"Don't nobody worry 'bout me..."

Hi everybody! I'm alive and well; thanks so much for your concern. I tried to blog last night, but couldn't get online.

35W is the freeway runnin' through the yard two blocks from my apartment, and where it collapsed over the river is about two miles from here. I'd been avoiding it all summer because it has been a parking lot (as has I-94, unfortunately) due to the construction; the last time I was on it was almost two weeks ago when I didn't have a better alternative to get to Arden Hills to observe a fellow teacher's class. All of my classes this term are either south or east of me, though, so I'm one of the fortunate ones this won't impact too much.

It is close to campus, but as Angela noted, I usually ride my bike to school. This has been my summer of driving, as I've been teaching in the suburbs, but I'll go back to bike commuting come fall.

Unfortunately, my bike was stolen from my apartment building last Friday... so I'll be necessarily riding a different one. This breaks my heart, obviously, as the Trek was a gift from Bryant, has been essentially my primary means of transportation for the past four years, has survived the indignities of multiple Midwestern winters, and recently had lots of expensive work done.

I also won't be biking over to see the bridge. At this point, I may have seen less than some of you have; a friend and I went to see Pirates at the cheap theater last night, and afterward he shared his TV with me for the 10 o'clock news, since I don't have my own. It may well be the last coverage I see of the event, although as an NPR junkie I'll be hearing plenty. I'll be waiting with the rest of you to hear the verdict on what happened.