enough about the rest of the world

I hate to be presumptuous, but you may be wondering what I've been up to, or what mom has been up to, or at least what shenanigans mom has been up to. I'm sorry to disappoint-- it's been pretty tame. She did call around 8:30pm and ask me if I was going to bed. She also gave me a sign that she listens and is capable of change-- she asked nicely if I would write to Kathy (our guide in China) from all of us to express concern about the earthquake. In fact, she barely asked-- she asked if I was going to write something like that (I was) and would I make it from all of us because it's hard for her, and I said I would, and she said that was a huge relief. Now, I won't say that I'll always be as receptive to requests for letters (that was a particularly appropriate one), but asking rather than demanding/assuming and then calling me and going on about the specifics of something, and making assumptions about my free time, makes a huge difference.

As for me, things are good. I biked to work for the first time today-- I was going to go tomorrow, on Bike to Work Day, but it's supposed to rain so I figured I'd try it on a nice day first. It was beautiful, and surprisingly easy (because it's pretty flat, and mostly on trails). The ride over in the morning was particularly lovely. The ride home was fine-- more traffic, sore butt and all. Cycling takes a bit longer than riding the metro, at least for now, but--you'll rarely hear me say this-- the time differential is irrelevant. To misquote the Little Prince, if I had extra time, I'd go for a nice bike ride.