Public Transportation: The Sport of Kings

If you want to get royally frustrated (har, har), utilize the public transportation in a medium-sized city that has the infrastructure of, say, Mayberry. I grew up in a teeming metropolis where public transportation was the norm rather than the exception. Now, I'm living in a city where it's the exact opposite.

Anyway, so a couple of nights a week I'm on campus until about 7pm and rather than have the old man and DJ schlep all the way from home to pick me up in the Fit, I've been taking the bus home. And, of course, every time I take the bus it's raining or freezing. But I've been doing it.

The thing that really frustrates me is that the buses don't run that often, and run less often in the evening, so it takes about 3 times what my normal bike-time would be to get home. It might be okay for all you sleepy southerners to take 3 hrs to get home, but not this city-slicker!

I see a lot of frustrated people on the bus and this is why. Also, they moved the bus depot from the very convenient downtown location to this secluded outback behind the power plant, and at night it's kind of creepy. Unless you have Cory instructing you on where to get 50-dollar tattoos nearby, which I did. And mighty grateful was I for the information. And then, when you finally do get on the connecting bus, you have to wait 15 minutes while the bus driver takes a bathroom break -- c'mon! The bus driver can hold "it" to do one more run so I can get home at some reasonable hour. And the lady next to me says, "I'm ready to go..." and I'm like, "I feel ya."

I shouldn't complain, though -- in Gainesville, UF students and staff get to ride the bus for free. And on my route from the downtown depot they have the spiffy new buses with the second tier seating in the back, like they have at Disney. Cory and I had a good time talking about the new buses and he knew a lot about how they wash the buses and where the bus wash is, which is kind of fascinating because you never think about washing big things like buses.

I got the no-bikin' blues...

This has been a pretty frustrating semester, transportation-wise. Because of schedules I have not been able to ride my bike to campus. Biking DJ to school is still a non-issue; we can just barely get ourselves out the door in the morning to get him in on time. It's been kind of fun, though, because the old man comes along on the drive and sometimes has an amusing Scooby-Doo story to tell DJ on the way (his Shaggy Rogers imitation is quite eerie). But then sometimes, on the way, I see my former professor from the REL4936 class last semester, rain or shine, biking her daughter to school. It does remind me that there are at least a couple of days a week I could be picking DJ up from school with the bike.

Down to My Last Krishna Lunch

For those who don't live in Hoggtowne, Krishna Lunch is about as "Gainesville" an activity as you can hope to find, right up there with rootin' for the Fightin' Gators!

The Krishnas have been in Gainesville for many years and since 1971 have been serving the ubiquitous "Krishna Lunch" to starving college students on UF's Plaza of the Americas. Used to be, you could just go up there and get lunch and maybe you could give them, like, 50-cents, for an all-you-can-eat vegetarian extravaganza of karma-free victuals.

In the past few years, however, they pretty much demand a $3 donation for their food. As well they should -- people griped when they instituted the higher price but you get all-you-can-eat and drink for $3! Where else can you find a deal like that, especially on campus?

So, I buy the punch cards -- as noted above, you only save $1 dollar with the $20 card, but with the $30 card you get a whole free lunch. I bring my own lunch kit -- a rectangular tupperware container, a washcloth, and a fork from the house that I don't mind losing. They give you back 25-cents if you do this, but I always just put it back into the Krishna coffers. This is the only food venue in town that I have been bold enough to bring my own eating ware; it inspires me, however, to try to do this at other places.

I reported awhile back that I was going to go to McDonald's and demand a Happy Meal in a tupperware container and reusable cup. Of course I never got the nerve up enough to try that, but I think there are other places in town where I could broach the idea and not be looked at as a lunatic. An old hippie, maybe, but not a lunatic.

Oh, that mischievous little Krishna!

Update on Weaning from Deodorants and Shampoo, February

Well, I was reading Tracy of The Glom Shelter's post on her efforts at DIY health and beauty aids and realized that I am long overdue for the same.

Deodorants: I have had to end my use of the crystal deodorant because my underarms would break out in a terrible rash. In the beginning it was fine and amazing, because it worked, and then I had to stop because my body just said "no more." Tracy's suggestion to use a mixture of baking soda and corn starch has been a life-saver. I did use the beloved Old Spice once, after I finally admitted that I would no longer be able to use the crystal, but it just didn't have the same appeal after almost a year of living without it.

For Christmas, DG got me an all natural deodorant from Lush -- it's basically a lump of baking soda, but you rub it under your arms and it really, really works. So, I'll be using that for awhile because it's already, let's see, almost March and I've hardly made a dent in it.

Shampoos: I'm still using baking soda with a cider vinegar rinse, but have been supplementing that with another Christmas gift from DG, also from Lush, the shampoo bar. That will also last me about a year because it makes crazy suds from just a couple of rubs on the head.

National Wildlife Week

Contacted National Wildlife Federation again today to reiterate my request for more information about National Wildlife Week in the U.S. Here is my message:

Hello, I emailed about a week or so ago about what National Wildlife Week is and a little bit about the history of NWW or at least some resources I could go to for more information. I realize that with other responsibilities it might not be possible to get back to me right away. Please let me know if you received my last email and if you are working on an answer, are stumped, or just too busy right now to answer. Thank you very sincerely.

I also did the same with the Sierra Club. The national group has been slow in the past about getting back to me about membership issues, so I'm thinking this is more of the same and will wait another couple of days to hear back. Here is the email I sent them on 02/19/08:

Hi, I've been doing research on National Wildlife Week in the U.S. and have not really come up with much. I know they celebrate it annually in Canada, and President Clinton designated a week in April for NWW in 1997. Is there any national hoopla about it and I'm just missing it? Any places you can point me to for information would be appreciated. Just for disclosure's sake, I'm blogging about this right now and wanted to explore the issue a little more in depth. The link to the blog is in the sig line. Thanks for any help you can give.

So, if you've been following my more recent obsession with Environmentality at Disney,
where I discovered that Mr. Walt Disney himself was yelling about National Wildlife Week back in the 60's, you might be asking yourself, why is this such an issue?

This totally tops Earth Day, that's why! It's a whole week, after all. You could put all of these environmental causes like habitat destruction under one, big eco-umbrella and spend a whole week yelling about it like Mr. Disney.

Eco-Moms article in the NYT

When I saw my ever-elusive friend, Hil, over the weekend, she told me about a New York Times article on Eco-Moms. This is a woman who reads the NYT stem to stern every day, so she always has a relevant article to refer to someone. She has become, for me, The Friend of Record.

Is this the new manifestation of a mom demographic, like soccer moms and security moms? Or is it a genuine movement that will bring not only the attention of American politicians, but also real change in environmental policy?

The article really doesn't have anything new to say about moms who are environmentally conscious, and it kind of made some of the women involved seem kind of dumb -- towards the end of the article one mom relates being taken to task for all of the un-eco (in-eco? Dys-eco?) things around her home (the SUV in the driveway was a no-brainer for these task-takers). The woman being taken to task took it all with a grain of salt, but I'd be like, "back up, beyotch." And, of course, I'm never, never, like that with other moms...

If you think it's eco, but it's not...it's Chiffon.

Got the "it's not nice to fool mother nature" Chiffon Margerine TV ad pic from Dan Threlkeld's Web Site
If you need a refresher, the ad is (of course) on YouTube.