Haven't posted in a while. Bus has been relatively uneventful. Plus i have been busy with other things.

Week of 11/5 - Present

So i have decided to cut back on my blogging since I have started another job writing for an online journal. I will most likely blog weekly here.

I am actually just finishing up my first article for the journal. I will blog more about this in the future. The focus of this blog today is on last weeks transportation ventures.

The week was relatively uneventful. Eastbound were mellow with many of the same kids and adults making their way to school and work. For some reason the Westbound were standing room only twice. I stood at the front of the bus when i got on and observed a young Hispanic couple board the bus with their son. He was maybe 5 and the young couple stood while the boy sat with a Motorola xoom and commenced to manipulate a game of sorts on the tablet. It made me think of my 4 year old daughter who has been manipulating my iphone since she was 3 and figured out what it was. Amazing really.

On another evening homeward bound a very young Black couple got on the bus with a little tyke who was probably one and very unhappy. I was standing in the front again and watching this very inexperienced couple try and deal with a very you child who was upset. The mom kept telling the passive dad to hold the baby and he did but the little one squirmed and was frustrated so the dad would pass him back to the mom.

this went on for a few stops and i saw some people getting frustrated.

 i don't normally take action, but decided what the heck. I look over at the child and made a couple of silly faces, which caught his attention. After a few back and forth with faces and smiles and such, others around him seemed less frustrated. Also, the little one figured out quickly that when he smiled and giggled people around him copied. It was maybe 2 minutes into the whole situation that he figured out he was the center of attention. No more crying and less stressed parents. Mission accomplishment.

On Friday  i took the bus early in the morning for a doctor appointment. After my appointment i hit up Panera and then road back to town to meet my wife for some xmass shopping. I actually took the smaller transit when i got to town. I was not impressed by the smaller bus system. they call it the red or blue line depending on where you want to go. I took the blue line before, but this was the first time i took the  red line. The bus was half the size of a regular bus and was fitted with older seats like a shuttle bus. The bus driver was 15 minutes late and there was no place i could swipe my pass. I asked the bus driver about it and she said, "just let me see the pass.We're not that sophisticated here". There was a jar like attachment that people put money in, which seemed very primitive. 

The town is relatively small, but not that small sporting about 130K people. However, they support that sleepy town mentality and the buses do not go past about 7:00pm which sucks for us working folk who could use transportation at about that time.  

Life in the fast lane......

Week of 11/28/2011

11/28-present

The week started off uneventful. I got a ride Monday morning but took the bus home that evening. Everything was normal Tuesday and Wednesday morning. People were getting on and off the bus like drones. The same people getting to the same places day by day.

I did catch my fellow marine on the ride home Tuesday evening and we talked a bit and swapped some stories.

Wednesday evening was a little different. I was waiting for the Westbound and low and behold the guy who was on drugs and racist showed up again. He was walking with a cane (barely) and I could tell he was lit like a candle. He almost fell to the ground when he tried to sit down but somehow miraculously did not. He was sitting there swaying and mumbling something I could not make out. Then he looked at me and said something which I could not make out. I thought he was asking me for money and almost gave him my standard reply (I don’t give out money). Instead, I said “excuse me?” And the man replied a little more wide eyed “you got any food?” I immediately went down on one knee and said “sure”. I had a small bag of pretzels with peanut butter in them and another small bag of trail mix. I asked the man which one he wanted or if he wanted them both. He told me he had to take the pretzels because he did not have very many teeth so I gave them to him and he thanked me.

I never hesitate when people are hungry. I will not give people money, but I will buy them or give them food if they ask.

The next morning I got on the bus and a bus driver I had never seen before was driving. He was a large Caucasian bald man with an old school ZZ top red/yellow beard with no mustache. I shot him a good morning and he acknowledged with “how’s it going?”

The tall mentally ill man that I see sometimes on the bus was behind me getting on the bus. He sat in the front and started to ramble about how something was a “waste of nail polish”. A couple of stops up the bus driver (who was flying down the street) halted at a stop for a few minutes most likely he was ahead of schedule. As we sat there the mentally ill tall man got off the bus and grabbed a jacket that did not seem to belong to anyone and was placed on a trash can. He then got back on the bus and stared at the jacket for a while. Wonder what was going on in that head.

The bus was relatively empty as I sat in the back and listened to morning news. I arrived at work 20 minutes early unscathed.

Last day of the commute this week

Eastbound 11/23/11

The alarm did not go off. It was set for 4:30 so i could get up with my wife and hit the gym. Only problem was the alarm was set to PM as opposed to AM. Hellllllooooooo!

Happy belated birthday to Grandma J if you are reading this.

Got to the bus on time and jumped on. Good morning! No response. I was a little tired so after I checked my email i rested my head on my backpack and dozed in and out of consciousness the whole way there. I kept wondering if I was snoring. I'm sure the bus driver would have let me know.


















My wife is to pick me up tonight so no commute.

Random thing for the day...

Couldn't agree more with this statement.

DAY...Heck i cant remember

Eastbound Today 11/22/11

So yesterday I did not go to work. Over the weekend I had a major personal setback so I was not up for work yesterday.

Got to the bus stop today on time and waited and waited and waited. Finally the bus came about 15 minuted later than it usually did. However as the bus approached it passed me by. It was my favorite bus driver who liked to give me a hard time. At first i thought, guess she did not want to deal with me today. Suddenly a bus pulled up right after she passed me by. The other bus driver said that the bus that just passed had broken down and that she was trying to make up time. He verified that he was on time. This would put me at about 10-15 minutes late for my 8am start time at work.

The bus was very empty. Some of the schools are off for the week for the holiday season. I lay my head on my backpack to rest a bit. A few stops later a couple got on the bus. They were obviously suffering from some severe mental health issues. The woman sat in one spot and the man sat in another. However, for the entire ride the were arguing with each other about frivolous things. The man would set the lady off and was repetitive which fueled the lady into hysterics. I believe she may have been developmentally delayed. At one point another bus rider yelled at the man "Can we ride in peace? Please be quite". He was responsive for a while, but his gradual mumbling eventually got to where he was arguing with his wife again. As the bus offloaded, the woman got up and sat next to me so she could talk with her husband. The exchange was an indicator of why i do not do therapy with people anymore. He would bait her and she would flow in and out of histrionics including relatively disingenuous 25 second crying fits.

I guess it would not have been so bad if i had not forgotten to charge my iphone and thus had little juice in it. I kind of like Mondays because it is the start of a brand new week. However, this day was starting to feel like an old Monday, which i disliked.

After I got off the bus, the arguing couple got off still complaining. As i gradually walked to my work, the lady kept getting louder and louder until by the time i got to my door to go into the building she was in hysterics and screaming and crying at the same time.

So glad I work with computers as opposed to people right now.

DAY 20.5 - present

Westbound Uneventful ride home. I guess the morning commute was enough excitement for one day.

No matter, it gave me time to start watching a movie about Point Pleasant and the Mothman. This movie was actually more of a documentary about happenings around the small Midwestern town over the last few centuries. It started off about the curse on the town from an old Indian tale. Then it moves into legend of a flying mysterious creature and finally culminates on one of the worst bridge collapses ever.

So far it is pretty good. Of coarse this is coming from a guy who is kind of boring and finds being an average person comfortable, even though I come into contact with above average things.

Eastbound DAY 21

Had to catch the bus and buy a day pass as I was tasked by my manager to stop and kind of audit a site on the way to work. This entailed getting off the bus about 1/2 way through my original route and catch the bus a few hours later to my site. It was no problem and the bus ride was uneventful. I did say a very loud "good morning I am having a blessed day" to the bus driver who ignored me. Sometimes I am a brat. Other times, I feel the need to confront attitude and nonsense like that.

I believe that people should be treated with respect from the homeless guy on the street to the executive who obviously is unhappy. It seems I have run into a lot of unhappy people this week. People who are angry about the world, people who are angry and disrespectful to whomever is around and young people who decide that society owes them something as opposed to them owing society. 

There are multiple generations out there that seems to feel a strong sense of entitlement to any and everything be it physical or psychological. I suppose at one point i was like that, but have sense renewed my sense of proportions and entitlement is not one of them. Maybe my soap box is too big for me and scratching my ears is a bigger task than my arms will allow. Its just my opinion and I am a firm believer that opinions can never be wrong, only different. I know I know, stay away from those absolutes, but I am just expressing my opinion, thus the logic flows.....

Influences in no particular order .............

 

 

 



DAY 20

Eastbound.

After a 4:45 wake up and about 45 minutes at the gym i headed to the bus stop via my wife. I was not looking forward to the bus driver, but happily exclaimed "good morning!" when i got on the bus. As i swiped my card and headed back she yelled (with attitude and threw up one hand) "Sir. Your card is expired." I showed her the card and said "the expiration date is the 17th (tomorrow)" and she replied "I can not see that". As I forked out some money for the bus, it was having trouble taking my dollar (naturally). The bus driver seemed irritated and said "no turn it over and try it again!" I instantly thought of an article i read the other day about how bus drivers get spit on a lot. Of coarse i would never do something like that, but i thought i could loose my temper with them.

A few stops later  a couple of what appeared to be homeless guys got on the bus. One was younger probably in his early 30's and was holding a few bags in one hand and his other hand had a gash and was covered with drying blood. The other man was probably in his 50's and was carrying a couple of bags in one hand and a large trash bag in the other. He put the trash bag on a hump at the front of the bus. I have seen people put bags there befog. The bus driver yelled at the man "you can't put that there!". The man answered "why the hell not?" The bus driver said "because your not supposed to put anything there!" This irritated the man and he said "i don't give a shit....I'm more worried about my friends hand than this crap". The driver did not move the bus and waited until the man took the bag down and placed it underneath a seat close to the front. Then the man started to curse and yell at the bus driver, but I could not hear her replies to him. He paid his fair and sat in a seat still bitter and talking loudly about the bus driver. I put my headphones on and listened to the talking bible.

As the bus ventured East, it filled up quickly and about 1/2 through the route was standing room only. The younger homeless man was arguing with his friend about going to the hospital stating that he had some neosporn and bandages at his friends place that he could use to patch himself up. The older man was disagreeing with him and kept stating "I'm taking you to the hospital!" They got off at the stop where the hospital is located across the street.

Can't wait for the ride home......

DAY 18.5-19

Westbound Day 18.5

So the ride home was again relatively uneventful. I sat in the front, it was crowded, and had the BUS STENCH. As we came to the bus stop by the hospital i glanced out the window and saw a familiar face. It was dark, but I could see him. It was the young homeless mentally ill man that i had confronted a few weeks  ago about peeing on the bus stop bench. I told him he needs to pee in the bushes or something rather than sitting on the bus stop bench and peeing on himself and the bench. Tonight he was looking at me with his eyes wide open and head cocked to the side like when a dog hears a strange or piercing noise. I could not help but snicker as I looked away he did to. As I glanced back at him he went back to his cocked head and big eyes. I think he was teasing me and it was pretty funny.

Eastbound DAY 19

This day was eventful to say the least. I started the day off by accidentally waking up an hour early. (the night before i had set the time ahead on accident instead of the alarm). I got all ready to go and my wife just looked at me after she went downstairs and said..."hellooooo, its only 5 am!" I'm such a dork sometimes. No matter I ate some Spanish rice and fish for breakfast and fell asleep on the couch for 1/2 hour while watching the local news.

So i got to the bus stop and got on the bus with a good morning to the driver who was a younger black lady. About 2 stops down she yelled at someone to turn their music down or off. I was in the front and presumed she was talking to someone in the back. Sometimes the kids get on the bus and play their music aloud on their phones or ipods. Not loud, but enough so people can here it. A couple more stops down the bus lady stopped at a stop that had about 12 high school kids waiting for the  bus, only she did not open the door for them. Again she yelled to the back to turn off the radio. Again I ignored her. She proceeded to say very loudly that if the radio was not turned off, that she would call her supervisor who would come down and have a talk. The black lady behind me hit my jacket and said turn of your radio and told the bus driver "its the white guy". I had earphones on and I took them off to see what was going on. The bus driver asked the black lady behind me "can you here him?" and she said she could and that I was listening to news. I did not turn it down and told the bus driver that I had earphones on. She said turn it down or off (which I did not) and I said i don't think it was me. She said well i cant here it anymore since you turned it down.

I was framed. One of the kids in the back had a smart phone that was playing obnoxious music, but the lady behind me and the bus driver blamed me for it. The bus driver had so much attitude that i just left things the way they were and went back to listening to the news. Unbelievable.  i had been accused, tried and convicted before I new what was going on. Classic.

If I did not have to be at work I probably would have raised issue, but I did not want to get  kicked off the bus and end up getting a taxi or worse yet banned from the bus.

I did note however, that the sign on the bus said "No Radios or Tape players". It did not say anything about phones or ipods. In my mind i was a bit reactionary and played a tape through that included me arguing with the bus driver about the sign and then inquiring about if she was going to make everyone not talk like kids on the bus. I am sure that the music from the back or my iphone speakers were not that loud, but I guess everyone needs to bitch about something.

Have a Nice Day!

By the time I got to my stop i had almost forgot about the incident, but again the devil inside me said tell the bus driver she has attitude problems and to have a nice day. I didn't though.The angel almost always wins with me.

On a better note my wife said she would put together the Thanksgiving  day basket that we started doing last year. My work gathers full turkey day meals to cook for needy families throughout the county and I (with help from some of my relatives) provide a full basket as opposed to going in on one at work. I just feel obligated to provide for those in need and am thankful for all i have.

Day 18

Am suffering from a sinus infection/cold.

I did not keep notes about the ride last week. I remember some things that were going on, but I just did not get to writing about it this weekend. Sometimes my family time consumes my thinking and things like blogging, work or even academics is almost non existent.

Today's commute was rather dull. I phased in and out of consciousness, for the medicine i am taking for my cold seems to make drowsy. I was listening to a story on talk radio and then it was like i was listening to another story instantaneously. Kind of like back to the future.

I had a nice weekend at home and it was uneventful (negatively speaking). I played a kind of kids scrabble with the kids a few times.

They like this game, but my youngest is a bit small to play so she usually helps me. This game also helps my middle child learn bigger words and seems to be able to capture my oldest child's attention as well. Soon I will start playing  scrabble with my oldest child. He has been practicing on my iphone.

Actually all my kids continue to via for my iphone including my 4 years old. She will pretty much ask at least 5 times a day "Dad can i play with your iphone?" I keep it kind of random with yes and no so as not to get her in a habit. It is amazing how she can manipulate the iphone and the games on it.  

I have an older model that i keep with a relatively small amount of memory (for an iphone) that i keep games for them on it. It actually had problems with keeping data on the phone which is why i upgraded to the 4. I am very thankful that i upgraded and did not just try and get the old one fixed or exchanged for a refurbished one. The 4 is faster and I got a little more memory.

Joke of the day:

What did the fish say when he ran into the wall......

Damn!

DAY 14

11/4/11
eastbound
Not  working today but am headed towards town for a doctors appointment. It is cold and  rainy outside and I am greatful that my bus stop is under a bridge.

I guess things could have been worse...

DAY 13.5

11/3/11

eastbound

The bus was crowded, but never mind. I was thinking about the past. I remember as a child I had a shiny silver NASA jacket and looked up to Burt Rynalds's Bandit persona in Smokey and the Bandit. Jackie Gleason was also classic.

You know Ralph Kramdin right?

Well anyhow that trans am was definitely sweeeeeeeet and still is.