September 2003

9/29
Jamie and Eric were in town this evening. They were on their way home from New Mexico and had a significant layover. So we went to a tapas bar for dinner. Tasty food, good company. Look at the nice picture. I haven't talked to Eric a whole lot, and a couple hours over dinner still doesn't count as much, but he did make that face for the picture. As my mother can testify, he's a man after my own heart.
I went to Wyatt's Farewell to Cafe Havana gathering last night at Bar Lurcat. It was fun. And I met my sister-in-law Tara's father's cousin Morgan. So that was cool.
Back to work tomorrow.
9/28
I had an all-star night on the 17 last night.
The 17 Lady rode with me to Nordeast. She was thinking that she might go to Old Country Buffet for breakfast today instead of Irv's for spaghetti this afternoon.
There's a guy I've never written about who I call Birdman. He appears to be unable to speak, but he has a lot of physical mannerisms that are very birdlike. Last night he had plaid polyester pants on and, as usual, he was carrying two bags. One of them is a bowling ball bag. One time when I was driving the 16, he got on my bus and pointed at me, grinning. I never know what he wants, so I just smiled and nodded and said hello. He took off his stocking cap, put it on my head and leaned back, mouth wide open, as if rolling in laughter. He didn't have anything quite as exciting as that up his sleeve last night, though.
I can't remember if I've mentioned the developmentally disabled twins who ride the buses. They're really pleasant guys. Sometimes one of them sits up at the front and repeats the street names when I call them, then says goodbye to everyone exiting the bus. One of them got on last night, but he went to the back of the bus.
And Oz rode with me. He had a sixer of MGD, so nothing good was going to come of that night, I'm sure. He looked pretty good, but I suspect he's not doing well. But I wasn't going to give him any money after he spent what he had on beer.
And I saw the once-homeless guy who was giving away gloves one night last winter. I didn't get a chance to talk to him, though, because I was busy chatting with a transit cop. Oh well.
The laundromat in that picture over there is at the 17J terminal. I am amused by that sign. The bottom part makes sense. Bubbles in blue around the name. OK, it's a laundromat. But what's the deal with the cornucopia-filled bouncing football on the top? You might think it's obviously a visual to point out that you can wash a mega amount of clothes at that place. I'm thinking it's more along the lines of "come in for a bountiful harvest of unattended clothes!" Regarding the football, I've got nothing.
I received my copy of the latest in dictionary rock from the Decemberists. I believe we have a serious contender for my #1 of 2003.
9/25
Dear Left Turn Arrow on 66th Street at Drew Avenue,      There's no one coming. Turn to green. Thank you.                                            Sincerely,                                            CJ, driver #2245
I was on call today. I drove an afternoon stub. It starts with the 21, then doubles over to the 39, then doubles over to the 35K.
While on the 21, we got stopped by a train at Hiawatha Avenue. The driver in the first car in line got out of his car. With a baseball bat. He ran two lanes over to a car that was first in line to make a left turn. That car made a quick exit. He was lucky the entrance ramp he was headed for was on our side of the train.
The 39 is a little limited stop route that goes downtown from 28th Street South. It's basically a quick way for Wells Fargo and Abbott Northwestern Hospital workers to get to and from downtown. It shares Chicago Avenue with the 5 for a couple blocks. When I stopped at Abbott, a stray drunk from the 5 wandered onto my bus. He was going downtown, so it wasn't a big deal. But he mumbled the whole time and told me that I was a nice driver. He also guessed my age to be around 25 and told me he was 54. The regular riders were somewhat amused. I don't think they usually get that on that bus.
I got a picture of that apple yesterday.
I still think the tomato looks a lot meaner.		Driver 2165 makes a scene...
Well, I hope Driver 2165 is OK. He bent over this evening, heard his back pop and felt his leg go numb. Now that I've expressed my sincere condolences, and I do hope it's nothing serious, I should point out that four burly firemen showed up to take care of him. He was walking around and they had to ask who they were there for.
9/23
I was forced on a hold down this week. But it was what I consider great work, all "sunshine" work (generally between 11:00 AM and 9:00 PM) so I didn't mind at all. Late to bed and late to rise makes CJ a happy pilgrim. The guy whose work it is had his hip replaced. He's better now and able to work, so I lost the hold down.
I was forced to swing to the AM extra board today. And tomorrow. Did I mention that the extra board is divided now? The work from people who are sick, on leave or on vacation still gets put on the extra board. Now all the work that gets done before 7:30 PM is put on the AM board. Everything else goes on the PM board. If there is too much work for the AM board or not enough for the PM board, some of us on the PM board get forced to swing to the AM board to cover it. I'm not too excited about that, but at least it's the latest of the morning work. I won't have to get up at 3:00 AM.
The other day I had to blow kisses and exchange pleasantries with a cabdriver who pulled one of my all-time favorite car moves. I had to move a couple lanes to the left in the span of a block. The lanes were clear. But the cabby, who had pulled onto the street behind me, tried to speed up to pass me. Cars do that all the time. He pulled up next to me at a stoplight and leaned over to tell me that next time he was going to let me hit him. I blew him a couple kisses and pointed out that he would hit me from behind. Dumbass.
Rainbow Foods, a grocery store that feels like a warehouse, has new billboards around town. Look at that tomato over there. I think it's a pretty terrifying tomato. Mark doesn't think so. He thinks the apple is scarier. I disagree, but I'll try to get a picture of that one, too.
I'm pretty sure I'll be enjoying a nice cold soon. A lady got on my bus today and hacked and sniffled, sneezed and coughed right next to me for about thirty minutes. Thanks...
9/21
The Vikings won again today. And the Packers got beat by the lowly Arizona Cardinals. hee hee hee!
Eric and I watched the Vikes, then we went to Cheapo Records. We saw two important people there.		The Daff listening to records before we said hello.
One was a guy I've written about who I see everywhere. Today he was wandering around looking at CDs. He was wearing a black scarf in his hair, an off-white suit and, as usual, his little red loafers. I tried to get a picture of his shoes, but couldn't quite get into the right place at the right time.
But the first, and by far most important, person we saw was the Daff! He was buying records. Well, more accurately, I bought him some records. Six 45s. He bought himself a Proclaimers CD. I'm not sure how he couldn't afford the records, which he had first, but it's not every day that I get the chance to buy the Daff some records. He was pretty excited  about that Proclaimers CD. He was listening to it at a listening station and singing along. Loudly. AND I WOULD WALK FIVE HUNDRED MILES AND I WOULD WALK FIVE HUNDRED MORE...
9/21
One of the things I was looking forward to when I returned to Nicollet was the satellite TV in the drivers' room. You know, lots of variety, right? Um, how does that go? Fifty-seven channels and Montel's still on.
I drove the 4 on Friday and one of the terminals is at the almost-deserted Apache Plaza. Herberger's is still there. If you're worried that you might not be able to find Christmas stuff this late in the season, don't fret. Go to Herberger's. It's all on display...
I drove the 18 yesterday. I saw a couple of my favorite ladies, one of them twice.
One of them is an old African woman who always gives me candy. She gave me a handful of gum, chocolate, tootsie rolls, etc. I tossed most of it, but I'm always happy to see her.
The woman I saw twice lives in NE Mpls and she always goes out to Mystic Lake Casino. When I had a regular schedule, I  used to pick her up every Saturday night on her way home from the casino. Yesterday, I took her to catch the casino bus at 31st and Nicollet. She asked me if she'd told me about her niece. She hadn't. Her niece murdered her husband a few weeks ago.
A guy rode with me who just got to town from Austin, TX. He graduated from the U of M with minor in computer science and a major in marketing. He worked in marketing for fifteen years or so, but the long hours and hard work resulted in divorce and burn out. He decided to drop out. So he's basically a drifter and day laborer. He claims to hold the distinction of being the most-arrested individual in Austin for the first half of this year.
9/18
I had an action-packed day on the 18 yesterday. (D'you hear me? Action-packed!)
I relieved another driver outside Nicollet and before I even stepped on the bus, a face poked around the door and asked me how I was doing. It was William, as I soon found out. He is, as he told me, high functioning. (He knows too much about the buses, so he doesn't qualify to get rides from Metro Mobility.)
William also knows a lot about Twin Cities radio stations. He collects radio station t-shirts. He told me who owns all the radio stations, who are on all the morning shows, and gave me a brief rundown of several of the format changes that have taken place in the last few years. My trip went quickly.
I saw David, the guy who preaches (or something) on corners and asks people to sign his clothes. He was wearing a Twins shirt covered with dirt and signatures.
I watched a bicycle on the Nicollet Mall (not a messenger, not supposed to be there) run into a pedestrian. I think everyone was OK.
And a total knob in a little Chevrolet Celebrity just about plowed into the side of my bus. He tried to pass me on my left side by going straight through a left turn only lane. I took a left from the right lane, which allows buses to turn left. And my turn signal was on for longer than it needed to be.
But the highlight of my day was when my mom slowed down to honk at me in Richfield.
9/17
Thanks to my new best friends at CONVAR and their ridiculously intuitive file recovery program, I was able to recover all but a handful of the pictures I'd deleted. So I'm quite happy about that. I couldn't bear the thought of losing important pictures like this one:
I was on 11:00 am call yesterday. I got there and chatted with José until 11:30, when someone called in sick. I went out on the 21 and 23 until 9:00.
While I was in the garage, I asked one of Driver Groupie's favorite guys if he'd seen her lately. A few weeks ago, in a fit of desperation, he told her he'd gotten married the previous weekend. So she doesn't ride with him very often anymore. But he felt awfully guilty when she brought him a wedding gift. Yeah...
And then, after one round trip on the 21, there was Driver Groupie. So she rode with me for one round trip, which is fine. It was actually kind of nice to see her. But, as usual, the conversation tended to be about drivers I don't know.
On my last trip on the 23, I was almost to the terminal in St. Paul when I passed a 20 at a stop. His horn was blaring. He looked OK, so I kept going. We have the same terminal and after I was there about a minute, I heard him coming. His horn was stuck. He had disassembled everything horn-related that he could get his hands on, and it wouldn't stop. He shut off his bus to no avail. We popped open a panel on the front of his bus, but couldn't see anything to hammer. So we had a good laugh and then I had to go.
9/15
Argh. In the process of moving pictures from this (old) computer to my new one, I lost most of them. Not very happy about that.
9/14
It's great to be back at Nicollet Garage. I was on call yesterday and I talked to almost everyone who walked through. I was lucky to get a nod when I said hello to most of the good folks at Heywood. I'm in a better place.
I drove four routes on Friday, my last day at Heywood. It went well. Except for the first round trip I made, I was servicing the U of M all day. That's usually pretty decent.
The first guy who got on my bus in the morning did something that I really dislike, more than almost anything. As I pulled up to his stop, he started sucking on his cigarette like he wouldn't get another one for ten whole minutes. He took a drag as he was getting on the bus and exhaled when he was on board. I usually put my hand up and uh, request that people exhale outside, but it didn't work this time. So I was pretty irritated (adding to my standard what-am-I-doing-awake-at-this-godawful-hour irritation). But he turned out to be a really nice guy. We talked about the Twins and he left me happier than he found me.
I saw my part-time instructor Ken, who had good news. He got rehired (reinstated?) as an instructor. I think I mentioned that he'd been laid off (demoted to driver) due to funding issues a few months ago. He's one of the few people at work who know about this site, so I won't say anything bad about him. You can email me for all kinds of nasty stories, though.
Yesterday I was on call at Nicollet. So I watched Michigan spank Notre Lame, which is always fun. Then I watched quite a bit of the Nebraska-Penn State game.
I also made three bus changes. LaDonna didn't like her seat, so I brought her a new bus. And I took a bus to replace one that was getting low on fuel. But the most worrisome bus change was for a sick bus.
Yeah. I've mentioned my notoriously weak stomach before. This is what I dread the most. I got on that bus and opened every window and vent available to me. And I didn't look toward the back at all. No need to double the poor cleaner's workload...
After my third bus change, I filled in on the 18 for a few hours. I think someone had an accident. With a little clever maneuvering from Control, we got things almost back to normal. I was 25 minutes late on one trip, but only five minutes late on the return.
In Driver Groupie news, Joe gets no break. He's her #1 favorite and she spotted him yesterday, the first day of the pick. So he lost one day a week right away. This is usually the time when he gets a little reprieve. Hopefully his other four work days will remain a mystery for a while. But I'm not counting on it. And I'm sure he isn't either.
I was shocked to see that I'm now able to get Sundays and Mondays off. Thanks retirees! I don't know if it will last, but it's great for now. Kevin T. is coming over to watch the Vikings this evening.
9/11
Da Mons and I went to Thirteen last night. Did you see Kids? I've seen them compared elsewhere. Like Kids, Thirteen made me uncomfortable throughout the whole thing and I was somewhat depressed coming out of the theater. Of course, I'm strongly in favor of that kind of film, so I'm recommending it.
I haven't been driving too much lately. Between being on call and having days off, I'm afraid there isn't much to report from the streets of Minneapolis (and St. Paul).
My iMac is in the shop again. It's still having trouble waking up from sleep. All my PC-lovin' friends are probably shaking their heads, but I'm not paying attention to them.
There's a nasty little rumor that it might rain today. And tomorrow. That would be nice. I'll believe it when I see it.
Wyatt and I hit the par 3 today. I'm still having major problems with that game.
9/8
Yeah, so the Vikings beat the Packers. Just thought I'd mention it again.
Wyatt and Tina had their annual first game of the year party yesterday. It doubled as a farewell to Nate and Tish, who are moving to Denver.
We're getting into my favorite time of the year. It's stupidly hot again today, but it can't last. I can't wait for it to cool off.
It also means that the University of Minnesota students are here and many of them are trying to figure out the bus system.
Saturday I drove the 16, which cuts through the U of M campus on Washington Avenue. A couple chicks (and yes, they were pretty much chicks...) got on downtown and asked me if I went to the U. I said I did. We headed east on Washington Avenue, which goes past the student union and a bunch of other classroom-type buildings. We passed all those buildings. As we pulled up to Oak Street, on the east edge of the campus in Stadium Village, one of them asked me, "Are we going to go to the U?"
To be fair, we didn't go through Dinkytown, but still...
9/7
VIKINGS!
9/6
And here is some news for those who care. You care.
Iowa Pete "Snappy" K. is engaged to be married! That's pretty great. The poor guy still lives in Des Moines, but other than that, things seem to be going quite well for him.
Wyatt put in his resignation at Cafe Havana. That's good, too. He got a cool new job in Duluth or somewhere. Actually, it's in North Oaks, which isn't as far north as Blaine! is.
I'll be driving the 16 tonight. It's a route that sees more than its share of trouble, so I'm looking forward to an interesting evening.
Big day tomorrow. The Vikings play the Packers. I'm not too optimistic for a Vikings win, but I have some hope...
9/4
Hey, what's wrong with Al Michaels' hair?
I watched Trigger Happy TV last night. They were in Minneapolis for quite a bit of it. I was most excited to see Blackey's Bakery, which I've mentioned here before. I can't wait to drive the 17 again so I can stop in for a snegle.
I drove five routes today, four of which I'd never driven before. I was a little bit nervous about missing a turn, especially on the last route of the day. The map for that route isn't very clear and I didn't remember learning it. Well, I made some good guesses. I looked up after three turns to see if there was a reaction from my passengers. Everyone was calm the whole time, so I knew I was OK.
9/2
I labored yesterday. I drove the 18. And I lost my temper. A guy got on my bus headed downtown. He was mumbling about his bus pass, and he never did pay. A Muslim woman, covered from head to toe, including her face, was on the bus. They both got off at 8th Street.
The guy followed her and got up in her face. I saw him saying some very unpleasant things to her. She was trying to avoid him, but he kept at her. It was brief, but I knew she was upset.
I watched as he walked down Nicollet and sat down with a couple other guys. When I finally got the green light, I stopped near him. By now I was hopping mad. I chewed him out pretty well. He apologized to me and I emphasized that maybe he should apologize to her. I probably confused him when I used the word audacity.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that I'm going back to Nicollet Garage.