March 31 2016

I picked up 3 people at DFW from Boston. They are here for wwe. Really stoked. Driving from the airport to Dallas. I took a wrong turn.

I said on our right Is the Dr Pepper bottling plant. The feigned absolute joy. Pulled out their cell phones. Faked taking pictures. They were awesome.

Marsha Marsha Marsha

That is what life is all about. Relationships.

Since I have been doing this uber gig, it has never been more true. I relieves texts and calls, hey! Will you be my uber? Heck ya

So I received one such message last week. A former coworker and a person that I considered a friend needed a ride. Her first day of work!! I was commissioned to get her there safely. Absolutely new to uber. Walked her through the app. In my car. Boom ready to go.

We reminisced about good times that we had. We laughed until we were almost crying.

When we worked together, we sat next to eachother. One of the things that we did too much of, trolling. We trolled a lot of people and blind copied eachother. When one of us posted to a blog or sent an email, we would slap the desk. That was the signal that you needed to check something out. I am quite sure we drove other coworkers insane.  It was some of the greatest fun I ever had. Our number one target was Allen Patterson. We would hit his blog so hard. We got kicked off. So then I started an allen patterson parody blog. That blog was up a full 6 months before Allen discovered it's existence. He called me. And he called me some of the most vile names a man could call a woman.....you Methodist grandma whore. Stuff like that. The entire time he is unloading his pattersonisque lashing at me, I laughed and laughed and laughed. I won that war.

Check out his blog. He is probably checking his stats from a erethreal Starbucks pounding double espressos. He will enjoy the jump in clicks:

http://thewhitedsepulchre.blogspot.com

Sorry, I regress.

We get to her new job. I did not start the ride in uber. Luckily, uber can fix that. We laughed some more. I tell her she looks pretty. Have a great first day. Hug her neck. I leave.

I get to Starbucks on everman. I get a text. I am supposed to start work tomorrow, not today. I double the order. Two blonde coffees with cream. We shared coffee in the car.

I know this post is a bit jumbled. I guess what I am trying to get at is this, fertilize your relationships every once in awhile. Sprinkle some water on them. Because even if months or years go by, reaping the rewards is priceless.

A story from December

It was dark outside. I am heading down a one way service road. My theory is that it is always better to undershoot a turn than to overshoot it on a one way. Passengers get irritated if we have to go a mile or two to get back to the one way...but they always appreciate a simple uturn.

So, I undershoot the entrance to a huge business complex. Then i get pinged for another ride. SWEET. We go around the back to the front. I drive to the pin. There is a huge marquee, but the name of his company is not on it.

There is a lady standing in front of the adjacent building, we ask her if she knows of the business. She does not.

So we go back on the street. No more marquees. We go across the street. I see an address 14201. I look at the address in the app. 14241. I said that it must be the first building. We pull up. I see the address. 14241. He is sweet. Thanks me for my persistence. Tips and gets out of the car.

I close out the ride. My next ride is 14221. NO FUCKING WAY.

I hope 50 feet pull up in front of the same lady, roll down the window, and say: Dorothy, I believe we have met. I am tanya your uber driver.

We both howled with laughter. 

She was the nicest lady ever.

Sometimes you meet people that just instantly pull at your heart strings. I picked up a couple from a shit hole motel in Fort Worth. She was nearly in tears. How much for the ride? I explained that I don't know etc etc. She was like I only have 13 dollars. I was like that should cover it.

They both get in the car. They are from Arizona. He had a job in Keller that fell through. Their car won't start. They pulled over into a Walmart parking lot to sleep. Wm called the cops. The police beat on the window. When he opened it. The cop reached in and turned the car off. They have a bad battery. After the cops determined that they were just sleeping, they let them go. But the car would not start.
 During the ride they ate a lot of candy out of my bowl. I turned off the meter and pulled Into a whataburger. They were hungry. Bought 4 burritos and gave them to the couple. They were in tears.

Long story about why they did not have any money. I dropped them off at their car. I hope that they got a jump. I could not afford to do more. I myself am flat broke. But felt like that I needed to do something for these two.

So many people have helped me when I really needed it. Pay it forward even when it hurts to do so.

I have never seen a speed limit sign that was not in increments of 5.....random?

Observation

I had a young couple in my car today. Very young. At one point she leans over to him, shows him a picture on her phone. And says: you were sitting here. Then points out where two or three other people were sitting. Where was she sitting? He replied,  she was not there. Then who was that? Some weird dude. I did not know him. She then says, is that the truth?

It was the words and the tone. I really wanted to impart advice to both of them.

To her: if you need to show snapshots of survelliance video and question your boyfriend about them, maybe this is not a relationship that you should be in.

To him: If you did something that deserves her mistrust, clearly, you will never have her trust again.

I predict misery for both parties.

But I kept my mouth shut.

Bubble wrap

I had a delightful man in my car today. He gave me directions without being an asshole. That was refreshing. We talked all the way from little elm to the airport.

Then we saw this.

We both commented that we probably would not ride in one of those. There is no crash zone. Even if it had air bags....then we both said almost simultaneously, but what if it had an air bag on the outside??? POOF!

Then we could hit it and bounce it along the highway!!! BRILLIANT!! Laughter filled the air.

I pick up a good looking black man in arlington. He is in his late 20's, like I said nice looking, and very polite. He sits next to me in the car. He turns to me and grinning from ear to ear, I am looking for an apartment.

The other really important detail about this young man, he smells like weed. Not just smells like weed, but absolutely reeks of weed.

So, I am debating with myself for about 5 minutes, should I or should I not say anything. I don't have a problem with weed at all. But this guy is not going to get an apartment smelling like he hot boxed for the past 4 hours.

So, I am like dude, I have been debating, Yada Yada, DUDE YOU SMELL LIKE WEED.
Yeah, my friends were smoking it. Well, just looking out for you brother.

Yeah. Thanks.

I am glad I didn't have any cookies in the car.

Things that make me feel good

An elderly lady clipping rosemary at a nursing home, gave me a branch today.

Best gift ever

Caption this picture

Interesting day

There has been a lot going on in our lives lately. We are on the precipice of great change. I speak of my family, Trevor and I. I have been frustrated, scared and maybe just a little angry. And to let you know a little about myself, I suffer, and I don't mean like falling on a sword suffering, but I battle with depression. Depression is a hard thing. Equally hard to describe. No matter how much I know I need to do something, when I get down, I am utterly incapable of doing it. It is a though my feet, my legs, my entire body are surrounded with wet thick cement. The hours slip by and nothing gets done.

Fortunately, I have a great sense of duty and commitment to others. So, if I say I am going to do something, it will get done. That happened today. A friend needed a ride from The airport. Boom. Action.

One of the things that makes me feel better is discussion. Heartfelt discussion. Even with strangers. That is one reason uber is good for me. Today I met two men. One from Mexico, the other from India. With all of the unrest going on in our world, I find it particularly stimulating to find out how strangers to our country see us.  The gentleman from Mexico is here legally on a work visa with his wife and two young children. He flies to Mexico every week on business. Upon his return since the executive order, it has been more difficult. Before, he has the documents that allow a finger print, check his documents and then he enters our country. Since the EO,
There is scrutiny, questions, many questions. And even though he can come here legally, he feels as though he is looked upon differently than he had been before. I find it disheartening.

The gentleman from India is worried. He spoke about the effect that it could have on the economy. He works and is getting his Masters. He believes that there will be a great decline in college enrollment, instructors and future immigrant employees. That trump will put EO into effect that will favor Americans over immigrants in the work place and in the schools.

Both of these men expressed that the people that need the opportunity the most are the ones that will be kept from it. People who don't have any glimmer of hope in their own countries, see a chance here. Both said that conditions are not good for the impoverished from the countries.

One thing that I, we must keep in mind, is that our ancestors were immigrants. There was a time when German, Irish or Chinese were treated differently than other immigrants. My family roots are hienz 57, German Irish and Lord knows what else.

Yes. I found these conversations uplifting. I was able to get out of my own head. Showing empathy with others makes them human. We need more humanity.

So yeah, I feel better. And right now, it is all about me.

Turns

So, I pick up a gentleman in his 30s from love field. It is a 7 mile trip. 25 minutes around 7pm. I use waze for navigation.

A little about waze. You have to learn to trust it. It can lead you into some dark places.

A little about my passenger. Tall good looking, quiet, very dry and knew who Douglas Adam's was.

A little about the trip. There were a lot of turns. Lots. I think there were at least 50. He asked if he was paying by the turn. That was funny.

I asked him if he had read hitchhikers guide? Yes, he replied. So I explained that it was my belief that waze, at that very moment was hooked up to the improbabilty drive. Because it was the most improbable route and absolutely cannot be duplicated.

He thought I was a bit weird. That's okay. I was amused. And I got him there 5 minutes before his Google maps predicted.

Below is a photo from one of my mileage apps. Disregard the bit at the end as that was two different trips that happened to originate at the same apt complex.

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