November 2012 – Page 2 – Bus Driver Jim

Nexus 10

I bought the new Nexus 10 tablet from Google yesterday. When it arrives I will carefully unpack it and post the photos here. This is a big deal for me as I have resisted all of the tablets and smartphones that have come before.

I’ve been a computer pioneer for many decades, a computer science degree in 1971 and I bought the very first IBM personal computer in 1981, before many of you were born. I’ve been on the cutting edge of technology since, yet over the last few years I’ve let the smartphone and tablet markets evolve without jumping in.

Now I’m in… We’ll see how your Apple hardware compares to an Android device in the hands of an old guru. The next step is to hook it up with a cellular network and a smart phone. Stay tuned, I’m sure many upcoming posts will evolve from this technology :-)

Over The Cliff

A few weeks ago we had my boy Riley and his wife Jessica in town and on Saturday we headed over Teton Pass to visit Jackson, WY. At the top of the hill Riley pulled over for a photo taking session.

Steph and I were in the back seat. I jumped out as soon as we stopped and the wind was blowing so hard it snapped my Tilley Hat right off my head and over the cliff. I rushed towards the edge and saw my hat lying about six feet down. I went over the side and grabbed my hat. It’s got a two year guarantee if lost, but…

Meanwhile, from the back seat it appeared to Steph that I had been blown completely over the cliff :-) I’ve got to hand it to her, she jumped out of the car and was heading to assist, not knowing if it was a sheer drop, or a gradual decline (it was the latter).

We got back in the car and Riley just smiled and drove off. It was very surreal!

Update: I’m thinking this was the spot. Also, if you follow that road off to the right you’ll be on the Old Jackson Highway. I never knew, very cool!

Flight 4717

Steph flew over to Sacramento today for some Suburban Propane customer service training. Her tech geek boyfriend decided to track the flight. Watch the SlideShow

SlideShow (Flight 4717)

Cool Monday

I initially named this post Cold Monday but then I realized it’s a balmy 20 degrees this morning so I better save that title for later. Anyway, the snow on my vehicles windshield is deceiving in that there’s a nice layer of ice underneath.

Once things got warmed up a bit I was able to see that the crack has extended quite a ways from the little tape mark on the right!

SlideShow (Cool Monday)

Sad Eyes

Piper established a routine last winter that involved laying on the paperwork in my office and playing with her toys. Here we go again!

This seems to placate her need to hunt, but the sadness in her eyes is still evident…

I picked her up into my arms today, opened the sliding glass door to the deck, and held her out into the elements for a bit. It was 10 degrees, snowing, and no dry spots to place her paws. She understands the reality now…

Reload

Spent the afternoon at the Armory in Rigby. Guns, ammo and more guns… I happened into their bullet loading shop and found these two serious ammo machines.

The Tip

I’ve got a new customer named Donna. She’s a retired art teacher and rides occasionally to therapy. Yesterday as I was taking her home she asked if I could pull up to Brolums so she could grab a free Jackson paper. I said sure, it’s not company policy but it scores points in company karma.

As I pulled into her driveway I realized I had completely forgotten her Brolums request, just drove right on by. She was very gracious but I felt bad. I told her I would make it right somehow during my busy afternoon runs. I was covering both routes yesterday but I managed to pick up a paper and stash it next to my seat.

Later on I was driving the Community School kids to Driggs and was passing her house so I pulled into her subdivision and announced on the loudspeaker “I need a volunteer!” Kalub was the first to raise his hand, with Ann and Quincy right behind him. I handed the paper to Kalub as Donna came out. He delivered the paper and she handed him something. You should have seen the look on the girls faces (eyes wide, jaws dropped) as Kalub got back on the bus with a five dollar bill in his hand. Priceless!

I quickly converted the bill to five ones and each of my five kids got a tip, and they smiled all the way to Driggs. I let the moms know what happened when I arrived and everything was cool. Thanks Donna!

Four More Years

Driving Shoes

I inadvertently took this shot of my shoes today, as I sat in my bus. The energy given off by my driving foot, versus the foot at rest, is quite distinctive…

Home Park

Steph has been determined to get our lawn leaf free this winter. This is a very good thing as leaves left on the ground serve as mouse burrows when the snow hits.

She commented here that our place looks like a park. I took a walk around the property today and I must say, it does! Lot’s of gas-powered blowing and raking happened here.

Some might be asking what my involvement in this process was? Steph and I have an understanding: She rakes, and I blog about it ;-)

SlideShow (Home Park)

Cabin In Yellow

Took a Sunday drive this morning to supply-up out of valley. There’s just some things you can’t find here. I spotted an old cabin off the highway and grabbed these shots…

Map here…

SlideShow (Cabin In Yellow)

NOAA Outlook

Headline: Elusive El Niño challenges NOAA’s 2012 U.S. Winter Outlook!

Bottom line: Less snow for the resort, less water for the farmers, less stress for BDJ :-)

SlideShow (NOAA Outlook)

Pranked

Steph has been blowing leaves around on the other side of our west burm today so I sneaked out, stole her bag and rake, and hid them behind the hottub. Just now she came in and yelled “Honey, have you seen my stuff?”

I let her see my blog post :-)

DART

I had quite the illustrious transportation career in the Seattle area before moving here, as the lead road supervisor for the largest para-transit company on the West Coast, for several years. I moved on to a non-profit called HopeLink and supervised the terrific free Shopper Shuttle program in Kent, WA.

This E450 was one of our work horses and it’s interesting to compare it to our fleet of Ford chassis buses here in Idaho, seven years later.

The wheelchair lift was in the front…

The seats weren’t anywhere near as comfortable as they are here.

And the cockpit with it’s little Nextel seems pretty plain. (Ours now)

It was, and still is, a great bus service!

SlideShow (DART)

Spreading Crack

We’ve been doing a lot of bus shuffling lately. My old bus 801 actually has less than 47K miles on it of which I’ve accounted for 99%. The smaller frame vehicles, 844 and 845 are bumping up against 70K. Bus 845 has been my regular ride for a while and I’ve racked up most of those miles. Karen’s bus is 844.

It’s nice to have three vehicles in the rotation up here but they require more work to keep them going since we’re an hour and a half away from the shop.

I’m driving 801 again and it’s great to have this lumbering sixteen passenger rig with the terrible turning radius back on the road again! Unfortunately she’s been sitting around too much and has developed a bottom crack from the middle of the windshield, working upward towards the drivers side. It’s far from impeding my view, but…

I put a little piece of tape on it, exactly covering the tip of the crack, a couple of days ago. As you can see, it’s decided to keep on spreading. Time to let the company know…