PurpAnd

To show that I am not a glass half-empty kind of a guy, I have posted the following list as a rebuttal to my earlier post.

Top Reasons to be Thankful for Public Transit

1. Cost. For $45 per month, I can get anywhere I want, pretty much any time I want, on MUNI or BART within the City. That’s awesome.

2. Availability. See above. The system map is super extensive here in San Francisco. They boast a public transit stop within two blocks of 90% of all residences. Won’t find that many other places, outside of NYC.

3. Entertainment. The people you see on these buses provide great feed for blog posts.

4. Thrill. Ever been on a bus with an extremely good (read fast) bus driver. You can catch air from your seat on some of the hills.

5. Relaxation. If you are numb to all the outside stimulus, the bus is a great place to rest, relax, nap, meditate, whatever.

6. Ease. Wait at bus stop, show your card, ride to your location. Exit bus. Plus, you don’t have to worry about traffic or parking.

7. Cost. Ya, it’s on here twice. $45/month… or $500 for parking, gas, insurance, and maintenance. More if you have a car payment.

The other day, I was on the bus on my way to work. Within two chairs of me, I saw the following - a lady (term used loosely) working on a crossword puzzle from a newspaper while constantly putting her fingers in her mouth. And I’m talking whole finger, glistening with spit, kind of in her mouth. I also was next to a woman who was on her phone talking about a breakup she just had, saying things you probably shouldn’t say in front of a bus full of people. (I have a good feeling I know why she got dumped.) I should also mention this woman wasn’t aware of others’ personal physical space that she was infringing on.

So, anyway, my experience leads me to this list, the Top Reasons Not to Like Public Transit:

1. Smell, ‘nuf said.

2. Reliability. Here in SF it’s pretty reliable, but I’m sure you could find stories of people being left out in the cold.

3. Germs - from all sources.

4. Safety. Some drivers just don’t care as much as others.

5. Comfort. I have no ass muscle so sitting on a plastic chair for a long time hurts.

6. Comfort again. Ever sit next to someone who was a little bigger than the chair was made for? And this is a lot of people. I think the manufacturers used their 15 year old daughter as a model.

7. Finally, temperature/air conditioning. Many of the buses in SF are not air conditioned. If they were, the smell problem would be limited and comfort would improve as well.

The apartment search is over. I picked up the keys today for a move-in day (one of several) on Saturday.

It all happened so fast. We were watching the ads, we saw one that we liked (finally) and then went to the open house. The landlord had applications there so I filled one out on the spot. An hour later, I received a message saying that the apartment was ours.

So, the stress of finding a place is gone, but the stress of moving lots and lots of crap is mounting. I’m still sad to be moving cuz I really like the place we are in now, but you know… life just isn’t fair.

If you live in the SF area and are interested in helping move and/or clean, extra bodies are always appreciated. We are in our current apartment until the end of the month so we’ve got a nice lazy 10… 11 days to move. Talk to me on Sept. 30th to find out how procrastinatorially (see George W. Bush Abbridged Dictionary of All Words Elongaminated) things were handled.

I can’t wait to post pictures of the crazy cat running around in her new home.