Good Windshield Wipers

"Everything has beauty,

but not everyone sees it."

-- Confucius

Glasses with windshield wipers 10-21-14

"Dirk turned on the car wipers, which grumbled 

because they didn't have quite enough rain to wipe away,

so he turned them off again. 

Rain quickly speckled the windscreen. 

He turned on the wipers again, but they still 

refused to feel that the exercise was worthwhile, 

and scraped and squeaked in protest."

-- Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

It's that time of year, when it rains a little almost every day, and a lot on others.

Yesterday I had to drive in it, and I was really glad to have a good set of windshield wipers.

Before long I'll be driving through snow and sleet and salt and slush and freezing rain and "wintry mix" and all of the other shit that makes seeing through my windshield really troublesome.

It may sound completely and utterly cockamamie, but I think it's good to be able to see through my windshield when I'm driving and Mother Nature is mercilessly flinging crap at me.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Time for the "One Good Thing Automotive Maintenance Minute."

Did you know you should replace your car's wiper blades every six months, or as soon as they interfere with your visibility? If they squeak, chatter, skip, smear or streak, that means they're shit and it's probably a good idea to get new ones.

Motorcycle Helmets

"Accidents hurt. Safety doesn't."

-- Unknown

Lego helmet with dead bugs 9-8-14

Be good to yourself.

If you ride a motorcycle, please wear a helmet.

Do it for your own good.

If not for your own good, do it for the good of the people who need you and love you.

OK, the sermon is over.

Amen.

My Neon Yellow Cycling Jersey

"Think! Always wear a high visibility jacket."

--Top Gear, Episode 9.5

Self portrait 5-21-14

"The body is meant to be seen, not all covered up."

-- Marilyn Monroe

"It's no fun to be yellow. 

Maybe I'm not all yellow, I don't know.

I think maybe I"m just partly yellow and partly the type that

doesn't give much of a damn ..."

-- J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

Some road construction has shunted a bunch of traffic onto my cycling route.

I ride the same route every day, so the cars that pass me are used to seeing me, and for the most part they are all really good about giving me plenty of room.

But these new re-routed drivers seem not to know much about how to drive around a rider on a bicycle. Plus, they're driving pissed because there's a detour, also they're on unfamiliar roads and are probably staring at their phones or GPSs instead of the road ahead, so I'm not sure most of them even see me before they swerve dramatically, or sweep past dangerously close.

Also it's been raining a lot, and while I like my usual  all-black ninja-look (my friend Bob calls it my Spiderman Suit), I decided to up the safety factor and got a neon bright yellow jersey so that I can be properly seen.

I've never been a big fan of bright neon colors, in my workout gear or elsewhere. I prefer to blend in with a darker, more subtle approach. My mother often put a pair of hi-vis orange gloves or a hat in my Christmas stocking for me to wear running so I wouldn't get shot by the deer hunters. I never wore them. I also never got shot.

So anyway, I bought this bright, highlighter yellow jersey and have begun wearing it to combat this annoying new traffic situation.

Yesterday it was a good thing I was wearing it.

I was riding up behind some old fuck in a pickup truck who put on his right turn signal. He started to turn right, and then just as I entered the intersection he did a sudden U-turn and headed straight back at me. He hit the brakes. I hit the brakes. I yelled "What the fuck?" He honked -- what, to emphasize what a jackass he was?

Anyway, I escaped unscathed, and I credit my neon yellow cycling jersey for making me highly visible enough that I didn't get killed by an old fuck in a pickup truck.

Good. Fucking. Thing.

Shelter From The Storm

"Everybody needs a safe place."

-- Mary Oliver, Dog Songs

Shelter 1-25-14

"Oh, a storm is threat'ning
My very life today
If I don't get some shelter
Oh, yeah, I'm gonna fade away."

-- The Rolling Stones, "Gimme Shelter"

As I sit here safe and sound in my cozy home sipping a hot cup of fresh-brewed cinnamon Starbucks coffee, it's easy to forget that there's a winter storm raging just outside my window. But every now and then the howl of a fierce, frigid wind reminds me that the weather outside is very, very frightful.

It is fascinating to watch the wind. (Yes, Christina Georgina Rossetti, I can see it.) I can actually see the drifts forming as the wind swirls and loops and whorls snow across open the spaces, then bucks and changes direction just before crashing against any solid thing standing in its way. 

It's elegant and graceful, in a way -- like a dance -- beautiful from the vantage point of my sturdy, warm, solid house, underscored by the accompaniment of the furnace's steady, comforting hum.

It may sound trite or obvious to say that shelter is a good thing. Most of the time, it's one of the good things that I guess I take for granted. 

Rather than complain about being antsy, or bored, or house-bound, today I am grateful that I have a house to be bound and bored and antsy in. I don't have to tell you that not everybody is so lucky. 

If you are safe and warm today, and if you have the means, think about donating blankets or coats or food or time or money to your local homeless shelter or soup kitchen.  Don't know of one? There's a really good one in my area called Victory Kitchen that accepts monetary donations online. Click on the link and you can help someone without even leaving the comfort of your safe, warm home.

And today, that's definitely a good thing.

Be safe and take care.