Seems like its been a three day full moon.

Monday
Train parked across Como Ave.- The train was dead and there was no going around. An engineer helped me back the bus up. I was 10 minutes late for all the stops after that.
Puker on the bus from Wellstone- There was a bad smell right after picking up students at one of the stops. We dismissed it as another funky odor from the Somalian kids. After we got to the school a boy was complaining about someone puking on his backpack. Apparently a Somalian girl puked, but no one said anything to me (which was fine, because we were already late). Not much we could've done anyways. I drove the bus home and hosed it out and sprinkled baking soda all over. Smell lingered for another day, but not nearly as bad.
Released with not all the kids in PM- Loaded at Wellstone after school and all was fine, routine. The kids were a little crazy so as soon as I cleared downtown St. Paul I pulled over (into the parking lot of Sears right by the state capitol). I called into the base to let them know I was stopping. Got the kid moved to the front (I bet it was the same Somalian girl who puked) and called into base that we were moving again. They said OK, but that I had to go back to the school to pick up more students that were left behind. WHAT!? Its the teachers that clear us to depart. So we went back. It was only Dah and another girl, Wendy, that heard dispatch tell us to go back. So we decided to not tell anyone else and see how long it would take for them to figure out we were going back to the school. We were by 6th street before someone piped up!

Tuesday
worked on cars- fixed nothing! Jeremy is Leesha's bio-father and he is a bit car-savy. It could be a lot more awkward hanging around with my wife's ex-boyfriend/step-daughter's father, but its not too bad. He has changed his attitude about Cara and Leesha and we've found common ground to actually be friends. Jeremy had some nice things to say to me about who I am and who Cara ended up with. As for the car work. I think he messed up the spark-plug wires and tried to hide it from me and to make up for it he put 110% effort into the work that morning. We also topped off the transmission fluid, which he purchased for me. It wasn't bad hanging with him. The only bad part was it took up the time I usually spend chilling. So I lost some 'me' time.

Wednesday
actual full moon.

Full Full Weekend

Friday, Eric brought a lot of stuff for another garage sale. Put up signs after dark

Saturday, set up for garage sale. Went to get eye exam and new glasses. Came home to help with garage sale. Our neighbors, Mike and Amy, hung out with us. Sky got dark. Hustled everything into the garage. Eric and I sat down and listened to Leesha's and Dah's new mix CD. Then we hung lights in bedroom. Cara was gone. Worried. Called. She came home mad. She went to church with out a word. Had a talk.

Sunday Went to church. Hung out with media crew- Fritz and Rob. Greg Boyd's 50th birthday skit. Eric came to pick up garage things. Helped get grand table into basement and get air conditioner in window. Packed up his truck. He got called into work.

Steve & Holly to MN

My folks are coming to town today

Dah has ITP.

Babies, Buses & Buca's

We were supposed to get a ton of snow today. I got up and out early for it. How much did we get? None. And they can predict Global Warming? They can't even get tomorrow correct.

Cara and Leesha were home when I got home after my morning routes. All was much less peaceful. They were in a whirlwind to get out and deliver some documents for our health insurance. We're trying to get covered through government programs, but they keep giving us the run-around. Cara is bringing requested documents in person (and taking our sick, contagious daughter with- if they would've accepted everything the first time like they said... hey, they gave her no choice. Poetic Justice). I guess some of the documents are some we already gave them. The whole thing is confusing. Leesha is looking and acting closer to normal. Yesterday's abundance of sleep did magic.

After the ladies left, Greg called to tell me they're having a boy!

Just as I was about to go make lunch, work calls and said they want bus 192 back at the shop for repair. I'll be eating later again. AAARRRGGG

This temporary bus sucked. The seat was basically a bench that leaned to the right always dumping me toward the door. I hated it.

Dah got written up twice today. Not really. She was going on and on about her tooth getting pulled out with a lot of blood. Ignored. Yelled.

Went right to Cara's folk's house and changed clothes. Shortly we left for Buca's

Buca's was great. After everyone was seated the waitress places an empty ketchup bottle with two roses in it- one blue, one pink. This was a message. They no longer are trying to catch-up with Rob and Laura (who have a baby- Oliver) and Cara and me (who are 18 weeks pregnant- Bopper). Eric and Keesha are also pregnant! Of course the food was wonderful, as well.

Dah is back

Rob called with promising news about an entry level position at Accenture. This is promising news.

Leesha stayed home and is at Jeremy's house today. She probably has the flu. Cara has been exposed.

The Further Adventures of My 30 Foot Yellow Car

They washed my bus last night!

The timing of my route went too well, yesterday. Plus I forgot to hand in the results. So I figured I could do it today to get more accurate results, but today went just as well- if not better.

Dah is back to school. She had a birthday present for Leesha. Then I had to explain what generous meant.

This computer is starting to die, I think. It took almost 15 minutes to boot up. This started me off in a foul mood for my 1.5 hours at home. On top of that- the phone ran more than ever in this period of the day. Grumble grumble. Oh, I have it so bad.

The Noon route went rather well which brought be back around. Those kindergartners are so darn cute.

Then I went to the Source for comic books. I was happy after that. I picked up an old AD&D comic from DC from way back in the late '80s and a new comic for Leesha.

I have been selling a YTB company profile document on eBay for $.01 for the last few weeks just to get company information in the hands of people. I sold many. Most people purchased them for the sake of trading feedback, unfortunately. That wasn't my motive, but it was a nice side effect. It caused my account to surface on eBay admin radar and they pulled the remaining auctions off. Then they removed every feedback I received for selling those. I guess that didn't work out. I thought I was onto something there. BLAST!

Today I had a stupid song stuck in my head. I cannot recall what it was and I'm not putting any effort into trying. It had been irritating me so much that I figured programming KTIS into my Jeep's radio, on the way home, would help. It took 1.5 songs before I was searching again. Then I found Solsburry Hill by Peter Gabriel and right at the beginning of the song, too! That was the best way to see the day out.

Mr. Baker, Written Up and Slumberland

I have a cold.

I got Dah hooked on Narnia today. She asked me to lend her the Prince Caspian radio drama on CD so I took that in for her. I was telling her all about the series. She only was aware of the movie.

Now for some cool geekflag news. I had an online conversation with the creator of the Eberron campaign setting, Keith Baker. One of the characters in Eberron is named Greykell Ir'Ryc. Greykell is a woman who used to be a soldier for a country that doesn't exist anymore. She appears in the novel City of Towers as well as the only Eberron comic so far- Eye of the Wolf- both written by Baker. I want to know more about this character and did a google search for her and look what I found:

OH MY F$#@KING GAWD!!!
I just received my birthday present from my brother Keith.... it is probably one of the most amazing presents I have ever received in my entire life.

See Keith snuck "me" into a book a couple of years ago. A minor character named (strangely enough) Greykell (Captain Greykell Ir'Ryc if you want to be technical) who wears an eye patch, is an older mentor type to heaps of people and who (sadly) isn't such an exciting character that everyone in the known universe wants to make a movie about her or anything.

BUT!! She's apparently cool enough to have a comic made out of her. That's right!! "I" am the star of a one-off comic, written by Keith, presumably available in the comic shops now. Go out and buy the adventure of Greykell!! Get your friends to buy copies. If this sells well then there will be more Greykell stories.

WHOO HOO!!!!

I have to get a copy of the "other" cover since it's done by someone I also know, the entertaining and talented leemoyer, but in the meantime... BUY THE COMIC!!!!

Eberron: Keith Baker's Eye of the Wolf from Devil's Due Publishing dated August 2006.

W00T!!!

So I wrote a private message to Keith Baker on the WotC forums (Keith is the creator of Eberron and author of these books) and asked him if Greykell is based on his sister. Here's what he said:

Re: Greykell Ir'Ryc

---

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moebius Can you confirm that Greykell is based on your sister?

Yes, it's true. It's pretty much just as she describes. Greykell as presented in City of Towers is fairly directly based on Greykell the person, which is to say that I used her as an inspiration for the character's personality and dialogue as well as using her name. RL Greykell doesn't have an eyepatch, but she's a huge fan of Snake Plisken (Escape From New York), so I decided it would be fun to give her an eyepatch. At some point I was talking with Greykell the person and jokingly said that I should write my next series of novels about Greykell the character and her experiences during the Last War. Then the opportunity to work on the comic came along, I was considering various plot ideas, and it occurred to me that it could actually make a pretty good story! And the rest you know...

__________________
Keith Baker
Eberron Designer
Come visit www.BossytheCow.com!
Want to talk about the Eberron novels? Now, you can do it here!

So there you have it. Kind of cool.

I saw a 5 Eyewitness News truck at Johnson Elementary school, today, as I dropped off my bus aid after my noon route. I went over and said hi to the photog. He recognized me and I knew him, but he was one of those photogs that I never got to know his name. He was there for some story about St. Paul schools now serving tater tot hot dish- breaking news!

I had to write up a couple of students today- first write-ups of the year. The Christmas Story kid and his sister were fighting even after being separated. I told them that if they continued, they'd be written up. They continued. And right before they got off the bus, too. What a waste. I think the sister is going to be kicked off the bus for a while. This is far from her first write-up.

After work I went over to Cara's folk's house. They suddenly served dinner, but the real reason I was asked to come over was to help her dad bring a new box spring back to Slumberland and take a smaller one to the house. That's what we did. Cara went to Leesha's parent-teacher conference. Leesha is staying at their house tonight.

no work tomorrow

Today is Leesha's 9th Birthday!

I remember my 9th birthday. Its one of the only childhood birthdays I do remember. Mom and dad and Greg and I took one of our marina's houseboats out on the chain for the evening and overnight. We anchored off of the little island on Scattering Rice Lake, I think. I remember I got a Star Wars action figure for my birthday. Ree Yees I think was what his name is. Greg got a Star Wars guy, too. Chief Chirpa- our first ewok figure. Brothers getting something on the other's birthday seemed logical back then.

Dah is back. She must've been feeling ill yesterday because she is back to her normal self again and that pleases me.

A couple of weeks ago I made a mix CD for my brother of all David Bowie music. So that's what I've been listening to a lot lately. Because of that, all day I've had music and dialog from the movie Labyrinth in my brain. I've been craving that movie again for a while now.

After dropping off the last students this evening, dispatch called for me over the radio- "Base to 192, Jeff?"
"This is 192, go ahead".
"See me when you get in tonight"
"10 4". Now my mind starts up. What could I possibly have done to get the attention of dispatch? Did I get tagged for speeding? Has my temporary license expired? What did I do? I park, sweep out the bus, clean up everything and make the trek across the parking lot to the office. When I get in, Peter in dispatch throws a paper at me. I look at it and it is a check! Monarch Bus Services have a policy that if you are on time to work and all your stops and schools every day- you get a $.60 bonus for every hour you work that month. That is what I received tonight.

Before I went home I delivered an eBay package and picked up a birthday balloon.

When I got home, Leesha was on the phone with my folks. A bit later I got to talk with them, too.

We studied Matthew chapter 23 tonight for Small Group. Our group has developed a thing where we serve food for everyone (who wants to partake, about half eat before) and anyone can bring food to add to the bounty. We will socialize while people arrive and help ourselves to the food. Tonight, Steve and I ate in the dining room while the rest of the group ate in the living room. I could overhear Rob joking about saying the line from Labyrinth about the Goblin King taking his baby away. So from the dining room I reply, quietly - "did he say it?!" and to my delight Rob caught it.

It was a good night for discussion. Talking about Jesus and his smackdown on the Pharisees. We pretty much got through the whole night without talking about poop- but that's because Rauchwarters weren't there.

Almost as soon as we were done with group, Cara went to sleep. She was wiped out.

Boring Morning, Busy Night

Humdrum morning. Dah almost didn't say a word all the way to school and she slept on the way back. I think something's wrong with her.

Busy night.
After work I gave a guy a ride to a bus stop. As soon as we leave he tells me that the bus already left the spot he wanted me to drop in off at. So we ended up behind it, pursuing it to its next stop. A ways off my course home. Oh well.
Next I picked up a couple of things for Leesha's birthday present. Her gift from me is a Gameboy Color. I was going to find one for sale and was talking about it on the bus before Christmas break when one of the kids on the Middle School route said he'd just give me one of his. And he did! So, tonight I picked up a couple of games for it. We shall see how well she likes the Gameboy and how well she takes care of it.
Then I stopped to get some shipping supplies for eBay sales. It was almost 9pm when I got home.

Bugs, Buses and Bombergs

I believe there is some sort of spirit that influences one's day. It may manifest in small ways- like stop light timing. Today has a good spirit. Everything was falling into place as it should today.

Some drama on the elementary school route this afternoon. Dequan is a kid with some self esteem issues. Somehow he sets everyone against him. This kid ends up in more arguments and fights than anyone else. He is so hungry for attention that he saps my energy more than any other kid on any of my routes. Today, he decided to take Dah's seat on the bus- the seat directly behind my seat. When Dah got on the bus and she saw that her usual spot was taken she went back further and got real quiet. It was difficult to tell, but she seemed more upset than I think she should have been for just a seat.

About half way through the route we ran into trouble on University and Dale. There were maybe 8 police cars in that area with crime tape and all sorts of action. They were redirecting traffic so I altered the route and took the remaining kids home all out of order which caused all sorts of questions and complaints about going home from them. I enjoy deviating from the route sometimes.

Cara picked up my check today.
My CD player in the jeep is pretty much dead.

I was in a mood when I got home. Hadn't even stepped in the house when Leesha unloads on me all about some bug in the basement. After I unloaded all my layers and stuff, used the bathroom, kissed my wife I went into Leesha's room to tell her she might want to give Dah a call to make her feel better. Leesha's reply was something about that stupid bug. I asked if she even heard what I said. She said she did, but then continued about that bug in the basement. So I gave up trying to talk to her. She's obsessed with it. Shortly after that her dad came to pick her up.

Very soon after Leesha got picked up Cara and I went to the Bomberg's house for dinner and just to hang out. What can I say about this visit. We've been with them before and had a really good time. This time didn't measure up to those visits. Kristin threw a mini fit while playing Phase 10 when Matt tried to point out she was playing incorrectly. It was awkward. After the game, Cara and Kristin went through a HUGE collection of maternity clothing while Matt kept nodding his head back and forth in some strange attempt to act not sleepy while I channel surfed. We had been trying to get together with them for a long time and maybe this was too short notice or something, but it just felt forced to me. And we didn't leave till after midnight. It was nice to see Sadie (I'm horrible).

Tomorrow we see the Jankoviches.

Comic Book Day and The Voice that Relaxes

We had a Safety Meeting at work today so I was unable to go home. This disrupts my routine which is good and bad. I love to go home and relax turning the heat and the radio up, but I am also a fan of change.

Since there was no work or postal service on Monday, that makes today Comic Book Day!

It's usually on Wednesdays, but not today, that I go to The Source and chat with the guys working there about whatever- usually Hans. Hans and I trade music a lot. We have many similar interests which go beyond just music. Today we talked about The Gunslinger series by Stephen King and how Merlin/Randall Flagg (of the Stand) was very similar to Tolkien's wizards and even Lewis's version of Merlin in That Hideous Strength. He lent me another album by Transatlantic. In turn, I gave him a copy of Ayreon - The Human Equation. Transatlantic was a lighter prog band that featured Neal Morse who left the band and went on to do solo stuff as a christian musician.

I got gas for the Jeep today at $1.86 a gallon!

Dah is a young girl on the elementary school route I work. She has taken a liking to me and always sits right behind me and chats away about whatever. One day Leesha ended up riding the bus with me all day. She and Dah became friends, but they can't seem to connect by phone since. Today, Dah wanted to sing songs that she made up right there on the spot. I allowed her to go ahead. The odd thing about it (and what makes it blog worthy) is that when I would allow myself to focus on her voice, I found it very relaxing. It only worked on the songs she made up. The only other song she knows (that I recognize) is Whitney Houston's Greatest Love of All and I found that that song doesn't relax me at all- even if its sung by Dah.

As soon as I got home dinner was served. As soon as dinner was done, Leesha was on her way to bed. Our schedule is brutal. Seems like there isn't much time with her.