*insert post title here*

I've been delinquent in my posting over the past couple days. Here's what I got.

1. MSG was spotted yesterday, wearing these hideous green Pumas. That matched his earplugs. Huh? He's been wearing earplugs recently. I don't know if this is a new thing or not. He got off the bus yesterday at the Ben and Jerry's for his free ice cream cone.

2. Overheard while riding a City Kitty on Sunday, from a bus driver to a dispatcher, "I have a passenger on my bus who every time she gets on she starts trouble with black people." I didn't get the ending.

3. Boyfriend is now officially on vacation.

4. I had to cut DHL Boy loose. He wouldn't stop calling me. That's not for me.

5. I don't feel good. I think I have bronchitis or a sinus infection or something.

6. I may or may not have been dissed by the Sassy Apron Swap. We'll see what happens.

Beer, Indian Food and Reggae

Yesterday was the World Beer Festival. It's great fun. This is one thing that makes living in Raleigh tolerable. For the event in Raleigh, they block off Moore Square Park plus Martin and Person Streets. They set up tents and the people with beer line up at tables to dispense their tasty beverages. When you enter, they give you a plastic cup with one, two and three ounce markings on them. Each vendor gives two ounce samples. While this may not sound like a whole lot, after you've hit 30 vendors, I assure you, two ounces is plenty. There were 118 breweries represented, each with anywhere from one or two to four or five brews to taste. The afternoon event goes from noon to four. Do I need to state the obvious? I was useless by one o'clock. The afternoon was great fun. I had many a disappointing brews, but sampled a few surprising winners. One of my favorites was the Polish Mead. They had two styles, one light, one dark, with 16% alcohol. The dark was okay, but the light mead was phenomenal. When it comes to alcohol, my people know what they are doing. After we took a lunch break for some really good Indian food and bad reggae music and went through the tents again, I hit the APIS Meadery table a few more times. At 3:30, and 16% alcohol, this was probably not the best judgement call I could have made. I really enjoyed the Magic Hat Hocus Pocus. They are in Burlington, VT, where I am going next month. One of the real losers of the day was the Lemon Grass Wheat from the Outer Banks Brewing Company. I can't believe the brew master doesn't think it tastes like a citronella candle. Everyone else does! I tried to sample things I couldn't normally get or haven't tried. One big disappointment was the volunteer staff. The folks doling out the beer, with a few exceptions, were just volunteers from town who wanted a free ticket to the evening session. What this means is that the either didn't know much about the brewery or didn't care.

I made this hat for the event.


I got lots of compliments on the hat. I am very proud of the hat. At some point during the afternoon, three very young, rather intoxicated frat boys inquired about my hat. They wanted to buy it. The best part was...they were completely serious about it.

The temporary tattoos were everywhere. (Can you see the cute polk dot lining in my hat?)





I left my posse around 4:15 to head home. I was across the street from the entrance/exit of the festival waiting for a rickshaw to take me home when I saw this spectacle of amatuerism:




The guy clinging to the lamp post for dear life gets up at one point to follow a girl about his age in approximately the same state as he. He then resumes his position at the lamp post, only to get up again a couple minutes later to just wander off across the street. He was ready to go. I have to admit that he did not at any point look like he was going to throw up. Impressive.

The guy in the green shirt, who is obviously three sheets to the wind, is yelling, "dude, you're not passing out on my watch! You're not going to pass out on my watch!"


Knowledge to be applied to the next event:

1. Make pretzel necklace. There were lots of folks walking around with pretzels on string around their neck. I really could have used one of those.

2. No need to bring water. They have free bottles and water coolers all over the place.

3. Don't put "over 21" id bracelet on quite so tight next time.

4. Eat more carbs before the event. Pancakes, biscuits, etc.

5. Wear adult diaper. They have port-o-potties, lots of them. Before yesterday, I had the proud honor of saying I'd never used one. After yesterday, I can say with a fair amount of certainty that I will never use another one again.

6. Either go alone or go with 15 people. I went with about 15 people. There are so many people at the event there that you will invariable lose your drinking partners many, many times and for long periods of time. If you go with 15 people, every time you turn around, there's someone you know. If you go with one or two people, I suspect you will spend a lot of time looking for them.

I was looking forward to just lounging about today. Sadly, the church next door has set up three praise and worship bands in the span of two blocks. Complete with amplifiers that go to 11. This is one thing that makes living in Raleigh not so pleasant. Of all the days for the weather report to be wrong. It was suppose to rain today.

Bear left. Right frog.

Today was an emotional rollercoaster. This weekend and all week long, we were very worried about a friend. We've been unable to locate him. This morning, it weighed heavily on my mind.

Around 10:30 this morning, Kim from Facilities comes up to me and says she needs to talk to me about something. Our DHL driver was asking her about me. I've never seen him, but he apparently thinks I'm the bees knees. Alright, that made me giggle. It's been a loooong time since I was pursued. Historically, I date assholes. She told me he was a really nice guy and I should stop by around 4:30 when he comes to pick up our packages.

Around three, we had a not so quick departmental meeting. We've had two temps in our office to get us through Christmas, Easter and Theme Park seasons. Tameka just started a month or two ago. I heart Tameka. She's smart, funny and organized. She works hard and I like that. We also have Clarissa. She started before Thanksgiving. She is lazy, dim-witted, unorganized and completely unprofessional. She wears so much perfume that you can smell it...literally...twenty feet away. One day Clarissa was being, well, Clarissa. Tameka walks into my office and says, "how do you just not go off on her on a regular basis?" Nuff said. We had to let go of one temp because we just don't need both of them. Three guesses who we kept. Fuck. I just can't believe it. In the middle of our meeting, Clarissa declares, "I gots to go," and gets up to leave. My boss stopped her. Clearly, she was the better choice.

The day got infinitely better at 4:30. I went down to the mail room. Kim tells me to quickly go down the hallway, turn around and come back because DHL Boy will be coming in the door at the end of the hall. This was so sixth grade, but so worth it. DHL Boy is hot. Shaved head. Good. Beard. Good. Hispanic. Good. Physically speaking, which is about all I have to go on at the moment, he's spot on. As I was walking down the hall trying to look as non-chalant as possible, he says hello to me. "Hi, how's it going," says I. He goes into Kim's office, they talk business, he walks out. I ran in and we giggled. She then asks me if I want his phone number. I happened to have a Moo card on me, and she passed it on. I left work a few minutes later and he drove past the bus stop and waived. About three minutes later, he called. To tell me that I looked nice today and to see if it was okay if he called me later tonight. We just talked a few minutes ago. I have high hopes for DHL Boy.

The best part of my day is that my friend has been located, safe and sound. A little worse for the wear, but okay.

I also made a small change here at Chez Megonthebus. I changed my tags. I realized that there are times when it's been weeks between posts about my constantly rotating cast of characters, so the tags relate to the characters I post about.

And finally, I'm watching The Muppet Movie. Mel Brooks just got his ass kicked by Miss Piggy. I love that scene.

Uphill, both ways. In the rain.

This morning, Boyfriend got off his bus and came over to ask me how my business trip was. He hasn't been on vacation, they're just moving him around. (Maybe the TTA decided to separate us for a while. That's fine. Our love is strong enough to withstand a separation.) During our conversation, I found out something else about him that's really interesting. He's a pretty smart guy.

Unfortunately, that 10 minute conversation was the highlight of my day. At 7:40 AM. After that, it was all down hill.

It rained cats and dogs today. This morning, Special Ed sat next to me on the bus and stared at me the whole way and mumbled to himself. He is creepy.

This afternoon, it rained again. The Red Headed Stranger was on the bus already. He started a conversation with me and the girl who gets on at the same stop. He mentioned being concerned his phone would get wet since we were in the middle of a torrential downpour. I gave him my little plastic baggie currently holding my phone. He was happy. I wrapped my phone in my waterproof fleece that was in my backpack.

On my second bus, Bob was already there. Unfortunately, he got off at my stop again. Which means instead of crossing the street and walking into my building, I had to walk four blocks and crawl over the stone wall next to my building. I went south on St. Mary's, east on Morgan, north on Boylan for two blocks, behind the high rise next to me, through their dumpsters, and over the stone wall that's waist high on one side and chest high on the other. My jeans were soaked by this point, both legs and the butt. However, I really don't want this freak to know where I live. If you ever find my dismembered head in the woods of North Dakota, it was him.

If only my day was over at that point. Alas. I went to the grocery store. I am currently self-medicating with gummy sour grapefruit slices from the Fresh Market. If you're lucky enough to live near a Fresh Market, you should try these. I am completely addicted.

Yo, Rickshaw!

I got a chance to travel in a Raleigh Rickshaw this weekend. It was awesome. My driver was Matt. He plays hockey, works at Whole Foods, and is getting ready to bike to New Orleans. He really liked his second job and said he does it three or four times a week.

Why take a taxi that burns fossil fuels when you can take a rickshaw that burns pasta and tofu? They have a dispatcher, so I call them to come get me at my apartment and take me downtown. I love it.

Raleigh Rickshaws

Doing good with one click of a mouse!

These two websites were recently brought to my attention.

Good Search

Good Shop

Good Search donates a penny to your designated charity every time you search. A penny doesn't seem like much, but think about how often you use Google every day! Let's say I use Google 20 times a day, on average. Multiply that by 365 days and I've donated $73 a year to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina at the end of a year just by going about my daily business. For every dollar donated, the Food Bank can provide four meals. That's 292 meals just because I need to look up something. The search engine is powered by Yahoo! which means you'll get good information. They have ways for you to add the search engine to your browser bar.

Good Shop is a similar concert. If you are shopping online, enter the website through Good Shop and a certain percentage will be donated to your charity. Again, these folks get money simply because you are going about your business. How cool is that? I'm going on a couple vacations in the next two months. I want to buy a new digital camera. I go to the Kodak web site through Good Shop and the Food Bank gets 3% of what I spend. Nifty, no? Zappos gets them a 6% donation! Purchases through iTunes gets them 2.5%. I'm not even going to try to calculate how much that gets them!

If you go to one of these pages and look at the bottom, you see a link for Participating Non-profits. There are over 58,000 active charities. There's got to be somebody you can get behind!

Happy Earth Day!*

Free rides on the City Kitty today in celebration of Earth Day!


*Earth Day is April 22.

Daily Nuttiness

-Yesterday, Amy Number One rang for the bus to stop when we got to Meredith College. Boyfriend was driving. He turned around and says to her, "where are you going?" She didn't really have a good answer for him. She clearly drives him crazy, but he's so patient with her. He must have kids. Patience like that only comes from raising little people.

-Grandpa was back behind the wheel this morning. College Boy rang for his stop. Grandpa kept driving. College Boy said, "stop, please." Grandpa kept driving. College Boy shouts at the top of his lungs, "STOP, PLEASE!!!!" Grandpa came to a screetching halt. I don't remember if I mentioned it, but last time he closed the doors on someone. He reminds me a little of the guy who drives the Knight Bus.

-The Raleigh city buses are called CAT, for Capital Area Transit. A high school teacher friend told me today that her students call the Raleigh buses, "The City Kitty." That kills me. City Kitty.

The gods, they smile on me.

What a day, peoples! What a day! Yesterday morning, I had some bread in my lunch box, a multigrain bread with millet, flax and sesame seeds. While I was waiting at the bus stop, the sparrows were hopping around, foraging in the Char-grill parking lot. If you're a bird, it's apparently a good place to look for breakfast. I pulled out the bread and started feeding the birds. It appears as though they remembered me. I sat down on the bench, and was greeted by a ballsy little sparrow who came close enough I could have pet him. He chirped at me. While this was happening, Babushko walked up. It was very cold this morning. Today, he wore his long black trench coat, gold corduroys long enough to cover his ankles and one gardening glove. He did not have his silk plaid scarf with him. He stood by the other bench for a few minutes, then walked over to me. He said, "Nicest lady of them all" a few times then walked over to the other bench. He repeated this a few times before the bus came. I think I might knit him a nice warm hat, scarf and gloves.

Recently, I've been taking an earlier bus because the one I normally take has been running very late. This morning, I decided to take a chance that it was running on time. The bus pulled up at the stop and who was behind the wheel? Boyfriend. Seriously. I must have looked pretty surprised because he started laughing. He mentioned he was filling in this morning. He normally only drives that route on Thursdays. The one thing I will say for the man, he's damn patient. An Asian woman got on near Meredith. She proudly announced to all of us several times that it was her first time riding the bus. I can only assume she meant first time ever in her life as she seems rather baffled by the process of paying for said bus ride. She couldn't figure out how to pay. Boyfriend seemed to sense we'd be there all day if he waited for her, so he told her to go sit down. She then thinks that this means bus virgins ride free. It took three people to convince her she had to pay. She is then confused as to how she is going to get to where she needs to go. She is going to Durham. Boyfriend says he'll show her which bus to take. She sits down next to the rack with the schedules, which she proceeded to tidy up. She pulls out the right schedule she needs for the second leg of her maiden voyage, but doesn't know how to read it. By this time, we've past the Park and Ride where The Other Amy got on. (Her work badge says IBM, but she wears a fleece jacket with the GoTriangle.org logo on it. I can't figure it out.) So, this Asian woman gets up and goes over to The Other Amy and asks for help. Amy was sitting quietly reading a book. I am not quite sure what it is about her, but she appears to exudes a "come hither" vibe to all the resident crazies. The Other Amy...Friend to all the animals. Amy gives her a crash course on reading schedules. During this exchange, Babushko is sitting next to me and is calling me the nicest lady of all. There's another woman behind me. She has that aura of someone with mental illness self medicating and trying to pass for a regular member of society. As usual, I had the headphones on. This woman barely taps me on the shoulder and asks me which bus can she take to go to Chapel Hill and ride around all day. She made it clear she didn't want to actually go to Chapel Hill, but rather ride around as long as possible. I told her I didn't know, because I really don't. She clarified what she wanted. I advised her I still didn't know. She then turns to The Other Amy for guidance. Once the Asian woman was settled in, she made a phone call. She covered her mouth and bottom of the phone with her hand like it was a secret. The funny thing is that I'm pretty sure she was speaking in Mandarin. Amy Number One was MIA today. I can't begin to imagine what she would have added to the mix.

When I go home, I went to visit my neighbor, Mary Jane. Mary Jane is 86, I think. She moved into Chez St Mary's on October 1, 1959. Eisenhower was in office, Alaska became a state, and there was much turmoil in Tibet. Barbie made her debut. Yours truly wouldn't make her debut for thirteen years and four days after Mary Jane moved in. As far as I know, she never married and never had children. She has a boatload of nieces and nephews. Nine exactly, who in turn collectively have 21 great nieces and nephews, who in turn collectively have 21 and a half great-great nieces and nephews for her. She showed me pictures. We talked. She has pictures of most of the residents of the building over the years. The guy who moved out of my apartment in November was a babe. She took my picture to add to the album. She is a really sweet lady. I need to visit her more often. She was close to my age when she moved in. I have to admit, there is a part of me that views her as The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come except nicer and worried if i go out after dark.

Smokin' and drinkin' on a Tuesday night

I left work a few minutes early today. I was able to take an earlier bus home. On this particular bus, there is a gaggle of women who sit up front and socialize. At least one, if not more, is guaranteed to be wearing way too much of a flowery perfume. Since strong smells, particularly perfumes, set off migraines for me, I sit in the back. I found an empty seat in front of these two construction worker looking dudes. When I sat down, they were comparing cell phones, ringtones and cost of said phones. Within two minutes, it became very obvious that the guy behind me was wasted. He smelled like the cologne of...well, Springfield, Mass? It was a mixture of BO, stale Kool cigarettes and Colt 45. I thought I was going to gag. About five minutes into the trip home and after changing seats four times, his friend passed out. My man, however, was still behind me. He announced at one point that he had to open the window because he needed some air. My first thought was naturally that he was going to puke. This did not happen. He announced later that he had to get off the bus because he had to pee. He then bitched about having to sit in traffic. He answered the phone with a loud, resounding, "mothah fuckaaaaaaaaaah!" He announced as I was getting off the bus that he had to go because he was about to pee on the bus. In short, he's a real winner. What baffles me is that there is literally no place around the transfer center to drink. Was he brown baggin' it on the platform?

Before I forget...happy tax day everyone. Don't forget to file today to get your economic stimulus something or other. Since I have been procrastinating on ponying up the $131 I owe the feds, I decided to stop by Snoopy's for some dinner. I walked up to the window and the really sweet manager guy says to me, "Well hey there darlin'. I haven't seen you in a few days." I think I need to lay off the Snoopy's. In my defense, the chicken salad sandwiches are that good! The fries are always hot and the tea is nice and sweet. The people who work there are super friendly and fast. Oh, and it's two blocks from my apartment. It doesn't get any better!

I had my EFO (employee feedback opportunity) today. I got a very good review from my boss. And a raise! Yay me!

Off to begrudgingly finish my taxes.