Friday, April 30, 2010

Hang up and drive!

I nearly ended a life today. A man in a shiny black car, talking on his cell phone, rolled through a stop sign and pulled out in front of my bus and I mean RIGHT in front of my bus. I blared my horn and slammed on my brakes as hard as I could, sending passengers reeling and tipping over a stroller containing a very frightened baby. I stopped 2 inches from the driver's door, with my bus straddling a railroad track. He looked absolutely terrified, then shrugged and drove off. Grade A industrial strength douche bag! If I hadn't been able to stop he would have been no longer of this world. My bus and I would have squashed him like a bug. That phone call had better have been important. It better have been the lottery commission telling him he won a flabillion dollars, or the hospital informing him that they'd found a donor for his heart transplant, because otherwise, it's not worth losing a life over.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Coast again

Here are a few photos from Newport on Friday. I took Alex, Jonah and Coral along with me and we had a grand old time. We visited our old friends the sea lions, ate at the newly remodeled Mo's, and spent several hours on the beach, some of us in quiet contemplation and others in riotous fun. Guess which I was. Suffice it to say, I thought it was important that there be at least one dry, well rested person to go for help if the rest of them got dragged under by the Kracken, or something slightly less fantastic.






Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Pansy


Remember those Hefty garbage bag ads from a few years back? "Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy! Hefty hefty hefty!" Is it possible to be both? If any of you ever need CPR and I'm the only other person around, you're going to die. I am seriously a wuss and CPR takes some major stamina, so unless the EMTs arrive within about 2 minutes or there is an AED close by, it's curtains for you, baby. I had to renew my First Aid/CPR certification for work recently, and I dunno, are those dummies stiffer than a real body? Because it's freaking impossible to get the little light thingeys to go off every time. I need to do some weight training or something.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Holiday - woo hoo!

I have been granted a short holiday from work. Yes, folks, all my hard work and loyalty have finally paid off and I have been given an impromptu vacation. I earned this bonus yesterday morning when my alarm failed to function and I overslept and was 20 minutes late to start my shift. In recognition of this outstanding contribution they have extended me the opportunity for a 3 day unpaid hiatus from work. I have been suspended. Yay me. Does a 3 day suspension seem a little steep for 20 minutes late to anyone but me? I should add that this is the second time in 3 years that I have been late for work, and that in spite of my arriving 20 minutes late, I was on time to start the route. The buses were not held up by my lateness, unlike last week when Steve, another driver who had 4 incidents of lateness on his record showed up an hour and a half late for his shift. We received the same punishment. How is this fair?! I'm grousing here about it, but aside from the no pay part, and the unfairly harsh part, I'm not at all upset to have some time off. Friday I'm taking Alex to the coast. Wednesday I'm meeting Gab in Eugene for some girl time. Thursday evening I'm having game night with Jonah and Coral. It could definitely be worse. Too bad I couldn't have known about it ahead of time and planned a little getaway or something :)

Ebay is evil. I've decided. Actually, ebay is just like any other potential time waster on the internet. It has it's purpose, but for people like me, slightly obsessive compulsive sheep fanatics, it is a dangerous thing. Do you know how many sheep things are listed currently on ebay? I do, because I've looked at nearly all of them. (Incidentally, it's 28,064.) This is my new love:
I covet this sheep. Isn't he magnificent? He's also obscenely expensive. I've paid less for cars I've owned. But he is gorgeous, and I sincerely hope he finds a good and loving home. Sigh.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Lilacs

Spring is firmly and emphatically here, at long last. It was a sunny 65 degrees in my garden today :)
I'm not sure what this beauty will turn into, but I'd like to pretend it will be a butterfly, as opposed to some creepy crawly something that will end up in my shoe some morning.
This just makes me smile :)
I wish I could import the smell to go with this photo. I love lilacs. Nothing says spring to me like lilacs and snowballs. In my grandparent's garden there were lovely old lilac and snowball bushes side by side, and for the few fleeting weeks of their blooming season we would fill the house with blossoms.
My first year of college, on the last day of school, my boyfriend of the time and I were hurrying across campus to go to an awards ceremony, the very last thing we were going to do together before we got in our respective cars and drove home for the summer. We were dressed up in our Sunday best and looking fine. On our way the heavens opened and the rain poured down for one of those brief but energetic bursts. We took shelter under a blooming lilac tree and waited for the squall to pass, holding hands and drinking in the incredible aroma of the flowers and the rain. It was a very poignant and tender moment, knowing that we were soon to be parted, and even though things didn't work out between us, I still remember it fondly when I smell lilacs :)

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Death and ....

This was my accomplishment for the day:

Two whole days early! Normally I would have filed them months ago, but I'm not getting a refund this year, so I figure I'd like to keep my money as long as possible :) Unhappy as I am about owing taxes this year, at least it means I have a job and a good income. And that the infrastructure will continue to function, hopefully. And at least I'm not taxed 50% of my increase like the people of Limhi in bondage to the Lamanites, although sometimes it feels like it. No, all things considered, I really can't complain. At least not about this :)

Monday, April 5, 2010

Go Beavs! far far away

I did a semi-sneaky thing at work the other day and have been gloating over it's success ever since. The OSU v U of O civil war football game is scheduled to be in Corvallis this year on the 4th of December. I hate even being in the same city for this event, let alone trying to drive the bus that services the stadium, so I put in a time off request for that one day... and it was approved! Hee hee. I'm sure the dispatcher didn't realize what day it was, and if she had she would have rejected it. Bwah hah hah hah hah!!! I plan on staying cozied up at home pretending there's no such thing as american football.