Commuting

I biked to work for the first time this year. I think it's a milestone. The forecast said it was supposed to be 36 and sunny, but it's actually 30 with light flurries. Besides almost getting doored by a police officer and getting cut off by some sort of tractor-looking construction vehicle turning right into an alley, I made it unscathed. Getting catcalled on Leland and Clark by striking construction workers made my day. I know I look sexy in my bike helmet with my pants tucked into my socks. My legs tingled from the wind, and the tips of my toes were numb. Somehow I was still groggy when I got to work, which concerns me a bit because it's kind of dangerous to be so out of it while behind the handlebars of a moving vehicle at rush hour...

Ode to the Armitage bus

The Armitage bus is GREAT! It's so much better than the Fullerton bus. It comes regularly, is not extremely crowded, and it drops me a block from my house. I had never even considered it, thinking it was stupid to take a bus and 2 trains when I could just take one bus and one train to get to work, but actually, it's ended up being a time saver...

Yesterday morning I waited on the corner of Armitage and California, across from the strip mall with a bank, 7-11 and Chinese fast food (which I actually didn't even notice until yesterday on my way home when I smelled it in the air). I flipped through Hoy, reading about how Chicagoans feel about the Colombian military crossing into Ecuador to kill the FARC high commander. On the bus, passing Milwaukee, then Elston, you could see the Hancock tower flanked by the pink glow of the early morning winter sun.

I'll definitely be a fixture on the Armitage bus until the weather warms up enough so I can bike to work again.

On the flipside

I haven't been blogging since I got back from Nicaragua because I feel like it's back to the usual again... Nothing mind-blowing that other people are interested in... No mountain-climbing adventures, or beach going, or Managua barrio stories. Sigh. But, reading my friend Ann's blog today while horribly bored at work, I was inspired (www.atothem.blogspot.com) Thanks Ann! So I'm back in the blogosphere again!