Ah, the best laid plans of mice, cats and the morning cycling commuter aft gang agley! This morning I woke early with the plan to be out of the house and on the road by 6:00, 6:05 at the latest. I was dressed, I had a great cup of coffee in me, Betty was ready to go (it's Freewheeling Friday remember) and I was all set to head out the door when suddenly the ADT smoke detector in the attic started going off and wailing like nobody's business. I suddenly felt like Bill the Cat (for those of you who don't remember Bloom County it was a great cartoon strip in the 80's that has made a resurgence lately, although for those of you feeling nostalgic, you can go here to get a fix) though "Ack" was definitely not the word going through my brain.
As we know from past experience, ADT calls straight to the Northport Fire Department before it even calls us. Since I had first gone up to the attic to see what was going on, by the time I got downstairs to call the dispatcher and let him know not to tone it out because there was nothing there, ADT had gotten there first and so this is what I heard coming out over my pager;
"2-9-0 Northport Fire Department on air with a signal 13. Number 351 Main Street. Repeating,
2-9-0 Northport Fire Department on air with a signal 13. Number 351 Main Street. KEF577, time
now is 0606"
"Ack, ack, double ACK!"
At this point I know the Chiefs will be arriving soon since it's already toned out and here I am in full cycling togs as i was getting read to start my commute. So I throw some shorts on over my cycling bibs just as two police SUV's and a truck from the highway department show up with members of the Northport Fire Department. I met them out front and thanked them for coming out (they all know my address and expected the worse, especially considering the Passover Yoda Debacle). Just then the first of two Chiefs rolled up and I had to sheepishly explain to him that the batteries had died and the wireless alarm just decided to go off. AAAAACCCCCKKKKKK!!!!!!
So now I'm fifteen minutes later than I wanted to roll out and as a result I wasn't going to be able to go the long way to school today. Instead I was going to go either the medium route or the short route, whatever the Traffic Light God decreed. As it so happened, it became the same route I took last Friday when I was able to fly past Mr. Fi'zi:k.
"Okay," I thought, "I can make the best of this and crush my time from last week. Maybe I'll even run across another rider on the way!" Well, not only did I not only NOTsee another rider, the wind gods had decided to thwart me as well and were blowing on my nose and across my bow as I rode. There would be no arriving at SHS with a 19 mph average!
So every now and then I let things out about my past and my students think I'm making this stuff up. Like the time I double dated with Gene Kelly, or that I performed for the Konungariket Sveriges
Regering (in essence the collected body of the Swedish government), or that I went to high school in Ansbach, Germany (although they're starting to believe that one), that I was an athlete in high school (remember, theatre kids don't do the sports ball), and they one that amusingly still puzzles them is that I was an English teacher.
Now, I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy my job. 98% of the time I honestly feel I have the most amazing job in the world. I get to play all day and help young, passionate people hone their craft and pursue their dreams. And when I see that lightbulb go off or I watch them take a role and make it magically their own, it is the best reward a teacher could get - and I get to experience it. Do I miss teaching English classes? Not so much. But there's no excuse not to be well spoken and so I try to interject more sophisticated language in class when I'm teaching. Invariably I'll get something like, "ooooooo, SAT word!" but if they are at least recognizing it's and SAT word, then that's something.
And one of the words I like to use with them is the word hubris. Although it only has a Words with Friends score of 12, it's a good word to use to describe someone who is a little too full of themself. As I was today.
I was so confident that I was having a good week of rides and that i would just fly through today's ride that I got cocky. And that's when the cycling gods decided to knock me down a notch and send the wind gods to slow me down. I guess I deserved this little cosmic spanking, much the way Zoot deserved to be punished in Monty Python and the Holy Grail;
So today my hubris was spanked, reminding me never again to tempt the cycling gods by being overweening. The ride home was excellent, although windy but at least I managed to maintain 18 mph on average. The wheels keep spinning and I keep thinking and enjoying the freedom only two wheels can give.
That's all for this Freewheeling Friday. The only thing left are the road reports;
FFR - One rabbit, one raccoon, and something I swear looked like a groundhog.
RFL - Two hats, a Mets t-shirt, a sled, and a bunch of pvc piping just hanging out on the shoulder.
Stay well and I'll see you on the road!
As we know from past experience, ADT calls straight to the Northport Fire Department before it even calls us. Since I had first gone up to the attic to see what was going on, by the time I got downstairs to call the dispatcher and let him know not to tone it out because there was nothing there, ADT had gotten there first and so this is what I heard coming out over my pager;
"2-9-0 Northport Fire Department on air with a signal 13. Number 351 Main Street. Repeating,
2-9-0 Northport Fire Department on air with a signal 13. Number 351 Main Street. KEF577, time
now is 0606"
"Ack, ack, double ACK!"
At this point I know the Chiefs will be arriving soon since it's already toned out and here I am in full cycling togs as i was getting read to start my commute. So I throw some shorts on over my cycling bibs just as two police SUV's and a truck from the highway department show up with members of the Northport Fire Department. I met them out front and thanked them for coming out (they all know my address and expected the worse, especially considering the Passover Yoda Debacle). Just then the first of two Chiefs rolled up and I had to sheepishly explain to him that the batteries had died and the wireless alarm just decided to go off. AAAAACCCCCKKKKKK!!!!!!
So now I'm fifteen minutes later than I wanted to roll out and as a result I wasn't going to be able to go the long way to school today. Instead I was going to go either the medium route or the short route, whatever the Traffic Light God decreed. As it so happened, it became the same route I took last Friday when I was able to fly past Mr. Fi'zi:k.
"Okay," I thought, "I can make the best of this and crush my time from last week. Maybe I'll even run across another rider on the way!" Well, not only did I not only NOTsee another rider, the wind gods had decided to thwart me as well and were blowing on my nose and across my bow as I rode. There would be no arriving at SHS with a 19 mph average!
So every now and then I let things out about my past and my students think I'm making this stuff up. Like the time I double dated with Gene Kelly, or that I performed for the Konungariket Sveriges
Regering (in essence the collected body of the Swedish government), or that I went to high school in Ansbach, Germany (although they're starting to believe that one), that I was an athlete in high school (remember, theatre kids don't do the sports ball), and they one that amusingly still puzzles them is that I was an English teacher.
Now, I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy my job. 98% of the time I honestly feel I have the most amazing job in the world. I get to play all day and help young, passionate people hone their craft and pursue their dreams. And when I see that lightbulb go off or I watch them take a role and make it magically their own, it is the best reward a teacher could get - and I get to experience it. Do I miss teaching English classes? Not so much. But there's no excuse not to be well spoken and so I try to interject more sophisticated language in class when I'm teaching. Invariably I'll get something like, "ooooooo, SAT word!" but if they are at least recognizing it's and SAT word, then that's something.
And one of the words I like to use with them is the word hubris. Although it only has a Words with Friends score of 12, it's a good word to use to describe someone who is a little too full of themself. As I was today.
I was so confident that I was having a good week of rides and that i would just fly through today's ride that I got cocky. And that's when the cycling gods decided to knock me down a notch and send the wind gods to slow me down. I guess I deserved this little cosmic spanking, much the way Zoot deserved to be punished in Monty Python and the Holy Grail;
That's all for this Freewheeling Friday. The only thing left are the road reports;
FFR - One rabbit, one raccoon, and something I swear looked like a groundhog.
RFL - Two hats, a Mets t-shirt, a sled, and a bunch of pvc piping just hanging out on the shoulder.
Stay well and I'll see you on the road!
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