If you’re thinking about getting a bike, absolutely do it. I can’t think of very many excuses for not owning a bike in this town. I know I waited entirely too long to finally get a bike. It was part laziness, part intimidation and part ignorance. Where do I get a bike? What kind of bike? Can I even ride one? Before I took the plunge, I hadn’t been on a bike in years. Growing up in Chicago, I took the "L" everywhere, or just walked. My bicycle knowledge was limited to the fuchsia Huffy I rode as child. My quest for a bicycle was full of anguish that I would be chastised for my complete and utter ignorance in the field of cycling.

We hear them moaning in the dead of night, curse if they cross our paths when we are driving, or make a wish if they pass over us.

Freight trains are a part of our landscape.

I had an opportunity to take a trip on one of those monsters and talk to the engineer about life on the rails. This reporting took place under-the-radar of the train company, so I have blurred certain facts, places and names. Other than that, everything reported here is truth, exaggeration or hearsay.

Stepping out of the car by the railroad crossing, I find myself alone, surrounded by hectares of horizon. Awkwardly, I stand by the side of the two-lane country road and pretend to be a corn photographer as the occasional truck driver passes and looks me over.

For literature lovers on a budget, used book sales can become something of an obsession. The slippery slope begins somewhere around early registration, moves through waiting outside libraries and churches at eight in the morning on a Saturday, and ends at elbowing grandmothers and Ebay booksellers out of the fiction section.

I first noticed a pair in the parking lot at Parkland College, hanging from the back of a fire-engine red Ford F150. If you’ve been paying attention to the trucks on the road, you may have seen them too — in between all the two-dimensional vinyl ribbons and the Calvins urinating on rival sports teams and other truck brands — a pair of bull testicles, uncannily realistic, hanging from a truck’s hitch, right below the license plate.

Depending on the manufacturer, these backside decorations are called "bulls balls," "truck balls," "bumper nuts" or "truck nutz," and they come in a surprising variety of colors and sizes.

At Smile Politely, we're interested in what the people of Champaign- Urbana think about this place we call home. So how do we find out what they think? Simple. We ask them.

Name: Larry Ecker

Occupation/Education: Director, Creative Services, The U

Original Hometown: Buckley, Ill.

Current Hometown: Champaign

Number of Years Living in the C-U Area: 30

Age: 56

Many women will have a moment in their life where they will take a pregnancy test. The results will bring different reactions for everyone. One thought may be, "Am I ready for this?" Another might be, "Will it be a boy or a girl?" And yet another, more common thought will undoubtedly be, "What the hell am I going to wear for the next nine months?"

Well, look no further than Bella Bambini, the new maternity and early childhood store for you, me and everyone else.

Getting your green thumb on is not as easy as it seems. As a new homeowner, I lack the confidence to feel anything more than a little uneasy about planting — and tending — a garden of vegetables and herbs. That, however, won’t stop me from giving it my best shot. After all, there’s nothing quite like fresh Roma tomatoes from your own garden.

This Saturday, May 10, Common Ground Food Co-op gives us another reason to bow at its altar. In addition to providing the community’s only truly organic and local food store, the co-op is also hosting its annual plant sale in the store’s parking lot at the corner of Fourth and Springfield in Champaign. The sale will run this weekend from 8 a.m.–12 p.m.

CGFC is touting its heirloom vegetables and herbs as the freshest around, so expect these newly sprouted plants to be just as delectable as the co-op’s popular cashew butter and zucchini.

Common Ground Food Co-op will remain in its current location at 610 E. Springfield Ave. in Champaign until July 1, when it’ll move to Lincoln Square Village.

Orange and blue? Not quite, but close enough. School colors are sprouting up on campus as the University of Illinois gets ready for graduation weekend. This year's commencement speaker is Mannie Jackson, current owner of the Harlem Globetrotters and a 1960 Illinois grad. Check out the university’s website for a full commencement calendar.

Are you itching to work at Urban Outfitters? Now here's your chance. Today in my inbox, I received an e-mail with the subject of "Urban Outfitters Champaign - Now Hiring." How did Urban Outfitters know that I live in Champaign and would like to know about job openings as a manager, display artist or merchandiser? Well, I'm not quite sure and I really don't want to work there. But perhaps you do?

At Smile Politely, we're interested in what the people of Champaign-Urbana think about this place we call home. So how do we find out what they think? Simple. We ask them.

Name: Kevin Barthelemy

Occupation/Education: Smattering of community college; clerk at U of I

Original Hometown: Champaign

Current Hometown: Ditto

Number of Years Living in the C-U Area: 40

Age: 48

When Julian Burger takes the lectern at the University of Illinois tonight, he’ll turn his attention to one question: What’s the state of human rights in today’s world?

As the guest speaker at the 17th Annual Daniel S. Sanders Peace & Social Justice Lecture, Burger will deliver a talk titled, “After 60 Years of Human Rights: Is there Cause for Celebration?” Burger is well qualified to address this topic; he currently serves as the coordinator of the Indigenous and Minorities Unit at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which his based in Geneva, Switzerland. He’s also an internationally renowned authority on indigenous cultures and human rights.

Name: Jessica Paris, aka DJ Hellcat

Occupation/Education: Strategic Project Coordinator at Wolfram Research, DJ at Mike 'n Molly's (Fridays), Photographer, retro culture geek

Original Hometown: Philadelphia, PA

Current Hometown: Champaign, IL

Number of Years Living in the C-U Area: 13 (I tried to move away a few times but always end up coming back.)

Age: 32

Five things I really like about C-U:

1. the small local-owned bars (Mike 'n Molly's, The Blind Pig, The Brass Rail, Esquire)
2. the small local-owned restaurants/cafes (Sam's Cafe, OHOP, The Courier Cafe, Farren's, Bacaro, Thara Thai, Cafe Kopi, Pekara)
3. the small local-owned stores (Carrie's, Furniture Lounge, Exile on Main Street, Record Swap, Jane Addams Book Shop, Jennifer North, Circles, Parasol, Jon's Pipe Shop)
4. the stuff for kids (Orpheum Children's Science Museum, Curtis Orchard, Putt-Zone, Hessel Park, West Side Park, Sholem Pool)
5. Downtown Champaign (see 1-4 plus The New Art Theatre, Virginia Theatre, Artists Against AIDS, and Ebertfest!)

Five things I really don’t like about C-U:

1. driving on campus

... otherwise, no complaints!

DJ Hellcat will be spinning tonight at the Grand Opening of Artists Against AIDS at Orpheum Children's Science Museum (346 N. Neil St., Champaign) and again on Sunday, during the artists' meet and greet.

Every tree has a story to tell. Some have been planted merely to beautify to land, others have been planted to provide refuge from the sun and on Arbor Day, more trees are planted than any other day of the year. Tomorrow, Friday, April 25 is Arbor Day and Parkland College will honor and remember friends and loved ones of local supporters by planting several trees on the south side of the campus in the Memorial Grove. Each tree planted is a part of the Living Tree Program, where each tree is adopted and maintained for life by the college. A dedication plaque will accompany the tree.

The tree planting ceremony will be held in the Donald and Alice Dodds, Jr. multi-purpose room within the campus' Child Development Center at 10 a.m. Parkland College is located at 2400 West Bradley Ave. in Champaign.

A message to all you homeowners out there.

Your chance to get all that winterized gunk out of your yard could end as early as today, depending on where you live. The city of Champaign authorizes Spring and Fall collections of yard waste each year, and according to this map, May 2, next Friday, will be the last day that you can take advantage of the service.

I've got $100 dollars on the notion that west Champaign neighborhoods in the B–5 zone are subject to midnight drop-offs from procrastinating citizens come Thursday night.

For those who miss the deadline, there is always the Landscape Recycling Center in Urbana that operates year-round.