to be involved is just wrong. Just because these parents show up to get their $25 bucks doesn’t mean they will all of a sudden decided after years that they want to be involved in their child’s education. So many of our impoverished parents don’t come or participate in school events, not because they don’t see it as important or because they don’t care what their child is up to, but because they have limited time. They can’t take off work. They have other children to take care of too.

I just don’t understand the idea behind this. Many of our poorer students don’t attend school because they don’t see the benefit or because their parents don’t. Paying them money isn’t going to make them value education any more than they do or don’t now.

What are your thoughts?