Physical Gratuity

In 1956 the League of American Wheelmen designated May as American Bike Month. Might have rode a tricycle that year. Its predecessor, League of American Bicyclists, renamed it National Bike Month with Ride-a-Bike-Day on its 1st Sunday, and Bike-to-Work-Week Monday through Friday of 3rd week. For New England region, it’s when recreational bicyclists generally begin their 6 month season anyway. Hardcore riders with right gear defy mud, rain, and snow year round.

LAB has a conflict of interests advising anyone to take on sports challenges in that they represent bicycle manufacturers and sellers, not consumers and users, especially incompetent or infirm folks for whom bicycling could be dangerous. These days their claims of congressional influence are largely confabulations and deceits; Republicans in control hate cycling and uniformly vote against funding. Throughout LAB literature you’ll note many references to avoiding automotive traffic and obeying motor codes that cause unsafe situations for cyclists. Seems they’re serving Big Oil more than the 70 million liberated Americans who arrive anywhere by biking there.

Stories about amusements or food might get read, but not mundane routines by which one earns bread. Media highlights so many gratuitous distractions, tips, and what to do with your time, makes you wonder whether they’re safe hacks or scams, and why insiders are so interested in your welfare as to share so-called secrets. Misery craves company, so be wary. It’s been indubitably proven that, instead of Houses of the Holy in nonviolent service to humanity, villains promote harm for their own gain (e.g., sell opioids for which WHO attributes 600,000 fatalities annually worldwide, still less than heart disease in USA alone caused by lack of exercise due to automotive convenience and idiotic policies). Your demise leaves more for them. Billions of your taxes dutifully and involuntarily forwarded are being stolen outright by highest office as treasonous capital felonies beyond prosecution. Constitution entitles courts to issue writs of mandamus to cease and desist, but justices appointed for life stand idly by or support corruption during current administration.

Hard to admit, 6 decades ago cut lawns, did chores, and shoveled snow for empty promises or literal coins. Not having a bike at the time, delivered newspapers on foot; summers, walked to Roger Williams Park Carousel to collect tickets, pick up rings, start/stop rides, and sweep spilled popcorn. All work is heroic, inevitable, noble, and taken for granted by ignorant ingrates and selfish narcissists. Minimum wage laws didn’t apply to part time teens, so took years to save $125 for a Schwinn Continental (aged Kodachrome slide); bought used cars for less, in fact, restored and sold them for profit. Waitstaffs are just now getting to keep physical gratuities previously taxed, not due to an altruistic policy but a political stunt. Trudged miles on mornings to restock assembly cells at Elmwood Sensors, not on a bus route, next to Pawtuxet River, forever a threat to flood its banks.

Even before Led Zeppelins’s Physical Graffiti dropped on original vinyl half a century ago, began own bicycling transportation scheme through crosstown commutes to high school. Didn’t work out... no safe place to store an attractive new 10-speed during a bike boom; one in family was stolen despite sturdy chain and locked to a wrought iron fence. Nevertheless, ever since learning of this recurring observance, determined to bike everywhere feasible, not just to work. Bomb proof gear, dedication, early rises, lights, and logistics were needed to cover 250,000 miles in under 25,000 hours, which equates to a full time job for 13 years, yet half as far as stressful commutes in cars on highways. Some weeks drove 1,000 miles. Traffic has only gotten worse since. Little wonder why so many need mood altering and pressure reducing medicines.

Now retired from a 40 year professional career and consultancy, 3 proprietorships, and 38 sundry paid positions, decided to revisit by bike from Eden Park all 33 Rhode Island work venues except Portsmouth; also excluded a construction site, 2 colleges, 3 Fortune 100 medical device manufacturers (though bike commuted to 2 of them), and a regulatory agency in Massachusetts. Was engaged at multiple sites for certain employers, though most are now either gone altogether or repurposed for new businesses. Given short distances, regret not biking to more at the time. Throughout personally did steady work of carpentry, electric installation, gardening, landscaping, masonry, painting, plumbing, and roofing for sweat equity, unless tasks were dangerously complicated, a slew of short term volunteer gigs including Procycle 2009, region's 1st all bicycling art gallery show, and worked long overtime hours late into nights, so may have been preoccupied with those projects.

Long before graduating from university, knocked out brass tags and rubber stamps for A. A. White, Chestnut Street; this entire workshop was absorbed into Johnson & Wales campus, as was iconic Outlet Company, then state’s largest department store, having served in payroll-personnel office on 5th floor high above bus hub Weybosset Street, downtown’s oldest thoroughfare, before landmark edifice was raised to rubble. Parallel Westminster Street had E. L. Freeman stationers, where as an East Side high schooler worked late afternoons delivering packages to skyrise offices on route home by a 2nd bus. In 1969 and 1970, worked at Wingate Computing on mezzanine floor of Dorrance Building above Waldorf cafeteria processing payrolls for client companies during a Night Flight shift.

On way downtown to them intersecting old paper route led by fading sharrows, rode by what once was Jake Kaplan’s car lot on Elmwood Avenue. As a licensed chauffeur drove a bus for Warwick schools from behind Thayer Rink, and a decrepit Yellow Cab out of a dingy garage on Lockwood Street near Central High School. Passing city’s “scenes of occupational crimes” returned via Field’s Point, having driven Jake’s new cars off cargo boats from Europe and Japan, including Datsuns (Nissans), Saabs, Volvos, and whatnot. About this time took a bus trip to Manhattan, and hiked though St. Mark’s Place in Greenwich Village; it definitely resembled album cover. Shipyard once built naval vessels under banners proclaiming “On to Nippon” blocking sun at dawn during war in the Pacific. Ironic that Japan sent competitive vehicles back through same docks.

Blocks away rode by Federal Products’ 3 buildings. Wrote thousands of instruction manuals, Ten Years Gone yet holding on, for dimensional inspection machinery crucial to product quality and reliability among world’s largest manufacturers. The “sheer amount of physical energy poured into writing” (both Led Zep's and own) impressed contemporaries, but AI now outputs many more paragraphs per hour, surpassing foundational lifetime efforts. Earlier on Eddy Street, rang up purchases and wrangled carriages at Almacs food market, which served South End shoppers and was bought by Federal. Almacs competed with A&P and Star, both on parallel Broad Street but now long gone. Eddy branch, known to insiders as “The Zoo”, was where they sent incompetent newbies fresh from their training facility on Noyes Street, along Seekonk River in East Providence. Also did a stint at a nearby waterfront dye mill on Dexter Street. Used Gano Street Bike Path to get to Richmond Square, a CyberMdx worksite, Henderson Bridge Bikeway to Dexter and Noyes, then Broadway to Rumford Mill at Greenwood Avenue, having braided shoestrings and shuttled barrels of them for further processing or storage. Returned via Commercial Way past another place for CyberMdx, Waterman Street, East Providence, Wampanoag Mall, having crafted leather and sold retail, then Henderson again, across Wayland Square, down Angel Street, and through Providence Place to level of Woonasquatucket River.

Made it a point to pass both former Brown&Sharpe facilities on Promenade Street on a new adjacent bikeway, and South Main Street where it was founded in an old house on defunct harbor. Passed Pat Izzy Trucking, at Hemlock Street, having served there as a driver and striker, that is, an apprentice who rode along on triangle runs among Boston, Cape Cod, and Providence to help unload trailers and learn to drive tractors. Without climbing Chalkstone Avenue a few blocks away, got close enough to Roger Williams Hospital, where washed commissary pans and pots during a college summer break. Same bikeway accessed 2 other spots: silk screened panels in Eagle Square, and stamped tags in what’s now the Rising Sun Mill, on Valley Street in Olneyville. Not at all funny, seems the more onerous conditions and strenuous demands are the less employers are willing to pay. When after 6 months they refuse to give the 5 cent raise they promised as a sign-on incentive, it’s either get trampled under foot or time to ramble on, neither of which ensure unemployment compensation.

Arranged a separate trip to Frenchtown Road grounds of Brown&Sharpe, North Kingstown, which was sold off after parent Hexagon moved them to Quonset Point’s Kifer Park. This award winning property of berms and natural gardens hidden from highway has crumbled into ignominy behind chainlink gates that disturb pine scented memories of 3 mile lunchtime walks twice around Precision Park’s perimeter road. During 14 years there producing new media and publishing technical documents it stood as the largest manufacturing plant in Rhode Island, and probably still is its biggest single structure, nearly twice the floor space of national food brand Daniele in Mapleville. Indeed, it now encompasses 6 medium size ventures including a massive rooftop solar array, though question remains whether its water treatment has been kept operational. Was where bike commuting became routine, although 24 mile roundtrip route crossed some tough segments including Apponaug Circulator, since improved for motoring but not bicycling or walking.. 

Last bike commute of career turned out to be favorite one, 30 miles roundtrip, one hour each way to pharmaceutical giant Amgen in West Greenwich, where edited and spot checked regulatory filings. Used West Bay Bike Path, a segment of the East Coast Greenway, to get to Coventry Center, then climbed Hopkin’s Hill to campus, where they had lockers for bike storage. Amgen was title sponsor of annual Tour of California, once America’s premier pro cycling race, so understood cycling needs. Often varied routes, especially on summer returns along country roads, so week after week covered century mileage, even double metrics, nothing to brag about, since professional Giro d’Italia and Tour de France racers go farther in a single 4 hour stage. Return trip transited Metro Center, where in 2 different offices separated by half a mile compiled dicenial population data for US Department of Commerce. Rounded third by Midland Mazda on Post Road where stocked auto parts, self start-up Warwick Woodcraft on Harrington, Elmwood Sensors at Wellington, then home, site of many succesful consultancy projects and job searches. This 4th revisit loop completed personal Bike-to-Work challenge.

Details matter. Bicycling is how you gauge your vitality and reward yourself for being in shape. In final day of Spring, Memorial Day recalls sad memories derserving of the mood boost that bike spins bring.

“And if you feel that you can't go on, and your will's sinkin' low, just believe and you can't go wrong. In the Light you will find the road, find the road.” John Paul Jones, Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti, Swan Song Records, 1975; Grammy winner and 16 times platinum

Perpetual To-Do

To celebrate 10th anniversary of this blog and 100th anniversary of own house, seems fitting to talk about the meaning of commitment. For one to enjoy daily benefits and privileges, often taken for granted, many responsibilities must be shouldered. Thus the myths of demigod Atlas laboriously supporting weight of entire world, and Sisyphus rolling an enormous stone uphill by day only to have it tumble down every night.

Unexpected expenses of home ownership never cease, often exceed foreseen and planned insurance premiums, monthly mortgage, and property taxes when major improvements are needed, such as roofs and windows.

While gardening makes weekly demands, there are tasks people forget or postpone indefinitely since they’re only required every 3, 5 or 10 years, depending upon your property or residence. Each requires planning in advance, since they are inevitable budget busters. Save annually about 3% of total value of appliances, auto, and home for contingencies. Given high housing costs and need to know when neglect is inherent, old timers might be persuaded to share their tribal knowledge with Gen-X mansplainers who don't know they are headed into crises:

Assess household appliances; planned obsolescence means your air conditioner, clothes dryer, dishwasher, furnace, garage door opener, microwave oven, refrigerator, sump pump, washer, water heater, or well pump are living on borrowed time waiting to fail when least convenient. Had to replace a furnace oil burner on Christmas Day one year. Attaching a plastic tag with an installed date can be a useful reminder. Appliances typically last on average 13 years, dishwashers, microwave, and water heaters 10, HVAC units 20.

Change jobs to move up; after 3 years of marginal increases or no promotions you’re sure that bosses don’t respect your contributions, thereby making home ownership more difficult. Being taken for granted never compels loyalty.

Check CO2, radon, and smoke detectors; replace batteries. Some might argue this is an annual or biannual task, but 36 months it a hard limit. Entirely replace every 10 years.

Clean grout lines, porcelains, and tiles with an appropriate chemical solution; weekly or monthly washing leaves buildup of film, grease, and wax. Reseal grout.

Cut hedges back by 1/3 and remove dead branches late every 5th winter; manure, mulch, and water to restore thick foliage.

Dispatch and/or replace stuff untouched in 3 years, especially broken tools, expired canned goods, drugs and ointments, frayed extension cords, stored liquids and paints; shred outdated financial statements no longer useful as tax records past federal statutes of limitations at 3, 6, or 10 years.

Divide garden perennials, such as daylilies, irises, and perennial herbs; roots strangle each other producing ever fewer blooms. Loosen garden beds and renew with well rotted compost.

Drain and refill boiler/furnace and water heater every 3rd summer when demand is least; any service you get past 10 years is a bonus due to good maintenance.

Dry lubricate door hinges, portal locks, slider rails, and window glides.

Empty septic tank. If instead connected to sewers, have drain lines inspected every 10 years.

Inspect motor vehicle belts, hoses, and tires; all are rated for only 5 years, slightly longer if routinely garaged. Many cars must be replaced after 125,000 miles, unless exceptionally well cared for, with a hard limit of 250,000 miles or 20 years before recycling or rehabilitating. Ownership costs average $9,600/year, but decline with age as long as driven often enough, say weekly, to keep components free and lubricated.

Inspect wooden building foundations for termites. After initial, more frequent, and successful extermination efforts, routinely renew pest control and spread protection at 5 year intervals.

Install gutter guards, or scrape out debris and leaves. Gutter flooding can damage roof and siding, even indoor ceilings and walls.

Lightbulbs supposedly fail after ~1200 hours, which could be 3 years depending upon intervals left on. Keep multiple replacements on hand for when they do, then not always available. Consider LED alternatives that use less wattage for same lumens, as long as their bases fit your installed fixtures.

Lubricate garage door hinges and roller runs.

Note drafts and reseal periphery of exterior windows neatly with vinyl caulk. If you can’t remove window air conditioners for winters, you might consider wrapping outdoor portion in an insulated cover.

Power spray algae, flaked stain, lichen, loose paint, mildew, and mold off decks, door jams, railings, sidewalks, siding, soffits, steps, and storm gutters. 

Recaulk sinks, tubs, and transitions; remove excess for a concave, indented surface which sheds water to retard mold.

Replace bicycle helmets; they deteriorate and get brittle from exposure to direct sun, household chemicals, impact shocks, or poor storage; once cracked in a crash, they are worthless as noggin shock absorbers.

Replace faucet washers, or units themselves, and whole house purification filters. Routinely check to ensure no water leakage throughout plumbing system.

Replace installed rugs and stair runners every decade. Area rugs can be cleaned as needed, or at 5 year intervals, and reused.

Restain wood decks, railings, and steps; if you wait too long, you’ll have to power wash and/or sand and sometimes bleach to revive wood, perhaps even replace boards or components.

Review financial direction, post mortem wills, and retirement plans.

Sand and scrape loose paint or rust off enclosed porch decks, house exterior surfaces, metalwork fences and railings, or trim not covered by aluminum or vinyl siding; repaint.

Sand exposed wooden floors and immediately varnish every decade.

Seal asphalt driveways or walkways every decade; asphalt doesn’t last long under heavy use.

Service gas lawnmowers, snowblowers, and trimmers.

Snug toilet flange bolts; never over-tighten.

Soak shower head in solution to remove lime deposits.

Stand apart from house at various angles and view entire roof with binoculars to inspect for buckled or missing shingles, cracked siding, or loose trim. Check ceilings indoors for stains that might indicate leaks.

Sweep ducts, dryer exhaust, and flues, and install new filters.

Sweep chimney if you intermittently burn firewood, more often if you heat by wood. Every 10 years have a professional inspect flues.

Treat windows with glass wax at least every 3 years, more often if stained. Moist sponge it on to clean, let dry, then remove haze with a microfiber towel. Extends shine and repels dirt.

Trim tree limbs, especially ones that overlap or threaten power lines.

Tuck point masonry every decade; at same time, check foundation for cracks and window frames for rot, especially around basements.

Vacuum dust from refrigerator coils.

Vote in national elections every 4 years, and, if possible, elections occurring in between; only 50% of eligible citizens exercise this democratic right, including residents of true blue Rhode Island, United States of America. Beats living in Texas, The Separatist State of Magastan, where governor unilaterally decides whose votes get counted.

Reflective Interim

Flying was once cheaper, faster, and safer than driving. Times change. Airlines are now experiencing increased incidents with air traffic controllers being laid off, NOAA cuts that jeopardize flight path strategies, NSA and TSA searching aggressively for contraband, and officials over reaching with immigration enforcement resulting in cancellations, delays, and lost luggage. Leaves passenger vehicles or some combination of bicycles, rental cars and trains for relatively unencumbered transportation.

Before digital gaming, internet searches, and social media, kids were bored senseless by long drives. Parents concocted all sorts of competitive games to keep them from monotonously chanting, “Are we there yet?” or singing endless verses of B-I-N-G-O or Bottles of Beer. Websites list many of them, but somehow seem to neglect the prime example: Points for Traffic Signs. Bicyclists in groups routinely watch for them as inducements to sprint. 

Beyond mere entertaining and quieting carload so you can concentrate, Points for Signs serves 3 positive and separate purposes:
1) Encourages participants to be observant, training eyesight for fine detail.
2) Sharpens accounting skills, adding various point awards and running totals.
3) Teaches operating a vehicle safely in future and playing fairly by set rules arbitrated by an impartial referee.

One need only to bring a pencil, download this list, and state game’s begin and end points, such as state line or time limit. Suggested rules include:

a) Points are awarded to whoever first perceives a sign and starts to claim.
b) Any colored sign (or specify blue, brown, green, orange, and/or yellow) displaying a listed legend or graphic equivalent is worth 3 points, with a 3 point bonus for claiming 3 or more with same legend. Plentiful black, red and white guide and regulatory signs are exempt.

c) Put player's initials next to listed sign names each time points are awarded. At end, designate which sign is least seen, and award a 25 point bonus to whoever found it.
...or you can agree to you own variations. Familiarize yourself with graphic images found at official USDOT website.

Bicycle
Bicycle Lane
Bike Route
Blind Driveway
Bump
Cattle Crossing
Construction Ahead
Cows Crossing
Cross (upcoming Intersection)
Curve Ahead (sometimes designated by a chevron)
Dangerous Curve Ahead
Dead End
Deer
Detour
Divided Highway Ahead
Do Not Enter
Do Not Pass
Duck Crossing
Emergency Signal Ahead
End Road Work
Falling Rocks
Farm Machinery
Firehouse
Flagperson Ahead
Fork Ahead
Golfers Crossing
Hairpin Curve
Hazard Ahead (could be stack of slashes)
Hidden Driveway
High Water Possible
Lane Drop/Reduction
Left Turn Ahead
Low Clearance
Merging Traffic
Moose (limited to northern US states)
Narrow Bridge
No Passing Zone
No Left Turn
No Outlet
No Right Turn
No Turn on Red
No U-Turn
Object Marker
One Way Traffic
Pavement Ends Ahead
Pedestrian
Ped-Xing
Photo Enforced
Playground
Raised Pavement
Right Turn Ahead
Road Ended
Road Narrows
Road Work Ahead
RR Crossing
School Zone
Share Road with Bicyclists
Sheep Crossing
Side Road Intersection
Slippery When Wet
Slow Moving Vehicles
Snowmobile Crossing
Speed Advisory (versus b/w Posted Limit)
Speed Hump
Speed Change Ahead
Squeeze Left/Right
Soft Shoulder
Steep Grade
Stop Ahead
Thickly Settled (often least posted)
T Intersection
Tractor Crossing
Traffic Circle (Roundabout)
Traffic Island
Trail Crossing
Truck Crossing
Truck Escape Ramp
Truck Rollover Warning
Two-Way Traffic
Winding Road (or Squiggly Arrow)
Yield Ahead

Parents can impart best practices on offspring by following not only traffic regulations but warning suggestions, including always yielding to bicyclists and pedestrians, never entering intersections unless you can clear, pulling over so emergency vehicles may pass, showing courtesy to other road users, stopping fully at boulevard stops and yielding at unsigned intersections. Such thoughtful guidance may someday avoid senseless deaths including your own. After all, motorists seated in air conditioned luxury can comfortably afford to let others pass and gracefully merge into the great traffic dance.

Granted, many motorists stick to highways where such local signs are seldom visible. It's a shame, because you see little but interstate uniformity and other vehicles. 

What strikes as ludicrous are Rhode Island’s penalties for impaired driving. A DUI conviction, 2nd violation with Death Resulting, earns a top prison sentence of 20 years, but only a 5 year license “revocation”. Technically, this means felon/killer could be out on parole and operating again after 5 years. “Revocation” is supposed to mean lifelong permanent; this is just an extended “suspension”. Driver’s Manual also neglects to mention Frank’s Law, which specifies a $75 fine for motorists crowding bicyclists by passing within 3 feet. Though enforceable, police never notice, stop, or warn violators.

Sick of hearing how lenient courts are for fatal and serious transgressions. Convicted drunks, felons, pedophiles, and rapists run America now, and they’ve weaponized justice for ethnic cleansing and extortion tactics in total contempt of constitution and justice.