70's Airline Pilot Guy

Have you heard the “70’s Airline Pilot” on the Orange Line. I think he is new, or at least new to me. Every time I get him as the driver, it makes my morning. This guy rocks! “Good Morninggggggg. Welcome to the Orange Linnnnnne.” He just reminds me of some smooth airline pilot from the 70’s. I didn’t live in the 70’s. However, I am envisioning something very “Catch Me If You Can” or from the series that didn’t make it past the first season “PanAm”. He is a wise a*s too! “If you are standing on the platformmmmm look down at your feet! If you see yellowwwwww, please take a step back so I can close the doorrrrrrrrrr.” And now that he said “doorrrrrrrrrr” I am reminded of  “Let’s Make a Deal” with Monty Hall. Again, I didn’t live in the 70’s! I got hooked on this show when I got mono in the 7^th grade and the Game Show Network was my “thing” along with scrambled eggs that my mother faithfully served me because I was too sick to get out of my father’s awesome Lazy Boy recliner in the living room. Ahh, those were the days.

Anyway, I hope this guy picks me up at North Station every day! I want to hear his 70’s garb and wise a*s remarks!

Just another manic Monday

This morning, after a week or so of negative degree weather, it was finally 19 degrees out! It felt like a heat wave when I was taking the dog for our normal walk this morning. We took a little extra time today on our walk since it was our first walk in almost a week because of the freezing weather.

We got back to the house and did our normal routine; I was on time until I tried so squeeze my stilettos into my work bag. While squishing them into the bag, I had given myself a paper cut on the Town and Country magazine that was hiding in there. It stung but I didn’t think anything of it until I realize it’s gushing. I run upstairs to grab some Band-Aids and I’m out the door. I hop in my “beast” and realize I’m now running late!

I get to the train station and because I’m late, I have to park on the in bound side. This side is not my favorite to park on. I secretly think it was made for compact car parking only. I find a space and try to pull in. I am now a pro at parking my large-a*s automobile so it frustrates me when I can’t get it into this spot.  It is just not happening! I will not get it in to the spot with out side swiping a vehicle.

I back up and realize I can park along the back. I back right into the spot and open the door to make sure I’m in the lines. When I open the door, I realize that I have backed up right up against a snow bank and therefore my “beast” is about 4 feet into the street. I spot a cluster of spots open in the further end of the parking lot and I pull in and am in the lines and am all set. As I take the key out of the ignition, the train is approaching. I grab my stuff, make sure the e-brake is on and run for the train.

While I am running, I look at my parking space number and start folding my dollar bills into 8ths to get them in the slot, meanwhile my stupid paper cut is still gushing through its Band-Aid.

The train stops and I’m still running. I go to the parking box and find my spot number, I throw the money in and by sheer luck, the train is still there. I board the train, swap out my Band-Aid and find my pass. Hopefully the rest of the day goes smoothly.

Acela to NYC

It's been a while since I have posted. I had to go to NYC for a week long conference which was an incredible success!

I took the Amtrak Acela down during the day. Since the only other time I had taken the train to Penn Station was in the dark, I hadn't realized how scenic the train ride was. We went along the coast with picturesque views. I didn't even want to read my book, I just looked out the window. Finally, I came upon something familiar, the Ferry! I sat in my seat and smiled and laughed to myself. My husband and I went to visit a dear old friend in the Hampton's and left that Ferry station to do so in the middle of a terrible storm. We reluctantly drove our then, Volvo on that Ferry and prayed we didn't A. Go overboard and drowned or B. get sea sick. When we finally got to the other side of the sound, the rain had subsided and we were on our way. I got to reminisce in my head of what a wonderful weekend that was. Visiting Vineyards and sipping wine. Heading to Montauk for an afternoon of fun in the sun and bonfire beach parties at night!  

Before I knew it, I was at Penn Station. I got off the train and went up a few slights of stairs to the cab stand. This was WAY better than flying in! It's relaxing, there's no security check, you can bring full size bottles of shampoo and conditioner with you... the list goes on! But most important, you're dropped right in the heart of the city and getting a cab is a piece of cake. I highly recommend the Acela if you head down to NYC. I know I will be taking it much more on my future trips.

A Nail Biter Today!

This morning I rushed to the train station. I knew I had just enough time to park, pay and cross the tracks. I park on the outbound side so I need to cross to the inbound side. This has to be very strategic because the outbound train comes just before the inbound train and blocks the cross walk. Sometimes, if the inbound train is early, you get stuck and can’t cross and you miss your train completely.

This morning, I wasn’t the only one with this plan which made me feel better about my decision to park on the outbound side instead of the sure thing on the inbound side (but if I park on the inbound side, it takes that much longer to get home at the end of the day so I press my luck with the outbound side). We all get to the top of the hill and the chime goes off that the outbound train is coming in so we all wait. They let the people off the train and then try to move but they can’t. The train is stuck in front of us. We all look at each other like “Is this really happening?” I look at the amount of people behind me, there are about 30 people waiting and this train is blocking all of us from crossing. The chime is still going off in our ear and we now see the inbound train… AKA our train coming down the track toward the station.

“Are they for real right now?” I hear someone say behind me.

“This isn’t happening!” someone else proclaims.

“This train is seriously stuck right now.” Another says.

I roll my eyes! I should have trusted my instincts this morning and parked on the damn inbound side. What was I thinking pushing my luck?

At the very last second the outbound train finds its steam and moves on out of the way. I look down the train tracks to make sure it’s safe to cross. The chime wasn’t chiming anymore so it was safe for me. I was in the front of the pack. By the time I got to the other side, the chime went off and the people piled on over the cross walk anyways as the train came toward them. They all manage to cross safely and we all make the train! PHEW! I couldn’t have imagined the world of pissed off we would have been in had that outbound train not found it’s steam!

Velcro and Nylons Don’t Go Hand In Hand

So, Happy Friday! Here’s something I learned this morning on the T:

Velcro and nylons do not go hand in hand. Actually, if you want to get down to it, they do go hand in hand. One sticks to the other and that’s the magic of Velcro.

As we pile on the T this morning at North Station, I feel someone pushing behind me so that they can squeeze on the T. This doesn’t alarm me since this happens all the time. I suddenly feel something sticking to me leg. I look down and see this woman’s bag stuck to my leg.

“Is that Velcro?” I ask the woman in a shocked voice. Mainly because…who has Velcro on their bags these days unless you are riding the school bus to first grade?

“Oh my god! I’m sooooo sorry! Oh my god!” she says as she pulls her bag upward as it is still attached to my nylons. “I put it down low so I could squeeze in.” This, to her defense, is what she’s supposed to do. Put the bags low so that more people can squeeze on.

We are so packed in that I can’t even reach down to try and break my nylons free from the Velcro’s grip. She keeps pulling and my nylons keep going with it. I finally get my hand in there to break the nylons and Velcro apart.

“I’m soo sorry!” she says again.

“Don’t worry about it! I have a spare in my desk. No worries.” I say back.

Everyone kinda looks at me disappointed. Were they expecting a cat fight? Every girl knows to keep a spare set of nylons in her desk in case of a snag and this my friends, was a ten inch “snag”! This reminds me, I have to make a pit stop at CVS today because I need a new spare set of nylons in case they come face to face with Velcro again.  

Happy Friday everyone!