September 17th - Quack, quack, I am a duck - boy did it rain!

I am a three alarm kind of guy. Today, the first alarm went off at 3:45 AM, the send at 3:55, the third (the dangerous one) sounded at 4:00 AM - this is the one with the 7 minute snooze [who came up with 7 minutes? Is 7 minutes the standard for a snooze?]. 4:00 AM quickly became 4:21, I dashed out of bed, brushed my teethed, evacuated my bladder, ran three fingers through my hair, grabbed my gear, and peddled off to work.

This morning I made good time. 7.5 miles in 30 minutes, and I wasn't pushing it (thank you peddle assist). I was a little sweaty with a little more stink today, so I used some babby wipes to decontaminate the crutial parts.

The shift went o.k. but my relief overslept and was late by about 20 minutes, the minutes that made a 1 hour difference in my commute. Had my relief been on time, I would have been home before the heavens opened up. Because "he" was late, I got stuck halfway home with torrential rains resulting in up to 6 inches (and more) of local flooding. Luckly, I made it to the local train station before I got soaked and I waited out most of the storm, including hail and lightening (plus about 3 inches of rain). I hung out for an hour watching the storm pass - there is something kind of peaceful about that - but it would have been better if I watched the storm from home.

By the time I restarted my ride home I had my rain gear on, the roads were littered with branches, motorists were "extra" crazed, and power was out to signal lights in half the intersections I rode through.

I got home, I am sipping a glass of California wine, I am going to eat, shower, cutle my wife (we had to put the dog "down" yesterday - she had cancer, so the bed is more "open" now which is much better now for cuddling).

Dinner is on the table, I shall go. My gear is drying out. I need to get up earlier in the morning to regrease/lube the important parts of the bike since it got drench.

Goodnight for now.

September 15th - Cold Beer (in the morning)!!!!!!

What a night at work. A bag of popcorn in an unauthorized microwave caused the fire alarm to go off and the building had to be evacuated. The sirens were tested at the local nuke plant, but most people didn't know about the test and thought there was a meltdown in progress - I got those calls. Some member of the public shot a blow-gun dart into a sensative piece of equipment. And, I could go on, and on, and on, etc.

As I sit writing the blog, I am glad to say it is pouring rain outside. I made it home without getting rained on and soaked. At 5:55 AM it was dark and humid, but no rain. [I need to think about getting some serious rain gear if I am going to keep this up.]

Now for the beer part, when I got home (at 6:25 AM) I found the bottom shelf of the refridgerator fill with very cold Budwweiser! Awesome. It's now 7:13 AM and I am on my third! Catching a buz in the morning (after working all night long) is great! I guess today is a bad day to want to walk the kids to school - what will the other children's parents think? Ha! Who cares! The beer is ice cold!

September 14th - One more night to go.

Working nights is unnatural. My bio-clock will now be toppsie turrvie for the next 4 days. However, the exercise I am getting e-bike commuting to work really helps keep my energy level up.

The night before last I read the New York State Motor Vehicle Laws (it was a slow night). Much to my surprise, electric-assist bicycles are not allowed to be opperated on public roads in New York State. There is a bill the State Assemble passed and moved onto the State Senate that will change the definiation of an electric-assist bicycle (whose primary propulsion is human power) to be a bicycle that will in essence remove prohabition for their use on public roadways. What a bummer, it is no wonder why more people don't ride electric-assist bicycles - it's against the law. Go figure.

Well, my noncompliance with the law will willfully continue. I just hope the Assembly Bill dosen't die a misserable death in the Senate Transportation Committee.

I am already setting my sights on the spring and new batteries. I am thinking about swapping to NiMH and upping the voltage to 48 volts, this change shall add some pazzaz to the ride. I brushless motor would also be a good thing, but I need a big tax return, or higher gasoline prices to justify the payback period.

I am also thinking about new panniers, or other type of load carrying devices. I have corrugated plastic that I might try my own design. I also am thinking I can zip-tie a plastic crate, or small garbage can to my Blackburn rack - I could do the same with old picnic baskets for a cool retro-style look.

The ride to and from work was descent, however it was a little warm yesterday and a little humid this morning. Now that I am home, it is a good time to take a quick shower.

Still no Blogging from work.

September 13 - Working nights

Days are getting shorter! I left the office at 6:00 PM in the dark. The sun was up by the time I got home. I am begining to really enjoy early morning rides, the air is cleaner, and there are fewer people and cars on the road. It almost feels like I own the place.

I am off to bed. I will get up at about 3:00PM when the kids get home from school and get ready to ride back to work.

September 12 - $3.24 per gallon

I finally had to put some gasoline into my pick up truck. The last time I gassed up the truck was in mid-July when I cam back from a trip to Maine. $40.00 bought me a half tank of regular gas (about 13 gallons). Hopefully, this will last until winter time.

I counted bicycles on the rack at the local train station today. Total, 24 bikes, and much to my suprise were the 9 scooters mixed in with the bikes. Now, especially with the high gas prices and nice weather, there are clearly many more people on bicycles. This is a trend that if it contunies might defeat the oil giants at their own game. If less people drive, and those that do drive more economical model cars, then much less fuel will be consumed at whatever price the gas giants can through at us consumers. I am still comfortable and confident that I can continue to ride my bike for months, likely all year long.

I have been driving. There are just some trips where it makes more sense to drive, like if I have little time to go a long distance, or if I am car pooling, or if I am taking a bunch of people somewhere in the minivan, or I have a load to haul in the truck. This is what I consider appropriate use of transportation technologies.

I work nights this week, so the bike commute will be easy. There is some rain predicted, but I'll get wet and change into clean clothes at work.