Wednesday, March 26, 2008

the L bus: worth the wait!

so the other day i was walking to work with my cello, which gets pretty tiring, not to mention all the people who stop you every two seconds to ask "oh, is that a viola?" i had just missed a clump of 42s, after which you have to wait a 1/2 hour for the next bus that is supposed to come every 6 minutes. anyway, an L1 rolls my way and I hop on, figuring it goes in my general direction. i barely pay when the thing takes off like we're warping to planet zirkon. i grabbed on to my seat and thought, holy crap does this thing really move! i checked out the bus driver to see if he was drunk or something, but no, he was very calm, conscious, totally attentive and even very well dressed (clean shaven, vest, collared shirt, groovy glasses) to boot.
then that afternoon there are a bunch of postings on the adams morgan email listserv about how the bus is always early, and so you end up missing it and having to wait. some dude even made a graph with a whole analysis. bravo friend, you are my kind of nerd.
well you know what i think? it's probably worth the wait since you get to your destination like, before you even left the previous one. think about THAT.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

mount pleasant fire makes pedestrian street

the fire in mount pleasant was terrible, and has left an awful charred building in the center of the neighborhood. however, if you block out the whirring of the generators, the police lights and the chain link fences, i have to say you're left with a pretty nice pedestrian street. there are people outside all times of the day, you still have your 7-11 sidewalk miller-arounders and a nice wide, calm area for a community to stroll and mingle in between its numerous supermarkets and shops.
i say, keep it that way.
dc needs more pedestrian streets. in france, every town has at least one non-automobile street in its commercial area and it's great for doing your shopping, seeing your neighbors, not having to worry about getting run over. just imagine what 18th street would feel like on a saturday night without the honking taxis, buses, keg buses, stretch limos and all the idiots from maryland and virginia thinking they can find a parking spot. sure, you'd still have your giant pizza slice fights, but at least there would be some space to spread out, somewhere to seek refuge from the flying hot cheese and tomato sauce.

Monday, March 17, 2008

eco-friendly taxis

there's an environmentally friendly taxi service in town.
but then there are these guys:
maybe i'll start driving for them...