stereolab on the morning drive

many early commutes drag by without me taking notice of any details of my surroundings. sure, i'm watching what i pass but i'm not necessarily storing anything away for later recall. today's drive to work held many visual treasures, beginning with my immediate departure from my crib. holding back on crossing ashland was wise when my signal first turned green. there are so many people running red lights in this city and two big ass kidnapping vans blazed through the intersection as i should have been crossing. as i pulled up to the stop at the corner of erie and bishop, i took heed of what Wry would surely categorize as something so politically incorrect that your head is on the verge of explosion. i spied a tiny man, about my height, bobbing along the sidewalk in this silly leather hunting cap with floppy ears. he made me laugh.......until i noticed that he was crippled..... his journey next placed him in the midst of a pack of black jehovah's witnesses doing their morning canvas of the door-to-door. our neighborhood is a pretty solid mix of hispanics, whities and other random eastern europeans. not many blacks representin' here. as i merged onto the highway, the cars were swallowing me up and it felt really thick (Gonzo says wednesdays are heavy with airport traffic), and in the midst of my dodging, i noticed "pin-89" on the license plates of a tiny white haired gent puttering onto the kennedy. he could hardly see over the steering wheel and his little mitts were holding on with a vengence. wondered how often he still put his soggy relexes out into such brutal vehicular drama. the neighborhood my office sits in is just within chicago city limits; literally an intersection away from north shore suburbs. it's only 10 miles from my home near downtown but has a completely different flavor to it. fortunately, diversity is on the main ingredient list. we're most certainly in the minority by being an office of all white employees in our building. we reside on the top floor, big bad #5, of this 1960s style bank building. the bank's clientele are almost exclusively korean, so it's often that i'll be near the drive-up teller area and hear rapidfire asian chatter. also making their presence known in this neighborhood are a proliferation of jews (many orthodox) and pakistanis. i continue to hold a belief in the value derived from living and working around people who aren't a carbon copy of yourself. why i need to surround up with a bunch of pale ass whities lookin like me? i'll take the diversity, thank you. walking WeeBeastie was the best way to start my day. i'd forgotten how enjoyable it is to subsist on a light jacket, t and jeans. it will be pouring rain by the time i get home tonight, so it's good that she got her pant on early. i'm ready for more of this weather. dog walking when it's breezy is truly one of my greatest pleasures.