Novice bicyclists beware....

This is a major bicycling university town, which means fall quarter is always very very dangerous. Many new students arrive and buy new bicycles. The problem is that they don't know how to ride them in heavy bicycle or vehicular traffic. I saw a couple of near-accidents, one bicyclist not behaving as a vehicle and not stopping at a stop sign. She almost got creamed by a car with the right of way. A few young women just do not know how to make their bicycles go after coming to a complete stop (yes, mostly women and often very skinny, so maybe it's a muscle mass thing). This makes for excruciatingly painful negotiations at four-way stops when I am in my car. I work very hard to respect the rights of bicyclists, but they gotta do their part too.

Not yet read through, but eminently linkable: this Truthout Op-Ed by Al Gore. The pendulum has to start swinging the other way. Maybe Rove will get indicted after all?

Hitting the wall workwise, alleviated by my workload being acknowledged by the big boss, along with an offer of whatever support I needed to make it all happen. That in itself makes it much better.

Tomorrow: pumpkin patch field trip with many many preschoolers including my son. That's worth taking the morning off.