I'd have to title todays commute "Open Waters II", jinxed. You know how some days things just aren't clicking? Today's Monday so I put some air in my tires. 100 feet out of the driveway . . . BAM!!!-Pfffffffffffffffffffffffffffff. Flat. Bad Omen. Not a good way to start the week. Hobbled back home and fixed the flat. Back on the road.

Last night I watched Open Waters, the movie about the couple on vacation who go scuba diving and get left in the middle of the ocean with hungry sharks. Before the dive, the dive instructor briefed the divers on the "Universal Signal for Distress", ie "HHHHEEEEEEEEELP", waving hands frantically over head. Today, I felt like I was in . . . Open Waters with hungry sharks nipping at my legs, in the form of moms in mini-vans rushing their kids to school. At one intersection, 4 lanes, stop light green, I had the right lane, traffic to my left. 90 degrees to my right, another 4 lanes. There is a car stopped in the right lane, one car impatiently whips around the stopped car to make a right on red in front of me. The next vehicle starts moving. They are close enough for me to see the mom and kids. She looks to her left, past me. I'm 45 degrees from her hood. She looks straight and guns it into my lane. I have very little room to move so with my left hand on the bars, I wave frantically with my right hand, the universal sign of distress. She sees me and brakes at the last instant. Whewwww.

I was jittery the rest of the commute. It seemed like every car door was opening in front of me, every car hesitating, threatening to cut across my path, resulting in instant death. But somehow I survived the sharks today on the . . . Open Streets.