This morning’s bus was a wreck. The bus driver, on the other hand, was surprisingly pleasant and helpful.
The air-conditioning on the bus didn’t work, nor did the stop cord. “You have to just shout out when you want to stop, because the cord’s broken,” she’d say to every passenger who boarded. At one point a lady got on holding her baby and having trouble getting her fare card out. The bus driver actually helped her by taking the card from the woman, swiping it for her, and handing it back.
That lady had a lot going on. She sat across from me, and when she did, she plopped the little boy down on the seat to the right of her and his shoes down on the seat to the left of her. After a couple of minutes, he started doing that “ant, ant, ant” whining that babies do before they can talk, and he was reaching his little arms out to her, fingers opening and closing.
Eventually, she picked him up and his pants hung halfway down his diaper, not intentionally predisposing his future to this:
I’m sure. Then, she lay him down across her lap, and I thought she was going to put his shoes on, and perhaps she was, but her phone rang and she took the call.
The call prompted her to open her wallet, which was one of those long wallets—like a checkbook—and it had multiple slots in it on both sides when it was open. I counted eight credit cards in the slots.
As I said, a lot going on, and probably a lot going out, too.
The highlight of the work day today was our organization’s picnic potluck under shelters #2, #3, and #4 at Pullen Park. We probably had 150-200 of our 300-people organization present, and there was lots of great food to choose from.
We had a few fun, fun games of Catch Phrase, the first being me and Jen against Jason, Garrison, and Nick, the second game being me and Jason against Jen and David Ladrie, and the third game starting off with me and Jason against Jen and Todd Gunderson, which expanded to Garrison joining mine and Jason’s team and Nick joining Jen and Todd’s team.
In the middle of that third game, a few more people gathered ’round, including Twanda and Gwen who offered a few answers, but mostly felt ignored. I appreciated their enthusiasm.
I was absolutely worn out after returning to the office between 2 and 2:30. We had a short department meeting, spending only about 30-45 minutes or so of our regularly scheduled 90-minute “working meeting.” We all agreed that 30-45 minutes was plenty though.
I got to the bus stop at 5:25 for the bus that stops at the stop before mine at 5:30. It usually arrives at this new, temporary, bus stop by 5:40. 5:45: no bus. 5:50: no bus. 5:57: no bus.
I called the dispatcher to find out what the deal was, was put on hold, and then hung up on. Calling back, when I mentioned that I’d been hung up on, the dispatcher said not, “I’m sorry that happened to you,” but, “You had a different dispatcher; that wasn’t me.” She put me on hold while she called the bus, and then came back on, “That bus blew a tire. The 6:00 one should be there shortly.”
At home, I actually skipped dinner, since I’d eaten so much at the picnic, and I actually went to bed at 7:30 and never got back up. However, I was quite restless after about 3:30 AM, so in retrospect, I’m not sure that was the greatest idea.