Wheels on the Bus

Good morning! I thought I'd give you all a Thanksgiving summary and a few stories about the U-M bus drivers today.  Things are pretty normal here, just missing the hubbie and doing lots of work.  This week is interesting because everything, and I mean everything, is due this week, including (but not limited to) creating a poster for AGU, writing a letter of recommendation for a friend, two stats homeworks, a term project, and an article review.  Thankfully it's progressing better than I anticipated!

So! Thanksgiving.  It was a blast! Johnny and Keri both came home from school, and our relatives in Minnesota flew in for the holiday as well.  I think one of the most exciting things to happen was the Family Mustache Extravaganza.  John Jr. and John IV both grew spectacular mustaches, and proceeded to wax and curl the ends to look like old-timey gentlemen (or train robbers).  Then our friend Katie wore a delightfully soft sweater she got from Scotland (I think?) and Dad decided he'd put on his old sweater that he, too, got somewhere in the British Isles.  His was a little small though :)  Finally, I got my hair to do a cool thing! I found that pretty darn exciting.

Left: Family Mustache Extravaganza participants.
Center: matching foreign sweaters.

Right: exciting hair.

I am blessed to have such a wonderful group of people I can call family.  They make the best ridiculous faces and go shopping with you and eat enormous amounts of food with you so you don't feel quite as fat on Thanksgiving.  All in all, family is magnificent.

On to bus driving experiences!  I wanted to write about this today because today's bus driver impressed the heck out of me.  But we must first begin with Two Weeks Ago Bus Driver 1 and 2.  Two Weeks Ago Bus Driver 1 missed her turn, did a u-turn around a ton of cars (actually quite awe-inspiring), ran a red light, and drove like a bat out of hell.  I got off the bus two stops early and just walked from there.  Two Weeks Ago Bus Driver 2, I can only assume, missed every driving class in which one learns how to brake in a continuous fashion as to avoid causing projectile vomiting.  That was an interesting one.  Today, though, was fantastic!  Everyone says first impressions are important--well, this lady won, hands-down.  She was in a button-down shirt and dress jacket, and she drove the bus in stilettos.  Glorious.  Not to mention her superb driving skills: acceleration and braking were smooth and even, speed was highly respectable, turns were executed perfectly, and she actually yielded at the yield sign.  To top it all off, I'm pretty sure she had a Bible on the dash where most bus drivers have enormous soft drink or coffee containers.

In summary, Thanksgiving was great, family makes me happy, and my bus driver rocked it in stilettos today.  I hope you all have a wonderful day!