The N Judah...

The 7.10am light rail driver. Oh how we have this love hate relationship. I hate you and you don't love me. My beef with you is that you never seem to want to open all the doors except at "major" stops. This would be at 19th Avenue, 9th and Judah, UCSF (which you call UC hospital), Carl and Cole, and Church and Duboce.

First of all is it that hard to just hit the switch that opens all the doors? Second, can you just announce all the stops??? You're so lazy at doing that. It would be easier to just say UCSF instead of UC hospital. Third, why is it that you raise the steps when going into the tunnel while moving?? Why can you put up the steps after you close the doors at Church and Duboce? And my last thing is why are you only announcing stops when the light rail cars aren't packed?

You are getting on my nerves and honestly I could do your job better.

Capricorn Horoscope:

The N Judah...

Today's story is that there was no N Judah today. I had to take a shuttle bus to Church and Duboce. I had time so I stopped in at Safeway. I had to find the pastry section and when I did I couldn't decide. I had wanted a cinnamon roll for a while so I bought that. I was in line paying when I heard the lady tell the cashier it's too much. She had grabbed a giant gallon of water (maybe it was a little bigger or smaller I couldn't tell.) He rung her up and told her it was $1.07. She said it was too much. She didn't know there was tax and CRV for the bottle. The cashier then said for you $1.00.

The next person was a guy. I think he worked there because the cashier called him Michael. The total was $1.35. I guess "Michael" thought he could do the same as the lady in front of him. He gave the cashier $1.15. The cashier said you shorted me even more. After that it was my turn. The cinnamon roll was $0.59. I wanted to use my credit card, but thought it would just be faster to give a dollar because there's the change machine right there.

I left Safeway and was on my way. I got out of the parking lot and turned to my left to see if there was a J Church coming. I was too lazy to walk to the underground area to get on a M Oceanview or a L Taraval. There was and I walked toward the island. As the J Church came to a stop for people to get on the doors didn't open up. Of course I was with tow other people who were stupid and didn't know you had to press the button to open the doors.

I pressed the button and then got on. I glared at both of them going, learn to press the button. As I was going through the tunnel I debated getting off at Civic Center or Powell Street to catch BART. I checked the time and decided that maybe Powell would be safer. It takes about two minutes from Civic Center to Powell. I got off the J Church and headed for BART. I got down there and there was two minutes to spare until the train would arrive.

After all this I thought, the commute home should be a piece of cake. I really wanted CAKE!!!

I thought I'm really going to try and get home before 7.00pm because I really wanted this sponge cake they sell down the street from my house. I got out of the Powell Street station and I checked the times and it said in three minutes there would be two N Judahs. I thought ok, I can get home early. Then there was a P.A. announcement. Due to police activity there is an outbound delay at Civic Center. I thought damn it! So then I get out from underground and find something to take me home in a hurry. I let a F line pass by and then I thought OK, I can get one of those and then what? I looked at the bus stop to see what buses stopped there. While standing on the F Market I had to find a 71 bus to get on because this would take me pretty close to the bakery I would pick up my sponge cake. I saw the F Market and got on not knowing where and how I was getting home.

While on the F Market the driver kept telling everyone to move back. He then made an announcement that the reason why it was crowded was because there was a bank robbery at Civic Center and that's why there were police there. Then he reminded everyone to keep an eye on their personal belonging as there are pick pockets on the coach. A this point everyone freaks out and starts checking their bags and wallets. The one guy next to me had his wallet in his back pocket and took it out and moved it into his jacket pocket inside so it would be close to his heart.

This one lady said that the driver is hilarious. I thought some people must be new on public transit if they're worried about it. I bet it does happen, but it hasn't happened to me. Then these two guys that were sitting down that I was standing beside made a comment. One of them said, girl (they're gay) you know what this coach needs to be playing some Alicia Keys. I am not kidding. Then they saw another guy I guess they know. They said, "Hey Girl!" This guy was wearing sunglasses from the 80s and they were blue and matched his shirt. He too was gay. I just thought it was funny.

I got off at Van Ness hoping to get on a 71. While I was on the F Market I kept trying to check out the back window to see if there was a 71. There wasn't, but when I got off I noticed this bus. It had a strange sign. It kept changing and then I saw what it said and went ALRIGHT! I got on and hoped for the best. As I was getting closer to the Sunset, my hopes for sponge cake died. Even when the bus passed by the other place where I would buy some cake, it didn't seem like they had any. My focus then was just to get home. I kept checking the time to see if I could make my connection. I got there about three minutes before the bus took off.

As the 6 Parnassus was turning I had to make sure the 66 was there. It was and it had Giants ads on them. I thought awesome! I was on the light rail car with Timmy yesterday. Today it's a bus with Pablo and Timmy.

Long day and crazy commute, but I got home.

Horoscope: This is not the time for silence -- even if you're uncomfortable, you need to open up and tell people how you feel. It's one of those days when your opinion could tip the balance, and that's a big responsibility.

The N Judah...

Tonight while on the way home taking the N Judah something strange happened. The N had just closed the doors and was ready to leave Van Ness station when it just suddenly stopped. It send some people flying and lucky it was only one car. I don't think anyone was hurt, but this is the second time I've been on a light rail that had this happen. The other time, one guy/girl was sleeping and flew out of the seat. The driver never said what happened, but I'm sure it was computer related.

I wonder if the next time I won't be so lucky. I have to be careful which car I get on or just take surface streets.

Horoscope:

Bus surfing...

I thought about this one day while on my commute to work. I thought of how I used to "bus surf". What is "bus surfing"? Here's how I define it and how it happened. When I was younger and was fearless I used to ride the 38 Geary line. This was if I wasn't lucky and if on the way home we found a transfer. While I was on the bus I knew I was suppose to hold on to one of the bars, but I didn't. Instead I would try and balance. Maybe it's more like skate boarding. I don't know, but either way I would try not to fly or fall while on the bus without holding on.

This soon later came in handy when I would ride other buses and the light rail. I still surf on the light rail today. You just stand like you're surfing and light rail surfing goes.

Horoscope: It's never too late (or too soon) to start paying attention to your health.

African American light rail driver...

My complaint today is this African American light rail driver. I had an incident with her last year and I'm still fuming about it. Today's issue was this: the driver had the option of opening all the doors to make it more efficient for people to get on and off.

Well she opened all the doors so people can get on. Of course I was still waiting to get on because people were still exiting from the door I was waiting at. As I'm getting on to the light rail car she hits the button to close the door. Lady! I'm not even on the train and you're closing the doors on me. Is this revenge for when I gave you a coupon for discount that had no date stamp? Or was it from the other time when I did have the correct date and you were too blind to read it?

It must be the second one because at Cole and Carl street you did the same thing. I understand you got to get to where you're going, but you have to let people on. You didn't even see the guy wearing the florescent yellow jacket selling transfers to those that were getting on. You didn't check your mirrors. And of all the days today you remembered to put the steps up while you just enter the tunnel. Bravo to you because most of the time you're putting them up as we're at Van Ness.

You should have common sense lady. I don't know how you got your job, but I think you're doing a crappy job at it. You try to announce the main stops that people get on and off at, but you fail to call it by the correct name. It's not UC Medical Center. It's USCF Medical Center. I don't think you need to announce the mall at 7.30am. No one is going to the mall at 7.30am.

Horoscope: If you aren't ready to end things, don't slam the door. Leave it open just a crack.

Commuting pet peeves...

Every morning it's the same thing, just different stupid people. I've observed that some drivers who drive the light rail cars will either open all the doors or just the one door in which people need to pay. I don't know which way is more efficient, but as someone who has used this form of public transit I get it. I've been riding the light rail system since I started middle school. That has been since 1992 or 1993.

The old street cars or light rail cars you has to enter through the front door and all the side doors were for exiting only. However, they slowly retired the older ones and are now using the current silver French made ones.

Now back to my issue with people and doors. If a door is closing and someone uses a foot or arm or anything to keep the door from closing it will make a high pitch noise. This isn't pleasant and if you're half awake in the morning even more annoying. The next issue I have is that while the people are trying to get off they don't know that they have to press the bar to open. If everyone did that and held the doors open, they wouldn't be out of service nor make that high pitch beep.

My second thing is when the driver chooses not to open all the doors to let everyone on or off at the same time people don't know how to press the button outside of the car to open the door. I've noticed that they all run to the door that's open and hope it stays open. Also when the doors don't open automatically and it's open from the inside no one seems to understand you need to hold the bar to keep the door from closing. I've had the door almost close on me because people don't understand that concept.

Now I'm assuming that everyone that rides the light rail knows how to open the door from the outside and the inside. If you're going to stand by the door at least press the bar and keep the door open so people can get on or off. If you're just going to stand there and do nothing then move away from the door. I can't stand those that just move to be close to the door and don't do anything to let people off.

So the moral of this bitching and moaning is that: use the bar on the inside of the light rail to OPEN the door. Use the button on the outside of the door to OPEN the door. I swear sometimes you wonder if the people getting on in the morning have a brain or if they left it at home. I'm sure it's not their first time riding the light rail so keep the fucking door open!

Horoscope: Take charge and make it happen. You can get more done than you think at the moment.