Poster Children

Pretty amazing that GM sold more cars in 1959 than they did last year; amazing because I'ven't seen a corresponding drop in driving.

Tomorrow I will mount the bike no earlier than 07:24. I won't risk my life riding Franklin Blvd. in the dark, alongside drivers who haven't woken up and who navigate through small defroster holes because they can't spare a few minutes to wake up or wait until their windows are clear. This stupid lady, last Friday morning, drove up Franklin Blvd. in the #1 lane at about 20-22 miles an hour and stalled it in an on-coming left turn lane while she waited for her windows to defrost. She's a poster child for irresponsibility and reckless driving, and there are hundreds more like her in Elk Grove. I'm not going to bike in the dark alongside these poster children.

Although the winter solstice has come and gone, the latest sunrise always occurs two to three weeks afterwards, and tomorrow marks the day that sunlight finally comes earlier in the morning, at 07:23. A minute earlier than the latest possible time, 07:24. The solar cycle begins anew.

And tomorrow, 07:23 is roughly the start of peak Elk Grovian traffic, which lasts until about 08:20 as every parent is forced by law to drive their kids to school. Everyone is back to work and back to school after our annual binge borrowing spending spree holiday, and traffic is back, and it will be as strong as ever. Monday traffic is almost always lighter because Elk Grove is a haven for suburbanized state workers and their typical 4-nine work schedule. Tuesdays are peak traffic days, and are the days I am most likely to bike. However, with the state in fiscal Armageddon, furloughed state workers will be commuting two days less each month, providing an estimated ~2% reduction in my chances of dying on Franklin Blvd. Bad news for them, great news for me.

When Elk Grove emerges into an economic recovery sometime this year, (as some predict, ha!) or 2010, then won't there be a hundred thousand car owners looking for new rides? I mean, Elk Grove was founded on the principle of perpetual entitlement to new roads, new homes, and new cars, and all these people shut out of that proposition since 2007 will be rebounding in 2010. Elk Grovians are not buying cars now because they will be buying them then, as they've come to expect such entitlements. We'll soon be seeing a 30% increase in motor vehicle sales.