Mountainous Monday begun with a wonderful glitch from Lyft. I went to pick up my first passenger by the former Rocket Donut shop. The road I had to go down was blocked by four school buses. I had to venture around them to get to my passenger. I picked him up and I went to begin our journey to Wal-Mart, but Lyft hadn’t registered that I was at my destination to pick him up. I couldn’t start our quest to the American sanctuary. I circled around again and apologised to my passenger. He wasn’t in a rush. Thank goodness. I circled back. It still didn’t register. Usually it notices you are close and it automatically comes up with a button to say I have arrived. This time nope. I ended up quitting out of the app and going back into it. It worked! Apologising again like a Canadian. The gentleman was very understanding. Finally I could bombard the man with personal questions about what he does for a living and why Bellingham? The guy used to be in the Navy. Two submarines over a 10 year period. I asked him how cramped it was? Not very at all. The submarines I’ve been on are maritime museum subs. Usually from WW2 or the Cold War. The gent was rather tall. He had to adjust his seat on entering. Submarines today are extremely roomy. They go down to about 2000 feet. I mentioned I went on the USS Dolphin a research vessel that stretched the limits of the maximum depth a submarine can go. I believe that sub could go down to about 3,000 feet. The actual depth is classified. The Dolphin is located at the San Diego Maritime Museum.
Next I got a ping 18 minutes away south east. It was a ways, but helped my fare significantly because it was at least 20 minutes to the airport to pick up a rental. On the way there I saw a couple walking along the side of the road, they waved at me. I think I must have had another 5 minutes to go. Maybe my passenger got sick of waiting, so I pulled up along side them, put my window down and said “need a Lyft?” “Oh no, we’re just saying hi.” “Oh thought you were my passenger”. She was in town visiting her sister. All the way from New York. Not the CBD part of it, but the state. Apparently there’s rural areas in New York. I didn’t realise this. It’s a place I want to see so bad. It’ll make America more complete for me. I can potentially get away from seeing any other state, but New York it’s the next State I want to see. It’s one of those places that has captivated my imagination. Wouldn’t want to live there, but would love to visit. The Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Time Square, and of course the World Trade Center memorial location. The lady gave me an in depth description of where she was from. It was fascinating. Mountains and meadows, rivers and lakes. Then I had a thought Niagara falls is located there too. The lady used to be from Texas, I did in fact notice a southern drawl. It wasn’t as thick as some, but definitely a bit of twang there.
I dropped her off at the airport so she can get a rental car for her last few days in the Whatcom County area. She didn’t want to be couped up inside all the time, she wanted explore this magnificent region. After dropping her off another Lyft ping! Uber broken today? Picked up a lady going to Target. She works at target, but studying biology.
After dropping her another ping in Lyft! A barman. Then a lady from the Ukraine studying Biden, I mean English. Sorry slip of the tongue there. Or should I say slip of the thumb? The lady had lived in the USA for 10 years or so. Her father moved here for an IT job at Microsoft. She told me to go a slightly different way toward the University campus, which I did. Then as I was turning left my back right wheel somehow managed to jump onto the kerb aka curb. It must have freaked out my passenger a little and she said “You can just drop me here”. “OK sure thing.” I drove away down a narrow road on the campus, after dropping her off. Can’t go that way. Three point turn, back the way I came. She tipped me and gave me a 5 star rating, even though I freaked us both out.
Next I had another Lyft passenger. He is studying computer science and had a bit of a stutter. I didn’t realise at first and I felt bad for interrupting him. I apologised, but he didn’t notice that. I asked him if he was going to be the next Bill Gates? Ha maybe was the response.
I proceeded towards the airport to pick up a gentleman and his wife from the airport. They had just returned from Paris. I immediately asked them if they had gone to the Notre Dame cathedral. Yes they had. Not inside it though, it’s still being worked on. They went on a tour around the outside and the gentleman said that the scaffolding that was on the outside of the building before the fire had melted to the structure after the fire. The damage is extremely extensive. It could take five years to refurbish and get it back to its glorious state. I mentioned I was an archaeologist and the guy knew exactly what I do in regards to compliance because he has worked in construction in the area. He mentioned an old archaeologist he used to work with, but he couldn’t recall his name. I started to rattle off a bunch of older archaeologists who have worked in the area. None of them rang a bell. Oh well. They were very nice people and lived way out east. The houses were enormous! The lady used to work as a nurse and I told them I am not a huge fan of bodily fluids and couldn’t be a nurse. They agreed.
After plonking them off at their home. I made my way back into town. One more trip please. Boom! Maccas aka McDonald’s, that’s where I’m heading. The lady I was picking up works there. I said they treat you well there don’t they? $15/HR with benefits. That’s better than some archaeology jobs. In fact it’s a little shocking some companies in this country pay under that amount for someone with a university education. I went on a huge rant to the poor lady about how people go to university for 4 years and get paid a pittance. The common crap that people spill out of their traps the world over is “you’re not going to make any money doing archaeology”. That’s BS, yes people have to start somewhere. Under the circumstances I have never earned under $21.50/HR as an archaeologist. Either in Australia or the United States. Yes I guess I volunteered several times, which yes is $0, but I didn’t have a degree at the time or had the experience to warrant any kind of pay. My former boss wanted to demote me and give me the option to paid under my minimum. Disgusting. Just sack me. I had trained two of his staff and run most his fieldwork efficiently for a year. My main weakness was my writing. Why would anyone take a demotion? It obviously upset me and angered me. The lady agreed with me and seemed happy with her free McDonald’s that her employer gives her because she works there. They even pay for part of their college education if they want to pursue something. If a company doesn’t offer you 401k, health insurance, sick leave, training or free food, you best leave and go work for McDonald’s. Seriously. I almost went back there and put an apron on and cooked me some nuggets. Then I realised I could be back into archaeology pretty soon. Am I ready? Of course I bloody am! One person is not going to stop me from doing archaeology after 6 years of university and 10 years of experience.
Lyft actually won today with 5 trips. Uber only 3. Oh by the way over the weekend Uber and Lyft wished me happy birthday. See below.
