woman in the spotlight
So apparently my friend Nick's parents are really good friends with Ann Moore, whose Hamptons lake house we hung out at. Ann Moore, as in the chairman and CEO of Time Inc. As in http://www.timewarner.com/corp/management/executives_by_business/time_inc/bio/moore_ann.html , the lady you see in Fortune magazines and read about in the media. I was speaking with her and she is just such an impressive woman. She is a wonderful host, a great speaker, very personable and sociable, and still totally down to earth. I love meeting strong women. They inspire me and bring out a sense of admiration that is very refreshing.
My second long ride - Downhill Curving Offramp!
I decided to ride my bike out to the Hamptons on July 3rd to hang out with Nick and his parents' friends, one of whom is the amazing Ann Moore. More on her later. So this was about another 110 mile ride on about 2 gallons, again about 50-60mpg. I had to ride over the Manhattan Bridge from Manhattan to Long Island, and transfer onto the Brooklyn Queens Expressway.
As the bridge started going downhill on the second half of the bridge, I saw the exit to the BQE...so I got onto it and immediately it became a curving, downhill off ramp. It doesn't sound very hard in a car...(just brake and turn, right!), but I had to somehow brake, lean to turn, and downshift while engaging the clutch and throttle properly. It was pretty tough and I don't think I did it right or well at all, but I survived. I just keep thinking about how I can do it properly in my head. It's also tough because coming from the freeway I was at like 65 mph in the right lane, and I don't want to slow down to like 40mph on the freeway.
Upside is, my earplugs worked like magic. No ringing in my ears at all. My back didn't hurt without the heavy backpack. But my butt still hurt, hehe.
Oh, and millions of bugs on the faceshield. How tasty.
influence
The DMV closed at noon today. I went at 11am and there was a long line outside because apparently the computers had crashed. The lady in front of me had forgotten something in her car, and when she came back she asked if she could get her place back in line. I said sure. As the lady and I were talking, she mentioned that the waiting area inside was completely empty and they were just letting people in one by one, not letting us sit down inside in the air conditioning. She scoffed, saying this would never happen at a nice community. The area is all minorities, black, indian, hispanic, asian..not a rundown place but not an affluent place either. Lo and behold, at 11:55am a guy came out and said they were closed. There were no people inside in the waiting area. The lady in front of me got angry and went up to tell him that it was ridiculous, we had all been here before noon waiting to get in while it was completely empty inside. She wasn't bitchy though, she was just indignant. It was probably a funny sight; she was complaining to the guy and there was a crowd of us standing behind her. I almost laughed at the scene a couple times, out of amusement though. She was doing all of us a huge favor.
After we got our 'queue' tickets, we walked away and she was waving bye to everyone, thanking them for staying and supporting her. Which was ironic because she stood up for us too.
She brightened my day. She made me admire her. She cared about everyone in line, not just herself. It was a selfless act that I didn't care enough to do. It's something interesting that I will be thinking about for a while.
While walking back home for 3-4 blocks, I was thinking about how influential every action can be. Whether it ripples through one person's life or through all of society, it makes a difference. Inspiring.
