"Terrible" has never been so refreshing

Yesterday I was graced with the honest opinion of a disgruntled employee.

After sitting on hold for at least 20 minutes, waiting for dispatch to tell me my shuttle number I walked out into the rain washed air.  It was cool and fresh, and still raining a little - I grew up on the "Wet coast"... so to everyone else at the airport it was raining a lot.

I climbed into the van, and asked the driver how his night was going. "Terrible!" he responded, and then fully explained it when I asked why.

It was very refreshing.

It wasn't the usual, in fact he told me about his frustrations with dispatch... that as a van service he had made three single runs that evening, and that any time he called he had also been on hold upwards of 20 minutes. Which is "unacceptable!" he exclaimed.

I happen to agree.

He was frazzled, and brusque, but despite all of that he was still patient and polite. I could tell that he was trying his best, and each passenger he contacted, he gave directions to find the pick up area.

I felt bad for him, his level of customer service is higher than the company he's working for and it was bothering him that things weren't what they should be... and yet there didn't seem to be a whole lot he could do about it. I respect that he hasn't adopted an air of indifference, blaming everything on dispatch. In a sense he is still blaming them... but somehow it seems more like they deserve it.

2 hours later I got home.

While I appreciate the reminder not to always just smile and give the rote answer that everything is "fine" it would have been nice to get home sooner.

See what happened when Quebec tried to separate?!?!

Quicker than you

Oh man I can't believe I totally forgot to tell you about this, I mean I know I was tired and all... but seriously!

I know this seems a little off track, but it will help clarify, or maybe even shed some light on the rest of this crazy post. Or maybe not *shrugs*, you decide.

Q: How do you tell the difference between black bear droppings and grizzly bear droppings?
A: Grizzly bear droppings have little bells in them, and smell like pepper spray.

So, last night as I'm pushing my bike up the hill along the flat bit just before my place, these two teenage boys ride by... the one does a dirt jump off the bank next to me and the other slams on his brakes, skids to a stop beside me, and I kid you not says:

"Duuuuuuuuuude! Sweeeeeeet bike!" he then proceeded to point and go "Wow that's crazy! Is that your rear shock?!"

Me: I experienced a proximity loss of minus 50 IQ points, and was all "Uhhm no... that's my bear spray"...

*Then* he says to me... "So uhhhh, what is it?... Your gearshift injector? Does it make you go faster?!?"

I should have said: "Yeah it makes you go faster, as long as you don't get it in your eyes... and as long as you're faster than the bear that'll be chasing you now that you're all covered in seasoning" ;)

Thankfully I was rescued from answering as his buddy came back, jumped the bank in the opposite direction and promptly took out the neighbors garbage can.  They were gone with a wave and a "gotta go!"... faster than that 5 extra minutes after you hit the snooze button.

This is the joke behind the title...

There are two guys out in the back 40 on an acreage deep in the interior of BC, and they hear a hungry grizzly bear. The one guy sits down and starts lacing up his running shoes. The other guy says "Dude, what are you doing?! You think you can outrun a grizzly bear? Ha!" To which he replies, I don't have to outrun a grizzly bear...

I just have to outrun you.

Heh. *grins*

My good deed for the day Christmas

I went for a run this morning, and somehow or other I ended up running down to the old boat ramp rather than down the trail behind our house... it wasn't exactly a conscious decision.

As usual I had impeccable timing. I arrived at the boat ramp just after an older fellow had parked on it, boat on trailer. There was driftwood all over the place, but of course there was one waterlogged log completely spanning the road and totally in the way.

We started chatting as I caught my breath and he told me he was trying to get to Mudge Is. to pick up Christmas decorations. I began to help him clear the driftwood out of the way. Now I know I'm not exactly huge, but why is it that everyone thinks I'm going to hurt myself if I even think about doing anything physical? Do I look like a maiden in distress?!?! Sheesh! ;)

The small stuff was easy, but the long log proved to be much more difficult... But somehow between the two of us chatting and levering, the ocean drift caught it and with one final push it was off the ramp and swinging out of the way.

We introduced ourselves, and my new friend John thanked me for my help saying he would never have managed it on his own... but as I jogged home I thought to myself how easy it had seemed with both of us.

It's kinda cool how much easier things like that seem to go when you're working on it with someone else.

Goddess of the Wifis

I swear there must be a floating Google map bubble over my head that says:

Yes, I can fix your computer.

I'm not even kidding you, I was sitting in Starbucks feverishly hunched over my computer searching for flight info, transit info and marina numbers... and this guy comes over and says something along the lines of:

"Excuse me? Do you know how to set up the wifis?"

*gopher under an eagle shadow* ... train thought track DERAILED ... smooth switch to IT train ... "Yes I probably can, do you have it turned on?"

New computer, fresh out of the box, luckily for me it was preconfigured to detect 'the wifis' so all I had to do was tell him which profile to set it up as... *buffs fingernails*

Interesting

Met a cool couple aboard Sweet Destiny first thing this morning, went out and caught lines from them, they're down from San Fransisco also heading to Mexico!

Met another guy on the dock briefly, his wife got her finger caught in the chain winch and broke it early on in their trip. Seems that no matter who you talk to in the cruising community, it's generally 'been interesting' and the full tale is a long one... so we are not alone.

Transmission was fine this morning so now we're thinking it just needs the seals (o-rings) replaced *fingers crossed* I met a wicked guy Jim from Seattle aboard You Got AB Kidding heh love that boat name.

Oceanside Rocks!

I had full intentions of hunting down a surf board rental shop and go surfing today...
Ended up that the guy I talked to had two crew members call in sick on race day.

Dave: There aren't really any surf rental shops nearby you could walk to, but hey do you sail?

Me: Yeah a little...

Dave: You know the what the front halyard is, and port and starboard?

Me: For the most part yeah, there are some things I'm still getting down but yes I know those.

Dave: Would you rather come be race crew than go surfing?

Me: Maybe... Yes I would *excited*

Dave: That would be great! I had two crew members call in sick this morning, and it's a little tough handling our 42' boat with less people.

Me: Want me to see if my Dad's available too then?

Dave: Aw man that would be awesome! K, meet me up top I'm late for the skippers meeting!

We've abandoned our laundry to the dryer, and we're gonna go be race crew! *happy dance* This is soooooo cool! *smiles*

Did you know that....

While I was talking to Tony and helping him with his photos, I asked about a picture on his wall. It's a submarine going under the Golden Gate bridge...

It turns out that he was working at a museum at the time, some film company wanted the sub for a movie but it didn't run so they had to tow it. The insurance company made it part of the contract that he had to oversee all of the towing and such.

He said it was pretty funny, because every time they were filming he had to duck down between Kelsey Grammer's legs... then when they cut the scene he'd stand up check everything and then radio directions to the boats towing.

I casually asked what the movie was, already having half a suspicion... and it was! Down Periscope *s* one of my favoritest movies evar! I know, I know, it's a terrible movie... but I still love it ;o) Tony said his name is even in the credits, little and waaay at the bottom, but I thought that was still pretty cool.

Whale tale *wavies*

We finally saw whales, close enough to the boat to get a decent picture AND I had time to grab my camera!

Yiyiyiyiyiyiyiyi

Omg I'm not even making this up a lady named "Xena" just called from Telus to talk to my Dad.

"Hey Dad, Xena called... she wanted to know if your phone service was still kicking butt"

Subway, don't let the mustard get fresh with the cheese

So the lady in front of me at Subway just asked the sandwich-artist "she'll get your veggies for you" girl to put the mayo down first... because she doesn't like it when the mustard touches the cheese. Seriously. WTF?!?! *throws hands up*

My nephew has that problem with things not touching on his plate. But he's eight. And it doesn't extend to the condiments *inside* a sandwich.

I must say I was impressed when she just smiled and nodded and attempted to make sure that the mustard was *only* on top of the mayo... they must get all kinds of weird requests in relation to how to make sandwiches.

Seriously?

Actual Windows Event Manager Error Description:
The master browser has received a server announcement from the computer STUPIDSERVER that believes that it is the master browser for the domain on transport BunchOfGarbageAndNumbers. The master browser is stopping or an election is being forced.

I particularly enjoy the bit about an election being forced, it sure makes it sound like the servers are electing themselves. What next? We'll probably be voted off the island as a danger to ourselves. Yep pretty sure that isn't too far off.

Things that make my day

When a complete stranger smiles back, and "Thank you sir" when I held the door open at Timmy's ;)

Never know who you might meet at 7:00am

So yesterday morning I had just finished the first of hopefully a series of early morning swimming before work. I'm just getting back into it so I figured I'd take a couple minutes in the hot tub. Well this guys comes over and says Merry Christmas, being polite I responded in kind and added Happy New Year... well I might as well have said I bow down before the church, as he launched into an explanation of calendar types Julian, and Gregorian and that I'm one of Pope Gregory's minions because I use his calendar. Now seriously I try to stay away from religious discussions at the best of times let alone 7am, I mean if I could have I would have told him I was dead to his discussion. Soooo much for a relaxing hot tub. I didn't have time to ask how he converts between the calendars to make sure he meets people on the right date. Maybe he doesn't, and that's why he didn't have a hot tub partner.