| 5/31 later |
|
|
| Well, I had a relatively
interesting night. I really enjoy my job a lot more when I have nights like this. |
|
|
| Driver Groupie found me. She only
rode a round trip with me, so it was fine. I haven't seen her in a long time. She and Oz
rode together with me a few months ago and she asked about him. Well, the last I heard
from him was last week. He called me from jail hoping for some money. But the money is
gone... At least he has a place to stay. |
|
|
| While I was sitting at Lake and
Nicollet, I saw a sight-impaired guy across the street being helped along by a woman and
heading toward the bus. In her haste, she neglected to tell him that he needed to step
over a curb and he went down. Fortunately, she was hanging on to his arm and he didn't
fall hard. She got him to the street and by then, a guy who had just gotten off my bus
went to help. So they were in the middle of the street and the light behind me turned
green. Some lady whipped by them in her car, very close to all of them. The original
helping woman yelled, "Bitch!" at the driver and then the guy from my bus got
the sight-impaired guy to the bus, safe and sound. He was a little rattled by all the
excitement, though. |
|
|
| On the next trip south, I saw a
couple on a bench at the bus stop at 26th and Nicollet. They seemed to be kind of
wrestling from the waist up, gripping each others heads and shaking them. They looked
messed up. I was surprised when it turned out that they were both men, as from a distance
one of them looked female. A couple of other folks got on my bus at that stop and as I was
going to pull away, the guys on the bench yelled. So I stopped again. The one I thought
was a woman got on, and as he was paying, his buddy got off the bench and then fell
backward onto the sidewalk. And stayed there. He was clearly very messed up. So I called
Control. The guy who got on my bus passed out and rode to my south terminal, then back to
my north terminal, then back to 7th Street. He said he was going to "just in Hennepin
Avenue," whatever the hell that means. |
|
|
| 5/31 |
|
|
| Hmm... |
|
|
| This blog has been pretty dry for a
while. The bus has been rather uneventful lately. |
|
|
| I have one more week of my current
schedule and then I start training at the new garage. Someone told me that there are 53
routes out of that garage. I probably know five or six of them already. I probably won't
have any decent bus stories for about a month. I haven't really decided what I'll do about
that. |
|
|
| The other day my sole excitement
was seeing Wyatt, Tina and Tina's co-worker Marty enjoying the day at The Local. I had
stopped at a red light at 10th Street on the Nicollet Mall and they yelled at me. I think
Tina and Marty should have been at work. Slackers. |
|
|
| And our paychecks weren't ready at
5:00 pm on Thursday like they usually are. They were going to be in at 10:00 instead. Some
of the boys were getting pretty riled up about that. I pointed out that the checks carry
Friday's date and we get the checks after the banks close, therefore Friday is technically
payday, but they weren't having any of that. They just kept saying, "Thursday is
payday. Thursday is payday. Thursday is payday." One guy even said, "How long
have you been here?" Yeah, gee, I hadn't noticed any pattern in the two and a half
years that I've been here. So we get our checks every other Thursday at 5:00 you say? Huh.
Anyway... |
|
|
| We got a call from Control
yesterday that a vulnerable adult was missing from Southdale mall. I think every little
old lady in the metro area got on my bus after I heard that. |
|
|
| And I have some kind of cold. I
haven't slept well for the last couple of nights. It kind of explains the
once-thought-inexplicable lethargy I was feeling for the few days before that. |
|
|
| 5/28 later |
|
|
| As I carted a lot of sober people
around this afternoon, I remembered something that Tina asked me about last night. |
|
|
| On the 3rd of this month, a drunk
guy fell on my bus and I left him at the bus stop. Tina was a little concerned about that
guy. She asked me if I gave him a fair chance to prove he wouldn't be a hassle and she
expressed her thankfulness that he could ride the bus and not drive. |
|
|
| Those are certainly legitimate
concerns. Here's the deal: |
|
|
| My primary concern in a situation
like that is safety. He fell once and I was concerned about him falling again and possibly
hurting himself on my bus. |
|
|
| I was pretty much covering my butt. |
|
|
| But I was also worried about him
getting sick or passing out- more hassles. |
|
|
| Obviously, I have to make those
decisions rather quickly. |
|
|
| And I called Control and told them
that I'd passed him up. They were going to send someone (I assume a squad) to check him
out. |
|
|
| 5/28 |
|
|
| Wyatt, Tina and I went to the Twins
game last night and we saw a good one. Bobby Kielty hit a three-run homer in the eighth to
give the Twins a 4-3 win over the A's. |
|
|
| More good stuff from The NicWit
today... |
|
|
| Hey, I saw a rent-a-cop with a gun
on his hip the other day. I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've seen that, at least
in a grocery store... Drop the cabbage! Now! |
|
|
| 5/26 |
|
|
| Well, I hope you had a memorable
Memorial Day. |
|
|
| I had a most excellent day. I got
up, ate a bowl of cereal, threw up, mowed my parents' lawn, ate again, shot a miserable
(but fun) 9 holes of par-3 golf, then went to Eric's girlfriend Nancy's for some grilling
action. |
|
|
| We saw two huge snapping turtles
mating in a pond at the golf course. It started out looking like a fight, then, well, you
know... |
|
|
| And why did I throw up? Eric wanted
me to meet a friend of his. She was at Nancy's. (Yeah, if you didn't know already, I'm
kind of a freak like that.) Anyway, she seemed quite nice. |
|
|
| I'm pretty wiped out from being in
the sun all day. |
|
|
| 5/25 |
|
|
| It's a good thing the FedEx guy
showed up because the machine this is on is dying. I couldn't get into this program at all
yesterday. |
|
|
| I have to make this quick; it's
almost time to go to work. |
|
|
| I've had quite a few chatty people
on my bus lately. One guy moved here from New Orleans a couple weeks ago. He rode the 18
out into the far reaches of Bloomington just to see where it went. His wife had just
gotten out of surgery in a hospital downtown and I think he needed to get out, get some
fresh air and clear his mind. |
|
|
| That was the night my bus got hit
by a playground ball and a water balloon. Oh yeah, it was Friday night. |
|
|
| My bus broke on Wednesday. The
accelerator pedal came off the floor of the bus. Fortunately, I was already downtown on my
way to start for the day. I got a new bus, drove the southbound trip I was scheduled to
do, then deadheaded downtown to finish my day, skipping the northbound trip. |
|
|
| It was raining that day and I
watched as a person with an umbrella stood under a small tree downtown and shook it. I
guess it wasn't raining hard enough already. |
|
|
| I saw the Driver Groupie's #1
favorite driver yesterday. He told me that he told her where she could find me. Thanks,
dude. He also told me that when he picked work, he chose routes where it would be hard for
her to find him. And he almost went to another garage for the same reason. So he's making
life decisions based on this woman. That sucks... |
|
|
| 5/23 |
|
|
| The FedEx man stopped by and now I'm in
love... |
|
|
| 5/22 wee hours of the
morning |
|
|
| I've had an action-packed couple of
days. |
|
|
| After I mowed my parents' lawn, da
Mons and I went to The Matrix Reloaded. I liked it, da
Mons really liked it. I get tired of the fight scenes. But I think it's probably an
excellent setup for the final (?) one. Certainly recommended for sci-fi geeks. But then,
if you are one, you've already seen it, right? |
|
|
| On the way to da Mons' house after
the movie, I stopped at a sort-of fast food place to get a bite to eat. When I got to the
cashier, I wanted to order root beer. I looked at the soda fountain (Coke products, but no
Barq's) and at the cooler behind him. I said, "I don't see any root beer?" He
pointed at the soda fountain and said with a perfectly straight face, "We have Mr.
Pibb. That's root beer." |
|
|
| After I got a haircut this morning,
I finally met Kevin for lunch. We planned on getting together on April 23, but I canceled
due to Jamie's birthday party. Then I dogged him last week. On the way to my truck, we saw
a Honda Element. I commented that I
actually kind of like them, even if they are bigger than I thought they'd be. He said that
he liked how they looked boxy and dorky and yet cool. I said, "Yeah, not like the Vue.
I can't stand those," as I pointed one out. He laughed and said, "Holly and I
just got one last week." And he wasn't kidding. Even though it's her car, I'm amazed
that guy even likes me. |
|
|
| Eric and I went out for a beer this
evening. He's been all over the place again (Houston, Hawaii) so I haven't seen him for a
while. The cask-conditioned Organicale at Town Hall Brewery is pretty tasty,
so if you're so inclined, I'd recommend getting there to try it. |
|
|
| Oh, and I drove the bus today, too. |
|
|
| 5/20 |
|
|
| Eighteen years ago today, Rick (who
I just saw in Portland) and I went to 7th Street Entry to see The Three O'Clock. Ed
Ackerson's mod band The Dig opened. That show was a
highlight of my high school career. |
|
|
| Two hours ago today, I picked my
work for June 7-September 12. I will be back on the extra board, but at Heywood Garage. I
have mixed feelings. I like Nicollet and I'd rather stay there. But I'll have four or five
weeks of training to learn all the routes at Heywood that I don't know. (There are a lot.)
The training is part of the reason I made the switch. It's usually Monday through Friday,
8:00-4:00. I'll have a "normal" schedule for a little while, then I'll be back
on a messed-up one. I'm hoping to get back to Nicollet in September. But then, I'm hoping
that I don't get laid off in September. |
|
|
| I think I'll take a nap, then go
mow my parents' lawn. |
|
|
| Oh, and the cable was a major mess.
The technician was here for a couple hours and now it's only a minor mess. It'll all be
fixed in a week or so. I hope. |
|
|
| 5/19 |
|
|
| My modem and/or cable connection
has been acting up again. I haven't been able to get online for quite a while. |
|
|
| I'm expecting a technician in the
next three hours sometime. Hopefully that person will be able to figure out the problem. |
|
|
| I pick my work for the summer
tomorrow morning. I'm going to check out the available work at a couple of the other
garages. I don't really want to leave Nicollet, but the work that's available there is
pretty bad. I don't really have too much hope that it'll be better elsewhere, but I think
it's worth checking out. The pick goes through mid-September and then I think I'll find
out if I'll get laid off. |
|
|
| I was going to go golfing this
morning, but it rained. It has been beautiful all week. Oh well. |
|
|
| My parents left for Arkansas this
morning. If you need to find me and I'm not driving the bus, I'll be mowing their yard or
mowing their neighbor's yard. It's like having another full-time job. |
|
|
| 5/15 1:37am |
|
|
| An instructor at my garage who I've
had some contact with before, but who I don't know very well, wandered over to me today,
pointed and said, "Transit librarian!" |
|
|
| Excellent! |
|
|
| Until recently, I've been hesitant
to give out this URL at work. I gave it to my part-time instructor and apparently he has
shared. I've gone back and erased any bad things I ever said about the instructors. ha. |
|
|
| I picked up another driver this
afternoon who was going to get his paycheck. He got laid off today. He had been in
training. I think he might have been one of the people who have been in training for
several months now. They were riding the buses doing passenger counts while they waited
for work to open up. I think I've been over the work situation... |
|
|
| I was fortunate to be driving south
on the 18 as the earth's shadow eclipsed the moon tonight. I had a great view of it. And I
pointed it out to my bus full of people, but I don't think they were as interested as I
was. But really, it was pretty cool. |
|
|
| A school bus triggered an
interesting memory this evening. One morning when I was in junior high, I got on the bus
and our normally quiet driver whipped his head around, gave me a big goofy grin, yelled,
"Welcome to the magical mystery tour!" and swerved and sped the entire way to
school. I recall that we were kind of nervous, but not terrified or anything. We assumed
he was messed up on something. And you know, after all these years, I still think he was
messed up on something. |
|
|
| 5/14 |
|
|
| I'm watching the Wild lose another
game. <sigh> Ducks' goal #3 just went in. |
|
|
| I had a pretty uneventful day on
the bus. And goal #4. I'm outta here. |
|
|
| 5/13 |
|
|
| Oh, I'm really the jerk today. I
was supposed to meet my friend Kev for lunch today. And I forgot, thinking it was
tomorrow. Sucks. |
|
|
| In other news, Minnesota continues
to make strides in the apparent effort to become North Mississippi. As you may have heard,
we're the proud new parents of a conceal and carry gun law. |
|
|
| I'm no alarmist. I don't think that
everyone will be shooting at each other in the Metrodome, just like I don't think that
reasonable gun-control laws would be the end of pheasant dinners at Christmas. If
Minnesota is like everywhere else that has passed this kind of legislation, crime will
neither go up nor down as a result of the law. |
|
|
| So why did we need this law again? |
|
|
| To me, it's just one more sign that
the nice and decent Minnesota of my youth is crumbling before my eyes. |
|
|
| We've already stopped caring about
the less fortunate. Our fine Christian governor is philosophically opposed to taxes and
refuses to raise them. Of course, a direct result of this belief is that "the least
of these" will continue to get the shaft, only this time from the one thing
(government) that they have been able count on. I guess if the governor was a Randian
atheist, I could understand him thinking the way he does. |
|
|
| And yeah, it might be hypocritical
for me to suggest that religion should factor into discussion of government, given my
opposition to a theocracy as envisioned by the Religious Right. But religious morals and
secular ethics often intersect, don't they? They should. I'm sure I won't be the first to
point out that good government takes responsibility for all of its constituents. What
about poor, desperate people? They have the potential to make life tough for everyone, and
often do. Well, everyone who comes into contact with them, right? It's no secret and no
coincidence that our governor got elected with a strong push from the outer (relatively
wealthier) 'burbs, where he lives. |
|
|
| Anyway, back to guns. I read a
letter to the editor from a guy who warmly welcomed Minnesota into the fold of the 35
other states with similar laws. And where was this guy from? Why, the South of the North-
Indiana! Nice company we're keeping. |
|
|
| 5/11 fading into the new
day |
|
|
| Happy Mother's Day. Uh, that is,
hope all the mothers had a happy day yesterday. |
|
|
| I had a most excellent day today. I
feel good. |
|
|
| It's a good thing I do, because
several miserable people managed to find me today. I got the finger twice. That's a
personal single-day best. |
|
|
| You can kick me in
the face and I'll get right back up! You can knock me down and I'll get right back up! |
|
|
| Say that in your whiniest voice and
you can manufacture fond memories of that complete turd Perry Farrell at the first
Loserpalooza. Anyway. |
|
|
| So. The people taking it out on me
were: |
|
|
| A lady who rides with me every once
in a while and is usually mumbling about the damned bus drivers under her breath. She
wasn't mumbling today, but she was her usual self, not looking at me and
certainly not responding to my hello (which gets friendlier every time I see her). What
can you do? As she exits the bus, tell her you hope she has a lovely evening! |
|
|
| Some crabby old lady who was upset
because I stopped at the rear of a bus shelter and she had to walk a few extra feet to get
on the bus. There was a car in front of me. What can you do? Get on the PA and wish her a
Happy Mother's Day! |
|
|
| A couple in a silver Hyundai on
Hennepin Avenue. I pulled out from a bus stop in front of them. (There was plenty of
room.) As they passed me, the woman in the passenger seat gave me the finger, then the
driver cut in front of me and stopped. I had to stop kind of hard and I was probably four
inches from their bumper. What can you do? Get on the external PA speaker at the next
stoplight and suggest that it's time to learn the law! |
|
|
| A guy in a turquoise pickup on
France Avenue. I was dinking along at the posted speed, 30 mph, because I was on time.
It's true that the traffic along there tends to move along at around 35. This guy came
charging up behind me, and about as soon as I noticed him, he was close behind me with his
hand out the window telling me I was #1. So naturally, I slowed down to take a closer
look. What can you do? Make eye contact at the next stoplight and blow him a kiss! |
|
|
| 5/10 |
|
|
| It's raining. It has been raining. |
|
|
| Bad afternoon in St. Paul. Those
Mighty Ducks have a goalie. |
|
|
| I met a guy yesterday who is
"emphatically not a carnie," but he works the same
circuit as the carnies. He is the guy who sells
your name on rice, colored sand in a bottle and other crap like that. |
|
|
| I think he said that he works
eleven or twelve events over the course of the summer. They start with A
Taste of Minnesota because that's a big money-maker. "You could wipe your butt
with a stick and sell it to a Minnesotan." hee hee hee! |
|
|
| They eventually get to Iowa, where
"they have the most f*cking beautiful women in the world." Well, to each his
own, I guess. |
|
|
| A kid got on my bus tonight and he
was messed up. I think the alcohol that I smelled was just the beginning. He wanted an 18
that went further south than I was going, so he had to wait about 15 minutes when we got
to the end of the line. He asked me if I had any batteries. I didn't, but I pointed out
the Auto Zone and the Walgreens in the area. |
|
|
| I went to Walgreens and looked
around for a few minutes for something to snack on. Nothing looked too appealing. I went
back across the street to Auto Zone to use the restroom. And I walked in on the messed-up
kid trying to buy batteries. The guy behind the counter was laughing pretty hard and
trying to get the kid what he wanted. He had an eight pack, but the kid didn't want that.
And the kid had no social graces whatsoever, so he was lucky that the guy behind the
counter was patient. I used the restroom and went back up front to see the kid standing by
the door. He'd been in the store about 10 minutes and I told him that his bus was coming
shortly. He made some kind of face at me, gave me the finger and said, "Peace." |
|
|
| 5/9 1:25 am |
|
|
 |
|
|
| I saw the Daff tonight. He was
waiting for an 18, but not the one I was driving. I talked to him for a little while, but
I had a few people on board so I had to get going. |
|
|
| It rained much of my night and that
tends to keep the bus action to a minimum so think I'll take this opportunity to plug
something you should look into. It's called InRadio and it's an audio magazine.
Basically, it's a compilation of music and spoken word. The website pretty much explains
it all. I got my first one and it's pretty interesting. Full disclosure: the CEO is a
friend of mine. I talked to him last night and he said they've overhauled the format quite
a bit for the second one. I sort of include that for Corey and Tara. I got them a
subscription and I think they'll be glad to hear that the talking will be broken up and
might even have a beat behind it. |
|
|
| Uh, yeah. I'm watching the hockey
game and typing at the same time, so the incoherent blathering (not unlike last night's
sleaze diatribe- uh...) is about what you get. Sorry. |
|
|
| I found more ramblings from The NicWit in my
mailbox. I'm laughing. |
|
|
| 5/7 |
|
|
| So... |
|
|
| How's it going wherever you are? |
|
|
| I'm going to say that things are
just lovely here. |
|
|
| I just watched the Minnesota Wild win again! That was
cool. |
|
|
| Monday, I went to X2 with
Wyatt and Tina. I was a superhero-lovin' kid and things really haven't changed much in
that department. I really liked it. |
|
|
| Let's see. I bought some new
records yesterday. I have been eagerly awaiting the new New Pornographers CD, Electric Version. I think
I'm going to really like it. It's not as immediately engaging as their 2000 release Mass Romantic, but with
each listen I can feel the ear candy wedging itself into my brain. |
|
|
| And I also bought local favorite Faux
Jean's new one, Dead Lover. I think that one will be a good one, too. |
|
|
| I heard a good rumor about the
future of my job. No layoffs due to 90 retirements in the last couple of months. I'm
keeping my fingers crossed. The general assumption is that we'll know in September. |
|
|
| My day on the bus was totally
uneventful. No one even tried to die by driving or walking in front of me. |
|
|
| I've barely been able to stand to
read the news. The sleaze coming from the Oval Office
has easily matched the sleaziness of the previous administration, only this time it's a
different kind of sleaze- a kind that actually
affects the country. <sigh> I'm going to bed. |
|
|
| Maybe I'll finish The Mysteries
of Udolpho tonight. |
|
|
| 5/4 |
|
|
| I just skimmed the headlines on my
homepage and I see that Rockin' Don Rumsfeld is confident that Saddam H. will be found if
he's still alive. The headline from a few days ago that says Perv Musharraf suspects bin
Laden (remember him?) is still alive hasn't even had the chance to fade away. |
|
|
| I had a perfectly lovely day on the
6, in spite of the rain. |
|
|
| One kid was grateful that I let him
slide on part of his fare. On his way out the door, he handed me a bottle of Stewart's
root beer. |
|
|
| And Farmiliar was out and about
again this evening. As I made the right turn from Hennepin to University, he was on my
left trying to flag me down. I kept moving. He wasn't anywhere near a bus stop and
besides, I'm not that stupid. |
|
|
| 5/3 |
|
|
| First of all, I should mention
that, as I type this, da Mons is drinking Heineken. (Heineken?!? F*** that s***! Pabst!
Blue! Ribbon!) |
|
|
| I drove the 18 all day. I only had
two ultradrunks on my bus tonight. |
|
|
| The second guy asked me where we
were, because he wasn't farmiliar [sic] with the area. I told him where we were (Lake and
Nicollet) and where we were headed (south on Nicollet to 66th Street). He got on. It
turned out that he wanted to go downtown. That was the opposite direction. |
|
|
| The first guy fell down as he was
getting on the bus. He didn't fall hard; it was like he was lying down on a bed. When he
got up I said, "Hey dude, go over there," and pointed at the door. |
|
|
| So he did. When he got outside, he
turned and looked at me in a "now what?" kind of way. I closed the door and
left. |
|
|
| 5/2 |
|
|
| I came home. Not that I really
wanted to. |
|
|
| I had a most excellent vacation in
the Greater Portland Metropolitan Area. I'm not one to take a lot of pictures, but I took
a few. I made a vacation page. |
|
|
| It was really nice to spend time
with Corey, Tara, Jambi and Sadie. |
|
|
| Overall, my flights weren't too
bad, but the landing yesterday in Minneapolis was a bit bumpy. I took the people's
limo home from the airport. It took a little while, but it was easy. |
|
|
| Back to work tomorrow. |
|
|