~Tuesday~ This morning’s 8:15 city bus was sufficiently air-conditioned. A man sat in the front, right, center-facing seat holding up a little piece of paper with an address of 900 Gorman Street on it, and both the lady in the seat behind me and the seat across from me were engaged in helping him determine the best stop at which to get off the bus for it.
As we turned left onto Gorman, the lady behind me said, “Let’s see which way the addresses are going as we move down the street here. There’s 1900. Now wait. Okay, there’s 1700; we’re going the right way. 900’s a long way down the road yet.”
I looked up and saw this house ad and I wondered how long it’d been there. I noted the correct use of “its,” so yay for that.
As we approached the McKimmon Center stop, the lady behind me yelled, “Here it is. That sign there says 900.” As soon as the guy got off the bus, spewing forth several thank-yous,” the lady across from me said, “Wait, that says 1000, not 900.”
To which the lady behind me said, “Oh crap. I thought it said 900. I’m near-sighted and my glasses are at home.” Oh, now you admit you can’t see.
Fortunately, the driver still had the door open and the guy was still right by it out on the sidewalk waiting for the bus to pass to cross the street, and the driver called him back on. We crossed Western Boulevard and the lady behind me, the one across from me, and the driver all said at the same time, “There it is!” pointing to a little clump of businesses at the McDonald’s stop on just that side of Western Boulevard.
The man then saw the exact business he was trying to locate and he echoed, “There it is!” and with thanks all around, he departed for good this time. Well thank goodness that’s over. What will everyone on the bus do with their time now?
As he stepped off, a lady with a little boy stepped on who went barreling down the aisle as she called, “Elijah! Elijah!” I just love that name.
I spent my entire work day today updating a set of web pages on our organization’s website to reflect the new reality with student e-mail and the archiving of faculty and staff e-mail at NC State. It’s still not all done, but it’s a nice start: E-mail & Calendaring.
I had a frustrating time meeting Myra for lunch today, which was supposed to be at the Wendy’s on Western Boulevard, right by the McKimmon Center where she now works. I’d planned a quick jump on the Wolfline #5 Varsity bus, but remembered just before heading out for it that there were only three Wolfline buses running now until next Tuesday, and the #5 wasn’t one of them.
I walked to the stop closest to my office for the #7 Wolflink Shuttle, where I found a sandwich board that said, “As of 08/02/10, this stop is no longer being served.” Uh, thanks, but how about saying something like, “The closest stop in service is at…”
I walked the route of the bus thinking the next stop would be in service. It wasn’t. And the next. And it wasn’t. Did I mention that I was walking in the direction opposite my destination, as that’s the route the bus takes? Did I mention it was 90-gazilion degrees out? Did I mention that patience is not my strong suit—in fact, it’s not a suit that fits me at all?
I finally got to a stop being serviced on that route way over on Pullen Road, where with a check of the current location of the bus I noted that I’d never make my scheduled 11:30 meeting time with Myra. I called her and since she hadn’t left her office yet and she had a car, she just came and picked me up and we had a delightful lunch at Flying Biscuit in Cameron Village instead. It’s nice to have her back on campus.
A couple of weeks ago I started participation in a study in which I’m using a shampoo for four weeks and about which I’m to fill out two surveys—one two weeks into it, and another at the end of four weeks. I was supposed to get an e-mail “in or around” August 4 for the two-week survey, but have yet to receive it.
I tried to call the 800 number given in case of questions during the study, at which I kept getting a voicemail message asking me to leave a detailed message about which someone would call me back. I didn’t want to do that as I didn’t want to give them my work or cell phone number, so I sent e-mail. Still no response. I’m about to abandon this little study. My hair’ll probably all fall out in a week.
I ended up working late, and catching the 7:15 bus home. I had every intention of going to the gym, but it never happened. I lay down for a nap at 9:00, and I woke up at 10:30. I put in a load of laundry, and devised Monday’s blog entry.
I watched this TED video as a result of someone tweeting about it. I wanted it to be more compelling than it was, but it definitely has a few profound ideas in it.