i have a post up over at the atlanta metblog today about an imbecile who decided to enforce a ‘no grafiti’ zone on wylie avenue at 2:00 am by punching what i am gathering were a few hipsters in the face.
seriously, just stop.
over at atlmalcontent you can read about an even dumber vigilante with much more tragic consequences.
there are many things done in the soccer world that i have considered would be fun to see in american sports. relegation and promotion, totally unrestricted free agency, multi-national seasons going on at the same time as national one, etc.
i hadn’t really every thought about loans though.
the great soccer blog unprofessional foul has an interesting post up today about how player loans could be a great thing for baseball.
as a cubs fan, one of his examples, that of young felix pie, is near and dear to my heart.
i have to say after reading it, i am totally sold on the idea.
after reading about it on google blogoscoped, i did in fact notice that there is an odd little black square at the top left corner of my gmail screen.
weird.
anyone else have it?
the ajc has really been writing up alternative transportation quite a bit recently. there’s a pretty good little article today on “marta preacher can turn a normal ride into an exciting one.
the thing i was reflecting on the other night though as i was on the southbound train going home is that the one thing i absolutely cannot stand is the sound of music coming out of someone else’s headphones. i just cannot get myself okay with this.
the truth is these days, i leave my headphones off as long as possible to soak in the sounds of the marta ride. evenutally, however, i know the situation is going to occur, where i am going to start hearing the muted beats coming out of a neighboring headset and out will come mine.
i just can’t deal.
now, my tips for the marta rookies -
1. ride in the back car in the evening - it is always the least crowded and it usually stops right by the stairs at five points.
2. always take the seat that is parallel to the wall of the train. much more leg room.
3. pay attention to the bus you get on. if it is the one that has the seats that run perpendicular to the wheel well in the back of the bus, don’t sit there.
4. be nice to the bus drivers. say hi and thank you at the end of a ride.
oh wow.
there really are no words.
h/t to sal for sending this along.
marta is perpetually underfunded. i get it. in fact whenever i see complaints about marta or people wondering why marta can’t add new features to it’s trains or buses i try to remember this. recently on the cpt discussion board there has been some complaining about why marta isn’t more bike accessible. part of the reason marta doesn’t deploy some of the features requested is, i am sure, a lack of money.
but the reader boards on the buses? c’mon. it doesn’t require much to make them work.
i know i have harped on this a lot, but this morning is a perfect example of why it is a problem. here is the scenario - there are two routings for the #140 going north from north springs. one makes a left turn at haynes bridge and north point parkway and goes into downtown alpharetta before heading to the windward park-and-ride. the other heads straight north on north point parkway and heads down old milton, looping through the brookside office park before heading north on north point parkway again to the windward park-and-ride. so get the scenario; if you are trying to travel north on the 140 past where the two routings split and you are on the wrong bus, you are screwed.
laying aside the obvious question of why marta doesn’t just call this two different routes, it is clear that a passenger needs to be able to identify which #140 they are getting on if they are traveling north of haynes bridge road. this used to not be a problem, since the haynes brudge #140 and the brookside #140 left from different bus bays. but of course the two #140s are now leaving from the same bay (this was the problem that caused me to inadvertently ride the #143 the other week,) so this differentiation no longer exists. you could also, i suppose try to guess based on the driver (and the #140 drivers are very stable) but drivers go on vacation, get sick, quit and so forth. schedule doesn’t help either since both leave relatively close to one another in the mornings. so really you are at the mercy of the reader board on the bus to make sure you get on the right one.
this morning the first #140 pulled into the bay and it had nothing on the reader board. no route number, no destination, nothing. i actually asked the driver, since i didn’t recognize him, and he told me it was haynes bridge. whew. good thing i asked and didn’t board. the next #140 that pulled up had “#140 - North Pointe Parkway via Mansell Park-and-Ride, Windward Park-and-Ride” on it. now tha description can refer to either #140. usually it will say “Independance High School” (yes the entire time i have ridden it, it has been misspelled) or “GSU” to denote which of the two routings it is. but not today.
either way, if anyone from marta is reading, please, please, please, fix the reader boards and make sure they are accurate. it doesn’t cost a dime and will go so far to making the riding experience easier.
/soapbox.
update - one more thing i wanted to add to this. today is the day the absurd law allowing firearms on marta takes affect. i cannot tell you how thrilled i am. /deadpan
anybody who has ever played in a fantasy baseball league will appreciate this satire of fantasy team owners in the latest onion.
we have a league here at the office, and after i sent this around we all just spent minutes laughing out loud.
a taste -
Mendicus has a reputation for following his players’ performance with intense scrutiny and personal investment, often to a fanatical degree. It is rumored that he monitors their progress on multiple Yahoo! Sports box score windows on his computer screen, and will erupt into obscenity-laden tirades at work after a mere groundout or caught stealing.
enjoy.
we were having an interesting discussion over dinner last night about marta. it came down to us discussing the age-old problem that lots of people are willing to ride a train who aren’t willing to ride a bus. we tossed around theories (race, class, perceptions of buses as dirty or smelly, timing) and never really arrived at a consensus. fwiw - i happen to think that is is a combination of all of that.
either way for a wave of new marta riders to ever appear it is going to require to some degree a rethinking on the part of many atlantans about what it means to ride a bus.
one of the reasons i have tried so much to post about my experiences here is that i hope in some way to maybe demystify riding the bus. i have been on buses all over this city now and it is a great experience.
someone asked me last night about the timing on the buses. yes, it sucks that the buses usually only run every half hour on a route, but one thing i have found is that the buses are a million times more dependable than the trains.
just this week at least two days there were delays on the northern line causing me to wait 12 and 13 minutes for a train. this has never happened on a bus. in fact i have never had an instance where a bus has been more than 5-6 minutes past the time it was supposed to arrive, except for the day of the broken air conditioning.
oh, also, apparently a few people at the office must be reading this space, because the other day i was asked to contribute a write-up in my marta experiences to post on a new intranet page which will be designed to promote alternative commuting at our office.
sweet.
it’s a stuff white people like compendium brought to video.
constantly hugged goats. f’ing hillarious.
h/t to joeysmooth.
earlier this week i posted about how i was banning myself from reading any election news whatsoever. i have faithfully not read any election news or looked at any polls since then.
this morning was my one day a week to actually peruse some election news. i took a look at the headlines and the major polls over at real clear politics, read through the insanely complicated statistical analysis at fivethirtyeight.com and then closed everything up for the next seven days.
how refreshing.
