Go into the light!! Huff it up those broken down escalators!! Try not to be slower than those behind you. Love the commute…

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blureauty 1, originally uploaded by m hoek.

   
Based on the continuous stop-and-go bumper-to-bumper traffic that I had the pleasure of witnessing last night, many people are behind the eight-ball on the Xmas shopping. Clearly, some of this is due to the heavy snow (snOMG, snowpocalypse, snowmagddon, etc) that we received over the weekend but I suspect a fair bit was due to plain old procrastination. We drove on Wisconsin Ave/Rockville Pike all the way from Georgetown to Rockville — during rush hour — through the major shopping arteries of Georgetown, Friendship Heights, Bethesda, and Rockville. The smartest idea? No, probably not, but I, like so many others out on the road, had plans of productivity that were derailed by the fluffy white stuff.

   
My reason for heading into the great suburban sprawl that is Rockville, or North Bethesda or whatever it is currently being branded as, was to pick up the artwork that I’d been commissioned by the Union Row condo board to complete for use in their building (full disclosure: Union Row was built by my employer, PN Hoffman and I did most of the original art in the building). During our initial hour and a half jaunt up the Pike the dreadfully slow traffic gave us a fair bit of time to reflect on the joys of living within a few miles of our place of employment. I honestly do not know if I could deal with having a mind numbing, stop-and-go commute out to the exurbs everyday. I have to hope that eventually it becomes so routine that you are able to zone out and reach some sort of “zen peacefulness” for the duration of the commute. Zoning out while driving has its own perils and based on the honking horns and frustrated faces that I saw on the faces of the surrounding motorists, no one was reaching any state of mental rest or clarity. I understand that last night was an extraordinary case due to the extenuating circumstances of holiday shopping and inclement weather but I’ve made that trip quite a few times and at varying times of the day — it is never pleasant.
   
What is pleasant is the three mile bike ride or six stop metro ride that normally comprises my commute from Dupont Circle to NoMa. As frustrating as WMATA can be when trains are packed and service is spotty, and as unnerving as getting across New York Avenue and North Capitol Street on a bike can be during rush hour, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Often, my bike ride into work is one of the best parts of my day. I’m clearly the minority in actually enjoying my commute. When I drive in the city I tend to feel like a passive observer, just watching the life of the city pass by around me. I feel disconnected and have a tenancy to get frustrated at the actions of other on the road. The cycle commute breaks you out of the insulated single-occupancy-vehicle bubble and lets you take in the sights, sounds, and energy of the environment around you.
   
This entry got a bit off track but the point is I think more people need to think about how much time and sanity is being sacrificed to the commute when striving for the “drive til you qualify” American dream of a single family detached house in an anonymous subdivision. For those that have made the choice to live near their job, and I know that in this market that is not always a choice that is available, more commuters should try to eschew the impulse to make even the shortest of trips by automobile and embrace cycling or public transportation.
   
Okay off my soap box for now. The photo above was created by using my “point and click” camera and blurring the lights from traffic crossing the Calvert Street bridge with a four second exposure as I walked home from the metro. See, there can be some beauty in traffic.
   

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It’s not a very people-crowded shot, especially for the Chinatown Metro which is always among the busiest stations in the system, but still, it somehow reminds me of the hustle-bustle of the commute and of course the holidays. Everyone is running around like crazy chickens in a hurry to get to fancy parties and huge sales. Thankfully, I’ve just about finished all of my Christmas shopping in the past few days, and I’m only waiting for a few more Amazon packages to show up at my desk. I suspect though, that a lot of people out there (read: men), still have yet to begin. I don’t know what it is with those that can wait until the last second to shop. Maybe they just operate well under pressure, or maybe they just don’t feel the pressure at all. At the risk of sounding sexist, biased, whatever, I just don’t think men stress out and worry about gifts. They pick up something and go with it. Women are all like, “What if they doesn’t like this color sweater?” and then let the over-analyzing continue. Am I wrong? Wait, I thought I was talking about the Chinatown Metro…

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Last night, Bruce Katz, Director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, moderated an interesting discussion among three rock stars (sorry, couldn’t avoid saying it) in the world of urban bicycle policy at the Newseum.  The panel was composed of David Byrne, of Talking Heads fame, Earl Blumenauer, House Democrat from Oregon, and Janette Sadik-Khan, the Commissioner for NYC Department of Transportation.
   
Byrne led the night off by taking attendees on a visual walk through his cycling travel memories.  I purchased a signed copy of his book, Bicycle Diaries, which chronicles these travels.  Having not yet read the book, I’m hoping it will offer more insights then were gained during his portion of the lecture, which amounted to a vacation slide show, that I found to be a little bit shy on content.  To be fair, Byrne contributed more during the Q&A session and he was sharing the stage with some intellectual and political heavy weights.  Regardless, it is great to have a celebrity advocate for the cycling community.  He obviously cares strongly for the cause despite the lack of articulation during last nights’ discussion.  Admittedly, I did have to Wikipedia the Talking Heads to familiarize myself with his work – sign of my age I suppose.
   
The second talking head (da dum tsh!  I’ll be here all night, folks.) to take the stage was the Honorable Earl Blumenauer.  Blumenauer is one of the strongest voice for the cycling community in the Federal Government.  He has helped to make cycling part of the national policy debate for issues such as healthcare, childhood obesity, and foreign oil dependence.  Coming from Portland, Blumenauer’s discussion had a frequently west coast slant but he did bring up some great local ideas. These ideas included bike lanes along Pennsylvania Ave, stating that the most iconic boulevard in the US needs to be a place where all modes of transportation are accommodated.  I’d have to agree, making PA Ave a “complete street” would be a powerful and symbolic action.  In discussing Portland’s approach to automobiles, Blumenauer said “we haven’t made war on the car, but we are not going to surrender to it” emphasising the importance of giving people SAFE and balanced choices of transportation.
   
Third at the lectern was Janette Sadik-Khan from New York, New York.  JSK has been responsible for huge push to increase bike lanes around the city, as well as the “pedestrianization of Times Square.”  She is a progressive among progressives, who has passion for pushing the envelop (her favorite five letter word is PILOT).  Echoing Blumenauer’s statement, JSK underlined the importance of increasing cyclist safety in enhancing the number of riders — “make it safe and they will come.”  Further, she indicated that NYC may soon get its own bike sharing system.  Next time you are in NYC, watch out for the new yellow checkered bike sharing fleet that might be joining their checkered cabbie friends.  Last but not least, JSK announced the launch of Cities for Cycling which is a coalition of member cities aimed at updating the antiquated design standards to reflect the current needs of cities.  Their website includes a very interesting series of “best practices” for bicycle facilities that is worth reading over.
   
The main call to action was just that: DO SOMETHING, TALK TO SOMEONE, MAKE CYCLING AN ISSUE IN YOUR COMMUNITY.
   
I’ll leave you with few quoteables from the evening:
   
David Byrne: “Frank Lloyd Wright was a great architect, but thank god he didn’t get to be an urban planner.”
   
Earl Blumenauer:  ”How many people are stuck in traffic on their way to ride a stationary bike at the gym?”
     ”Our goal was to make Portland America’s best European City.”
   
Janette Sadik-Khan: “The only way to get around New York City is to be born there.” “Getting cross-town in NYC is impossible – so the only way to get to the West Side is to be born there.”
   
Bruce Katz: “I’m glad Brookings was shamed tonight” regarding the institutes lack of bicycle facilities.
   

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On the way to work today I got the coveted back seat of the rear car on the metro.  This is probably not cared about by most commuting folk but I like it because it allows me to pass the time by taking fun photos as we pull away from metro stations.  This one is the view exiting Judiciary Square headed towards Union Station.  Also, it kind of reminds me of sitting in the back of those old station wagons that had the seat pointed backwards (which allowed you to make faces and incite road rage on the drivers behind you).
   
Anyone get hit with a good April Fools joke?
   

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My commute was rather long this morning, and I just found out why. There was a grenade found in Rock Creek Park, just off 16th Street. Obviously this picture has nothing to do with it, because I couldn’t get anywhere close to the scene… and also it’s not that autumn-y here yet. But anyways, where does a grenade in the park come from???

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Good Morning Washington. Fortunately for the peddlers (myself included this AM) the rain this morning was not the deluge that the doomsday weather forecasters were calling for. I do think they have some strategy in their predictions though. If they told you it was going to be pleasant out and it drizzled everyone would be upset. If they tell you the whole city is going to flood and it drizzles everyone is relieved. Tricky tricky. Now I just need to keep my fingers crossed that the sky doesn’t open up during the 5 o’clock hour for my commute home this evening.

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Get out your big red sharpies and mark the calander, JuxtaExposed.com made it’s first appearance in a major newspaper today. I am of course talking about none other than Washington DC’s own Express, the free daily newspaper paper that brings joy to the hearts of many a weary commuter morning after morning.
   
My pondering of the cultural insensitivies of Sumo fat suit wrestling made it into the “Blog Log” in Tuesday morning’s publication (thank you Jenn for the heads up). My ultra-scientic calculations lead me to believe that because this was so far near the back of the paper (page 32 of 35) that only commuters with a 35 min+ Metro ride would have gotten far enough into the paper to get to the Blog Log. However, with over 700,000 riders on the Metro everyday that has to mean that at least a couple thousand people got far enough (or started reading at the back perhaps) to see the JuxtaExposed reference. That is pretty cool.
   
Here is a photo I snapped of the Blog Log…because I’m a dork.

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• ARTOMATIC = FREE!!
• opens : Friday, May 9
• runs til : Sunday, June 15, 2008
• Wednesday : 5 pm – 10 pm
• Thursday : 5 pm – 10 pm
• Friday : noon – 2 am
• Saturday : noon – 2 am
• Sunday : noon – 10 pm
• Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays
• there are visual artists, film, performances, theater, dance, poetry

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