Things that have bothered me today (the not-thankful list)

Veterinarian selling us dog supplements. Made me think about how/why doctors and pharamacists became two different things.

My employer's united way campaign. They make a big deal about how it's "open" and then skim 8% of your donations off the top if you donate elsewhere through them, hidden in the fine print. Meanwhile the united way wastes the rest of it horribly... the Dolly Parton Book Train (giving EVERY child of the right age, regardless of their income etc.) is a sad thing. How many people who donate are taking the books?

Dude trying to hit me while I walked across the street. Apparently, the green light wasn't long enough for him.

The city of Rochester bringing in 'bird abatement' specialists to get rid of the crows. Their actual plan is to use falcons to shoo them away and their hope is that they will make it as far as Spring Valley (this is per the newspaper interview). Let's push our problems literally down the road. I'm sure that enough birds to be a problem here won't be an issue in a smaller town down the road. Something about this, maybe it reminds me of current politics, just really angers me. Meanwhile, we embrace the fact that we have 30,000 too many geese in town??? Is it 'cause the crows are black? This whole situation is just fucked.

The power antenna on my truck. I haven't driven it for about ten days and now I see that it no longer telescopes properly. PB Blaster has yet to have any positive influence.

The garbage people, I won't say which company... they want $103 for each 3 months now. We just don't make that much garbage. I did find a pretty mint set of mavic gl330 rims and sprinter 250s in the dump this year though, I guess I owe them a little. I also don't much like thinking about how much garbage/waste we all create.

The "epic" nature of cyclocross. It's supposed to suck, it's not epic when it sucks. It's supposed to snow, it's not epic when it snows. It may hail, won't make it epic. If you are ready for it, nothing is epic (same goes for the Royal 162 last year or anything else).

People spending any time making fun of roadies. If they are so lame, you better beat them when the conditions are "epic" at your next cyclocross or gravel race. Those guys in the hi-viz vests aren't roadies by the way.

Same goes for mountain bikers and/or endurance athletes etc. etc. Everyone chooses to do what they like and they are best at. There are a hell of a lot of posers doing it all. There are also a hell of a lot of athletes doing it all.

None of the above goes for the "Tough Mudder" or similar events- I don't care how good of athlete you are... you've been duped into making some asshat rich with your exhorbitant entry fees. You also universally think that your totally contrived event is "epic" (see above about epic). In your case the "epic" nature is the only reason why you are doing it, therefore logically we are at a complete fail, dead end.... ((I know this is too harsh and that doing any event is better than none))

The 5% rule as described in the City's long-term bicycling plan... to paraphrase- only 5% of adult male cyclists ride as if they were a car. Following direct routes from place to place and replacing trips that would normally be taken by vehicle. In essence- the remaining 95% either are totally happy with just riding along the winding paths near the "green spaces" and don't care what happens to the rest of us, are probably the drivers almost hitting us and not knowing the laws... OR, they are the idiots riding on downtown sidewalks, almost getting hit, getting hit etc.. Basically making all drivers hate cyclists and training them to behave oddly when they see bikes (because they don't know what to expect). Encouraging the one thing which gets under my skin more than anything else- drivers who mess up the "flow" of traffic because they see me on my bike and forget how to drive.

I'll post the good things tomorrow- a lot to be thankful for here this Thanksgiving weekend.


For now- Maybe you'd like to make your own list? I'd love to see what anyone else was thinking along these lines.