doggone good day

Just when I thought I would see nothing silly.

I took Lola (not the dog pictured) out on a date today to Catoctin Park and loved the drive and the long hike. She behaved perfectly. Her owner offered to bring her to my house and I said no, I didn't want Sam to see. We might have a non-monogamous relationship but I don't need to rub Sam's nose in it. She was so excited and happy to see me and immediately knew that she was going to get in the car and go off with me. 

And this is why I wanted you to get a dog - that kind of joy will cheer you no matter what - even if they do sometimes vomit on the carpet and have to be walked in the rain.

I have a new reason to want a car to drive itself - it allows you to dance even more.

Yesterday I titled my entry "public transit" and then wrote about cybersecurity. I was so tired yesterday. This morning I got to sleep until the stinking female woodpecker demanded seed. 

During the pandemic, I realized I didn't want to ride the metro without a vaccine. Back then we didn't even know if a vaccine would be possible. I read somewhere that people who had to take public transport preferred buses because they felt they had more control. They could open the windows and if they felt crowded they could get off more easily. Public transport suffered mightily. 

The infrastructure plan would put an additional $85B in subways, buses, and other public transit. Covid spending kept the systems alive, this spending would help them improve and make them more attractive in hopes of getting us back out of our cars. 

In poorer countries, public transit gives women, the elderly, youth, and the disabled opportunity for education and employment. If a family should be so fortunate as to have enough money for a car, it is not the wife who gets to drive it, so safe, accessible public transit lets everyone else get around too. I took a wonderful, free Coursera class in the Before Times on designing cities to be walkable. Walkable cities with good public transit and bike lanes encourage more exercise and socialization and thus happiness, and are less polluted and suffer less urban heat island effect. 

I've always thought that advocates for public transit were missing on a major snarky selling point - do you want those people on the road, driving with you?  

Remembering admirer.