Cones, Standing up, one day work week

Last night I was back out on the EUC.  I drove over to the school since it offers me a lot of options for riding terrain.  I also threw a dozen cones in the trunk that I planned to use for some agility training.  The school grounds seemed to be pretty busy with various sporting events and other after school activities.  After riding around a little bit I set up the cones.

First I set up one cone on each of the parking space lines, the goal being to weave in between them.  Parking spaces are pretty wide so I was able to perform the course rather easily.  I then doubled up the difficulty, inserting cones in between the existing ones, cutting the distance I had to make the turns in half.  I struggled much more with that set up, failing to get through the cones without clipping one on my first two attempts.  I was finally successful the third time around going very slow with lots of arm flailing to maintain balance.   I went through a couple more times for fun.

I finished up with some random rides around the school including into the heart of the building complex.  I wound up in an inner courtyard that I was not aware existed.  It took a little while till I found an open exit point.  I felt a bit like a trespasser as I rolled past the kids lockers that surprisingly are under roof but not indoors.  I finished up a little before 6:45 to head home to enjoy a nice Italian spaghetti dinner Cindy whipped up for Katie and me.

This whole Colin Kapernick not standing for the national anthem thing has gotten far more legs than I expected.  In a way it reminds me of the way the transgender bathroom thing got out of hand.  Now you have players in all sorts of sports kneeling/sitting during the anthem instead of doing the traditional thing and standing as it is played.  Hell there was a story in our local paper about a school principal who is now in hot water with a constitutional lawyer because he made an announcement that students MUST stand during the anthem or face disciplinary action which is technically a violation of constitutional rights.

I mean really, is this all necessary?  It’s a self fulfilling prophecy.  The more outrage, anger, and publicity the general population gives to the story, the more likely others are to jump on the not standing bandwagon.  To be clear, I am not one of those blinders on, Merica guys that gives no thought to the reason this movement has gotten legs.  Yes, there are some disgraceful and shameful things our country has and will continue to do that oppress a large portion of the population although my focus is more on the the feudal-like lords that have been allowed to create such economic disparity.  Of course the Trump presidential campaign has pulled back the rug on the ugly level of racism/sterotyping that was just waiting for the right candidate to nurture those destructive emotions.

Despite these shortcomings, in the big picture I think our country and the ideals that it strives to reach someday are worthy of respect so you will never see me taking a knee when the anthem is played.  That is my personal decision and although I may think it’s disrespectful of someone else to not do the same, I’ll respect your right to do it.  If you want to see less news stories about anthem kneeling, stop reacting so strongly to it.  I saw a funny blurb about the irony that those who seem the most deeply offended by anthem kneelers that are disrespecting the country are the same people that feel the strongest about the need to stockpile weapons to “protect” themselves from the government of that same country.  It’s a head scratcher.

I have a weird work week coming up.  After a normal two day weekend, I work Monday and then am off until the following Tuesday.  I’m not sure if I ever had a one day work week before but it is definitely an arrangement I could endorse easily.