Butterflies on the Metro

Today I saw a butterfly on the Metro. It got on at Union Station and off at Rhode Island, where I assume it was going to Home Depot to buy some paint that will turn out to be a mistake. As almost all paint jobs are.

Of course it isn't as romantic as when Kathleen Kelly saw a butterfly on the Subway and assumed it went to Bloomingdales to buy a hat.  I also shared my experience with hundreds of people on Facebook instead of the absolutely adorable Tom Hanks in You've Got Mail.  If anything, it reminds me to put more Jimmy Durante on my iPod.

I'll just take it as a little wink from the universe that my life is heading in the direction of a Nora Ephron movie, just not Julie & Julia. 

Capital Transit

Lately we've been hearing a lot of talk about the DC Streetcar. I love public transportation and I look forward to (someday) having another option around. GreaterGreater Washington Blog has a lot of information about the storied history of public transit in DC but I find that Wikipedia does a nice job too.

Washington, DC used Streetcars for about 100 years, from 1862-1962. They started out horse drawn then they experimented with cable cars before going to a fully electrified system. Lines were owned by various companies before the "Great Streetcar Consolidation" in 1933, effectively creating Capital Transit. Not long after that, they began to scale back because of the popularity of the automobile and a strike in 1955 the company changed ownership to become DC Transit with very explicit instructions to switch to buses and by 1962 the lines were dismantled.

By 2012, fifty years after we demolished the old system, we should start to see service on our new, modern Streetcar lines to supplement our Metro and Metro Bus system. I'm looking forward to hearing the "ding ding" as the cars arrive (I hope they "ding ding") and the ability to get around the city in a new and hopefully improved way.

Before we start fresh, I encourage you to take a look at the history of Capital Transit and enjoy some of the older pictures our city. DC is constantly changing, mostly for the better, but it's always interesting to look back at where we used to be and the funny way history has of repeating itself. Plus, in the old days, the Capital Transit passes were their own little pieces of artwork, there is an entire website devoted to them!

Links:
Capital Transit Weekly Passes
Streetcars in Washington, DC
DDOT Streetcar Plan
GreaterGreater Washington

It’s a Good Day

As a young twenty-something, when I decided to move to a city it was important to me that said city had adequate public transportation. The Chevy Cavalier that had gotten me through high school and most of college was unexpectedly sold during my Junior Year (thanks Dad) leaving me carless. As I lived in a college town where a vehicle wasn’t really necessary it wasn’t a big deal.

Flash forward five years later and I’m still happily carless. If I can’t walk, metro, bus or cab there then I don’t go there. I love my carless lifestyle and I can feel a little bit smug about my size six carbon footprint. Okay, actually, my emissions are 8.1 CO2/year but I think that as a marketing ploy they should give you a shoe size and show a cute little foot icon – but that’s just me.

Anyway, the more dependable I become on the increasingly Orwellian Metro Transit System the more dependable I become on my iPod. I’ve had an iPod since 2004 and it’s the single most important object I own. If it breaks, I immediately purchase a new one and dread my iPod-less ride down to Pentagon City.

So as such, the music that plays on my iPod as I commute to work can drastically impact my day. As an iPod purest (and lazy person) I prefer to let my iPod randomly shuffle awesome songs. On the days when I start out with David Bowie or Lady GaGa, I’m usually pretty pumped and if I had a measure for such things I would venture to say my work output is significantly higher, or more erratic. Likewise, if the day starts with Dave Matthews Band or Jason Mraz I’m a little bit more laid back – just like in this awesome skit from SNL (foot five!)

Today, a random song I had no idea was on my iPod came on and despite the cold, the annoying people and my bad hair day I managed to walk into work happy and energized. That song was It’s a Good Day by Miss Peggy Lee and I highly encourage it entering your song rotation.

What music do you listen to on your way to work?

P.S. Just in case I wasn't clear, PLEASE watch this clip from SNL so my roommate and I can no longer be the only people to ever see it.