COMMENTS

Thanks for your comments...It lets me know I'm not just talking to myself!

Big Bro', funny you should mention that. About the fake transfers, last night I had a con man try to get on with a crumpled transfer. He put it in the farebox and it read "expired". He claimed his kid chewed on it. I looked at it and this guy had actually taken the time to tear out the little pieces that showed the date. The time part would have given him a couple more hours, but I'm not an idiot. It wasn't soggy like a kid chewed on it and if his kid HAD done it he really needs to take the kid to a dentist. He'd have to have some scary teeth to gnaw out just the two little holes that used to be where the date was! I told him the box still read expired and it was quite odd how JUST the date was missing. He said he just wanted to get home and could I just let him ride free. I said "First you want to play me like I'm stupid and now you want to ask me for a favor. You need to pay a fare like everyone else or get off the bus." Some guy in the back yelled "yeah!" It's always good to get support from the other passengers. He got off the bus.

To Aaron, Welcome! TWO routes? Not a lot of job opportunities for bus drivers there, huh? Glad you enjoy my site...Keep comin' back!

To the fiance, You're gonna marry a bus driver?? I think they provide counseling for that. Just messing with ya. Actually, I work with some interesting people. They come from all walks of life. Best wishes to both of you!

Thanks again for all your comments and for checking out my site. You all are very much appreciated!

WHAT'S UP WITH THE BIKES IN UPTOWN???

I was driving the route 6 through uptown in south Minneapolis tonight. I left Uptown Station and was waiting for a green light on Lagoon Avenue. As my light turned green, a couple hundred bike riders flowed into the intersection and drove around in the middle of the intersection totally messing up our traffic for the green light. One guy even got off of his bike and sat down in front of a car that was trying to creep through the bikes so he didn't miss the light.

I don't know what the point of this whole thing was. If they were making some kind of statement, they should have had at least one of their loser friends carry a sign or something. I did my duty as a citizen and called the Control Center to have the cops check them out before someone ran over one of the jerks. I have to admit...It was tempting!!

HOW THE HECK ARE YOU ALL FINDING THIS WEBSITE??!!??

My brother put a tracker on this site and I have noticed so many different countries that my visitors are from. I realize this is the "worldwide web" but I am curious how you all are finding this particular website. Tell the truth, did you see the name and think it was something else? Do you actually like the stories? I'd just like to know.

Well, whatever it is, thanks for visiting. Hope you are entertained by my site.

In case you are interested, some of the countries other than the USA that have been here are; Japan, Austria, Spain, United Kingdom, Tanzania (Africa), Taiwan, Portugal, Singapore, Sweden, Finland and Australia.

Welcome!!! Hope you all come back and see me again...Soon!

FUNNY GUY ON THE 6 TONIGHT

I was driving the 6 through south Minneapolis tonight...Minding my own business. I heard the guy sitting right behind me talking to this kid (about 17 or so) who was sitting in the "peanut seat" (right next to the front door). They were comparing cell phones and talking about contract plans versus prepaid phones. Then the guy behind me said "One thing I hate is when you have it on vibrate and it's in your back pocket. I really...ahhh...I really don't like how that feels." I was trying not to laugh and thinking this guy probably puts it on vibrate and puts it in his back pocket and just can't wait to get a call!! People are soooooo funny!!

THE BATMAN BOY

As I mentioned before, I often win stuffed animals out of those claw machines and give them to the kids on my bus. One of my favorite kids is a little Asian boy who appears to have down syndrome. That little boy has more energy than I would if I saved up for a week!

I pulled up to a corner one day while driving route 23 and he got on with the lady (or should I say energetic saint!) that is always with him. I gave him a Batman doll and watched as he sat in the back of the bus bashing Batman against the windows and seats. He was having a ball.

Months later I pulled up to the same corner and Batman Boy was literally rolling around on the ground. The lady was having a hard time getting him to get on the bus. I said "Look! It's Batman Boy!" He stood up immediately and practically ran up the steps of the bus. The lady said "Look, it's the driver that gave you the Batman doll!" He just stood by the farebox and didn't say a thing. That was the one and only time I ever saw him standing still. She paid the fare and took Batman out of a backpack she was carrying. She apologized for the wear and tear. I told her it was good to see that Batman went to a kid that would play with him. Otherwise, he'd just be sitting on my dresser with all the other stuffed animals I haven't given away yet.

It didn't dawn on my until later that the little boy probably thought I was going to give him another doll or stuffed animal. I kinda feel bad that I didn't. I don't want him to think that every time he gets on the bus he should expect one. However, when Batman gets beaten to death, I'll give him another toy...I'm a softee!

SIGN PEOPLE

Is it just me, or are these people on the corner holding signs asking for money annoying??!!?? It used to be a rare sight, now you can't go anywhere without seeing at least one. I used to feel sorry for them and give them food. Then a fellow bus driver told me he had the same feeling and gave a guy his lunch. As he pulled away, he looked in the rearview mirror and saw the guy throw it over the fence!! He was pissed. He had decided he could go a day without lunch to help out one of these poor souls and then saw the guy not only wasn't hungry but just threw it over the fence!!

Then there was the day I was working a 10 hour shift. I drove past the basilica in downtown Minneapolis numerous times that day. There was a sign guy out across the street from the basilica on my first pass through and he was there ALL DAY...Even on my last trip through!! I thought if he put that much effort into getting a job, he wouldn't have to ask people for their hard earned money.

I thought everyone should jot down the number for First Call for Help and hand it out to the sign people. Face it, they wouldn't be out there if people would stop giving them money. It's not that I don't want to help, but I give to a charity of my choice. They, and many others, provide food, shelter, clothing and even help getting a job or an education. The only thing they don't help with is getting drugs and alcohol...fig'r it out! If you think I'm being a jerk, just ask the sign guy who's sign says "why lie? Need a beer".

To all those kind people that give sign people money...take your money and give it to a reputable charity. Then you know your hard earned money isn't going to the dope man or the liquor store and you can feel good about REALLY helping someone that needs it.

EVERYBODY IS 12

I had 2 teenage girls get on my bus today claiming to be 12 so they could pay the child fare. First mistake, I let them get away with it. A few blocks later a young man got on and went straight to the back of the bus and started messing with them. I heard one of the girls say something like "don't do that to her! Don't you know how old she is?" This got my attention and I looked back to see the boy had one girl squeezed into the corner with his arms around her. I said to leave her alone because she told me she was 12 and that would be sexual assault on a child and that wasn't happening on my bus and I'd have to call the police. I had heard the one girl claiming that the other was either 15 or 16 ( I forgot which) so at a minimum there was fare evasion going on. I couldn't see exactly what the boy was doing but he was laying all over the girl so I went ahead and called police, mostly to cover my own butt since I made it known that there was something going on with a minor in the bus.

They figured out I had called the police so they all got off the bus. Of course, this wasn't until I was called quite a few colorful names. The cops came and pulled the tape and I wrote out a report. Heck, if it was my niece that boy would've gotten a beating at the least! Maybe her mom would see this the same way I did.

I will never figure out why these kids come on the bus and play games with the fare and be so rude and disrespectful to the driver. They NEED the bus. I can tell you this, those girls won't be getting on my bus without adult supervision. I'm not their babysitter and if they wanna be whorish, let their own parents watch them!

BAD KIDS

Why do kids do stupid stuff on the bus? Don't they realize they NEED the bus? For many, it is their only form of transportation. Apparently, they think as long as they pay the fare they can do whatever they want. This is SO not true!! In fact, one time the Control Center actually called ME on the bus and told me to pass up a particularly unruly bunch of kids. Seems they gave the driver ahead of me such a hard time that the cops came and kicked them all off the bus. Sure enough, I saw them all on the corner about a block from where they were kicked off. They were easy to spot, with all their gang colors and bandanas and stuff on. Just as they were described to me. As I approached the intersection, the light was red. I tried to go really slow so when the light changed I could whiz on by. They noticed and started walking towards the bus. I put the microphone on to project outside the bus and said "My boss told me to pass you up 'cuz you don't know how to act on the bus." Then they seemed REALLY angry! The light turned green and I went on by. People on the bus seemed happy, relieved and a little surprised. I explained to them that I really was told to pass them due to problems they caused on the bus ahead of me. They thought that was great. They said we should do that more often, I agree.

I called the Control Center back. I thanked them for the heads-up and told them to tell the next few buses going that way to pass them too. I explained that they were really angry and we should do all we could to see that they weren't allowed on another bus that evening. I don't know how they all got home, and I really don't care. If they want to act up they can do it somewhere that other people aren't stuck in close quarters with them. I hope they are still walking!

THE CAMERA MAN

There is a guy a lot of the drivers know and refer to as "the camera man". He tries to sell stuff on the bus...Usually including disposable cameras. Two for $5 isn't a bad deal, but I'm guessing they are stolen so I usually told him to do his business somewhere else.

I used to get this guy a lot on a couple routes in south Minneapolis, normally he rides the 21 and the 18. One day he got on my bus with the usual over-the-shoulder bag and did his little posing as he leaned on the farebox preparing to pay his fare. Finally, he sat down about mid-bus. After a while I heard what sounded like giggles coming from his direction. I looked in the interior rearview mirror to see him holding a magazine at arms length over his head. I noticed, from the pictures on the magazine that it was porn. Everyone behind him had gotten quite an eyeful. I yelled at him to put that away until he got off the bus. He did. Lucky for him there were no kids on the bus or I'd have really gone off on him. In the back of the bus was a fellow bus driver. He was laughing and had that "I'm-off-work-you-deal-with-it" grin on his face.

The next time I saw him, he rode quietly to his stop and got off. I thought it was odd that he hadn't tried to sell stuff. I got to the end of the route and on my way back, as I pulled up to the stop across the street from where he got off, there he was. The stop was suspiciously close to a Walgreens. My guess is that he was out of merchandise and went in to restock. Before he got on my bus, he bent down to pick something up. I thought he had dropped his bus card. When he went to pay his fare, he glided his hand across the part of the farebox you put change in and then over to the card spot and put his card in. The next guy on tried to put change in and noticed it was full of dirt!! I was pissed. I turned around and said to him "You know you are damaging government property ON CAMERA? Do you think that's a good idea?" He said he was sorry and I told him he was finished on my bus. This was the last ride he would take with me. I was able to clean it out enough to make it work so I let him enjoy his last ride with me.

I later checked at the garage and saw he was on our trespass list. This is a list of people that are not allowed on ANY Metro Transit property...No buses, not even in the shelters. For some reason or another, they have been given a warning by Transit Police. Usually, it is for fare evasion or damage to property or something on those lines. The camera man tried a few times to get on my bus since his little incident. I told him "If you want to damage the bus, you must not want to ride on the bus because you can't have it both ways." It's gotten to the point now, finally, that if he sees me driving he just doesn't even try and get on. Works for me!

THE NOT-SO-BLIND OLD GUY.

The 21 is a route that goes down Lake street, which is one of the busiest streets in south Minneapolis. The longest trip ends in downtown St. Paul. There is also a limited stop route 53 that goes much the same way, but jumps on the highway in St Paul to get you to their downtown faster.

One weekday during rush hour I was doing the 21A...the long trip to St Paul. Lake street can be very busy during rush hour. I had made the stop at Lake and Bloomington. People got off, people got on. I had closed the door and was checking my mirrors in preparation of pulling out into traffic. I noticed someone running for my bus. Since I was still in the bus stop, I opened the door and let the very grateful man on. Again, I checked the mirrors and this time I started to pull out into traffic. When the nose of the bus was out in the street, I heard pounding on the back passenger side of the bus. People on the bus said to wait, there was another guy that wanted to get on. In training, they tell you that once you start going you are to keep going. A lot of accidents happen when a bus stops unexpectedly midway into pulling into traffic. Knowing this, I said "I'm already out in traffic. I can't stop now. There's another bus a couple of blocks behind me." And I kept going. I had seen another bus in my rearview mirror so I didn't feel too bad about not causing an accident. During rush hour, there are 21's and 53's going by every few minutes.

I had all but forgotten about it when I got to the Light Rail stop. The other bus had caught up to me and off came an old guy with a cane who hurried onto my bus. He proceeded to yell at me for not stopping for him. I explained that I can't do that when I am already pulling into traffic...especially on a busy street during rush hour. He said I hadn't pulled out, I said I had. He got VERY argumentative. I said I would be the first to apologize if I had done anything wrong, but seeing as I already opened the door TWICE at that stop and was pulling into traffic when he came from out of nowhere and pounded on the BACK of the bus, I felt I did nothing wrong and therefore didn't feel the need to apologize to someone who just gotten on my bus and started yelling at me. He threatened to call in and file a complaint. He just kept up and I told him to do whatever he wanted, but I was not going to argue with him and if he kept yelling at me he would have to get off the bus. At this point, I told him, he was interfering with public transportation by distracting the driver and this is a felony. He proceeded to get on his cell phone to call in his complaint. I heard him on the phone saying he saw the bus across the street (it would have been kitty-corner) and that when he got to the bus I just drove off. He made it sound like I just looked at him standing at the door and drove off laughing at him. Then I heard him say he was an old man and he was BLIND!!!!!! I was amazed...since he just told them he SAW the bus across the street!!

I had had enough. I called the Control Center on my bus phone and told them I needed a supervisor to come and pull the tape of the incident. I told them the old guy was lying on me and I wanted to cover my butt. This was at a time when management was putting a point system in effect. Complaints would count against us...people calling in to say good things about us (commendations) would NOT count in our favor. Fair? I think not. This was a perfect example of a bogus complaint. Thank God for cameras on the bus and that I happened to say..out loud...that I was pulled into traffic. Some lady who saw the whole thing came up to me. She said she thought I handled it very well and asked where she could call in and say so. I told her and thanked her. She said I didn't deserve to be treated the way this grumpy old man was treating me. What a nice lady.

The real kicker was where the old not-so-blind liar got off. It was one block from where the limited stop bus that he got off of to come yell at me would have let him off!! That bus would have gotten him there faster...which was part of his complaint. He had said he didn't want to wait 20 minutes for another bus. As I said, the buses run every few minutes during rush hour. The only time he would have to wait THAT long would be late night-early morning times. Nice person that I am (most days), I called the Control Center back and told them that if they got the old guys' name and number that they may want to call him back and let him know about the route 53. After all, I didn't hate the guy and this bus would get him where he was going a whole lot faster.

Well, they pulled the tape. Interestingly enough, I never was notified about the complaint he called in. I did get a commendation from the call the lady made to say I handled a difficult situation very well. Best of all, I am happy to say the the whole idea of a point system for the drivers was squashed. I don't know if this incident had any role in that. I am just glad that the management, especially those that have never been bus drivers, got to see the tape and see how angry people get and how fast they will call in a bogus complaint on a driver. Score one for the good guys!!

DEAD MOMMA SCAM

Back to the good ol' 5 line ... there were more scammers and fare evaders and just overall problems on that line than any other route I've driven. One of my favorites was a guy that ALWAYS had issues...all of which, not so coincidentally, resulted in his lack of ability to pay a fare.

The first time I ran into him he rushed onto the steps of the bus, nearly out of breath. He said he had to get to the hospital. He had just gotten a call that informed him his mother had died and he had to get down to the hospital right away. I have a heart, I have a mother (who I love dearly!!)...I told him to go ahead and get on the bus. I couldn't help but notice that he got off long before the hospital stop. That was my first clue that he was a scammer.

A few days later, drama man showed up again. Again, he rushed up to the bus with some story that I really don't remember. I was very busy and running behind schedule so, to save time, I told him to just get on the bus.

A few days after that, guess who is at it again. He came rushing onto the bus steps and said he had to get to the hospital. He said he had gotten a call and they told him his mother was in the hospital and he had to get to her right away. I just stared at him for a second hoping he would recognize me. He didn't so I gave him a clue. I said "Didn't your mom die earlier this week?" People on the bus started laughing...I'm sure many of them were regular passengers that knew this character better than I did. He just looked at me with a kind of "busted" look on his face. I told him I gave him 2 free rides this week and there would be no more. I told him if he had no fare and saw me driving not to even put his foot in the door of the bus...he was done. He had played me enough.

Months later, after I had switched bus garages (in part, to get away from the 5 line) you won't believe who I ran into again!! I was driving the 18 down Nicollet Mall in the middle of downtown. Drama man hadn't changed his act at all. He came rushing up the to the door of the bus acting nearly out of breath. He barely looked at me and started his latest story. He said he had just gotten off of the 18 that was ahead of me and the driver didn't give him a transfer...before he could continue his lies, I said "HI!! How are you doin'? I haven't seen you in a while." His face was soooo readable...He looked at me and the "Oh yeah...it's you...I'm busted again" look was practially written in his eyes. He just shook his head and walked away. He hasn't tried to get on my bus in years.

THE EGG IS ON ME / WONDERWOMAN

I really don't miss driving the 5 line. That is one of those routes that makes you glad that this job comes with its very own police department! In fact, I used the Transit Police more in my first year when I was driving the 5 than I have in the past 4 and a half years PLUS since then.

One evening while I was driving the 5 I stopped at a corner in north Minneapolis to let people off. There was a group of kids standing on the corner. Some acted as if they wanted to catch the bus. After some people got off the bus, there was one little boy about ten or eleven years old that stood in front of the door as if he wanted to get on. I just kind of looked at him like "are you getting on or not?" and all of the sudden he beaned me with an egg. That kid could be a pitcher for the Twins! I never realized how much of a mess one egg could make. It hit me near my right shoulder and the mess was all over my chest and into my lap. I had most of the shell hanging off my shirt pocket. I was instantly pissed. I shut the door and called the Control Center. As I was sitting there, I noticed the other nearly dozen kids...They ALL had eggs. The guilty party had run as soon as he made his big splash all over me. I was talking on the phone to the Control Center when one little egg boy came pounding on the door. Apparently, he realized the cops may be coming. He said, in a panic "You know it wasn't me,right? You know it wasn't me." I put the phone aside and said to him "I know exactly who it was. See that camera over my head? It points right out that door. Your little buddy is on tape. You might want to tell him...He's starting his three strikes a little early. It's a FELONY to assault a bus driver." Now, as far as I know, we don't have the 3 felonies (strikes) and you go to prison for life law. Even if we did...The kid was pretty young. But the look on the little kids' face who was at the door trying to cover his own butt was of terror. I thought his eyes might pop out of his head. GOOD!! I doubt he'll ever do it again. The actual guilty little boy...He's probably been turned in for SOMETHING by his butt-covering friend by now and is probably in juvenile detention.

The kids scattered before the cops could get there so I was told to finish my route and wait at the end of the line for the cops to come and pull the tape of what the cameras caught. As I waited, trauma number two of the evening happened. I was standing behind my bus talking to the bus driver parked behind me. Out of the corner of my eye, I see something go flying. I turn and look and some 6 foot tall kid is chasing some old dude. The older guy runs onto my bus. Wonderwoman that I am...Or appear to become in situations I don't have time to think rationally in...I ran onto the bus steps behind the old guy. I had taken out my pepper spray and stood on the step eye to eye with this big kid and pointed the spray at him. He apparently had some experience with pepper spray and turned around and ran the other way faster than he came. The old guy thanked me repeatedly. I noticed he had a black eye from some prior incident...Might as well have had "victim" written on his forehead. I asked him what happened and he said the kid just started harassing him for no reason then threw a cup of iced pop at him and started chasing him. I saw that the little loser had stopped running and actually had the nerve to go back to the bus stop a few bus lengths up from me to wait for the route 22 bus. That pissed me off. How dare he think he can attack old people and then just hop on a bus. I called the Control Center and told them about the incident and they informed me the cop that was on his way to pull my security tape from the egging incident should be there shortly. The poor old guy just sat there shaking. He said he was waiting for the same bus the kid was waiting for. I told him not to worry...It would be taken care of and he wouldn't end up on the same bus with that loser.

The cops got there and took the tape from the egging as I explained the new incident, which would also be on the tape. I pointed out the kid. They escorted the old guy to the bus stop and got hold of the kid. I was surprised to see that, after old black-n-blue eye got on the bus and left, the police let the kid go! I asked the cop before I left why they did that. He said since the cup didn't hit the old guy and the kid never caught him, there was really no crime...No assault. That was so not right!! That old guy was terrified. Who knows what would have happened if that punk wasn't so scared of a girl with pepper spray. I was quite disappointed.

Well, you have to look at the bright side of things...I got the rest of the night off!! Due to the egg assault, I was allowed to go home and wash my uniform. In fact, a couple days later I got a letter from one of the "higher ups" offering me peer counseling and saying they understand how emotional and degrading that type of incident can be. Some other bus drivers actually tried to entice me to go to peer counseling...They said you don't have to come to work. You just go talk to a counselor an hour or two a day and you get paid for the whole day!! Now, I'm sure that there are situations this would be beneficial to a bus driver...Like when that person commit suicide-by-bus by walking out in front of the bus...On the HIGHWAY!! However, what would I say?? I can't eat eggs anymore? Breakfast is too traumatic for me? The sight of eggs, especially scrambled, sends me into uncontrollable tremors? Nah, I'm not a great liar...Besides, when it comes down to it...I really LIKE my job!!

SAVED BY THE BUS DRIVER.

Hennepin Avenue is the main street for people to cruise through downtown Minneapolis. It has a lot of bars and neon lights and it's where a lot of people go to enjoy the nightlife. Traffic is only allowed to go one way down the street. The other side has a bus only lane in the opposite direction.

I was driving the 6 line up the bus lane one day and saw some teenagers fighting with another teenager...appeared to maybe be one of their peers so I pretty much ignored it. Later that same evening, traveling down the same bus lane, I saw a lady waving her arms and screaming "Help! Somebody help!" Then I noticed a few feet from her some teens were stomping on some guy. There were probably a half dozen of them just kicking and stomping this poor guy on the ground and the lady looked terrified as she screamed. NO ONE was doing anything to help! I pulled up in the bus next to the incident and opened the door (I wanted the camera that points out the door to get the little losers on film for possible prosecution later) and I put a little bass in my voice and yelled "HEY!!" as loud as I could. A couple of the little juvenile delinquents looked up as they were still stomping on the guy. They seemed a little shocked and they all took off. I asked the lady if he was okay and she said "No, call an ambulance." I stayed there as I called the Transit Control Center and relayed the incident so they could get help there. There were a few people on the bus on their cell phones calling for help at the same time. I couldn't believe it...in the middle of downtown, right across the street from a place the cops usually are hanging out in groups, we waited about 5 minutes for a cop and about 2 more for an ambulance to show up!! The really amazing thing about this is that there are cameras in every block on Hennepin avenue downtown that are supposedly monitored by the police 24/7.

I was, however, much more pleasantly surprised that not one person on my bus said "Come on, let's go" or in any way pushed for me to leave that guy and get them where they wanted to go. This may not seem odd to you, but my experience in my last nearly 6 years driving the city bus has been that a lot of people are very selfish and have a "me first" attitude. Like the lady that stepped over the guy that had just been pushed off the front steps of the bus and hit his head on the ground. She said something like "He's fine. C'mon, let's go." The guy later died of his head injuries. I try to live more by the treat-people-the-way-you-would-want-to-be-treated theory of human kindness and respect. Don't get me wrong...some people test my patience, but I find most people respond well to this treatment.

I wish I could tell you the guy getting stomped is healthy and doing well, but I really don't know what happened to him after the ambulance came. That is when I left. I would also like to say I don't blame the cops....they can't be everywhere at one time. I very much appreciate the job they do. I know I couldn't do it so I am very glad they are there for us. Finally, I would again like to thank each and every person on my bus that trip for their patience. (I thanked them as we pulled away because I was so surprised no one told my to just go) Like I said to them, if that had been you or me or someone we cared about getting attacked like that...you would have wanted someone to step in and help you.

SINGING IN THE STREETS

One of the things bus drivers are supposed to do is announce controlled intersections in case there is anyone on the bus that is visually impaired. If we are lucky, the microphone is working. It bites to have to yell out streets for 8-10 hours. One day I had a mic that worked a little TOO well.

It just so happened that my little sister and my niece (Katie and Kayla) were on my bus that day. There came a time when we were the only ones on the bus. I decided to share with them the little secret of what I do sometimes when I am alone on the bus. I sing songs in the microphone. There is a little toggle switch on the dashboard that allows you to switch the microphone to inside the bus, outside the bus or inside and outside both at the same time. My switch was on inside only. Kayla said to say something to a couple that was next to a car. I told her they couldn't hear and she said do it anyway. Figuring they couldn't hear me I said "Hey" in a kind of long, drawn out manner. They both looked at the bus like they heard me. We all laughed, but I was thinking "OH SHIT!". We got to the end of the line and I asked Kayla to go out and tell me if she could hear me. I tried 3 times, moving the toggle switch each time..inside only, outside only and both. Each time I said "Can you hear me now?" Each time she said "Yes". They thought it was pretty funny...and it only got funnier. I told them that earlier that morning...I mean EARLY...like 5AM...I was alone on the bus. I was looking forward to a visit from my little sister so I decided to sing my own version of a song she had played at her wedding. "We are family...I got baby sister with me...." I sang it loud and into the microphone!!! I wonder how many people I woke up THAT morning. OOPS!

BUBBLES ON THE MALL

Had a good laugh last week. I was driving the bus down Nicollet Mall about 5:30 one morning. (For those of you not familiar with Minneapolis, the Mall is a winding street that runs through the heart of downtown. It has only one lane in each direction and is reserved for bus, cab and limo traffic.) Some joker decided to but soap in the big brick water fountain next to the Hyatt hotel. I don't know how much they put in there, but the bubbles stretched from the fountain across the sidewalk and into the street and actually almost made it to the other side of the street. The funny part was actually the DEPTH of the bubbles. They had to be at least a foot deep. Of course, I drove right through them...WEEEEEEE! When I made bus stops for about half a mile after that, the bubbles would come loose from the bus and fly past the front door. It was great! The bubbles must have screwed up the drains around the fountain too because one was shooting a stream of water about 6-8 feet into the air. I don't condone vandalism, but that was cool!