Switching Trains

It's been confirmed.  Our train is disabled and passengers have been asked to unboard and catch the 7 am train from Baltimore to Union Station.  Unfortunately delays and overcrowding are predicted for this train as well.  I just hope I arrive in DC in plenty of time to catch my train home as the train problems continue to mount.  MARC has just announced that it's cancelling the 7:20 am train because of the train broken down near Union Station and the 6:45 am train is expected to be at least an hour behind schedule.

Adrift

It's raining cats and dogs and now our morning train has lost all its power.  "We're going to try to drift into Baltimore where a technician may be able to solve the problem," the conductor announced.  And so begins a soggy Thursday morning.  Apparently this is not the only problem MARC is suffering this morning.  The 401 train is currently broken down just outside of Union Station and another train is going to have to push it in.  I think it's going to be long day!

Good Morning Sunshine

One of the nice things about getting up so early (yes, there are some niceties) is that I can enjoy the sun rise.  As I sit in a relatively comfortable train seat headed for the city I watch the sky become pink, orange and red and see the reflection of the sun shine brilliantly off the buildings as we get closer to the city.  I am especially enjoying it today since I hear rain is headed our way and for the next two days I don't expect to see a sun rise.  I guess then I will just enjoy the gray.

Feels Like Monday

I know that it's Tuesday, but it sure seems like Monday.  Perhaps I am having this feeling because I was off yesterday so I feel like I'm just starting my week, which, in fact, I am.  Still, I'd like this feeling a whole lot better if say today felt like Saturday or even Sunday.  Why does that never happen?

Late Train

I've been tired this week.  I can't really put my finger on what's wrong.  I've actually been getting more sleep and have taken the later train a couple mornings this week.  The riders on the later train, which leaves at 5:48 am, are way more awake than the ones an hour earlier so there isn't as much pressure to try to catch a few ZZZZs on the ride to the city.  I like that.  There's also a whole new cast of characters to get used to.  There's the Giant, for instance, who must be nearly seven foot tall.  He's so tall, in fact, that his shoulders nearly touch the ceiling when he stoops down to walk through the aisle.  There's no Orange Hat Lady though and no Voice to wish me a good day.  So I miss them.  Still, I like the extra hour of sleep I get in my own bed, but that doesn't explain why this week I'm so tired.  It could be just the time of year.  It could be that the extra stress in the office is catching up with me.  I certainly am glad tomorrow is Friday.  Let's hope I have more energy next week so I can blog more.

Foreshadowing

It's almost dark as I ride the train home this evening.  It's not late.  Only just after 6:30.  But with the overcast weather it seems much later.  It also makes me begin to dread what will happen when the time changes next month.  It will be dark in the morning when I go to work (it already is) and dark when I arrive home.  When that happens, I'll have to make a special effort to see the sun sometime during my workday.  And if I don't, at least maybe the darkness will help me in my quest to perfect sleeping on the train.

That's Entertainment

People do all sorts of things to keep themselves entertained during their daily long commutes to and from the office.  I opt for more traditional entertainment pursuits like practicing sleeping on the morning ride and reading real books and magazines on the evening ride.  Occasionally I work on my computer but that's about it in terms of my entertainment.  Tonight, though, I noticed several much more exotic train-riding pursuits.  The woman sitting next to me, for instance, was knitting.  And not just ordinary, two-needle knitting.  She had five (I counted) fine-gauged needles going at once.  The woman across the aisle from her, on the other hand, was practicing a piece of music on an electronic keyboard about the size of two piano octaves.  We couldn't hear what she was playing because she had her headphones plugged in, which silenced the performance.  I would like to have heard it though.  Anyway, what are the odds that two such interesting people would grace our car this evening?  When they departed the train, the fun of watching them vanished and the rest of us ordinary riders just picked up our boring books and magazines and began flipping through the pages.

Facing Backward

First, let me say that I usually arrive at the station in plenty of time to catch the evening train home and, as a result, I have my choice of seats.  I always pick a seat that faces forward and is on the right side because the sun beats down on the left side seats making them particularly uncomfortable given how hot this summer has been.  Today, however, I was running late.  So I just had to grab whatever seat was available.  I ended up facing backward, which meant I could only see where I'd been but not where I was going.  I also got a first hand view of the happy hour going on in the car behind mine.  For a Tuesday, I thought the people seemed to be having entirely too much fun.  I thought about joining them but I had to finish a report for the office. So I ended up working.  I guess I'll save my happy hour for Friday afternoon when I can face forward toward the weekend!

One Car Short

The 5:20 train operated one car short this evening which meant we were crammed in like sardines.  Fortunately at the first stop a large number of riders departed the train giving the rest of the riders more breathing room.  Also fortunately, it's Friday and most people don't really care that it's standing room only, they just want to get home to enjoy the weekend.  Enjoy yours.

Small Steps

I decided to wear a step counter (pedometer) the last couple of days in order to see how much walking I'm doing daily.  Since starting this long commute, I have had minimal time to exercise so decided to do little extras throughout the day to keep me in shape and then concentrate on longer workouts over the weekend.  According to health and fitness experts, people should take at least 10,000 steps a day to improve their health, fitness and weight. 

So with this advice in mind I strapped on my counter.  After two days of monitoring the steps I take walking the stairs, escalators and to and from the train stations, though, I am sad to report that I'm not meeting the 10,000-step goal.  As I sit on the train this evening, I am at 6,600 steps and don't plan on doing much more walking before I hit the sack.  Frankly, I'm just too tired.  Yesterday, the results were about the same. 

So I must revise my plan and see if I can squeeze in a mid-day walk to up my step count and perhaps pace around the train stations as I wait for my morning and evening rides.  There is one woman I see every morning walking in circles on the train platform.  I never really noticed whether she too wears a step counter and is just trying to meet her 10,000 step goal.  Perhaps I'll join her.

Sleeping In

You've got to love the weekends.  It's the time I catch up on my sleep.  Even if I sleep in until 6 am, that's still two hours longer than normal and I still get an early start to the day.  Last night I spoke with a fellow 4:48 am rider.  Every morning he is perky and talkative, wishing everyone a good day.  But he admitted to me on our ride home that he is in a constant state of exhaustion.  And I thought it was just me.  In fact, I thought I would get used to these long hours but he has been doing this long commute for several years now and said it really doesn't get any better.  You just get used to it, he said.  There was one glimmer of hope in his comments though.  He told me it took him nearly a year before he was able to sleep on the train.  Now, he says, he does it with ease.  I think he does it because he's just exhausted.  So I guess I haven't reached that point yet.  In the meantime, though, I will continue to practice and hope I keep constant exhaustion at bay.

Heat Havoc

Major delays tonight for those of us on the Penn Line and Amtrak.  A broken down train blocked two tracks causing the 4:24, 5:15, 5:20, etc. trains to depart late.  Right now we're about 30 minutes behind schedule and the air conditioning doesn't seem to be working.  So I sit here silently sweating as I type this.  The one saving grace is that it's not yet the holiday weekend.  Let's hope something similar to this doesn't happen Friday.  I think MARC would have a riot on its hands.  MARC is already trying to accommodate riders for Friday's mass exodus out of the city.  It has announced that it is running an earlier train on the Camden Line and adding more cars to the other lines in an effort to get people to their weekend destinations sooner. But if the tracks are blocked, all the efforts will be in vain.  Keep your fingers crossed.