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Tales of the Vanpool

I carpool to work every day because driving 40+ miles each way does not seem like my idea of fun (living in San Ramon is also not my idea of fun, which is why I don't just move there). However, this isn't your usual carpool - I ride on a 14-passenger van. It's more cost-effective that way, for both the company & the riders.

Now, it's hard to keep track of that many schedules, so we keep a calendar on the van. If you're not going to ride the van on a given day, you mark the calendar with your name. It's a low-tech solution, but it works. Today, however, the trusty calendar failed me.

On some mornings, I am the first person to get to the van. When that happens, I unlock it so no one has to stand around in the cold when they arrive. I also take advantage of that time to check the calendar to see if we can skip any stops that morning. Today, I noticed that the box for today had Sylvia's name, so I mentally noted that she wasn't riding with us today. She happens to be the only person we pick up at that spot, so we didn't drive by her pickup spot. In fact, we drove a slightly different route that's easier for the driver.

So what, you say? So ... today is Monday the 24th, and it is the 4th Monday of the month. That means that there is a 5th Monday this month, the 31st (bear with me). On the old paper calendars, the 5th week is often put on the same box as the 4th box. Sylvia isn't riding on the van next week, and she was expecting us to pick her up today. Man, I felt horrible after a quick exchange of text messages. I offered to buy her lunch to make up for the goof, but she was nice enough to say it wasn't necessary.

On the other hand, I made up for it in the afternoon by giving a different van mate a quick lesson in calculating the least common multiple of two numbers. The guy's taking some classes at city college, so it came up in something that he was working on. That's not the amusing part, though (I've never believed in making fun of someone who is genuinely working hard. It's the same reason why I greet janitors & people who do menial labor - they're earning an honest buck, same way I do).

The part that made me laugh was that this guy had asked a half-dozen people for help before, and every last one of them begged off. Apparently, one of them even said, "I took that algebra stuff, but I don't really get it." Heh, algebra (I have far less qualms about making fun of incompetence, or of people who fake understanding). Mind you, the list of people he asked included working professionals at a Fortune 500 company with bachelor's degrees from institutes of higher learning. What's even funnier to me is that the people he asked seemed genuinely afraid of the math. C'mon guys, they're just numbers. They're not going to hurt you, regardless of that "seven ate nine" joke we all learned in elementary school.

Vanpools make the commute more interesting, I tell you.

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