Ride, Rinse, Repeat

It rained hard through the night and when the alarm went off I held out little hope of riding. I could tell the streets were soaked without looking, but I ventured a glance out the window anyway. Hmmm -- not actually raining. I stumbled to the computer to check the radar. It looked like the worst of the rain had just passed through, so I figured I'd saddle up the old Rain Bike and repeat yesterday's ride. I hadn't gotten far before the misty drizzle turned to outright rain. I turned off my regular route, preparing to make a run back to the house as I considered the options. It was cool enough that a long ride in serious rain would turn my lips blue for sure. I ambled along slowly for a second and then, as quickly as it had started, the rain eased up again. A sign from the rain gods. I reset my sights on the levee. There was a light drizzle for most of my ride today, just like yesterday, and just like yesterday I occasionally indulged my inner child by splashing through the little puddles on the bike path. I did so with relative impunity thanks to the Pennine's full fenders. There were just two of us, eventually, for the ride today, unless you count Chad who I saw going the opposite direction as I arrived and who we saw again just after the turnaround. He must have been doing a long solo ride today because if he'd turned around at the usual place he would have caught us for sure.

So the Volvo is in the shop today having a little body work done compliments of the 70-year old lady who couldn't negotiate the handicapped parking space at Whole Foods and didn't have a valid driver's license because they wouldn't renew it due to her eyesight and who didn't have insurance because she didn't have a driver's license. Just like Paris Hilton, though, that didn't keep her from getting behind the wheel of her big Buick. Luckily the damage was quite minor, so I guess we won't be pushing for jail time!

More kids with automatic weapons killing each other around here lately. The drug wars continue as the police department runs around after them writing up their reports. Our dense police chief (how is he still police chief after what happened after Katrina???) says "the problem seems to be predominately among the young men. Five of this weekend’s six murders had victims that were black men between 18 and 25 years of age." Duhhhhh. No kidding? You think maybe drugs are involved too?? Meanwhile our virtually absent mayor keeps encouraging these people to "come home" and is about to spend $100k to hire a PR firm to try and convince all of his unemployable displaced drug-dealing voters to get back here in time for the next election: "Mayor C. Ray Nagin's administration is poised to spend $100,000 to hire a marketing firm to help the city distribute information about the status of the recovery to displaced residents as well as those who are back home." Never mind the fact that most of our firefighters are still working out of FEMA trailers. I think I need to stay away from the local news for a while.....

Anyway, I was glad that the rain was elsewhere by the time I had to ride to work, although I was not happy about the fact that the only coffee we had at the office was that wimpy Starbucks Breakfast Blend. N e e d m o r e C a f f è V e r o n a !