Wooo-Hoooo!

My office is located in an old building in downtown Salt Lake City and has been sold to the Church. The state has built a new building, which will house multiple agencies. We are in the final weeks of preparing for “the Big Move.”

The new building is considered a wellness center, meaning we will be doing a lot of walking for exercise! It is a long way for some people to walk in order to get a drink or to use the restrooms. It will also have an exercise area and they plan to include yoga and aerobics classes. Like we have time for that?

The new building is located about 17 blocks west and sits just off I215. The building itself looks kinda funky and high tech. It has windows everywhere with the intent of natural light reaching to the innermost cubicle. I hope that works.

So today, I took a field trip to see how my bus commute will work. I am quite a dork when it comes to finding directions and addresses. It was obvious when I transferred from my bus to the bus going to the building that I had no idea where I was going. Oh well, I figure there is always a bus going the other direction to take me back.

It was actually quite easy to maneuver the transfer, but it will be a pain in the butt during the heat of summer and the storms of winter. In order to return to the old building for work today, I had to catch an inbound bus. So I watched for the number I needed and when it arrived, I hopped on. The driver identified he was going that way and pointed toward downtown. Therefore, I sat down, but there was no one else on board. So, I verified with the driver that he was in fact going downtown. No! He said, “I told you I was going that way!” and again he pointed toward town. What?

Anyway, I apologized and he let me off the bus. I returned to the bus stop and hoped I did the right thing. The next bus that came had the same number and was loaded! Standing room only! In fact, I stood at the driver’s right arm, in front of that dreaded white line that you have to stand behind!

I asked the driver if the bus was always this full to which he replied, “yea, in the mornings.” However, he reassured me that most of them would get off at 3rd West. I asked him where they are going and the Driver reported that most of them were West High Students who missed their school bus. Happens every morning.

There were only a few people on the bus who were not high school students. One older woman was not very quiet about her feelings regarding the kids riding public transport. She was quite grumpy about it!

I discovered my commute coming into work would add another 20 minutes bus time. So if I catch the 5:30 am bus in Provo, I will arrive at work right after 7:00 am. I think I could do thI do not like the commute home in the evening though. Although I have not yet tried it, the schedule clearly does not correspond to catching an express bus back to Provo. If I were to miss that connection for any reason, I would have to resort to using Trax to the south end of Salt Lake Valley and then catch another bus into Utah County. I have already traveled that route and know that it takes about three hours! I signed a petition today, hoping UTA is able to accommodate easier schedules. I have been involved in these petitions before, to no avail. But, we won’t know if we don’t try, right?

Anxiety levels during field trip: started at my normal level of 2-3. Increased to 4 while enroute since not sure where to get off and it was dark outside so I could not recognize the neighborhood. Bus mix up kept me at 4. Crowded bus full of teenagers; I remained at a 4+. That is good! I continued to feel jittery for approximately three hours after arriving at the old building. I was not out of breath but I kinda felt like my heart rate was elevated. I know I was jittery because my fingers continued to shake and my back was tingly.

Wooo-Hooo! I am such a survivor! Yea!