An unrivaled view (Tues., 6-28)

Riding on the bus gives what may be the most unrivaled view of goofy driving and general doofishness on the roads, I suspect. Take last night for example.

I left work just early enough that I could catch the earlier bus from Market Street (the 3:57), though I'd originally expected that I'd miss it, and would've spent a half hour or so at the Tattered Cover. Just made it under the wire, though. As we were tooling along the 6th avenue freeway on our way back out to inner outer suburbia, there was this black Lexus SUV-kind-of-a-thing in the left lane next to us. At 55+ MPH, the bozo driving said Lexus was busy juggling their smart-phone, and weaving pretty close to my bus with alarming frequency.

Given that the engine of the bus I was on likely massed more than their entire vehicle, it wasn't like I was afraid that we'd overturn if an accident happened or anything. I was simply flabbergasted that someone could either not realize that they were wobbling around the lane so much, think that they could handle the phone and the vehicle at the same time (when they obviously couldn't), or maybe just be such an idiot. Or any combination of the three.

After noting this on Facebook, at least a couple friends commented that I should've called the police. I'll have to go digging to see if there's a non-emergency number that I can call if something like this happens again.

In the meantime: If you're driving around the Denver area, and happen to notice a black Lexus SUV-thing, "720-JFU" on the plates, keep your distance in case they get a call or an email. Seriously.

Riding a *completely* different route tonight... (Monday, 6-27)

By all rights, I should be watching the route, to see where it goes, and all that... Tonight I'm heading to a joint birthday celebration for my wife and I, and rather than go back home, potentially having to drive two cars to the Arvada Lone Star, I'm busing it, and will meet up with everyone there, then ride back with the wife and kids to retrieve my car.

We're going along streets that I haven't been down for... maybe 25 years now? I'm not really sure how long it's been, to be honest, but 25 years feels just about right. It's an interesting trip down memory lane from that standpoint, at least...

Daily Commute - June 23, 2011

The driver on my morning bus is named Oscar. He's got at least four kids, is around 60 years old.(if I heard correctly), and has been driving for RTD for 28 years. He's a nice guy, and obviously enjoys meeting people on the job. I wonder how (or if) he deals with taciturn or hostile wretches (not that I want to see it, it's just idle curiosity)

Evening commute was uneventful, but the walk to the (air-conditioned) station was hot -  The Weather Channel app on my phone said 86 degrees, but it felt a lot hotter than that... I'd bet that the A/C is slightly less expensive during the summer months, what with the station being underground.

I didn't think to write about it yesterday, but I was amused (maybe disturbed) by the number of people who asked last night's driver if he was heading to the airport. Really? The buses have these signs that say where they're going. The station that they presumably walked through to get to the bus has a monitor at every gate, plus half a dozen elsewhere (a minimum of two that you have to walk past) that show what buses are stopping at what gate, and where they're going. Apparently brain-space for reading was at a premium last night.

Back on the bus again (finally)

Well, loyal readers, after driving to and from work for the last umpteen days (so I could go home at a moment's notice to deal with fence-related stuff), I'm back to my normal (summer) bus-schedule.

Apparently the new Federal Center Station opening was delayed because of a hazardous-materials issue/concern (asbestos is what I've heard on the rumor-mill). I haven't tried to verify yet, but knee-jerk reaction to "asbestos" would explain it (assuming it's not chrysotile, not crocidolite). I'll be interested in finding out if that is, indeed, the reason.

The Thermal Properties of Chewing Gum

OK, definitely not directly bus-related, but I found it amusing anyway.

If you've ever left a can or glass bottle of soda in a freezer for too long, you've seen what happens when it freezes, bursts the container, and oozes drink-flavored ice-stuff all over the place. All because water expands when it's frozen, right?

So: I keep a small (60-pc) tub of spearmint-flavored Eclipse gum in my car. Usually I remember to put it back into a shady spot when I get to the bus. Yesterday, I forgot and left it where the blazing sun (92+ F) could really heat it up. Gum doesn't explode like frozen soda, but I thought the results were amusing and kinda cool:

Busy busy...

(Post that I forgot to post yesterday)

 

So apparently the closure of my current Park-and-Ride's gonna be delayed. I certainly hope that's the case, otherwise I'm gonna be fighting with people over a presumably-dwindling number of parking-spaces. On a more whimsical note, I find the phrasing amusing: The opening was "cancelled." Not "postponed," but "cancelled." Which, by the way, is spelled "canceled..."

Really? Wow. I find myself wondering if they discovered gold, or fossils of some previously-unknown critter, or some such thing...

No word, currently on why the new station's not going to open on schedule, but I haven't gotten back to see if the sign's been updated...

Tonight's driver still believes that the close-and-switch will happen on the 18th, though... communication's sounding inconsistent... guess we'll just have to wait and see...

This post intentionally left blank...

No bus-ride today; Taking the day off.

A statement of the obvious...

Buses, traveling as they do on the public roadways, are subject to delays caused by traffic. As I started writing this post, my afternoon bus was 5 minutes late, and apparently stuck in traffic just outside the station. And had been for maybe 5 minutes already.

As I wrote this, we're just outside the station trying to get into traffic.

Though in a vehicle whose engine likely weighs more than the cars around us, it didn't take long...

Personalities at different times...

Second day on the earlier bus, and it's very different. Not because of the route, I think, or (directly) because of the time. I think it's because of the driver, or because of a handful of regulars, or some mix of the two. Lot of gregarious folks, at any rate. It's interesting to me that such a relatively small change in a mix of people can make such a difference.

Today also marks the first day that it's been warm enough in the morning that I felt comfortable without even a light jacket. According to the Weather Channel, it's 57F out. Still a bit on the chilly side for me, but tolerably not-uncomfortable. I guess the real proof will be in whether the walk from Market Street to the office is comfortable...

(Afternoon)

The morning walk was tolerable - and the evening was was downright nice. Near 90 degrees - sweet! The A/C at the station is a bit colder than I'd like, but not bad.

World-proofing a bus-pass

Coming as I do from over a decade of printing/publications background, I prefer to take steps to ensure that my bus-pass is fairly well protected from the elements. I know what water and other things can do to paper, and it's not pretty.

And at $133 (if I'm lucky) to replace that piece of paper... well, i'd just rather not have to deal with that.

So my solution is to laminate mine, and wear it on a lanyard. Here's what I do, step-by-step...

The bus-pass shows up in a generic envelope, with the pass and a receipt in it.

The pass itself is printed on a pre-perforated card, with the rounded corners cut completely. It's pretty easily removed from the card, just needs some folding on the perforations back and forth to loosen it up.

Freed of it's mailing-card...

Office Max and Office Depot carry hot and cold luggage-tag laminating pouches. I generally prefer the cold ones, but this time they didn't have any and the hot-laminate pouches were $15 for 25.

Slip it into a pouch...

Run it through the laminator...

Viola! The pass shifted a bit somewhere along the line (not sure why), but it's in it's own little world-proof bubble now... This'll survive water, being run over, run through a washing machine, etc., etc.

 The laminate pouches generally come with rubber-band-kinda-things (right above the pass itself in that last picture), so other attachment options are available...