Commute week of 21 Jan 2008

6 commutes in total; 0 potentially rainy commutes, 0 actually rainy commutes.

Total commute distance for the week: 82 km (51 mi).
Total commute distance for the year: 328 km (204 mi).

Potentially rainy commutes for the week: 0 out of 10 (0%).
Actually rainy commutes for the week: 0 out of 6 (0%).

Potentially rainy commutes for the year: 3 out of 30 (10%).
Actually rainy commutes for the year: 3 out of 24 (13%).

Didn't ride Wednesday & Thursday as I had rented a car for my driving test (96/100 so passed!).

Mercury in teeth fillings not damaging after all?

Crap!  I spent the better part of 1500 pound sterling while living in the UK, having my amalgam fillings replaced with composites...  Oh, well, at least my teeth looks nice now.

The moon, Seattle, and I-5

The moon, Seattle, and I-5
Originally uploaded by TheGreatDane

The view from my street around 7am on a January morning. Stopped on my way to work for a quick photo-op. The full moon over the mountains on the Olympic peninsula was more smashing than the photo reveals, but it's still not too bad, I think.

Round North Lake Washington

Today was a nice day so I first rode to Seattle Center to see the 34th Model Railroad Show at the Pacific Science Center. I had never been to a model railroad show before, and only played with LEGO model trains as a kid. But it was fun - the displays were really well done and the picture here doesn't quite do them justice.

After that I continued around Lake Washington on the Burke-Gilman and Sammamish River Trail to Redmond and then 148th Ave and Ne 8th St to Bellevue, then hook up with the I-90 trail S of Bellevue and then home via Mercer Island and the floating brudge. Nice ride, almost no wind and, again, no rain...

Commute week of 14 Jan 2008

8 rides in total, i.e. rode each way 4 days.
Didn't ride Tuesday due to icy conditions (no rain).
Total commute distance 68.8 mi (111 km)

Total for the year 154.8mi (249 km).
Got rained upon on 0 rides, i.e. 0%.
Total rainy rides for the year: 3 out of 18 actual rides; 3 out of 20 possible rides.

Commute week of 07 Jan 2008

10 rides in total, i.e. rode each way every day.
Total commute distance 86 mi (138 km).
Got rained upon on 3 rides, i.e. 30%.
Total rainy rides for the year: 3 out of 10 actual rides; 3 out of 10 possible rides.

US on Canadian torture list

And that's where they belong until they close down Gitmo. Canada rocks!

Plane crash in Heathrow = no terrorism

A plane lands short of the runway in Heathrow Airport.  Nobody gets hurt badly, fortunately.  The police is quick to issue a statement saying that the incident was not terror-related.  Now, who in their right minds would ever think that a crash-landing was caused by terrorists?  People, shit happens, stuff break down now and then.  Learn it, live with it, get over it. 

Life is great and terrorism is virtually a non-issue for national and personal security, in my view. Although now that I live in Seattle rather than in Denmark, Canada or the UK (countries where I used to live), I realise that people here generally think otherwise about this issue...

But they have no reason to: In the US about 42,000 people die every year in traffic accidents.  That's roughly equivalent to a half-loaded Boeing 737 crashing every single day. In Canada and the UK it's 3000-3500 traffic deaths every year.  Chances are much, much higher that you'll die as the victim of a traffic accident rather than from terrorism.  While we're at it: In the US the number of deaths due to traffic accidents has decreased 17% since the late 70's. In the UK and Canada the decrease was 45-50%...

Commuting...

Having moved from the UK to Seattle, US I have decided to try to live in the US without owning a car. I lived in the UK for almost 3 years without one and that worked out just fine; even lost 20-30 pounds in the process (weight, not money!). My bicycle commute is below; an 8.6 mi (13.8 km) trip each way. The first 1/3 of a mile or so is on a road, the rest of the distance is on bike lanes or bike paths, which makes it super-easy to get to work.

The wetness of Seattle weather in the winter is exaggerated. Commuting on a daily basis; 40-50 minutes each way (actual riding time depending on mood, wind and choice of bicycle) gets me wet approximately 30% of the time I spend on the road. I expect it to be less in the summer. So really, no big deal at all.