Welcome to Hack Mule Notebook #10! Another busy week here at Hack Mule, so I’ve been out and about quite a bit—basically anywhere my friends or Ride On will take me.
Ride On is proving an interesting venue for people-watching, plus I’m enjoying the nostalgia of riding the bus. When I was in high school, I rode it everywhere, carefully timing transfers and keeping track of transfer slips as I navigated around the county.
On Thursday, I attended the soft opening of Shake Shack, the national hamburger chain that has been trying to establish a location in downtown Bethesda for about 15 years. The burgers were good, but the prices are eye-watering—$33 for a cheeseburger, fries, and a shake blew my mind. Shake Shack might want to think about rolling back to the prices from 15 years ago.
My recent injuries prevented me from attending Taste of Bethesda this year, which really bummed me out. If you’ve never attended, put it on your list for next year—it’s a great way to sample dozens of local restaurants and meet officials.
I guess I’ll simply have to store up my enthusiasm for Winter Wonderland, another Bethesda street festival, coming on December 5.
Hats off to Bethesda Urban Partnership for developing and operating these events. Aside from being a terrific way to grow interest in local business, they also bring this rapidly urbanizing community together.
And then there was the rest of my week. Here’s what I noted:
The sling isn’t helping my image
Friday afternoon, I wandered into Bethesda Metro Center to catch Ride On home. I was carrying a shopping bag, limping from my knee injury, and sweating from the heat. As I sat down on the bench to wait, an immaculately groomed 20-something man, who was with a very well-dressed 80-something woman, walked over to me.
The man said, “Good afternoon, ma’am. May we bless you?”
They didn’t look threatening—and the only thing of value I had with me was frozen broccoli—so I said, “Are you asking for donations?”
“No, ma’am,” he said. “My grandmother and I used to attend the Temple Hill church here in Bethesda, and we like to spread God’s kindness.”
“In that case, I would welcome your blessings,” I said.
They smiled and held their hands up toward me. The woman said, “Dear Lord, please bless your poor injured child as she makes her way in the world. God is good all the time!”
I recognized that phrase immediately. My stepfather, an Episcopal priest, taught me years ago that when someone says, “God is good all the time,” it’s a call-and-response invitation. So I answered, “And all the time, God is good.”
The woman was so excited that I’d responded, I thought she was going to cry. She hugged me and said, “God bless you.”
I said, “Thank you. And God bless you, too.”
They went on their way evangelizing the other bus-riding faithful, and I turned to Wordle as I waited for my bus.
A minute or two later, an ambulance with lights flashing pulled into the bus lane directly in front of me.
An EMT hopped out of the passenger door and walked up to me. “Did you call for help?” he asked.
“No,” I said. “All good here. Except for my arm.”
“Did you break it?”
“Yes,” I said. “I had a bad fall a few weeks ago.”
“But you didn’t call for help today?”
I shook my head, but he walked toward me and pointed to my other wrist. “What about your watch? Did anything happen that could have made it call us?”
I glanced down at my Apple Watch, which was dark. I held it up to show him that it hadn’t activated.
The other EMT called over to him and said the emergency was in the building across the bus bay. The first EMT looked at me again, walked back to the ambulance, and returned with a bottle of water.
“Stay hydrated,” he said. “You look pretty overheated.”
I thanked him and watched him walk into the other building.
Blessed and hydrated, I solved the Wordle immediately.
Listening
The other notable thing about riding the bus is that, being a passenger, I get to zone out and listen to a lot of music as I’m riding or waiting around at stops. Here is what has been playing in the background all week.
Note that Hack Mule Hits are now available on Spotify and Apple Music.
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
“Funky Liza,” New Orleans Nightcrawlers—walking into a meeting in Rockville
“Where Are You Now,” Jungle—just before the cellular dead zone on Huntington Parkway
“The Pink Panther Theme,” Henry Mancini/James Galway (featuring Lizzo)—folding laundry one-handed
“Marrakech Express,” Crosby, Stills & Nash—on Ride On, where the guy next to me stank so much of weed that the whole bus smelled like the Marrakech Express
“Been Caught Stealing,” Jane’s Addiction—in Lidl, but I wasn’t stealing
“Hypotheticals,” Lake Street Dive—getting dressed one morning
“Breathing Underwater,” Hiatus Kaiyote—new find while waiting at the bus stop
“Midnight at the Oasis,” Maria Muldaur—on Ride On again, with better-smelling fellow riders
“Sail On, Sailor,” The Beach Boys—at Giant on Arlington Road
“Cuando Me Enamoro,” Andrea Bocelli—driving on Old Georgetown Road with a friend who noticed that this is the same song as Engelbert Humperdinck’s “A Man Without Love.”
Special recommendation: I was walking down Elm Street the other day when I heard the unmistakable voice of Stevie Wonder filling my AirPods. I didn’t recognize the song, so I figured it was new, but I wondered how he could sound so young at 76.
A little research solved the mystery: Last week, Stevie Wonder released Songs in the Key of Life—The EP, four previously unreleased songs recorded during the sessions for the original album Songs in the Key of Life.
To mark the original album’s 50th anniversary, Wonder had two of the engineers who worked on the landmark 1976 album remix the unknown songs for release.
These new old songs are gems. Check out “It’s Easier” and “I’m Into Livin’”—I think they are my two favorites.
I hope Stevie goes back to the vault a few more times!
Milestones
Still Missing: Amelia Earhart. This week, a team supported by Purdue University set out for Nikumaroro, formerly known as Gardner Island, to attempt to identify a large object in a lagoon near the island that some believe may be the plane Earhart was flying during her 1937 attempt to circumnavigate the globe. Will they finally learn her fate? I’m convinced she’s been working at a Walmart in Germantown for the past 90 years. In fact, I’m certain she was my cashier last month. Took 20 minutes to buy paper towels.
In the Dark: Daylight Saving Time. Although the U.S. House of Representatives last July approved the Sunshine Protection Act, the U.S. Senate has not yet voted on the legislation to make daylight saving time permanent. The Senate is in recess until November 9, so I’m not too optimistic that we’ll avoid shifting the clocks back on November 1 this year.
Another Fake Sale: Amazon Prime Big Deal Days. October 6 and 7 are “Amazon Prime Big Deal Days,” not to be confused with Prime Day or Black Friday or Cyber Monday or Presidents Day or Enormous Business Appreciation Day or whatever they’re pitching this week. A friend and I were discussing this recently, and we came to the conclusion that, while savings are great, Amazon has too many “Days.” We’re getting a new kind of FOMO—Fear Of More Options.
Misunderstood
On Thursday, I was texting two colleagues I planned to meet at the Shake Shack opening. Since I can’t thumb-type at the moment, I was dictating my texts.
Me: She has a church chat in a little while. I’m just at the hop on right on. Should be down there around 1215. Looking forward to it!
Siri had completely flubbed the entire message, which was supposed to be, “See you at Shake Shack in a little while. I just got on Ride On. Should be down around 12:15. Looking forward to it!”
I tried again.
Me: LOL, so much for dictation. It should have come out: I am headed down to shake Shaquille.
Before I could correct that, one of my colleagues responded:
Him: Shaquille O’Neil?
(Apparently Siri hasn’t heard how Mr. O’Neal spells his last name. How does it miss O’Neal but get Shaquille?)
I tried to fix it.
Me: lol. Apple’s new intelligence features seem to have gone in the wrong direction! Anyway, I’ll be at that hamburger place at about 15 minutes after 12.
Him: Bahaha
Me, 15 minutes later: Are you guys here yet? I’m outside the line.
Later, when I mentioned the garbled text to my colleagues, I asked if they hadn’t thought it was a little strange that I was apparently announcing I was going to church on a random Thursday morning.
They shrugged. One said, “I just thought, huh. I didn’t know Kristen went to church.”
Spotted in the Wild—October 1
Some Ride On driver apparently decided to post this clever advice inside the bus. As a communicator, my antenna went up—it’s never a good sign when random parts of an organization start handling public outreach independently.
I mean, I’m a communicator and I don’t drive a bus on the side. Why should bus drivers start communicating on their own?
But as I stared at the sign—in duplicate, with color highlights, and fully laminated—I thought, “The driver who created this truly cares. In fact, he or she might be the most self-actualized person in the entire county government.”
So, huzzah, my good livery-person. I will begin flashing my phone at you anon.