#4107

Another rainy day in the Valley of the Alleged Sun. Cloudy, cold and damp - I thought this was the desert? Guess good weather needs a vacation, too. Oh well, how fun to wear snuggy clothes and full shoes AND socks! Put those flipflops to bed for awhile.

We enjoyed a full busload today - another mix of unusual non-regulars. Apparently, we need to redefine the meaning of "regulars". In the last six months, two consecutive rides equals regular - not like when I first joined the 6am66 team. Ridership varies like the speed of a roller coaster - don't get too comfortable cuz it's gonna change.

We had a full crew in the BTA and a new guy got on at Rural and Baseline, placing himself right smack in the middle of us all. Bill gave him a smile and an official welcome and our conversation resumed. We were all talking back and forth and I would bend forward to talk past the new guy to Dave, then sit back to converse with Mark or Bill. The middle man wore a grim, scowly face - not sure if it resulted from the early hour, life issues, or just a personal desire to look fierce. Eventually, he moved across the aisle to the little seat next to Mark, twisting his body to the side, facing away from the BTA. I want to think he moved to accommodate the logistics of our conversation pit; however, his somewhat surly demeanor contradicted the idea of a thoughtful gesture. Some people just don't want to interact with others and I respect that. Glad everyone's not that way, though.

#4101

Whew! Survived another mad dash across Guadalupe this AM. Rain added an element of terror since Arizona drivers become even bigger idiots when moisture mixes with asphalt. Perhaps the rain/road mix exudes a potent brain numbing agent? Something happens cuz these people suck at driving on a good day with worse effects during the rain. Ask anyone, Arizona drivers are hideous.

Neither Bill nor Mark graced us with their presence today, so Dave and I owned the BTA. When we got on, a man sat in one of the middle side seats. He was hung over (literally) as he sagged sideways in the seat, barely upright. He re-arranged himself as we walked by and then seemed to sleep throughout the rest of the ride. He appeared well groomed, as if a shower and shave were part of his recent past, but sleep definitely occupied his mind. It made me sleepy to look at him. An odd collection of people filled the bus &ndash until the Broadmoor lady got on, only one couple seemed familiar. As if reading my mind, Dave commented how some days on the 66 could seem like a different world. Maybe the rain/road mix was affecting us, too?

the eyes have it

Thanks to all for concerns about my eyes. I am healing nicely and back at work, earlier than the last eye. The pressure still needs to go lower, but the paralyzed muscle is loosening and, since this weekend, every day seems to find added mobility. I guess a nerve, knicked by the anesthetic needle, caused the problem and it takes time for the nerve to re-build. Healing appears to be in progress and my stiff eye will soon be but a side item in a bus blog.

Crossing Guadalupe to get to the bus stop provided a bit of a challenge. The sun wasn't up and my depth perception remains somewhat compromised - not sure which is scarier, my inability to judge the speed of the cars or the unseen vehicle without headlights. I contemplated going later, after sunrise, but by then the traffic is much heavier and crossing becomes a game of Frogger - splat! Such choices for a visually impaired bus rider, eh?

Today's craft was #4107 with a new driver. Dave said this guy started off being 10 minutes late every day. Apparently the man had a different time schedule in his head than the one published in the bus book. I appreciate the intricacies of timing while driving a bus, but we all need to be on the same time at the starting gate. Not sure why the GPS on the bus didn't alert the dispatch to the time conflict? I thought they could tell exact bus locations at all times? Another technology myth, I suppose. The 6am66 arrived at 6:08 - new activity for me to blog log.

trabeculectomy #2

been a week or so - had second eye surgery on thursday and just didn't have time earlier in the week to post about the bus. needed to get all the work ducks lined up before the post-op leave.

as good as my first surgery went, this second surgery has gone bad. one of the nerve block shots paralyzed a medial muscle in the operated eye and I have double vision when looking to the right. a "clarence the cross eyed lion" kind of thing. my surgeon didn't see me on friday (day after surg), I had a stand-in who was more interested in the problems with my pressure and surgical site (pressure high, bleb not open, bleeding - fubar indeed) he generally dismissed my newly developed "lazy eye", so am assuming that it's not an unusual consequence and will rectify. going to see the surgeon tomorrow afternoon and hope the news will be better than it was on friday. to say that i am a bit distressed is quite the understatement. my first surgery was the cover story for successful eye events - i fear this second one could become a journal article about how many things can go wrong with a trabeculectomy.

hoped for much quicker return to work with this surgery, and not sure what the future now holds. will post if things get interesting, but fear the bus is stuck in the terminal for now.

ever the optimist (ha!), i did manage to find an art opportunity buried in the post-op mess and the image posted is an eye patch i knitted and embroidered for myself. decided i didn't want to sport the traditional black pirate patch (deepest apologies to J Depp), so developed this faux eye patch. the lashes are somewhat thicker than my own, but the basic eyedea is there. a close look reveals a few knitting flaws, but not bad work considering i did it with one dilated, half-crossed eye. can't keep a good fiber artist down.

#4131

Nice day on the bus. The BTA was full of regulars: NG, Dave, BG and one of the Steves. I realized we had the "Back Seat Boys" plus me - could shorten it to the BS Boys, although in all fairness, not too much BS flows in the BTA.

It was a nice ride with commentary shared on eye surgery, health care, overzealous lawyers and our litigious society, the hideous BCS game, the Phoenix Suns winning ways, the Godfather II and Robert DeNiro, libraries that might carry Godfather II, and possible illegal downloading of movies. We had a nice discussion about making coffee and donuts available on the bus. Options included taking turns bringing the coffee/donuts or installing vending machines on the buses with coffee and donuts for purchase. Bus attendants to serve coffee and donuts was also suggested, but we determined that bus fares would increase to pay the attendants, so we returned to the vending machine plan. Can you imagine the poor drivers if they installed vending machines on the buses? As if they don't have enough to deal with - I can hear the requests to make change, complaints about the food and drink, the spills, the smell. Bad, bad, bad idea.

A nice bus ride.

forgot to look

Completely ignored today's bus number - apparently some old habits die very easily.

Cold/flu has abated and hope that's the end for this season. Seems everyone is down with some version of it and I'm not the only one to suffer a recurrence. Guess we just run around infecting each other, over and over and over. Can't even blame the bus as ridership is way down. Had an interesting guy riding today. He sat in the BTA, back bench seat, Bill's usual area. Bill doesn't ride on Monday, so that space is unreserved until Dave stakes his daily claim. The odd thing about this guy was his dress. He sported a head-to-toe quilted camo suit with a knit cap and boots. An oversized duffle bag and backpack occupied the seat next to him. Dave commented that a hunter was riding today and the guy laughed and said yeah, deer hunting. He actually looked like he was going or coming from some outdoor expedition, but camping via public transport? It was very odd. He got off at Southern so figure he meant to transfer for a long ride east or west. Deer hunting??? I think not.

Today's image is in memory of my lunch bag which I forgot to grab from the bench at the bus stop. It had my breakfast bar, my vitamins and a plastic tub of lovely crab and corn chowder that I really looked forward to enjoying for lunch. I bet that chowder's gonna be a little rank later today - whew! Oh well, c'est la vie. Speaking of food, check out this website: http://www.cheddarvision.tv/ - you can watch cheddar cheese ripen - simply amazing.

#6418

This flu thing got seriously unfun yesterday with fever, chills, headache, etc., so no work for me today. Yesterday's ride home, however, included enough interesting elements to provide bus blog ramblings for a post today.

I took the 81southbound which meant a ride in one of the larger, newer 6400 class buses. The ride began uneventfully - my weakened condition making me grateful for smooth, quick passage - just wanna get home. All that changed at Broadway and McClintock when we picked up a wheelchair rider. The maneuvers to get him on the bus went without hitch; however, when the driver went to leave the stop, a warning light on the dash said the wheelchair ramp was disengaged and the bus wouldn't move. Clearly, the ramp was up and in place, but apparently the bus brains didn't know that. The driver reversed the procedure, opening out the ramp, but the bus didn't "kneel" - the hydraulics that lower the bus toward the curb failed to do their thing. She brought the ramp back up, closed the door but no-go, the bus still claimed the ramp was down. She then shut the bus down, waited a few, re-started the bus and the warning light returned. Looked like we were in for a bit of a wait.

The driver got on the radio with her superiors and the smokers on the bus all piled off to take advantage of the momentary lapse in travel. A couple of knuckle-draggers in the back cretinously shouted at the driver, "what's going on, man?", "can't be late for work, dude" charming group, eh? The driver got off the radio and proceeded to put the little orange safety triangles outside the back of the bus. Past experience told me it might be prudent to get off and be ready to get on the next bus, due in about 20 minutes. It meant standing in the middle of the gaggle of smokers, but I wanted to get home and knew the next bus would only pick up people waiting at the stop - not sitting on the broken bus. I did what I could to stay out of the smoke drifts and was happy it was sunny and 70 degrees - great bus breakdown weather. The driver turned the bus off again, waited several minutes, re-started and the warning light was gone. She tested the wheelchair system and this time the kneelers worked. She put the bus in gear and it moved, so we all re-boarded the bus and continued on our way. There was a bit of breath-holding when the wheelchair guy got off, but all systems functioned properly. The usual 25 minute ride took an hour to complete - no complaints, it gave me a blog post!

#4135

Back to business as usual - always such a letdown after the holidays and, yet, kind of nice to return to order out of the chaos. NG was in full BTA repose and Dave and I rounded out the set. Mark (BG) hasn't been on in awhile, but I think his schedule moves around school. When classes are in, he's an early rider. Both he and Dave graduate in May - do need to arrange a bus celebration.

A guy got on in front of Marcos de Niza who seemed to know Bill but I'd never seen before. Nice guy, happy to have him along for the ride. I wonder, though, he had an MP3 player and I could hear the music coming out of the earpieces. Now, if I could hear it sitting across from him on a not-so-quiet bus, what is it doing to his hearing? Is he playing it loud because he has a hearing situation or did he develop a hearing situation from playing it too loud? One wonders . . .

Image today is in honor of the lousy, friggin' head cold that has returned to haunt me. I have a cough, although nothing like the killer croups of my previous sojourn. This time, my nose is completely stuffed up. I sound like a caricature of a person with a cold - "By dame is ebb febber add I have a code id by dose" - central casting, where are you???? Hot toddy, tonight - I have no choice.

#4141

Couple of bus tales today. For openers, Dave's daughter, Sarah, visiting from Kansas City on her way to Seattle, accompanied him to school. She supports public transportation and wanted to experience Valley Metro's finest, the 6am66. Dave sat in his usual back bench seat location and noted that a loose panel behind the seat exposed the motor compartment, filling the BTA with fumes and noise. In his best "Tim the Tool Man" mode, Dave resourcefully stuffed two bus route schedule books between the seat and the panel - problem abated. After his efforts, Dana, our dear regular driver, gave Dave a towelette to clean the bus grime from his hands. Images today are the book wedges and Dave's hands and dirty wiper, taken with my phone camera. The quality suffers, but the event was not lost.

Sadly, coat guy did not make an appearance and I missed my last opportunity to go tactile and test the faux vs. leather of his jacket. Wish there had been more time with coat guy - so many questions. For example, those coats are quite bulky and I keep trying to picture the closet where those bad boys are housed. It has to be exceptionally large to accommodate the 26+ coats. Perhaps he turned an entire bedroom into a hanging shrine of sorts? No end to the speculative possibilities coat guy enabled - not to mention the game. Sigh . . .

#41something

Geezleweez - absolutely can't remember to look at the bus number. And to think I once considered a series of charts and graphs with bus number info - ha!

Ridership has slipped to the poverty level. Wondering why I didn't take vacation days this week - it appears everyone else did. NG and BG are conspicuously absent - bright boys. Bad news for the guess-the-jacket game - the coat guy told Dave that tomorrow is his last day on our bus. Seems his apartment was purchased and is going condo so he has to buy or move and he's moving. Probably can't buy as his money is all tied up in coats. Kidding, I'm really just kidding.

There's a lot of this apartment-go-condo happening and it really sucks for people who can't afford to buy. The real estate market went ballistic and now most people can't afford to sell and buy back the house they currently own. People get excited because their property value is up, but they seem to forget that if they sell their house and make the big profit, they have to go buy something equally inflated in value from someone who also wants a big profit - good luck with that! How on earth did I go from bus blog to real estate whining? Apologies.

#4154

Missed a few days for the holiday vacation. For years, ASU closed down for the two weeks surrounding the winter holidays - an alleged money savings move. A couple of years ago the then-new university president declared the savings a myth and now the university is "open" - business as usual except for the four specific holiday observance days. The bus ride belies the "open"ness of the situation as Dave and I owned the craft until the ride was well half over. Most ASU employees schedule additional vacation days to fill in and create an extended holiday, so I felt no surprise at the paucity of riders. Dave told me he used the bus on christmas day and it was quite empty. Dave said all bus rides are free that day and despite the freebie, he rode solo most of the time. The drivers are probably compensated with double time and a half pay that day and no revenue is generated. Nice gesture for the bus company.

The coat guy got on today but not wearing a football jacket. He had a Cleveland Cavaliers cap and his jacket said "hockey" on the front and four Warner Brothers cartoon characters filled the back. Without direct touching, not sure if I can find out if these jackets are real leather. They look a bit vinyl and I can't figure out how to get tactile with his sleeve in any subtle way to check out the real vs. faux situation. He never comes up to the BTA, just stays on the seat near the back door since he only rides about two stops worth. I'll figure something out.

Image today is a new quilt block I'm trying to design. I like the rotation - wish I could do some screen printing to catch the effect of multiples of the inner square. Sure do miss the big print tables in the fiber studio.

#41 yada yada yada

Totally forgot to look at the number today. Still not in a good bus habit. Stayed home yesterday as I overdid on Tuesday. Guess you can't be extremely inactive for six weeks and expect to leap immediately back into the jaws of full activity. Sigh . . .

We're having a bit of a cold spell - Weather Channel said it was 28 degree wind chill this morning. I believe it was every bit of 28 degrees and possibly lower. I sported full winter coat and gloves - usually wear them two or three times during the winter season. Arizona's nice, but you can't toss away the winter woolies - they are necessary, especially while waiting at the bus stop.

NG, BG, Dave and I had full command of the BTA today. The professor has ridden a couple of times lately - odd since classes are out and teaching types don't need to be at school. There's a new regular who started during my absence. What makes him especially interesting is his choice of outerwear. Every day he dons the ball cap and jacket of a different NFL team. The new BTA bus sport is guessing which team will grace his cloak-of-the-day. He said he has a jacket for every team (26, I believe) which is a substantial financial investment. If these are real leather and not WalMart faux, the coats must be $200+ for each. Very impressive.

Image today is in honor of the freezingass cold of this morning's bus wait.

#4143

Missed on Friday - daughter drove me to work and I never pass up a chance to visit with my offspring. Ridership is way down. School is out for the winter break, but I never felt the 6am66 was awash with students. Students don't usually break the bond with their blankets until the last possible minute and the earliest classes don't begin until 7:40 AM - only the most industrious would get to school an hour early. It is dark, dark, dark right now and maybe people forget to wake up? That's assuming they don't use alarm clocks. I find I don't want to crawl out of bed in the dark and I'm easy to rise. Oh well, guess I don't care how many are riding as long as the bus continues to arrive. Mark and Dave are foggy with colds - glad I got mine out of the way before the surgery. They don't seem to have the cough, just lots of nasal maneuvers.

Since I can't wear glasses yet, my distance vision is a blur (ho, ho, ho) and it makes for interesting viewing out the window with the dark sky and city lights. While looking for a night light picture for the blog, I found the "Earth at Night" map in jpg format. If you haven't seen this, click on the picture for the larger view. If you think we don't share this space called earth, this picture will help you re-visit that thought. Amazing considering the first electric light bulb wasn't invented until 1880 and the bright, long-lasting tungsten filament didn't get into the bulb until 1910 - if you go back just 100 years, this map would not be so bold. Not bus talk, but one thing leads to another and etc., etc., etc.

#41whatever

Brrrrrrrrr...... forgot how cold it could be waiting for the bus. The extremes of Arizona's winter temps always confound me. How does one dress for 38 degrees (no humidity!) in the morning followed by 76 degrees in the afternoon? Layers, my friends, lots of light-weight layers. The true layering master can combine the right pieces that enable morning warmth, yet shed simply and lightly for portage as temps climb later in the day. Ah, an entire blog might be devoted to desert dressing. I digress.

Today's ride was interesting - when Dave and I boarded, Dana, our current regular driver, handed us Christmas cards which even included personal notes! How nice is that? Both NG and BG failed to appear and ridership was generally light. Dana sat in the front passenger seat, directing a rookie who had control of the craft. This rookie appeared to be learning to drive the bus as well as learning the route. Cautious approaches and halting stops prevailed as we jerked along. Dana kept telling the neophyte to not run over the curb. I don't believe we ever ran over one, but wonder if a bad curb cut occurred before we got on the bus. We safely arrived at ASU - good luck to the new driver.

Found a nice image of a saguaro cactus decorated with holiday lights. These are everywhere in the Valley of the Sun and thought it made a nice companion to Dana's cards.

She's baaaaaaaaaaaaaack ............

Time to explain the unexplained absence. On November 1, I had eye surgery for glaucoma - a trabeculectomy, to be exact. It's a procedure that creates a drain site in the eye to aid in reducing intraocular pressure. We all have drains in our eyes and mine don't work well enough to keep internal pressure down. Drops, the standard glaucoma treatment, weren't working and I was losing vision, so the next alternative is this surgery. It's done as an outpatient and not painful; however, it requires limited activity until the eye stabilizes. Thus, I've been home for the last few weeks, taking it easy while my eye gets it together. At first blush it seemed like a dream-come-true. Stay home on sick leave while not feeling sick - how great is that? Au contraire . . . it's all fine if you can lead a normal life, but the restricted activity got to be seriously boring. I would have blogged, but life and times were so drab, there was nothing happening worth the write time. Anyway, I returned to work and the bus (#4135) today. The BTA was just as I left it - Newspaper Guy in situ and later Bicycle Guy sans bike - it's cold in the morning! It's good to be back in action - let the blogging resume.

#4141

Today was kind of boring, so I'll write about Friday's morning ride - much more interesting.

The "fam" had total ownership of the bus. Newspaper Guy aka Bill, was not there to secure the BTA, so the two little girls perched in full officialness on the back seat, in complete control of the surroundings with smiles as big as a crescent moon. The dad was in the middle of the bus, opposite the back door, guarding the girls and holding the stroller. The mom was in the very front seat, holding the baby on her lap. I sat in my original "regular" seat and exchanged shy looks with the baby girl. She is adorable and had those not-quite-awake heavy morning eyes. All she really wanted was to snuggle her little hoodie-covered head in the crook of her mother's arm and go back to sleep. I must say, I would have happily joined her were such a thing remotely possible. A rocking bus, dim lights and a warm loving arm and shoulder - recipe for the perfect sleep scenario.

The bus turned at Rural, stopped, and the mom and dad shepherded the little ones off the bus. The dad opened the stroller, helped the mom et al get organized and got back on the bus. As the door closed, a chorus of tiny voices yelled out, "Bye, dad, I love you." What a way to start his day. You've just got to admire these people, going to work and managing the kids' daycare all on public transportation. The husband and wife were discussing a doctor appointment for someone later in the day and talking bus times and daycare pickup. It's a challenge to keep all these things going under the best of circumstances and they are doing it without the apparent benefit of their own automobile. May all their buses be on time.

#invisible

Well, we certainly experienced an interesting ride on the 6am66. I almost need to elevate my feet and rest up before recounting the tale.

It began with another drive-by overshoot stopping. Clad in white linen overalls, I felt sure I presented high visibility at the stop today. However, the bus came down the road at an alarming speed and it seemed I would be completely passed by. At the last minute, the bus halted, quite a way down from the stop and another trek across the damp tree lawn ensued. As I got on, the driver apologized and screeched that the lights were glaring and she couldn't see. Refering to the interior lights, I guess, she turned them all off and we proceeded in complete darkness. NG, one of the Steves and I were the only ones on board, sitting in the BTA. We got to Guadalupe and Rural, the fam's mom and dad got on and the bus stopped running. The driver announced "they will send me a new bus", promptly re-started the bus and the ride continued. Not sure if that qualified as an official breakdown - her words implied yes but the actions implied no.

The ride continued in full darkness - felt much like a red eye flight, only missing the little pillows and navy blue blankets. We picked up BG and kept on going. Turning the corner from Baseline onto Mill, once again the bus stalled (?) and the driver easily re-started the craft. It appeared that turns might be involved in the stalls. Arriving at another stop, in answer to a question from a waiting patron, she had to advise that this was the 66 southbound. The bus was quite invisible without lights and the query made me wonder if she overzealously turned off a few too many lights. One of the new passengers needed a transfer and the driver had to bend over, her face almost touching the pad of tickets, to see what she needed. Time to turn on the lights? We proceeded and at the next stop, for reasons unknown, she suddenly turned on the lights. We kept going north on Mill and she roared past a stop where a woman was waiting. The woman yelled, the driver kept on going and Mark suggested she at least stop and wait. The driver just kept saying she couldn't see, the lights were glaring, and at the Broadway intersection, the bus stalled once more. So much for the turn theory. She again re-started the bus and we got underway. In spite of the stalls, we were quite on time although some poor people were definitely left standing in the dark. Today's image honors our invisible bus.

#4136

Quiet ride on the 6am66. Rain threatens today and, as previously noted, life in Arizona comes to a halt when rain falls. Uncommon, yes; however, rain is not rare and it boggles the mind why moisture from the sky creates such havoc. Listening to radio this morning and the traffic report indicates accidents all over the place. We're not talking sheets of rain, not even a steady rain, not even a light drizzle - this driving collapse occurs with 15-20 drops hitting the pavement. People won't ride the bus because some of this moisture might land on them and god knows what happens then. I guess that's why all the wrecks - the bus riders are trying to drive. Needless to say, we had light ridership.

New twist on "the family". While waiting for the 6am66, the 92 approached. Ever since Dave and I hopped on the 92 by mistake, he is on full alert - making sure we don't go down that path again. As he stood there, waving off the 92, I saw "the family" sitting in the BTA of the 92. Both buses go west on Guadalupe to Rural and since that's where the wife and kids usually get off, it wasn't completely odd for them to be on the 92. What was fun - when our bus turned north on Rural and stopped, husband and wife got on our bus, sans kids. Dave asked if they were juggling buses today and they advised they dropped the kids off at daycare. There are two childcare places within an easy walk of that intersection and I wondered if that was always part of their daily routine. They've been very regular and I might have to dust off the regular crown and have a large-scale annointing.

#4142

Ahhhhh, back on the bus. Thanks to all who offered kind words during my recent flu siege. Hope that doesn't happen again for a long, long while.

An interesting morning on the 6am66. It was late today - not horribly late - maybe 8 minutes - but we're at the beginning of the route and with only a couple of stops in front of us, little opportunity for things to happen and build up bus delay. When it finally appeared on the horizon, Dave and I got our packs on, good passengers that we are, and moved forward, ready to board. The next thing we know, the bus shot past us, just barely stopping. He overshot the concrete pad and we trekked over the tree lawn to get down to the bus door. Now, I must preface that the sun no longer shines at 6am - dark of day prevails and no street light illuminates the stop. When we got on, it was a new driver who announced that he didn't see us, using a tone that implied it was our obligation to be visible. He carried on about waiting behind bushes and trees ... huh? There are no trees or bushes at our stop ... what the hell? Made me almost want to cough on him. Looks like I'll have to find my trusty flashing reflector and start putting it on my pack. At the very next stop, he repeated the same action and, again, blamed the rider for waiting behind the shrubs. While there are shrubs at that stop, I've never seen that guy lurking in them. He usually sits on the bench, in front, at the stop. Unless that guy had a serious need to bush-lurk today, I think the driver was too busy talking to a passenger and not paying attention. Today's image shows the 6am66 flashing past.

On top of the crazy pickups, the dilemma of the family occupying the BTA repeated itself. We were forced to false sit when we got on and then move to our favored locations after they left. Dave hopped first to his regular spot and it did my heart good to see he is as Monk-like about his seating as me. Comfort zones, it's all about comfort zones. Later, I was especially glad I moved up to the BTA since a series of people got on who reeked of cigarette smoke. Smelling strongly in the BTA, I imagine it was suffocating in the main riding area. Is the aroma that comes off people who just smoked a cigarette considered second hand smoke? It smells bad, but it also makes me want to cough. Of course, my lungs are currently in a weakened condition, so it's difficult to judge. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Bedside blogging

Developed a cold with flu-like symptoms or, the flu with cold-like symptoms, and have stayed bedside these past two workdays. Decided to write a bedblog as being home ill is a drag. I won't go to work tomorrow and the way I feel right now, Thursday's not looking much better. The worst thing is the cough. Hacking, chest heaving, gut wrenching coughing. It's hideous!!! I went to the pharmacy for a supply of meds and discovered they no longer put dextromethorphan into cough drops. That's the stuff that really holds the cough at bay, but I guess the teen set were consuming copious quantities of drops and getting "high". Seems like an alleged high to me - I've never gotten a buzz from cough drops, just relief. I'm eating vitamin C, drinking orange juice and water and sucking on zinc-based, get-well quick drops. I guess I'm better than yesterday and hopefully not as good as tomorrow.

The worst thing about illness is daytime TV. Thank god for BBC - I'm entertained by their daily lineup and only wish I had my friends from Ohio around to laugh about "Are You Being Served?" Three of us used to watch that on the local PBS station and enjoyed recounting the episodes. I wonder if they've ever seen "Keeping up Appearances" ... I know they'd love Onslow.

Oh well, I get this every couple of years - I think my antibodies get low and need a booster, so I get sick, build up the antis and stay well for another couple of years. At least it's early this year and won't interfere with holiday food consumption. One has to consider the up and downside of every scenario. Hope to be back with a bus blog in a few days.