More death by Metrobus....

After a fabulous long weekend in Chicago, I decided to catch up on a bit of television. At one point, I noticed a local news ad mentioning a Metrobus death. At first I figured it was DVRed during a program from last Thursday when two women were struck and killed. Then I realized I wasn't watching a program from Thursday night.

Just a few days after my post on the problems with Metro and the recent tendency for Metrobus manslaughter, yet ANOTHER person was struck and killed by a Metrobus. This time it was the W2 bus in Southeast. Read about it in the Post.

There was a time when all I feared about living in the District were the high crime rate and the potential for terror attacks. Glad to know I can add "getting hit by a bus" to the list.

Thanks, Metro!

Spotlight on DC: Metro opens doors...to death & despair.

I originally started this post as a whine about the latest massive Metro delays. A few paragraphs in, I went to the websites for WMATA and the Washington Post but couldn’t find anything about this morning’s Red Line fiasco. Then I found this article about two women who were struck and killed by a MetroBus last night. “The two women were on Seventh Street NW in the Penn Quarter neighborhood and had the ‘walk’ signal to cross Pennsylvania Avenue when a northbound bus turned left onto the avenue about 6:40 p.m., said Lisa Farbstein, a Metro spokeswoman.” As a DC resident who walks or uses public transportation to get everywhere, this freaks me the hell out. Everyone who lives here has seen those buses barreling down the road. There’s a supremely unsafe crosswalk at 20th and O St that I use everyday to and from work. I’m usually pretty forceful about asserting my right to have traffic yield to me and often step out (albeit cautiously) in front of cars, but I refuse to mess with the buses. More than once I’ve arrived at the crosswalk and seen a D6 hurtling down the street like it’s a fire truck headed toward a five-alarm blaze. I can only imagine how fast the fatal 54 bus from last night had been going -- and how criminally inattentive the driver must have been -- to hit TWO people with enough force to kill WHILE MAKING A LEFT TURN. It’s one thing for a bus to kill someone while on a straight away (those things are heavy), but on a turn? Something’s really wrong here. With that bus – and with Metro.

This was the third fatal Metrobus accident since June 2006. In that month, the H8 killed a woman crossing Park Road on 16th Street NW. Just last month, another woman (ladies, please be careful) was struck by a bus leaving a bus garage while crossing Wisconsin Avenue NW in Friendship Heights. According to the Post’s article, I’m not the only one totally disturbed by this. D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), a member of the Metro board, “said he will seek answers about whether the three fatal accidents since June are isolated incidents or represent a more systemic problem." I’m leaning toward the latter. How can one not think that something is seriously wrong with the way Metro is being run, as evidenced not only by these tragedies but by the shoddy service and dangerous instances of late?

The Metro trains have been plagued with all sorts of issues. An editorial from the Post mentions the minor stuff and this article covers the most recent major accident when a Green Line car derailed at Mt. Vernon injuring 20 people. This very morning, I was halfway down the nonfunctioning (shock!) escalator to the Red Line platform at Dupont when I noticed that there was hardly a place to stand. I didn’t know how long it had been since the last train, but judging from the crowd (and admittedly it was rush hour) it had to have been at least 15 minutes. A glance at the board revealed that the next train would be in 6 minutes, a train after that had no time next to it (never a good sign), and then another train would be around in 10 minutes. So I waited. Finally a train pulled up AND THE FIRST CAR WAS UNLIT AND NOT CARRYING PASSENGERS. There appeared to be some sort of equipment on it. Fine. But, really Metro? Don’t have the first car of the first train you send to a crowded platform be closed. Take an extra 5 minutes and send a completely free train. It’s just a PR thing – people don’t want to see an unlit car and be faced with closed doors after waiting that long. An announcement then came on asking people not to crowd the train because another was right behind it. I didn’t even try to board. The train pulled away leaving the platform looking no less crowded and another announcement came on: “We apologize. The next train will be in 6 minutes.” I don’t know if my fellow commuters appreciated me laughing out loud, but I couldn’t help myself. I said goodbye to a friend that I’d run into on the platform, and walked out. Of course this had to happen on a cold, slushy day. The walk down to the Blue Line at Farragut West was not fun (except for running into Josh). The Red Line is bad news. Red, underground, often on fire . . . I propose that the Red Line is the topmost level of Hell. It serves Upper Northwest (think big money) and downtown including Judiciary Square (think my professional peers). I can almost guarantee that a fair share of the riders are big time sinners. Unfortunately, I’m stuck to suffer with them.

Metro needs to get its act together pronto. Currently in the works is a proposal to extend Metro out to Dulles Airport. Anyone who’s tried getting out there would know this would be a boon of not insignificant proportions. Still, with word of a proposed above-ground rail (a terrible, terrible idea only favored because it’s cheap), I worry about how much more Metro can screw up. Pervasive delays, while a nuisance, don’t kill anyone. Cheap construction alternatives might. Unsafe bus drivers definitely do. To the Powers that Be at Metro: The system is broken. Please fix it.

Happy Valentine's Day.

(When I use a period instead of an exclamation point, I mean it ironically.) Raise your hand if you're surprised that I'm in a bit of a mood.

Didn't think so.

I suppose I can't really complain. I had an auspicious start to my day. I awoke early so that I could check my e-mail and determine whether or not I had a delayed work opening. Lucky for me, our offices weren't opening until 11am. PERFECTION. I hopped back into my snuggly bed. Right as I was waking up the second time, my phone rang with a number I didn't recognize. Normally, I screen calls like that (often it's a advertisement recording in Spanish) but, this time, I felt strangely compelled to answer. I'm so glad I did! It was John and Chris calling from Bangkok (sorry, John, you didn't fool me)! They apparently spent V-Day getting a bit hammered and decided to say hi. What a splendid way to start my day!

Then I went to work. Work was fine. Actually, I guess it was better than fine. I was pretty productive and the GC decided to buy everyone lunch! It was right before I left work that I received an e-mail from Ofoto (or whatever the hell Kodak is calling itself these days) with a coupon. The combo of chatting with the Bangkok boys and the promise of 30% off led me to attempt to create a photo book from the bar trip. So I came home, fired up Miss Kitty Mactastico and went to work. That was 3 hours ago. I was so wrapped up in my photo placement and caption that I completely lost track of time. Not only did I miss the live World Series of Pop Culture quiz at 7 AND 10, I didn't call Aly like I promised or even eat dinner.

So now I'm in my impossibly drafty apartment, eating cereal and feeling just a wee bit sorry for myself. I wish I were traveling. Or making out with someone. Or both. Bah.

I hope you enjoyed your Valentine's Day. I'm going to go watch Lost and Top Design (which, by the way, is NOWHERE near as good as Top Chef was before its terrible finale).

Old funny.

Pooja just sent me this quote from a NY State Senator on the iPod "crisis" in NY:

"This electronic gadgetry is reaching the point where it's becoming not only endemic but it's creating an atmosphere where we have a major public safety crisis at hand."

It immediately made me think of when Senator Ted Stevens called the internet a “series of tubes” approximately six months ago. He was, at the time, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Does it bother anyone else that someone in that position made the following statement?

“I just the other day got…an Internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday, I got it yesterday. Why? Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the Internet commercially.”

I know this news is now ancient history, but when Pooja’s comment led me to Senator Stevens, it brought up an old memory of a techno remix of his speech. Finding it made me smile so I thought I’d share:



And this concludes my essay on why all people over the age of 80 should be put on a island where the rich can pay to hunt them. And it should be televised. (Fine. You may think I'm wrong, but at least agree that people of a certain age should not be entrusted to regulate technology they don't understand.)

I feel like Madonna.

I bought a new laptop! S/he’ll be waiting for me in NJ when I get there on Friday. I’m very excited. In case anyone else is planning on buying a macbook, I should note that I went through Amazon instead of the Apple Store. Even if I were to follow the instructions of my unscrupulous friend (cough…Josh…cough) and take advantage of the Apple Store’s student discount, the discount price is the same as Amazon’s price with a rebate. The clincher for me was not having to pay tax at Amazon and, of course, being able to get my new baby overnighted for only $1.99 due to my Amazon Prime membership. (Genger pointed out earlier that I often mention my Amazon Prime membership. I do this for two reasons: (1) if friends need something from Amazon fast, I’m happy to order it for them; (2) it’s without a doubt the best thing I ever forgot to cancel after the initial free period.)

Now comes the fun part:

Name the laptop:
	Blacbook
	Blacmac
	Miss Kitty Mactastico
	Big Black Mac (thanks, Jaye!)
	Obsidian Thunder
	Other (write-ins accepted through the comments section)
	In lieu of a name, I have to say "I like my macbooks like I like my men" whenever I mention it.
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