Public Transportation

....at the Grinch.

I'm awfully happy that we don't really cross paths too much anymore, but when we do- it's usually not a pleasant experience. He is so nasty and negative.

Yesterday I gave a presentation to the managers and there he was, doing his usual thing; texting my manager with what I'm sure were very snippy messages based on the look on his face.

It's so darned disrespectful. He does it in EVERY meeting, no matter who is presenting. The look on his face says it all.... "Oh SNAP! I'm so funny with the way I cut down other people". Seriously, the look on his face looks down-right evil. I am not exaggerating.

I don't understand why he hasn't been called out for this. It's obvious what he's doing. Maybe I should have called him out while I was giving my presentation.

"Is there something you'd like to share with the rest of us, Grinch?"

Hindsight....

In other news, I'll be away from my blog (and yours) for a few days. One of my previous employees (and now friend) is coming into town and staying with me from tomorrow through Monday morning. I suspect we'll be having a few fun adventures. I plan to take her on the train to and from work on Friday. I just hope that we'll see some interesting people.

...speaking of interesting people. There's a guy that rides the 5:15 train (I'm usually on the 4:20) that gets on the train with his bike. He's REEKED of alcohol every single time I've seen him. He can be a few feet away and I still smell it. You can tell by looking at his face that he's been a friend to the bottle for a long time. Poor guy. I kinda feel sorry for him.

There's also this strange 'couple' that sits where I like to sit (good thing there are three seats, eh?). I sometimes listen into their conversations because they are clearly in that "I wonder if she/he likes me" phase and say all kinds of things to try to nudge some sort of "I like you" phrase out of the other. One of these days I'm going to say, "JUST SAY IT and quit wasting each other's time". Aside from that, the girl is clearly a little challenged in the social skills. Maybe I should give her a script or something. I don't think she's ever going to get this thing off the ground until she learns the fine art of conversation.

I think this post went all over the place. I'm clearly not very focused. I hope that improves as the day goes on, for my employer's sake.

• Our housecleaning service comes every other Thursday. Today would be that day, and do you know what I did? I set the stupid house alarm- completely forgetting that they were coming. I gave them the code when we first set up the service just in case- but the bearded eye-roller usually leaves after me on Thursdays and he remembers to NOT set the alarm so they have probably long forgotten there was an alarm and didn't have the code with them. Those poor ladies must have been very annoyed with the loud siren. Trust me- it's VERY loud.
  
  When the alarm company called me, I told them that I'd made a mistake and asked them to please shut off the alarm. They said it could take up to a half hour for the alarm to reset. I can imagine those poor women cleaning whilst listening to the ear piercing sound. Since I feel so guilty- I'm not going to make snotty remarks about where they put my stuff this time.
  
  (but really, they do find weird places to put my stuff and it's always a fun hunt every other Thursday)



• As of today, I have all my cards mailed, my house decorated and my shopping done except for one person. This is the earliest I think I've ever gotten this far. I think I need to send BER away the first two weeks of December every year to get him out of my road so I can get 'er done. **snort**



• I take a bus to and from the train station- especially in the winter. This evening I sat in the back of the bus- and was completely alone. That is, until a man who smelled to high heavens of all sorts of nasty things (alcohol, bodily fluids, etc.) joined me. I had my headphones on, but could still hear him talking to me. He kept talking away and I kept pretending I had my music up too loud to hear him. I even pulled out my MP3 player and messed with it, just in case his eyesight was so poor he couldn't see the headphones. I got up and moved after he tried offering me 'candy'. I didn't even look to see what that 'candy' was, but I can only imagine. My mom told me to never accept candy from strangers.
  
  Well, except for Halloween. Although this sort of situation would be a scary experience for some, it still doesn't qualify as Halloween



• I'm SUPER excited because Angela's mom has allowed me to adopt her (and her new husband!) for Christmas. They're coming over on Christmas Eve to spend the holiday with my 'other' kids and other assorted relatives. Heidi, please tell me you're coming!!!!! Angela's mom is so sweet and said that it just killed her to not have her baby with her for her birthday or Christmas. It made her feel better to know that she'll be taken care of by a mom, even if it's not her. What she doesn't know is that I'm an awfully bad influence. But that can be our little secret.

We had a fairly severe wind and rain storm yesterday- mostly wind. I'm not sure how windy it got but the predictions were 50-70 mph.

Our department head sent an email letting everyone go home early (just an hour- not THAT early) so the peeps would be safe in getting home. Since I ride the train, there's not a whole lot I can do if I want to go home early. The train doesn't run all day.

Still, I wasn't very worried about it. I mean, the train doesn't have to deal with traffic accidents and the like- and the bearded eye-roller confirmed that we still had power at home.

La-dee-da, no worries here, mate. I ride the train. I'm safe from all of it.

Not so! Right before the second stop (I get off on the fifth stop) the conductor announced that power lines blew down over the tracks and they didn't know when they'd be cleared. He suggested that everyone get off the train and find a new way home.

90% of the people got off the train (we're talking several hundred) and I was one of them. Many optimistic types stayed on the train, hoping that the track would be cleared soon. I called BER after the train left the station and asked him to come pick me up.

Several minutes later, some guy shouts out that he'd heard the track was cleared and the train was able to make it though so I called BER and told him to head back home, that I'd catch the next train home.

The next train arrived and another 1000 people got off the train. This time it was completely emptied. I told the conductor that I'd heard that the track was cleared and a train got through. He said that no such thing had happened. So I called BER again- then tried to find that guy with the phony announcement so I could kick him where the sun doesn't shine.

I heard people saying that there was a bus that could get us closer to my city, so I wandered over there (with the THRONGS of people) and called BER with plan "z". Meet me at a closer city so you don't have to drive so far.

By then, not only was it very windy, but it was raining. Can we say major hair disaster? (yes, that was pretty much my main concern- believe it or not).

Not only that, the train was blocking the intersection so there were cars and buses backed up as far as the eye could see. There was honking and cussing and very impatient people. Eventually, the train backed up so the traffic could get through, and the bus was able to get to the stop. I got on the bus and found out that it was going to make an extra stop to a P&R that would be easier to find, so once again I called BER.

I should mention that ironically, this was the ONE day that I didn't plug my phone in at work to charge the battery. My phone was making that beeping sound it makes when it's just about to go dead.

Go figure.

The bearded eye-roller pulled into the P&R just as the bus arrived and I was SO happy to see him.

Well, I'm always happy to see him, but I was ESPECIALLY happy last night.

Wouldn't you know it, just as we got there, a train pulled up and announced that they were able to make it through to the end of the journey.

I didn't stick around long enough to see if it was true. I just wanted to take my "look what the cat dragged in" body home and into a nice hot bath.

This, peeps, is what I get for being so smug about riding the train.

I had a VERY uncomfortable train ride the other day. Uncomfortable mentally, not physically. Actually the train is quite comfortable unless a big sweaty guy comes and sits next to you. But that's a story for another day. Yech!

I'd just missed the first train going home, so that meant that I got the cream of the crop seat on the next train since I was one of the first to get on that car. My favorite seat is right by the door on the right side of the train so I can just get up and hop off when we get to my stop. It's also a great place for people watching. Again, another story for another day.

Anyhoo (get to the point RG!), I was sitting in my favorite spot next to the door watching all my fellow train-riders file in. There's a spot on the train where the bike riders can park their bikes and tie them down. If there aren't any bikes, there's a seat that folds down in that area. EVERYONE knows that this spot is for the bikes, but some doofus sat there anyway. There were lots of other places he could have sat, but he chose to sit in the bike area.

As I suspected, a bike rider came aboard and asked doofus if he would kindly move to one of the MANY open seats so he could park his bike there. Doofus (who really DID look like a doofus) told him no- he wasn't moving. I fully expected a scene, but there was none. The bike rider instead pulled his bike over to the door next to me, tied it to the door handles with a bungie cord, and then proceeded to go to the next level on the train. This is when I started to squirm a bit. The first train stop opens on that side of the train.

I comforted myself in thinking that either:
a. the security guard would see the tethered bike and move it
b. the bike rider would be getting off at that stop and untie his bike prior to.

Neither happened. The security guard walked right by the bike and there was no sign of the bike rider as we pulled into that first stop.

The door opened and the people on the outside trying to get in started yelling about this bike blocking their way. I was sitting right next to this bike, and got the wrath from many of those people. A guy sitting next to me untied the bike and moved it so the train riders could get on, telling people that this was not his bike. He also said very loudly, "Home-boy over there wouldn't move his fat @$$ to let the guy tie up his bike". I was fully expecting 'home-boy' (aka doofus) and this guy to get into a fight, but nothing of the sort happened. Doofus just sat there with a very smug look on his face.

The train riders were going on and on about it as the bike-owner came down to fetch his bike.

"You've got some nerve"
"Why would you tie your bike to the door?"

Etc.
Etc.
Etc.

The bike rider kept his cool, although clearly uncomfortable, while he stood there in the middle of the crowd with his bike. Doofus still had that stupid smug look on his face.

Doofus moved to another seat two stops later, and the bike owner took the opportunity to tie up his bike. I wanted to smack the smug look off Doofus' face, but instead chose to give him my daggers of steel. I'm sure he won't sleep for weeks after seeing the dirty looks coming from me. (yeah, right).

The bike rider got off the same stop as me, and I walked off the train with him. I wanted him to know that he wasn't 'alone', so I told him that I was really impressed how he kept his cool and that most people wouldn't have handled the situation so calmly.

He smiled back at me and just said, "Some days you just can't win".

I passed him by as I drove home and saw a huge smile on his face. I hope that smile was because he was proud of himself for being a gentleman.

....as in I'm feeling old.

Why, you ask?

Currently enjoying Foreigner on my mp3 player. LOUDLY.

I almost started head-banging, but thankfully stopped myself before becoming the fool causing all the cool kids on the train to erupt in fits of laughter.

::phew: another disaster averted. Close one!