Midwinter Poetry Slam

There's something about winter that really intensifies my love/hate relationship with transit. My patience is short, but my ride is pre-heated. I never have to scrape a windshield or move for plows, but my toes have some frostbite damage.

In any case, I'm a Mac grad living in Minnesota in January. And that can only mean one thing - I'm doing a J-term project. Bus haikus.

back door! back door, please!

pushing doesn't help, lady

touch here to open

a bird in the hand
better than 2 on NexTrip
should have made that bus

seven years riding
fare card works inside mittens?
just occurred to me

I should always wait
I can outwalk the 16
where is my 50?

I just ran five blocks

don't shake your head at me, sir

open the damn door

sitting a bit close

are you reading my facebook

over my shoulder?

why do the people

from suburban park and rides

like the queue so much?

number 63

is impossibly quiet

that is just not right

I'm making sure that
you're looking at me looking
at your badge number

It's almost too easy once you get started. Post your own! I will carve the best ones into the back of the seat in front of me. (Uh, just kidding, Metro Transit!)

Video Roundup

If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how much a time lapse video is worth. $957 million dollars, perhaps? Here are two of my favorites to recap the 2011 season.

Post from the Future

I hope the new year finds you well. In my office, last week was so quiet that it prompted some speculation about best pranks to pull on our out-of-town coworkers. Needless to say, this list came up.

In the spirit of Jim's "fax from the future" and all the new year's season predictions, I imagined what Future Me might say to 2012 Me about this whole light rail thing.

Post from the Future: circa New Year's Day 2015.

To: Transiteer
From: Future Transiteer
Subject: LRT is awesome

Took the #50 train today and it is so much better than the stupid #50 bus. For one thing, the stops don't move every ten minutes. Remember construction? That sucked. Put on a brave face, friend.

Always seeing people on the train who used to call it a boondoggle and a blight rail. I joke with them that I might push them out the shiny automatic doors and onto the tracks for being so hypocritical, but of course they know I am kidding. Or am I?

Also, at 8 a.m. tomorrow, someone poisons the coffee. Do not drink the coffee. More instructions will follow.