Groundhog Day in June!
Here Hoggy hoggy hoggy!!!
When our driver Dick Nolan came to work Monday morning, he brought along a special passenger in his engine compartment. It was a groundhog! He called the Humane Society when he noticed it and they promptly dispatched an animal rescue officer to help get it out.
Hi!!
After many trials and tribulations we got the little guy out and safely into a crate for transport. He was a fiesty little guy, but very cute!
Watch those fingers Jess!
We loaded him up in the back of one of our trusty Rangers and took him out to a field near where he hitched his ride to let him go.
C’mon get out of there!
It took a little coaxing, but we got him out of the crate and on his way. I didn’t know that the little buggers could run so fast, but he bolted right for the first tall grass he could see and was gone.
Bye Bye!!
Goodbye Rev!!
When Metro Delivery merged with ParaTransit in 2001, the most valuable thing we acquired wasn’t a client or a vehicle. It was a manager. Sebastian Wreford has been an unsurpassed resource when it comes to all of our needs, including art, sales, and most importantly being a center of stability whenever things become chaotic. Over his time here he has been the heart of our company, an avuncular figure who gives advice to anyone who asks. I’ve personally learned more lessons about work, management, and life in general from him than anyone else I’ve worked with.
Thank you Sebastian for all of your calm wisdom in wild times. Thank you for making this office a bright and colorful place full of art, soul, and one of the craziest assortments of musical taste that I’ve ever had fill my ears. Thank you for performing my wedding, and those of so many others of the staff. Thank you for years of hard lessons with a laid back attitude.
From all of us here at Metro: Thank You and Good Luck! Food Gatherers won the lottery and all of the people of our area are going to be better off because of it.
At least it hasn’t rained this much…
I
Image from Mlive: http://www.annarbor.com/news/ann-arbor-residents-capture-images-and-video-of-flooding/
Driver of the Month
Congratulations to Bryan Martz on his selection as Driver of the Month!!
Sarah says:
“Again, I will keep this low key because I know how much Bryan hates the limelight, so just a simple ‘Thank you, Bryan, for all that you do!!’”
We all know how hard Bryan works around here and truly appreciate it. So thanks Bryan, and congratulations again!!
Barrels and Cones; Cones and Barrels
State Street is currently closed for the rest of the week between Stimson and Granger due to some utility work.
Construction has started up on Fuller Rd right around the hospital, it is heading one way in each direction. I think our drivers and the construction workers are probably going to have a lot of time to get to know each other. Could there be a spring romance in the air?
Looks like all of Southbound Ann Arbor-Saline Rd is closed around 94, last week you could get off to get to Target from Eastbound, but I don’t think that doable any more.
I can only tell you guys what I’m seeing and hearing so let me know what kind of silliness you have to drive though!
http://www.a2gov.org/Alerts/Pages/EventRoadClosuresandDetours.aspx
Toll Roads
As a transportation company logging millions of miles in Michigan annually, here’s our considered opinion on toll roads:
(faints)
Orange Barrels!!
Here’s a list of some the road construction projects in the area that I know about:
1) Jackson Rd – Between Huron and I-94. Right now they seem to be focusing between Maple and the 94 on-ramp with one lane open in either direction. It’s really slowing stuff down heading Eastbound into Ann Arbor.
2) Ann Arbor Saline Rd. – Last time I was through there, traffic was only going North across the Highway. South of the highway it’s going one lane in either direction and Water Rd is closed between A2-Saline and the exit from Target. Plus the construction of the new strip mall in front of Meijer is making the whole area ugly to see and drive around in.
3) Carpenter Rd. – since you couldn’t drive in the outside lanes of Carpenter road before, they can do whatever they want over there and it shouldn’t slow things down too much…
4) I- 96 – Closed. Don’t go that way.
Let me know what else you guys are seeing out there and if you have any advice for getting around in the marvelous city of ours.
MASTER of PACZKI
This is very exciting. The previous Metro Delivery record, standing since at least 2005, for consumption of Paczki in a single shift has been broken, by our own resident superhero, J.P. who now holds the official Metro Delivery title: MASTER of PACZKI.
Congrats, J.P.!
Additionally, this year marks what we believe to be the speed record for eating a Paczek.
Christian was observed to completely consume and swallow an entire custard-filled deep-fried Manchester Bakery Paczek in 46.6 seconds, as timed by Dale with multiple witnesses. Without the aid of water or liquids whatsoever. It was an awesome sight to behold, and one that many of us will hold in our memories until the day we die.
Apart from individual standouts, the entire Metro Delivery Team performed admirably, with tremendous resolve and dedication.
Yesterday we started the day with 112 Paczki, and by 6:30 AM today we were reduced to merely approximately 7.67 remaining, as shown, for several employees who may choose to celebrate a Fat Wednesday.
Metro Delivery is, like every year, amazed and most impressed with the performance of all of our skilled employees in these Extreme Paczki Challenges. We look forward to Fat Tuesday 2015 (2/17/2015), and would remind all employees that it’s never too soon to start training for next year.
Nie mówię po polsku!
Happy Fat Tuesday!
Yes, it’s Michigan, and it’s Fat Tuesday, and while at warmer latitudes that means a giant bacchanal with wine and dancing and music, here in Michigan it means just this: PACZKI.
This year, we’re offering our staff Paczki Varietals, so that we can feel like they’re having different food groups at each meal.
From left to right in the picture below, you see 1. Paczki from Dom’s Bakery in Ypsilanti, 2. from Copernicus European Deli, in the South Main Market in Ann Arbor who get them shipped in from a Canadian Polish Bakery overnight, including authentic “rose” and “plum/prune” flavors, and 3. the powdered- sugar-coated ones on the right are via Washtenaw Dairy, made by the Manchester Bakery.
…honestly, we can’t say that our Couriers run their fastest on Fat Tuesdays.
Nona’s Story
Late last fall as it was starting to get colder, especially at night, she started coming round in the evening looking for food or warmth, something. One of our drivers, Bob Bazzell, took pity on her and started bringing in cat food so he could feed her before getting on the road.
Next thing you knew, we had an official Office Cat. She was in bad shape back then, so emaciated her backbone felt like the edge of a table knife, her coat worse to the touch than it looked and it looked pretty bad. The vet said starved as she was, she’d lost the strength to keep herself clean.
We thought she was a kitten, six or eight months old we guessed. Surprise, vet said ten years old. That was shocking and kind of dismaying. She had a flea collar, too small it was digging into her neck, and she’d obviously been around people so she wasn’t feral.
Did she get lost or did somebody just put such an old cat out? We put her picture up on the Found Cats section at the Humane Society, but nobody ever claimed her. And nobody had reported her missing. The name we gave her came from having “no name,” which is what the vet first put on her medical records.
But her favorite person, Jessica Nowling, calls her Kitty Meow Meow. She sleeps (a lot) under Jessica’s desk and ventures forth as she will. She always has a full food bowl and all the attention she deems desirable. She is an inside cat who knows what outside is and wants no more of it.
Bob says he’s sure she still remembers he was the one who brought her in. She is plump now pleasingly so and her coat is all clean and shiny and nice to touch. She rules with an iron paw, queen of all she surveys. We all have a new boss now.