The sky was overcast, but the mood was definitely sunny yesterday afternoon when IBM (yeah, THAT IBM) announced they were creating 800 jobs at a new service delivery center here in our community.

REDI Board Chair Dave Griggs

The event took place downtown at 8^th & Broadway, just outside the new city hall building. Best estimate is more than 500 people showed up to hear the announcement that had been whispered about for several weeks.

IBM Senior Vice President Tim Shaughnessy

The VANGEL team was selected by Regional Economic Development Inc (REDI) to handle the overall planning and coordination of the big announcement. We worked closely with REDI, the City of Columbia, the Governor’s office and the PR professionals at IBM to make the event happen and to make it spectacular.

Congratulations Columbia! And Welcome IBM! This important partnership promises to pay dividends for our entire community.

Want to learn more about the new job opportunities IBM is bringing to town?
State of Missouri IBM Jobs Page and IBM-Columbia Jobs Page

I’m cursed to think like a marketer. I find myself trying to analyze behavior, attitudes and comments most people justifiably ignore.  Not me.  I have to look at problems from various angles and then try to sort out what it all means. I can’t help it.

That’s why I’m fascinated by the “bicycle problem” that’s a hot topic of discussion in our community. In my analysis, the cause of this heartburn?  Injustice—or what many see as the double standard applied to a few two-wheel-peddle-pumping-miscreants who think stop signs and traffic laws are meant only for people with a steering wheel in one hand and a cell phone or steaming latte in the other.

Interesting fact: Most bicyclists drive cars too. Hmmm?

The notion that the scofflaw who just rolled through that four-way stop deserves to be ticketed applies equally to bicyclist and motorist. Yet somehow, those of us behind the wheel get more steamed when it’s a bicycle that forces us to slam on the brakes.

Now why is that, I wonder?

Maybe it’s because that sudden rush of adrenaline is immediately followed with the realization that had you hit that bicycle, the damage was going to be more than a little dented metal. And the belief that the bicyclist who just cut you off, could probably care less about leaving you in shock.

Which is why, other than an inherited tendency to roll a bit above the posted speed limit, I try very hard to obey traffic laws.  You know, things like stopping completely at intersections if the sign tells me to.  I stop, whether I’m riding my bike or driving my big honkin’ SUV.

Which side of the “bicycle problem” am I on?  I’m straddling the white line.

I drive because I don’t want to bike everywhere.  And, I bike because I still enjoy the sense of freedom it first gave me as a kid–the freedom to go somewhere special, or nowhere in particular. The only real problem I see is when anyone–driver or bicyclist–ignores traffic laws and the rules of the road.

Cartoon courtesy of The Columbia Daily Tribune