Born, Born to Be Mild: A Reluctant Road Warrior's Photo Essay

Today was a challenge in more ways than one.  Susan and I had plans to attend a free outdoor concert at 5:30 PM with a co-worker and his wife, and I had already accepted his offer of a carpool without remembering the Car-Free Challenge.  Last night I decided to decline the ride, which meant I had to figure out how to get in a full day of work and still allow extra time to get to the concert without a car.  Little did I know that this would be the least of my worries today.

I figured it would take 45 minutes to walk from work to the concert, which meant leaving the house at 8:10 AM.  This probably wouldn't be very challenging for most people, but I am most definitely not a morning person.  At 8:10 I was still enjoying my breakfast, which meant it was time for Plan "B" as in "Bike."  Susan indulged me by documenting the process for today's blog post.  (Don't worry, we're not planning on doing this every day!)

As you can see from this photo, the size and arrangement (underground, with no door for internal access) of our garage serves as a bit of a deterrent to taking the car out on a whim.  Believe it or not, there's a bike in there somewhere, and all I had to do was find it.

Ah yes, there it is, under those boxes!  Long before I started the Car-Free Challenge, I had been trying to use my journey to work as an exercise program, but I found that the bike was a little too efficient for that purpose.  So I stopped riding and started walking, and now I have couple fewer pounds and an incredibly dusty bike to show for it.

Of course, the tires were flat…

…and it needed a quick dusting… 

…but finally I was ready…

…to hit the mean streets of Alameda!

When I arrived at work, a co-worker held the door for my bike and me and then asked, "Did you hear the news?  Company meeting in 15 minutes."  Company meetings on incredibly short notice are usually a Bad Thing, so I rushed to check my e-mail and learned that my company, Wind River, was being acquired by Intel.  I called up Susan to let her know that I no longer work for Wind River (OK, so technically that isn't true, but it sure made a good line) and headed off to the company meeting.

Well, I was pleased to learn that I still have a job, and that the acquisition is not supposed to be very disruptive.  After the big meeting, I learned that the co-worker who had offered me a ride couldn't make it in because he hurt his knee playing basketball, and the plans for the evening were now up in the air.  Later his wife wrote to say that the concert had been postponed "due to weather," which we all thought was a bit of a hoot.  A few clouds and a measly 30% chance of rain?  I'm sorry, but that's not "weather," at least not where I come from!

So, with my co-worker hobbled by a knee injury and the concert and our dinner reservation cancelled, I pedaled back to the prospect of a quiet evening at home with my lovely wife and a strong cocktail.  I suppose that's not nearly the most taxing workday one could imagine, but I've never considered myself a man of adventure.  At least according to one of our favorite Saturday night samurai dramas on KTSF, even the legendary warrior Miyamoto Musashi longed for "days on which the sun rises, the sun sets, and nothing much happens in between."  That's about my speed.