A Quick Rant (it's been a while!) :-)

When I first started reading the response (The WSJ's "Get Over It" Column, Translated) to some guy's column about runners (OK, You're a Runner. Get Over It), I thought the responding author (Remy) was being a bit harsh on the whiny one (Stafko). Sometimes writers find inspiration in the things that irritate them, and sometimes the results can be funny (as Mr. Remy is trying to demonstrate in his riposte to Mr. Stafko). But then I hit this line:

Why would someone want to get up at 5 a.m. and run 10 miles adorned with fluorescent tape to avoid being struck by someone who has the good sense to use a car for a 10-mile journey?

And then I lost any sympathy I might have had for the poor, unimaginative ass, because his dedication to riding around in a car is a big problem and his attempts at humor were falling incredibly flat. It never makes "good sense" to use a car. Sometimes using a car is unavoidable, but then it's just a necessary evil. It's not good and it doesn't make sense.

Further, Stafko is being unbelievably disingenuous to suggest that what a runner is doing could be just as easily accomplished in a car. In the latter case, one is gratuitously polluting our planet and becoming an even greater burden on our buckling health care system, and in the former, one is working to be a healthier person in a better world.

And the willful ignorance does not end there.

I have a theory. There is no more visible form of strenuous exercise than running. When runners are dashing down a street in the middle of town or through a subdivision, they know that every driver, every pedestrian, every leaf-raker and every person idly staring out a window can see them.

Some people run because they want to be in shape, and uh, sorry, Mr. Projection McJudgeypants, but running in private is an incredibly difficult thing to do. Unless you have access to an indoor track or have tolerance for being on a treadmill (I don't -- it is mind-numbingly boring), you have to run outside -- either on the sidewalk or in the road (where else would you have us run?). When I run, I just walk out my front door and go. My route depends on my mood, how much distance I want to cover, whether or not I'm in the mood for hills, and what the weather is like. But I pretty much always start and stop and my home. I make no effort to avoid being seen -- why would I? -- but I also make no effort to be visible (except in that I want to avoid being hit by cars). I'm simply running. And I'm not doing it at you.

On the other hand, my brother has mentioned that he does avoid routes where he might be more visible, because he doesn't want to seem to be flaunting the fact that he's running. When he said this, I thought he was a little nuts. But now I know that there really are asshats out there who somehow manage to take personal offense because I'm doing something that they don't do.

Seriously. That seems to be his whole problem. "I don't run and I don't like it when other people run."

Oh, well. Way to be humorless on a Friday, right?  ;-)

UPDATE: another response

Happy 11-12-13 (or 12-11-13, if you're in Europe)!!

I've been more impulsive than usual lately. I don't know why.

Today, I was out doing errands in my car. It was the first time I've been in the car in a while. I've been trying to use my bike whenever possible, which generally means trips that are less that 5 miles (one way) that don't require hauling any oversized cargo. So, if it's the grocery store, farmers market, hardware store, or anything medical, I can ride my bike. But today, I had to go out to a few of the stores that surround the dreaded mall and I had to haul stuff home with me, so into the car I went.

I felt like I was trapped in a box.

And then I got rear ended.

I was waiting at a red light when it happened, and I didn't see it coming. Suddenly, my head bopped back and the whole car shook. I sat there for a few beats and then turned off the car and got out. And then the perp got out of her car, too. She was clearly terrified and was frantically trying to assemble what little English she knew. "So sorry!!" she said.

I could see a toddler in the back seat of her little rust-bucket of a car. I surveyed the situation and saw no damage to my car (well, nothing that wasn't already there -- as I mentioned on Sunday, my car is not in the best of shape), and her car looked like it had survived the blow, so I simply asked her, "are you ok?"

"So sorry!" she returned. "I don't think there is any damage," I replied. "Are you both ok?" And again, I got simply, "so sorry!"

And that's when I was impulsive. I didn't see that there was any point in calling the cops in or asking for insurance information, so I just told her that it was all ok, gave her a pat on the shoulder, and got in my car and drove away.

I'm assuming she felt some relief. I certainly did.

Interesting Morning...

When Emmie tried to leave her condo for work this morning, she discovered a problem with her car. She called me and I came over to join in the adventure.

I'm pretty sure this hole was not a naturally occurring event. That tire was slashed (...and I almost crashed but the Lord had mercy...). But what's done is done, and the tire (badly!) needed to be replaced anyway (you would not believe how bald it was!).

We managed to keep our good humor despite the hardships. It was, after all, a beautiful morning (which, given the storm that rolled through just a little while later, was something for which to be grateful!).

I kind of like changing a tire. It makes me feel self-reliant and resourceful. It's a skill everyone should possess. Emmie managed to survive the effort without breaking a single nail (getting the last of the grease out, otoh, might take a while).

Unfortunately, the spare tire was also flat. But never fear! I had a tire inflator that worked via the car's cigarette lighter!

Oh, but alas, that tire was still flat. I think it was an old tire, suffering, perhaps, from a bit of dry rot. It would not hold air. With two tires down, there was only one option left...

Thank goodness for AAA.

Emmie did eventually make it to work. She took my car, and I stayed home, which was not a hardship. For as long as the weather held out, I enjoyed some autumn air while raking leaves and harvesting some late-season peppers; and then once the rain rolled in, I moved inside and did some lunch hour cooking. I did, in due course, get some work done, though it did take a while for me to get to it.

Not a bad Thursday. I can't complain. I'm grateful for a flexible job, the ability to work at home, a warm southern autumn morning, and a daughter with a sense of humor.

And as long as I'm counting blessings... here comes the weekend, everyone! Whew!!!   ;)

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

My heart weeps...

My brother posted this on facebook today:

The end of an era? In the summer of 1974, our parents purchased our first Saab - a station wagon that all 7 of us fit into on family vacations. Loads of great memories, including riding around the hills of Pawling with cousin Kenny learning to drive while my Dad rode shotgun. Today I took our 1992 Saab to be delivered to the junk yard - over 230,000 miles and about 14 things wrong with it. For the first time in 38 years the Williams Family is Saab-less.

It is another Sad Saab Day. The 1974 iteration was the car I learned to drive in. I can't believe the Saab Era has ended...

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Sad Saab Day

(Image from PBase.com)

GM said today they're going to close down the Saab brand. This is the car I learned to drive in. An old Saab station wagon (ours was blue but otherwise basically like the one above) that I think my parents imported into the country on their own, back before Saabs were sold over here in the States. It had a three-in-the-tree manual transmission and one of those Trollhattän stickers in the window, and we actually used to fit all seven members of our family into that that little thing during vacation road trips. It was the first of many Saabs my family would go through, and definitely the coolest of the bunch. I'll be sorry to see the brand go, even though their recent offerings haven't been all that inspired.

Weekend Links

There's an awful lot of weird weather out there this weekend, so I gather a lot of folks are trapped in their homes.

Now first of all, that's no reason to sit in front of the computer all day! Get up and move around, people! If you don't use it, you'll lose it. I don't want to hear any excuses! ;-D

And second, as long as you're sitting at the computer anyway (for a quick break between your Jack Lalannes and your Jane Fondas, right?), here are a few tidbits for your amusement...

• What’s the worst snow storm you can remember? (Mine is the Blizzard of '77.)

• Is Coca-Cola saving the earth?

• Can you possibly resist a list that has in its #2 position, "Oreo Cookie Death Filling?" It's the 6 Weirdest, Scariest Processed Foods!

• If you're in the mood to experiment, Google released beta versions of their Chrome browser for the Mac and Linux this week! (Speaking of Google, have you seen google goggles yet? It's one of the many cool things that has me lusting after the Droid way more than the iPhone these days.)

• Is it the gift that keeps on giving? Or the gift that keeps taking away?

• Gretchen Carlson is an idiot. On purpose (jon stewart clip!).

• Eww (this is why you're supposed to use your elbow to cover your cough or sneeze, as I recently learned from my sister-in-law, the elementary school teacher).

• Brands that will disappear in 2010.

• Can you drive a stick? I've never driven anything but, to the point where trying to drive an automatic freaks me out. Plus, transmissions cost a whole lot of money to fix, but clutches don't cost much, so maintaining cars with manual transmissions can be quite a bit cheaper.

• Toilet Graffiti... my favorites are #7 and #8.

Saturday Links: things you might have missed

I've found some interesting reading lately -- things that haven't worked their way into a post, but are worth mentioning nonetheless. Besides, it's been a while since I've done a link roundup.

• In The Culture Warriors Get Laid Off, Frank Rich reminds us of some glad tidings amidst all the recent rotten headlines:
  

  Here, at last, is one piece of good news in our global economic meltdown: Americans have less and less patience for the intrusive and divisive moral scolds who thrived in the bubbles of the Clinton and Bush years. Culture wars are a luxury the country — the G.O.P. included — can no longer afford.

• The interesting thing to take away from the The 20 Worst Foods in America 2009 is that even the sit-down restaurants and innocent sounding menu items (dishes that use words like "salad" and "chicken") can be loaded with fat, cholesterol and calories. If you're trying to eat healthy food, it's not enough to just stay away from the fast food joints, and surprisingly enough, some of the worst offenders are those family restaurants with the ferns and brass rails -- maybe places like TGIFridays and Chilis are best avoided as well. (And speaking of gross food, if you haven't yet seen Supersize Me, you can now catch it on Hulu!)
• The 25 Most Influential Liberals In The U.S. Media is an interesting list. I was surprised to have not heard of a few of them (and in at least one case, by who is considered to be liberal).
• It's good to see Joe Biden out there stumping for Amtrak. This country needs good passenger rail service, and Amtrak has been neglected for far too long.
• A Hand in the Health Debate is an interesting perspective on health care reform from Eugene Robinson (why MSNBC doesn't put him out in front more often than they do is a mystery to me. He's smart, funny, and he has one of the coolest voices since James Earl Jones):
  

  What is relevant is that I have good insurance, which I obtain through my employer, and haven't paid a dime out of pocket for my treatment. If I were among the 46 million Americans who are uninsured, I'd be looking at a huge hospital bill. No one should face financial ruin because of a mishap with a fork and an avocado. The way we ration health care now -- according to the individual's ability to pay -- is immoral, and if higher taxes are needed to ensure that no one has to choose between health and bankruptcy, I'll pay. That was my position all along, but now it's personal.
  
  What's changed is that I also feel more strongly about the ability to make my own choices. I decided where I would be treated and, ultimately, what would or wouldn't be done. I'm willing to pay for that, too.

• UK Street View Has Arrived and Brits are celebrating -- by finding celebs and playing Where's Waldo? (but they've still got some catching up to do!)
• This one makes me laugh every time I think about it: Tucker Carlson doesn't think Jon Stewart is funny. Gee, Tucker, I wonder why? Is it because you're a drama queen, or is it because you're still smarting from that asswhuppin'?
• I'm still blown away by this: Do you remember John Tyler? You know, our 10th president. A long time ago. Way back in the days of Tippecanoe and Tyler too. Back when the only way to take a picture was with a daguerreotype. Well, would you believe he still has a living grandson? Wow!
• And finally, what would we do without Improv Everywhere? I weep at the thought of it! Here's the latest, Subway Art Gallery Opening:

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Senator O'Biden

I'm pretty pleased with Obama's choice for VP. During one of our long road trips this summer, G-Dog and I ran through a long list of possible VPs, trying to predict the nominees on both tickets (both who we wanted to see on the ticket, and who we thought would get the job). My choice (both for who will get picked and who should get picked) was Biden. He's got a great resumé, lots experience as chair of the foreign relations committee and member of the judiciary committee, a willingness to engage in debate, and the ability to think on his feet. For years now, G-Dog has referred to him as "Fightin' Joe Biden," and I think an attack dog is just what the Democrats need in this presidential race, after two presidential campaigns spent in retreat.

As far as Bush's stupid war goes, I wish Biden had not voted to go along with it, but in a city full of Chickenhawks, at least the Biden family has not shied away from making a personal investment in the war: Joe's son, Beau, is set to be deployed in Iraq starting in October.

Biden has a long and strong history with unions and blue collar voters. And unlike John McCain (and potential running mate, Mitt Romney), Joe Biden doesn't have any trouble counting his homes -- he has just one, in Wilmington, Delaware, where he's lived his whole career. He commutes to D.C. on the train every day (yay for being an Amtrak fan!), and doesn't even have the means for multiple homes, as his net worth is reportedly just $150,000. This man, from humble beginnings in Scranton, PA -- a guy who goes home every night and who spent years as a single parent -- knows the value of a hard day's work and understands the struggles of Americans who are losing ground in the Bush/McCain economy.

I think Obama and Biden will make a good team -- that both of them will work hard for the American people in the coming years. They are both intelligent, curious, learned people who have known hard times and have shown dogged determination to achieve the goals they have set for themselves. They did not get to ride on the coattails of their rich fathers or wives to get them ahead in the world, but rather, they figured out how to get there on their own. This is the kind of talent I want to see in the White House next year.

----

BTW, there were two HUGE reasons that Hillary was never in the running:

1) Hillary was all too happy to go after a fellow democrat in the primary. If Biden provided fodder for the McCain campaign, Hillary would have given them an embarrassment of riches!

2) Bill. Bill refused to be vetted (he doesn't want to talk about his presidential library donors) and he proved to be an uncontrollable liability during the primary.

Also, I think it's worth pointing out this irony: if it weren't for the die-hard Hillary supporters (and their Joe-Lieberman-for-Connecticut-like attachment to a single person over a common goal), we might have ended up with a female on the ticket -- the first woman to ever have a serious shot at the VP job! But their scary insistence that Hillary was the only acceptable choice for either spot on the ticket might have created a fear of alienating already-angry voters even further, taking all other women out of serious consideration. What a sad situation! And what a sad state of affairs for feminism (does the elevation of a single woman to great heights and expectations -- to the exclusion of any other women -- even qualify as feminism?)!

Link Roundup (politics-free!)

• Imagine...
• Mapping Manhattan
• 'Daruma-otoshi' skyscraper demolition
• Woman struck by lightning while shooting video
• Urban ducklings!
• Cars of Africa
• Tiny sovereign Dutch neighborhoods in Belgian town

How freaky is this?

I was driving north on North Market this afternoon and was sideswiped by another car. It wasn't a scary accident, though there was enough damage to the side of my car to involve the other driver's insurance company. The other driver was pulling out from Manning and didn't see my car, so he basically ran me off of the road.

But here's the freaky part: remember G-Dog's wreck a couple of years ago? Well, guess what? He was driving south on North Market when someone pulled out suddenly from Manning and t-boned his truck.

The Chez 10K family definitely needs to stay away from this intersection from here on out...

Happy Train Day!

I was going to post about trains tomorrow, on Mother's Day, because my mother was one of the biggest fans of trains. She journeyed across America and back numerous times on the train, enjoyed the gorgeous ride across Canada, rode the Orient Express, and had adventures on many other trains in Europe, Asia, North America and Austraila.

So, I naturally thought of my mother when I came upon this post by Kvatch about how we need to refocus on rail here in the US. It's an argument people have been making for years (though much to my mother's frustration, it's mostly fallen on deaf ears as Americans have continued their long-term romance with automobiles), but I think we might finally be at a pivot point when it comes to trains.

The days following the attack on the World Trade Center demonstrated how vulnerable we are when our airlines can't fly. And recent chaos at our airports has shown that it doesn't take a major disaster to effectively shut down air travel. We not only need a good backup transportation option for when air travel is disrupted, but we also need to seriously consider the environmental impact of flying and consider alternatives whenever possible. Trains fill both these needs.

I recently attended an information session about a Maglev train route that might eventually run from Savannah, Georgia to Chicago, Illinois (which would stop in Chattanooga), and the benefits are numerous. Maglev trains are quiet, efficient, very clean, and they can carry freight -- and especially when you factor in the typical delays involved in flying (like baggage check, endless waits at security checkpoints and required early arrivals), they can be just as fast as flights on many popular commuter routes. Americans are way behind Asia and Europe in developing high-speed train technology and routes, but now that gas prices have us looking for alternatives to riding all alone in gas-guzzling SUVs, we might see some progress toward the planning and implementing of some high-speed train routes.

As I said, I was planning on posting about all this tomorrow, but via mindful mission, I just discovered that today is National Train Day. Why May 10th? Because "on May 10, 1869, in Promontory Summit, Utah, the 'golden spike' was driven into the final tie that joined 1,776 miles of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railways, ceremonially creating the nation's first transcontinental railroad."

So, happy train day, kids! Get your Choo-Choo on! :-D

Stocking Stuffer!

Just in time for Christmas, my favorite little car has hopped across the pond!

Yikes! A plane just crashed on Brainerd Road!

That's why I've been hearing a steady stream of sirens for the past half hour.

UPDATE: Joe is keeping track of the coverage.

UPDATE: here's the story (with pictures, audio and video) from the TFP.

UPDATE: everyone's going to be okay.

Buses Getting WiFi

CARTA has a bunch of upgrades in store for Chattanooga bus riders.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday