The Bus Has Landed

I went to Eugene to pick up the bus about 180 miles or so from my house. Had to meet a guy up there and get the title and go to the bus site and get it started. Starting it was not a big deal it just took a new battery, and it fired right up. So I get on the road. The bus is doing good, and I'm heading home. Its evening time and darkness falls on the way home, but I turn the lights on and keep the bus rolling. The trip was fine for most of the way, but after going through the wide spot in the road called Wonder the bus engine stalled out and I had to pull over. It starts again and I get about a mile down the road and it stalls out again from not getting gas. I was told about this issue before I bought it, but had hoped I'd make it home and deal with it, but no such luck. It died on the road about 11:00pm. I was half on the road and off in a spot where there was no long view of me so cars were coming up on me quick. Fortunately, I had someone following me, so they parked a ways down the road with flashers on as an early warning.

So here I am stuck on the side of the road. I crawled under the bus and wasn't able to determine the fuel line, so I get on the phone to tow truck companies. I get the closest one on the phone and have him come out. I must not have conveyed the immense size of the bus because he brought out a truck that was too small to tow it. There's another hour wait for him to go get the right truck. The bus ends up at my house close to 3am.

At least I was only 16 miles from home and not 160!

Banks

I went to the bank yesterday. I use a popular free checking bank, but the draw back is the 2 closest branches are 30 miles away. This really isn't an issue since I work in that town a few times a week on average or more. There are some banks in my hometown, but I never bothered to change since I was already set up. That is until yesterday. I had to make a simple deposit. I fill out my slip ahead of time so I don't have to watch people get ahead of me in line, so I walk in and get in line. I am the only person in line with 1 old lady filling out paperwork. (ha!) As I'm standing there, I survey the bank. I see one teller grabbing some paperwork and vanish into the back. There are 2 people sitting down, I hesitate to call them "bankers" since they were just sitting there talking to each other. Now the 2 "bankers" are no shock to be just sitting there. They'll never get up to help as a teller. The real kicker was the only teller station in operation was a guy helping a lady, but the fact the only other teller working was leaning on the counter with her back to the line(which had grown to about 4 or 5 people) talking in a casual way to the only customer getting helped in the bank. So, this goes on for a few minutes all the while I'm getting ticked, and looking to the "banker" who can see the line and should get up or say something. Not a word was said to waiting customers no "someone will be with you in a moment" nothing. I started to feel like I was at the DMV and not a business trying to make money. I reached my boiling point and did something obnoxious. It was raining, so on my way in, my feet got wet. This turned out to be my tool to be annoying. The footwear I was wearing squeaked as I walked on the smooth floor in the bank, so when I got so annoyed by the whole situation, I started twisting my foot back and forth producing a loud squeaking noise the whole bank could hear I'm sure since its a small branch inside a department store.
Well, the slacker teller finally got the hint and decided to stop ripping off her employer and got back to work. She tells me she can help me, so as I am walking to the counter I ask her if she was done with her personal conversation, she replies no, so I comment how service has gone down in both branches lately. She acted surprised at that. I had a smiler frustrating experience at the other branch a few weeks ago, so I spoke honestly. My transaction took a few seconds just a simple deposit, but its depressing knowing that there's really no one to complain about this to that would give me any satisfaction. So I decided to change to a local bank where they will most likely end up knowing my name and provide a much more personal feeling service. I know the massive corporate bank won't feel it, but I'll feel better about it.

Rocks

I've been slacking on posting, but been running around a lot and getting some work. Speaking of which I met a guy who owns the top of a mountain, and has tons of rock. We are going to do some trading, so now I can get busy on some landscaping in my yard. I have plans to do my whole yard in a Zen garden style of rocks and some bamboo staying away from live plants and the maintenance they require.