gettin' the business!

So yesterday afternoon I get off the train in Laurel and start walking to my car. Its not uncommon for people trying to sell their product to put brochures or printed cards on everybody's windshield. Yesterday afternoon was subject to some heavy storms that went through the area and then the sun came out by the time the train was unloading. There was a 4"X6" advertising card on my windshield under the wiper. The card had a coating on the printed side, but not the back. The rain and the sun physically "glued" these cards to everybody's windshield. I ripped mine off and waited until I got home to scrape most of it off with a razor blade. As I was pulling out of the parking lot I could see a numerous people picking at their windshields with disgust.

The part I pulled off left the printing intact along with the companie's phone number. I bet they "got the business" yesterday!

roller bags

One of the things that I see on an almost daily basis are "roller bags". I'm not sure of the technical term, but these are the cary bags and small suitcases that have rollers built in and a handle that telescopes out to let the owner pull the bag behind them on the ground. In a crowded commuter setting these things are like landmines.

This morning getting off the train it was relatively crowded, but not so much that I couldn't see the spacing between individual people. Some mornings it gets so crowded that you can't see the roller bag people. I've have numerous occasions to kick or trip on these death traps. Every time I think "I hate those f*&king bags".

At least most times I just think it. I believe that once I even said it out loud and got a look that told me I was a crazy person. So be it. One of the worst features of these bags is that people don't know how to "drive" them. They are kind-of liking towing a trailer. You have to swing your turns wide so that you don't catch doors or other people. Most people with these bags are already physically "infirm", so you can be sure they aren't paying attention to how they swing those things around.

Maybe a mandatory saftey course for roller bags? Or at least a flag that sticks up in the air as a warning..

hippocratic oath

This morning coming into the building from the train I passed through security slightly behind a younger lady. She got her stuff and stepped to the back of an open elevator and watched me as the doors began to close. I waved my hand through the opening to set off the electric eye and reverse the doors. I got on and rode with her and she got off on the 5th floor. It was then that I noticed she was wearing scrubs and going into our medical section to start her work day. I sure hope I don't get her for a nurse the next time I get sick here!

those are some ugly feet!

This morning walking from union station to my office my eyes were drawn to this young lady, attired professionally wearing a business-style dress and carrying a purse of some kind. She seemed perfectly normal except that she was wearing some of those new sneakers with the molded toes. Besides that they were green. So it looked like she had these big hideous green feet walking down the street. Very funny.

we win, we lose

This morning's ride into DC was nice and relaxing. I got onto the "quiet" car so I could read some of my book. The quiet car is the car at the furthest from the forward motion of the train and is a car in which people can zonk out or read and must stay off of their cell phones and if talking must have quiet conversation. I describe the quiet car as being "furthest from forward motion" because the engine isn't allways on the front of the train. Sometimes the cars are pushed and sometimes they are pulled.

This morning heading southbound I was on the East side of the train. I know this because I was able to enjoy the sun coming up. It was slightly above the horizon all the way in. As we passed Greenbelt a metro subway train had pulled out and was beside us (within one hundred feet anyway) and we were riding side-by-side for awhile. It looked to me like the train engineer sped up the locamotive a bit before the tracks diverged onto their separate routes. We pulled ahead as the I lost sight of the metro. I thought "we win".

Pulling into union station the train slows down gradually before it stops. The platform we were pulling up to was a low platform and one of the amtrak workers was out on the end with one of their glorified golf carts. He sped up onto our platform from the far side and gassed it to get ahead of us to the station before we stopped and unloaded our crowd of riders into his way. I thought to myself as he zipped by us: "we lose".

on time departure

Yesterday afternoon on the Camden line the train left at 4:13pm as it is supposed to, pulled ahead about 20 feet and stopped. This happens quite a lot. I believe they can report the departure train statistics as on-time if they close the doors and pull ahead a little bit at the appropriate time. Seems a shady way to make their performance look better than it actually is.

cattle drive

So today is one of those days where it happens. Because of delays and just bad timing two or three trains came into the station at one time. Its bad enough trying to get off the platform and out of union station with a Penn train, but when they come in together it is like a human cattle drive. Everyone clomps along trying to keep our hooves from touching one another. Then it funnels down to a choke point at the top of the escalator down to the exit and/or the metro subway entrance. I keep expecting to see two guys at the bottom of the escalator with bolt guns ready to put us out of our misery. And I swear I just heard a low guttural "mooo".

my evil delight, repetitive stupidity

I have to admit that I have one evil little joy on the train, and I saw it again yesterday in the afternoon when I was leaving DC on a Penn line train. There are two primary types of rail cars that are used, old and ancient. The ancient cars are mostly on the Camden line and are these big steel framed cars with an aisle down the middle of the seating. The newer cars are double decker's. After you enter the door from the vestibule there is a landing with a couple of sets of seating and stairs going up or down. Effectually you can carry about one and a half times the people on the double decker's than the ancient cars. Well, the doors on these trains operate differently. The ancient cars have a manual slider door with a pull handle that is heavy. The slightly newer double decker's have a large black button, probably 4 x 6 inches that says in bold white lettering "Push to Open". These doors are electrically operated. This button is right next to a piece of angled metal on the door that can be used as an emergency handle when the car doesn't have power. You have to push the button on these cars, if you pull the metal tab the door will only budge about an inch. Yesterday I sat on the Penn train (a double decker) waiting to leave union station and was facing the door to the vestibule. These doors all have windows so you can see the people approaching. I saw one younger lady pull the metal tab a total of six times before a person coming up behind her told her to look down and then she figured out that she had to push the button to get into the car. I find this absolutely hilarious. I try to count how many times a person will do the same repetitive motion before they get smart enough to realize it's not working and actually try to figure out what they are doing wrong. There are a lot of times the person just keeps trying the wrong approach until someone a little more savvy comes up behind them. It's an evil delight and I realize it, but people will keep trying the wrong approach because thinking and reading just hurts too much.

End of the Train

This morning was a Penn line trip into our nation's capitol. I like to get on in Odenton and I park on the southbound (inbound) side. Parking this way I end up walking by all the groups that form down to the end of the platform because invariably there is more seating towards the rear of the train. Penn line trains can be eight to ten cars long and there are always a lot of people, even early in the morning. Being a guy, I notice the women, particularly the attractive ones waiting for the train. Every time I come out this way the younger more attractive women always board toward the front of the train. There's probably a psychological study in the making just on where people chose to board and what they look like and what there personality type is. I'm definitely more of an introvert and want to avoid as much crowding as possible. These are the type of people I see boarding with me at the end of the train.

water boy and the morning "cut off"

So this morning I didn't wake up in time for my normal train. (It happens) If I take the next train I get in within five minutes of my starting time, and today was going to be one of those days.

I decided that I had enough time to bring in water. The government agency for which I work has water fountains, but the building is full of lead and asbestos, so I feel safer drinking bottled water. There's a whole other topic of conversation that I may write about later, probably calling it "The Life and Death of the Government Worker", which would be appropriate. But that is for another day. Bottled water at work is $1.50 for a 20 oz. bottle. I can go across the street to a cafe and get a 1.5 liter bottle for $2.50, which is slightly more cost effective. But the cheapest economy of scale by far is to get gallons of spring water from the grocery store for about 90 cents.

Carrying two gallons of spring water on the train along with my book bag is tricky. There's a lot of people I need to avoid and with the seating on the train I have to get the bottles under my seat in front of me. This allows room for others. Then it has to be carried through the train station and on the streets to my work site, go through the metal detector process, and then up the elevators to my office. Its tiring. I see why nobody else does it.

This brings me to another psychological topic I've been wanting to bring up. I call it the morning "cut-off". I stood in the back of the group this morning closest to the head of the train so that I could set the gallon jugs down. The train pulled up and the large group starts climbing the two stairways where the cars join to enter the train. Rationally the people going in to each entrance should proceed left or right accordingly into their car for seating but it doesn't work that way. The entrance to the left of me emptied first but then people come out from my group, enter the other entrance, and cut across the vestibule so that they can get ahead of the people patiently waiting. I don't get this. How is this acceptable etiquette. A guy this morning actually made me back up so he could cut out of our group and get up the other stairs and cut in before me at the vestibule level. There's something weird here, but I see it every day. I will say that I don't think this crosses anyone's mind but my own and perhaps a few other individuals. Maybe that is why this is acceptable. Nobody "thinks" anyone else would find this rude.