Sorry – Order on the Court is probably taken

Forget about the NCAA basketball tournament.

The real enemy of workplace productivity is people trying to come up with inspired names for their Hoopfest teams.

•Just wondering: Which area lake has the dullest name?

•Bike to Work Week: There’s a temptation to describe the pleasures of riding a bicycle in terms of rediscovering the carefree joys of childhood.

But for me, that would be wildly off the mark.

The things I enjoy about riding a bike aren’t kid stuff.

I like that it’s useful exercise.

I like how I’m the source of power for that elegantly simple machine.

I like that while wishing I was in better shape I’m actually doing something about it.

I like how the bike reminds me I can still try new things.

I like that I go faster than my walking pace but still travel at a speed that allows me to be aware of my surroundings.

I like how my anthropomorphic affection for my borrowed bike has been rewarded with dependable service.

I like that my steering and shifting improve each day.

I like how the air feels and seeing lights come on as I quietly roll into downtown at dawn and reconnect with my city.

•When people wish women who are not parents a “Happy Mother’s Day”: I asked essentially the same question 10 or 15 years ago, and I distinctly remember hearing from more than a few readers who seriously resented strangers making erroneous assumptions about them. Several noted that the insinuation seemed to be that there is really only one acceptable way to live your life.

Some said this tendency to assume that we’re all alike was particularly pronounced in Spokane.

This time? I heard from a number of childless women who said the “Happy Mother’s Day” thing happens every year. But hardly any were bent out of shape about it.

“I simply say, ‘Thank you,’ while thinking of my 12 cats,” wrote Kandi Burnham.

Frances Soule said she notes that she is not a mother but is a proud aunt.

Joan Jensen reported that she sometimes just says, “Thank you.”

Jill Howard does likewise. She said she has come to realize that the wish is always well-intended.

And so on.

These are not scientific results, of course. So I make no certain claims about trends.

But maybe more people have come to recognize that, often, strangers don’t really think about what they’re saying.

•Here’s how to make doubly sure your Slice submission won’t get used: Send it in anonymously and “dare” me to print it.

Please.

•Today’s Slice question: If Spokane were a candidate running for high public office, what character trait or personality quirk would eventually be its undoing?