Of course, I believe that a lot of human behavior is explained usefully by the fact that, deep down, we are all crazy monkeys.

However, I do not believe that it is explained very usefully by the fact that, deep down, we are all Cavemen.

The article, if you visit the link, is a "diet conversion" narrative that follows the well-established conventions of the conversion genre: I was lost in sin (that is, fatness), and knew nothing of the gospel (that is, this particular diet). I tried everything I could think of (exercise, cutting calories, other heathen diets) and nothing worked to save me from my sin. Then I was shown the Truth and now I have been redeemed (slimmed down). My conversion was so powerful that now I feel compelled to testify of it to others, in the hope that they, too, will discover the Truth and be redeemed from their sin.

So, is it over yet?

Um. Yes. It was over on July 27, actually.

So, did you finish?

Er... define finish.

So, you didn't finish.

Well, I picked a somewhat unrealistic goal on purpose! Aim high! That's my motto.

You don't have a motto.

I do so have a motto. That's just not it.

For the last million years or so, the city of Bellingham has been ripping up one of the streets that runs past our house, due to something they call the "Holly Street Gateway" project.

This is the sort of public works project that turns people into cranky tax-revoltists. They are spending, as far as I can tell, millions of public dollars in order to tear out what appeared to me to be perfectly functional sidewalks. And why? To replace them with -- uh, I guess, better sidewalks. And all this is in order to -- again, I'm at a loss here. I'll let some city policy wonk explain it:

"This project will provide a distinctive gateway into Bellingham that more accurately represents the beauty and unique character of our vibrant downtown core."

--City Engineer Rory Routhe

Right. So, in order to improve the visitor experience on one of the major roads into downtown (a stretch of Holly Street that sees about 13,800 vehicles a day, according to 2005 Public Works data), they are going to close lanes of traffic on that road for months at a time. This whole thing started in May or June -- it's now August, and things just keep getting worse.

And, because they're ripping up the sidewalks this isn't the kind of road project where pedestrians and cyclists can point and laugh. No, sidewalks that I walk on practically every day have vanished, and are now an odd reddish shade of dirt, either choking dust or spattering mud, depending on the weather.

And they ripped up "Spike Punky." This is tragic to me. For as long as I can remember, the words "Spike Punky" (or, as Paul sometimes insisted, "Punky Spike") have been inscribed in the sidewalk at the corner of Indian and Holly. I would look at it whenever I walked by, and wonder -- who wrote it? Why? Of all the messages that need to be inscribed for posterity, why "Spike Punky"? Was it a name? An instruction? A haircut? A long-vanished band?

Now Spike Punky is dead, smashed to bits, and I never even thought to take a photograph.

I had just gotten over mourning for Spike Punky when they closed off the Holly Street entrance to the alley behind our house -- the alley that we drive down in order to park in our back yard when there is no parking on the street. (Or, when I just don't feel up to parallel parking.)

Which was bad enough -- since that alley is bounded on both sides by a one-way street, being able to enter from only one side causes much tedious block-circling. But now, they have started some kind of big resurfacing project on Ellis Street -- more lane closures and clogged-up traffic and cars going every which way and GOOD LORD IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR NORMAL TRAFFIC ON AT LEAST ONE STREET THAT BORDERS MY HOUSE?.

Thank you. Please, finish putting back the sidewalks now