TC

4.29.2007

the baron

Kassie and I went to History Theatre Friday night to see The Baron. The play was excellent! It was a great way to top off my vacation. Jim Raschke played his modern self and the Baron von Raschke. Four other actors played the younger Raschke, his family, and a host of other wrestlers and miscellaneous characters.

I think I really got into wrestling when I was in 7th grade. The Baron von Raschke was nearing the end of his career. He had always been one of the bad guys, but I remember cheering for him, so I think things may have changed by then. He was my favorite.

The Grunt

Just about that time, Vince McMahon, Jr. purchased the WWF from his father and, against his father's wishes, began to change the way the wrestling business was run. He completely disregarded the territory system, gobbling up smaller wrestling companies and creating the huge entertainment behemoth now known as the WWE.

The Twin Cities were an AWA town. I remember when the WWF first reared its ugly head around here. My friends with cable loved it. We didn't have cable, but I bought a lot of wrestling magazines so I knew what was going on. And I watched it at my friends' houses on occasion. It really bothered me when Hulk Hogan won the WWF Championship. How, I wondered, could the Hulkster win the WWF when he could never beat Nick Bockwinkel in the AWA? What I didn't know was that when McMahon lured Hogan to the WWF from the AWA, it was probably the biggest event in the WWF's history. From that point, the fortunes of the AWA and the WWF went in completely opposite directions.

At the same time, I was getting into (post-)punk music and I was becoming very suspicious of flashy, glitzy, showy entertainment. As the AWA deteriorated and the WWF became the only option, I lost interest in wrestling.

In the play, Raschke gets a chance to give his perspective on the rise of the WWF, its destruction of the business and the steroid freaks that we call wrestlers. It clearly makes him sad and it made me kind of sad, too. As a kid, I didn't have any idea how the wrestling business was run. I just knew that I wasn't too excited about the WWF and I'm sort of surprised that there was much more to the story than I could have ever known, but twenty-five years later, my feelings regarding the subject are much the same.

The Baron runs through May 20. If you watched AWA wrestling in the '70s and '80s, you'll really enjoy it. However, Kassie recognized only a couple names along the way, but she loved it, too.

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4.26.2007

twins plus

Kassie, T-Unit, Simon, Robert, Sean and I went to the Twins game this afternoon. It took three hours and 45 minutes for the Twinks to beat the Royals 1-0. It was a long, relatively uninteresting game. It's a good thing we know so many people with their Thursday afternoons wide open. I might have fallen asleep if it weren't for the company.

But earlier in the day:

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4.24.2007

victory!

The Shock Monkeys are 1-0 after an 11-10 win this evening over Cheetos (or whatever they're called... The Cheetos maybe?).

The planets aligned for me this evening: I'm on vacation (so not on a bus) and Dan C. is out of town. There were plenty of women. After being a sub for a couple years, I finally got to play.

I hit the ball around a little bit for a few minutes after a game two years ago, and did the same with the team from work when I lived in Des Moines, but I don't think I've actually played a game of softball since sometime in the early '90s.

I'm pleased to report that I went 2-for-2 with no runs and an RBI. I played two innings in right center field. I missed a ball I should have snagged and caught a tough one when we needed it. I was awarded the game ball, though I thought Wyatt deserved it more. I got the won't-get-to-play-again-and-had-a-good-game game ball. I'll take it, though. It was really fun to play.

One of these years, maybe my work schedule will allow me to play more often. In the meantime, I should probably work on strengthening the shoulder I dislocated. It's weak. I get about 2/3 the distance I used to.

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I hates meeces to pieces

Today Kassie discovered that we, once again, have uninvited rodents in the kitchen.

I guess Jeff's not the mouser we hoped he'd be.

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4.23.2007

stray cat

Kassie and I just returned from the grocery store. As we walked through the produce, I recognized a guy over by the raspberries. I immediately thought, "Bus rider!" Nope. Brian Setzer.

While we were waiting in line for a cashier, a woman's 12-pack of soda ripped open and he helped her pick it up. I don't think she recognized him.

4.22.2007

damn it

A 16-year-old kid got shot on a bus in St. Paul last night.

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4.21.2007

mouse-free evening

Simon, Kassie, Mollie and I arrived at the Orpheum this evening to find that Modest Mouse postponed the show due to illness. My guess: Johnny Marr broke a hip...

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oh, and

Kassie and I are on vacation this week. Where are we going on vacation this year? We're going to... enjoy our new windows, I guess.

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body and sold

Kassie and I went to UBC last night to see Body and Sold, a play based on the stories of young people who got involved in sex trafficking. As you might expect, it was quite emotionally draining.

I really enjoyed it. I was somewhat surprised that I did.

I have never seen Schindler's List. I've never been able to work myself into the mindset required to watch thirteen hours (or whatever) of Holocaust. I went to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC. That was an emotional drain. To voluntarily enter into a thing that I know will be depressing is tough. At least the sun was shining yesterday.

Similarly, I often get into things without really thinking about the possible discomfort it might entail until I'm well on my way to the event. For instance, our church has a thing called Dinners for Eight. Someone hosts a total of eight people at their home for dinner. I think it sounds like fun at church when we sign up. I enjoy helping to put something together to bring (although my actual contribution is usually, "Yeah, that sounds good."). Then, as we get out of the car, I start to dread it. What if no one talks? What if everyone's boring, including me?

It's the same with route training at work. It sounds like a nice break when Joel asks me if I want to do some. Then, on the way to work that day, I start to think, "What if I'm training someone with whom I've had a conflict? What if it's someone who is difficult to talk to?"

I've never actually had problems with Dinners for Eight or training. But I have had some pretty painful experiences with amateur theater. There was this one time at the Ankeny Community Theater...

I got home from work late, got dressed and we left. As we arrived, I realized that I was not necessarily in the proper mood to watch a depressing play. I started to get the "what have I gotten myself into" dread. But I was more than pleasantly surprised by the quality of the production last night. I'm no theater critic. I know very little about it; I just know what I like and don't like. None of the actors annoyed me. In fact, I think they were all really good. The pace never dragged and I was especially thankful for that, given the gravity of the topic. And the play itself was interesting and well-written. Plus, the f-bomb at church!

But unfortunately, afterward we were exhausted and missed 2165's birthday party.

The play is showing again tonight if you have nothing to do. I've got Modest Mouse to do.

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daff sighting

The Daff rode with me the other day. I haven't seen him for quite a while.

The spot next to me was taken, so we didn't get to talk for most of the ride. But when that seat opened up, he moved forward.

The Daff loves Christmas music and listens to it year 'round. He told me that he has a Hooked on Christmas CD. One of the tracks, he couldn't remember the number, was listed as being 3:46 long. But do you know when it ended? 2:55! Someone really got that wrong! He also told me about putting one of the Christmas songs on both sides of a short cassette, because, "Why not?!?"

He also wanted to know how long I've been married. Kassie talked to him on the bus for quite a while one day.

It was good to see The Daff. He always brightens my day.

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4.18.2007

drunk, but not that drunk

I made relief on the 4 at Lake and Lyndale yesterday at around 1:00 PM. As I was getting the seat adjusted, checking my mirrors, etc., a guy jumped on the bus. He looked like he'd either been working or out all night. I didn't immediately notice anything unusual about him.

"Thanks for waiting!"

He sat down beside me and started talking loudly. Then I smelled that he was drunk. He was pretty far gone, but he wasn't so bad that I was concerned about the three Ps I worry most about when a drunk gets on the bus: passing out, peeing, and puking. He jabbered a lot, rambling incoherently about horses and cowboys and spurs and monkeys. At 35th and Bryant, he told a young woman exiting the bus that he loved her. Fortunately, he only rode until 36th, which is a total of about eight blocks. He handled the steps of the bus quite well. I assumed, as I often do when someone is wasted at 1:00 in the afternoon and it isn't mid-March, that he must be an old pro.

OK, he's gone. Back to the nice, quiet 4. Sort of.

The lady behind me, who was sitting across from him and who I couldn't see, immediately started talking about how drunk he was.

"He was very, very drunk. Very drunk. He shouldn't have been on the bus. I don't think you should have let him on the bus. He was very, very, very drunk. I think it's illegal for you to let him on the bus. He was very, very drunk."

I assured her that it was perfectly legal for me to let him on the bus. But it's hard to talk to someone behind me when I'm driving, so I didn't really explain that I'd rather have his mouth on the bus with me than pasted to the side of my bus with his legs on the hood of his car.

The woman called M*tro Tr*nsit. She explained that he was very, very, very drunk and that he got off the bus at 36th and what he was wearing (with my help, admittedly- she asked) and that he was very, very drunk.

I'm sure no one went looking for the guy and no one should have. He probably went home and passed out.

The lady finally shut up about how very, very, very drunk he was at 48th Street. So for those keeping track, he rode for eight blocks and she talked about him for twelve. I guess it was a big day for her.

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4.15.2007

beautiful day

It was a beautiful day; Kassie insisted that we had to do something besides sit around on the computer all day. I suppose...

We tried to look for a new light fixture at Creative Lighting, but they were closed.

So we went to the Electric Fetus and purchased the latest from:
Cloud Cult
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
Low
Modest Mouse
Southern Culture on the Skids andLaura Veirs.

We went home for a little while, then took Jeff to the Minnehaha off-leash dog park. He ran around and swam and ran around some more for well over an hour.

For dinner, we went to Sea Salt, a place we've wanted to try. It's in Minnehaha Park, so we were right there. We got the Oil Pan, which is shrimp, oysters and pickled herring on ice, plus a pitcher of Surly Bender. It was ever so delicious. We ate at a park table with Jeff sleeping underneath us.

We walked around the park for a while, then came home. I'd have to say it was a good day.

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-sigh-

The Highway Capacity Manual defines dwell time as “the time in seconds that a transit vehicle is stopped for the purpose of serving passengers. It includes the total passenger service time plus the time needed to open and close doors.”

Guess what I got when I arrived at the garage yesterday! Customer Feedback! Sweet! What do you suppose it was for? Let's see...

Incident Code: 309 PASSED UP

oh.

I'll look at it some more. Hmm... 56th and Lyndale, Northbound, 17:42:00, route 4. Yep, that was me.

56th and Lyndale is a timepoint. That means I can't leave that stop until 17:42:00. And how would anyone know if I left early? Our radios (Smartcoms) have GPS. (So yes, they're more than radios, but I still call them that.) It's my understanding that every trip in the system is tracked and saved for five years.

Well, it doesn't say anything about me leaving early. But under Customer Description it says:

the driver just flew right by me, this is a major stop.

But wait, there's more! It says something right here under the Customer Relations Notes.

per smartcom, dwell time 13 secs

OK, I'm pretty sure everyone has connected the dots, but just in case, here's what happened:

I arrived at 56th and Lyndale. I waited 13 seconds, either boarding passengers or waiting for 5:42. At 5:42 or thereabouts, I left. Someone missed the bus, apparently as I "flew by" them in my 0-to-60-in-three-minutes rocket ship. Now I have to go see a manager and waste our time showing him or her that I was at that stop for 13 seconds. I can't figure out how this report even got to me. Oh, bureaucracy, you say? Oh yes, that must be it.

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4.13.2007

that is all the people need to know!

When I was in junior high, one of my heroes was the Baron Von Raschke, much to my father's chagrin, I'm sure. (Dad was a high school wrestling coach.)

But my brother and I rarely missed AWA action on Saturday mornings. I got really excited when the Bernatello's frozen pizza commercial came on. It featured the Baron in the pizza assembly line. At the end of the commercial, he grabbed a bunch of pizzas out of the freezer at the grocery store and dumped them into a lady's cart, yelling, "You will try it! And you will like it!" Awesome.

Anyway, he's the star of a play, simply called The Baron, at the History Theater in St. Paul. I need to see that!

Dig the Baron:

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sorry...

Sorry to those of you who subscribe to a feed of the TL. I think I probably just created a whole lot of ignoring for you to do.

I added labels. I don't really know why. I guess I thought I'd see how they go. Generally, I find them kind of annoying. But really, the annoying ones are on sites where the users/viewers can tag posts/entries/items. People tend to get way too clever, thus defeating the purpose (as I see it) of tags: to find other posts or items like the one being tagged.

I should label this: really bad post. But I won't.

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4.12.2007

confused

I walk to work. The first thing I drive most days is a bus.

So I slid through the first red light I encountered this morning. Surprise! The street was covered with ice. Fortunately, there isn't much traffic on Nicollet at 7:00 AM. Kind of scary, though.

I was really tired this morning. A woman came to the door of the bus and asked me if I went to 33rd and 5th Street, downtown. Oh boy, was I confused. Even when I'm fully alert, the small numbers downtown (and the large ones- the 30s and 40s, like 36th Ave. and 42nd St.) can throw me off. So 5th and 33rd really had me going. I was thinking that that must be over in SE or Seward or something, but that's not downtown. I asked, "33rd and 5th?" and she confirmed that that was what she had said. Then she got out a piece of paper and read out loud, "33 5th Street South." Ah yes, suddenly it all made sense...

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4.10.2007

hmm...

As you can see, I added a sidebar. Does it mess with your browser? Does it screw up your Transit Librarian experience?

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my fingers are crossed

Thank you for writing to Websense.

The site you submitted has been reviewed. We have made an update to the following URL(s) in our master database to address this issue:

http://transitlibrarian.com/ - Message Boards and Clubs

Categorization updates should be available in the next scheduled publication of the database. A new database is published every business day, five days a week, Pacific Standard Time. You should notice any updates referred to in this message within 72 hours.

Thank you for your assistance,

The Websense Database Services Staff
O.B.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007 12:52:09 PM

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A Picture Share!

This is a test. I sent this from my phone.

4.09.2007

miserable

Kassie, Simon and I went to the HHH Metrodome to watch the Twins play the Yankees this evening. Joe Mauer at the plate:


Simon diligently scored the game.

Unfortunately, the Yankees' lousy pitcher was better than the Twins' lousy pitcher.

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I think I'm funny

I noticed some graffiti in the men's room at the garage the other day. It said:
DEFEND AMERICA
DEFEAT ARABICS

I responded with a crude drawing to this effect:

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big big monkey leash

There is a woman who rode my bus fairly regularly last pick. She has a kid and he wears one of those leash-backpacks. It's a monkey and the monkey's tail is the leash. It looks a lot like this:



I think one of the goals of any parent ought to be that they never need to purchase one of those things. But maybe I'm biased because the kid in question is out of control and his mother appears to lack parenting skills. As I said, they were fairly regular riders. One day I waited for them as they crossed a parking lot. The kid was kicking and screaming and the mother basically dragged him to the bus. Then he laid down on the floor next to the fare box and she had to carry him to the back of the bus. OK, whatever. I've seen worse. We had plenty of time, so I wasn't concerned about other passengers making connections.

The kid quieted down and we went on our merry way.

At the end of the line, I found happiness in the back of the bus where they sat. And I found the secret to parenting success. There were candy wrappers and pieces of candy all over the back seats and floor. Awesome!

Last week, I pulled into the stop at Minneapolis Community and Technical College. As I was loading my last passengers, I saw the woman and her kid about 75 yards away from me. She appeared to make eye contact with a guy coming out a door about 50 yards away from me, in a different direction. Then, as I pulled away, I saw them decide they wanted my bus. Could I have stopped? Probably. Was there any chance in hell I was going to? No way. My schedule did not allow for the wait, plus there was another bus coming in behind me. If they needed my bus, they could catch that one, as it would certainly catch up with me further down the street. (And it did, and they didn't get on mine.) Besides, I already learned that particular lesson.

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4.06.2007

a bit more

Hello-

I recently moved my blog from one URL to another. The new URL, transitlibrarian.com, is blocked by your product under the category "sex."

This URL was blocked even before there was any hosted content on it. Previously, I was simply forwarding it to the other URL. The site has never been blocked at some of the places it is now.

I'm hoping you can tell me the reason that the URL is blocked, as my blog is, for the most part, family friendly (my mother reads it). There is no sexual content, nor am I aware of any links to site with sexual content.

I am baffled. Please let me know the problem so I may attempt to resolve it.

Thanks,
CJ Camp

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web(non)sense

I guess I'm blocked in more places than just the state. Dean sent me a screen capture from his workplace.


So, while I haven't looked too far into Websense, I guess I have a beef with them. Of course, as a (non-practicing) librarian, I already have issues with filtering anyway.

Here's what their site says about why transitlibrarian.com is blocked.


I call shenanigans!

Kassie said that she got the same message that Dean did even when transitlibrarian.com was forwarded to the underceej.net location.

I guess I'll start with my site host and maybe try to get hold of someone at Web(non)sense.

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stupid state

Apparently this site is blocked by the state now. The reason given: sex. Now I don't know what any good state worker would be doing browsing my site during the work day, but I'm pretty sure I've managed to keep it fairly family-friendly around here.

Does anyone know how that works?

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4.04.2007

bad

As I've mentioned, Kassie and I go to University Baptist Church. We really like it. One of the church's traditions is a Palm Sunday brunch. I've gone to three of them. The food is delicious and it's a nice way to get to know people I haven't talked to very much.

Kassie and I stopped at a Mexican bakery (featured in the background here) to pick up our contribution: Mexican breads and pastries. Tasty and easy.

The brunch went well. We sat with some people we didn't know very well. One of the women at the table is directing a play that I'd like to see. One of the other people at our table was a pretty quiet guy who we'd never met, but seemed to be a nice guy. He sat on our side of the table with his girlfriend (I assume) between us, so Kassie and I didn't get to speak with him too much.

After brunch, we processed outside, then back in to the sanctuary for the service. Kassie and I sat in the very last pew. A few of the young adults sat behind us in chairs along the back wall.

About ten minutes into the service, something dawned on me.

Did I need to share it with Kassie? No. Should I have shared it with Kassie? In retrospect, no. Did I share it with Kassie? Naturally.

The quiet guy bore a strong resemblance to Sideshow Bob.

OK, he didn't have huge feet, a pot belly or a big knife, but the resemblance was there.

Kassie started to laugh. I really didn't think it was that funny. But now we were giggling and really trying to stifle it because...

We had reached the "Joys and Concerns" part of the service, where people stand up and share the good and the bad things that have happened to them and their loved ones.

And it was not a good week for UBCers. Someone knew someone who got hit by a car. Was there something about someone who died?

I don't know because I was concentrating on getting myself together. Kassie left. I got myself under control. When she came back, someone in the choir loft, directly above and behind us, was sharing something about cancer. So half the congregation was facing the back and I started laughing again. We were sitting there shaking with laughter. Kassie left again. I was crying and my nose was running. The kids behind us were laughing by now. I had to get out. Of the building. I let out a huge snort before I got out of the sanctuary. I got outside and it all came out. Of course, I almost heaved steve. Kassie and I stood outside laughing and feeling like idiots. One of the ushers poked his head out to see if we were OK.

We knew we couldn't go back in. Kassie had to retrieve her jacket, but there was no way I was going to go back in. So we left early. Bad.

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4.03.2007

Jeff is an idiot.

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is this thing on?

I think it's pretty obvious that my interest in keeping up the TL has been waning for a while now. I have moved to Blogger in the hope that its simplicity will renew my interest. I'll probably be tweaking it for a while until I find something with which I can be happy. I also think that I might get back to the original plan for this blog. That plan was to write brief impressions of the books people brought on the bus. Other musings on life on the bus and life at home were supposed to be complementary. We'll see how it goes, I guess...