Wake

Attended the wake, with classicaljunkie. I spent most of the time talking with another O'Reilly person there.

Through a MacBook that was cycling through a photo gallery of the last decade of Erik's life, I learned something new about him: apparently he had an ambition to visit famous artifacts around the world, and lick them. I suggested to my former colleague that if one truly felt compelled by this, one could find all the places and things he had not yet licked and then take up a life's task to carry on where he could not.

Also hugged Erik's widow, signed the guestbook, and then left for having nothing else to do there - I didn't know any of his family, who were there in great number, and didn't feel like making introductions right then. And I feel no drive to attend the funeral this evening, so here ends all of that.

Bicycles

It may seem strange, given the reasons for it, but recent events have led me to read, write, and think more about bicycling, and I've decided that it's now not entirely unlikely that I will obtain a bike sometime in the nearish future.

An increasing number of friends have taken up cycling as an urban commute alternative over the last couple of years. And I used to do this same thing, way back in Florida, biking to school and around town every day, and I always enjoyed it. When I returned to New England for college (and all that came after) I just never thought of it again, even though I wouldn't start driving for another three years. Your guess is as good as mine. At any rate, I've lately become increasingly aware of all the time I spend walking, and as much as I love walking it'd be nice to be able to go a little faster when I wanted to.

I've started paying more attention to the (many!) cyclists I see every day as I walk around. I responded with skepticism when karlvonl commented earlier that most cyclists ignore traffic signals, but now the anecdotal evidence does seem to be mounting up. The majority of the cyclists I see seem to act as if they're just speedy pedestrians, looking both ways at intersections but then crossing at opportunity, no matter what color the light. I've never really noticed before, and I wonder if this is because most people expect cyclists to act thus.

For the life of me, I can't remember how I myself treated traffic signals back in high school. (I do recall that I rocked the manual turn signals something fierce, and this too is something I see many cyclists not bothering with around here.) I assume that all this stuff may be technically illegal but seldom enforced. The page on the topic at massbike.org basically takes the attutude "Aw, c'mon guys, you really should," and cites silly reasons for stopping (It gives you a chance to rest! If you blow through reds on your bike, you'll start doing it in your car!!).

Anyway, this isn't anything I'm gonna start tomorrow, but it's something interesting.