#bdad - Bus Driver Appreciation Day

Today is International Bus Driver Appreciation Day. I hope you took time to say thank you to a bus driver. For 6 years I worked at Hampton Roads Transit with a great group of bus operators (transit speak for drivers) and mechanics who get 50,000 riders to their destinations every day in Southeastern Virginia. They start each day early, at around 4:00am, and the last bus completes the final run of the day 22 hours later at 2:00am. They work long shifts, many work split shifts, weekends and even holidays. Bus service is a 365 deal.

Bus driver appreciation day is on March 18th because that is the anniversary of the very first bus service launched in Paris in 1662 using horse-drawn vehicles. According to an article on Wired it was the brainchild of French mathematician, inventor, physicist, philosopher, and author Blaise Pascal. Fellow geeks know Pascal as the inventor of an early calculating machine forerunner of modern computers and the programming language PASCAL named in his honor.

Canon G10, 1/200 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 200.

Reflected

Construction of the new Consolidated Courthouse in Norfolk Virginia seen through reflections on the 125 St. Paul's Building. Canon G15, 1/640 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 80.

Sun and Shade

The Bank of America Center in Norfolk Virginia has long been one of my favorite local buildings. Designed by Skidmore, Owings And Merrill of Chicago with Williams, Tazewell & Associates of Norfolk it was the tallest building in the state of Virginia when completed in 1967 and retained that title until 1971 when Richmond's new City Hall took the crown. Today it is the second tallest building in Norfolk. The building started as the Virginia National Bank but beginning in the 1980's it went through a series of name changes resulting from bank acquisitions and mergers. It once carried the names of Sovran Bank in 1983, C&S/Sovran in 1991 and NationsBank in 1993 and finally Bank of America in 1998.
Canon G15, 1/640 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 200.

Rearview

Too much is never enough
And too little to never enough
Full speed got me looking out my rear view
I can't go back

From "100 in a 55" as written by Dylan Allison Anthony Greve

Canon G15, 1/50 sec @ f/8, ISO 400.

MnM Sunrise

The sunrise over the Port of Hampton Roads Virginia as seen from the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel known locally as the "MnM". Canon G15, 1/100 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 800.

Sunset Silhouette

The Dominion Coal Terminal on the east bank of the James River in Newport News, Virginia is silhouetted by the setting sun. Canon G15, 1/40 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 80.

Triple Rainbow

A passing rain shower just before sunset resulted in these three rainbows. I took the photo on the deck at Bubba's Seafood Restaurant and Crabhouse in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The seafood is good at Bubba's but the view is outstanding, a must see place for dinner in Virginia Beach. Canon G15, 1/100 sec @ f/8.0, ISO 200.