Pedal Hopping.

Last night I went out with some teachers from the first school I worked at.  The counselor in the group hooked us up on this thing called the Pedal Hopper.

It’s kind of like a San Francisco streetcar, but powered by people.  You have to have at least 10 guests to power it, we had exactly 10 though it holds up to 16.  We decided that 10 was perfect since there are only 10 seats with pedals and any extras would just be extra weight to pedal around.

For $180 you get a 2 hour trip, stopping at 3 pubs.  You even get to pick the places to stop, keeping in mind you only have 2 hours and you have to pedal wherever you choose to go.  Which isn’t easy even though there are 10 of you, my legs are still mad at me.  At our first stop we decided to change our route, cutting out 4 blocks out of our trip.

There is, of course, no alcohol allowed on the Hopper itself, but you do get the driver, music (your choice or their party mix) and it even has a disco ball.

The driver had a bell that he would ring twice for “pedal”, and continuously for “pedal your butts off or we’re gonna get killed” when we turned left through intersections.   Since we drove right in traffic, we got a lot of stares, waves and horns honking, most of which were not the “move out of my way you morons going 5MPH in traffic” kind of honk.   Pedaling it, even up hill, wasn’t really hard work, it’s geared well, just tiring.  My legs would give out just about the time we got to the next stop.  Except for the last leg, which was all level or slightly downhill.  It was a blast.

At the beginning of the trip.

In the middle of the trip.

After dark, close to the end of the adventure.

Sorry about the video quality, all I had with me was my phone.

Dude, leave a little room between your front bumper and my back one.

At least once a month there is an accident on the road that is in front of my house.  There is a lot of traffic during rush hour, they pack themselves in bumper-to-bumper, and inevitably someone who isn’t paying attention slams into the car in front of them.

Today it ended up right in front of my driveway.   I don’t think the sedan was the one not paying attention, I just think that they were way too close to the back end of the SUV.

The Honda was behind the other two, so my guess is that they slammed into the sedan, pushing it into the SUV with enough force to slide it right under the SUV.

Now I could have the facts wrong, but this is still why I hate it when the car behind me is right on my bumper, even when at a complete stop at a red light.

Nerd Pet Wars 2013

Found this on Facebook.

And this was in one of the comments.

Ironic.

Comments of the week.

Two 8^th graders walking in the hall. One says to the other “It feels like I’m getting old.”

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When I told 6^th period that I would be there after school if they wanted to retake the test, one said “You sound like one of those motivational speakers: ‘And I’ll be here all evening.’”

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A kid with a sprained ankle came in with this boot on. I asked him why he wore a ski boot to school today. “I’m just really psyched for the season to start.”

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Me: “Why are your shoes off?”
Him: “They’re Jesus sandals, they just slide off.”

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I was doing lunch duty and snagged a kid’s crackers while he was turned away.  When he turned back and saw them missing, he immediately turned to me to get them back.  While he was looking my way, the kid across the table, who had the exact same type of crackers, slid his to the same spot the ones I took were in.  He told the kid “They’re right here”, pointing at them.  The kid looked back, saw them, looked back at me and then back at the crackers.  The look on his face was priceless, but I still gave his back.

Get Mikey, he’ll take the blame for anything.

For anyone desperately seeking to blame the President and the Democrats for the government shut down, I have a few things for you to consider.

1. The ACA (Obamacare) was passed into law by legitimate legislative process.
2. It survived 40 attempts at legitimate legislative repeal.
3. It survived a legitimate judicial review all the way to  the U.S. Supreme Court.

Whether or not you agree with the Affordable Care Act, it is law and the Federal Government is legally and morally bound to follow it, including it’s funding provisions, regardless of what whiney-ass morons like our own Mike Lee claim.

The entire responsibility for this shutdown falls squarely on the shoulders of Teabaggers  Lee and Cruz and the Republican House.  The only thing Obama and the Democrats are guilty of (in this fiasco) is demanding that the Government live up to it’s responsibilities.  Period.

So, go ahead.  Hail Lee as a protector of liberty.  Condemn the President and Democrats as the bad guys.  But the truth is that the Republicans are simply having a big temper tantrum because their legitimate attempts to derail the ACA all failed, so they step out into the realm of illegitimate acts to get their way.

And hurt a lot of people in the wake.

Time to dump the tea in the bay.