Lost, but luckily found!

I’m good at losing things, really really good at losing things. (Like to the point that with items that I’m likely to lose (water bottle, pens, etc) I just buy cheap versions so I don’t have to worry about it when I do lose them..)

I have really bad luck at finding things that I’ve lost.. I’ve tried enough times to the point that I know King County Metro’s policy and procedure off the top of my head..

Yesterday, I wandered upto Northgate to go shopping. The bus from downtown to north the Northgate mall is the 41 and it runs as frequently as every five minutes during rush hour. I had just come from the gym so I had my regular bag, plus my gym bag. Since the bus was kinda full I snagged a seat facing inward in the back and put my gym bag under the forward facing seat next to mine. It was a nice out of the way spot.

Around 4 o’clock, I hopped off the bus while fiddling on my iPhone, and called my mother. No she didn’t help me find my bag, but I make a habit of calling her every four days or so.. it cuts down on random text messages from her, and makes her feel loved. Additionally, it gave her something to worry about, which I think she considers to be her primary mothering role. As the phone was ringing to her I realized I had left my bag on the bus.

After I got off the phone with her I pulled up the OneBusAway iPhone app. (I usually prefer the mobile web interface, but the iPhone app has more data points exposed that I needed in this case.) I found the bus I had just gotten off of by looking up the route then finding a stop up the line aways, and checking a few route 41s until confirmed the one that dropped me of. The OneBusAway App very nicely provides:

• The vehicle’s unique number
• The next run of that particular vehicle

In this instance, instead of turning around and becoming a south 41 the vehicle in question, 2742, turned around and presumably interstate back south then started in downtown as a northbound 41 again. The OneBusAway app very nicely told me that 2742 should be getting to the Northgate transit center around 5:15 pm.

So I wandered off, did my shopping then wandered back to the transit station at 5:10 pm, and found 2742 on app, and waited for it to arrive right on time. I hung out while everyone got off the bus, then asked the driver if I could check for the bag.. It ended up being right where I left it…