When I was your age...

So last night was an unusal event in my life. My car died a few days ago so I have been reduced to the wiles of public transportation. Not a big deal. Forces me to walk a bit more now and I have to plan getting to work a little better now. No biggie really. The spring weather is abounding all around us and before I set out for work yestarday I thought to myself,'Self, if its nice tonight you should hike at part of your trip home. So I did the boyscout thing and attached my Nalgene bottle to my pack and tossed my poncho in a spare pocket and set off to work. Ruddy orchetra performances. Anyhow, the show was fine. But when it came time to head home it had been raining for several hours and the temperature dropped significantly. I asked the other folks that were working if they could give me a lift to the 'L' or where there was a bus running, as it was Sunday night and no buses run up in the area I work that late. Sadly, they had other plans and were going in a different direction. No sense in being upset about it, thats just how the cookie crumbles I suppose. So I set off for a bit of a hike. I first hiked to a train station that I new had no trains but might have a few busses running. Noone there when I arrived. I decided quickly call the CTA and see if I had any hope of catching one at this hour. The good news is yes there was hope, the bad news was that it was going to be almost an hour before it arrived. So I decided that it would be better if I just started walking. I would stay warm, get some exercise and have to sholder a bag that was about 15-20 pounds. Not a bad plan. I walked and walked and walked. I found that singing sea-chanties were not a bad way to pass the time. I also found that they helped set a pace for me a used my tread to keep the beat. Actually at one point I had to slow the tempo a touch since I was building up a good sweat and burning a little more energy than I wanted. I knew as soon as I slowed down the chilly night would set in and that, as we have proven on several occasions previous to this, is no fun. Anyhow, so I hike almost 4 miles before I heard the buses motoring down the road I was on. the good news in Chicago is that one does not have to nessecarily be at a bus stop for a bus to pick you up. So I flagged the driver downand stepped on the bus. Part of me felt guilty for not finishing the hike, but after two hours I was only 40% of the way home and the storm was coming on hard any moment now. You know, that anitcipation. You can feel the electicity in the air and would is so saturated with moisture that it does not even need to rain for everything to end up soggy as a sailor in a tempest. Wouldn't you know it, no sooner than I stepped on the bus, did all hell break loose from the impending storm. The good news is that I did not miss all the wet fun of the storm. Once I get off the train I still have a few blocks to go before I can climb the stairs to my home. So I did afterall have to bust out the poncho. At this point the only reason I did was for the good of my laptop, otherwise I would have let the storm have its way with me. Anyhow, the moral of the story: Don't be a wuss. If you have to walk, just walk. It's good for you.


(Crap times runs short some days....MORE SOON)