Yesterday and Today

And so the holidays have begun. Yesterday The Wife and I left work a little early, mainly because the place was already practically empty anyway. She had ridden to work, which is fairly unusual, so that The Daughter could use the car. Her approach to commuting is significantly different from mine, and by the time I got to the top of the Broad St. overpass, she was already at the bottom. Three blocks later I found her at a stoplight, looking back at me as if to say "why are you going so slow?" As soon as we arrived home, we had to get into the car and drive to Whole Foods so she could get stuff for cheesecake or something, and so I could order a sandwich tray for the LAMBRA meeting on Sunday. We arrived home to find The Sister-in-Law there, and then her daughter came over since she is in town from LSU Law School. A few minutes later when the neighbors drove up to their house we were out on the porch, so naturally they came over with their two dogs and a bottle of Beaujolais nouveau, which led to more wine and next thing you know "there was a party going on."

Speaking of yesterday, I note that Tulane is scheduled to discontinue its dial-up internet access in December. Wow! It seems like it was only a few years ago that most people, myself included, used dial-up from home exclusively.

The temperature around here this morning was over 70F before sunrise, and we had nearly twenty riders taking advantage of it up on the levee. Indeed, there were even more pedestrians than usual, including that grim-faced guy who intentionally steps over onto the centerline of the bike path as the group streams by. It's like he has a death wish or something. Maybe next time he tries that I'll break off and go around him on the other side just to shake him up (kids, don't try this at home). The group got off to a fairly brisk start, picking up a few more riders along the way including a brand new guy doing his first group ride. He was fairly stable, but you see his upper body doing a whole lot of bobbing and weaving so toward the end of the ride I chatted with him for a couple of minutes. Then I flew down the bike path onto River Road and was immediately stopped by a long train. I waited impatiently as the cars clacked past, and then, with only four cars left to cross, the train hit the brakes and sat there for another five minutes before slowly moving on. It was OK, though, because there's no hurry to get to work the last day before a holiday at a university.

So David Hyde has been working on the Herring Gas team's website lately, which is a good thing because it hadn't been updated in about three years. It's still a work in progress, but I think it's looking promising. I can't think of many (any) teams that have had the same title sponsor for the last twenty years.

So tomorrow there's a holiday levee ride at 7am from the playground. I'll probably try and make that one. Various family members are driving in from Jackson, Tallahassee and Orlando today and I think one or two may be staying with us, so it should be a busy and highly caloric few days.