InfiniteTides

The sun is out for what seems like the first time in about 4 days.  The forecast for northwest Ohio is for mostly cloudy skies, but no rain.  This means that I can walk to work again.  I’ve been missing that.  Now that my gas tank is full, hopefully I can go 2 months without having to fill my car’s tank, and at least I won’t have to rub my eyes when I drive by the gas station and see the prices.

On Friday, hurricane Ike drove the price of gas up to $4.29 here.  The rumor at work was that gas was going to hit $6 due to damage to Galveston refineries.  There were people waiting in line at one gas station where the price was still just $3.78.  Fortunately, the price didn’t get close to $6, but maybe people would begin driving less and seriously rethinking their driving habits if it had.  Strange that it takes a jump in gas prices to make people take their consumption seriously, but that’s the way the American people are wired.

The semi-voluntary overtime began last night as I worked 10.5 hours instead of my usual 8 hour shift.  I can’t say that I was very productive on the overtime since I started training someone to do layout on third shift.  It’s still too early to accurately judge whether the training will stick, and my trainee will become a productive fill-in layout tech on 3rd shift.  And it didn’t help any that we were interrupted every 10 minutes with questions from inspectors.  It’s those interruptions that make me look forward to going in Saturday morning, because no one else will be around to bother me.  All I need now is for my virtually backlogged parts to show up outside my office!

I didn’t walk to work yesterday.  The weather forecast showed a lot of rain heading into northwest Ohio, but it ultimately held off until early this morning.  I could have walked and stayed dry, but I thought I would be too tired at 12:30am to walk home without tripping over the uneaven sidewalks.  We are in for more rain today, so I won’t be walking to work.  Though I enjoy driving my Civic, I’m already missing my walks.

For the past two nights, it has rained while I’ve been at work.  This wouldn’t even be an issue, but I walked to work that last two nights.  Fortunately, it has stopped raining before I left work each night, and I haven’t gotten so much as a drop of rain on me.

Am I charmed?  Am I extremely lucky?  Nope, I just make it a habit to check the hourly weather forecast at weather.com.  If the chance of rain is 30% or less at 10 and 11:00PM, I’ll risk walking to work.

People have offered me a ride home when they see it’s raining outside, because they know I walked.  It’s very nice of them to offer.  I politely thank them and tell them that I don’t mind getting a little wet.  The truth is that if it were pouring outside, you bet your sweet ass I would accept a ride home!!

People have been asking me why I walk to work when I have a car.  I like to tell them that I’m helping to save the planet, that I’m reducing my carbon footprint, that it’s really not that far, that I enjoy walking, or that it gives me time to listen to audio books.  I think that most people who ask this question just can’t relate to someone who WANTS to walk to work for ANY reason.  Most of them are a bit out of shape, and they know it.  One person said they would be huffing and puffing by the time they got there.  Maybe I’ll take my camera with me, snap some photos of the route, and you can decide for yourself whether walking to work is worth the time and effort.

The olympics get underway today in China.  Apart from the political implications of China hosting, does anyone really care about the games?  Are people interested in watching juiced athletes competing in smoggy conditions?  If so, maybe the olympics should be held every 4 years in another highly polluted country.  It could make the games more interesting if the athletes are all wearing masks or other breathing apparatus.  Perhaps these games are merely a glimpse into the future for a polluted planet.  Go for the gold.  Cough cough.