What I learned over Labor Day weekend.

1. If I'm flying alone, I'm forever destined to sit next to the fattest person on the same flight.

2. If not the fattest, then certainly the gassiest (which I admit, I more than made up for on the return flight, due to #8).

3. Olympia, WA is crazy bike-friendly, but I couldn't last more than a week there. Why? Because...

4. No more than one car can make a left turn at a light due to the "mellow" atmoshpere permiating the town.

5. Evidently Starbucks is "the man" and getting a coffee there in the morning "encourages oppression." Thanks for the knowledge, bearded-guy.

6. Few things in life are funnier than the words "Our celebration is ENDED" as said by a Nairobi priest after the quietest church wedding you've ever been to.

7. And few things in life are scarier than an airport men's room before a morning flight out of Seattle. Why? Because...

8. There's a limit to the quantity of Starbucks and micro-brew beer a human body was designed to process and still function properly.

9. The only way to find that limit is to exceed it; repeatedly if necessary.

10. That as much as city life in Chicago might piss the hell out of me sometimes, I'm out of my element anywhere else and should appreciate things as they are more often.

But seriously, I would encourage politeness as a common courtesy but there is a tipping point people. When you've got a walk sign, it's not okay to wait and let a car turn in front of you. And don't stand there giving the stink-eye to people who actually do walk when they get a sign. But the flip side of that is, if you're in a car and turning left it's alright to roll a little into the intersection before the light turns yellow. And even if you don't it's alright to turn on a yellow as long as there aren't pedestrians around. Yeah, it's great that you can be so laid-back but for fuck's sake people, does no one have somewhere they're supposed to be? How about some get-up-and-go for Christ' sake.

There were a lot of positives in that trip though. Good coffee, decent beers, a little pre-wedding fun and even some post. It's good to be back though.

Current beer-scale: 2.1