Day Six

So, today was my first day of official work. I had to be at work at 8 a.m. (as opposed to 9 a.m. or later all last week). So I left home at 6:15 a.m., half an hour earlier than last week.
Morning: Got to the lot at about 6:20 a.m. The line for the Pentagon wasn't very long, nor was there much of a wait. I guess people are just coming and going that early in the morning.
My lucky ride was a silver Caravan. I was in the backseat -- or rather, the middle seat, since it was a van. As the other gentleman and I got in, the driver -- casually dressed in a blue and white striped polo and khaki shorts -- told us "radio volume and air temperature are negotiable, but keep your hands off my coffe." When he started saying "Keep your hands ..." I thought we were in trouble, but the ending was fine ... amusing. We both said we had our own (I had a large Starbucks mug and the other gentleman had a plastic mug with a logo on it, though I couldn't read what was written over it).
As we pulled away, both men addressed each other by name. It surprised me. The passenger said something I didn't catch and the driver responded by saying "I have to take one of my kids to the doctor, which is why I'm driving today." The other man nodded and proceeded to compose numerous e-mails on his Blackberry (I don't think he took his eyes off of it the entire ride).
The driver has at least three kids. I deduced this from the three carseats that were in the van. The one to my right was meant to hold an infant. There was a Playskool mirror hanging behind the passenger seat so the baby could see itself (we are raising our kids to be self-conscious). There were toys and kiddie-books on the floor and thrown into the carseat. There was a "Dora the Explorer" window shade to block light from the child that would be sitting there. It had Diego, Dora's friend, on it and, apparently, he's an animal lover ... he was holding a cat under his arm.
In the seat behind me, there were two bigger carseats -- most likely for kids who weren't tall or heavy enough to sit on their own yet.
The driver seemed exhausted through the entire ride. He kept yawning, stretching, groaning and gulping down coffee. Made me a little nervous.
Traffic was nasty. I-95 was backed up for a good bit once you hit Occoquan, and the HOV lane was stopped a few miles ahead of that. I fell asleep while sitting in traffic, so I didn't get to see what was holding everything up. I woke up as we were approaching the Pentagon. The driver dropped us off, we thanked him for the ride and I headed for the Metro.
Evening: Relatively uneventful, but the line was RIDICULOUS! I got off of work earlier than expected, so I was at the Pentagon at a little after 4 p.m. Now, when the line is about 15 people long, it still fits in the designated area on the sidewalk. This line went off the sidewalk and into the motorcycle parking lot. I would say there were about 40 people in line to head back to my commuter lot. Thank God I just bought comfortable shoes. The weather was warm, which wasn't working in my favor as I was wearing slacks and a fitted black shirt with 3/4 length sleeves. Kinda hot ... and by hot, I mean sweaty.
After waiting for about 20 minutes (which isn't as bad as I thought it would be) three of us were picked up by a red Dodge SUV. I love it when cars that can pick up three people actually take three people. Normally a driver will only call for two because three is all you need to get on the HOV lane. But, some people are kind enough to get on the HOV lane with four because they can fit four. Makes the line move faster, too.
Within five minutes of being on the road, the man behind me (I was riding shotgun) was snoring. Us three had a good chuckle over that.
The driver had a sports station on the entire time, so I was forced -- yet again -- to listen to Michael Vick's message to the public. Don't you love how he found Jesus through this? And that he kept referring to himself in the third person ("Now is the time to make Michael Vick a better person")?
I tried reading my George Washington biography, but couldn't keep focused, so I just looked out the window and in my area around the car without looking like I was a creep or anything. There was a sticker on the inside of my window with a cigarette and red cross thingie through it with "Thank you for not smoking" written around it. I thought this was odd to have in a car and my first thought was maybe this guy carpools a lot and put it there because he's had bad incidents before. Within seconds of that thought I realized I'm dumb ... what kinds of cars have those stickers in them? ... rentals ... So I glanced over at the guy's keychain in the ignition and, sure enough, it was a rental. Huge metal ring with one key, one fob and a plastic keychain with a description written of the car. I've seen them before.
I listened a little longer to the radio, read more of my book and, without any problems, was back in my commuter lot by 5:15 p.m.
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Something I wanted to add regarding the Army guy I rode with on Friday. You know how the Army always wears the American flag backwards on their arm on their uniforms? Finally found out why. The field of blue heads into battle first. Imagine the calvary on their horses riding into battle. One person is carrying the American flag ... how is it flying? Yup, field of blue faces the opposition. Makes sense ...
Also, this week should be interesting. One of the managing editors might want me working here from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. as opposed to the original plan of 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. If I work until 6 p.m., that means I'm not at the Pentagon until 6:15 p.m. which means ... yeah ... I'll have to make a sign. Maybe I should laminate it, too.