To all Phoenix, AZ area commuters out there: Ain't this time of year the best or what? This is why we live here, this is why we endure those long brutal summers. So when things finally cool off we can go outdoors and ride and hike and play golf and play softball and frickin' play until we can't help getting that silly Joker grin.

Looked out the window at 8:00 this morning and the sun was shining low, illuminatiing any and everything that strange autumn gold. Temps were absolutely ideal, in the 70's, little to no wind.

I've been laboring in the commute to work lately so I cut the weight of the item with the most mass, my Kryptonite New York U-lock. I left the shackle at work and carried the D-bar along with my lunch and clothes in my backpack. And wow, it almost felt like I wasn't carrying anything.

Tonight on the way home I changed my route. Instead of going around the AZ 101 staging area just west of 79th Ave and Union Hills, I in my perhaps unwise, foolish, newbie wisdom went straight for that 101 junction. The traffic was tight, lots of cars but not going at high speed. Made it through with no horns or pleasantries. Probably will do it again, the traffic flow and pattern is much less complicated and slower going in this direction, westbound, as opposed to eastbound.

Wow, a month ago was terrified of doing this. So far I'm having a ball (knocking on wood).