I worked long hours yesterday...

It is predicted to be a cold week up until Thursday and no precipitation. There seems to be a clamor, an anticipation that snow is imminent. Some dread it, others accept it and some relish in the idea of the cold whiteness that our landscape becomes. The Zoo Lights would be fantastic to view twinkling through snow and I will have to consider taking the Max. to the zoo if the snow stays around for me to take some ducats and wrap myself up and venture into the throngs of parents accompanying their children into the world of fantasy.

I signed in at the dispatch office at 3:45 pm on the 5th of Dec.and signed off at 1:46 am on the 6th of Dec. When I got to dispatch my fueling boss asked me if I could do him a favor and fuel the buses the other 4 drivers and I were taking to the Portland Zoo Lights shuttle service after we were done. I didn't really think about my sign off time and said yes. I don't think he had a clue to my sign off time. We got to the zoo and were activated, (just add water, kidding of course) and drove pretty steadily from that point until 10:15 pm. We carried over 1200 passengers from the parking lot a 1/2 mile away to the zoo and back on that cold Saturday night. Of course, we were in our warm buses. Some of the passengers were irritated that the coordination of the shuttle was not as efficient as it could be because there is no dedicated road for the buses and we have to creep through the car traffic that leading to the zoo, which is being turned around near the entrance only to become shuttle riders once they figure it out. People it seems are still attempting to count on luck for getting into the immediate zoo parking area, even though there is overwhelming evidence that their efforts will go unrewarded. And it seems there are a number of people who are unsatisfied with just turning around when directed to do so as though they are unprepared for this action and have to stop the whole line of traffic behind them to ask whatever questions or demand entrance of the security person, sometimes for as long as a minute which can seem like much longer when you are anticipating moving along to your destination smoothly much longer. When the passengers on my bus starting spewing to me how inefficient the shuttle was and how it could be remedied, I suggested they take thier ideas to the Metro, the people who run the zoo. Of course I didn't hear one person say, great idea, I'm going to do that. I don't really know what people are thinking because their actions tell a different story. I don't like to generalize, but there is probably a large percentage of professional drivers who have wondered what people are thinking when driving because of many actions that are executed that defy rational behavior. I usually just exclaim either out loud or quietly to myself, "What are you thinking?" when I encounter daily what some people consider as a normal transportation experience. It can be changed, but the people who make the decisions need to know. The people who make the decisions I suspect know what a cluster F&%K it is when they try to funnel thousands of people into a single two lane road in a short window of time. That's why when they visit the zoo lights, they get a special closed to the public preview and don't have to deal with the masses. I could go on and on and usually do, but for some reason, I've caught myself here. That's enough. I'm going to the metro zoo sight and register my observations to the authorities and see if there is a plan in the works to remedy this situation.

I'm back and Lou is right, monetize is only for people who have many, many readers over a thousand I beleieve.

Yep, my take on the monetize your blog is you must have a huge following to make it worth while. I imagine there are those people who imagine they have a large following yet when it comes down to it only have a lard following, a few slovenly folks who or never mind.

Today is the day I report to work for the Zoo Shuttle. The Portland Zoo is having their annual Zoo Lights display. Of course, shuttling people to and from the overflow parking areas does not give me an advantage point with which to see all the illuminations. I will be lucky if I have a working FM radio in my bus to allow my mind to stay focused while weaving in and out of the traffic jams that happen when people think they can find parking in the full lot by the zoo, only having to turn around and drive to the overflow lot, line up and snarl traffic so that the shuttle buses even have to wait to pick up and drop off passengers. That is an irony of driving the shuttle bus at to and from the over flow parking at Portland Zoo. There is no shuttle bus only lane which makes it darned inconvienentfor everyone. That should be a consideration. The Zoo needs to purchase land and build a parking lot that has an access road just for the shuttle buses so that they become an effective tool. Of course, I am diametrically opposed to individual motorized transportation, yet have to rely on it myself as the most cost/time effective method of getting from here to there. I wish it weren't so.

I haven't earned any rewards in my credit union account...

because I haven't earned enough credits. I have 2093 points from using my debit card. I don't much adhere to the principle of earning points towards gifts or cash because I am not much of a consumer. the old saying of if you earn more you will spend more applies to me. I earn less and spend less. It looks like the average minimum points are around 5000 to receive a gift and cash, you got to have 10000 or 20000 points. That will never happen to me. I had to investigate though because a pop up kept annoying me when I log on to my credit union website. Oh, and I have decided to investigate the google offer of ads after looking into Gordon Gekko's Manual of Morals as suggested by a friend. Oh boy!

Of course I want to earn more money, but can I do it in good conscience?

Google is offering to support me to some extent with ads in my blog. Since I know how much I detest ads invading my areas of information, I want to come here and ask whomever is reading my blog what you think about me signing up for this advertising? I will have to carefully consider this opportunity or insult. I know that I have not been here consistently because I get distracted, however I think I've made a decision to write here regularly, much of it having to do with how I conduct my life. You see, I have to define what it is and what I want to do with it and actually print it out here or in a document to fully appreciate what I am thinking about. I don't have the complete capacity to weigh in on ideas in my head. My conceptualization is corrupted, doesn't work like people who can conceptualize well. So that's it. How do you, whomever is reading my writing feel about ads on the side bar and between my posts as Goolge is suggesting

Just to many issues to list and the frustration pile is growing!

I carry a tape recorder now to put down memo's of thoughts that occur to me while I am out and about and likely unable to recollect in the near future. I mean, they might pop into my head in two weeks and that will just add to my already up to the eyebrows level of frustration. I'm listening to the tape play and what I have is my school bus route 144 for Portland Public Schools through the contractor I work for. It is Monday, the 30th of November and I am driving up NW Thompson about a 1/2 mile East of NW Skyline Blvd. outside of Portland and the bus is going slow because it is old 181,000 odd miles on it and packed to the gills with Lincoln High School students, all 46 of them. I see a line of vehicles forming behind the bus in my mirror and notice a car at the top of the hill heading down in our direction. Suddenly the vehicle behind us, a Toyota Camry darts out and starts passing us over the double line. That is not necessarily the bad part. The bad part is they are passing a school bus loaded with adolescents in this case and I have to ask myself since I can't ask them, What are you thinking? They made it and cut in front of us before the opposing traffic collided with them. But for what? Was it worth it to put about 50 people in jeopardy because you didn't want to drive slowly up a hill? I think that people in cars have really lost track of the idea of what is safe and what isn't safe to do while driving. That was the first of a series of blunders by other drivers that afternoon that could have lead to a serious collision. You see, I don't consider a collision an accident. An accident is more like a collision that happens without warning. In this case there is plenty of warning that danger is imminent and if the wrong action is performed then that was a choice and a bad one! Then an SUV decides to pass us, thing is another car is coming down the hill, What are you thinking? I just don't get it. Likely, there is no time savings. Maybe it is because that person is talking on their cell phone or texting and they are not paying attention or don't know it will only take 30 more seconds to ascend the hill. I know that for some reason many of us have been told that we can save time if we do more things at once by purchasing products that help us save time. So, it appears some people are still drinking the Kool-Aide, the ideas that "marketing" people use to sell products or ideas. Some of those "marketing" people are not being honest. To me, "Marketing" is really just lying. When is the lying going to stop? When are the double standards going to end? What is considered enough people to speak up against something for the rest of the people to pay attention and stop the nonsense? That about covers it. Now I am going to write up an outline for what I want to being to our company manager as to my safety concerns that I didn't even touch on here.

Hoping for a new house mate

I interviewed a woman this evening who said she was coming at 6 pm and showed up. She also took an application and I gave her the address for the land lady. She and I got along better than the last half dozen people who have been by or called here. She has a dog. I love dogs. She seems like she is going to ask to move in. That's the feeling I got. She is 32, but to me she doesn't look a year over 25. Of course, I don't have to worry about other peoples ages since I am not selling them liquor any more.

I went out today, late, purchased a new futon twin size for my futon frame. I've been using two 3 inch foam pads and they suck. I'm sure that some of my aches and pains are because of the foam pads being only really good for occasional duty. I will be able to fold the bed up into it's other intended purpose now, a chair to sit back and lounge in. Yea! Along with that, new rotor and distributor cap for the tune up I plan on giving the old van Sat. afternoon and Sunday morning. And I purchased a fine used chair with a woven black fabric and chrome metal legs with little plastic scuff buttons on the bottom. I have been using a light duty folding chair I purchased at least 2 years ago. I plan on selling the foam on Craig's List and the chairs too at a considerable discount from new. They are all in great shape, just not made for the continuous duty I have demanded of them. The chairs cost $20 each new and I till take $8 each or 2 for $15 and the foam pads were $18 each and I am going to ask $20 for both or $10 each. No discounts with those unless of course a person offers to take both. Who knows, maybe I will just have to give them away, but not without first trying to sell them. Money is tight and I believe if someone pays at least a little they will find more value than if they get it for free.

I too wish that the present Obama in the White House was the same one I voted for last year! It just drives me further from the politics and the fact that those people are so out of touch with the society I live in....

the more I find out the less I know

Wow! I put an ad on craig's list describing what I am looking for in a living situation, thinking I might have to leave this place and got a response from someone who asked if we might be compatible and look for a place together. I wrote back with my phone number included in the text and the person called back. She was pretty high energy and almost sounded as if she hadn't really had a conversation with anyone for some time. She talked about what she was looking for, what she did for a living etc. Then she got off on a tangent and was telling me to much information. I said Whoa, to much information, let's get together tomorrow and talk some more. I told her I would call. I spaced it out and just got off the phone with her. She told me that she thought that anyone that would tell her to shut up was not compatible to her. Her perception is much different than mine, but I was still willing to meet in person. She hung up the phone on me, wow! She was so abrupt and rude that it left me spinning and I had to write about it somewhere and thought this would be a good place because I may get some sympathy and understanding and some kind words to balance out that reponse. I'm glad that came out right away, that we incompatible. It would have been a horror/drama story if she had chosen to put up a false front to get in the front door.

On anther note, Thanks Giving Feast and Friendship was awesome. I went to my former neighbors apartment and we had a huge feast. We also watched the movie directed by Peter Jackson called Living Dead. It has to be one of the bloodiest movies ever produced, but there was so much slap stick and sublime humor that we weren't grossed out. It was a fun time, laughing and eating and being entertained.