Rainy Days

So it is another rainy and cold morning and again I have my alarm clock all turned around and so it does not actually go off at 5 so I can work out before getting ready. However, when I awake at 5:20 and realize this I start to plan out my day to include it later on when I realize that thanks to Corporate Challenge 8Ball I have to be at Schanks North (about 25 minutes drive in clear traffic from my house) at 6pm to play. But we have to check in 1/2 an hour early and 5:30 is not going to be "clear traffic" so I realize I will have to take my car and park downtown. Now parking in my usual spot (where I got lost the last time) is $22 a day as I had already ranted and I already had to take a cab home ($12) one night to get my car and be at the basketball courts on time and so I really didn't want to pay $22. Then I remembered that my colleague Shannon had told me about the Palliser parking that has an early bird special of $13 if you are in before 7am and out before 6pm. Done!!

Next dilemma - what to wear. Now I have a client meeting at 8am this morning and need to be in the office by 7:30'ish to prep and get over there. A little tid bit I have not yet mentioned is that I sprained my ankle on Sunday playing ultimate frisbee, I then taped it and played basketball on Tuesday - the ankle was feeling great however last night was laser tag (which I don't really consider a sport and therefor did not tape it)- three games back to back standing/running/squatting from 7:30 until 10:30 and then having to drive my standard the 1/2 an hour back home. So my ankle today is a little sore. But on Monday I already wore a pretty casual outfit when I had a meeting with the same client (to facilitate the only pair of running shoes I could fit my foot in) and so I didn't want to be in the same situation again. I rationalized that if i could play basketball, surely i can wear my 3" wedge heels (open toes though but they only have straps across the toes and therefor my ankle is free to be as fat as it wishes) with my cream dress pants (don't really like them much as they are too big on me and hang weird through the thigh as a result) and this really cute little brown sweater (bought it in Seattle - remember the one I won in rock paper scissors with Fran!!).

So now I am off - I have my 8ball outfit in a bag, have my purse, my keys, wearing the strappy shoes and cream pants with my coat and an umbrella - what more can a girl need. So I arrive at the Palliser parkade fairly easily, have to choose east or west parkade (never parked here before so this will certainly be an adventure but east says Mariott and I know they have a plus 15 so here goes nothing) and garner a spot. Get out walk through the only door available and see absolutely no signage for the plus 15. Oh dear! Alas, someone else has parked and so upon inquiry directs me to the second floor. Excellent. Upon disembarking the elevator there is a sign and map immediately to my left. I am not too stubborn or prideful to check the map after the last rainy disaster with an unfamiliar plus 15. I finally spot the miniscule little arrow that appears to say you are here and follow the plus 15 over to the Marriott only to realize that is where it stops - 3 blocks of walking in the rain. However, the west parkade has a lovely little plus 15 that would have taken me directly to work. No worries - a little frustrated but that is why I brought my umbrella. So off I go.

I get down to the Mariott lobby, find my umbrella, step outside into the rain and an ankle deep puddle of muddy water. My mercies. I now have to trek the three blocks with freezing cold/wet/dirty feet. My ankle hurt for the first block but by the last two it felt great - and completely numb from the cold. Finally I can see my corner Second Cup welcoming me. With drenched cream pants, sopping cork wedge heels, my bags and umbrella I stumble in for a coffee. Thank goodness god loves me a little bit because one of the flavors was chocolate truffle (my favorite) and they only have it about once a month but just last week it was a flavor as well!! I continue to plow through the puddles the last 10 feet to my office and arrive looking extremely disheveled, frizzy hair, muddy pants and open toed shoes only to realize that now I have to turn around and walk the 6 blocks to my clients office in the same situation. Do you think I could show up in my jeans and runners??

Seriously Sarah - I hate the plus 15's. I think I will need a couple weekend training sessions when you get back on these damn things!

My Day

Ladies,

Just wanted to further express why I am just not myself some days . . . take today for example.

First, my alarm has been going off since 5am and I did not hear it until 7am (sign that I am a little tired and need a nice lazy sleep in day!). Upon realizing the time I now realize that again I am not going to get in my morning work out and again going to have to do it when I get home. I also am very grateful that my support shift does not start until 8:30 as I would not be able to make the 7:30 time frame. After deciding what to wear and cheering up over the fact that I can wear the new pants I just bought, I jump into the shower and quickly wash up.

So hear I am standing in front of the fridge, packing a lunch as I am determined to not waste my hard earned money eating out cause I am lazy, feeling like I have recovered well and am still looking cute despite the fact that it has become a glasses day when suddenly it takes a new twist. I bend down to get something off the bottom shelf and feel a slight breeze. Sheisa I say as I realize that my new pants must have a hole in them. Sure enough in the crotch the seam was pulled out. Now I have to rework my wardrobe. Although thank goodness I discovered it then and not later . . .

Now this has put me at 8 o'clock meaning I can no longer take the bus to arrive for work at 8:30 but if I drive I should make it downtown for 8:15'ish. So grumbling I drive downtown realizing that I have spend $100 on parking in the month of August because of stupidity just like this. I get to the parkade and of course all the usual spots are taken. I finally find one, head to the door to take me down to the +15 (ask Tanis all about her new found knowledge on the plus 15!!) when the gentleman in front of me informs me that the door is locked. Well across the parking lot I go getting into a new stairwell that I don't usually take into a new plus 15 which I also do not recognize. After wandering around and losing site of where I want to be, I find an exit to the ground. But I am nowhere near my office - I am four blocks away.

So, off I trudge in my heels (didn't have to wear sensible shoes for a rainy day once the car decision was made) without my umbrella through the spitting rain (again who needs an umbrella when you are driving) to the office as I was not about to brave the plus 15 a second time. Finally, I arrive at 8:40 - late for a meeting but I am hear none the less. Looking very much so like a drowned rat, complete with spotty glasses, discolored shoes and an outfit that wasn't nearly as cute as the first draft of the morning.

All in all though - other than being called the B word by my boss (it was in joking but i was still a bit surprised), starving at lunch cause I forgot half my lunch at home, and now sitting here at 3:45 wanting a nap - the day has certainly improved.

Travels

Well
ladies:

Let me tell you. San Francisco is wonderful. I think we should have a mandatory girls weekend and San Fran should be the first location:

First of all my hotel:




This is the lobby where they serve wine every evening to the guests





The rooms – how can you help but love it.






And finally the sites, shopping and travels





These kinds of homes are everywhere.





Crazy Lombard street which is absolutely beautiful

My hotel was just half a block off the trolley line.














Chinatown





Yes Fran, you better believe it – an H&M

Part 2 . . .

So the first leg of the journey is somewhat uneventful. A whole seat to myself and about the concentration or attention span of my nephews. However, I do manage to get onto a roll and get a bunch of stuff worked through. Denver’s terminal for Frontier is huge and by the time we arrive there I am looking forward to a break from work and eating! I pick up a sub and have a quick lunch before finding a spot to recharge the laptop and get going on more prep work. I put in a CD so that I can listen to music while the lap top is recharging and I am working in the app. I can still totally hear all the boarding announcements – or at least I think I can. But time is ticking away and they still haven’t announced my flight. Finally I hear this woman get up and say this is the final boarding call for Nashville flight 243. Ooops – that is me! Next she comments that they will be closing the doors on the plane immediately. Well I quickly shove my stuff together and head over to the gate where she has to unlock the passage door to let me on. But I made it down to the end and others were still waiting to bored so I didn’t feel too bad.

To keep up with the roll I had going though, I loaded the computer with a couple Third Day CD’s and plugged in my ear phones to enjoy the duration of the trip. I got a tonne done and so the last 20 minutes I let myself play a game to pass the descent. Throughout the flight, whenever any of my favorite songs came on, I made sure to turn up the volume and sing in my loudest head voice. I was feeling so good about all I accomplished! As I am getting ready to shut everything down, I pull out my headphones then quickly realized I hadn’t muted the computer only to realize that I had plugged the headphones into the wrong spot at the beginning of the flight and had actually been playing my CDs so everyone around could hear it too! How embarrassing. And why the ladies on either side of me didn’t say anything – I have no idea. They probably thought that I was trying to subtly convert them.

Then it was off to the Opry Mills shopping spot! After some wrong turns in the airport – I found my way there safely and had a wonderful time doing some power shopping. By the time I came back out to the car with every intention of wandering around the Opryland Hotel (I was only shopping for a little over an hour) I realize it is already dark. So I decided to take a quick drive and see what I can see – an hour later, numerous parking lots, etc. I finally find my way out onto I155 when in the lane beside me I see this mid 80’s mini van that has a cardboard license plate. Yeah – that is right - jiffy marker on a cereal box complete with state and expiry date but no actual license plate in site. How bizarre, hey?! And to think that Jaime (my client contact at Eco) actually had the nerve to say that Canada - Calgary is dated. At least we buy our license plates :)

To Keep You Up to Date on my Travels . . .

Well the day dawned bright and clear but I knew better then to be deceived by the blissful sight out my bedroom window. I was going on an adventure – and all who know me know that when I head out on an adventure it means that laughter and “experiences” arew right around the corner.

Never the less, I bound out of bed and jump into the shower (okay I was pretty tired as it took for ever to fall asleep the night before and I was probably running on about 3 hours of sleep! – needless to say I didn’t bound or jump anywhere!!) and start the day. After my final packing and ensuring I had enough room for whatever little items I may buy along the way, I quickly call my mom to tell her that I will email the itinerary tonight. By this point my hour of the day has gone pretty smoothly. Of course that never lasts as sure enough – Mom questions me as to whether I had heard all about the ‘666’ play that has been in the news. Of course not! I have spent every waking moment doing nothing but prepping for this trip this past week – but thanks Mom for bringing it to my attention now! She then instructs me on where to go to buy fun things for the boys (my mercies – haven’t I proven myself as a valid aunty yet?) and then Fran and I are off.

The trip to the airport is fairly uneventful but I know this can’t last. I get into the terminal, look at my ticket, find the ‘Frontier’ counter and within 2 minutes I am at the desk being serviced. This is where things start to get sketchy!! They can’t seem to get all my info loaded into the computer. Whenever they try to print a baggage tag – some dudes tag prints but he is only going as far as Denver. As much as I love shopping, there is no way I can afford to buy a new wardrobe if my luggage does not make it to Nashville. Finally after 15 minutes and 5 wrong baggage tags, 3 re-rentries of my passport, I have the necessary boarding passes and I am off! Next stop security.

Just as I am about to load my stuff onto the conveyor belt that goes through the xray machine, I am told that I have been selected at random for a search. Of course I have! I always am!! So she pulls me out of line, asks me to empty all of my electronics then sends me through the beepers. And of course I chose to wear the belt with the metal beading on it – it never beeps – I am sure they are plastic beading with metallic finish. But no! I beep away. So then I must undo my belt while she feels around my waistline.

Next it is a complete search of all my bags. That careful packing all put to waste as everything is disorganized once again. Finally – the best part. The “patting” as they so innocently put it. That means that you stand there spread eagle while they feel over my entire body looking for hidden weapons culminating with “patting” my head with their rubber gloves. Of course my hair is now all staticy and being pulled as they run their fingers over my head. Goodness gracious!

But alas I am on the plane and awaiting the next adventure while looking out over the Colorado mountain range – the rockies are most definitely cooler!!

Stay tuned for part 2 because alas the day was not over yet . . .

Another random moment in the midst of my life . . .

My friend Mel and I have established a bit of a fun tradition where we do a progressive dinner when she is up visiting and we actually have more then 2 hours to see each other. The premise is that we choose all of our favorite restaurants with favorite items for each course (i.e. I love the cactus cuts and BP’s but don’t often eat there for anything else) and then order one to share – take our time getting to the next restaurant and do the same.

Well, Friday was the day for this extravaganza –

We started out at El Sombrero’s and had some fabulous tiquita chicken bites of heaven while being entertained to all the famous Mexican love songs by this cute little Mexican man on his guitar. Then we walked down 17th to hit up Fiore’s for their yummy mushroom caps. Along the way we wandered into a couple shops and looked around. Our next stop was Milestone’s where we decided to keep the varieties of ethnicities, etc. going and chose the Red Thai Curry bowl! From there it was back to the car and off for the dessert finale! Well – on the way Mel decides that we should run across the intersection even though the light had started to flash. Just as we take off I notice the hand no longer flashing and the light turn yellow. In my mind I am realizing that I am never going to make it as my flips do not allow for sprinting very well but I decide to at least give it my best shot when my back foot fully runs out of my flip flop. Now, please do not forget that I have a 36” inseam – this means a full 3’ of toned muscle (okay maybe not so toned but still a 3’ span of leg) per leg and as Fran can attest to a very long stride. So now to jog back to where my shoe lays is a good 10’ with one bare foot and a light that is definitely red for me which means green for the four lanes of traffic 3 deep per lane anxiously awaiting to cross through the intersection. I then realize that my best bet as I don’t want anyone running over my favorite flip is to take my other flip off thus freeing my body to uninhibitedly sprint to the flip and back to the sidewalk. I didn’t dare look up at anyone waiting in their cars as I am sure my face was beet red to the point that the drivers thought their light had turned red again.

My my - what a laugh – enough that we had no problem working off our first three courses and making plenty of room for dessert!

Ever have a craving for greek salad and you aren't too sure why . . .?

Well, perhaps your investigating should start with sniffing the person next to you . . . alas, this will never be truly understood unless I dive into the story so here goes - and please if you get a mental image, feel completely free in laughing out loud cause quite certainly it was the funny in real life.

So as per usual as of late, this one morning a couple of weeks ago (when we had the gorgeous hot stretch), I was running a little behind schedule. And now that it is summer, one must factor in the extra 10 minutes it takes to shave ones legs. Especially considering my attraction to short skirts. Now it truly isn't an attraction which is in vain but rather quite a vain attraction. You see, I think I look pretty good in short skirts as that flashes the best part of my legs and hides those trouble parts - the high upper thigh area. So anyways, I was running late. But to keep the body in its best svelte form, you always here how important it is to have breakfast. And we know that too many carbs does not consitute a healthy body trimming breakfast. Truly, I must be upfront at this point and share that I do need to work to get myself into svelte form (surprising I know but those short skirts do hide something Nicole and that something looks a little like my breakfast food of choice if you get what I mean!) and so watching the carb intake is important in my day. Therefor, on the way out of the house, as you have probably already deduced for those that love Alfred Hitchcock, I grabbed the container of cottage cheese as well as some fruit and a yogurt, shoved it in a plastic bag and put that plastic bag on the top of the cute pair of sandals that I was going to wear with my short little skirt, my mother's day card, and a few other items.

Oh, and one thing I forgot to mention, the weather was predicted to be 27 with a chance for showers that day.

Anyways, so I run out of the house and start my quick little speed walking trip to the bus praying that I will beat the bus and there will be a seat for me. As I cross the street about a block from my house I feel this drip on my foot. Now to know me is to know that ever since a bird crapped on my head when I was in a particular vain moment on my way to lunch after church, and the hex dude from the bus during another vain moment, I am extremely paranoid that a bird might crap on me again. So upon feeling the substantial rain drop i immediately look down to ensure it is clear and not slimy white with some green. My fears were instantly relieved when I could not see any evidence of the drip. I then glanced up to the sky and noticed that it was slightly overcast. After another 4 or 5 raindrops growing in size with each one, my prayer began to also include that I would make it to the bus before it started to pour on me. Throughout this entire internal dialogue with God I am also wondering why there does not appear to be any wet spots elsewhere on the pavement when suddenly I felt rain running down my leg.

Now by this time, regardless with how distracted I was with the potential of birds crapping on my and how tired I still was, I know that this couldn't be rain when I looked in my bag and spotted the cottage cheese container. Of course, that had to be it, the cottage cheese must be leaking out a little. I was now starting to catch a drift of something that no longer smelt lilac'y fresh and couldn't wait to finish crossing the street to check out what was going on. As I squatted down on the sidwalk and started to look into my bag I realized that it indeed was not cottage cheese I had grabbed but rather the feta cheese (explanation number 1 for the smell). I pulled out the plastic bag with my breakfast items to find that the container had completely drained of all the brine that the feta is stored in and this brine had now soaked my sandals, my mother's day card was starting to warp and my bag had a pool of brine sitting in it on the bottom.

As i am dry heaving over the stench so early in the morning, and trying to clean up my bag as best I coul I am now realizing that I will miss my bus that I normally take. Then from behind me I hear a familiar sound - the lady who dry heaves/coughs every 45 seconds is quickly approaching. (I must also share that this lady is the reason why I avoid that bus time at all cost - she makes me start to get nauseas by her noises and I have to listen to it on my 25 minute commute downtown as my stop is apparently before hers) By this point, there is nothing I can do but truly laugh out loud! I get to the bus stop and continue to try to clean up my sandals on the grass and toss out the lunch bag with the feta container and all the kleenexes and napkins I used to clean everything up.

The bus pulls up and it is packed. At this time of year, a packed bus also means that it is hot and stuffy and people often do not open the windows at that time of the day yet. As soon as I step on I realize that this is not going to be a fun rider for everyone else as the strong sent of feta cheese and brine seems to prepare the way before me. I am unsure as to whether I should own up to this stench and apologize or start to sniff and look around me in disgust for the 'individual' causing such a rancid stench. In keeping with my true personality I opt for the latter.

My entire day was off due to this one little incident. My sandals were so saturated with brine that I could not wear them and was forced to wear flip flops with my little skirt all day, the feta was all over my skirt and so as hard as I tried to get it out, the skirt certainly had an eau de greek salate!, my bag needed airing as well and so the stench continued from my cubicle for most of the day.

My mercies, God certainly has an amusing way of dealing with my vanity and amusing myself, Himself and all others I seem to come in contact with using my life every chance He gets!!

Gong Show Magnet

And if any of you think that I am not talking about my life . . .

Okay so listen to this small rant which actually has me battling discouragement over it: So Sunday was a gorgeous day. I must admit was feeling a little discouragement in the morning at our lead team meeting but church and worship were amazing and then I came home, had some lunch while talking to a friend and went for a nice long prayer walk. My spirits were quite refreshed and the day was gorgeous. Next item on my list was grocery shopping - well since the day was so beautiful it seemed a shame to not put the top down. As I am driving to Safeway, I am realizing that the 5 minute drive is not nearly long enough for this day so I turn down McKnight, catch Edmonton Trail and hook up with Memorial Drive - my favorite strip for a topless cruise!! Well, as I am stopping in the long line of cars, I look in my rear view mirror to see this huge pathfinder barreling down on me - I tense up and await the crash which to my relief does not occur with about 8" to spare, then I hear someone locking their breaks, squealing tires and the sickening sound of plastic and metal being warped beyond recognition as my body jolts forward in the seat (the force was enough to cause my 1/3 full Tim's (1/2 FV and 1/2 Coffee - thanks for that introduction Sarah) to slosh all over the counsel). Well the pathetic string of cars led by myself turns off on a side street and begins to exchange numbers! Poor little Zinny :( She looked so sad and bruised sitting there waiting while I got everything worked out. The Pathfinder had this huge metal grill which crumpled her little bumper and trunk. The gentleman who caused the accident definitely saw the worst of it - his Honda Civic had the entire engine blown out as he ran into the wheel well on the Pathfinder - poor guy. Alas, not only will Zinny's spa date have to be cancelled but now I need to schedule her for some corrective surgery - all I can say is Why Me? Oh well - as my friend so sympathetically put it - cars can be fixed, the main thing is that I am all right (my body is pretty stiff so will be getting some massages out of this deal as well - not all is bad in the state of Denmark I suppose) and that it wasn't his muscle car cause that would be a lot harder to find parts for!

Damsel in Distress

Okay I shared this at group last night but figured those of you unable to make it would enjoy this as well so here goes.

Well I was all dolled up on Tuesday complete with fish net (the office appropriate style) hose and my little shoes. I was sitting in my cubicle speaking with David Murray. Seen as how none of you know David Murray I will divert to spend a small amount of time describing this as it is important to the humor of the story.

David Murray is a gentleman that has been with Entero for a number of years. His hair is completely white, he sports a little mooostahhhhche (the accent is definitely appropriate in this setting), and is very purposeful and methodical about his speech and actions. (The kind of man I am sure I drive nuts in I hope a humorous way as I am all over the map and he likes to draw pictures and boxes and lines to describe everything.) This gentleman is a true gentleman, has a heart of pure gold, absolutely adores his wife and loves talking about her and sips his tea with his pinky out not because he is not masculine but because that is how you do things with proper etiquette. He speaks very slowly and I often catch him saying to me – okay just wait, let’s look here, oh – go back for a second I wasn’t finished over there, etc. etc.

So we are sitting at my desk – myself behind it and David at the rounded corner discussing an issue in the application. For comfort purposes I often kick my shoes off under my desk and did just that. When suddenly I realized that my fishnet were stuck on something in the carpet. I tried to wiggle my foot around to release it but that didn’t work. It was to the point where I could no longer concentrate on the issue at hand as I was too preoccupied by my foot and then I started to giggle. David gives me this strange eyeball wondering what it is I am giggling about when I suddenly stand up as well as I could, push my chair aside and disappear under the desk giggling quite enthusiastically at this point trying to choke out a request for David to excuse me. Well of course David is querying as to what is wrong and all I can get out is my hose, my hose. Finally after trying to release the hose to no avail for a few seconds I manage to explain that I think my hose is caught on a staple. Well then David is ready to jump in and help (being the gentleman that he is – always willing to rescue a damsel in distress)! So then he comes under the desk on the other side and is working away. Well now what a sight – here we both are under the desk giggling uncontrollably. And I must say it did take a good minute or two to detach my foot from this staple. Needless to say we were the joke of the office for the rest of the day!!

And Lani said her bus ride was uneventful . . .

I get on the bus this morning at 7:15 a.m. and am quite excited that there are some seats(- now you must remember that at this point I am the picture of innocence and sweetness). Of course they are all the way at the back of the bus and so I am quickly walking to the back before the bus driver decides to start driving all crazy (Cause there were definitely no cute boys in site that I would have wanted to land in their laps). A couple of the spots would require me to wake sleeping individuals to move over so I chose the one totally free one - wrong move. As I am about to sit down the guy puts his arm around the back of the seat and says "Hey girlie, come sit next to me!" As soon as I sit down I can smell the booze so I know I am in for a bit of an interesting ride (keep in mind this is 7:15 a.m.!! and it wasn't coffee and baileys I was smelling). Well he proceeds over the next 15 minutes to repeatedly ask me where I work, what I do for a living, how I am and if I think that I am better than everyone else - better than anyone in fact and then shares that he is a voodoo spiritualist. It didn't take me long to be wishing I had already purchased that Nano so that I could have appeared unapproachable - instead I go for the only maneuver I can thing of - I am either totally ignoring him by turning my head away or else telling him that I am not going to answer his questions Throughout this he is pulling at my hair (voodoo - yikes), flicking things onto me after he has scratched his head (lice - please tell me no) coughing on me (almost as though he is trying to cough spirits on me) and intensely staring at me (can I help it if I am irresistibly hot). It is silent for a couple minutes and I notice that my boot is slightly dirty so I reach down to clean it, then he does the same on his shoe. Followed by the remaining five minutes of him telling me that I think I am better than everyone else, but I need to realize that I am not. I am better than no-one. That he is better than me. That I act like I don't stink - but if only I would smell my fingers after I wipe my @$$ I would know that I stink as much if not more than others. That I am nothing. Over and over again. Not sure if I should laugh, cry or get up and walk away - I chose the praying for deliverance method!

And seriously - Lani's ride is completely normal. How can that be?!?!

Here are some funnies for you

Okay time for some of the giggles I keep promising:

I will lead off with a May-Lin’ism cause it sure did make me laugh hard and then launch into my life on the bus!

As we were driving home from Lake Louise, it ended up being May-Lin and myself in my car (one of Fran’s other friends met us out there and so Fran went home with her and Nicole’s car contained the passengers from the drive out) and we were talking about speeding. To preface this, I should tell you that there was a bit of playful chastising from Nicole about my lead to Lake Louise as I would sometimes find “Zinny” (that is my car for those in the group who haven’t had a chance to meet her yet) speeding along at 130 in a 90 zone (you know how she likes to do that, Sarah) and so I was trying to be more cognoscente on the way home! J Anyways, May-Lin is stating that she quite likes speed and feels very comfortable driving fast on the trip between Oyen and Calgary! And of course I pipe in with “I know what you mean, I don’t do anything below 130 when I drive home in the summer!” To which May-Lin responds in a slightly dejected voice: “ Oh, well I was kind of talking more around the 110 mark!” Poor thing; I bust out in heaps of laughter and she is helplessly trying to explain why 110 is kind of fast in her little high pitched May-Lin voice. It was quite amusing!

And now for an update on my bus saga. I had filled everyone in on this even on Wednesday and felt that you should not be missing out on such tales . . .

Well last Wednesday, in order to get everything done that I needed to get done and hopefully jet out of the office at 4:30 to prepare for Fran’s birthday eats at small group, I got up and headed downtown to be at the office at 6 a.m. Well, I thought my afternoon rides were eventful – the 5:40 a.m. bus is a whole new story. It is a community which only allows outsiders to observe because it has to. As I am getting on the bus in my semi-comatose state at that dreadful time of the morning, I am met with playful banter between the bus driver and 70% of its riders. They are all talking about what they watched on TV last night, how their day at work was, what they were planning for that day interspersed with all sorts of good natured insults hurled in every direction. It was quite obvious that they knew each other very well. Then the bus driver starts in on her love for photography and slows down at every “picturesque” junction to a turtles pace to show everyone where she would love to take a picture and what she would like to add to it (as in ice on the branches, summer scape with wildflowers, etc). by this time we are reaching the center street bridge and I hear the driver mumbling about David not being there yet. We then stop at the bus stop and wait for David to arrive because he is always there on time and chances are the bus is running “slightly” early! Within about 2 minutes, David does come sauntering to the bus and gets on to good natured jokes about taking an extra couple minutes in the shower that morning. Finally we have made it down town and as people are getting off, they are stopping for the last little extra chat with the driver, telling Tom to move his fat @%%, asking Rita if she is ready for her job review, giving John tips on what to do with his children etc. Seriously it was the #3 gang – I now understand where that guy go the idea for the reality TV show that hid a camera in a subway car – he was obviously at one point and active member on the 5:40 a.m. #3 and I think it might have even been the “Richard” that everyone was talking about how much they missed!