DVR ruining some bad conversations

When co-workers do not watch the same TV shows, some weekday morning conversations stop before they really get started.

“What did you think of what happened on ‘Dancing With the Survivors’ last night?”

“Don’t watch that.”

“Oh.”

But increasingly, as a result of the new ease of recording programs, a different kind of disconnect is at least as common.

“Did you see that Mount Everest thing?”

“We DVRed it. Haven’t watched it yet.”

“Oh. Well. Never mind.”

•Looking at Bike to Work Week in the rear-view mirror: Here are four things I learned.

1. Oddly enough, most Spokane drivers appear to be willing to share the road. I wasn’t rammed once.

2. Getting around on two wheels is more fun and, for me, probably better exercise than walking. And with the right seat, prostate-area numbness hasn’t been an issue.

3. Unlike insiders in some subcultures, most cyclists seem eager to encourage and help a novice.

4. I’m seriously considering buying a bike and making riding a part of my personal commuting plan.

•Be afraid, be very afraid: A colleague passed along a page from a small local newspaper. On this page was a feature called “Did you know?”

Illustrated with a picture of a rowboat, here’s how it read.

“Carbon monoxide, a dangerous gas from motor exhaust pipes, can build up inside and outside of a boat. Stay away from these areas when the motor is operating.”

Um, wouldn’t that sort of limit your ability to use the boat? And aren’t we all either inside or outside the boat? How, exactly, are you supposed to stay away from the area “outside of a boat”?

Maybe sailing really is the way to go.

Let’s move on.

•Confusion during the field trip: My friend Betsy Weigle took her fourth-grade class to Riverfront Park the other day.

While they were there, one boy started shouting about seeing some monkeys on the rocks.

Asked about this sighting, he corrected himself and said he had seen “mommets.”

Another kid wondered aloud what all the fuss was about. A helpful girl explained that the boy had seen some Mormons.

Yet another student disagreed, saying the boy had just seen a homeless guy who, as it happens, had waved to the class.

But Weigle finally figured it out.

“There was a lovely family of marmots basking on the rocks as we ate our lunch,” she wrote. “Right next to the homeless guy.”

Who may or may not have been a Mormon.

•Today’s Slice question: Do bike riders in Seattle envy our dry climate?