She moves in mysterious ways, and very, very slowly...

So, again, my apologies for not posting anything since April. It's been crazy in my personal and professional life, so even though ideas percolate for a post or two, I don't always get the chance to jot them down, but I'm finally taking a half hour to get something out there for you faithful readers (again, thanks, Mom!).

For starters, I have a quick update in terms of my personal life, which relates to part of this post, buuuuuuut...I'm about six weeks away from popping out a child! Yup, you read that correct -- I'm very much preggers. 

Haven't tried this yet, but I have no plans tonight...

Just a funny lady dancing with her belly.

This impacts my commute greatly the further along I get in gestation. I'm finding it harder and harder to walk quickly to catch my train in the normal 15 minutes I used to allow myself when leaving work in the evening. Now, I leave 40 minutes before the train leaves and take bathroom breaks on either end. Oh, the joys...

I'm also starting to notice how many more people are willing to give up their seat for me on the Metro. I wrote about this once and how I only thought the seats in the middle of the train with signage were for the disabled (or one might say, "very pregnant lady with swollen ankles"), but I'm getting offers for seats all over the train almost daily -- mostly from other women. I've gotten one or two males chivalrously willing to give up their seats, but I only take someone up on it if I'm on the train for more than a few stops. Since I typically only go one stop, I usually say "No thank you" -- it's easier than sitting down and getting back up in the short time I'm actually riding the Metro. (All that extra weight on your hips makes it hard to sit too -- oy!)

I have to admit this pregnancy has been fairly easy and uneventful beyond the normal swollen-ness that tends to be exacerbated with the July/August humidity in Washington, DC. I'm ready to be done with the whole carting around this extra 30 pounds or so and hold that cute squishy baby every day. But alas, the kid still has to cook a bit longer.

In other news, I have also ridden the Metro three times with the WMATA General Manager, Paul Wiedefeld. When I say "ridden", I do mean, like standing right next to the dude on the Metro car and getting off at Union Station together. The first time he got off at the station, I thought "Oh, he must have a meeting here or something." The second time, I watched where he went (no, I'm not a stalker...) and he actually takes the MARC train too -- to somewhere near Baltimore, but alas -- TRAIN BUDDIES! 

So, I give the guy some credit, he actually takes the Metro to and from work, and beyond that, invests himself in other modes of public transit! As much as the Metro sucks these days, I have faith that he'll get the job done and we'll once again not have to wait 12-18 minutes for a train during this hell he's created called SAFE TRACK. Oh, I guess I haven't had to mention that before since it started in June and it's been...well, it's been less than pleasant, but completely necessary. I'm just more ticked off about the timing of all this paired with the condition I'm currently in.

Anyway, I'm rambling. It's also Friday, so here's a cute puppy for both #nationaldogday and the fact that I'm soooooo jealous of this dog right now. 

This would be the life for me today.

Updates galore!

My apologies for not writing ANYTHING for almost a year. A lot has happened in that year, but one thing is still the same...I'm still commuting. On a train. So, I will continue this blog as long as I feel motivated and inspired by my 2.5 hour commute each day. Woo!

Some updates since the last post regarding the state of the Washington transit systems that I wanted to be sure was brought up since, you know, posts haven't happened in 8 months.

Two of these are my favorite that WMATA announced since the new General Manager started at the end of 2015:

1) A GRACE PERIOD WILL START IN JULY! Yes, you heard me. All my complaints about paying Metro fare only to have to turn around and walk back out, $2.15 poorer when there are issues and delays have paid off. This might be one of the smartest moves the new GM has made since starting and if nothing else, will pay off in good PR for the ever failing system.

Yes, this news makes me wanna dance! Go Jimmy, Go Elmo!

2) PLATFORM SIGNS WILL ENCOURAGE PEOPLE NOT TO RUN LIKE IDIOTS. Well, no, they will still run like idiots most likely, but at least they will know how far they need to run to catch a 6-car train at the busiest stations. I've seen one at Union Station and I'm sure they are at others, but even still, why they didn't think to do this earlier, I'll never know. Now, why they still choose to even run the 6-car trains, that I'd like to know. ALL the trains should have 8-cars. Period. (Especially during rush hour.) 

Run, Batman, Run. Don't leave Robin behind at Ballston.

Now, for the not-so good updates. WMATA has had all sorts of issues since last year and it's only gotten worse. This article in itself is a good summary to show the sort of boondoggle WMATA had years ago and did nothing about, hence the issues we are dealing with in 2016. You know when they threaten to shut down entire lines in the system, and actually do shut down the entire system for a day for safety checks, ish has gotten real bad. So, on that note, happy 40th birthday WMATA, may you hopefully begin to age just as gracefully as some of your transit siblings to the north and the west. 

Oh, I didn't even mention the MARC train. Thankfully things have been going alright on the good 'ol commuter rail, so ::knock on wood:: hopefully it continues into the summer and makes my life easier as things in it start to get more exciting and complicated. (I'll mention that in a future post, I'm sure).

Also, I did travel a bit since my last post and have experienced some more transit systems across the country, including New Orleans and Las Vegas. We also went to Chicago, so my husband got to experience the "L" Train for the first time. This summer we plan to visit Nantucket, and so, there will be ferry rides! (Aside from a very good friend having family up there and inviting us, I'm so excited to visit the location of one of my favorite TV shows ever. Yes, I'm a loser, but I don't care.) So, yay for experiencing transit in all sorts of different places!

For now, I bid you adieu and leave you with this. Just because, well if you aren't aware of American politics at this juncture, well, these* can catch you up:

Always with the side eye, Bern.

"I dunno where Bill is."

Neither do we, Hill. Neither do we.

This. This might have made me blind.

*By posting these GIFS, the writer is not endorsing any specific candidate, just making fun of them all. 

The writer has also intentionally forgotten about the other two candidates still in the race. Whoops.

Thursday Blues-day...wait, that doesn't rhyme...

Yes that doesn't rhyme and it was just one more thing to go wrong on my commute home yesterday. I left work right around 5 pm, but a couple minutes later than I normally would. I will call this mistake number 1. 

I waited at Judiciary Square on the Glenmont side for probably 20 minutes. 2 trains came through in that time, both of them packed to the gills with people and no one getting off. During this same time I counted 7 or 8 trains going towards Shady Grove -- clearly they were not having any issues on that track. I finally gave up and decided to walk to Union Station* (mistake #2 -- more explanation on that at the end of the post). PS - I've been having an issue with my right foot in the last week and it gets irritated the more I walk or use it, hence, all the time I'm upright, so this was a fun almost mile walk, in the heat yesterday afternoon. 

By that point, I had missed the 5:20 pm train, and might make the 5:40 pm departure. Nope. Didn't happen. Especially with the foot issue. I walked into the station right at 5:40 and wasn't even going to attempt any sort of rushing movement. 

I was definitely no Betty Boop yesterday. 

All red-faced and limping.

The next train didn't leave until 6:20 pm, so I sat and waited. Only to receive an e-mail that THAT train might be delayed due to equipment issues. By 6:13 pm, a track still hadn't been posted for the 6:20 train (they usually post them anywhere from 15-20 minutes out from departure, if known). At that point, I received an e-alert that the 6:20 WOULD in fact be leaving on time, but with one less car, so to expect "crowded conditions". Yay. 

Because I received the e-mail, I started making my way out to the platforms and as I reached the door, I was lucky enough to hear the MARC customer service rep say that our train would be on track A-15. Yippee! I was one of the first people on the train and got a seat thankfully due to that saintly MARC rep. 

But wait, there's more.

::Stomps foot::

But, I don't wanna, Heather Dubrow of the OC Housewives (love her!).

The train I got on had no power, so it was hot. And quiet. And dark. And it seemed like the conductors weren't sure it would turn on, hence the delay and issues. But come what may, at 6:35 pm (15 minutes after the train was supposed to leave, if you're keeping track), the power came on and by 6:40, we were moving westward - Hallelujah!

I finally arrived home at 7:30 pm, 2.5 hours after I left work and ready for some pizza - thanks, hubs! - and HBO -- re-watching The Wire after reading this yesterday...LOVE LOVE LOVE that show. 

*Ultimately, I should have decided to just cross the platform at Judiciary Square and take a train in the other direction towards Shady Grove, getting off at Rockville and catching the MARC train to Germantown from there. I probably would have caught my earlier intended 5:20 train or at worst, the 5:40 train from Union Station from there AND I wouldn't have lost money standing on the Metro platform. Oh well, lesson learned. 

I still don't know why everything was royally messed up yesterday afternoon, maybe it had something to do with the fabulous year WMATA has been having so far. Lord only knows.

Happy Friday, y'all. Here's a puppy rolling around in a ball pit to make myself and you feel better about life.

Signage much?

Just read this in the WaPo about better signage at Metro stations and how we could all stand to learn a few lessons from our forefathers in London. 

Honestly, I don't really know if it's bad or good in terms of signage on the Metro. Maybe it's because I've just been riding long enough to know which stop I'm at without looking up (at least on the Red Line). Either way, a few times I've had to look up (I was tired, ok?) it is sometimes VERY hard to see outside the windows to a sign and if you're on an older car, the inside LED screens NEVER work. So, I guess WMATA could stand to make things a bit brighter and re-program some of their technology.

Don't stop, MOVE (to the side)!

Ahhh, warm summer months in DC bring the most dreaded time of year for anyone who lives here -- tourist season. Although it technically starts much earlier in March or April with the Cherry Blossoms, it continues straight through Labor Day with Segway tours, matching t-shirts, and just overall hell for the crowd-anxious people of the world (me). And as much as I appreciate them stimulating our local economy with their hard-earned tourist dollars, I just implore one thing to them as a daily commuter...

For the love of Pete (Sorry, Pete, whoever you are), if you're going to stop and look at your phone on what Metro stop you need next, or check a map for directions (do people still use these?!), or perhaps dig around in a purse or pocket to find your Metro card, PLEASE (and I really do say this nicely...in exchange, I will not yell at you on the escalator when you stand to the left, mmmk?), MOVE TO THE SIDE AND GET OUT OF THE WAY. 

Maybe this is Pete's sister?

I feel this is just common sense whenever you visit a new city or place, but it baffles me how many people don't realize how bad of an idea this truly is at 5pm on a Tuesday at Union Station. Anyway, rant over. Go about your days, people. 

Oy vey, Monday.

Oof, it was a bad start to the week on Metro this morning. Thankful I don't have to ride the blue-orange-silver line most days and not thankful that it makes for a very simple blog post from the Local Motive Girl. Still, I think the going score is Smoke and Fire - 2, Metro - 0.

We feel your pain, Woody.

A Metro Love story

Awww, read this and you'll be even more happy today besides the fact that it is Friday. 

It makes me smile to read about other people's happiness and reminds me of my own proposal and love story :) Ours was on a beach since my husband knew I loved beaches and it was my first time on a Florida gulf beach -- beautiful! Only downside was that it was August and SUPER hot. Still, it obviously ended well and it's nice to talk about and relive that moment together. 

Can we go back? Pretty please?!? :)

There are certainly cute ways to get engaged these days -- flash mobs, jumbo-trons, romantic dinners, and it can definitely lead to creative wedding theme ideas -- I especially like the Metro-themed tables at the end of the article -- delays of your meals are bound to ensue!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Um, no thanks.

So I've posted before about paying for Metro, waiting for a train for 10 minutes, only to leave the Metro and still paying $2.15. Well, I did that again today, but only waited about a minute before I made the decision to back up and leave.

I arrived in Union Station from my MARC train and walked to the Metro without checking my e-mail for alerts <--foreshadow: that was a mistake. I entered the turnstiles, registered my card and saw all the people at the top of the escalator looking down on the platform at all the OTHER (ahem, a lot) people waiting for trains. That was all I needed. I immediately turned around and walked back out the turnstiles to walk the .9miles to work. 

Oy, when will Metro get something to alert people as they enter the station BEFORE they pay for their entry? Also, I wondered if there was a grace period about entering and exiting a station within a minute if you don't get charged...my initial research came up with one of my favorite Traffic bloggers in the area, Dr. Gridlock, and something he posted about it in 2010:

Q: If you enter a Metro station and see that the platforms are overcrowded, etc., and then just turn around and go back into the office, you are charged for entering/exiting the same station (minimum fare).

Metro claims that they do this so as to prevent a conspiracy of two people exchanging farecards/SmarTrip cards and then entering/exiting "same" station. The problem with this response is that there is still a monetary incentive to do this type of conspiracy because of the the distance charge.

Furthermore, couldn't metro just have a 10-minute grace period of entering/exiting same station? You go in and realize it's terrible. Or, they could just apply zero charge for entering/exiting station to SmarTrip cards and have triggers whereby it's not allowed more than X number of times per month. Can we just get Metro to admit that they are just trying to get more money out of us even when they have disaster days (not uncommon)?

A: I think what Metro should do is make sure that its station managers are alert enough to discover problems on their platforms and have the means to quickly post signs warning incoming riders about severe delays.

Right now, riders don't necessarily have a way of knowing what's going on before they see the platform. (We talked about this a moment ago regarding the lack of consistent e-alerts about disruptions.)

Source: http://live.washingtonpost.com/gridlock-1025.html 

So it appears you do get charged (at least back in 2010) and they still HAVEN'T found a way to know about delays before you pay to enter the station! Grrr...just another fun day as a Metro rider in DC.

No, you're the worst!

So I've returned from the Big Apple and will definitely blog about it here soon, but in the meantime, I read this article in the Washington Post today that seems appropriate for my recent trip and my new love of public transit visits to other cities!

I do think above all, DC has one of the cleanest public transit systems in the country and it's not as bad as people think it is in terms of delays, track issues, etc.. Even with all my complaining, I still ride it and support its improvement and upkeep! 

Overall, the DC Metro definitely has more challenges than other cities do in working with two different states, the Federal government and all the jurisdictions it reaches in its 117-mile radial span. Funding, maintenance, emergencies, infrastructure, and expansion planning all can be put to a halt by one of the governing bodies, no matter how good of an idea it truly is. Ugh -- politics!

An experiment...

So, today I decided randomly to see how long I was on the train, while in transit. I pulled out my trusty iPhone and started the stop watch feature as soon as the P876 on the Brunswick line (my usual train that leaves at 7:11 am) started leaving the Germantown station. 

As we pulled into Union Station, I checked the stopwatch and it was at 41 or so minutes. We waited for probably 5-7 minutes and I finally clicked stopped as the train came to a stop at the platform. 

51 minutes and 45 seconds. This felt like a typical commute for the most part -- sometimes it's longer, sometimes it's shorter. For reference, MARC train schedules estimate that this trip should take 1 hour and 4 minutes, on this particular train. The time on my phone says "8:08" and the MARC schedule says this train is estimated to arrive into Union Station at 8:15, so an early train - woo!

Note that I started the timer when the train started moving, NOT when the train pulled into the Germantown station -- that's probably another good 3-4 minutes of people getting on the train at Germantown before it pulls out of the station. Remember, The Line?! That's how MARC determine trip lengths by when a train arrives at a station.

Also for reference there are trains that don't stop at all the stops so can significantly cut back on the travel time. The P878 -- 7:34 am departure from Germantown -- is what I like to call an "express train", or one that doesn't stop at all the little villages and towns along the way. 

Now, I did some more fun math this morning. I've been a full-time commuter on the MARC train since October 2012, meaning I use the MARC train daily more than 4 times a week. As I've noted before, because of my job and schedule, I often times have to take Metro to and from work to account for late hours, etc. So, I tried my best to estimate, based of previous spreadsheets I kept to track my finances with and just relied on general knowledge of holidays, vacations, days off, etc. to see how many trips I've taken on the MARC train in the last 2.5 years.

Drum roll please...approximately 43,964 minutes of my life have been spent on a commuter train so far (I'm not counting METRO at all). That's 732 hours and almost 45 minutes worth of sitting, and riding, and waiting. That's almost a full month -- 30.5 days -- - of commuting via MARC. 

That equals a nice, LONG vacation. Two paychecks worth of time. A full cycle of bills to be paid. That's 8% of a year of life. That's 6.3 years of the average American's life expectancy! That means that, at this rate, I'd have to ride the train daily as a commuter, for another almost 30 years (29.92 exactly) to have ridden the train non-stop for a full year of my life. Make sense? Holy bananas. Sad part is, that's not unrealistic to accomplish and I'm sure others have been doing it for 30+years already. And, since the Brunswick line goes all the way out to Martinsburg, West Virginia, some people are getting to that mark even quicker.

Anyway, a fun thing the mind does when sitting on the train -- it thinks of blog topics that either fascinate you or make you really, really sad for me. Hopefully it's the former.

Exact change

Just an interesting read about getting the perfect amount of money on your NYC subway fare card, here. 

Thankfully (?), D.C. doesn't have flat fares and I can literally put the $5.90 it costs me to go from Shady Grove to Judiciary Square, on my SmarTrip card, when I ride the Metro. 

Happy Monday, all!

Bad Luck Friday (and Thursday)

So, WMATA/Metro is on my list. Thanks to a 12 minute wait, ON THE TRAIN at Judiciary Square (across from my work, where I catch the Metro each day) last night, I missed my 5:40 MARC train out of Union Station (as did a lot of other people). The next one wasn't until 6:20, overcrowded and getting me home at 7:15pm, when I usually leave work at 10 until 5pm. Gah. 

My annoyance at last night's issues.

Then this morning, you lovely public transit system, I arrive at a crowded Metro platform at Union Station once I got off the MARC train, to find it filled with people, anxiously awaiting a train on the Shady Grove bound side...the direction I want to go. 

My thoughts exactly, Liz Lemon.

A train pulls up and is stuffed to the gills with people. Your ever so communicative train operator says "Please do not try and get on this train if there is no room. There is a train directly behind this one. I repeat, there is a train directly behind this one." So, I wait. With bated breath. 

Pardon my French, train conductor, but directly behind you, my rear-end?! I stood for another 15 minutes to wait for that train, supposedly coming directly behind you. Blarg. 

Preach, Amy.

The platform continues to fill with people and FINALLY a miraculous sight appears: an utterly empty Metro train. We all rejoice and I still made it to work by 8:45am (with a stop off at CVS to buy Valentine candy for my wonderful co-workers). 

Thankfully my mood improved after that and even though I missed two opportunities this week to use my monthly MARC train ticket to ride Metro for free, it's finally Friday, albeit the 13th, and Valentine's Day tomorrow. Who doesn't love spreading a bit of love around on a globally concluded unlucky day of the year?! Happy V-Day, y'all!

I plan to.

RIP SmarTrip card

Today is a sad day in the history of my public transit days. I had to say goodbye to my original SmarTrip card. For you Londoners, it's like your Oyster Card, or for Red Sox fans, the Charlie Card; the SmarTrip is just DC's version.

Originally intended and marketed for daily commuters, the DC Metro now incentivizes purchasing these for anyone traveling on Metro as it's an additional $1, each way, for using a paper fare card, and as DC commuters are aware, it's already pretty expensive to ride the Metro. It is a minimum $10 to purchase -- $2 for the actual card and $8 pre-loaded onto it when you buy it.

I remember when Metro first came out with these and they became the necessary method of exiting a paid parking facility of Metro. Once, in the early days, my mother and I had a hilarious time thinking we could pay cash to leave the lot and there was no attendant to pay. So we backed out over the curb and grass to exit the lot, versus just running back to the station to buy one of these puppies. Whoops! Now, thankfully, you can use credit card OR SmarTrip to pay for parking at a Metro lot. 

On the top is my new card, purchased fresh this morning and the bottom, is my fairly in good shape original one. Recently, every time I went in and out of the turn stalls, I'd have to swipe it 3 or 4 times to get it to register, if it registered at all. Even more recently, it'd usually not work after those few swipes, so I'd go to the purchase machines and get it to at least register on them...then it would seem to work to pass through the gates. 

In the past few days, I had to resort to going to the Metro attendants and have them "reactivate" or swipe it in their magic machine to make cards work. I tried to see how long I could do this as I had more than $30 left on the old card. Well, I couldn't hold out any longer. I became that person whose card didn't work and was holding up the line, pretty much every time. I'll figure out how to use the money on there, whether it's to pay in a parking lot on the way out, or just use it when it's not rush hour. 

Either way, so long first SmarTrip card -- it's been a good decade-plus run. You were the OG of SmarTrip cards and I'll miss you. Well, not really that much. 

An Etiquette Lesson

Preach, Emma.

Is chivalry dead? Apparently not on the Metro. While I understand and truly appreciate the concept and act of being polite, especially in the male species, there are times and places where being overtly polite it will actually annoy more people than it really should.

Case in point: Mr. Gentleman in your dapper hat and long coat -- you totally should always let women lead out of or into an entry way, elevator, intersection, etc., but when it comes to morning rush hour on the Metro and people are just trying to get to where they are going, and crowding around the Metro doors, you doing the awkward-"Please, you first."-dance with the woman next to you, it's just irking people behind you trying to also exit the train. 

Again, I'm not saying anything about being polite in every other instance -- believe me that goes a long way for me -- but when there are chances of you being stampeded, I just would err on the side of not being rude, versus chivalrous. 

RIP Robin Williams.

In other news, Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream sent me an e-mail with this image in it this morning. 

She's just being mean, while I'm doing the carb-free, clean eating thing for the month of January, isn't she?! Uggggh.

Hump Day perspective

It always happens, I'm literally seconds or minutes away from missing a train at a connection (i.e. at Rockville transferring from Metro to MARC) and hurts so bad when I can see the MARC train from the Metro car I'm on as it pulls into the station and the MARC train is leaving. Sigh. And then of course, I wait for 20 minutes until the next MARC train in the sub-freezing temperatures. Always.

But things could be worse -- I could ride the Yellow or Green lines everyday and pass through L'Enfant Plaza and I could have been on one of these trains on Monday. 

Yeah, it's all about perspective in either case. Happy Hump Day, y'all.

My glee was a bit premature...

So after my post yesterday, I got an alert that all MARC train service was suspended going west on the Brunswick line (my line). According to all sources I was inquiring to, everything appeared to be FUBAR.

First, I heard there was police activity west of Germantown (my stop), then that a person had been struck by a train west of Rockville, then finally the actual story of pedestrian who was hit and killed at Gaithersburg. 

Once I heard the initial report though, I hauled out of work early to Metro home. They honored my train ticket, so I rode for free (wheee!) and I was able to catch the Ride-On 71 bus from Shady Grove. I was only on the bus for maybe a half hour (?) and walked maybe a quarter mile to get back to my car at the Germantown train station. Overall, it was a good, efficient way to public transit home, when your public transit isn't working - ha!

But seriously, if this (and many other previous situations) has taught me anything, it is ALWAYS good to have a back-up plan when commuting via public transit. And, no, I don't mean, have your spouse or friend come pick you up at the end of the line at Shady Grove. Yes, that works, but it isn't always an option, or the best one. I do the Commuter Connections Guaranteed Ride Home, which thankfully, I haven't needed yet. And, I always have the bus routes in my county easily accessible on my phone. 

Well, I can admit, that sometimes you can't always have a back-up plan and my poor husband (along with millions of other commuters) took almost 3 hours to get to work because of the snow that people didn't think would amount to much. Yes, it's not more than three or four inches outside when it's all said and done, but no, it does not bode well when it starts falling at 5am and the Feds decide, "Hey, that's not snow, that's just dandruff, come on in!" AND none of the school systems decide to close until 8am. 

Either way, as we are all well aware, when there's even a chance of anything wet falling from the sky, well...this happens: 

Happy Tuesday. Only one more day now until FLORIDA!

A new fad?

So a few months ago, I watched this video online about a man who raced the Tube in London. I thought it was super fun and interesting as both a commuter and a runner (although I don't think I could do it). 

Well, it's gone local, folks. Someone just did it here in DC to celebrate a birthday. Sucks to be born in December and do this, but still...nice job!

Given delays, Metro cards demagnetizing, time of day, etc. I would think you'd have to prep for this pretty well and plan your course, as well as be in good shape. Or else this might happen:

Terrible, I know, but totally true.

And, people will comment as you're running by.

Or, if you're like me, get distracted, or lost, and end up just doing this the whole way.

FAIL.

Hangin' in the 'Bus

Sorry, I've been MIA since before Thanksgiving -- it's been a crazy couple of weeks in my world, which included a few travel snafus, but nothing too crazy to warrant a post in itself. 

Last week, the week back to work after the holiday consisted of, transit-wise: sitting next to people with terrible coffee breath, watching people pick their nose on the Metro and wondering, "Do they realize they are in the open public?", having a delayed train out of Union Station for more than 45 minutes one afternoon, and enjoyed two car-free days (pretty much): one day when my husband and I got to commute together or another, where we were meeting up later in the day to grab dinner and headed home straight afterwards, so we rode together again. 

I guess it's actually a good thing when I don't have eventful or crazy commutes and have nothing to blog about. So, yay for me, but sorry for you three (!) faithful readers.

I can also post that my husband and I recently traveled to Columbus, Ohio to see a Buckeye game at my Alma Mater and that we utilized the very inexpensive shuttle that was literally across the street from the hotel where we stayed and didn't have to worry about parking our car on the very large and very busy campus of The Ohio State University. Woot! Score 1 more for having a car-free experience. Seriously though, if you ever travel there for a football game, that's the way to go and it was this hotel (which was awesome!).

Speaking of Columbus: they apparently are targeting the very young and transient population of Washington, D.C. to come to their fair and much underrated city also known as "The Biggest Small Town in America", or as I (and many others) like to affectionately call it: Cbus. Saw this ad at the Union Station metro stop the other day and had to capture it for my Ohioan friends! Serious, it is a great city if you've never been.

Oh, and on that note: Go Bucks! 

Monday madness

This Monday before Thanksgiving, I am all over the place. Trying to plan for baking bread and pies for Thursday, keeping my work schedule straight, donating canned foods to a local drive, and organizing my tasks for my extra-curricular activities, all with being out of town the entire past weekend and coming back super tired. So, Thursday and Friday (oh, and Saturday and Sunday) I'm ready for this...

So jealous of this dog right now.

So this morning, when I dealt with not-so-smart people and they STOPPED at the end of the down escalator at Union Station because they are on the phone and pulling a suitcase (multi-tasking is a fine art, friends), I had to do this...

I'm no Madonna, but for realz. 

And then, both times on the Metro, I'm getting on and you're blocking the doorway. I'm getting off and you don't move out of the entry way. This is what I will do to you!

Not really, but I'd like to.

Again, I am so ready for the holiday, giving thanks and all that jazz. If I don't talk to you friends before, Happy shimmy-A-turkey day!

Thou shall not judge me, Purple Lady!

So, my Monday began by me being judged by a lady dressed in all purple. Oh, and a matching purple purse. And, a fur hat. Yeah, you heard me correct. Let me tell you a tale...

I'm working late this evening at a big, fancy gala sort of thing at my work, so I left the house with a ton more bags than usual, and a dress, to get ready for said fancy event this afternoon. I also had to take the Metro since I'll be here so late; I wouldn't be able to take the MARC train home. It took me 40 minutes to drive the 10 miles to get to the Shady Grove metro this morning, so that started me off in a swell mood. Oh, and add in the 18 degree wind chill in mid-November, I'm just ready to hibernate until May. 

Anywho, I get on the Metro and find a seat in the center of the car, taking note that there is NO Priority seating sign above where I choose to sit. I stuff all my bags AND dress under my seat, because I'm considerate like that and we're off! 

The Metro ride started off very calm and quiet. I'm doing my Tuesday crossword puzzle in the Express -- it's super easy since it's Tuesday and I've had my coffee already. People keep piling on the train, making it more and more crowded and maybe it was around the Cleveland Park stop, that a lady, dressed in all purple, interrupts my 34 Down analyzing to say, "You're in a Priority seat and I need to sit." I calmly look behind me, don't see the sign, am like "uhh, ok" but start to gather all my bags (remember all those bags?), as does the woman next to me (probably close to my age) and clearly we must have seem annoyed, because Purple Lady goes across to where the ACTUAL signs are for Priority seating to an older lady who says she'll give her seat up for her. Okay. The younger woman and I stay put. 

My reaction when she asked me to move.

But then, we continue to get dirty looks from the ladies across the way. I hear them audibly talking about it and the Purple Lady thanking the other older woman about giving up her seat!

Now, I like to think I'm a very polite person and I think most people would agree. As noted above, I ALWAYS try and not sit in Priority Seating on the Metro and if I do, I would get up if asked or clearly needed to give my seat to someone older or struggling to stand. ALWAYS. Let me emphasize that. I was raised by a man who served in the Navy, did 2 tours of Vietnam, always showed me how to be polite, expects men to take hats off indoors. My mother instilled the "please" and "thank-you" mentality from the time I was barely able to walk and I was constantly around my grandparents, of which that time spent, I learned to respect my elders. That's WHY I did start moving to get up when asked, EVEN THOUGH I WAS PERFECTLY IN MY RIGHT TO STAY PUT. Either way, I did not appreciate the sneering looks and comments I got afterwards. I DID NOTHING WRONG.

So, just to double-check, I Googled "Priority Seating rules on the DC Metro" and the first three sites are all from WMATA, which do seem to contradict themselves, at times: 

The first, a more casual "Do's and Don'ts" of the Metro, say that all seats next to the doors are reserved for people with disabilities and senior citizens.

The second is WMATA's press release from 2009, announcing an initiative to get people to speak up to ask for a seat and how they will be CLEARLY labeling the seats with signs and arrows, indicating the seats are reserved and prioritized for the disabled.

The third is a "Customer Guide for Riders with Disabilities and Senior Citizens". It clearly states on page 7 of this "Guide" that "Priority seating areas are designated with signs." So boom, I was sitting in an OK place.

Either way, my blood was boiling after this and really thinking about it. I truly appreciate someone older who can speak up for themselves, but there's really no need to be rude to someone who was trying to accommodate you, after the fact. 

My reaction after the whole debacle. 

Hence the typos most likely in this post. 

Thank you for reading anyway.

One more caveat: having someone ask you to give up your seat for them at any time, is understandable, but it DOES make it trickier to finagle all those bags and winter items, in the morning rush hour, just so a lady with a fur hat and purple purse can sit in a seat I was allowed to sit in the whole time.