Bus @ MindSay 
school
What bothers me most about this terrible and tragic accident is that it is quite possible that it could have been prevented.
In each state they have what is called, the DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, the D.O.T.what they are supposed to do is enforced the transportation laws of their state. These laws are in place for the safety of the public, the safety of the Professional Trucker, and for the companies they drive for. Most of these laws are for our good, some ,sad to say, are just to bring money in to the state through fines they impose on the trucker and trucking companies. The DOT have check/weigh stations, that truckers affectionately call 'chicken coops' scattered all over the state to make sure that each truck is not over weight for the highways and roads they are on, to check that the driver is licensed and that he is driving legally by checking his/her log book, to see that they are not driving over the hours as stated in the laws of the state. And that the truck and trailer is free of any defect, and is in compliance with all the legal paper work, this law in particular is good for the company driver because it ensures that they are driving a safe vehicle and that their company is forced to keep legal and safe running equipment. This law has saved our butts a few times ,by spotting potential safety hazards we were not aware of. Now most trucks must stop at all 'open' coops, but some trucks have what they call 'prepass' that allows the coops to get their information without the truck having to stop at the scale house, and as long as everything is legal they get to by pass stopping.The problem as it applies to this bus accident in Texas, is that in the years I have been on the road, I have only seen a few times where buses were required to stop at these chicken coops, and I would think that their cargo, human lives, would be of more importance for their safety than other cargo would be. In my estimation these bus companies would then be made to be in compliance for the greater good of society. M.A.D.D and other organizations do their best to lobby congress to push for stricter laws in the trucking industry, many are good, some are outrageous but then that's another story, these groups should also include buses in their discussions as well, in my humble opinion. I really believe that the 17 lives lost and and all the injured should not have happened and in fact would not have happened if bus lines were indeed made to be in compliance as the trucking industry, and it is sad that lives have to be lost , to figure that out. I see many lawsuits over this in the making and I hope they stick it to these companies hard.For what it is worth.
Texas bus company ordered to cease operations
By: KY3 News
YouStory Published: Aug 11, 2008 at 12:39 AM CDT
Story Updated: Aug 11, 2008 at 12:39 AM CDT
By Michelle Leroux
The bus that crashed through a guardrail Friday morning in Sherman, Texas, was owned by Iguala Busmex, Incorporated.
17 people died and at least eight more are in critical condition.
Sunday the National Transportation Safety Board revealed they had linked two companies, Iguala Busmex and Angel Tours to the unlicensed bus and that both had received past unsatisfactory reviews.
Meanwhile, the Federal Motor Safety Administration has ordered those companies linked to the bus involved in the fatal Texas crash to cease all commercial operations.
The bus was carrying 55 Vietnamese Catholics to Marian Days in Carthage.
Man Accused of Stabbing, Decapitating Seatmate on Greyhound Bus in Canada
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,395313,00.html
PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Manitoba — A traveler aboard a Greyhound bus repeatedly stabbed and then decapitated his seat mate, pausing during the savage attack in central Canada to display the head to passengers who had fled in horror, witnesses and officials said Thursday.
A 40-year-old man was arrested after the grisly slaying late Wednesday night aboard a bus en route from Edmonton, Alberta, to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Steve Colwell told reporters.
Police apprehended the suspect early Thursday as he tried to escape from the bus about three hours after the attack, Colwell said.
Authorities said a motive had not been determined. They declined to identify the suspect or the victim, and provided few details about the attack.
But passenger Garnet Caton said the victim, who appeared to be about 19, was sleeping with headphones on when his seat mate suddenly began stabbing him as the bus traveled a desolate stretch of the TransCanada Highway, a dozen miles from Portage La Prairie.
Caton, sitting just one seat in front of the two men, said he heard no exchanges between them prior to the violence.
"We heard this bloodcurdling scream and turned around, and the guy was standing up, stabbing this guy repeatedly, like 40 or 50 times," Caton said from a hotel in Brandon, Manitoba, where he and other horrified passengers were taken.
Caton said the driver stopped the bus when he became aware of the savagery going on aboard and passengers scrambled off. He said the suspect appeared to be methodically cutting into the victim's body.
"When he was attacking him, he was calm ... like he was at the beach," said Caton. "There was no rage or, or anything. He was just like a robot stabbing the guy."
The bus driver, Caton and a trucker at the scene re-boarded to see what was happening.
Caton said he saw the suspect had the victim on the floor of the bus and "was cutting his head off and pretty much gutting him" with a large hunting knife.
The attacker turned toward them and the three men quickly left the bus, blocking the door as the attacker slashed at them through an opening. The three secured the door to prevent the man from fleeing. Caton said the driver disabled the vehicle after the attacker tried to drive it away.
As the three guarded the door with a crow bar and a hammer, the attacker went back to the body and calmly came to the front of the bus to show off the head.
Fellow passenger Cody Olmstead said the man "dropped the head and went back and started cutting the body." Olmstead said the man later taunted police and dropped the head in front of them.
Greyhound spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh said 37 passengers were aboard, many watching the on-board movie "Zorro" when the violence erupted.
"You're sitting there enjoying your trip and then all of a sudden somebody gets stabbed. I imagine it would be pretty traumatic," Colwell said.
He said the actions of truck driver, bus driver and Caton probably prevented anyone else from being hurt. They "were very brave."
The victim had been on the bus since Edmonton. Caton said the attacker boarded the bus in Brandon, Manitoba, about 80 miles west of Portage La Prairie.
The suspect had been on the bus about an hour and initially did not sit near the victim, Caton said.
"He sat in the front at first, everything was normal," Caton said.
"We went to the next stop and he got off and had a smoke with another young lady there. When he got on the bus again, he came to the back near where I was sitting.
"He put his bags in the overhead compartment. He didn't say a word to anybody. He seemed totally normal," Caton said.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day called the attack bizarre, but did not discuss details, saying he did not want to jeopardize the investigation.
Well I hung out with Myclette aka the Cocoa Goddess yesterday and of course it was fun although she was feeling a little discombobulated and I forgave her since I have spent so much time out of pocket as the old folks say. Oh Snaps! let me tell you something I didnt know until a hot minute ago..
Uhm if you by a roundtrip Greyhound bus ticket you get a second one absolutely FREE! Say what?!?!?!?
If I had known that before I bought that ridiculous plane ticket to Portland me and MYCLETTE or TORRIDGIRL would be on a funky-stank bus ride to the city of Roses right now! Yes I know that the super Diva doesnt really do buses but hey it would have been 223 for 2 people roundtrip! You know how I love a bargain. Not to mention my ability to get my "commoner" on, y'all know I aint that fancy.
Anyway, Myclette told me that her hubbie was looking for articles for the Houston edition of the magazine he works for "Cush" and I am gonna have to put something interesting and local together to beef up that writing resume. I want to be freelancing exclusively by the end of August which is the beginning of my second to last semester....
I would love to keep prattling on but I gotta get myself together before Torridgirl gets here to take me to the airport! Smooches!
Goddess Bless
But sometimes I can't focus, or am just not interested at that moment in whatever it is I'm reading and hence I return to staring out the windows (or just as likely, my eyelids). This once again means it's time to think. And I've realized that I've reached a bit of an impasse in life. Now that I'm well settled into my job (read: not career) that will sustain me for the immediate future. This means that my goal of finding full-work that I would stick with after moving to Seattle has long since expired. A motivated person would choose a new goal to pursue, right?
Well, I'm often more lazy than motivated, hence my lack of any real personal growth this last year. It was easy with the job thing, that was necessary. Now I have things are all open-ended, and outside of material things I've never been good at defining what I really want. I can think of a couple things that I wish I had, but somehow the motivation never lasts much longer than a ten minute rush that says "Yes! I should be doing this!". Then the status quo sets in.
I think I might be defective.
Good eveninz.
Today was pretty fantabulous. I woke up this morning with the urge to use my inhaler. I'm asthmatic you see, I gotta take them. The thing is, the one I use gives me the shakes. It's a common side effect, but I prefer to use the spray-type ones rather than this turbuhaler whatever it is. It's horrible and I hate it. I end up shaking for a few hours.
The morning was pretty cold too, and I couldn't relax because of my overreactive nerves, so I decided to play some FFXII on my DS. It's an awesome game, by the way. :) This was from 6-8. So at 8 o clock I went and got some breakfast and turned the hot water on so I could go in the bath, because I had a college interview. I didn't wanna be all messy and smelly!
I spent most of the morning learning what buses to get. You see, I don't get out much. I had no problem getting to the town, but I didn't know WHERE the bus station was (well I did, I just couldn't remember) and what bus to get from there. Luckily I had bought myself a daytripper on the way to the town, so if I got lost I could just hop onto a bus. :) It cost me £3.70 and that's an adult's fare. I dunno if you can get a child's version... but I wasn't bothered.
So there's me, strolling through Middlesbrough town centre looking for the bus station until I caved in and phoned my dad where to go. He pointed me in the right direction and I ended up trolling up and down the "wings" in the bus station looking for a bus I could get. I felt like a right idiot, to be quite honest. I looked like I didn't know what I was doing. But I didn't! It was quite a horrifying experience for me.
I managed to find a bus, though. However, I still didn't have a clue what to do. My dad rang me up guiding where I am on the bus. It was embarrassing, but I didn't really care. I was concentrating on actually managing to get off at the right spot! I managed to get off close to Hall Drive though, even though I stopped a bus stop too late. ¬_¬ But I managed.
So I carry on walking down Hall Drive, until I find a fence saying "property of Middlesbrough College Foundation". So me being a fool, thinks that that was the way. It was pretty scary. It was just a long walkway with high fences where I could easily get raped or what. I could see the college behind loads of bushes (there was a lot of holes in the fence) but no actual route TO the college. So I retraced my steps and carried on going down Hall Drive, until there it is in full view.
However, there was only a road for cars, and no such path to walk on without fearing getting run over. Nevertheless, I walked on the grass next to it, all hot and sweaty, and wet (because it kept raining all the time!!!).
I enter the college, looking for reception. It was nowhere to be found! I see this woman doing stretches so I just think "Aha... okay... where's reception?" Thankfully she guided me through the doors into reception, whom to the woman there I informed her of my arrival. She told me to sit down, so... I did.
A man eventually comes and asks if I have an interview, to which I complied. He takes me through some doors into this wicked hall. He asks for my name and he cannot look for my paper thing. I was kind scared because I thought they'd lost it. :( But he ended up going off with some other dude getting an interview and the really nice lady asked for my name and found it straight away.
The interview went pretty well. She mainly just asked a few questions and made sure I knew what's what. It was only 10 minutes. It took me an hour and a half just to get there! Though I'll be quicker next time.
Getting back home was easy, since I just retraced my... BUSSES!
However, on the bus from the bus station to home, the bus driver only went and got his gear shift stuck. So I'm sat there, with a woman panicking over not being able to get her son home from school on time, sat on a bus with the engine turned off. Luckily some dude came on the bus and sorted it all out, and the bus driver looked/felt like a complete arse because he tried his hardest to get it working.
Nevertheless, I got home. I tidied my room and went back to my DS, had my tea and played on it some more. Went on the computer and... started blogging! :D
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I kept writing in different styles so forgive me for that. I dunno how else to blog so I do it strictly in chronological order. Never mind. I intended to update the next day, but it ended up being a week or so later. :S
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