Amtrak Needs Work

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Originally uploaded by how3ird.

Okay, so this was the only duct tape repair I saw on my two Amtrak trips this week, but it points up the fact that the passenger cars need to be re-designed and replaced. With gas prices soaring, and airport Security Theater way off the charts, this is the time for a major investment in passenger service. If Union Pacific had any brains they would set up a competing passenger service instead of trying to sabotage Amtrak.

My biggest gripe about Amtrak, besides the horrific never-on-time record, is the cars are not photographer-friendly. The windows are high-glare, so is the internal lighting. The lounge car, aka sightseer car, has high-glare windows and lighting and the seats are arranged in a way which wastes 30% of the potential viewing space. They also have left in place legacy space-stealers such as a kiosk area where they used to have a snack bar, and a fixture which used to have a pair of pay phones. They don't clean the windows enough, either (something which should be done at every major stop, IMHO - give some high school kids a couple of extra bucks).

She Hate Me

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Originally uploaded by how3ird.

I do believe this is susandennis's "the tree that I hate", as seen from the street.

Books Meme

Snagged from bookworm scendan and ( behind the cut because it's long )

Now that I've gone through it, this is a pretty shabby list - lots of books I've never heard of, a couple of duplicates, many niche books and not enough which I would put in my list of the 100 books everyone should read. Too many Jane Austen, not enough H.G. Wells and Jules Verne.

Three Things Meme

gakked from mastersantiago
Rules: Post 3 things you've done that you believe nobody else on your F-list has done. Indulge in remorse if someone calls you out on a listed item.

1. I have been in all of Thailand's 76 provinces

2. I received a letter of apology from the Israeli police for arresting me

3. I have been onstage with more than a dozen Nobel Prize recipients, and partied with three of them.

Bonus round - some of you *may* have done this:

4. Straddled the geographic International Dateline in Fiji (the political one puts all of Fiji in the same time zone).

5. Had sex with my high school girlfriend for the first time more than 10 years after high school graduation

6. Taught Balkan and Israeli folk dances in Bangkok

7. Worked at Microsoft in the same building as Bill Gates