Jeremy Portzer

Tue, 13 May 2008 04:05:16 GMT

I'm going on a trip the first week of June along this route:

Should be pretty fun. It's in a "railmotor" which is a self-propelled railcar, kind of like a bus on rails . More details here (PDF)..

Turkey Sandwiches in Australia

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 04:26:18 GMT

So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving I thought I would get a turkey sandwich for lunch today. (Though, I realize that a turjkey sandwich is really in the spririt of the days after thanksgiving, not necessarily the big Turkey Day itself!) However, after going to about five different delis, I've determined there is no such thing as turkey in Australia! You can definitely have lamb sandwiches, and beef and chicken, and even various pork products, but no turkey.

I did some searching on the web and found one place that is having a Thanksgiving dinner for American expatriates here, "The American Club" - but it's a formal affair, I'm not really interested in that. I wonder where they got the turkey for that!

--Jeremy

El Salvador pictures!

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 23:01:15 GMT

On Wednesday I got back to Australia from El Salvador (I also visited Boston, New York, and North Carolina, while in North America...pretty crazy trip!). Here are the pictures if you're interested:

http://www.portzer.com/gallery/es2007

I traveled with a group of 16 volunteers mostly from Apex, NC Here is my itnerary:

Saturday, July 20 - departed early from RDU airport, connected planes in Miami, arrived in El Salvador in early afternoon
Took a bus from the San Salvador airport to Ahuachapán, the city where we are staying and working for the week
Checked in at our hotel, and met the teams from Wisconsin and Ireland that we'll be spending the week with
Went to church at New Jerusalem Methodist Church, one of the two main Methodist churchs in Ahuachapán that will be helping us with the Habitat build
Sunday - July 21 - we were able to sleep in, and then visited a geothermal location where steam vents to the surface (this is where my pictures start)
Visited a private school to relax, go swimming, play Ultimate and soccer, eat a picnic lunch
Attended church at Roca Eternal (Eternal Rock) Methodist Church, our other church partner
Monday, July 22 - kickoff ceremony in El Barro, the neighborhood of our build, in Las Victorias park. Meet the families and local volunteers, and begin working on our houses.
In the evening on Monday, watched Romero - a movie about El Salvador's archbishop martyr during the civil war
Tuesday - Friday - worked each day on the Habitat build. In the evenings, had time to get ice cream or go shopping within Ahuachapán city. Rode three-wheeled taxis around ($1.00 per ride, up to three people!)
Thursday afternoon we had a "cultural exchange" party with hors d'ouvres, singing and dancing, piñatas, and other fun
Friday night - dinner at El Gran Rancho, a restaurant on a lake
Saturday - left Ahuachapán to visit Joya de Ceren and San Andres, two pre-Columbian ruin sites
Saturday and Sunday night at Hotel Torremolinos on Lake Coatepeque, a volcanic crater. Sunday we took a boat ride, relaxed at the hotel, and had our own church service led by Pastor Owen, who was traveling with us
Monday morning - I got a taxi at 4:30 AM to the San Salvador airport. Flew to Los Angeles and had a 9-hour layover, so I went to the beaches at Santa Monica and Venice
Wednesday, August 1 - arrived home in Sydney

Trip back home...

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 07:07:13 GMT

I'll be flying to North America in a few days for a pretty crazy schedule. Here's what it looks like so far:

Friday, July 6: leave Sydney, arrive JFK airport, New York.
July 6-9: go to Poughkeepsie, NY, to visit my grandfather
Monday, July 9 - take train from NY to Boston
July 10-13 - presenting at and attending the BbWorld conference
July 13-15 - fly to NC - will be in the Triangle for the weekend
July 16-19 - work at the Blackboard office in Washington DC
July 20-29 - go to El Salvador for my annual Habitat for Humanity home-building work project
July 30-August 1 - fly back to Sydney from El Salvador (via Los Angeles)

If anyone wants to meet for lunch or a drink or something when I'm in the Triangle, let me know.

Aviation Safety reporting system

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 23:16:11 GMT

Random web site of the day: Aviation Safety Reporting System..

I was looking through the database and found this pretty funny one. The pilot's description of the lady (about 3/4 of the way through) is excellent.

(sorry for the all-caps, I guess it's an old system)

ACN: 716777

Narrative

SOMEWHERE OVER THE MIDDLE OF THE COUNTRY, THE FLIGHT ATTENDANTS WHO CAME TO THE COCKPIT TOLD US ABOUT THE 'NUT CASE' PAX THEY HAD IN THE BACK OF THE AIRPLANE. TWO OF MY FLIGHT ATTENDANTS, FLT ATTENDANT 2 AND FLT ATTENDANT 1, EACH SEPARATELY EXPRESSED THEIR CONCERNS ABOUT A PAX WHO WAS LOUD, RUDE, AND EXTREMELY ABUSIVE TO HER ELDERLY MOTHER, A WHEELCHAIR PAX. BOTH FLIGHT ATTENDANTS RELATED TO ME SEPARATELY THAT THEY FELT AFRAID OF THE WOMAN, AND OTHER PAX HAD BEEN AFRAID AS WELL. WHEN THE ELDER MOTHER NEEDED TO USE THE RESTROOM AND NEEDED ASSISTANCE, NOT ONLY DID PAX 1 REFUSE TO HELP HER, BUT SHE SHOUTED AT HER AND MADE FUN OF HER PHYSICAL DISABILITIES AND SCORNED OTHER PAX WHO OFFERED ASSISTANCE TO THE WOMAN. ONE GENTLEMAN WHO LATER SPOKE TO ME, ASSISTED BY ONE OF OUR FLIGHT ATTENDANTS, HELPED THE OLDER WOMAN TO THE RESTROOM, WHILE PAX 1 LOUDLY INSULTED HER MOTHER. I TOLD THE FLT ATTENDANTS THAT I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK TO THE PURSER ABOUT IT BEFORE MAKING ANY FIRM DETERMINATION, BUT SUGGESTED IDENTIFYING HELPER PAX AND COMING UP WITH A GAME PLAN IN CASE THE SITUATION DETERIORATED QUICKLY. I CALLED BACK ON THE INTERPHONE AND ASKED THE PURSER TO COME UP FRONT AND BRIEF ME HERSELF WHEN SHE HAD THINGS UNDER CONTROL. I ALSO SENT DISPATCH A MESSAGE ALERTING THEM THAT WE HAD POSSIBLE ELDER ABUSE BUT NO BEHAVIOR AT A SECURITY LEVEL BREACH HAD YET OCCURRED. WHEN THE PURSER CAME FORWARD SHE TOLD ME THAT SHE HAD WORKED THE ISSUE, THE PEOPLE WERE CALMED DOWN, THE MOTHER WAS SLEEPING, AND WHILE LOUD, THE MOTHER AND DAUGHTER SEEMED TO RELATE TO EACH OTHER ALL RIGHT. THE PURSER CONVEYED TO ME THAT THE SITUATION WAS UNDER CONTROL, THE MOTHER WAS SLEEPING, ONE PAX HAD BEEN RELOCATED BUT THAT THE SITUATION WAS HANDLED. SOME PAX WHO WERE OFFENDED BY THE NOISE AND SMELL OF PAX 1 HAD BEEN RELOCATED AND I WAS TOLD EVERYTHING WAS UNDER CONTROL. LATER, OTHER PAX TOLD ME THAT PAX 1 WAS LOUDLY USING PROFANITY AND SHOUTING AT HER MOTHER ENOUGH THAT OTHER PAX EXPRESSED CONCERN. AT ONE TIME, APPARENTLY, ANOTHER PAX INADVERTENTLY BUMPED THE LARGE PAX 1 AS SHE WAS WALKING DOWN THE AISLE, WITH THE RESULT THAT PAX 1 ROUGHLY PUSHED THE PAX BACK IN HER SEAT. AFTER LANDING AND PARKING AT THE GATE I GOT A CALL FROM FLIGHT ATTENDANT 1, WHO TOLD ME THAT PAX 1 HAD CHALLENGED HER DIRECTLY. WHILE WE WERE TAXIING PAX 1 GOT UP AND WANTED TO USE THE RESTROOM. WHEN FLT ATTENDANT 1 MADE AN ANNOUNCEMENT ASKING EVERYONE TO BE SEATED, PAX 1 STARTED SHOUTING AT HER 'I HAVE GOT TO PEE, I AM TELLING YOU I HAVE GOT TO PEE.' BEFORE FLT ATTENDANT 1, COULD EXPLAIN ANYTHING TO HER SHE STARTED SHOUTING AND UTTERING LOUD PROFANITIES AT HER, CALLING HER VARIOUS NAMES AND ANNOUNCING, AMONG OTHER THINGS, THAT 'YOU'RE TAKING TOO LONG TO LAND THIS #!@*&^$ AIRPLANE.' (WE LANDED ON RWY 24R AND HAD TO TAXI TO GATE XA.) FLT ATTENDANT 1 CONVEYED TO ME THAT SHE FELT DIRECTLY THREATENED BY PAX 1. I THEN ASKED THE FO TO CALL AND REQUEST SECURITY MEET THE AIRPLANE AT ONCE, AS WELL AS A PAX SUPERVISOR, WHILE I WENT BACK TO DIRECTLY ASSESS THE SITUATION. WHEN I GOT BACK TO DOOR 2L I FOUND MUCH COMMOTION. SEVERAL PEOPLE IMMEDIATELY ATTEMPTED TO GET MY ATTENTION TO TELL ME ABOUT THE LOUD AND THREATENING PAX. ONE FLIGHT ATTENDANT WAS TELLING THE GATE AGENT TO GET A SUPERVISOR TO THE FLIGHT AT ONCE. THE AGENT KNEW NOTHING ABOUT OUR REQUEST, BUT I ASSURED HER IT WAS URGENT AND REQUESTED SECURITY AS WELL. I SPOKE TO FLT ATTENDANT 1 AND GOT THE BASIC STORY. SEVERAL PAX CAME UP TO ME AND SAID THAT SHE SHOULD BE REWARDED BECAUSE OF THE ABUSE SHE HAD TAKEN FROM PAX 1. FOUR DIFFERENT PAX TOLD ME THAT THEY HAD BEEN TERRIFIED OF PAX 1'S OUTBURSTS. SEVERAL PEOPLE TOLD ME THAT SHE NEEDED TO BE ARRESTED. A FEW VOLUNTEERED THEIR NAMES, THEY WERE SO BADLY SHAKEN BY HER BEHAVIOR. WHEN PAX 1 GOT TO DOOR 2L I EXPLAINED TO HER THAT SHE NEEDED TO STAY ON THE AIRPLANE. I MANAGED ONLY A COUPLE SENTENCES, WHILE SHE MOVED HER LARGE, INTIMIDATING HULK WITHIN INCHES OF MY FACE AND STARED AT ME WITH A GAZE OF PURE HATRED AND A STRANGELY DISASSOCIATED STARE. SHE TURNED ON ME, STARTED YELLING AT ME, DIRECTLY REFUSED TO LISTEN TO MY ORDER THAT SHE REMAIN ON THE PLANE, AND REFUSED TO LISTEN TO ANYTHING I WAS ATTEMPTING TO SAY. SHE THEN LUNGED AT ME WITH SUCH FORCE AND HOSTILITY THAT, HAD I NOT QUICKLY JUMPED BACK AT THE LAST MINUTE, SHE WOULD HAVE SERIOUSLY RAMMED ME. ALL THE WHILE SHE WAS SHOUTING 'I HATE THIS AIRPLANE, I WANT TO GET OFF THIS AIRPLANE, THE PROBLEM WITH YOU IS YOU LIKE THIS AIRPLANE, WELL I HATE IT,' AND ALSO SCREAMING ABOUT 'I NEED TO PEE.' THERE WERE ALSO VARIOUS OBSCENE ADJECTIVES INTERSPERSED IN HER COMMENTS. SHE ABSOLUTELY REFUSED TO STAY AT THE AIRPLANE AND STORMED OFF. AS SOON AS SHE WAS GONE DOWN THE JETWAY, SEVERAL MORE PAX CAME UP AND TOLD ME ABOUT HER LOUD COMMENTS, THREATENING THEM, AND EVEN PUSHING ONE PAX. AN OFFICER OF THE LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT SPOKE TO ME AT LENGTH AND EXPLAINED THAT BECAUSE THERE WAS NO PHYSICAL CONTACT, NOTHING COULD BE DONE. MY UNDERSTANDING WAS THAT ASSAULTS ON CREWMEMBERS WOULD NOT BE TOLERATED AND THAT ASSAULTS WERE VERBAL ABUSE, WHILE BATTERY CONSISTED OF PHYSICAL ABUSE. HE ASSURED ME SEVERAL TIMES THAT THERE WAS NO ASSAULT BECAUSE THERE WAS NO PHYSICAL CONTACT.

Synopsis

A B757 ENRTE TO LAX ON A TRANSCONTINENTAL FLT HAS AN UNRULY AND ABUSIVE PAX ON BOARD. CAPT ASKS FOR SECURITY AFTER THE FLT BLOCKS IN BUT THEY ARE SLOW TO RESPOND, AND WHEN THEY DO APPEAR REFUSE TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST THE UNRULY PAX.

Footy!

Sun, 13 May 2007 09:48:46 GMT

On Friday night, I had the chance to go to my first sporting event in Australia, in this case "footy" - which is the all purpose Aussie word for football. My colleague Daniel, the only true Sydney native in our office, is a rabid fan of the Manly Sea Eagles, one of the National Rugby League (NRL) teams here, so he got tickets for everyone in the office. In Sydney, "footy" refers not to international association football (soccer), which Sydneysiders actually call soccer, but rather Rugby League, one of two popular rugby variants played here. There's also Australian Rules Football, which is not that popular in Sydney, oddly enough.

On Friday night the Manly Sea Eagles beat the Parramatta Eels, 16-12 (See story). It was a boring first half but we finally got to see some "tries" (scores - like touchdowns) for Manly, the home team, in the second half. We sat in the lawn seating, the cheapest seats, but I thought the crowd was surprisingly well-mannered given the warnings I've heard about Aussie footy. However, Manly is on the "North Shore" - one of the snootier, richer, parts of town- so maybe they're more reserved. There was one minor fight at the end between some well-lubricated fans, so it wasn't all boring. We enjoyed overpriced beer, meat pies, but no chips (french fries) as the concession stand was sold out.

I thought the game was a lot of fun - it's fast-paced, like soccer, without all the stoppages of American football, but full-contact like "gridiron" so you get to see some crazy tackles. I don't quite yet understand the balance of the rules, so I'm not sure I can really critique the play, but I definitely want to go back. It was nice that tickets were pretty moderately priced (A$22, or US$18), and we got to sit about 10 rows from the field, with a great view of the end zone where Manly scored in the second half. Plus I got to feel like I was really experiencing some local culture and not just being an eternal tourist!

Canberra, ACT

Sun, 13 May 2007 09:04:31 GMT

This weekend I decided to take a trip to Canberra, Australian Capital Territory - the capital of Australia. Canberra, like Washington DC, is a purpose-built capital city to avoid conflicts between existing cities when choosing a capital. But since Australia wasn't federated until the early 20th century, the capital wasn't started until 1920 and didn't really get developed until after World War II, so it has a different feel. The ACT is a landlocked area wholly surrounded by New South Wales, about 200 miles to the southwest of Sydney. It was a nice trip, through beautiful scenery in NSW's sheep grazing areas.

Train to Canberra

I took the train to Canberra on Saturday morning, leaving Sydney's Central Station at 6:58 AM. The train was the "XPLORER" type of Diesel Multiple Units, consisting of 2 connected sets, for a total of five cars. The train divides at Gouldburn, about 2/3rds of the way there, with one part continuing to Canberra and the other to Griffith, which is another 4 hours down the line. The train follows a double-track main to Gouldburn and then along a single-track branch to Canberra. The views were good out the XPLORER's large windows; the Gouldburn area was very foggy but it cleared when we got to the more arid pastureland towards the ACT. There was a beautiful canyon along the final descent to the ACT. The rest of the trip was mostly rolling hills, with some steeper foothills in the Southern Highlands area from Picton to Mittagong.

Once at Canberra at around 11:30 am, I took a bus to the city center. The only public transportation in the city is buses, and they aren't very frequent on weekends. Given that things are spaced fairly far apart - the city was designed and built in the automobile era - next time I'll definitely rent a car or at least take a bicycle. The bus stop was quite close to my hotel in the center city (there weren't many other areas to get hotels, and they were all pretty decently priced on weekends). The first thing I noticed about this city is it shuts down on weekends, or when Parliament isn't in session. It was a very sleepy place - it reminded me of downtown Raleigh on weekends (and Canberra isn't really any bigger than Raleigh).

Memorials and Museums

After dropping off my bags, I got another bus to the Australian War Memorial, which is on the edge of the area called Parliamentary Triangle, which could be equated to the National Mall in DC and its surrounds. Canberra has a number of large monuments, museums, and large government edifices, like DC, but many are somewhat more modern in design. The War Memorial is neat because it has some formal commemorative areas - including walls listing all Australian war dead starting from WWI, as well as several floors of museum galleries. The ANZAC hall is relatively new and had an awesome sound and light show depicting famous WWII battles in which Australians had a part, including the attack of Sydney Harbour by Japanese midget submarines.

After getting a meat pie at the memorial's cafe, I walked along ANZAC Parade, which is lined by major memorials on either side, much like the area of the National Mall between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. None of the monuments are quite as big, but they all fit well into the landscape. At the other end of the "parade" (boulevard) is Lake Burley Griffin, a man-made lake that to the eye looks like a wide river. This area at the end of the ANZAC parade highlighted the car focus of Canberra, though - there were no crosswalks across a major dual-carriageway, between two obvious pedestrian/tourist areas of the ANZAC Parade and the lake. I made it across safely but I don't know what you would do if you had a pram (stroller), wheelchair, etc., and couldn't run across.

I walked around the lake for a bit, past a big carillon that was built in the 1970s and definitely looks like it, and then came to the Old Parliament House, which is a wide, plain building that was supposed to be "temporary" when opened in 1927. For 20 years there wasn't much of a city, because wars and the Great Depression hampered development, and this building was the center of activity. The building was replaced in 1988 by the new Parliament House, a massive structure higher up the hill. I was impressed with the Old Parliament House because of all the museum exhibits - besides the original House and Senate chambers, many other rooms were open and turned into interesting hands-on museum exhibits. The press area, for example, had radios and TVs playing, and you could go into the prime minister's office, which was furnished just as he left it in 1988. The museum was very well done; I can see why the US wants to have a big museum at the US Capitol.

A couple of mis-adventures

After the Old Parliament House closed at 5, I decided to walk up the hill to the new building, to get a view of the city at sunset. The view from here is great, but I realized I had come quite a ways, and since there were no buses at this time on a weekend, it was going to be a long walk back to the CBD. Having been used to Sydney where 50% of the traffic is taxis, I figured I'd just flag down a cab on one of the main ring roads nearby. No such luck. Finally I made my way to a large building with a guard house to see if they would know of any cab companies. The building turned out to the be the US Embassy, and in typical US bureaucratic style, there was a large sign on the door that said, "WE DO NOT HANDLE VISA INQUIRIES HERE. GO TO [address, phone number]". No welcome signs, no visitor's gallery, just a GO AWAY type sign. Nice. Fortunately the guard (who was Australian Federal Police - no US Marines in sight) was happy to give me the number to a cab company, and a cab came eventually.

I had seen in a visitor guidebook that there was something called the Canberra Planetarium & Observatory which looked pretty interesting for a nighttime activity, and it was supposed to have astronomer-led viewings through a telescope, so I directed the cab there, hoping there would be food nearby. The night was very clear so it would be perfect for stargazing. Well, the "planetarium" was little more than a 1950s style roadside attraction. The stainless steel dome looked like it had been made out of re-used stainless steel from a couple of wrecked Airstream travel trailers. It had a large sign stating that BOOKINGS ARE ESSENTIAL (I called the number and no one answered), and also warning that there were NO DISCOUNTS to attend both the planetarium and the observatory, so don't bother asking for them. It wasn't going to open for another hour (if at all), and prices were steep, so I decided to skip it. Fortunately this was along an active bus route and I managed to get a bus back into the city in a few minutes. I ended up getting Chinese food and going to a movie (28 Weeks Later), in the small area of the CBD that seemed to have some night activity (only a few blocks radius).

Parliament House and return home

In the morning I had a good, full breakfast at the hotel and then decided to go back to the (new) Parliament House for a tour. This building was built for the Bicentennial of Australia in 1988 and finally replaced the "temporary" Old Parliament House. It is an amazing edifice - it has huge, sweeping curves, is topped with a massive flagpole (see a photo on wikipedia), and the inside is full of natural light, marble staircases, and the 2nd largest tapestry in the world. It's a symbol of Australia's wealth, really, and cost $1.1 billion to build. The actual chambers themselves are not quite as big as those in the US Capitol, since there are only 150 House members and 76 senators. (The Senate chamber is slightly the larger of the two to hold joint functions.) I enjoyed the visit and although guided tours are not my favorite, there were a number of Americans on the tour, who were studying at the University of Newcastle and had come down for visit, so that was fun to chat with them. One girl was from Raleigh - first North Carolinian I've met in Australia (except my parents when they visited, of course!).

After the tour was over I took a quick trip to the roof, under the big flagpole, and then made my way to the cab rank to call a cab back to the train station. (It would have been two bus rides and probably an hour to take a bus, versus less than 15 minutes by cab.) I was booked on the 11:55 am departure, so I didn't have time for any more touring. There was a later train at around 5pm, but I didn't really want to ride the train entirely at night, since one of the big reasons for the trip was to see the countryside. The train ride back was very nice - no fog to block the views, and I didn't fall asleep as much as on the morning ride in on Saturday. We arrived about 15 minutes late due to track work in the Sydney suburban area, and I enjoyed only having 2 blocks to walk to get home from Central Station

Other things I'd like to visit if I go back to Canberra:

Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex

Questacon - The National Science and Technology Centre

Australian National Botanic Gardens

Hiking on nearby mountains

Telstra Tower on Black Mountain

High Court of Australia (like the Parliament House, this is a modern building with striking architecture)

All in all, it was a good trip, and I wouldn't mind going back when I have more time.

Cycling in Sydney - Botany Bay

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 08:00:33 GMT

Since I got my bicycle in March, when my belongings finally arrived in Sydney from their 4-month container trip, I've been exploring the area on two wheels. You can obviously cover much more ground by bicycle than by walking! One of my favorite locations so far is the Cooks River Cycleway, which connects to Botany Bay, originally discovered by James Cook, the famous explorer. (Cook thought the New South Wales colony should be settled here, but the First Fleet's captain, Arthur Phillip, ended up choosing the next harbor to the north instead - now Sydney Harbour). Since Botany Bay's foreshore is really flat, it makes a nice place for a cycleway. Today the weather was perfect (high in the mid 70s and sunny), so I decided to check it out.

Here's the route I took.
Click on the map to see the route in detail via google maps.

Or download the KMZ file to view in Google Earth.

As you can see there were great views of the bay, as well as the airport. At the end I connected back to Allawah Station through some suburban streets. CityRail allows bicycles on the trains at any time of day, making these kinds of rides easy. It's much more fun than having to double back.

Until next weekend!

From Perth, Australia - it "just felt right"

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 04:11:42 GMT

So, in case you thought Viriginia was the only place that has wackos, look at this story from Perth, Western Australia:

Girls 'just felt right' murdering friend

Multiply.com

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 05:58:08 GMT

I'm not sure when I joined this site but I'm guessing it's gone the way of orkut - the latest fad for a while but now pretty much eclipsed? At any rate, a few weeks ago they started sending me emails ONCE A DAY telling me "What I've missed" on their site since my account had been inactive. What tools. Fortunately they offered an online cancellation, and my account is now permanently deleted. Guess I won't know what I'm missing from now on - OH WELL.

Queen Mary 2 & Queen Elizabeth 2

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:57:41 GMT

Last week, the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Elizabeth 2, two large Cunard ocean liners, both visited Sydney. It was quite the event, with thousands of people lining the waterfront to watch.

I got a number of pictures; see here:
http://www.portzer.com/gallery/qe2-qm2

Most of the daytime shots were taken from the Rose Bay "SuperCat" ferry - I was lucky enough to get on a ferry that went right past the Queen Elizabeth 2, and also had a decent view of the docked Queen Mary 2.

News articles:
http://www.sydney.com.au/queen-mary-elizabeth.htm

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/cruising-queens-the-royal-we-on-course-for-a-party/2007/01/10/1168105052421.html

Bicycling in Sydney

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 11:41:07 GMT

Surprisingly, it doesn't seem like bicycling is nearly as popular here as in the States. I did find a bike rental place in a large park called Centennial Park. I got a half-day rental on a mountain bike (they were out of hybrid-style bikes, which would be better for city riding), and rode around the Eastern Suburbs a bit. Here is a map of the ride (click to see the full resolution):

If you want to pan through the whole map with Google Maps, use this addres: "Hamilton Dr, Centennial Park, NSW 2021, Australia"

I really should update this blog more often! I'm planning on going to the New Years Eve fireworks tomorrow; Sydney has one of the world's largest fireworks shows on New Years Eve. There are actually two fireworks shows, one at 9:00 for families and then the main show at midnight. There are also speciailzed pyrotechnics set up on the Harbour Bridge. It will be awesome.

You can see many more of my pictures of Sydney here.

Singapore...

Thu, 30 Nov 2006 03:53:12 GMT

So, I arrived in Singapore last night. It took just over 24 hours of travel time.

The day began on Tuesday morning, Eastern time, in Dulles, Va. where I stayed overnight in a Hampton Inn. I returned my rental car at about 9 am at Dulles Airport, took the bus to the terminal, and was amazed to find very few lines. I was checked in and through security in about 20 minutes. My flight was United flight 803 to Singapore, a 1-stop flight with aircraft change at Narita, Japan (the main airport for Tokyo). Depature time was 12:20, and it was only just past 10, so I spent the time wandering the large midfield concourse at Dulles; they could really use some moving walkways here! I found an electronics store and bought a universal power adapter for my laptop, and a new charge/sync cable for my iPod. I got a Stephen King book and some snacks at a newstand.

My flight to Japan was on a Boeing 777 - the first time I've been on one. United now has four classes of tickets - First, Business, Economy Plus, and Economy. Even though my ticket was Economy, I was upgraded to Economy Plus for some reason automatically, which basically just means more legroom. I did end up with a middle seat in the 5-seat section, which was somewhat annoying; the flight was completely full. However, my seatmates got up enough that I didn't have to bother them too much. They served lots of food and drinks on the 13-hour flight - two full hot meals, a "noodle service" which was basically Ramen-style noodles, plus all the drinks you wanted. I set my watch to Singapore time and tried to sleep at the start of the flight, which worked out okay, and then watched movies for the second half on the seatback video screens.

Changing at Narita airport was great - it's amazing how polite and respectful the Japanese are. There was a security checkpoint to go through, and my bag needed to be re-screened as I forgot to take out a bottle of water. The lady was amazingly nice - almost apologetic for having to inconvenience me a bit - and even retrieved the bag and brought it back to where I was standing after it went through again. Quite a contrast from the TSA! (And they all spoke English too - which I'm quickly realizing is the ligua franca of Asia - makes it much easier for American visitors than I realized it would be.)

By the start of the second flight, which was 7 hours from Narita to Changi airport in Singapore, I was pretty tired but forced myself to stay awake for the meal service, which was Japanese-style teriaki chicken and rice. The Singapore-based flight attendants were amazingly nice on this flight - stopping by periodically to check on each passenger. This plane was also a 777 and had quite a few empty seats; I was in the very last Economy row, but at least I had a window seat. I was worried the last row would be loud since it's well behind the engine, but it wasn't that bad. After supper I slept for much of this flight, and later got some reading done.

Arrival in Changi airport was smooth - since the 777 jumbo jets have two doors with two jetways, it emptied out really fast even though I was in the last row. The immigration/customs was extremely fast and easy, and I only had to walk about 5 steps out the door to the taxi stand. I did have a bit of trouble explaining the destination to the cab driver, but he finally figured it out. I got to the hotel about 1am Singapore time (Thursday morning), took a shower, set up my computer and IP phone, and got to bed about 2:30. This morning I was able to get up at 7:30 AM, since I had plenty of sleep earlier on the plane, and feel pretty adjusted to the time change.

I'm going to have some work-related meetings this afternoon and tomorrow, and then have Saturday to explore Singapore a bit. My flight for Sydney leaves 8:00 PM Saturday night.

Pictures: (will be updated later): http://www.portzer.com/gallery/singapore

Australia....

Sun, 29 Oct 2006 04:59:09 GMT

Well, I had better post here before it comes a year since my last update. Doh!

I will be moving to Australia at the end of November. My employer, Blackboard is sending me there to be a technical lead for the Asia/Pacific support region. It's a two year assignment - having never been to Australia this is still a bit scary to realize I'll be gone for that long! I'll probably only come back to North America once in that period, too, due to the high cost of plane tickets ($800-$1300 ONE WAY).

Anyhow, I'm getting rid of a lot of stuff, because
1) It's expensive to move things halfway around the world and
2) Australia uses PAL and 240V systems so some of my electronics wouldn't work there anyway.

If you're interested in any of this, please let me know. I'll be in the Raleigh area Nov 9-11 and can drop anything off. Sorry for the crass commercialism!

25" Zenith color TV w/remote - nothing fancy, just a TV - maybe you need an extra, S-video/video/cable input - $50 obo

TiVo Series2, with second 120 GB hard drive, plus USB wireless network adapter - $100 obo, lots of Mythbusters recordings at no extra charge, includes manuals, all original cables & remote

Koss home theater system KS4102 - 5-disc DVD player with 5.1 speaker system - $40 obo

19" Dell monitor D1226H , $50 obo [good deal with free delivery in Raleigh or DC area!]

I am also looking to get rid of a blue sofabed couch, and my regular bed, which is a day bed type made of maple with a trundle frame underneath, plus two mattresses. Contact me for details - these will be harder to bring to NC. :-)

Philadelphia trains... (long)

Sun, 13 Nov 2005 03:36:14 GMT

I decided to spend today, a Saturday, by taking a day trip to Philadelphia to ride some trains and trolleys. Philadelphia has one of the eastern seaboard's biggest collection of transit systems (second only to New York), with trolleys, light rail ("interurban"), heavy rail (subways), commuter rail, and the Norristown High Speed Line, which defies categorization. (It's kind of a cross between light rail and heavy rail - medium maybe?) My focus was going to be on the 69th St Terminal and the three types of rail transit that serve it.

You may find it handy to consult the SEPTA map while reading this description. One version of the map is here: http://www.septa.org/maps/click_map.html

While I could have taken Amtrak from my home in New Carrollton, MD to Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, I decided to drive to the metro area to save a little money, as Amtrak is about $50 each way. However, the toll across the Susquehanna River is now $5, and the Delaware Turnpike is now $3 each way, plus $2 each way for the Fort McHenry tunnel in Baltimore, so the total toll bill was $15. Combined with gas and wear-n-tear, I probably didn't save much.

I decided to drive to Elwyn Station, the southwest end of the R3 regional rail line, near Media, Pa. I wanted to get a feel for one of the suburban regional rail lines. Although it would have been less driving and a little closer to take the R7 (Northeast Corridor) from Wilmington, De., I am already quite familiar with these tracks from my many Amtrak trips through the region, so the next closest was the R3. On weekends, R3 runs hourly; I left home about 7:15 am and realized I wouldn't likely make the 9:18 am departure. I took my time making a couple stops for soda, maps, etc, at several rest areas, and got to Elwyn a little before 10, planning for the 10:18 departure. The Elwyn station is rather unassuming; it's off a residential side street, has only a hundred or so parking spaces, and is in a pretty wooded area. There are two platforms and two tracks leading towards Philadelphia; in the other direction, the tracks merge to one and continue south as a freight spur.

The R3 arrived a couple of minutes later, reversed, and then left on time with me aboard. The rolling stock was as expected, a pair of Septa's standard "Silverliner" electric multiple units. The main problem with these from a railfan perspective is the windows are very small! The train meandered through the woods, making many station stops where a only a person or two got on, or maybe non one. (I suspect boardings are much higher on weekdays, of course). There were at least three very nice trestles with views of the valley and streams below, and fall colors throughout. Soon we merged briefly with the Northeast Corridor at a six-track-wide stretch, then split off along with the R1 and R2 lines to University Park and the upper level of 30th St. Station. I remained on board to this train's terminus, Market East station. (The R3 continues on to West Trenton on some runs but this particular one ended here.)

At Market East I traded in my ticket receipt for a day transit pass. They have a nice program where the cost of your regional rail ticket (in this case, $3.75 since Elwyn is in Zone 3) can be applied to the day pass, so I only had to pay $1.75 more for unlimited transit rides. I didn't buy a return ticket just yet as I wasn't sure whether I'd be coming back from center city or another route. This turned out to be a good idea (more later on that).

From the Market East station, which was built in the 1980s and is the newest of the three central stations, I transferred to the Market/Frankford El. I decided to take it to its northeast terminus at the Frankford Transportation Center, which was recently rebuilt (and I had never ridden this portion of the line). At the turnstile I had my day pass validated and hopped a Frankford-bound train. I noticed signs that the El was shut down at 52nd street (in the other direction), which was unfortunate as I planned to make my way to 69th St terminal, which is clearly past 52. Well, I'd worry about that later.

The Market/Frankford El (Blue Line) is a typical modernized subway, wtih quiet, one-person operation cars, automatic announcements, etc. The line emerges from the subway just east of Center City, follows the median of I-95 for about a mile, and then transfers to elevated track. The scenery here is unremarkable - station after station through large neighborhoods of rowhouses. At Frankford, there is a large bus station, with several islands with many bus berths each. Some of the berths are served by overhead trollybus wire, but I believe the trolleybusses are currently out of service. The new station is quite nice, and it even has a donut/coffee and pretzel shop inside, but be careful as there is no eating or drinking on any subway or bus allowed!

After looking around the station for a bit, I got back on the subway and rode to 13th street, where I decided to switch to a green-line trolley, or "subway-surface" car. I had toured many of the trolley routes in Philadelphia on a previous trip, but had not been on route 10 yet. I had to wait about 20 minutes for the next route 10 car, a Kawasaki trolley from the 1980s. Route 10 comes out of the tunnel a bit earlier than the other routes, and serves the northern side of West Philadelphia. As we got further out, the neighborhoods became fancier with bigger houses, more mature trees, etc. After turning on 63rd street, there were some HUGE Victorians, but some looked quite a bit in need of repair. This area probably didn't look quite like this when the streetcar lines were first built! I got off at the end of the line, at Malvern Loop.

Originally I had planned to simply take the 10 trolley back to the 30th street area and then the Market-Frankfort El out to 69th terminal, but as it was shut down due to trackwork, I decided to reconsider. There were replacement shuttle busses running, but if I was going to take a bus I might as well take one from here, Malvern Loop, which is a lot closer to 69th St. I found out from the posted maps and schedules that a number 65 would be going that way in about 15 minutes. A large articulated bus arrived on schedule, and it was only a 10-minute ride. A bonus was that the bus entrance to the 69th street was a back road that snaked around the edge of the train yards, where there were Market-Frankford El/subway cars, trolleys for the 101/102 light rail, and Norristown High Speed Line (route 100) cars, all lined up on their respective tracks.

At 69th I connected to the Norristown High Speed Line, which is officially known only as route 100. This line is unique in that the system is built like a subway/"heavy" rail with a dedicated, high-speed right of way with gentle grades and curves, double-track welded rail, outside third rail DC power, and high platforms. However, the service is single-car light rail vehicles, stops are only made on demand at each station, and the operator collects fares in a farebox just like a bus or trolley. Of course, unique is wonderful for a railfan like me, so I enjoyed every minute of riding it! One neat aspect is that because the cars can travel quite quickly, it would be a pain if the operator had to slow down for every station to see if someone was waiting. So there is a button on the platform for passengers to push that triggers a wayside signal situated just ahead of the station, alerting the operator of the need to stop. (Passengers aboard the vehicle who need a stop simply pull a stop chain, just like a bus or trolley car.)

At Norristown, there is a spectacular single-track viaduct over the Schuylkill River, followed by the terminus at the Transit Center. There are connections to a number of busses and the R6 Norristown regional rail line. There is also a bike path that appears to be a rail-trail on a former route parallel to the ex-Reading Railroad main line now used by the R6. I'll have to explore that more next time I visit the area for sure. However I needed to get back to 69th street to explore the 101 and 102 light-rail lines before dark fell, so I quickly boarded the next return trip on the Route 100.

Back at 69th St terminal, I decided to take route 101 first, since route 102 (which splits off down the line a ways) has a connection with the R3 regional rail (remember my car is at Elwyn at the south end of the R3). I planned to ride 101 to the end, then back to the junction with 102, then ride 102 to its end, and then back to the R3 junction at Clifton-Aldan. This ended up working out really well. The 101/102 lines are former interurbans - predecessor to today's light rail systems, using a combination of street-running and dedicated right-of-way using overhead electric wires. I had not realized how fun these would be to ride. Although the start of the 101/102, where the lines share the same tracks, is through un-spectacular outer city along a boulevard (and on private ROW), once we got to the split at Drexel Hill Junction, the line became very pretty. The 101 goes through a number of parks and wooded areas, becomes a single track line with some nice trestles, and then ends on street-running in Media, Pa. The track suddenly ends in the middle of the street - there was no bumper post or anything else to keep a sleepy operator from testing the dynamics of Kawasaki-built steel rail wheels on pavement! Fortunately my car's operator brought us to a smooth stop in plenty of time.

The operator got out to buy a drink at a convenience store (handy!) and then got on the vehicle's other end going back towards Philadelphia. Double-ends is one feature of the 101/102 cars that's different from the green line subway-surface trolleys; another is that the overhead electric is supplied by a pantograph instead of a trolley pole. Otherwise the cars are quite similar in appearance. I next got off at Drexel Hill Junction to switch to route 102. The transfer is actually timed very badly according to the timetable - 101 inbound was supposed to arrive 2 minutes after 102 outbound called there. However apparently the outbound 102 was a bit late, because it was held for us to cross over in front of it at the junction, and I was able to get out at the stop, run across the tracks (safely), and get on the 102. Unfortunately, by this time darkness had fallen, so I was not able see much of the rest of the route, but it seemed to be similar to route 101. The end of the line was also odd to me - it just sort of stopped at a street crossing. There was no big bus station, huge parking lot, etc., like you see at all the Washington Metro stations, just a bus shelter for the one connecting bus route.

I took route 102 back inbound to the Clifton-Aldan junction to pick up the R3 back to my car. This would save quite a bit of time over going all the way back to center-city Philadelphia. Actually, I was quite close to my car at the 101 terminus in Media, so another option would have been to take 101 back there and look for a local bus or a taxi, but I wasn't sure how difficult that would be, and by this time busses would be running less often. So the R3 would be the best bet. I had about a half-hour wait for the next outbound train at 6:38 PM; there wasn't really much to do at Clifton-Aldan except watch the cars go by. Next time I'll have to time that a little better. Anyway, the R3 showed up about 2 minutes late and brought me uneventfully back to Elwyn, where my car sat exactly where I left it. An added bonus was the conductor didn't bother to sell me a ticket (it was supposed to be a $2.50 fare for two-zone travel outside of center city), even when I reminded him at the end of the trip. So the entire transit cost for the day was just my $5.50 day pass -- pretty good deal! I hopped on I-95 and drove straight home in a little over two hours.

I made it back to New Carrollton by 9:15 pm - after a 14-hour day trip, it's good to be home. Good night!

merger...

Thu, 13 Oct 2005 02:11:15 GMT

My employer, Blackboard, announced today that we are merging with WebCT, a long-time competitor. It ought to be an interesting few months, especially after the deal is closed ...

shots fired ...

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 01:25:45 GMT

Yep, the unmistakeable sound, at 3:40 AM this morning. Let me tell you, when you hear real gunfire outside your domicile at night, there is no question that it's a car backfiring or kids with fireworks or something. I carefully looked out the window and saw nothing, and then one more shot from somewhere outside my view. Then the squealing of tires. Decided to close the window...might be worth paying the A/C bill even on cooler nights like this for a little peace ...

On a wholly related note, got notice in the mail that my lease is up at the end of November, and gave me the options on how to renew. I'm not thinking that letter had the right timing. Especially with the 10% rate hike for "operating expenses" - yeah right. The simple matter is the market is tight and they can command a lot more -- why do they insist on lying and claim it actually costs more to run the place?

I'm thinking the best plan to reduce costs would be to look for a roommate, but I'm so messy I'm not sure I'd want to subject anyone to my living habits. Hrm.

California

Sat, 17 Sep 2005 15:28:32 GMT

I'm thinking of visiting California, specifcally L.A. and Silicon Valley / Bay Area. (I've never been to CA before.) Any suggestions on cool things to do? Is there anything in Silicon Valley that's touristy, or do you just gawk at all the office buildings?

iBook stampede

Tue, 16 Aug 2005 16:49:32 GMT

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031784465530

iBooks for $50. I wonder if frijole was there. :-)

New York City!

Tue, 19 Apr 2005 03:32:33 GMT

So this weekend I took a whirlwind trip to New York City to visit my father, who was there all weekend working in Brooklyn. My original goal was to take the train up early Saturday morning in order to spend the day riding subways, but I managed to sleep in by three hours (!) and had to take a midmorning train instead.

But then... the train hit a WILD TURKEY (!!) and blew out its windshield! The result was we had to get off at Aberdeen, Maryland and squeeze onto another train, meaning I didn't get to New York until almost 3:00 PM. Oh well...

Train 164 (Apr 16), northbound regional stopped about a mile south of Aberdeen, MD on track #1, after striking a large, wild turkey, which broke through the engineer's windshield of AEM-7 #915. What was left of the turkey ended up in the cab; the engineer was able to duck and was not injured, but apparently he was covered in turkey blood. I was on this
train on my way from New Carrollton to New York-Penn Station.

After about a 20-minute wait, the train continued at restricted speed to Aberdeen, where all passengers detrained (over 300; there were 9 coaches + cafe due to some Acela refugees). The next northbound, #20 the Crescent, stopped on track 2 at Aberdeen and took on about half the passengers, but since it only had 5 long-distance coaches, there was not enough room for everyone.
The following northbound was #82, which also stopped on track 2 and picked up the rest of 164's passengers (including me). We were accomodated in the aisles and cafe car, where I managed to get "seat" for most of the
ride to NYP. (This particular cafe car had been remodeled with the curving counters and benches similar to the Acela Express design; the seats are quite small.)

Delay: #164's passengers - varied, but for me was 1:55 into NYP. Delay: #20 - unknown
Delay: #82 - 0:55 into NYP due to stop at Aberdeen, longer station stops due to crowding, and an additional delay at the west portal to the Hudson river tunnels, due to being out of slot.

After arriving in New York, I rode the subway to 50th St. in Brooklyn to the townhome where my father was working, and left my suitcases there. I then went to downtown Brooklyn to visit the New York City Transit Museum , but ironically I got off at the wrong subway stop and had to walk about 10 blocks, so I only got to spend a half-hour there. Oh well, an excuse to go back again!

After going back to meet up with Dad, we went to the hotel where he's staying, which is deeper in Brooklyn in a Hasidic (orthodox) Jewish neighborhood. That was quite interesting; it was still the sabbath so no work was being done or stores open; the residents were all wearing clothes that look like they're out of Fiddler on the Roof's costume department. Neat.

We then decided to take the subway into Manhattan to visit the Empire State Building. I had never been there in my memory, though apparently I was there once as a small child. The wait to get up to the observatory was about an hour, through several floors and rooms full of serpentines, but it could have been a lot worse. It was a beautiful clear evening, with visibility at over 25 miles from the observatory. Wow. After getting a drink in the bar at ground level, we walked up to Times Square, which is an amazing sea of humanity at 11:00 PM on a Saturday night. I also had no idea it was possible for neon linghts and wall-sized TVs to light up multiple city blocks such that you think it's daytime. If you haven't experienced Times Square at night, you definitely should go!

The next morning, we slept in, got some breakfast, and went to church at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, which is famous for its Grammy-winning gospel choir. That was quite an experience. The church is in an old stage theater that seats 3300 people - the fourth-largest theater in New York City! The service lasted for two hours and twenty minutes ... and the choir was amplified so loudly that we should have brought earplugs. The really amazing thing about the church was the diversity of the congregation -- equal parts white, African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American -- every ethnic group was represented. That is something you don't find in churches very much!

After church, we went to the Battery (via subway) to ride the Staten Island Ferry, another NYC attraction I had never been on. We were pleasantly surprised to find out the ferry was free! (Yeah, I'm sure some of you are saying, "duh!" to that.) The weather was again very nice, and we had great views of the harbor, the East River bridges, the Statue of Liberty, the downtown buildings, etc. However, upon reaching Staten Island, we were not happy to find out that the 5:30PM departure had been canceled and the next boat wasn't until 6:00 . Given the 30-minute crossing time, that meant it would be very tight for me to get uptown to Penn Station for my 6:55 PM train back to Washington.

After getting off the boat, I quickly went to the subway station for the 2/3 train -- only to find out it was closed! I then ran across to the "R" train station, where fortunately a train was just arriving. It slowly made its way uptown, and I raced down 32nd street to Penn Station, arriving at my train with just three minutes to spare. Whew!

Today it was back to work. I ended up being on the phone most of the day, which is a little annoying, not because I don't like talking on the phone (my headset is very comfortable!) but because it makes it hard to get enough other work done. But I should get caught up tomorrow.

Streetcar musuem

Mon, 04 Apr 2005 04:14:03 GMT

Today I went to the National Capital Trolley Museum ( http://www.dctrolley.org/ ) in Wheaton, MD, which is only about a 20-minute drive from here (New Carrollton, MD). It's a neat place. They had a devasting fire a couple of years back which destroyed about half their collection, but they are rebounding. They are planning a new carbarn (storage building for streetcars) and eventually a new visitor center, and they are purchasing and otherwise acquiring more streetcars.

The one-mile of track is through a pretty park setting -- reminiscent of what the ends of some original streetcar lines were like. I may join the museum and do a little volunteering -- they need help with track maintenance (stuff like digging ditches, shoveling gravel, etc) -- similar stuff to what I was doing with the American Tobacco Trail, only this time with real tracks!

After visiting the museum I decided to take the Red Line downtown. I needed to stop by work (which I did) but I also needed an excuse to ride the escalator at the Wheaton station once more -- it's the longest escalator in North America. Woo-hoo!

Back to work in the AM. If the weekend shift has done their job, hopefully no Monday-morning fires will await...

Sat, 26 Mar 2005 03:44:41 GMT

So, last weekend I took Friday off to take the train to Poughkeepsie, NY for a weekend with my
grandparents. My grandfather was celebrating his 80th birthday, and all
his children, their spouses, grandchildren, etc, showed up for a big
family shindig. It was fun, but I was glad for an early wakeup call
on Sunday there's only so much family you can take sometimes!

On Sunday, I spent the day exploring rail systems in the NYC area, and then came back to New Carrollton by Sunday night.

Rail/Transit Systems I rode on Sunday:

Amtrak Empire Corridor (POU-NYP)
NYC Subway (A,E)
JFK Airtrain (entire system)
Port Authority Trans-Hudson (all of the Jersey side)
Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (entire system)
NJ Transit (NEC)
EWR Airtrain (entire system)
Amtrak NEC (EWR-NCR)

Amtrak Empire Corridor

I caught the 7:01 Empire Service train #238 in Poughkeepsie, which had two
engines, both P32 dual-modes (sorry, forgot the nerd numbers). It had no
trouble pulling its four coaches and one cafe down the crushing Hudson
River grades. :-) Most passengers were asleep, not surprising given the
6:00 AM departure from Rensselaer, leading to a pleasant quiet ride.

NYC Subway

My first destination was the JFK AirTrain. From Pennsylvania Station in
New York, I headed straight for the subway and hopped on the next "E"
train to Queens. In retrospect, I should have chosen an LIRR train
instead, as it would have increased the number of systems in one day, and
would have been more interesting as the E train is almost entirely
underground. But I had never taken the subway outside of Manhattan
before, so the trip was interesting nonetheless, if a bit slow.

JFK AirTrain

At Jamaica, I was impressed by the HUGE AirTrain station. Since it was
still relatively early on Sunday morning (about 9:15 I think), the place
was cavernously empty. Construction is still ongoing on a moving walkway
over the LIRR tracks to connect the LIRR ticket hall / subway side with
the AirTrain end of the complex. When complete the whole place will be
really shiny and nice, but you've gotta wonder if they could have saved a
few bucks somewhere for LaGuardia!

The AirTrain is quite nice as expected, and it's pretty neat to be able to
stand in the front with a large picture window ahead, with no annoying
driver cab in the way! Following the precendent set by the Jamaica
station, the whole system seems way over-engineered; huge wide walkways
along the ROW, freight elevators (!?) at many of the stations, big
sweeping bridges with large glass elevators and multiple escaltors. But
if the intent is to impress international travelers arriving in New York,
I suppose it might do a good job.

Subway, part duex

Those international travelers will get a reality check if they choose the
Howard Beach branch of the Airtrain. After stopping at one of the JFK
terminals (8/9 I think) to grab a bite to eat, I rode to the other
AirTrain terminus to catch an "A" train back to Manhattan. The Howard
Beach station has been totally rebuilt, but after waiting for 20 minutes
(during which three AirTrains emptied), a rickety, graffitied subway train
finally pulled up. The other stations on the elevated section are quite
run-down looking, the trains smelled of urine, and the seats are
uncofortable with none forward-facing. Not totally unexpected but
definitely a letdown in comparison.

(Question for NYC Subway buffs: There is a fairly wide section of
abandoned elevated track that continues "straight" where the A train hangs
a left and joins another route; unfortunately I don't remember the exact
location. Can anyone fill me in on the details of this?)

PATH
I got off the A train at Chambers St. New York needs to take a cue from
Philadelphia and put locator maps on light poles or other easily seen
locations, especially in areas frequented by tourists. It's very
difficult for a visitor to orient oneself when emerging from the subway
(especially since I didn't have a map, and of course there are no numbered
streets and avenues this far downtown). After walking around the block I
eventually figured out the way to the World Trade Center site, where I
came to the PATH station.

For a "Temporary" station, the WTC PATH station certain has a lot of
permanent-looking steel, concrete, tracks, etc. For the money they spent
on this they could have rebuilt four or five stations on the A train
through Queens or Brooklyn... but I digress. PATH could improve on their
signage though; you can tell they are more focused on commuters and less
interested in catering to tourists or occasional riders. I took the PATH
just one stop, across the river to Exchange Place. There were no signs
pointing me to the Hudson-Bergen light rail, but fortunately it was close
by and I found it after simply wandering around the side of the office
building from which the PATH escalators emerge.

Hudson-Bergen Light Rail

I rode the light rail to the Bayonne terminus at E. 22nd St. and then
reversed back to Liberty State Park. The light rail was about what I
expected it to be like, having ridden NJT's RiverLINE system a couple of
times in the past -- the signage, station design, etc, are all similar.
The vehicles of course are a bit differet since they're electric, but have
the same feel. I did find it odd that all of the seats in each half of
the car face "backwards" (compared to the operator's cab). All of the
trains I rode today were a single articulated car in length.

At Liberty Park I went into the science museum to grab a bite to eat, and
then took the other LRT branch to West Side Avenue. Was this branch a
former freight line? It seems to dead-end in a manner improbable for a
railroad, but the light rail is following an obvious corridor so I am
confused as to what its former use was. I then reversed to Hoboken
terminal, where I caught the other, newer branch to its current terminus
at Lincoln Harbor. At this location the operator made everyone get out
(there were at least two other people who rode to the end and then turned
around, and neither appeared to be railfans). He took the train out of
site to a crossover and returned. I found the most impressive part of
this section to be the very high bridge and elevator tower at the 9th St.
station... wow.

Also of note on the HBLRT was that a group of fare inspectors (two) and
policeman (one) were active on the southern end of the line. I was
inspected by the same group twice (they appeared not to recognize me the
second time). Note: I did not attempt to photograph them or any other
NJT property, equipment, or employees.

PATH, part duex

I had originally planned on taking PATH back to midtown to Penn Station
for my return Amtrak train to DC, but realized I had time to ride the
Newark Airport Airtrain as well. At Hoboken, I consulted the timetables
and learned it would be a 30-minute wait to take NJT to Seacaucus and then
another 25-minute wait for the next train to EWR, so I decided to take
PATH to Newark instead (also new mileage for me). Apparently you aren't
supposed to do that (not a single sign in the Hoboken PATH terminal
mentions Newark), but I finally figured out which train was heading
towards Exchange Place, where I switched to a Newark train. Adding to the
confusion here is that most of the tracks here have platforms on both
sides, but the standing trains only had the doors open on one side. Huh?

NJ Transit (NEC)

I didn't realize that Newark Penn Station even had an "upper level" until
our PATH train climbed up to track H located there. There were no exit
turnstyles, so I'm guessing the train uses a different departure platform
somehow? I didn't have time to explore as an NJT local to Trenton was
arriving in 2 minutes; fortunately I had purchased my ticket earlier at
Hoboken. Five minutes later I was at the Newark "Raillink" station to
connect to the Airtrain; the conductor barely got a chance to punch my
ticket before we arrived.

Newark AirTrain

I found the Newark AirTrain to be very nice, but not as "over the top" as
JFK in terms of station design. I guess they spent all the extra money on
the monorail technology. This seems really silly -- the railcars are a
lot smaller than JFK's, the switches are amazingly complex (the whole
track segment rotates longituninally to "replace" itself with another
version kept underneath), etc. The small railcars do necessitate frequent
service which is especially convenient for the terminal-to-terminal
travelers, however. Why can't these aiport systems do like Heathrow
airport in London and simply extend the subway to the airport (this could
be done with PATH in Newark's case)? It seems like this would save a lot
on duplication of technology and would offer fewer transfers.

Anyway, by this time it was almost dinnertime, so I got some bland chicken
dish at an overpriced Chinese joint near the Delta terminal, rode the
Airtrain to the other end in some parking lots, and then back to the NEC
station. The attendant at the gate let me through with my Amtrak ticket
even though it said NY - Penn Station instead of EWR. I don't think he
really looked at it closely enough to read that, or the date, or much of
anything except to notice that it was a full ticket. Maybe I could have
used a MARC ticket which comes printed on Amtrak stock. :-)

Amtrak NEC

In the very nice platform-level waiting room at EWR, I had 45 minutes to
wait for Amtrak regional #135, departing southbound at 6:27 PM. I was
joined by a number of other passengers who had been on a Continental
flight to BWI that had somehow gotten rerouted to Newark, and they were
given Amtrak tickets to get to their final destination. (I have no idea
exactly how this happened as there weren't any weather problems at BWI
today.) Some of them had tickets on Acela Express #2257, which you may
note does not stop at EWR. I guess that Continental ticket agents don't
make very good Amtrak agents, even if their computer allows them to do
that! Fortunately, the passengers appeared to notice this problem and
were buying NJT tickets to Newark-Penn.

The Amtrak train was of course sold out, as you would expect on a Sunday
evening; there were a very large number of college students apparently
returning from Spring Break. Several people who had reservations for
later or earlier trains were summarily dispatched to the cafe car. (If I
were the conductor, I would have made these idiots get off at Newark, DE
or somewhere and hope there was another southbound that day, but
fortunately the crew had some customer service left in them.) While I was
in the final car, supposedly the quiet car, it wasn't really that quiet as
several families had to come there with no space elsewhere. However, in
actuality the loudest thing was the assistant conductor yelling "THIS IS
THE QUIET CAR. TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONES!" in a commanding voice. :-)

We passed plenty of Amfleet coaches sitting in the coach yard at
Philadelphia. (This yard was empty on Friday morning). Why does Amtrak
not run more trains on Sunday afternoon/evenings ? The crews don't like
to work Sundays? Not enough Hudson River tunnel slots due to weekend
construction? Or they just haven't bothered to think about it?

The train had 6-7 coaches and did not fit on the BWI platform. Any
thoughts on why this platform is so short when this is a relatively new
station? With a long train, it was the only location that had
platform/door restrictions except for the low platforms at Newark, DE and
Aberdeen, MD. Our train arrived in New Carrollton 19 minutes late, but
I'm not sure why as I didn't notice any unscheduled stops or extended slow
runnning. It may have simply been longer station stops due to the
crowding.

Anyway, this is enough rambling for now. It had been a while since I had
taken some trains other than the Washington Metro, so I was glad to catch
so many in one day. Next time I need to plan a week's vacation in New
York and cover the entire commuter system. :-)

This week I have briefly been discussing a possible weekend train trip to Chicago with rarousse in June. That will be a lot of fun! If anyone wants to come, let me know.

Sat, 26 Mar 2005 03:35:40 GMT

States I've been to in bold:

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C

Obviously I've got a ways to go.

DC update

Thu, 20 Jan 2005 04:45:59 GMT

So, it occurred to me that I haven't updated this in a while.

Life in DC is going well. It's a bit hectic during the week; I'm working long hours and can see why people get burned out of this job after a time. On the weekends I've been a bit bored, I really need to find some good things to do. I'm looking forward to better weather so I can get some more bike rides in; however this weekend is supposed to be 6-12 inches of snow so I'll probably have to wait a little longer!

Tomorrow is the inauguration; it's going to snarl DC traffic for the entire day, as 100 city blocks are closed off, with security screening, fences set up all over the place, etc. I thought it might be fun to watch some of the parade as it's open to the public, and it's not something you see every day, but it's right in the middle of the working day. I doubt I could managed to get to the parade and back during lunch hour!

As far as gridlock traffic, however, frijole has the worst story. Last I talked to him, he was still on Captial Blvd in Raleigh, just about hitting the I-540 exit. He's driving up here to DC to attend the inauguration parade as a protestor. He left NC State at 3:30PM, that's like 8 hours to go 10-15 miles. Not any faster than 2mph average. Would have been faster to walk. Wow. So hopefully he'll get here in time to get to the parade tomorrow! I don't know when he'll sleep though.

Anyhow, I'll try to remember to update this more frequently. (I wonder if that's the most oft-repeated promise on LJ?) I really should have put some more train trip reports on here. Since my last update I've ridden on: 2 Acela Expresses (to Boston), 2-3 MARC trains, some Baltimore light rail trains, countless WMATA Metrorail trains, and short excursions at the B&O Railroad Museum and the Baltimore Streetcar museum. I still haven't made it to the National Capital Streetcar Museum, but will perhaps go there this weekend.

Okay, enough prattering for now.

Fun Saturday

Sun, 21 Nov 2004 00:30:17 GMT

So, today I decided to start taking advantage of some of the wonderful bike trails available in the Washington area. I got up relative early for a Saturday (8:30ish), and rode up the hill to the New Carrollton Metro station, with Georgetown in mind as a destination, for the C&O Canal National Historic Park. The canal towpath is a bike/hike/jogger trail for over 180 miles, all the way from Georgetown to Cumberland, MD, along the Potomac River.

It's neat to be able to take your bicycle on the Metro, but it's a bit of a pain as you have to use the elevators, which are slow. Fortunately I didn't have to change trains, as I got off at the Foggy Bottom station, also on the Orange Line. I promptly got lost after riding away from the station, but finally managed to get my bearings and find Georgetown. I then began the 15-mile ride toward Great Falls.

The C&O Canal was built in the latter 19th century, and was somewhat obsolete from the start as the B&O built a railroad that served roughly the same route. But it was still used for several decades for freight that wasn't important enough to go by rail. The canal boats are pulled along by oxen that walk on the "towpath" which parallels the canal. Narrow locks raise the water level as the route goes upriver, and a series of dams and other structures provide water from the river to supply the canal and locks. Today some of the locks and structures on the southern part of the canal are still operational, and the entire length of the towpath is available to cyclists and walkers.

I made it to Great Falls around noon, as I stopped at the various locks and other historic sites along the way. (There are lots of neat "lockhouses" that were built to house the workers who manned the locks). Great Falls is a simply amazing place -- in terms of water volume crashing over the falls, this is probably the most impressive spot south of Niagra Falls. After stopping for a snack and some pictures of the falls, I turned around and headed back south. When I got to about mile 4 (measured from the south, from Georgetown).

Here, I decided to make a left turn on to the "Capital Crescent" trail which splits off at this location (Near Arizona Ave). This was once a railroad -- a Baltimore & Ohio spur that went to Georgetown, with the intention of bridging the Potomac there. The bridge was never built though as the traffic was instead routed over the Pennsylvania RR. But fortunately when the railroad was abandoned in the mid-1980's, the right of way was saved and became the Capital Crescent trail.

The trail has a long "uphill" section, but fortunately it's pretty easy because it was a railroad, after all. The trail winds through some very pretty Montgomery Co. backyards, and over a number of short bridges. The highlight though is two tunnels, under major throroughfares. The second tunnel goes underneath quite a few buildings in Bethesda, basically ducking under the downtown of the city. Very cool! It was about five miles from the canal/river to Bethesda.

After finishing my bike ride in Bethesda, I rode around quite a bit looking for the Metro elevator entrance. Since the Red Line is deep in tunnel here, the elevator (which goes straight down) is nowhere near the escalators, which go down at a 30-degree angle. Finally I found the elevator, tucked down a side street next to the historic Bethesda post office. I then rode the Red Line to the end at Shady Grove (since I hadn't been there in a while), and then back into DC and to the New York Avenue station, which just opened today.

I got to the station about 4:00 PM. Things were pretty quiet, but there were a few other folks checking out the new station. It's very nice and clearly was hugely expensive. Besides four escalators it has two large elevators -- ironic that WMATA is now recognizing how useful the elevators are, after how much it fought against them back in the 70's. The station has a light, airy feel to it; everything is either white or silver except for the signature hexagonal red floor tiles.

On the west side of the station, an extra bridge/elevated section of track had to be built as a bypass track around the station platform, while the station tracks were being built. This seemed like a hugely expensive way of going about things, but it apparently was unavoidable, as there was no room in the other direction due to the proximity of the Amtrak main line. This bridge will be reused, however, as part of a bike trail (which unfortunately wasn't open yet... I had brought my bike along just in case though!) The tracks were already removed and a layer of pavement put down for the bike trail. The bypass track on the east side is still there, but the switches connecting it to the station track are gone.

There are two entrances to the station, one at the south end at M Street, and another at the north end at Florida Ave. There are walkways at street/ground level both inside and outside of the faregate area. There is no entrance or connection to New York Ave, despite that being the station's primary name. The M St entrance is quite small -- only three faregates (two normal, one handicapped size), and one station agent already looking bored. The Florida Ave. entrance was more of a standard size. The entrances are right at street level, so there is no need to
ride two sets of escalators or elevators, unlike at many stations.

WMATA was offering free rides to anyone boarding at the New York Ave. station, so I saved a few cents by exiting there and picking up a free ride ticket for the rest of the way home. (The fare was 80 cents less from Bethesda to NY Ave compared to Bethesda to New Carrollton). Unfortunately, they wouldn't let me keep the ticket coupon as a souvenir;
the station agent at New Carrollton insisted on keeping it on my way out. I should have asked for two at NY Ave so I'd have an extra! :-)

This new station will turn out to be an excellent place to watch Amtrak action approaching Union Station. While I was there I saw one Acela come in, and two regional trains being pulled by diesel switchers, presumably going from the station to the yards.

I was not hassled by anyone for taking pictures, fortunately. In fact, it was neat as my photography efforts caught the attention of a rather pretty lady who was also checking out the new station, and we chatted for a while
about the project. Too bad I was too chicken to get her phone number... ;-)

After getting back to New Carrollton, I decided to go out for supper at Bojangles, as I was very hungry at this point having only eaten an apple and a granola bar for lunch. The local Bojangles, though is not like anything you'd find in North Carolina. The combos are all strange (you can't specify white meat or dark meat; you have to pick from predefined setups), the iced tea is NOT free nor is it as sweet, and breakfast items aren't available all day. Oh well, it was still decent chicken!

Okay, so if you read both of this whole entry including the cuts you've really had enough of me. Until the next update!

Jeremy