On my morning commute I stopped to look at this beautiful field. I saw some trash so I picked it up. Further down the road there was some fallen tree limbs, so I pushed them aside so they wouldn’t get run over. Later on I went past a yard with some sprinklers on, so I rode through them to get a shower.

After my fantastic family vacation to Ferry Beach I’ve been thinking about day to day life. It’s been in the 90s, so I’ve been loving being outside, but it seems most people prefer artificial air.

You wake up in the morning in your bed box, take a deep breath of the artificial air coming our of your air conditioner box and feel thankful for the cold temperature in your house box. You get dressed and brave the out of doors for a few moments to get to your car box, where you quickly burn some dino leftovers to get your artificial air. Then you join your car boxes with all the other angry people in their car boxes on the highway box. After sitting in traffic and finally getting to work, you again brave the out of doors, holding your breath so as not to breath in any of the ozone or particulate matter floating around. You hustle from your car box to your office building box, loosen your collar because you are already sweating. Finally in the office you enjoy the sweet smell of artificial air, combination of air conditioning and a mix of perfume, shampoo, body wash and deodorant. You make it through the entrance where you can go sit in your cube box and start staring into your monitor box – then you make your living “thinking outside the box.”

I like biking to work. My tires are round. Ding ding.

On that same note, this reminded me that I had a recording of our music service from about a month ago, and my performance of Spirit of Life was in it. I opened up the file and found it. It was not very clear, but I edited it out and uploaded it.

In case you don’t know it, it is hymn 123 from the UU hymnal, “Singing the Living Tradition.” Words and music by Carolyn McDade, and if you can’t hear the words on the recording, they are:

Spirit of Life, come unto me. Sing in my heart all the stirrings of compassion. Blow in the wind, rise in the sea; move in the hand, giving life the shape of justice. Roots hold me close; wings set me free; Spirit of Life, come to me, come to me.

And here is the recording: Spirit of Life MP3

“We were the only things moving,” he said. “I told them, ‘Next time somebody tells you everybody should be driving a hybrid, you tell them about this.’ ”

via Dealer’s Fortunes Rise and Fall With Hummer’s – NYTimes.com.

When the weather makes it so difficult to drive that you can’t stay on the road, perhaps you should stay put?

1. To save the planet.  One person riding a bike won’t make that much difference directly.  However, hopefully I’m spreading the word that getting around on your own power is possible, and perhaps other people will give it a try.
2. In the event of global catastrophe, hopefully I’ll be in good enough shape to survive.  First the sun ejects a happy large ball of plasma, then we see a flicker of colorful light, a few jolts of electricity, then darkness.
   Read more:
   Space storm alert: 90 seconds from catastrophe

- World Standards, users.telenet.be

Math and I got out for a nice ride on the rail trail today, first ride of the year.  The temperature is getting high enough, so its time for us to start our bike commute routine.

The rail trail was mostly clear with only a few packets of snow, and one stretch that had to be walked.  The rail trail was full of clueless pedestrians, either trail newbies or forgetful veterans.  Individuals or groups on the wrong side or taking up the entire width of the trail.  Dogs with long leashes, kids learning to ride without helmets, etc.  My favorite was when I was coming up on a group, so from a fair distance I rung my bell a few times.  That had no effect, as I approached I rang it a few more times.  When I was finally very close, I called out, “coming up behind you.”  Then again, “coming up behind you.”  Then, “behind you, excuse me.”  Then, “HEY, please move over.”  The group turned around, surprised, and kind of moved over in this disorganized surprised way, and one person even said something like, “I thought I heard a bell, but I just ignored it.”

So, have a happy spring everybody, and remember to:

• Wear a helmet when biking or skating.
• Stay to the right except to pass.
• Alert others when passing and approaching.
• Be responsible for your children and pets (keep your kids on the right, pick up your dog’s poo)
• Be considerate to other trail users, trail maintainers (don’t litter) and surrounding communities (keep noise to a minimum).

Happy biking!

We need bunnies! With fur!

I like bunnies too. But first, we don’t like the ditch. We put our money and bonus checks in the ditch. Our customers don’t understand they need to go in the ditch. Even when we push them in they don’t like it, and sometime they climb out.

Let’s get some horses, and feed the money to the horses. Then we could let the customers ride the horses.

No, ponies. Customers like ponies better than horses.

Aren’t ponies just small horses?

And a bunny.

The horses could ride in the ditch, and shit out the money.

You mean pony.

Let’s have a bonfire, and burn the money. The ponies could bring the customers into the ditch, and eat the money, or burn it. And there needs to be refreshments. And we could burn those too. But maybe the customers shouldn’t ride the ponies, that could be too risky, and the customers might not like the smell.

Give the customers a shovel, and let them dig their own ditch.

No, bunnies.

No, let the customers feed their cash to the pony, and then use the shovel to pick up the shit, and put it in the fire.

And then we push them in the ditch, but we take away the ladder so they can’t climb out. They’ll like that, and it will be much easier to understand.

And we’ll throw the shit in the fan.

That’s TBD.

I think we need to iron out the details on the horses. Should the donkeys be used to pull the ditch around, and make the customers think they are horses?

I have to go to another meeting, much less important than this, but I’m glad that we all agree.

We can sell tickets, which the customer can feed to the donkeys. Then burn the money.

That’s what we are already doing today.

Yeah, I like that. Let’s do it. Do we need IS involvement?

Only if we have donkeys.

What about bunnies?

No, we already have bunnies, that’s what isn’t working.

But I like bunnies, and you all suck. We’re keeping the bunnies. Who wants lunch?

I already ate, how about you? I had a tuna sandwich. It was great. I got a great deal on it, and they only burnt half the money. The other half they put in the ditch, and get this, they used a shredder for the last half! It was fantastic. Is that my blackberry? Oh man, I gotta go.

Me too. Thanks everyone, I think we got the info we needed to start acting. See you tomorrow, same time. Don’t forget we’re also meeting later, whoops, I mean now. Ok. Who brought the pictures of the bunnies? Good, we can get started.

However, my dad and his Toyota Solara at 306%, better watch out!

Which cars draw the most tickets? – MSN Money

• Go to bed earlier than 4am. Wake up at a respectable time, say 6:30am. Maybe go to work or something.
• Get a bag.
• Pick out your five favorite toys, put them in the bag.
• Pick out your five favorite books, put them in the bag.
• Pick out five days worth of clothing and toiletries, put them in the bag.
• Put the bags in the car.
• Put your pets in the car.
• Put yourself in the car.
• Drive elsewhere.

And with everything left behind:

• Ebay
• Craigslist
• Freecycle
• Recycle
• Dump

When this is complete, I’ll gladly unplug for two months.

Eartha Kitt 1927-2008