Blog / Random thoughts and musings.

Cutting it close

Nothing like sitting in a meeting at work (in Philly)… looking at my watch (well, at my blackberry in this case — I haven’t worn a watch in years) and seeing it’s 5:53… and looking at my e-mail confirmation for my Amtrak Acela train leaving the station at 6:07.

Quick goodbyes, elevator 10 floors down, find a Taxi, hit every red light in Philly, get to 30th Street Station, find a Kiosk, insert credit card, navigate menus to print internet-purchased ticket, get a boarding pass, find the right stairway, jump on train, doors close. Whew!

Of course it’s still not my favorite thing to lose an entire day (leave the house at 6:40am to get to Union Station in time for the 8am train, then get back to Union Station at 7:45pm to arrive home by around 8:30, but the train trip itself is actually pretty nice (about 97 minutes each way), but it is nice that HQ is reachable for day-trips.

Once the train is built-out to Reston (hahahahahahahah!)… I can’t even complete that sentence. When I moved here almost 13 years ago they were talking about building the train out to Reston. But even if they did, it would be so much more convenient: Drive to the Reston station, take the light rail to West Falls Church, switch trains and get on the metro, take that to Metro Center, change to a different train to Union Station, then get on Amtrack. Cake!