Powell to Emeryville, approx. 10:30 am - O Captain! My Captain!

O Captain! My Captain!: Currently, there is a driver on the Powell line who wears a shirt and tie with a captain's hat. He also gets on the PA system to announce stops and transfers. How awesome is that? Hurray to the Captain for being a consummate professional. Emery Go Round employee of the century!

Parti in the back: Total Posh, a.k.a. Victoria Beckham, clone with the same severe bob, same monochromatic wardrobe. From the back, though, you can clearly see her bad dye job. Her head is what animal breeders refer to as "parti color," (e.g., parti color Cocker Spaniel) with ash blonde, red, and blond patches. To paraphrase the Spice Girls song, "Make it last forever, bad dye jobs never end." (And that's from "Wannabe", by the way, Miss Wannabe Posh.) Plus, she has a job at the mall; probably from her all-black outfit, we'd venture to guess at Sephora. That's a little more posh than Fuddruckers, say, but still, she's no Victoria Beckham stomping around in her $900 shoes.

It's a Federal Law, assholes: If the vehicle is stopped but the rider is so old and shaky that he must hold the railing to walk to the back of the bus, then you assholes need to give up your seat up front. There are plenty of seats in the back. Get the fuck up and move. Let the old man sit by the door. What the fuck is wrong with you people? There are many lame federal laws, but yielding seats by the entrance to the elderly and the disabled is one everyone should follow. That old man should have smacked every single one of you pathetic assholes upside the head with his cane.

Hollis-Amtrak to Emeryville, approx. 9:45am - Laughter Isn't Best Medicine

Laughter Isn't Best Medicine: An old man with a cane takes a loooong time to get on the bus due to mobility issues. The driver chuckles at him. He says it's hard for him to get around. The driver says "Oh, it's fine." and continues chuckling. Um, ok, since when is it OK to laugh at old people who can't get around? Her friend who is hanging out or whatever in the seat closest to the door doesn't give a shit and sits there yapping away instead of offering the old man the seat. The driver for the Watergate shuttle talks to the Hollis driver from outside the door while smoking; they talk about "Art" getting suspended for a day or two. The old man fans at the cigarette smoke with his newspaper and makes a choking gesture. The Watergate driver walks away mid-conversation.

Stop Smoking, Bitches: Seriously, you people need to stop smoking right next to people at the shuttle stop. We don't want to inhale your carcinogens and we don't want to smell like an ashtray. How much of an inconsiderate asshole do you have to be to sit right next to someone and light up? What, you're from the 1950s? If you need to smoke, that's fine but step away from everyone else. We hate you anyway.

Nextbus - total sham?

We (the royal we) have a bone to pick. With the whom, you ask? With the robotic voice over at Nextbus

This writer had the misfortune not once, not twice, but THRICE-fold having a cellular phone call to the supposed GPS-thingy that is tracking EGR buses and when it asks for a location code, we dutifully punch it in and get bupkiss. If you can feel me, testify!