Maple Shade to Philly bike ride

http://www.phillyburbs.com/00redesign/news/local/tacony-palmyra-repairs-highlight-lack-of-bike-access/article_49639d30-a6b6-5b8d-b1f2-2185f3e321ea.html

Today's bike ride:  Maple Shade, NJ to Philadelphia via Tacony-Palmyra bridge and back

Objective:  Buy Banjo Brothers Saddlebag Pannier
Destination:  Bicycle Stable
Weather: 39 - 36 degrees Fahrenheit

Total Distance: 29 miles

Total Time: 4.5 hours

It started off nice and easy.  I wanted to go Northwest to the Tacony-Palmyra bridge to catch a view in the sunlight, but I ended up heading West and ultimately through Camden via Federal St.  When I realized I had gone the opposite direction, I decided to take PATCO to Philly from the Walter Rand Transportation Center.  PATCO rail only cost $2.40 for a one-way, and I was in Philadelphia in 5 minutes after waiting another 5.  I got out on 8th St., and I immediately fell in love with all of the bike paths Philly has to offer.  Although south Jersey has some in Camden and other parts of Camden county, it's definitely lacking in a lot of areas in the state.

I take a quick 10-15 ride north to Bicycle Stable in Frankford, and the guys couldn't be nicer.  I was surprised to see that not only did they carry Banjo Brothers, but also the exact rear saddlebag pannier in red that I had wanted.  It cost $65 (8% sales tax?!!  Yabba Dabba Doo!) and took a minute to put onto my bike rack.

It is really spacious, yet I'll reinforce it because it seems like it'll break if I have cans along with other groceries and roll over bumps and whatnot.

The ride from Bicycle Stable to the Tacony-Palmyra bridge was a little longer than expected, mainly because I chose a road with a lot of stop signs.  Even north Philly has a ton of bike paths, and I only had to ride with traffic twice because people were entering/exiting a strip mall and crowding the bike lane.

Walking over the bridge was lovely because I just caught the sunset, and the oranges and purples hovered over Philly like a mother singing sweet lullabies to her newborn in the crib.  I saw a lot of deer prancing around and took chase to see if I could live in their world, but they were too shy.  Instead, I played Air Guitar outside of the NJ State Police HQ in Palmyra.  It just seemed appropriate.

I stopped at a pizzeria, that was open, but not open because of renovation, but was still open...or so the sweet pizzeria mama told me.  I asked if she could heat up a slice, and she said no, so I wished them a happy new year and took off.

Swerving and weaving, I didn't have a care in the world...until the cars behind me started honking...then I straightened out my act.

I found another pizzeria, had two slices, went to the bank, and cruised on home.

To Ms. Durkin

The babe's arrival,

as pure as the snow that gently falls, 

as tranquil as the wintry scene beyond the windowpane, 

and as wondrous as the glory of a snowy day.

Snow day, part deux, 12.10.13

Another snow day...one bottle of wine...what to do, what to do!

I'm starting to believe that snow is an abnormal phenomenon in south Jersey/Philly area.  They cancelled school two days in a row because Sunday afternoon, it snowed about 6-8 inches.  It was relatively clear at night, but I understand that the freezing rain would have made commuting hectic.  However, today we got to school at the regular bright hour of 6:10, only to come and find out that at 7:00, school would be cancelled.  We called parents, and I wandered somewhat aimlessly back home, meandering through slushy white highways.

To be honest, driving through what seemed like puffy clouds was surreal, and I wished I had my camera to take snapshots of the angelic curtains of wet.  I'm sitting in my apartment now, radio pumping some sweet sounds, and I'm sipping on a little tea sans whiskey to enjoy this moment of my life :)

Two more weeks...

Two more weeks...

Mixed bag of strange emotions.  One part trepidation, three parts relief.

I was all sorts of anxious recently until today when I started doing research on more jobs teaching abroad.  I'm jazzed about traveling to Costa Rica, and it had been a destination for summer, but if nothing opens up, why not travel and teach in January?

All I've got to do is travel there, find a school while in country, and cross my fingers and toes.  If nothing comes up, I could just fly back.

With coral artsy, I think she'll be interested in coming, but I need to travel on my own.  Clear the head.

I've got two more weeks at my current school, a charter school in Camden, NJ.  I'm beyond excited for the time to come, and I will still teach my scholars faithfully up until 21.12.13.  However, 2014 will be a new year and I can't wait for its shiny adventures!

Source of concern...

I forget to breathe.  This isn't a metaphorical statement expressing why I should contemplate on life's dealings.  I literally forget to breathe, and I find myself...drowning on air...it's as if I have a potential case of death by somnolent suffocation, but for adults it's strange.

After starting my trip from Quebec at 5am, I made it all the way through half of NY state and decided to get off and power-nap for 30 minutes.  I pulled into the local Taco Bell/KFC (cast the first stone, I dare you!), turned the car off, reclined the seat back to a somewhat comfortable position, and shut the eyes for a steady snooze.

Napping wasn't as pleasant as I hoped though.  I felt myself struggling to breathe, choking on my subconscious' indecision to function properly, and utterly passively panicking to this phenomenon.

Time Flies

Time flies when you've got tasks that need to be completed.

I've put off grading these papers long enough...oh wait!  Let me check to see if so-and-so is doing such-and-such!

Two hours later...

I'm really excited about the future.  I don't know what I'm going to do though.  It's weird, I'll be 30 in March, and I thought I had my life planned out.  Throw one monkey wrench into the plans, and they all unravel.

I'm in a relationship that I don't know I should be in.
I'm in a job that I'm leaving soon.
I'm in an apartment that...is quite nice actually.
Instead of grading papers, I'm blogging...on a blog site that I seldom visit.

I could just drop everything and move to Costa Rica, find a wife and build a life.

::lifts beer::

Here's to the unknown!

She might be crazy...

The VCR started acting up again...

Maybe I don't know what I'm getting myself into, especially given the fact that I primarily wanted to solely pay bills.  Then again, I say this when I'm nervous and experiencing the coldest of feet.

We'll see what happens...