Lonely Cucumber

It's amazing what you see by the side of the road next to the center guard rails when you are stuck in traffic and crawling along. Whenever I am stuck in traffic I use my time wisely, I scope out what has been discarded in the wasteland that is the highway median. Things get stuck to the rail divider or washed into debris piles by torrential rains that flood their way to the nearest drain. I have seen things such as hats sticking out of drains, a curled up skeleton by an overpass, pieces of tire, front bumpers, hub caps, and general trash. However, most of these things are normal sights along the interstate. The other week I saw something unusual and completely unexpected.

As I was crawling along I-40, on the inner shoulder heading east, was a lovely English cucumber. It was sitting by itself on the pavement, whole and fresh looking. It made me want to reach out and pick it up as if the median were a farmer's market stall. Where did the cucumber come from? Why was it not squashed or damaged in some way? Why did it look so delicious sitting on a filthy highway shoulder?

Note, I did not take this picture but found that there have been
other cucumbers on the road in Sheffield, UK.
"Cucumber on the road" - borrowed from Spiritus Ex Machina on Flickr

Given the chance, I probably would have picked it up and taken it home. Had it proved edible, I would have washed it off and eaten it raw with a little salt. Yes, I know I'm odd, but why let a lovely veggie or fruit (thinking back to the roadside grapefruit) go to waste? People are starving all over the world! I would hate to laugh in their faces with my excess by letting something rot on the side of the road that I could have eaten.

However, traffic picked up as I drove past it and it was left behind. I watched is slide out of my side-view mirror and lamented having to leave it there. Other than the treat of having a reclaimed cucumber to munch on later, it would have been fun to see people's faces as I left my car to pick it up. I would like to have done that and heard what they were thinking as they saw me. That would have been priceless.

Corn-y

I saw something on the way to work that surprised me, and there are few things that I see on the road that surprise me any more. Sure, I can get wowed or frustrated or angry, but rarely surprised. What did I see? A pick-up truck with a bed full of corn. Why was that surprising? Because there seemed to be a mountain of course that wasn't blowing away like I thought it should be. There was a retaining wall of corn created by tucking them into the bed vertically at all the edges, and it worked. I was able to capture the two pictures below with my cell phone. The quality isn't great, but you can see what I'm talking about.




It seemed like an amazing feat of physics to me, but then I don't really know much about that field of study. It made me think about what would happen if the truck's bed had a heating element. How funny would it be to have popcorn exploding on the highway? If you opened your windows you might get a snack. But I guess that only happens when it's Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.

Doppelganger

I got a promotion at work and a very good pay increase to go along with it, but when thinking about it this morning on the way to work it didn't seem like enough. What? Am I getting greedy? Yes, but only with my time. I'm tired of my commute. They could give me a 20k increase and I might be able to overlook the two hours I spend on the road each day, but until then it won't be enough. Sigh.

My commute-free self waved from the front porch this morning as I backed out of the driveway, taunting me. It's job is so simple - it does whatever I imagine I'd rather be doing than commuting to work. How great would that be? I wish that I could be someone else's free time doppelganger. I would love doing whatever they wished they could do and reporting back to them that, yes, it was as awesome as they thought it would be.

I need to come up with a company that provides a doppelganger service. However, there would be restrictions on what your hired doppelganger could do. This would not be the kind of service where they had to do all the things you didn't want to do. No, that is what they have administrative assistants for, but this service would take on the great things that you simply don't have time for. Want to tell people that you have climbed Mt. Everest? Sure, we can do that for you. We'll even document the climb with pictures and your doppelganger will look just like you. We would take great pride in finding the right look alike.

Want to go to every show of your teenager's high school theater production, but have to work two of the nights that it is showing? No problem! Your doppelganger will be there in your favorite seat, taking notes and pictures so that when you switch places right after the show, you'll know everything that happened.

Can't make it to the wedding of your spouse's/significant other's best friend? Don't worry, we have that covered! We will even find a gift from the registry for you to purchase and for your doppelganger to take to the event. You'll be the life of the reception without actually having to be there!

Yes, I can see it now, I will be a millionaire soon with the introduction of my new company - Doppel Dealings. Look out, World, your life just got easier and more exciting...for only $20 an hour!

Never alone...

We commuters are never alone on the road, or apparently on the internet either! I received a comment on my last post from another girl who hates her commute and likes to blog about it. Not only do we muse at similar times about similar topics, but we have almost the same blog address to boot! My fellow commuter is located at commutermusing.blogspot.com -- my address minus the "s". The title of her blog is Commusings, a very clever construction of commuter and musings, and she has done what I have not, Googled our blog topic. I'll just cheat and link to her post to give the results. I also thought I might be the only one, or if not the only one, at least the best! I can no longer make that assumption.

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9 NIV)

Yes, the Bible says that. It's old, and even it knows better.

miles and miles

Don't worry that you are missing anything through my lack of posts lately. Most of my commuting time these days is spent thinking about what I need to do for class, or trying to stay awake as I am getting less sleep these days. I will be back to posting regularly in the near future.

By Degrees....

Homework is kicking my butt these days, there is so much of it. My day begins with planning how I can get my work done, my homework done, my reading done, eat, take care of the cats and my husband, and then find some time to sleep. Getting a new degree is exciting; doing the work to earn it is overwhelming.

This past week's work has left no time for blogging. I have decided that while I am working on my degree, I will continue to blog, but not everyday - just when I really have something to say. Of course that could be everyday at different times.

This week I have seen something interesting - two different vanity plates devoted to degrees. The first was on a Honda S2000: JD MBA. The other was on a Chevy Suburban: MS PHD. I tried to think about which one I thought was the most successful based on the vehicle that the plates were attached to. There are different ways to interpret their cars. First, the Honda is sporty, fun, and possibly fast. It is probably good on gas and therefore slightly conservative as it isn't a pure luxury car like a Lexus or Infinity. The Suburban is a large beast. Bad on fuel economy, imposing, and yet useful. It can be a great family car if you have a large number of kids.

Which would I rather have by comparison? A JD/MBA or a MS/PHD? I think I'll stick with my MAs, and my civic. Perhaps I will one day be able to have a plate that reads: MA-3/MLS. Who needs a JD, MBA, or PHD when you have 4 Master's degress? I'll be more broadly educated.

And equally in debt.

IM GOOD

I had my first in person class tonight. It was two and a half hours of awesomeness focused around Diversity. Yes, Diversity was an old, old wooden ship used during the Civil War era, but the diversity being discussed in class is more along the lines of differences.

Anyway, after class let out at 9:00, I was driving the 40 minutes home when I saw a Cadillac Escalade with the vanity plate: IM GOOD. Suuurrrreeee. You're so good that you have to tell everyone that with your license plate so they'll be aware of it. That sounds kind of fishy to me. That sort of mentality - trying to over sell something - makes me question instead of accept.

However, maybe that is the point with this license plate. If you say IM GOOD and people instantly question it, perhaps, Mr. Escalade, you are trying to capitalize on the "bad boy" image. Well, either way, I won't buy it.

Put that plate on a Toyota Prius and I won't question it. Sure you'd be safe, boring, and taken for granted, but that's what being good is all about, right?