Carlson's Corner

Today was the first day in six weeks I drove to work. It was planned. You see, the streak was beginning to wear on me. There were calls from the international press corps, reality TV offers and people in Vegas asking about parimutuel betting. There were lots of opinions about my 'walking to work' streak: Six weeks? I know people who walk to work everyday for years. Your streak is really no big deal. Wow, six weeks? I have to drive 40 min every day....you are sooo lucky to live so close to work. Jim, that's really neat...but honestly, who cares? Jim, how long do you think you can keep this up? [Answer: Six Weeks] As predicted, there were several factors to my decision to drive. I had an errand to run at lunch and I really didn't feel like hoofing it. Also, it was snowing out most of the day [snowing when it is nearly May is excuse enough, eh?]... After my appointment, I received a phone call from a friend who had accidentally left his lights on. There was a dead batter...

Would like to thank the bands, fans and friends of Solomon Remus for attending his benefit/tribute concert last night: Rob Piehl (who joined me), Vinny Bex Dae, To the Ground, Solanum Plague, Corpse Show Creeps & Prey on Hope. Big kudos to Coral Lanes for hosting the event. Also thanks to Z104, the City Pages and the Wausau Daily Herald for press coverage. For a snapshot on Solomon's life, check out his MySpace page.

Week five has come and gone, and I continued my walk-to-work streak. Friday was the first day in a while where I actually thought about driving, as it was raining. I decided to brave the rain and keep the streak alive.

Tomorrow will mark the end of the fourth week I have been walking to work - everyday. Walking to work is nothing new for me, it only takes about seven minutes each way. I usually walk to work 2-3 days a week. There are days, of course, where it is practical to have a car [running errands, further out appointments, Wisconsin weather]. It started innocently enough. I didn't set out to see 'how long can I go with out driving'. I wasn't inspired by the size of my carbon footprint. I didn't even watch a documentary about the demise of our planet. Truth be told, I wasn't attempting to start a health kick. Gas prices? Nope, I have a very fuel efficient car and I only had to fill every 2-3 weeks anyway. I just decided on March 10th to walk to work. When Tuesday the 11th came around, I had places to be after work, but thought, "I'll just walk back and get my car later". Day after day, I walked. I really didn't think much about it until last week ...