“You retard!”
3 minute read
March 12, 2004, 2:14 AM
Yes, when I came back up to the Service Desk after my lunch break, before I could even say hello to anyone, I’m greeted with a familiar voice saying, “You retard!”
It was Sis.
And returning a printer cartridge that I bought two weeks ago. Seems I bought the wrong one. I just followed the list that Dad gave me. So it’s not my fault.
Still, it was amusing to see Sis and her friends (Matt and Ben, both of whom I also like) at the Service Desk as I came back. And amusing is what my coworker asked of Sis: “Is he as hyper at home as he is at work?” She answered, “Worse!” All in all, I was amused. Plus I got to find out about their trip to New York, which I couldn’t partake in due to work.
Plus this was the first time Sis got to see me in my vest, since the last time she was at our store while I was working, I was on lunch and carrying it in my hand as I was ringing up my food on the self-checkout.
Still, amusing.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, I went to DC and met up with Oren H. from SubTalk, where we went hunting for the rehabilitated Breda trains on the Yellow Line. We found those rehabbed Bredas, all right. Sitting safely in the Alexandria Yard, out of service (we rode during the afternoon before the evening rush hour). Disappointing, but upon our arrival at Huntington, Oren did get to see the out-of-service (we just had some hideous luck, eh?) self-cleaning restroom at Huntington. We did, however, do a big lap around the Metro. We took Yellow Line from Gallery Place to Huntington, then doubled back to King Street and took Blue to Franconia-Springfield. From there, we went back up the line on Blue (so far, we have experienced nothing but original-style Bredas, by the way), and stopped at Arlington Cemetery.
Yes, Metro was a bit confused about where trains were on Wednesday. For this particular incident, the display was first flashing information that a Blue Line train to Addison Road was “arriving”, meaning it’s pulling into the station. No train. Later, the display just showed ######## because it seemingly had no idea.
It did that a lot on Wednesday, showing “arriving” with no train in sight. Arlington Cemetery, though, was the only one to give me gobbledygook, though.
After Arlington Cemetery, though, we headed over to Metro Center, where we switched to a Red Line train headed for Shady Grove. We went to Friendship Heights station, which straddles the District line. It literally straddles it. The platform is in DC. However, half of this underground pumpkin-shell-ceiling room between the fare control area further down and the street is right on the line, and two of the entrances are in DC, and two in Maryland. There, Oren and I parted company, and I did some more railfanning and other photography.
All in all, I visited quite a number of Metro stations. I went to (in order of first visit) Vienna, Ballston, Rosslyn, Pentagon, L’Enfant Plaza, Stadium-Armory, New Carrollton, Gallery Place-Chinatown, Huntington, Franconia-Springfield, Arlington Cemetery, Metro Center, Friendship Heights, Grosvenor-Strathmore, Farragut North, and Farragut West.
Plus I did a lot of photos for my upcoming Transit Center Web site, as well as looked at some possible future photography sites.
I also saw what I think might have been an eight-car train in revenue service at Ballston. I’m going to post the movie of it on Subtalk, to just get a second opinion on what I saw, since you can’t see the far end of the train too well.
And lastly, an amusing moment after work… I bought this four-pack of Seagram’s Peach Fuzzy Navel, and took it up to the registers. The particular cashier was really surprised to see me buying alcohol. Guess she thought I didn’t drink (admittedly, though, I rarely drink, but I do partake from time to time). She carded me, which is understandable, since some people think I’m my sister’s age, and other people think I’m 30 (I’m 22).
Web site: The section of world.nycsubway.org about the Metro
Song: At the moment? Nothing.
Quote: "Seems that Verizon's wireless coverage on Metro isn't exactly perfect..." (my comment after Oren and I were disconnected while I was in a tunnel near Stadium-Armory)