The LBCC Commuter

2 weeks ago | lbcommuter.com | Ryland Bickley

Growing up as a Steelers fan on the West Coast, Pittsburgh was always out of reach. I was the only fan in my family; growing up, I made it to the East Coast twice for vacations, but never visited the Steel City. Instead, I watched Steelers games on TV and read about how electric it was in-person the day after. That finally changed when my dad surprised me with tickets to the Steelers’ 2022 home game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a gift after I graduated high school.

3 weeks ago | lbcommuter.com | Ryland Bickley

Over the weekend, Linn-Benton’s Advanced Transportation Technology Center in Lebanon, Oregon sounds like a racetrack as you approach the campus. However, the vehicles being pushed to the max aren’t moving at all. LBCC’s annual “Dyno Days,” hosted by the school’s RPM Club (automotive) and Diesel Club, is a two-day, free-entry event running May 16-17. The main feature (and namesake) is each program’s dynamometer – essentially, a vehicle treadmill that measures horsepower and torque.

1 month ago | lbcommuter.com | Ryland Bickley

Not many album openers start with a harpsichord these days, and the ones that do certainly don’t name-drop TikTok in the final verse. Black Country, New Road’s third studio album, “Forever Howlong,” manages to do both in the British six-piece’s genre-bending, multilayered April release.

1 month ago | lbcommuter.com | Ryland Bickley

It was around halfway through the dusty, hot slog of my first day on the job – a 14-and-a-half-hour shift – when the crew boss’ truck pulled alongside the tractor I piloted and motioned for me to stop. Don’t forget! Clutch and then brake. I came to a halt and opened the door. “How’s the first day going, Ryland?” he asked. “Pretty good,” I replied. And then in a goody two shoes, new hire sort of way: “I’m making mistakes, but I’m learning.” He chuckled. “That’s good.

1 month ago | lbcommuter.com | George Bennett

I was submerged in thought, stuck in science class, trying to calculate what earthly forces and universal laws mattered in my pre-teenage skull. All I knew was that my guesswork would get the teacher’s red pen for cluelessness, so I clenched my paper handout of half answers into a ball and picked up my book. The scientific tome had the bulk of a tool – or a weapon.