Here I am, Thursday night, and still wishing I was a little closer to spring break. As of this morning I've finished this round of midterms, including a fairly bad Calculus test, and oral and written tests in Arabic. Yesterday afternoon I got a crack at daytime WillVill, and it wasn't half bad. I'm really starting to get the hang of this job, I think. The new buses are nice, and it's nice to get the trainer out of the bus. I don't have to make 8 mirror checks on turns when I'm out on my own.
Tonight I have another late night from 10pm to 4am, and I'm fully expecting to go home and crash into bed and sleep through Arabic. I think oustad will understand that it's the day before spring break.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Survived
Friday was of course the day before St. Patrick's day, and I had a little surprise in store. I was still getting some initial runs ironed out for the bus, and my boss asked if I could be a bus buddy for Saturday night. I said that was fine. Later on in the day, though, she asked me if I could actually drive one of the two buses. I was taken aback at first. I hadn't been trained up on any of the buses except our one conventional. All of the rest are transit-style with the engine in the back and the front wheels behind the driver, so they're quite a bit different. I reminded her of my lack of training, and she suggested I could take the conventional. I agreed, but I was still apprehensive. My first run ever is going to be late night WillVill on St. Patrick's day?
For those who don't know, WillVill is our regular route that shuttles students between campus and the William's Village apartment complex, about a mile from the main area of campus. During the day it can be crowded at times due to surges, but is fairly tame patronage. But on the weekends on late nights, it becomes the party shuttle for the hundreds of kids trying to find a party somewhere between The Hill and WillVill. So suggesting that my first run would be late night WillVill on St. Patrick's Day sounded ludicrous! A brand new driver shuttling hundreds of drunk, rowdy college kids (drunker and rowdier even than usual) on the busy, narrow, pedestrian-rich streets of Boulder at night. My first thought was that I'd crash within the first hour.
Well, I took Saturday pretty easy. I went shopping with Ashley for a bit, then had dinner with my dad. Saturday night I drove up to the bus lot a little bit early to pretrip the conventional. I drove up to the WillVill stop and had a chat with the other driver, who turned out to be Dine, the girl I had just trained with for a month. She was my one consolation; I wasn't out there alone. We started doing loops, and after the first hour and a half, the traffic died down considerably. I quickly calmed myself down and just tried to ignore the bacchanal behind me. I drove from 10pm to 2:30am, then went off route. Dine was slated to finish up an hour later, and I bet she met all of the heavy traffic back to WillVill. I feel a little sorry, but I guess that's how it goes. Normally there's only one bus anyway, so I'm sure she was fine.
The next morning was training at 8am. I considered sleeping in my car that night in the bus lot, as going home would cut an hour off of my sleeping time. Eventually I just decided to go home and trade quantity for quality. I think it was a good decision, as I slept like a rock for 3 and a half hours. Running on energy drinks, I showed up for up-training on the rest of the buses. I learned that we have the mini-transits, which are short (25 ft?) buses that get used a lot in tight places and on geology mountain runs. Next we did a quick run over the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses. We have a couple of them, and they are supposed to be very clean vehicles, but they are basically out of use. I quickly learned why; the engine is extremely inconsistent and has very little power uphill. Hopefully that will be the only time I ever drive one.
The other two buses I trained on are our mainstays; the super-transits, and the Gilligs. Our super transits are specially modified 40 ft. buses with two doors. Their floors are very high up, and they are surprisingly maneuverable. The Gilligs are previously RTD local route buses, and are much lower to the ground and a bit harder to corner around turns. We almost got through training on the articulated buses, but the one we pretripped died mysteriously and we were out of time anyway. So we'll save it for another day. Our fleet also has the brand-new Nova buses. They're extremely nice, and so the managers want to wait for the new drivers to have more hours under their belts before they get out and ruin them.
And so ends my long, looong weekend. W00t for 3 hours of sleep!
For those who don't know, WillVill is our regular route that shuttles students between campus and the William's Village apartment complex, about a mile from the main area of campus. During the day it can be crowded at times due to surges, but is fairly tame patronage. But on the weekends on late nights, it becomes the party shuttle for the hundreds of kids trying to find a party somewhere between The Hill and WillVill. So suggesting that my first run would be late night WillVill on St. Patrick's Day sounded ludicrous! A brand new driver shuttling hundreds of drunk, rowdy college kids (drunker and rowdier even than usual) on the busy, narrow, pedestrian-rich streets of Boulder at night. My first thought was that I'd crash within the first hour.
Well, I took Saturday pretty easy. I went shopping with Ashley for a bit, then had dinner with my dad. Saturday night I drove up to the bus lot a little bit early to pretrip the conventional. I drove up to the WillVill stop and had a chat with the other driver, who turned out to be Dine, the girl I had just trained with for a month. She was my one consolation; I wasn't out there alone. We started doing loops, and after the first hour and a half, the traffic died down considerably. I quickly calmed myself down and just tried to ignore the bacchanal behind me. I drove from 10pm to 2:30am, then went off route. Dine was slated to finish up an hour later, and I bet she met all of the heavy traffic back to WillVill. I feel a little sorry, but I guess that's how it goes. Normally there's only one bus anyway, so I'm sure she was fine.
The next morning was training at 8am. I considered sleeping in my car that night in the bus lot, as going home would cut an hour off of my sleeping time. Eventually I just decided to go home and trade quantity for quality. I think it was a good decision, as I slept like a rock for 3 and a half hours. Running on energy drinks, I showed up for up-training on the rest of the buses. I learned that we have the mini-transits, which are short (25 ft?) buses that get used a lot in tight places and on geology mountain runs. Next we did a quick run over the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses. We have a couple of them, and they are supposed to be very clean vehicles, but they are basically out of use. I quickly learned why; the engine is extremely inconsistent and has very little power uphill. Hopefully that will be the only time I ever drive one.
The other two buses I trained on are our mainstays; the super-transits, and the Gilligs. Our super transits are specially modified 40 ft. buses with two doors. Their floors are very high up, and they are surprisingly maneuverable. The Gilligs are previously RTD local route buses, and are much lower to the ground and a bit harder to corner around turns. We almost got through training on the articulated buses, but the one we pretripped died mysteriously and we were out of time anyway. So we'll save it for another day. Our fleet also has the brand-new Nova buses. They're extremely nice, and so the managers want to wait for the new drivers to have more hours under their belts before they get out and ruin them.
And so ends my long, looong weekend. W00t for 3 hours of sleep!
Friday, March 9, 2007
CDL!
W00t! Passed my Commercial Driver's License test this afternoon, with flying colors! The pre-trip portion was fine, I aced maneuvers, and there were no major problems on the drive test. I guess Jordan and Dine had some problems on their first tries, but Jordan's already re-taken and passed. And I have faith in Dine, she's a pro! In no time at all, we'll be driving the Buff Bus baby!
In other news, our good friend Kristen is... pregnant! She hasn't had a doctor confirm it yet, but apparently the home tests are more prone to false negatives than false positives. Meaning, it's very likely. As a consequence, Jackie and I have temporarily adopted Alastor the cat. There's some specific bacterial infection that feral or previously feral cats carry, and the infection can cause birth defects and miscarriages. Kristen would very much like to avoid all of that.
Also, my confidence is renewed in my chances of actually getting into the Computer Science major instead of hanging around in Open Option. I talked with a CS adviser about my situation today, and she's optimistic, and even suggested I apply today. So, the paperwork is in. A lot rides on this semester's grades I think, because my "technical GPA" is borderline right now. I'm confident I'll come out of this semester strong.
In other news, our good friend Kristen is... pregnant! She hasn't had a doctor confirm it yet, but apparently the home tests are more prone to false negatives than false positives. Meaning, it's very likely. As a consequence, Jackie and I have temporarily adopted Alastor the cat. There's some specific bacterial infection that feral or previously feral cats carry, and the infection can cause birth defects and miscarriages. Kristen would very much like to avoid all of that.
Also, my confidence is renewed in my chances of actually getting into the Computer Science major instead of hanging around in Open Option. I talked with a CS adviser about my situation today, and she's optimistic, and even suggested I apply today. So, the paperwork is in. A lot rides on this semester's grades I think, because my "technical GPA" is borderline right now. I'm confident I'll come out of this semester strong.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Long Monday
Yesterday was quite the long day for me. It started out just fine; I got out of the house at a decent time and made it to Arabic early. I stayed for my two early classes, then headed home in eager anticipation. I sent my MP3 player in to Best Buy recently for a warranty replacement, since the left audio channel had stopped working. I though perhaps the replacement voucher would be in the mail, so I came home and immediately check the mail. Nothing important, just the usual junk. To make it even better, Jackie was in a huff about something. I learned that she and Ashley had had a tiff about cleaning Alcott. Long story short, everyone was in a bad mood.
I defused the situation somewhat, but there's no way to fix it entirely at this point. No one will talk about the 800 pound gorilla in the living room and kitchen, that being Cameron's mess. Now, calling it Cameron's mess is a bit of a misnomer, because everyone has contributed to it by now. I still think of it as Cameron's because he's the one that has truly no intention of cleaning. We asked him about it once, and he really does not care what state the house is in. He's perfectly happy living in a pig sty that smells like spoiled food on the dishes sitting on the counters, and he's not concerned about dishes that come out with bits of dried refried beans still stuck to them. I can't confront him about it, because I'm not perfect and I have a feeling he will refuse to listen until I am always putting my own dishes away. After all, I wouldn't want to be a hypocrite. Oh well, we have a couple of indications that he may be moving soon, so I'm not pressing the issue just yet.
Back at school for my last class, Components lecture was just fine. After that I went to the Components lab to try and work on our current project, a program to take in a sentence and generate morse code. That part of the program is just dandy, but the last task, volume control, is still sketchy. My partner, Sean, and I worked for a good 3 hours and made only a little progress. I jokingly suggested that instead of programming that feature with a shaft encoder, we just install a variable resistor. It would be cheaper to mass produce anyway! However, that's not really the goal of the excercise. I wouldn't be concerned with having this halfway finished, but the project is due later today.
After all of that, I met with Ashley and made a preliminary meeting with a bible study group. I'll be meeting with 5 other men, and probably studying different Bible chapters in detail. After the meeting, I understand that this is sort of auxiliary to my Inquiry and RCIA classes, and more advanced. It may not be ideal for my situation, as I don't have an intellectual or spiritual framework to really understand completely the lessons that will be covered. However, at this point any information I learn is to my benefit. Besides, I will be able to gain from meeting more people in the community and building relationships there. Ashley was invited to sit in with us, but they traditionally have segregated men's and women's study groups, so they will try and find a women's group for Ashley to attend.
I defused the situation somewhat, but there's no way to fix it entirely at this point. No one will talk about the 800 pound gorilla in the living room and kitchen, that being Cameron's mess. Now, calling it Cameron's mess is a bit of a misnomer, because everyone has contributed to it by now. I still think of it as Cameron's because he's the one that has truly no intention of cleaning. We asked him about it once, and he really does not care what state the house is in. He's perfectly happy living in a pig sty that smells like spoiled food on the dishes sitting on the counters, and he's not concerned about dishes that come out with bits of dried refried beans still stuck to them. I can't confront him about it, because I'm not perfect and I have a feeling he will refuse to listen until I am always putting my own dishes away. After all, I wouldn't want to be a hypocrite. Oh well, we have a couple of indications that he may be moving soon, so I'm not pressing the issue just yet.
Back at school for my last class, Components lecture was just fine. After that I went to the Components lab to try and work on our current project, a program to take in a sentence and generate morse code. That part of the program is just dandy, but the last task, volume control, is still sketchy. My partner, Sean, and I worked for a good 3 hours and made only a little progress. I jokingly suggested that instead of programming that feature with a shaft encoder, we just install a variable resistor. It would be cheaper to mass produce anyway! However, that's not really the goal of the excercise. I wouldn't be concerned with having this halfway finished, but the project is due later today.
After all of that, I met with Ashley and made a preliminary meeting with a bible study group. I'll be meeting with 5 other men, and probably studying different Bible chapters in detail. After the meeting, I understand that this is sort of auxiliary to my Inquiry and RCIA classes, and more advanced. It may not be ideal for my situation, as I don't have an intellectual or spiritual framework to really understand completely the lessons that will be covered. However, at this point any information I learn is to my benefit. Besides, I will be able to gain from meeting more people in the community and building relationships there. Ashley was invited to sit in with us, but they traditionally have segregated men's and women's study groups, so they will try and find a women's group for Ashley to attend.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Done with Training!
The week was fairly quiet. Tuesday between classes I decided to do a little geocaching around home, and went for a walk around Tom Frost Reservoir, which is near my house. Wednesday it decided to snow, and while it wasn't torrential, it was very slushy and made the roads very slick, so after my first class I drove back home and curled up with a book on C# (C-Sharp), a fairly new programming language.
This weekend consisted of more bus training. Saturday we had Dine, Jordan and myself back with Dien the trainer. He took us around some very tight roundabouts to start off, and those were fun. Just as we were about to start some WillVill loops, we were called off of training to cover for a driver that had not shown up for her run. We drove down to Aurora, almost to the airport, to pick up a busload of middle schoolers for the basketball game at the Coors Event Center. The run is called Ralphie's Roundup, in which we pick up grade school kids from the Denver area and take them to see a sports event, so it's a very cool program. But by the time we got the kids to the game, they had already missed an hour of the game. That was too bad, but we had done all we could.
For lunch, Jordan, Dine and I grabbed some Subway and wandered around Target for a while. We had a blast! We played four-square in the aisles, played with the iPod docks, and bought a box of ice cream sandwiches. After lunch, we finally got to start WillVill loops, and Dien let us bring on passengers. Every few stops he would announce that, "This is a training bus, and the driver is a trainee. You're welcome to ride, but if you're not comfortable, you have an opportunity to wait for the next bus." Nobody ever got off, so we must've done alright.
Sunday we were back with Adam. We started off the morning with more maneuvers in the BVSD lot, and we all nailed each of the maneuvers. In the afternoon we took a trip through DIA's maze of roads, since I had missed that for Ethel's party. We drove around at Fitzsimons to see the university's hospitals there, and drove almost the entire length of Colfax Blvd. to Golden, then back up to Boulder on Highway 93. It was quite the tour.
All three of us have accumulated more than 40 hours of training, so we've all scheduled individual times to meet with Steven during the week and be tested. Steven is a certified CDL tester, but I've heard he's quite a stickler. He has to be one, as the state can come back with an inspector and re-test his drivers. If they fail with the inspector present, Steven is also liable. I'm testing Friday, so wish me luck!
This weekend consisted of more bus training. Saturday we had Dine, Jordan and myself back with Dien the trainer. He took us around some very tight roundabouts to start off, and those were fun. Just as we were about to start some WillVill loops, we were called off of training to cover for a driver that had not shown up for her run. We drove down to Aurora, almost to the airport, to pick up a busload of middle schoolers for the basketball game at the Coors Event Center. The run is called Ralphie's Roundup, in which we pick up grade school kids from the Denver area and take them to see a sports event, so it's a very cool program. But by the time we got the kids to the game, they had already missed an hour of the game. That was too bad, but we had done all we could.
For lunch, Jordan, Dine and I grabbed some Subway and wandered around Target for a while. We had a blast! We played four-square in the aisles, played with the iPod docks, and bought a box of ice cream sandwiches. After lunch, we finally got to start WillVill loops, and Dien let us bring on passengers. Every few stops he would announce that, "This is a training bus, and the driver is a trainee. You're welcome to ride, but if you're not comfortable, you have an opportunity to wait for the next bus." Nobody ever got off, so we must've done alright.
Sunday we were back with Adam. We started off the morning with more maneuvers in the BVSD lot, and we all nailed each of the maneuvers. In the afternoon we took a trip through DIA's maze of roads, since I had missed that for Ethel's party. We drove around at Fitzsimons to see the university's hospitals there, and drove almost the entire length of Colfax Blvd. to Golden, then back up to Boulder on Highway 93. It was quite the tour.
All three of us have accumulated more than 40 hours of training, so we've all scheduled individual times to meet with Steven during the week and be tested. Steven is a certified CDL tester, but I've heard he's quite a stickler. He has to be one, as the state can come back with an inspector and re-test his drivers. If they fail with the inspector present, Steven is also liable. I'm testing Friday, so wish me luck!
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