i want to share a personal bias that i have.  i don't care for it when people ride on the trail or on roads with a walkman, or a diskman or whatever the heck type of device you kids listen to your boogie-woogie music on.  i especially don't care for it down at hains point, where people are riding at high speeds and close together.  i almost never say anything about this because i don't see it as my perogative to tell people how to do their thing, but i bottle up my loathing in a passive agressive way.

this morning, chris sent me a link to the latest frazz comic and it got me thinking about this. 

part of the humor of the strip turns on what might be a generational disconnect or it might be a disconnect between their outlooks.  either way, the punchline at the end shows that though they are talking to each other, they are not really hearing what the other person is saying.

which brings me to where i'm at.  i try to be really good about telling people when i am passing on a trail or a road.  but i have stopped doing that if i see earbuds or a cell phone.  it may be immature or petulant or expose an irrational prejudice i have but i sort of feel like if you're taking yourself out of our common environment, that i can't really interact with you so it's not worth the effort.  the epitome of this is the people with the bluetooth phone ear pieces.  you can find them anywhere in downtown dc, walking along, talking to nobody: the modern urban crazy homeless,except these guys are wearing brooks brothers suits and extremely thin swiss watches.  but they look just as crazy.

now once we start podcasting union news and education services, we may need to rethink this position, but for now, i will take the sound of respiratory activity any time, any day.

- - - posted by scott

p.s. i miss the days of anton quist, when he would sing gilbert and sullivan on training rides.  that was entertaining.