Red-B Rider: Howdy Stranger!

I ran into an old bus friend, Ayalbert, on the ride to work today. I can’t remember the exact timeline, but we often rode together last summer or the beginning of the fall semester. One day I asked him where he was from after overhearing some chatter in a different language. When he told me Congo in Africa, I took a shot with the few Swahili words I know and got a smile. I hadn’t seen Ayalbert or his friends in months.

Today’s encounter was bittersweet. I knew Ayalbert had been riding the bus to take English classes at Heartland Community College, with the hopes of getting into Illinois State and earning a computer science degree. On the ride this morning, Ayalbert told me he’d been working part time as a janitor at Illinois State and continues to work at State Farm as a janitor.

I’m assuming that he couldn’t afford classes last semester, or perhaps just needed to work extra to get more money, but he hasn’t been able to attend class until now. I also learned that he’s already got a diploma in computer science, presumably from a school in Congo, but since his English language skills aren’t at a high enough level, he can’t find work in that area.

It was good to see Ayalbert, but something yearns inside of me to assist in some way. Maybe our little conversations on the bus add something to his English education. My wife has kicked around the idea of getting certified in ESL. Days like this make me wish we both were more trained and equipped to help others learn the language that we both love.

The Red-B has certainly been a wonderful way to get to and from work, but it’s also been so much more. When I think of Ayalbert and Catherine, Celeste, the French Kids, Library Lady, Dallas, Bill, Duane, Russell, and on and on – I’ve truly been enriched and hope I’ve offered something similar in return.

Though a struggle at this moment in time, Ayalbert’s story is an encouraging one for me. It’s the clichéd American Dream story, but one we should never tire of hearing – man with a dream, working hard to achieve it and a better life, in a land of freedom and opportunity.

I hope I wasn’t overly sappy today. I’ll see you in Uptown Normal at :35 or :55 after the hour.

Red-B Rider: There's a Cash Cab, Why Not a Cash Bus?

I locked Brooksie's keys in her car this morning while warming it up - not the start to the day I was looking for. I was hoping to catch the Yellow-G and get to work a little early to get a head start on today's basketball game program. Instead, I got to shell out $45 for the locksmith and lost some points with the wifey (general annoyance (-5), late for work (-10) and money loss (-50)). I'm hoping my commitment to see Sabrina (Hepburn and Bogart) at the Normal Theater tonight will cover some of the loss (+30).

Some times life throws you a pitch you can't hit, and like the happy Pedro Serrano from Major League, you just have to smile and say "das, a good pitch, man." Today's silver lining came in the form of Discovery's "Cash Cab," which I got to watch for about 10 minutes before heading out to catch the Red-B. It would be pretty sweet to jump on the bus one day and have it be a TV game show.

Driver: "What's the capital of Nicaragua?"
Me: "Managua"
Driver: "Err...that's correct, you've just won 50 cents."
Me: "All those times staying after school in fifth grade to play Nigel's World finally paid off!"

My "Cash Bus" game show would be complete with "Red Light Challenges" and a three strikes and you're dropped off at the next corner policy. It would certainly add interest to the ride.

Another benefit to missing the Yellow-G (besides having to rename this blog series "Yellow-G Rider") was running into Kathy (formerly known as the library lady, maybe spelled with a "C"). She's one of those rare people that light up any room, or in this case, bus. She's a regular rider on the Red-B when the weather's poor and is so vibrant that you almost wish for cold weather or threat of precipitation.

When Dallas drove the Red-B, he'd always slow down at her regular stop to see if she was coming, and if she wasn't, he look at me and say, "I guess she ain't riding today." Tuesday, I saw Kathy a block down the street as the bus cruised through the intersection and it made me sick that she missed the bus. Needless to say, talking with Kathy for the four or five minutes that she's on the bus, helped me jump right out of any mini-slump I was having this morning.

I haven't seen Celeste (Cameroon, learning English guy) in a coupled days, hope he's not gone for good. My Congo (Ayalbert and Catherine) friends just disappeared one day and I haven't seen them again.

That's all the excitement for now. Until next time, see you in Uptown Normal at :35 and :55 after the hour.

Catch the QR Fever...

Finally there's proof I'm not an alien. Jennifer Van Grove at Mashable.com highlighted the Detroit Red Wings' exciting QR codes efforts in their game program here.

A few months back when Illinois State was playing at Southern Illinois, I tried to explain QR codes and how we were using them in our football game program, to a guy in the press box before kickoff. I told him all about how the two-dimensional barcode could link a static, printed page to the digital world through the use of an internet enabled phone with a camera. That's when the what-planet-did-you-come-from gleam entered his eye.

I admit that I get a little excited (and probably sound a little strange) talking about QR codes and their potential uses. Email links, embedded videos, links to Web pages, full contact information, instant phone dialing, ticket purchases and updated statistics are just a few potential applications in the print media world. My dream for all of my publications this year to include QR codes, with links to the most in-depth and up-to-date content possible. We had great success in our football game program but I didn't have space to squeeze any into the baseball media guide, where I think the need is greatest.

Ideally, QR codes could go on each player's bio page, linking to relevant videos, pictures and most importantly, updated statistics. A good portion of the numbers and information contained in the media guide is obsolete after two weeks of our four-month season.

Anyhow, its great to see that a professional team is being innovative and attempting to deliver fresh, accurate content to its fans. A big thanks goes out to Dustin Haisler, Chief Super Dude in Manor, Texas, for assisting us in our pursuit of QR knowledge and implementation.

If we're aliens, the invasion is surely just beginning.

Red-B Rider: Random Encounters with Slow Motion Joggers

It was a wild week for this Red-B Rider, filled with car trouble (one car family, hence the Red-B rider-ness), a slight case of sickness, and most importantly, a slow motion jogger. I won’t touch on the car trouble or sickness here – we can all probably agree on their suckiness. Slow motion joggers on the other hand are quite different. Before things get too uncomfortable, I want to point out I’m not talking about (*roll credits) Baywatch slow motion jogging.

Prior to Monday, in my time spent cruising the streets of Bloomington-Normal on the Red-B, I’ve seen just one slow motion jogger. I try to play “I’m going to fly now” from Rocky in my head every time I see him, because it looks like he’s training for a prize fight…in slow motion. I’ve seen the champ run on Vernon, mostly between the Country Companies and College Avenue.

On Monday however, as I was waiting for the bus at a new spot (dropped the car off for an oil change/engine rebuild), I discovered a different slow motion jogger. The scene began with a mangy looking German shepherd trotting down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. I thought for a second about being a hero and running over to grab it, but then realized it would be hard to hold my citizen of the year trophy after Cujo bit my hand off. I watched it gallop for a bit, then stop to look back at another dog (an equally impressive unknown mixed-bag breed) following suit.

The peculiarness compounded when Slow Motion Jogger No. 2 (so named because he was discovered after Rocky Slow Motion Jogger or Slow Motion Jogger No. 1) came blazing around the corner. I recently read in Sports Illustrated that Usain Bolt hit 27 miles per hour during his world record setting performance in the 100, so I’d estimate this “blazing” speed in the one to one and half mile per hour range. At first I thought No. 2 was chasing the dogs and it made me sad to think that they would lap him somewhere in northern Wisconsin after circumnavigating the globe.

My 8 a.m. tardy brain realized he wasn’t chasing the dogs, rather taking them for a walk. My sadness turned into awe as the dogs jogged ahead and turned around periodically to wait to see if he was still coming, then jog on a little more. The German shepherd got to the corner and turned to continue on the path, like it had done it a thousand times before. Circus Dog Training Slow Motion Jogger just plodded along, but was running with higher esteem in my mind.

Another random tidbit from the week, Celeste, my pal from Cameroon, is now calling me Steve for some reason…awesome. I just had an awkward encounter changing my name from Tim with another rider last semester. Maybe I’ll start wearing a name tag.
I hope this was somewhat coherent…medicine head is starting to kick in.

Until next time, see you in Uptown Normal at :35 and :55 after the hour. (Unless the bus comes three minutes early twice and you miss it…ugh!)

My last printed media guide ever?

I meant to break off a masterful piece of Red-B Rider prose on Monday but a trip to the mechanic for an oil change turned into a $900 hit to the wallet and my glorious morning was soured. I'll get to Monday's early morning greatness eventually, but I wanted to gleefully announce the completion of the 2010 Illinois State Baseball Media Guide.

You can check it out here: 2010 Illinois State Baseball Media Guide

I'll have it up on the portfolio section of my website (www.kevinwmccarty.com) soon. It seem like I've been working on publications non-stop for the last nine months, so no doubt getting this beast off my plate is a welcomed relief. Just a couple more basketball game programs left and it'll be just game recaps, game notes, a little radio play-by-play, and videos, until the end of baseball season.

Depending on NCAA legislation and trends in sports information, this might be my last printed media guide ever. Hopefully not.