See you soon!

I'm off the the Green Mountains!

That settles it...

I have to get cats soon.

I like the guy who sits at the bottom and walk with his front feet.

Click here!

Of all the gin joints in all the world...

I had to work today, to make of for last week. I was riding my bike to the bus stop when who comes walking down the sidewalk towards me? My old friend, Chris, that's who. I love this guy. And I haven't seen him in a couple years. We were only able to talk for about 10 minutes before my bus came, but it was really good to see him. I gave him my number and went on my way. I got on the bus, which was as crowded as usual on a Saturday. I sat on the sideways seats and noticed the guy sitting next to me. He was young, probably 18 give or take a couple years, black, and a wee bit slack-jawed. Do you remember ADA Robinette from the first couple seasons of Law and Order? He has the same flat top haircut. The green embroidery on his black backpack indicates his name is James. James had a piece of paper he had printed in a color inkjet printer. It had the shape of a CAT bus on it and he was cutting it out. Very carefully. And he'd laugh and shake his head when the bus hit a bump. Once he cuts it out, he pulls out a full size bottle of school glue and starts folding, gluing and assembling the miniature paper bus. For the record, it was a copy of the Number 10 Longview bus. Once he got the bus glued together, he pulled a big plastic container out of his backpack. The was about 11" by 13" by 4" with a clear bottom and a blue hinged lid. He opened the lid and, to my surprise, it was chocked full of miniature paper buses. In fact, there was no room for the newly finished No. 10, so he took out a model of a new TTA bus to make room. He closed up the box and put it back in is backpack. He rode the rest of the way with the green paper bus in his hand. All of this took maybe 20 minutes and was simultaneously one of the funniest, coolest and most confusing things I've ever seen on the bus. I can only imagine what my face looked like when he opened the plastic box.

I left work about 1:30 and rode to the transfer center. The bus dropped me off in Raleigh around 3, which would normally be really annoying except that it was a really nice day out and...Chris was at Moore Square waiting for his bus. We got to talk for about another half hour. I'll get to see him later this week when we have more time. What I just love about this guy is that no matter how long it's been since I've seen him, it feels like yesterday.

I had a great bike ride today to. I rode about 9 miles today which is a personal record for someone who isn't convinced yet that she's not going to fall over on the bike.

Take two of these and call me in the morning.

Not to worry, y'all. I'm still around. I just still sick. I've been riding the bus. Hijinx and hilarity have ensued. It's just that I fall asleep when I get home.

Be back soon.

Hey everybody, this way!

I am home again today. I made it halfway to the bus stop this morning and felt like I needed to lay down. So I turned around and came home. I woke up around 1:30 and walked down to Snoopy's for a chicken salad sandwich. While I was there, I was passed by two cars and a truck decked out in Hillary For President signs driving around and honking. Don't get me wrong. I'm a big fan of Hillary. I really hope she wins. I've always liked her. It just seems supremely hypocritical for this type of campaigning to be acceptable. Hillary has a very definite stance on the environment and what she's willing to do to change it. I don't think Hillary knows about it. I'm sure it's six volunteers run amok. I called her campaign headquarters to say something about this. A switchboard operator told me everyone was too busy to talk to me and that I needed to go on line. (Sorry, lady, I don't need to do anything!) My only recourse at that point was to go to her main website and submit comments. I must admit I am a little put off by all this.

Here's what I said.

"I live in Raleigh, NC. Our election is tomorrow. I understand that Mrs. Clinton has strong ideas about the environment, including ending carbon emissions and fuel dependence. I am in support of Mrs Clinton and sincerely hope she is our next president. What concerns me is that her Raleigh, NC camp feels an appropriate way of campaigning is to decorate cars and drive around downtown honking their horns. Not only are these people contributing to the noise pollution, but also to the air pollution. When I looked up how to volunteer for Mrs Clinton, I did not see driving and honking as one way to support her campaign. In a conservative state such as North Carolina, she will have to be very careful with how she presents herself. We still have a very large farming community who feels her place is at home, taking care of her husband. These actions witnessed today appear very hypocritical.

You ought to be ashamed of yourselves."

That's the power of clean, baby!

I forgot to mention we have a new bus driver in the morning. Put a pair of glasses on this lady and I'd swear they were the same person.

Do I sound like I'm kidding?

If anyone thinks I was kidding about spray painting "parade route" on the street in front of my apartment building, I was not.

This morning I woke up to the sound of bagpipes. Lots of bagpipes. To my surprise when I looked out the window, there were fire trucks. Lots of fire trucks. As in...Hillsborough Street was closed a block up and looked like a parking lot for fire trucks. This morning there was another parade that started in front of my building. I went outside and took some pictures, which you can see here.

Not it!

I got kicked out of work today. One of my coworkers drove me to the bus stop. I still feel really crappy. I have bronchitis, which I get about once a year because asthma. I'll be okay in a couple days. Could be worse, right?

I ran up to the pharmacy this afternoon after my nap. On the bus home, two young teenagers were sitting across from me, one boy, one girl. The boy had a nearly full iced coffee from McDonald's, which he dropped on the floor. It went everywhere. The girl said to him, "I guess that's why there is no drinking on the bus." To which he replied, "it wasn't me. I didn't do it." Had I been feeling better, I might have told him it would be much more convincing if he wasn't holding the empty cup in one hand and the lid and straw in the other.

Come one, come all!

I just got home from my doctor's office. I can take the Number 2 and be at her office in 20 minutes, which is about as long as if I were to drive. Coming back, the bus was standing room only. I have never seen so many people on a City Kitty. It still wasn't as bad as the bus in Chinatown in San Francisco. The first time I went, we visited Chinatown...so cool, so many varieties of dried sea horses available! We were going to take a bus up a rather mighty hill. The first bus came. You could not have fit another person on the bus. I swear! The next one was a little better and we got on. At the next stop I was elbowed by an 80 year old Chinese man because I was in his way. He didn't say anything, he just shoved me out of the way. It was awesome.

How does Cordell Walker crash through all that glass and not get cut?

Two episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger and I still feel awful. I've always had a mild obsession with Chuck Norris that can't be explained my any reason whatsoever. I remember a few years back that I had a recurring dream about fighting bad guys, karate-style, with Chuck. (Don't judge. You know you have a freak flag too.)

I'm going to the doctor later today. Hopefully she'll give me drugs that work better than these dark chocolate M&Ms I've been taking. They just don't seem to be working.

Not going in to work today means I have to go in on Saturday. We're down one in the HR department. One of my coworkers was rushed to the hospital on Monday for what began as back and neck pain and turned out to be a aneurysm that resulted in emergency brain surgery!!!!! She's going to be okay, thankfully. She'll just be in the hospital for a couple weeks.

Still no word from the apron swap lady. How rude! I may have to resort to making an apron and mailing it to myself. "Oh! What a surprise! I just love the colors! I wonder how she know I had a rooster theme going on in my kitchen? It's perfect!"