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Showing posts from January 26, 2014

Marta Marta Marta

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MARTA is the mass transit train system in Atlanta. They just upgraded the ticketing system. It was totally free for about 6 weeks, no ticket kiosks, or need for tickets, just walk through the turnstiles ... crazy stupid. I have sworn off using Marta several times and I still find myself back on it... We have been ridiculed, and been made very uncomfortable and worried about our safety a number of times. But it continues to be the best option getting to and from the ATL airport. I take the train from Doraville to the Airport. The entire length of the Gold Line. The city (I guess) is trying to get MARTA a bit more orderly before the FIFA events in Atlanta this year. They have a lot of work to do. Although I saw a few more security/MARTA Police and quasi security foilks, the same crazy bullshit is still happening. It is home to people who want to stay cool or get warm during the operaing hours. It's not a place to be... its a place to travel. The unmedicated mentally ill folks se...
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I have received questions about the catastrophe in Atlanta over that last few days from all over the world. First of all, I think that the world has a lot bigger issues. There have been no deaths (that I heard about in ATL) regarding the weather and traffic. This is much better than a normal day in ATL when everything is going good! Lots of folks die on the roads here and all across the US on a so-called "good day". I was largely unaffected by the recent events. My commute was studied before I bought my house here in Duluth. It is about 4 miles (about 2 miles as the bird flies) from my work and I cross no rivers or other extreme constraints except for the railroad tracks. I left work on Tuesday at 5:00 PM and I made it home in about 10 minutes. I am a bit sensitive about getting stranded on highways and generally any sort of delays on the road. I was stranded (and subsequently lost) on the NY state Thruway as part of my commute in the 90s for about 16 hours. There were many h...
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Let it snow! We have snow in Atlanta. There was an inch on my car after work. I am cool with it although running all the defroster items in my all electric car "the fishcar" reduced my overall charge by about 10% compared to otherwise no snow conditions. It was a bit weird scraping my car without an engine running and of course, no snow brush or scrapers. I guess that is why these situations breed Yankee ingenuity. For my ancestors it meant family survival. I think that is a strong motivator to do things differently.
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We have been having a cold winter in Atlanta. Some days it has been as cold or colder than Moscow or Finland. They laugh at me when I show up at work with my parka and fur hat. Cold is cold. Dress for it. It has been so cold my lake has frozen. First time I have seen this, nothing close last year. It didn't totally freeze or anything, but it set up more like a Frozen Daiquiri or something. My truck has finally made it into the shop. I am getting the body work done, fixing the rust from up north. That has to be the single most thing I like about things down here in GA compared to NY. It's not the weather, really. I can dress for the weather and there is beauty in the cold and snow. The cars don't rust. My Brother calls it the "Tin Worms". The government isn't splashing corrosive material on my assets.
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