Soggy sycling

August 28, 2014

Some say we move through life.  Others, that life moves through us, motion an illusion.  Some days it feels that we are at a fork in the road we are travelling.  Some days it feels like we have found a pear in the road upon which we have stopped to take a photo.  

Some days we cross a mini-mudslide and find a barricade on the other side.  

Other days we feel saturated.  This saturation may be due to sunlight or liquid sunshine.  

Possibly even liquid acid, but that, my friends, is another storey. 

A friend of mine has broached the idea of moving off to Montana to pursue his dream of wild art.  Well that is great!  I support your dream.  My dream has come true since I just started receiving my 1^st of 12 free issues of Outside magazine!  All I had to do was fly 5 or 6,000 miles.   And fortunately I was able to verify that Missoula, Montana is indeed on Outside’s list of best places to live.  So consider that dream validated.  Some have the courage to fight for their dreams, others fight for their armchair to dream from.

I also used to dream of a city where my hardly earned taxpayer’s money supported the work of a man like Carlos Morales who was getting things done downtown.  Kicking arse, taking dames, that kinda shit.  It seems that his time here in our fair to middlin’ city may be nearing its end.  I wish him all the best in whatever endeavors he chooses to undertake in his next engagement. 

Fortunately there may be a glimmer of light (for the many fans of bicycles and Carlos here and abroad) at the end of the tunnel of Mr. Morales’s disengagement.  This, from our friends at ModeShift Omaha. 

 When the City of Omaha budget was released, it did not include the Bicycle Pedestrian Coordinator position. According to Mayor Jean Stothert, the position was no longer necessary because “the purpose of this position, the goals have been reached.”

So, for a moment, that was the outlook. It was bleak.

Today, things are very different. The Mayor acted fairly quickly to create the Active Living Advisory Committee and selected Julie Harris to be its first chair. Win.

Soon thereafter, several months of ongoing discussions between several city departments, Omaha by Design and others culminated in an agreement to create the city’s first Complete Streets policy. Win.

The Metropolitan Area Planning Agency (MAPA) then offered to ramp up its multimodal planning efforts if the city agreed to chip in a few bucks to make it happen. The city obliged. Win.

And finally, a position dedicated to multimodal transportation – a balanced transportation coordinator – was restored into the budget. As it stands today, the City Council approved a position in Public Works and the Mayor agreed to a similar position in Planning. There’s still the possibility of a veto, so we’ll see where this shakes out. Nevertheless, we’ll call it a win. 

Like the immediate future of multimodal transport here in Omaha, like Mr. Morales, and like my friend who dreams of becoming a wild artist, I, too, feel I’ve reached a fork in the road.  

I may gradually cease all blogging activities in a slow, disgraceful manner as I spend more and more time trying to keep our house from collapsing, gardening, and chasing Toddler Snot hither and yon.  This is certainly a possibility.  Hopefully I’ll be able to continue, albeit on an even less regular basis, to offer haphazard, inchoate, insightless drivel to those who can stomach it.  

As I reached my workly place a half a fortnight past I noticed that I had neglected to secure me trousers in me trusty rucksack.   Funny!  I was a little embarrassed, but I figured my time had come.  Luckily Mrs. Snot was kind enough to deliver a pair to me and all I had to do was wear paisley trousers that were a bit tight in the rumpus.  One place where arriving to work with no trousers might not be a problem would be over in bonny Scotland where everyone roams around with either pro-independence kilts, 

http://rt.com/in-vision/edinburgh-protest-scotland-independence/edinburgh-people-gather-rally/

pro-united kilts, 

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/photographers-take-photos-of-david-coburn-mep-of-the-uk-news-photo/451543836

or perhaps even Depends comforting their private parts.  I, for one, am in favor of independence because it is likely to lead to an increase in Highland games and viewings of Braveheart.  I would also like to visit someday and it will be nice not to have to deal with those Lobsterbacks pushing us humble colonists onto a Mayflower and trying to teabag our rebellious nostrils!  And if our honourable United Stateliness is occasionally accused of neo-colonial behavior it’s just because that’s how we grew up – being oppressed by colonialists!  This is not to excuse our behavior in places like Granada or Puerto Rico, but merely to explain it.  Why, even as we serve as the frigid ice cream topping to the spicy, cinnamony cake we call Mexico, so too, we support our maple syruppy northern neighbors who cover us with their sweet stickiness whether we asked them to or not!  All of this is to say that we may have a limited amount of control over the ebb and flow of nations and power, but we can all relate to bicycles.  So let’s get out there and get soaked!

  

Here's what my tighty whities looked like when I got to my working home today.

Yes, those are soggy and slightly gritty skivvies, and no, I did not wear them.  In the words of William Wallace - Frreeeedommm!