eateggs

A Montana state representative from Missoula has introduced a bill (HB 68) that would remove the requirement that bicyclists come to a full and complete stop at stop signs–making Montana communities more bike friendly.

Newwest.net has the full scoop, here

If you’re a Montana cyclist, please contact your representative and ask him/her to support House Bill 68.

Go to http://leg.mt.gov/css/find%20a%20legislator.asp to find your legislator, and go to http://leg.mt.gov/css/Sessions/61st/roster.asp?HouseID=1&SessionID=94 to get his/her email address.

The email I sent to JP Pomnichowski (D – HD 63) is included below:

Representative Pomnichowski,

Hello! My name is Mark Egge, and I’m an MSU student, living in your district.

I’m writing to encourage you to support House Bill 68, introduced by Rep. Robin Hamilton, which would allow bicyclists to treat stop signs like yield signs (at present, cyclists are, like their car counterparts, required to come to a complete stop at every stop sign).

I must admit, I was surprised to learn that, in Montana, bicyclists are required to stop at stop signs–something I learned one night, my freshmen year, while biking from campus to Safeway. The officer was unsympathetic, and seemingly unmoved by my incredulity that I had just been pulled over on a bicycle for riding through a stop sign at an empty intersection.

I wasn’t excited about the $135 fine I was instructed to pay, but the moving violation on my DMV record was the real rub.

In any case. All personal feelings aside, it seems only sensible that cyclists be allowed to roll through stop signs. First, cyclists like myself are constantly on the lookout for other traffic. When I bike, I never assume that a driver sees me, unless we make eye contact. Second, stopping at stop signs on a bike is a real pain–especially on a road bike with clips, instead of pedals.

At MSU, I study economics. Economists like to think of traffic signals as institutions that assign property rights–specifically, who has the right to be in an intersection at a given time. If there’s an accident, it’s easy to figure out who’s at fault–that is, who committed the property-rights violation–and, assuming insurance and the like, the other party can be made whole. But with a bicyclist, there’s really no question of defending property rights and making the other person whole. The cyclist is always going to look out for his/her own safety and protection. This suggests that stop signs are likely not necessary in the case of bicyclists.

I’m sorry to ramble on. Please support HB 68, which will make it easier to bike, facilitating fitter, greener, less congested Montana communities.

Thank you for your consideration and your service,
-Mark

With any luck, by the time I’m healed up enough to ride my bike again … I won’t have to come to a complete stop at every stop sign!

So … I’ve made it to the end of another semester. Yet another semester?

It snowed today. Snowed inches and inches … doing its damnedest to suffuse Bozeman in a while blanket of peace and quiet. A Christmas miracle, really–every time it snows, it’s a Christmas miracle. But it wasn’t! We pushed it off! We, with our cars, trucks, Suburbans … we braved the cold. We ran our heaters, our windshield wipers. Off! Off damned white blanket! Off, damned white redemption!

Bombarded by the heavens, we retreated to the safety and comfort of the things that bring us solace–that define our lifestyle, as Americans. We flooded into Barnes and Noble. We trampled the snow at Northern Lights and Hastings and Target and Wal-Mart with our Hummer H2’s, our Honda Civics–smashed it down! Crushed it, and rushed inside, to find solace in the storm with our compatriots. Our compatriots in the aisles … at the check-stands.

…

That’s not what I want to write, at all…

Sparknotes: Fuck Christmas.

…

No, what I meant to write was …

I turned on the fireplace, and settled in with a movie … the snow blissfully falling outside, obscuring in a soft haze Pete’s Hill, the mountains beyond. Inches and inches of fresh, falling snow.

But I didn’t want to settle down to a movie … no. I didn’t want to be inside… Thoughts alighted on something passed … passed, but still I wished for someone to go outside with and make sure Pete’s Hill was still there, just obscured behind a white blanket. Someone to make sure gravity still has its pull–that snow still cushions those who fall and tumble in it… that it still muffles cries of amusement, of surprise…

I’m not comfortable with these thoughts.

(Edit: Gee, that sounds really dramatic … and mysterious. Is he pining for a lost lover? Is he just being melodramatic? Is he high?)

…

Gomez sings, I stopped trying to write the things I’d like / and I started going back to where I’d been before … She said I don’t blame you / I’d do the same / Opportunity knock knock knocks / Open the door. / But I think she saw through it / I see through myself / another chance gone / won’t get many more…

The lyrics are completely unrelated … but they resonate.

…

Three-point-seven-five. For the semester. One “B”, one “A-“, a few “A”s and a “Pass”.

Strangely … I’m proud of that “B”. I’m prouder than I’ve ever been of a grade before. Why? … Perhaps it’s because … it’s the first grade I think I’ve ever worked for. I’m more proud of that “B” than any “A” from this semester–or the last, or …

I feel like saying something trite. Something like: “I’d rather work for a B than skate through to an A.” That’s trite, right?

…

huh. Time to clean the house. I leave for Cheyenne tomorrow–roads (snow) willing. I mean … fuck that snow-white-happy-redemption bullshit. I have to travel tomorrow. I have to shop. I have to … live my life in defiance of the natural world. That’s my birthright, as an America. The right to live my life in defiance of the world. (Insert vapid and superficial political rant, here.)

Joyous exaltations!

No–not about Christmas (I still, decidedly, don’t like the holiday!)–but about my back.

I started with a new physical therapist (Dr. Milica Livesay, if anyone in Bozeman needs a good one) about a month ago. Though I’ve come to dread the two hours we spend with each other every week, I’ve seen a dramatic and marked improvement in my level of comfort and range of motion.

The week before I injured myself, I touched my toes for the first time in years–requiring a 90+ degree range of motion (from the hips). When I started with Milica, I had about a 5 degree range (forward). I’m up to about 15 degrees–which doesn’t seem like much, but to me … it’s a Christmas miracle!

And I’m a LOT more comfortable. As evidenced by the fact that I can sit and “drum”, playing Rock Band, for several hours at a time.

Huzzah!

You know you’ve been playing Rock Band too long when you look around and the room is scrolling up. At first, at the end of a song, I thought that the screen itself was scrolling up … but then I realized the curtains were moving up, too, and my computer monitor…

That probably doesn’t make any sense to anyone who hasn’t played Rock Band (or Guitar Hero) for too long.

Oh well.

I’m getting steadily better at the drums. Well, except for that whole “rhythm” thing. … maybe in real life you do, but you definitely don’t need “rhythm” to play the drums in Rock Band. Psh.

I feel like I’m starting to get old …

I went to a black-tie wine and cheese party last night. Well–that’s nothing new: there’s been “wine and cheese” house parties since I was a freshman where people get completely sloshed in Franzia playing “wine” pong.

But last night … it’s like we took ourselves seriously. People brought a good selection of wines, some interesting and tasty cheeses. Everyone was dressed nicely, but … comfortably?

What was really weird, though, is that it was just a quiet social evening with twenty or so friends–a Christmas tree, the excited but subdued chatter of friends. No one got “smashed.” No one was drunk and rowdy. No one passed out. No one’s face was decorated with a permanent marker.

I’ll be the first to admit–it was nice to see some people I hadn’t seen in a long time. It was nice to have a quiet evening, do some catching up over a few glasses of nice-by-college-standards wine.

But at the same time, I’m a little worried. Does that mean that I’m getting old when I go to parties where, not only do the cops not show up, but no one makes a scene, no furniture gets burned, and everyone clearly remembers the night?

Well, fortunately, I’ll be headed to Cheyenne, soon. That’s sure to make me feel young again!

—

In other news, it’s warmed to a balmy five degrees (F) below zero–up from a brisk nineteen degrees below when I went out this morning.

It’s been snowing off and on for over a week now–and the daily high temperatures have only peaked above zero (F) twice.

What I don’t understand is … why am I going to Cheyenne for Christmas … and not my sister’s place in Arizona?

—

My cellphone died a week and a half ago. Aside from some sympathy for those who are unable to get hold of me (no cellphone, no landline), I must admit: it’s rather nice without it.

Alas–I’ll be replacing the phone some time next week.

Finally, in the last week of this semester, I’m … finished with all my lingering projects from last semester!

Let’s review:

My Motorbike! Huzzah!

(My motorbike, on a ride up Bridger Canyon, this October. 24 Oct 2008)

This project actually dates back to last July. For those who don’t know, I bought the bike on ebay from a dealership in El Paso, and proceeded to drive it back to Bozeman. And … I actually made all the way to Main Street before the cylinder head blew up, and I had to get towed home. (Thanks, Kimbree!)

By the end of August, I’d rebuilt the head. Everything back together, I managed to go about five miles, before it died, and I again had to get towed back home.

Eight months later, I isolated and replaced the broken carburetor boot, and was running again. Or … kind of. The bike was also literally spewing motor oil out of the top of the head.

So, another four months later, I finally figured out that I was missing a couple o-rings, tore the head apart, installed new seals, put everything back together and … lo and behold, everything worked! Just in time for things to get cold!

… Unfortunately, it’s rather on the brink again, after I dropped it on some ice a few weeks ago and broke my shifter off.

My Loft! Huzzah!
(My loft, newly installed in my bedroom. 5 Nov 2008.)

Some time last spring, I decided what I needed to help get out of my bed in the mornings was a loft. So … I went to my local lumber store, bought some wood, and set to work … planing, sanding, staining and varnishing.

Needless to say, I never actually finished my loft at the old house. But, a month ago, I installed a loft in my current room. It’s cave-like and … wonderful. Mmm.

My Hist 505 final paper. Huzzah!
Wallace Comparative Review

After six months, I’ve finally finished my last paper for my History 505 class from last spring. Good heavens … I don’t understand what it was such a monumental project but … alas. It’s done, now!

My Econ 480 final paper. Huzzah!
A Coasian Analysis of Noise Pollution at Montana State University

Despite having, possibly, the lamest title I’ve ever given a paper, I’m quite proud of what I’ve put together.

The paper, written for an Econ seminar with Prof. Rob Fleck (last spring…), applies the Coase Theorem to the case of noise pollution emitted by my wonderful (ack…) university, Montana State University.

—

And so … approaching finals week of Fall 2008, I’m finally done with all of the lingering projects from Spring 2008.

Best, though, is that I’m also basically caught up on assignments from this semester. Which means … Christmas break is going to be nice.

As a last wonderful note, I’m starting to see some considerable improvement with my back. I’m seeing a new physical therapist (Dr. Milica Livesay), who–though it hurts!–is doing wonders. I’ve gained more motion and comfort in the last two weeks than the two months prior.

Whoo! Here’s to a good ski season!