nothing new

I don't have any interesting CTA tales for the day, so instead I will reference an GREAT old CTA story from back in December 2004.

Read on for the craziness........

http://allthingsdianna.blogspot.com/2004/12/most-surreal-train-story-yet.html#comments

i've been away a couple of days

sorry, faithful readewrs... it's been hectic at work, and since that is my main blogging locale, i've been remiss for a few days.

Let me recap the commute week -

Monday - not bad, pretty busy on the train in the morning and had to do the "sit next to the person I don't want to" for the whole trip. Oh well, at least I got to sit. Going home, no issues.1

Yesterday - Commute in, I left the house 15 minutes early so I'd have time to swing by Walgreen's. I needed a couple of things, and then I had passes to see a movie last night and I wanted to get snacks before O got there (one of those first come first serves screenings - they're usually at 8, but this one was at 7, so I didn't want to DALLY after work, you know?)We sat in between Addison & Belmont for about 13 minutes, so there went my extra time. dammit.
So, to the theatre and going home from the theatre I took the bus. My main irritation with the bus (and I have MANY) is the multiple ringers.
Let me 'splain.
You're approaching your stop, and in preparation for this you pull the signal ringer. It makes the distinctive "ding" to alert EVERYONE ON THE BUS that someone else is getting off, so if you need to get off too, there's no need to pull the chain. However, for pretty much EVERY STOP, once someone pulled the chain, and it went "ding", there's was an average of 3 more FRANTIC pulls on the cord
"I didn't hear the ring - why didn't I hear the ring?"
And these are people with no headphones on, not talking on their cellphone, they are simply OBLIVIOUS to whats going on around them. If they were driving, for crying out loud, would they not hear people BEEPING at them?
retards.

Today - I spent 10 out of my 13 stops listening to REALLY LOUD U2 music. 10 minutes of which was some extended-club mix of "even Better than the Real Thing", which was then promptly followed by my ceremonial one millionth listen of "Vertigo"
Hurrah! sing it with me! "Uno, DOs, Tres, Catorce..."
Actually, don't sing it with me... I want it gone from my head.
She got off at North/Clybourn...we pull out of the station and after about 30 seconds slow to a complete stop and hear the dreaded "disabled train ahead - we'll be holding until the train clears"
happy Wednesday.

Thank God there's a new episode of LOST on tonight, or I may kill myself.

seriously?

today - a man almost sat on me.

what a way to end the commuting week.

sonofabitch.....

i am such a dumbass

today's rant is ALL directed at myself.

So, my usual mode of CTA payment is my lovely 30 day pass (just the regular one you buy at the store, none of this "chicago card " crap.....)
Anyway, it prints the expriration right on the back, and I've been going through this week under the impression that it expired some time on the the 17th.
This morning I put it in the slot and get "see attendant"
I've gotten that message before - my card is expired.
I flip it around and it says "expires 725 pm march 15"
yeah, thats LAST NIGHT.

I needed to buy a pass soon, so I had the money, no biggie.

Here's the complication. I live near one of only 3 red line stations that are not situated right over a currency exchange (dammit!!!!!)
SO, I have to walk around the corner and up the street to the Dominick's to buy a pass from the customer service. This would have been a fast transaction, were it not for the woman at the front of the line sending money via western union.

moral of the story is I was only 8 minutes late puching in at work, which isn't bad, considering.

dianna = dumbass

ho-hum CTA

today was actually a pretty boring an uneventful commute - I will, however, post a story that my friend Michael told me today about HIS commute:

"Here's a CTA story for you. This morning I get on the bus and at the next stop a woman is waiting but the driver blows on by. I say "Sir, I think that woman wanted the bus". To which the driver replies "She was walking her dog". Which makes my mouth drop open as I say to him "Sir, she's blind. That was a seeing eye dog". Numbnuts."

classic.

for the love of Pete, MOVE!!!!

Tuesday's CTA rant

This is a 2-pronged rant (get your mind out of the gutter Brownlee).

Rant, the first
folks, you take the train EVERY DAY, you get on it every day, you exit it every day.....why then is it so hard to decide where to go?
Case in point, today, as I exit the train at Grand, the woman directly in front of me exits the train and once she's on the platform, she comes to complete stop --- to the point that I almost plow right into her the back of her high-priced-but-overly-bulky North Face parka. There wasn't any reason for her to stop - she just....stopped. Retard.

Rant, the second
I hop to the side and try and side-step the bulky-coated hesitant retard. I shake my head rather than say what's on my mind (expletives only, I assure you...). I head toward the escalator, and head up the left side, which day after day is always the side you head for if you want to walk up the escalator - as I do. If you'd rather stand still, traditionally, people always move to the right. This is usually the case..... except when people forget the "move to the right" rules.
The most common thing is NOT someone who wants to stand still staying on the left, it's usually someone who'd rather walk UP the escalator somehow making to the right side, and then when they realize they aren't moving, the push over to the left so they can walk up....and of course hold up the REST of us, who k now they want to walk up and are SMART ENOUGH to position ourselves on the left side from the beginning.

until tomorrow, my lovely readers.

(*disclaimer* - the people I refer to as "retard" - I call them this because the mentally handicapped and developmentally disabled are SMARTER than these people. I would never deign to refer to developmentally disabled as retarded. They're smarter than that.)

New ideas.....

I decided a couple of days ago that I need to resurrect my Blog. The poor thing is dying a slow death. The problem is that I find LJ to be a quicker way to post info and catch up on other folks, so I tend to neglect my Blog.

Not anymore.

Not only will I be updating every day (cross fingers), but I'm going to EXCLUSIVELY use it to air my CTA commuting stories.

Every day, a new story. Some will be happy, some sad, some FRUSTRATING...
(the CTA? frustrating? shut up....)

Onward & upward -

The only thing from today's commute that stands out is an adorable moment I shared with a woman on the train. Since I get on the train so far away from downtown, I'm always able to get a seat. Once we get to Belmont, though, the train just PACKS in with people. So this morning, this woman comes on and is practically pushed into me due to the creush behind her. This makes me look up from my book, and I notice that she is about 7 months pregnant. I immediately pop up and ask "would you like to sit?"
She smiles and says "I would, if you don't mind?" -- and I say "not at all - please do.."
So she sits, and I become part of the crush. Not a normal thing for me on the WAY to work (coming home, different story), but it wasn't awful, just tight :)
We travel all the way down to Chicago Avenue, and she gets up to exit the train. On her way past me, she lays her hand on my arm, and smiles and says "thank you so much for letting me sit". To which i responded "no problem"

Well, it was nice to post a nice story to start with. I'm sure that will change.

Stay tuned dear readers!

(now, I;'m off to try and remove those awful google ads I put in ....)