Recently in Work Category
There's always something new on the Metro. Today, I decided to keep my iPod turned down relatively low so as to catch fleeting clips of the train operator. Sometimes I do this even though it's usually in vain as the mumble of the operator is drowned out by the train itself. Today, I'm glad I did, for the man behind the curtain promptly said as we pulled into Rosslyn that "this Orange Line train is now a Blue Line train."
Just like that. Who knew that the Metro operators had the power to change the sex of my train with just a few words and a flick of a wrist?
The funniest thing to me, though, was watching the shocked and appalled reactions of some of the riders. A few stormed off the train in disgust to wait for the next Orange Line to come along.
But, wait a minute, Angry Metro Rider... after Rosslyn, it DOESN'T MATTER which line you're on, unless you're going all the freaking way to New Carrollton! You didn't have to get angry! You didn't have to leave! You could have just sat right back and let it roll, secure in the knowledge that you rode two different Metro lines without ever having to move a muscle.
I tried a new commuting route today, just to shake things up. I was operating under the advice of a co-worker, but the advice was mainly for the portion of the trip going across the river and into D.C. That left me trying out an alternative to I-66 for getting into the district. Today, I traversed Route 50, which runs through Fairfax, Falls Church, and Arlington - and has a ton of traffic lights. Since it's your typical four-lane highway-through-town, everybody wants to use it, so from here on out it is not my first choice of road to take. The two good things about taking this route are: first, it runs basically to my apartment (all I have to do is get as far as 123 and go up a few lights - the trick is getting that far), and second, the total trip time using 50 was about the same as if I'd taken the Metro. This is a good thing only in that it could have easily taken me longer than a Metro ride, at which point I would have broken down into fits of hysterical laughter and finished my commute a broken man.
The advice of my co-worker, however, which took me down Independence Avenue and helped me to largely avoid 395 and all the main congested routes, worked beautifully. So, the hunt begins for the best possible way to get over to D.C. I will say that I left a little later than I wanted to this morning, so I might still try 50 once more, this time a bit earlier in the morning. We'll see. As of now, making the drive made me appreciate the Metro even more. This evening alone, I saw more examples of rampant Northern Virginia bad driving than I care to repeat in a family setting.
I'm gonna tell a story, morning glory... so sit tight.
Today, there are two bits of good news. First, I have (mostly) successfully upgraded to Movable Type 3.2, and it looks like just about everytihng is working. There are a few behind-the-scenes issues that aren't quite at 100% yet, but I don't think they'll present a huge problem. Even better, everything on your end looks perfect. Everything is going according to plan, mwuhahahaaaa....
The second bit of news isn't quite as good, but it's still neat. I successfully navigated my way through the dark, twisting corridors of 66, 395, and southeast D.C. today and drove to work. It's one of the first days I've actually been able to do this, since I only recently got a parking pass. However, I tried it out today knowing that I had a meeting in Crystal City that would allow me to leave for the day from there and be that much closer to home, thereby cutting down on the massive amounts of road rage I would be exposed to.
I'm not sure if driving is the ideal way to go at this point, either. What it boils down to is this: in order to avoid HOV restrictions on 66, I need to leave home no later than 6:15 (but we'll say 6:00 to be on the safe side). That means waking up roughly a half-hour earlier than I have been. Today, the commute took me about 45 minutes, or about 30 minutes shorter than taking the Metro and hoofing it to my office. The two cancel each other out, you see. When you take into account that 66 turns HOV westbound at 4:00, about the time I'd be leaving the office, you add a whole other level of convolutedness. I'll try driving again and leaving from work at my normal time to see just how long it would take me going an alternate route away from 66, but until then, I'm reserving driving for days when I know I'll be leaving work early.
And the search for the perfect commute continues...
No, this isn't turning into a Ralph Fiennes fan site. With one final pair of pants hot from the dryer, I have just concluded a week-long rampage of laundry. I don't know what happened this week - some kind of cosmic forces intersecting on my laundry hamper - but it was nearly always overflowing for the last seven days. I honestly don't remember wearing that many articles of clothing, but the numbers just don't lie. Regardless, the laundry is done, and both the washer and I are happy.
... For those of you who were waiting to hear my story about my updated commute, I apologize. Here's the scoop. DC's Metrobuses, on the interior, aren't that bad. Granted, my experience with them has only risen to a grand total of two lines: the B2 into the Vienna/Fairfax Metro and the N22, a shuttle running from a couple of Metro stops to the Navy Yard and points between. I still find them to be well-maintained; though some sport "proudly refurbished by WMATA" tags, the older buses still do their job well. The buses I've been on haven't been that crowded, either, though I'm leaving pretty early in the morning these days.
No, my main beef with the buses are not their insides: it's the lack of reliable timing. I know that it's a nigh-impossible task to keep a bus line running exactly on the clock, especially in an area like this. However, this Friday, I waited at our bus stop for a line that never came, until I realized that I didn't really need to be that late to work, so I abandoned the experiment, walked the 5 minutes back to my car, and drove anyway. You let me down, Metrobus. You let me down real hard back there. Unless there's been a major change to the timetable that I don't know about, it looks like the 6:44 bus is non-existent these days, and I can't afford to wait for the 7:10.
The second phase of the experiment was with the aforementioned N22 line, and it worked a lot better for me. While it's still warm out, though, it's definitely not worth paying the $0.35 transfer fee to have them drive me 4 or so blocks to the Yard, even if that ride could save me a couple of minutes off my commute. I'll probably change my tune, though, when the winter hits and the wind from the Anacostia starts reminding me of the Drillfield.
So, it was going to be a grand way to save $50 a month, but I'm afraid the project is on hold for now. Bret's Transit: 0, Metrobus: 1.