Under Pressure

The moment one accosts a stranger or is accosted by him is above all in this life the moment of drama.
-- Haniel Long

Monday, August 28, 2000
One year ago: Outdoor Cinema
Two years ago: Vonda at Fifty
Three years ago: Pioneers and All

New entries posted in this batch start here, so don't miss out on camping adventures and stuff.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *    *

I was awake and ready early. Then began an agony of impatience while Jack got ready, so he could take me to the station. I must get a new car, soon! But of course I was there before the office doors opened; there wasn't any real danger of missing the bus. I just feel better when I get there early, especially since the consequences of missing the bus are great -- a three hour delay.

Then, the bus couldn't get it up! The air pressure, that is. I called Jack and asked him to email my work, to let them know that I might be late. All the passengers went and sat in the waiting room. If the bus can't run, there is a repair service they call, but most likely we'd have to wait until the next scheduled run. The driver went out and kept trying whatever occurred to him. Finally something worked, after he turned the bus off for ten minutes, then turned it on again. We all boarded, slightly nervous about the whole thing. Of course, this delay meant all my worry about missing the bus was for naught.

I actually dozed on the road south, then ate the peanut butter and honey sandwiches that I'd packed for myself. We got to Seattle, I walked to the bus stop. D'oh! I missed it by fifteen seconds, and could see it pulling away while I was trapped on the other side of the street by traffic. So I had to wait fifteen minutes till the next one.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *    *

We had a good crop of feedback mail over the weekend. Do we publish an API? No. Can folks download our data to do with it what they will? No.

I'm eager for more Bujold books. It occurred to me tonight, that I could walk to Horizon Books, a used book store a few blocks away, and see if they had any! Sure enough, they had one that I don't already have: Memory. A creepy guy (self-identified as an Alaskan college student, though he seems old for it) was talking to a woman one aisle over. When she extricated herself, he latched on to me! I should have been more firm and explicit, that is, actually say "I don't want to talk to you -- leave me alone!" He finally picked up on my signals and didn't follow me down the street.

Groceries! I can bring food to work, since Pete is picking me up in the morning. I stopped at Safeway and grabbed frozen food. The only errand I didn't accomplish on this trip was to deposit my paychecks, which are beginning to build up again.