Thursday, October 28, 2010

I'm back baby!


Well, after almost a full month of no bike riding to/from work (and no blog posts either...sorry) I have to say riding in a car to work still sucks...For the record, the reason why it took a month to fix my bike is because the part that broke is very unique to my already unique bike.  It took two weeks just to get the wrong piece and send it back, then another two to get the right one...so back off.  

I did, however, carpool with a good friend, and I appreciate his tolerance in letting me bum rides off of him every day.  Although I do recommend the carpooling option, there are still a few notable negative aspects.

To lighten the mood, let me discuss a few of the good things first:

1.  Carpools = that many fewer cars
For however many people, minus the driver, there are in the car on the way to and from work, it means there are that many fewer cars on the road that day.  This is great because it's that much less crap we put in the air and hey, it probably saves the carpoolers gas-money.

2.  Getting to know people
Carpools are a great way to socialize with people in your community.  Whether you met up on a carpooling website or it's your neighbor, it's always good to know at least one person from your area.

3.  Forces you to keep a solid morning and evening schedule
Since the person(s) is(are) involved with your daily commute, you must now stick to a schedule that includes their schedule.  This is a very good thing for people like me who usually wake up at the latest possible moment to get to work on time.  In the evening, it's not too bad especially if your employer knows you carpool.  Then you can sometimes leave a few minutes before 5pm because your carpooler's schedule changed at the last minutes.  If your employer gives you crap about it, you can pull out the environment card and say "so you don't want me to take part in saving the planet?."  Then hit them in the face with a copy of "An Inconvenient Truth" and then again with a copy of "2012."

Now onto the bad things about carpooling:

1.  Carpools = Cars
Cars suck, especially when the driver lives within 5 miles of their office.  If you drive to work and you live within 5 miles of your office, then you shouldn't be surprised when "someone" leaves a flaming bag of poo on the roof of your car...I know who you are.

2.  Getting to know people
People suck, as do their driving.  Last thing people need in the morning is someone else talking to them about the latest mobile phone technology and the stupid youtube video/internet meme of the week.  We don't care about you're new Android phone and how you can watch kittens sneezing on youtube with it, we just want to get to work like all the other "sheeple."

3.  Forces you to keep a solid morning and evening schedule
Sometimes you oversleep.  On those "sporadic" mornings, where you are 20 minutes late to work, you can pull out the old "my bike had a few problems this morning" excuse, it works every time.  Except with carpooling, for every minute you are late, the other carpoolers are late too, and that just makes you look and feel like an ass.  There are other times when you find out, in the middle of the day, that you need to stay at the office a little later.  If you're the driver, you just abandoned you're fellow carpooler.  If you are the passenger, you just put yourself in a situation where getting home might not be so easy.  In my case, I live just far enough away from the light rail that walking home from the station would be a bit dangerous. Since I live in Baltimore, I won't risk it alone.

4.  You aren't on a bicycle
I'll be honest with you, I don't ride a bike to work because it's good for the environment, or that it's a good exercise, or even to please the ladies.  No, I ride my bike to and from work because it's FUN.  Yes, FUN!  You know, that thing you aren't having most of your work day.  No matter what the weather condition is, that ride in the morning is a great way for me to relax and truly enjoy a city that is slowly transforming into something better.  In a car, this morning fun-time doesn't exist.  Instead it's morning rage-time: "Go back to Jersey you moron!!!"

Thanks for reading!

p.s Videos of crappy people for next time!






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