Lost in OK

Generally, I avoid joining protests, but occasionally there are ideas so bad that I can’t stay away.  Such is the case with the Protect IP Act (PIPA) which is coming up before the Senate next week.  The goal of protecting intellectual property is certainly a laudable one, but the means to achieve that goal must not come at the expense of the 1st amendment, nor should it fundamentally weaken the technological structure of the Internet.  The Protect-IP bill does all of this with a vague and poorly thought-out bill.

The relationship between cyclists and the town of Jones, Oklahoma has traditionally been, at best, a rocky one and at worst, an outright hostile one.  Quiet two lane roads and beautiful, hilly routes have attracted large number of cyclists to the area.  However the poor behavior of some cyclists have caused negative reactions from area law enforcement and businesses against the cycling community.  Thankfully, the situation continues to dramatically improve and thanks to the work of the Oklahoma Bicycling Coalition (OBC), Jones, Oklahoma will now host its own annual cycling event, The Hogback Attack Bike Ride:

I guess the seagulls are tired of the cold and are preparing to go someplace warmer because they were swarming in huge numbers right around the Lake Overholser dam. At times it looked like a scene right out of the Hitchcock film. I’m just glad I wasn’t Tippi Hedren.

Examiner.com writer Diana Winslow, who covers downtown Oklahoma City, has had her bicycle (which is her primary form of transportation) stolen:

Diana Winslow, Downtown Examiner writer’s bike is MIA from near Lake Hefner as of Thursday January 05-2012.

AKA “Chick on a Bike”, the writer’s very distinctive beaten red Nishiki 3 speed is a racing style bike, with a Selle Royale seat, various lights, bell and book rack on the back.

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That’s what I did today, absolutely nothing. In fact, I never really got out of my fuzzy slippers. I did get quite a bit of email written and caught up on a bunch of paperwork, but even then, all of my labor didn’t amount to much. It was a perfect, lazy Sunday.

Today was definitely one of those days. Woke up this morning, to find that Grace’s car had a flat tire. Had to frantically scramble to get Gwen to school and Grace to work and for me to run to work in the nick of time. Then I had to fight through the hell that is Edmond rush hour traffic to pick up Grace. Finally, to really top of the night, I changed out Grace’s tire for the spare. Can we just pretend that today didn’t happen?

It’s been almost two weeks since I last rode the bike and I’m really missing it. My stress levels are through the roof, I’m grumpy, tired, not sleeping well. Hopefully I can get on the bike tomorrow.

Most of the time, my department tends to eat lunch at our desks. However, we are all about to start an extremely large and complicated project on an insanely short deadline, so it seemed like a good day to take a proper lunch break and a group.

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Bike sharing programs are the rage around the world and across the nation (the photo above is of the DC bike share program, Capital Bikeshare).  Oklahoma City first announced the program back in August and additional details were announced yesterday at the Oklahoma City Council meeting.  According to NewsOK, the program has been given an official name of “Spokies” and will consist of 95 bicycles (up from 90) placed at six stations in the downtown Oklahoma City area.  The money for the bikes and stations is coming from a federal grant.

This site remains the project that I never seem to have enough time for and yet the project I don’t want to set aside.  Over the last couple of months I’ve been missing this site more and more and trying to find the time to write.

Then, at the beginning of the year, one of my favorite bike blogs (especially from a photography point of view), EcoVelo shut down.  I decided I didn’t want OKC Bicyclist to vanish from sight without a strong push to keep the site going and to grow it into the real local cycling news site I’ve always wanted it to be.