With The Quickness

Today was about trying to be quick and not succeeding. I tried to get out of the house quickly, but I found that there were all these little things that I wanted/needed to do before leaving.

The highway driving was slow due to sun blindness. It was worse than it was last Thursday.

The train was on time and got me there on time. My walk to the office was quiet, which is good for a Monday morning.


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Departure Time From Home: 6:38
Departure Time From Train Station 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:40
Weather as I call it: Sunny, high 50s
Shady Gas Price: $2.63
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: No

Graffiti With A Message

At the Winchester Center commuter rail stop, someone spray painted a message to all:

(I'm paraphrasing here - I tried to remember the whole thing but I forgot the exact message)

"Spirituality is the answer to all the problems that you are facing."

Now I love graffiti with messages that are not profane. That's why I am reporting on this bit of philosophy.

I am not sure about the definition of spirituality. I think it means different things to different people.

Plus, my definition may not get me a slice of pizza on a plate because I am hungry.

So, thanks for the sentiment but I think it's flawed.


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Departure Time From Home: 6:37
Departure Time From Train Station 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:40
Weather as I call it: Sunny, 50°F
Shady Gas Price: $2.63
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: No

Sunlight is Weird

Ostensibly, people can't drive in sunlight after 4 days of rain. Did they forget the sun also comes out and lights up the Earth...including the highway?

Lots of brake lights due to solar glare, I guess. I was thinking that maybe people put their sunglasses away..thinking they would never need them again - like ever.

Then today, they were screwed. SCREWED. They had to slow down to avoid going above 55 MPH in the SUN! AHHH! Who would want that?

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Departure Time From Home: 6:37
Departure Time From Train Station 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:41
Weather as I call it: Uh, Sunny. 60s
Shady Gas Price: $2.63
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 3.5
Feared for my life: After the slow down, there was a little bit of rage to deal with. So, I was a little a-scared with some of the aggressive antics/lane changing.

I Took The T

Instead of walking from North Station to work, I took the Orange Line to State Street. That brought back some memories. It was still packed but my trip was short, which was nice.

I avoided as many rain drops as I could.

I got to work pretty dry.

Here's to tomorrow and some sun.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:34
Departure Time From Train Station 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:40
Weather as I call it: Rainy
Shady Gas Price: $2.65
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: No

Here Comes The Rain

Wow. Rain for the first time this summer. I don't remember when the last time I saw people with umbrellas at the train stop.

The summer has been sunny every single day it seems. From all the delays and issues we had with the rain in March, the last 3 months have been flood-free.

A groggy Monday morning to you all.


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Departure Time From Home: 6:34
Departure Time From Train Station 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:41
Weather as I call it: Rainy
Shady Gas Price: $2.65
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 3
Feared for my life: No

Friday Mornings And Local Coffee Shops

Stop at a non-chain coffee shop for a muffin and a medium coffee. It was good but not so overwhelmingly good that I would drive out of my way to go back there.

That seems to be the issue though...do one-store locations need to be 10x better than the chains to keep people coming back?

The muffin tasted a little more authentic...not mass produced. That may be the clincher.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:20
Departure Time From Train Station 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:44
Weather as I call it: Mostly cloudy
Shady Gas Price: $2.65
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: Nope

Partly Walking To Work

Not for nothing, but I do walk from North Station to my office.

I think the walking is good for me. It wakes me up before I get into the office and it gets me some exercise.

With the little amounts of rain we have had this summer, I have been able to get a lot of walking in.


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Departure Time From Home: 6:34
Departure Time From Train Station 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:41
Weather as I call it: Sunny
Shady Gas Price: $2.65
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: No

Foggy Days

The family and I stayed at a place on the Cape called Foggy Days. We rented a house and people name their houses down there. Weird. I was reminded of it this morning with the thick fog that sat on the roadways and highways along the drive to work. It lifted by the time I got to 495, but I couldn't see much past 1,000 feet in front of me.

I got on the train and they only had 5 cars instead of the usual 7. So things were packed. I got a seat and sat with two other stressed out passengers.

At North Station, they were passing out Fiber One bars with 35% of my daily fiber. They were passing out two at a time. It's going to be a busy morning.


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Departure Time From Home: 6:34
Departure Time From Train Station 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:41
Weather as I call it: Foggy.
Shady Gas Price: $2.67
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: No.

A Real Cloudy Day

We haven't had a cloudy day in a while it seems. It did rain last night and the clouds lingered in the morning.

Since the skies were dark, there was no need for my sunglasses. Solar glare wasn't much of a problem.

I got out of the house rather late, and it meant I had to streamline my parking paying. I had to shove the dollar bills into the slot as fast as I could.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:40
Departure Time From Train Station 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:40
Weather as I call it: Cloudy, cool, 50s
Shady Gas Price: $2.67
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: No.

Clothes Strewn On Cars In West Medford

I was looking out of the window while we were stopped at West Medford station when I noticed that there were a couple of cars with clothes draped over their side view mirrors and hoods. I thought maybe it was the work of a jilted lover, but I think it was probably a prankster who found a bag of donated clothes and decided that they were better off being worn by cars than people.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:33
Departure Time From Train Station 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:41
Weather as I call it: Sunny and cool. 60°F
Shady Gas Price: $2.67
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 1.5
Feared for my life: No

Two Seaters

I used to like sitting in the two seaters on the train... Now, I don't. I am starting to think I would rather sit in the three seaters and take the chance of just having one person sitting next to me. Lately, I have been stuck in the seat with some dude who likes to sit with his legs spread. It's a bit much. Unless I can get someone else to sit next to me who is a little more petite, it's a change of seat type for me.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:39
Departure Time From Train Station 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:42
Weather as I call it: Mostly cloudy. 60s
Shady Gas Price: $2.67
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: No

Yankee Fans

There was a guy wearing a Yankees cap and a Jeter Jersey letting the whole train car know that the Red Sox were finished.

I think people wanted to yell back at him but I think they caught the vibe that he was a little crazy...not just loud and obnoxious...but a little crazy. I believe he sat somewhere in the "crazy category" that include people who walk in their place of work and start shooting their co-workers.

Maybe people just thought he was stating the obvious. There's just no need to be so loud about it.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:36
Departure Time From Train Station 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:41
Weather as I call it: Sunny
Shady Gas Price: $2.67
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 3
Feared for my life: No

Probably Would Be Hotter With The Sun Out

It was MUGGY...today.

SO thick with MUG today.

It was hot too. The thunderstorms will come later on and bring us cool air.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:32
Departure Time From Train Station 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:42
Weather as I call it: MUGGY
Shady Gas Price: $2.67
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: No

Suit Jacket

The dude that sat next to me today had to sit with his legs spread wide apart. He had his suit jacket draped on one his legs. He was taking up a lot of room on the seat. I shouldn't care so much. I just like my space.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:34
Departure Time From Train Station 7:00
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:41
Weather as I call it: Mostly cloudy, 60°F
Shady Gas Price: $2.67
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 3
Feared for my life: No.

Celtics Bag and Thermodynamics

I closed my eyes while I was on the train this morning. I opened them to find a woman sitting next to me who had a green Celtics bag and a book about Thermodynamics. She was taking notes in her spiral notebook with equations and such. Not sure if she is taking a class or going to school. Not something you see every morning.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:36
Departure Time From Train Station 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:41
Weather as I call it: Partly sunny, high 50s
Shady Gas Price: $2.67
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: Nah.