Mostly Empty

A little rain didn't spoil the commute. The traffic did back up on the highway but nothing we couldn't get around. Sat in a different car on the train and it was mostly empty. Makes me wonder if it is always this way. I got out onto the platform quickly. The rain was light but the puddles were well formed. Taxis like to splash walkers. Be careful. Have a dry weekend.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:35
Departure Time From Train Station: 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:41
Weather as I call it: Some rain
Shady Gas Price: $3.75
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 3
Feared for my life: Nope

Just 12 Minutes

Traffic on the highways was better today than yesterday. The train was rolling on time without any problem. It appeared that they had a full crew of conductors for the first time in a while. I sat on the right side of the train for a change. I usually sit on the left. Not sure why. Walk was great. I hit all the green lights and made it to the office in about 12 minutes.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:33
Departure Time From Train Station: 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:40
Weather as I call it: Mostly cloudy again
Shady Gas Price: $3.75
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: Nah

The Agony Of The T

Foiled by mechanical problems again. The normal train was cancelled. The train I did take came up the other side of the tracks. It was ok, because I was running late and I thought I was going to miss the normal train. The traffic pile up on the highways was pretty awful. I boarded the train at 7:05 but we didn't start rolling until 7:10. Meh - the agony.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:34
Departure Time From Train Station: 7:10
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:53
Weather as I call it: Mostly cloudy
Shady Gas Price: $3.75
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 5
Feared for my life: Nope

Ate The Whole Thing

A woman sat next to me on the train. She has sat next to me before. This morning she took a long time to get settled into the seat. Then she started to eat an apple. When she got down to the core, I was wondering what she was going to do with it. She answered my wondering by eating the whole thing. She didn't pause to think about if she really wanted to eat the seeds or not. She just ate it. Mmmm. Good.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:32
Departure Time From Train Station: 7:00
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:42
Weather as I call it: Sunny, cool again, I wore my jacket
Shady Gas Price: $3.79
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: Nope

Screaming Horn

On the walk to work today, there was a guy screaming at someone or something. I couldn't tell what he was screaming about since I had my earbuds in. Then, there was a cabbie who blasted his horn at somebody crossing the street. He held it down so long, there was a Doppler effect...the horn was blasting much longer than he was near us.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:33
Departure Time From Train Station: 7:00
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:42
Weather as I call it: Sunny, cool, I forgot my jacket
Shady Gas Price: $3.79
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: No

On Time

Fall Friday - wearing my jacket. Man, it felt good to be warm this morning. Train was on time and my walk was quick. The old abandoned truck that I see on the side of the tracks...it has moved. I wonder if it will be removed?

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Departure Time From Home: 6:33
Departure Time From Train Station: 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:40
Weather as I call it: Cloudy, cool, 40s
Shady Gas Price: $3.79
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: Nope

Are You As Healthy As You Say You Are

I had a nurse come to the house this morning to examine me for a life insurance policy application. Basically they want to prove that I am healthy as I say I am. Vitals that she recorded this morning looked good. We'll have to see if they find anything else from the tests. I took the 8:33 train but it was late. I didn't record what I time I got in. I was trying to get to work as soon as I could. Cold day. I think I may need to start wearing a jacket soon.

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Departure Time From Home: 8:07
Departure Time From Train Station: 8:40
Arrival Time at North Station: N/A
Weather as I call it: Sunny, cool, low 40s
Shady Gas Price: $3.79
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: Nah

Pumped Up Tires

I got some more air in my tires. That made me feel safe. There's an old couple that rides the train on Tuesday mornings. They walk slow. There will be rain tomorrow. After the weather we've had over the past few days, I don't mind. Train ride was good. Walk was good. I downloaded a pedometer app on my phone. It says I walked 1,715 steps to work today. Is that accurate? I guess.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:35
Departure Time From Train Station: 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:40
Weather as I call it: Partly sunny, cool
Shady Gas Price: $3.85
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: No

7 Years

Not that it matters to anybody but me, and I don't know if it matters that much to me...but I have been blogging about my commute for seven years now. I wrote the first post on September 16th, 2005. A good number of things have changed since then but I am still working and more importantly, I am driving to work in some fashion. If I ever get a work from home job, I guess I will have to shutter the blog but until then...let's just keep it going. I had a good drive to the train station. I noticed that one of my tires is pretty close to being flat. I gotta fix that when I have a chance. The train was a little late. It wasn't as bad as last week. Walking to work from the train station was pretty easy. I was able to cross streets without having to stop.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:32
Departure Time From Train Station: 7:02
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:43
Weather as I call it: Sunny, cool, 50s
Shady Gas Price: $3.85
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: Nope

Problems Of The Mechanical Kind

Well the train was late today by 7 minutes. They claimed they had some kind of mechanical problems and had to take a shorter train out of Lowell. I think it only had 5 cars instead of 6. There were plenty of people standing, but everyone was in good spirits. It was Friday, thank goodness.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:32
Departure Time From Train Station: 7:07
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:47
Weather as I call it: Sunny, nice,
Shady Gas Price: $3.65 - way down!
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: Nope

I Am Really Sorry About That

On the train platform today at North Station, I was walking past a woman and her friend. As I was just getting by them, I lifted my bag at the same time the woman was lifting her arm. My bag and her arm met. I said, "Sorry." She said, "Ow!" I could feel her burning a hole in the back of my head with her eyes. I think the friend was pretty appalled too. It was an accident...and one with input on both sides. It wasn't as if she hadn't moved or something. I kept walking - I have seen them before and they are slow, almost roadblocks, walking and gabbing. I really was sorry. I didn't mean to hurt her, but I didn't deserve to take the whole blame.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:33
Departure Time From Train Station: 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:40
Weather as I call it: Sunny, warmer, high 50s
Shady Gas Price: $3.79
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 3
Feared for my life: No

Broken Glass

Some dude dropped a Snapple bottle on the platform in front of me right as we were exiting the train. Broken glass went everywhere. There was a large crash and I let out an audible gasp. I high stepped over the mess. The bottle was empty so it was only glass and no liquid to clean up. People looked back to see the damage. I think I was happy to get out of that situation without harm. Hey, let's do this all again tomorrow....but without the broken glass.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:31
Departure Time From Train Station: 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:40
Weather as I call it: Sunny, cool, high 40s
Shady Gas Price: $3.79
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 3
Feared for my life: Nope

Folding Dollars

Crisp morning to you. September comes along and then all the hot mornings go away. It was a different feeling coming out to the car. There wasn't any frost on the windows or anything but it was certainly colder and much less humid. I left earlier to make sure I didn't run into school traffic. I did see one bus but it helped me get off the 495 exit ramp. It was picking up a kid and had stopped traffic...but allowed me to roll right into the street without yielding much. Thanks bus. As I walked from my car to the payment slot machine, I saw a woman working on folding 4 dollars lengthwise so they could fit into the payment bin. I am glad everyone else is taking up origami. I have been doing it for years now. Then I realized I forgot to make my lunch today. Oh well, Mei Mei Street Kitchen it is.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:30
Departure Time From Train Station: 7:00
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:41
Weather as I call it: Some clouds but the sun was poised to burn them off
Shady Gas Price: $3.79
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: Nope

I Didn't Get Much Sleep Last Night

Yeah, I don't know why but my mind was racing around. I should have tried to relax and get back to sleep mode but nah. I kept thinking about things and I was happy, but I am feeling tired now. Traffic, train, and walk were good. I got some new shoes so I was breaking them in. Have a good weekend, peeps. It's gonna feel like a short one.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:33
Departure Time From Train Station: 7:00
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:41
Weather as I call it: Partly sunny, 60s
Shady Gas Price: $3.73
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 3 - tired
Feared for my life: No

With No Rain

The traffic was much better this morning. I did leave a little earlier but it was unnecessary. The train ride was good. No delays and no A/C. It wasn't necessary today. The walk was good too. I think I didn't have to stop at any traffic light.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:28
Departure Time From Train Station: 7:00
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:41
Weather as I call it: Partly sunny. 50s
Shady Gas Price: $3.71
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: Nope

Protected From The Rain

I had my umbrella with me...no big deal. The real deal was the traffic. Today is the first day back to school for a lot of people. The roads were clogged with cars and drivers who just don't understand how to drive in the rain. I got by the big merge issue at the Route 3/495 interchange. I know how to cut in front of slower moving trucks. I was a little late to the station parking lot but not late enough to miss the train. Note to self: Leave a little earlier tomorrow. You never know what newbies you will encounter tomorrow.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:36
Departure Time From Train Station: 6:59
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:40
Weather as I call it: Rain, sometimes hard
Shady Gas Price: $3.71
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 2
Feared for my life: Nope

Bring an Umbrella Tomorrow

So I leave the house and I don't bring an umbrella because there is a line of showers on the old radar that has passed us by. I don't think it will make a return. Because of some small spending on the weekend, I didn't have money for parking this morning. I left early, got money, got coffee to break a 20 because parking costs 4 bucks a day, and got to the station in plenty of time. The rain came back. I stayed under the roof at the platform but from the time the train came and I boarded, I got soaked. The A/C was blasting in the train. I started to get chilled to the bone. Once we got to Boston, there was no more rain. No big deal but I had to use the bathroom at North Station because of all the coffee I drank. I will bring an umbrella tomorrow.

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Departure Time From Home: 6:11
Departure Time From Train Station: 7:00
Arrival Time at North Station: 7:41
Weather as I call it: Rain off and on
Shady Gas Price: $3.71
Level of commute annoyance (scale of 1 to 10): 5
Feared for my life: Nope