Pretty nice commute this morning. Like for many of you, it was cold for me too: 39°F. My heavy fleece jacket & gloves proved to be perfect for it though.

Bird Story: This is only relevant because I only noticed it because I was alert from the exercise. When I got to the train station and was walking under the light post, I heard the chirping of chicks above me. I looked up in time to see an adult blackbird fly away. Didn't see where he/she came from. I walked around on the ground, trying to spot the nest. No luck. Where the hell were the chicks? I was 10 minutes early for the train, so I just kept my eyes open, thinking the mother bird would return soon to feed them more. Sure enough, a couple minutes later, she returned with a mouthful of bugs and such, and went in a small opening in the end of the light fixture, right where the post enters it. What a perfect place to build a nest! Heat from the light keeps them warm at night, and heat from the sun keeps them warm during the day. The light fixture keeps them dry in the rain. Much better than a nest from twigs and such.

I left earlier than usual this morning, right at dawn. So I put the lights on the bike. I have the 2W LED headlight from Planetbike. It really gets motorists' attention. It has a weird flashing pattern in which one flash is brighter than the others in the sequence, and it is reminiscent of police strobes I think. So people pause, looking for a cop, but it is just little old me on a bike.

I had one guy in a pick-up pass me really close, presumably to show me how knowledgable he is about the dimensions of his stupid truck or to let me know that I have no right to the road. My only consolation is that if he were any closer, my bar end mirror would have scratched his paint.