|
|
|
|
|
You reach a snow-crowned summit, and see behind you the deep valley stretching miles and miles away, and before you other summits higher and whiter, which you may have strength to climb, or may not. Then you sit down and meditate and wonder which it will be. |
|
Monday, January 12, 1998
It's so nice to be home, warm and dry!
This was a bad day to wake up late. I was brushing my teeth when I heard on the radio, "And here are the school closings." Yikes! I looked out the window and saw that there was a light dusting of snow, with enough coverage to make me decide to take the bus to work today. I was able to get downtown all right, but the 263 express bus to Microsoft must have had some problems. I waited with other MS folks for more than an hour, and in a few minutes I would have given up and gone home, since my feet were developing a strong resemblance to blocks of ice. But the bus finally did arrive, and there were even seats available!
* * * * * * * *
I especially wanted to get to work today, because we had a team meeting scheduled where each feature team was supposed to give a ten-minute status update, with a demo if there was anything to be demo'd. It was interesting to see what all the different teams were up to. Of course, some people could not limit themselves to the alloted time, so not all teams got to present. We'll have to have another session later in the week.
I had sent out mail on Thursday, saying that if anyone needed any help with their presentations, I had some available bandwidth (this is Microsoft jargon for available time and energy). One person sent me mail this morning, asking if I knew of a location for clipart depicting a tree! Fortunately I arrived in time to answer. I knew there was something suitable in Office; the person just didn't remember how to access the clipart from a share. He said the tree image (with visible underground roots) gave a suitable zen-like mood to his slides. So Miss Helpful strikes again!
* * * * * * * *
It was starting to snow again after the meeting. A co-worker asked me if I wanted to ride with his girlfriend and him, as far as Montlake. I accepted this kind offer (it benefited them too, since they could drive in the carpool lane with three people), which turned out to be a mistake, as will be shown.
While we were chatting, it came out that the co-worker's girlfriend knew my friend from last friday, J----. They both worked at the same company for a while. She had only good things to say about him.
So they dropped me off at Montlake, which is at the lowest point between Capitol Hill and the University District. I started waiting for a bus to take me to the top of Capitol Hill, along with many other people. We waited and waited and waited. I passed up the chance to take a bus that would have gone not far from my house, before I realized that the bus I was waiting for was just not coming. Some people walked by, coming from the direction I wanted to go. They said that four or five buses were stuck going down the hill; thus, no buses coming the other way to take us up the hill. So, after an hour or more, I started walking. I took up with a woman who had the same idea; but she was not equipped for it! Her coat had no buttons, and she had no hat or gloves. I offered to hold my umbrella over her, but she would have none of it. My feet were much warmer when I was walking than when I was standing still.
As we made our way slowly up the hill, we watched the cars spinning out, or creeping along, and saw the buses that were stuck coming the other way. We reached the top, and then a bus came along with room for us! We rode for a few blocks, then the bus was blocked by buses that had gotten stuck before, so we all piled out again. The buses that have trouble are the articulated buses, those that have a joint in the middle. They just can't go in the snow, chains or no chains!
Many restuarants were already closed (it was two and a half hours since I had left the office) but my favorite teriyaki place was still open, so I got some beef and chicken with rice. Home at last!
So if I had taken the bus home, I'd have been downtown when I got off. I could have either taken one of several buses to my house, or had a shorter walk!
* * * * * * * *
I got email from my sister in Delaware, asking me to call her. She's very good about calling me, but it's frustrating for her when I'm online so much! I swear I'll call her before I go out of town again.
|