Category Archive: the commute

Many shades

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Wed. July 28, 2010

I was on the streetcar earlier today looking out the window. I was busy people-watching, imagining the reasons behind the emotions etched on each person’s face. The general din of the people on board was just white noise; I was able to just tune in to my own thoughts. There was a moment halfway through my trip though that I was dragged kicking and screaming from my thoughts. A twenty-something guy with a backpack and big headphones came on, and from a distance I could already hear the sound of distorted guitars coming from them. I protested to myself and was ready to sigh out loud in frustration, but then I noticed that I kind of recognized the tune. I focused my energy to see if I could figure out what I was listening to. It took a while, but I figured out that he was listening to The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely rather loudly. In particular, he was listening to Many Shades of Black at the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWT0E-AWUVA

I swear, this is one of those songs that I desperately want to do in karaoke. In a way it’s dramatic and overdone, but it’s an easy tune to sing along to. Oh, and have you listened to Adele’s cover of the song?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znzL8wlyESA

Well, shit. Even surrounded by a crowd of strangers, I was just about ready to burst into song and sing along with the bastard twenty-something’s loud music player. I actually started mouthing the words quietly, but stopped myself after one line. I didn’t want the woman next to me thinking she was sitting next to some crazy guy.

Although…

I started day dreaming about what would happen if I actually did break out into song. I imagined that the people in front of me would be startled. After a bar or two, I imagined people behind me starting to join in at the same time. It would have been one of those impromptu musical moments you might spot on YouTube. Except…something like that would never happen.

(Are you crazy?)

The song ended, and the streetcar ride ended soon after that. I think my urge for attention is starting to manifest. Perhaps that experience of singing the anthem in front of an audience was just the tip of the iceberg. Aaaaaaaah! What the hell?! This is strange! Where’s the introverted Jason? He needs to make himself known again!

Tags: karaoke, streetcar, YouTube

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A tale of four cabs

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Fri. May 7, 2010

Wow. So I’m safely back in my place, sprawled out on my own bed with my laptop, feeling relieved to have made it back. Yes, it was cool to get away for a while, but man…I really had a need to be around some familiar stuff. I do plan on writing more about the trip in the days to come, but for now I want to share a bit about my taxi experiences. I’ve taken four cabs, to and from each airport. Nothing revolutionary there, right? I don’t think I would have written about it except that on this fourth ride I was struck by how each ride was plainly unique; each was a different experience.

To Pearson

Prior to leaving, our receptionist was great enough to give me two taxi chits to get two and from PIA. I used my first one on this trip. The cab came promptly and shuttled me over pretty efficiently. The driver was polite and talkative. I say it was easy to like the guy. He was also very knowledgeable about the area. He knew about construction going on and extrapolated that thought to know that trucks would be taking my road to avoid the construction. On my road, the way to the highway going westbound is a single left turn lane and neither of us wanted to get stuck behind a long line of trucks. So, he decided to tackle the construction zone head on, which was entirely the correct decision because everyone was avoiding the area entirely. This guy was good at what he was doing.

When we arrived at Terminal 1, I gave him my taxi chit and he proceeded to fill things out. He totalled things up for me which wasn’t expected. He did a good job, so I was going to add a bit of a tip, but he left it as is. What a guy! So, seriously, this guy represents how I want a city cab to be: knowledgeable, polite, affable, and not greedy. Well done, sir.

From O’Hare

So, coming from Chicago I was expecting someone from the client to pick me up from the airport after she promised to do so. However, due to a bit of craziness she was suddenly unable to do so. She ended up suggesting I take a cab, so I did. When I got in one and told the driver where I wanted to go he told me that the cost would be 1.5x the normal rate. I shrugged and just told him to go for it. Overall the guy was friendly, but perhaps ever so slightly off. When he got on the interstate, he didn’t seem so sure . At one point he had to change routes and hesitated as he got on an offramp. He eventually stopped and realized that he got off the wrong exit. He decided that instead of coming back around it would be prudent for him to drive backwards back onto the interstate. Holy freakin’ Jesus!!! When he got back on, I basically told him: “As long as you get me there safely, that’s all I care about.” He laughed and agreed. From that point forward, we was really flooring it. I figure he averaging 80 mph for the rest of the way.

Every time he crossed a toll he had to go digging into pockets for change. For a guy that drives in an around Chicagoland I was surprised that he didn’t have more change ready, or perhaps a transponder. I guess his focus is more within the city proper. Well, when we got to the hotel, he took the rate, added the tolls, multiplied by 1.5 and then added a few extra bucks more for kicks. He did get me there fast, and I wasn’t in any mood to argue, so I thought screw it. What’s a few more dollars, I guess? That was that.

To O’Hare

When I was at the hotel I noticed that the hotel provided a shuttling service to the airport for about $25. Holy, if I only knew about that service before I would have saved $42. Damn. Well, the day before I left I booked a ride on a shuttle. After work today, I picked up my bags and waiting in the front lobby of the hotel. I was expecting a bus to pick me up, however, right on schedule a uniformed driver came to the front driving a Lincoln Town Car. Whaaaaaaaat?! Well he got out and opened the trunk. Usually, I’m not used to anyone doing things for me so I proceeded to insist that I could put my carry-on in the trunk. It wasn’t until after that I realized that it was part of the guy’s job and that I should have let him do it. The driver was friendly and knowledgeable about the history of the town I was in. He was also on top of construction going on around the area. Well done. The car itself was ridiculously roomy. So much leg room! I never would have imagined that I’d end up riding in a Town Car. Crazy, yo. I think I found myself ensuring that I spoke articulately without fucking my vowels or dropping consonants. I normally do that, but for other cabbies I’ve informalized things just for the sake of connection.

When we arrived I proceeded to allow him to get my bag out. At this rate, that’s probably the first and last time I’ll have a chauffeur and ride in such a vehicle. Heh.

From Pearson

I knew that taxis from Pearson are regulated by the GTAA and only approved taxis can pick up from the airport. Some business guy on the plane was ranting about that and said that sometimes he got undercover taxi drivers. He said he’d make eye contact with a cab and then run before either of them could get fined. Crazy stuff. Anyway, after getting through customs I dragged my bag over to the taxi area. I had full intentions of getting one of those limo rides because…why not? Anyway, before I could get outside and queue up someone asked me if I needed a taxi. I said I did. He asked me where I was going. I told him and he quoted a price that matched the tariff price for the airport taxis going to me area. I figured that this guy had an illicit taxi hiding somewhere, but I wasn’t sure where. Well, I agreed to go along with him and he walked hurriedly past the taxi stands, and up the escalators. He eventually walked out to the parking garage. That’s when I asked to see his taxi licence. Yup–he had a Toronto taxi licence. The fact that he was going to the parking lot made me uneasy. He eventually came up to a minivan, which was obviously my ride. I was too tired to care, but getting in I thought “This is how those stories start. I’m going to die.” When he was in the minivan, he pulled out the taxi permit for himself. Whatever. I just decided to let him take me.

Well, the ride was harrowing. The conditions were entirely rainy, and this guy had a habit of straddling lanes on the highway. It was scary, but I just covered my mouth and tried to look relaxed. Through the rain, he would often answer his Blackberry while driving, which is illegal in Ontario these days. I wished he wouldn’t do it because he plainly seemed like a driver prone to getting distracted. My only comfort was knowing that we were in a minivan. If we got into an accident things would have been in our favour. On the highway he got off a stop early and I asked why. He said the route was better. We ended up hitting heavy construction. When we finally made it to my place, I stamped out the idea of giving him my credit card. A man who gets passengers through shady means couldn’t be trusted all that much, can he? I didn’t have enough Canadian money on me so I ended up giving him American cash. I figured that things are relatively close to parity such that it can’t be that bad. I just wanted to get out.

Tags: taxi, travel

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Heavy head; heavy heart

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Wed. July 22, 2009

Yeah…I’m safe, but that doesn’t mean I’m unaffected. I left at the end of the day feeling quite gross. As I walked down the stairs I knew that I just wasn’t in any mood to go run today. People say that running really helps to alleviate stress. It’s true. I actually perpetuated that among my students in the LTR. Thing is, in my sad state I wasn’t in a position to be helpful to anyone. I pretty much made the decision to miss the class, but on the streetcar I was vacillating. Part of me knew that getting out there might actually help. Sure, I’d be such that I wouldn’t want to talk to anyone, but still.

When I got to the subway, it just so happened that the train was out of power for some reason. The driver was outside on the phone talking to the control centre. I took that as a sign that it just wasn’t meant to be. So, I decided to walk over to Yonge and Bloor. I mean, I figured it would be a great way to kill time and hopefully burn off some of the cloud that was just hanging over my head. On the way though, I decided to change my plans. Instead of walking past the rich stores around Bay & Bloor, I thought it would be a great idea to head down to College and take the 506 streetcar to check out the scenery. Unlike the last time I took the 506, I wanted to make sure I got a window seat to get a good view of all the neighbourhoods. I walked down St. George through the University of Toronto. Seeing so many young people kind of made me feel old. I mean, if I think about it, I’m sure that a good number of those people are around ten years younger than me. There they are, all laughing it up and enjoying life as they walk down the road. In contrast, there I am kind of miserable after seeing far too much change happen at work.

I made it to the route and the streetcar arrived about 5 to 10 minutes later. Let me tell you, the ride was really long. Toronto is a really wide city, isn’t it? If I wasn’t so intent on trying to enjoy the route, I would probably be more annoyed at having made such a decision. I was fascinated by the varying levels of cleanliness throughout the areas. I mean, with the city workers’ strike going on, I’ve really only experienced the levels of filth that have accumulated around my workplace. By contrast, so much of the route was kept clean. I was impressed. It shows the amount of pride the local business have in keeping the city clean.

I made it back to my car eventually. After a quick ride home, I did a quick assessment of how I was feeling. Well, sure, I spent a lot of time out there trying to unwind and destress, but ultimately my head was still heavy. My chemicals were such that I continued to feel crappy. Such is life, I guess. These events can’t be washed away so quickly with a bit of a walk. I’m going to see if sleep will help to make things better. I hope so, otherwise tomorrow might actually be a bit hard to bear.

Tags: frustration, streetcar, Toronto, university, walking

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From the roof to my crotch

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the commute

Fri. June 12, 2009

Honestly, what the hell was that?

This morning I was just resting peacefully on the train waiting for my stop to arrive. When I pulled in, I grabbed my bag off my lap in preparation to get back on my feet. In my half awake stupor, I was surprised to see this stream of water appear in front of my eyes. At first I thought I was dreaming, but no, it was very real. So real, in fact, that it landed directly into my crotch. No, not even off to the side or anything: it was a freaking bullseye. I looked up, and found that the stream was coming from the ceiling of the car. THE HELL. I suppose at least it wasn’t from some guy pissing on me, because that would be much much worse. Still.

Anyway, the doors were open, so I didn’t have time to examine the crime scene further. I stuffed my ear buds in my ears and got up. I looked around to see if someone saw me. Two guys off to the side were just in shock. I wanted to say something to acknowledge them but I had to get off. I stepped off the car and examined the damage. My khakis were visibly wet looking like I’d obviously had an accident. A saving grace really was that there wasn’t any scent of urine. I didn’t want to draw any more attention to myself than necessary so I held my ghetto messenger bag in front of me. I couldn’t help but think though that it looked like I was trying to hide something. Well yeah, I was, but it could have looked like I was hiding some sort of aroused state, except…NO.

I made it on the streetcar without much fuss and ended up having a pleasant but long ride to the office. Thing is, a few stops before my stop a friend called. So, as I was moving around I had to juggle holding my bag strategically all while attempting to have a meaningful conversation. I think I was successful, but the whole ridiculousness of the situation had me laughing. When I got to my office I just turned on my desk fan full blast at my pants. There were moments where I wanted to check my levels of dryness but I figure that pawing at my crotch could be deemed inappropriate, so I behaved.

So, all right, I just have a few questions about the incident. Why did the water come down at that moment and not at any other stop? Why wasn’t my seat wet from any supposed previous leaks? I’d assume that it would have happened there before. If we’re inside a tunnel for most of the distance, where would the water come from?

This is all crazy!

Tags: subway, WTF?

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The ebb and flow of life

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the commute

Fri. April 17, 2009

For this particular code launch, I was asked to come in early every morning just so that I could have a good crack at the quality assurance bug queue. I have no problem with that at all–in fact, I kind of enjoy it because what it does is put me in a focused state of mind allowing me to knock out and dispatch the digital souls of a good number of issues. In order to make it in for 8 a.m. I have to leave home at 6:30. Considering that on a normal day I leave at 8:30 or so, that’s a really big difference. By the time I get to the office, usually there are only a handful of people that are there and are settled in. Of course, arriving early means I get to leave relatively early as well. Leaving at 4 p.m. over the past day or two has been an adjustment.

That kind of brings me to what I want to talk about. On the commute, day in and day out you get used to seeing a certain type of crowd. Now I’m not necessarily talking about seeing the same people, but more like seeing certain groups. All of a sudden, when you change your commuting patten you end up seeing totally different demographics or experiencing different travel conditions. It’s almost like a different world.

Let’s see. If I travel to work by bus, I usually end up getting on a bus that’s packed with uniformed high school student yakking away and/or being vulgar. If I take the bus one hour early or one hour later, I end up seeing a lot of people heading to work. On the streetcar, in the morning I’ll usually catch a lot of people in their young 20s heading to the University of Toronto with backpacks stuffed with notes and books. If I vary my timing a little bit I might end up with a higher population of hipsters likely to get off at Queen West. On the other hand I might end up with a heck of a lot of Chinese seniors off to do shopping. Returning back from work, most of the time I’ll be part of the rush of people leaving work and looking weary. Today, I got on before the rush and ended up with a lot of prissy people in the late teens. In the car, on my usual days I’ll have clear sailing all the way up north. Just two hours earlier, the same roads seemed packed without everyone moving at a snail’s pace.

I’m not surprised or anything. I’m just commenting that I find it interesting. It’s all about the ebb and flow of life, isn’t it? Everyone has their part to play.

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Contemplating the snow storm

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Wed. January 28, 2009

A snow storm has settled over the city, promising about 20 cm of snow by day’s end. Driving in today was an exercise in patience. I’m still surprised at the occasional idiot driving as if it was a clear summer day out there. Traffic is already going slow; we don’t need a collision to tighten roads and make things even slower. It’s just inconsiderate.

Anyway, it’s in this weather that I decided to go for a long walk during lunch. I just wanted to get away from my desk. So, I put on my leather jacket and gloves and just decided to wander. I went west on King for a while with my jacket unzipped, but soon zipped up when I noticed just how much snow my fleece sweater was holding onto. By the time I got to Bathurst though I overheated to the point where I unzipped myself again. I had no problem toughing it out.

Without a hat, my hair was really collecting a good amount of snow. While walking up Bathurst I encountered this young guy seemed to be dressed kind of grotty in oversized street clothes. He asked for some spare change. Luckily for him I was in the mood to stop. He continued on to say that he was thirsty and wanted to buy a beer or something. Whatever. As I was fishing for change, the guy started commenting on my hair. I think words were failing him. He was telling me how my hair looked awesome with the snow in it. Apparently the snow really only collected along the front giving me this two-tone look. He said was making me look like I had white hair, but he was then quick to correct himself to say that it didn’t mean he thought I was old. Yeeeah, that smacked of a little desperation. In any case, I gave him a dollar and wished him luck.

I went up to Dundas and walked over back to Spadina and Chinatown. Each step was interesting because depending where I walked, the snow might shift or it might be hard and uneven. It was unpredictable. As I passed by, a couple of Chinese old ladies were walking past and smiling at what I’d assume was my snow-caked hair. Walking back south to my building, I noticed the majority of people bundled up with their heads covered. Some were really hunched over in an attempt to maintain some warmth. I don’t know. Too much snow isn’t a good thing because it does become stressful after a while. When we have an occasional storm like this after a period of relatively nice weather I almost feel like this something that we should “own.” Know what I mean? This type of weather is a fact of life in a place that’s blessed with four distinct seasons. The snow was beaning me in the face, and was turning my head into a snow sculpture, but I was happy.

Of course…even though I’m saying all this I’m feeling quite damp right now because all my clothes absorbed a lot of the melted snow. My socks have been laid out on top of my computer tower in an attempt to get them to dry out enough before my commute home. It’s OK. I’ll be just fine. It’s all part of the season.

Tags: snow, Toronto, walking, winter

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Subway mechanical difficulties

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Tue. January 20, 2009

Yeah, not too happy with the TTC right now. I understand that from time to time there will be mechanical difficulties with subway trains. All the same, that fact doesn’t invalidate the frustration I have at the moment.

So, I left work a little past 5 to be able to make it to my Running Room Clinic by 7. The streetcar came and took me to the Bloor-Danforth subway line. No issues thus far. As I walked on the eastbound platform, I noticed that a lot of people were looking at the info screen. I looked up and read a notice saying that shuttle buses were currently being run between 3 or 4 subway stations right in the core of the system. As I looked to the end of the platform I saw a train waiting in the tunnel, but it wasn’t moving. In a split decision I ran over to the Yonge-University-Spadina line to try looping around. After hiking the distance I came to the realization that the route would have been horribly inefficient. So, I headed back to the other line to see if I could find more information. As I got back to the platform I saw the previously idle train start coming in. Nice.

If that was the only problem, then I would have been fine. However, that’s not where it ended. About midway to my destination, the train stopped at Pape station. It was taking longer than usual there but no one thought much of it thinking that maybe the delay was just due to a driver exchange or something. Another 5 minutes later there was an announcement that the train was having some mechanical issues and that crew was already dispatched and would arrive shortly. Fine. I could deal with that. So could the majority of people waiting on the packed train. After more minutes of waiting, an announcement was made at the platform level that shuttle buses were being run from a couple of stations west and east of where I was at. It figures that I’d be right in the middle. From the train itself I didn’t hear the announcement clearly. I had to take out my earbuds and strain hard to get the message being pumped elsewhere.

Now, when I think of shuttle buses I always think of the horror stories I often see on the news whenever there’s an issue with the subways. The shuttle buses are inevitably full with many irate people waiting out the cold trying to jockey for position. And usually, by the time you get on one the trains are usually working again making the whole process pointless. I’m quite sure that most people on the train felt the same way about shuttle buses because just about everyone that was sitting down remained seated. We were all willing to wait out the problem. Thing is, half an hour after arriving at the station with only one or two announcements keeping us informed, there was an announcement telling us that the train was now out of service and that we all had to get off. There was another train right behind, but it already had its own load of people, so we all had to cram in there.

In the end, I got back to my car about an hour later than when I wanted. It was late enough to make the commute up to the Running Room pointless. So, I missed my scheduled 6K run today. Yeah, I’m not happy about that. I guess, all I can say is that these things happen from time to time. I can’t hold it against the commission (as much as I want to) because it’s not like the driver wanted to delay us for that long period. Perhaps a little more information could have been disseminated to us, you know? Well, tomorrow is another day, and I’m sure the commute will be uneventful. That’s really how it should be, right?

Tags: subway, Toronto, TTC

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