Two not-the-main points

Jamie and I spent this "weekend" (Thursday afternoon until around 8:20 this morning) driving to and from PA and spending some time with our friends there. It was a great trip. Full of family life, smallish town community, laughter, and good conversation. We'll update with some photos and more info later. For now, here are two things from today. Not particularly meaningful, but still...

First, a bit of excitement. The fire alarm in our apartment complex went off a couple (maybe 20?) minutes ago. At first I thought it was just in our apartment. Oh my goodness, I was only reading blogs on the computer. What could have set off the fire alarm? Oh yes, I did have the oven warming up so I could bake some chicken, but it didn't seem like that could be it. I turned the oven off, checked for fire in the apartment, and tried to turn the smoke detector off (it was very loud and piercing). Then I went outside and it was even louder out there. I called Jamie to see what he thought: should I call the office or 911? He opted for 911, so I placed my first (that I remember) 911 call ever. I felt cool. But I did have to collect myself before I called long enough to try to remember our address.

Then, a couple people started to emerge from the buildings next to ours. I met Jenny, Kim and Jose. Seemed nice. They all thought it was their fault too, but it definitely wasn't any of us. Jenny had called the office, so we had both bases covered. I was wondering how come there was no one else out there. Either EVERYONE in our apartment complex is out on Saturdays, or we have a lot of people who think they're invincible and like loud piercing noises. Anyway, eventually the alarm went off. We still weren't sure whether we could go back in, so we went around to the parking lot side of the buildings. Then, the fire truck pulled up. And the maintenance man came out and told them that a fire alarm got pulled. Wonderful.

So that was my adventure for the day.

Second not-the-main-point is this. This weekend is some kind of memorial day rally for motorcyclists. They come from hundreds of miles away to converge right between Jamie's old house and my old house and then drive into DC together. So today is a gathering day and there were lots of motorcyclists on the road between PA and here.
I have to say that my least favorite people on the road are motorcyclists. But I especially am peeved (to put it lightly) by those who don't wear protective gear. I saw one guy with no helmet, countless people in jeans and leather jackets, and many in t-shirts, teeny helmets, and other forms of less-then-protective gear.

My brother and uncles ride motorcycles. I don't like it. They are definitely endangering themselves if they get hit by cars, trucks, etc. But at least they wear the full amount of protective gear: huge well-fitted helmets, some kind of teflon/fiber glass type material covering their whole bodies, crazy amazing gloves, and tough boots. One of them (who shall remain nameless) fell off his bike swerving to miss a car and totaled the bike a while back, but was barely scratched. But these people who don't wear protective gear. Ugh. i've seen road rash. Its not pretty. REALLY not pretty. And that's from a crash going very slowly and wearing leather and denim. Yuck, yuck. Their arm will be scraped off their body if they fall of the bike on the interstate wearing just a t-shirt.

Ok, so there is some concern for them, but I also have to share the road with them. And they don't all drive so safely either. I HATE being near them when I'm driving because I'm so afraid I might not see one in my blind spot or they might stop too quickly or whatever and I'll be responsible for their death by road rash.

So, here's my thing. If you ride a motorcycle, be responsible. Don't be stupid and scare the other drivers. Drive extra carefully and wear the most protective gear available. And don't ride near me, please.