Terrible sleep over the last week and a coughing child means I’m finally embracing the Lazy Sunday approach and reading fiction. Who knows, probably get some fresh air later by wandering with the dogs.

Going to Vancouver in March for work. I am so looking forward to good food and the busyness of it all. Even if I’ll be so glad to be home in my quiet mountain town when it’s all done.

Sitting in an office to type Teams messages to people who aren’t in the same geography as me… Silly. But at the same time I needed out of the house.

Victoria Embankment this morning. Why should hard working cyclists taxes go on these wide car lanes when motorists don't bother using them?

Attacking the systems of oppression has never been more important ❤️ Car dependency is indentured servitude designed to force labor to work for the capitalist machine.

Waking up unintentionally at 3am sucks for a few reasons. 1) I know I’ll fail (but try) to get back to sleep. 2) I lie there thinking of my myriad life failures. 3) I stress about my ability to pivot when life hands me lemons (100% success rate so far). 4) I’m so tired the rest of the day.

Short reminder: Vision Zero is a great goal to work on. Day by day. Just by putting people over cars.

This is the face of the culprit who lay on the tv remote and now demands pets as payment for its release. #dog

I’m sorry but what backwards car brain came up with this.

Me: “Why am I like this?” *Sees another neurodivergent person* Me: “Oh… yeah, that’s why.”

I desperately need someone with time and history/journalism credentials to prove my theory that the rise of the personal vehicle accelerates the downfall of society.

Trying to coordinate time/place/format for the next active transportation advocate meeting. I am happy to do virtual or in-person. Hybrid however is a format that never works, ruins the conversation, and is irritating for everyone involved.

Trying to make the best of the too-warm weather, I spread out the snow burm onto the dirt to accelerate the melt and placed black pots through the snow. Doing this in February in Canada surely guarantees an extension on our ski season. You’re welcome. #gardening #ski

It’s only February and I’m trying not to worry about being +6 above normal along with *everything else* going on. But seeing the dirt slowly emerge from my garden corner is making me want to start digging and planning. 🌱 #gardening

Cannot get past this bone deep exhaustion I’ve been fighting the last two days. Not sure if it’s existential or just regular variety. Need more caffeine regardless.

Lusting after a Very Specific gravel bike only to find it’ll put me back $11CAD. NEVERMIND 😆 I’ll be converting my old steel 90’s mountain bike to a gravel-like instead.

Only a couple months into winter and I’m just now putting my studded tires on my around town bike. It’s not that I haven’t been riding, exactly, it’s that I’m lucky enough that I live in close enough proximity to most of the things I want to do that I can just walk.

I’ve overdone it this week. Like a lot. But that’s ok because I’ll take the weekend to keep overdoing it and not learn a single thing.

What I find fascinating about being apart of a group of people starting up local active transportation advocacy is that none of us really wants to be the face of it. We all have things to do, but we’re all doing it out of a sense of This Needs to be Better.

My first appearance after awhile - I’ve been BUSY. I’ve been working with a wonderful group of people developing an active transportation committee in my lovely small town, on top of working full time, developing a budding business idea, and trying to stay positive. Stay safe out there.

Visiting Calgary for a friends’ wedding has reminded me just how much this city doesn’t suit me. My nervous system is already worn out from the drive and now the constant drone of traffic and constant lights is just…jarring. Can’t wait to get back to my small, relatively walkable town.

Over the weekend someone said to me, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth talking about,” and for some reason that’s been rolling around my head this morning.

I cannot express how deeply I hate the “must make big meal for Thanksgiving” trope that’s been thrown on my lap just because. I hate “tradition”. I spent 3 hours cooking yesterday for my kid to throw a fit and for me to somehow still go to bed hungry.

I just bought a bunch of fancy tea from a Canadian based company. I am officially starting my evaluation of companies who do wholesale in case I follow through with my silly little idea of opening a small little Shop O’ Tea in my small town.

And stop wasting energy where it’s simply not needed.

I don’t know what I hate more about selling a bike: - Getting lowball offers from randos or - the “just wanna try it” types that think they know a thing or two about bikes but don’t actually know shit. Then hmm and haw like I’m a bike shop just waiting on them.

Every daycare should have a protected bike lane (or appropriately calm local street) in front.

Remember: If we allow ourselves to fall into fatalism, or wallow in disappointment, or become resigned to what is rather than what should be, we will lose the long game. The greatest enemy of positive social change is cynicism about what can be changed.

Of course, if you ACTUALLY want to reduce crime, you support a robust social safety net and UBI.

I think I skipped quickly through the e-bike hater stage when I stopped having the fitness (and time) to just ride my 20km ride to work when it became hilly with a headwind. Enter my first e-bike that has become the everything, everywhere, all year bike and is still going strong after 7 years.

Please send me a winning lottery ticket so that I can spend my days arguing for library funds, bike infrastructure, and fixing my bikes for fun. This whole Corporate Girl day act is getting old.

As happens with every. Single. Pilot. Program. That ever looks at anything akin to UBI, it is cheaper to just straight up help people get to a modest financial baseline than to deal with the outcomes of not helping people in poverty. It’s not news until we deploy it at scale.

Was told of a new office space opening up in the next town over and I’ll be going in at least once a week - I’m good with this. I need out of my house. But how to get there? I’ve been hounding the bike/bus options and I’m going to push bike parking - I refuse to let Car by Default be my life.

Hmm. Why?

I am surprised by the rather strong reactions for this Kirk guy from some local acquaintances. Now that I’ve heard of him it sounds like he was kinda shitty? And the irony of gun violence that he basically supported is what takes him? I’m terribly out of the loop on this guy.

Remember, we’ll never get a good sense of what people will do under safe conditions, by watching what some are willing to do under unsafe conditions. Building smart mobility is about supporting the choices we need more people to make, by providing smart, safe, enjoyable infrastructure for them.

This is why, in my new small town, I’m gathering people and intel to force the town to build useful infrastructure instead of car braining into busier more dangerous streets. I want to feel safe sending my child to school on a bike that’s a whopping ~2km away. I can’t do that now.

Spending almost two weeks drinking my parents weak coffee means a minor panic attack when I make my usual back at home.

Ventured to the US to visit my family. Fearing the border crossing I deleted any apps that might provide data that would put me on hot water. We have, after all, been told to use burner phones. What happened? Nothing. Minimal scrutiny. Zero questions beyond the usual.

I spent the evening gathering kale seeds from the plant I saved from the garden in the old house. I sat in the mud, chatting with 4, discussing mud, rockets, seeds, and the lifecycle of plants. I love my life now 🥰

The 2025 Happy City Index is in — and there’s something every cyclist will want to celebrate: the world’s happiest cities are also some of the best places to ride a bike. momentummag.com/the-happiest...

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting says it's shutting down after losing funding from the Trump- and GOP-supported recissions package, "despite the extraordinary efforts of millions of Americans who called, wrote, and petitioned Congress to preserve federal funding for CPB."

I am a boring adult. My proof? I’m very excited to now have a proper hood fan that exhausts to the outside instead of just attempting and failing to filter smoky air.

Not my partner claiming that changing the bed sheets is him doing “something nice”. No, that’s just part of running a house. How many times did I demand (or receive) a thank you for doing that exact thing? Sometime I just….ugh.

Plan to steal this idea.

Working from the office in a slight change of pace. Two coworkers have been talking non-work things for the last half hour at least. I’m not saying offices are bad, but if we’re using productivity as the measure of where to work, the office ain’t it.

Gotta love the community board bitching about bikes on sidewalks and in the same breath bitching about speeding drivers. Just. So. Close.

Is Chop Suey a good wake up song? I think so.

Why yes, I am VERY excited for Patty’s podcast! I’ve been following her for years (but I’m generally quiet about, well, everything). @pattybikes.com is the Bike Mayor of Winnipeg, bike advocate, and now podcaster! So looking forward to listening! open.spotify.com/episode/2Bcj...

FYI: Harvard University is offering 4 FREE government courses online to U.S. Citizens. Up your political knowledge and take advantage! (Join by selecting audit course) #constitution #publicpolicy #political #government pll.harvard.edu/subject/gove...