Monday Misc

This last weekend, I delivered both editions of the Sunday paper – Saturday morning, I met the other driver and got my share of papers from him, and then on Sunday morning, I was to go downtown at 1 am and get our papers.  I laid down at about 8:30 to get up at midnight.

At 1:37 I woke up to my cell ringing and the number two driver asking how our papers were going.  My cell phone alarm either hadn’t gone off, or I had slept right through it.

Doh!!

I called the Oregonian and was told that my papers were on the deck, waiting for me to pick them up.  I threw on my clothes and rushed out the door and went downtown.  Indeed, my 156 bundles of papers were on the ground, waiting for me.  Everyone else was gone already, so I had no trouble loading my papers.  I drove across the river and met the other driver and we divvied up our papers.

(that means I lifted every bundle at least twice.  I don’t feel the need to go to a gym)

Although by now I was way late, I finished my run in about the usual 2 hours and 45 minutes.  I was two stops from the end of my route when my cell phone rang again.  It was the other driver, and his stepvan wouldn’t start for him.  I got to my last two stops and turned south to meet #2.

He had the hood up on his stepvan already, and the jumper cables out.  I listened as he cranked it, and thought it was likely the battery, so we went ahead and jumped the stepvan.  It started up, and I asked if he had any more stops where he had to shut off the engine.  He did have two stops to make where he had to leave the vehicle out of sight, snd thus shut off, so I followed him to those stops and then grabbed some of his papers to drop off on my way back to the ranch (where we park the stepvans).

I came home and although I had thought about doing my laundry, I slept instead, waking up in the afternoon.  By then the laundry room was full. so I put off the laundry until the evening.  I did the whites and the colors and then put them into the dryers.  The dryers take an hour and a half, so midway through, I laid down, for 30 minutes, and thought I’d be downstairs to get the dry laundry when I woke up.

An hour and a half later, I woke up and went down to fold my laundry.  One machine had been emptied and the laundry piled up on top of the dryer.  Since they had sat so long unfolded, the laundry is wrinkled… that’s the first time in eight years I have sluffed off on the laundry.

Damn call phone.  This morning, I set two alarm clocks, not just the cell alarm, and woke up on time and got to work with no trouble.  The cell actually worked too, so I don’t know if I was too tired to hear it go off, or whether the damn thing worked or not.  I shut the phone off and turned it on later, and it apparently works….

Today was a long day – a "1" day, when I have to transport kids from a high school to "my" elementary school.  I had just 35 minutes between my morning and my mid day runs today, or I woulda napped between runs.  I probably will tomorrow.

Wednesday is "late start" day for the middle school, so that’ll be an even longer day, but it’s "LOST" night too.

 

 

Big news today.  The "massacre" at Virginia Tech was a hot topic between the bus drivers today.  I’d just as soon never see that happen in one of my schools.  Just before I picked up this mid-day route, one of the high schools I service mid-day received a bomb threat.  The students were sent home while they looked for the non-existant bomb, so bus drivers had to scramble over to that school to get the kids home.  Maybe I don’t need that kind of overtime.

 

 

Scored some points today with one of my high school kids. Friday before last. an Asian girl had left her notebook on the bus, and I saved it for her.  I didn’t see her at all last week, so I was figuring that if I hadn’t her seen today, that I would turn it in to the school’s office.

I drove over to the Skills Center after I took home the Elementary kids today to pick up high school kids to take back to "my" high school, and was gratified to see the girl who owned the notebook.  I gave it to her and asked about her name, which was totally unfamiliar to me.  It turns out that she is an exchange student – from Mongolia!  First person I’ve ever met from that country.

She gave me a real winning smile as I handed her notebook to her,  She couldn’t think of where it was, and had thought it lost.  The bus driver comes through.

 

 

It’s Newspaper payday today, and after watching the evening news (from Blacksburg, Viginia), I think I’ll walk over to the Chinese restaurant and get me a full meal.

Misc. stuff:

Blacky Cat is seven years old now.  He was born around this time in 2000, and has lived with me most of his life.

I’ve had the minivan two years now.  I got it on the 15th two years ago, and have put 27,000 miles on it since.  It runs pretty well now, but the air conditioning needs recharging – good thing the bus paycheck comes next week.  (and it’ll be a good one – a full month of full-time days)

Time to edit this and post it and go eat me some good Chinese food… and see if that cute waitress is still there.

*****