Jewels on the Mall

Hope Diamond

Don Pedro Crystal

We visited the Museum of Natural History recently.  It's on Constitution Avenue North West at 10th Street NW and quite easy to find and get to. Better to get there by bus or taxi as I could see no parking whatsoever.  We took a look at the Hope Diamond and all the other crystals and gems there, among other things (such as bees, butterflies, mummies, grasshoppers, cave men). Apparently these crystals and gemstones -- I learned that gems are merely cut and polished crystals! -- are worth millions of dollars, naturally, but maybe they are better off behind glass. There's stories associated with all of them but I just don't remember.  I just photographed the ones that caught my attention.This museum is one of the Smithsonian museums and very interesting. There's a cafe there too, where we had a snack and some quite decent coffee.

Battered school buses? Fender-bendered children?

So what's with the seemingly abandoned District of Columbia school buses on the 1400 block of New York Avenue NE? Every time I drive by on this stretch of road -- which is across from the old 'Streamline Moderne' Hecht Company Warehouse -- I see more than half a dozen disabled-looking yellow school buses just parked. Nearly all of them have either the front or rear door open, or the hood of the engine up or a bumper half hanging off or some serious-looking dings and dents or other defect showing them as unusable. I am assuming too that if a door is left open it means the door doesn't work (and surely this is an invitation to homeless people to stay in them at night). On the other side of the street are what I presume are the usable unbattered buses in an alternate parking lot; this lot of buses seems to be thinning out as the battered buses end up across the street. I seem to recall that the local school system bought a bunch of new buses recently -- sometime in the past 5 years -- and most of these buses look pretty new as the bright yellow paint seems fresh. However, the buses in the train-track side parking lot do look pretty battered up as if either the drivers aren't any good and/or they get into a LOT of fender benders. Or is that there's no maintenance? On one attorney company solicitation website they wrote that the "factors that commonly contribute to school bus accidents include: hazardous weather conditions; faulty vehicles; driver negligence; intoxicated drivers; defective roadways." It's pretty nerve-wracking to think that this number of school buses have so many accidents and that these may be caused by some serious driver bad behavior when our children are taken back and forth.

Tree Dying that Saved Man's Life

I've always liked the big tree at the bus stop on North Capitol Street at Adams Street NW. It provides shelter from rain, wind, sun and traffic while I'm waiting for that Route 80 bus that goes downtown.  The tree  also did its duty stopping a drunk driver going up on the sidewalk as the massive dent in the side of the tree shows. In fact I recall hearing the tremendous crash-boom when it happened a few years ago.  Some guy went out of control going southbound on North Capitol and smashed into the tree; his car was crushed when it slammed into this tree guarding the sidewalk. The driver mysteriously survived the impact -- probably quite drunk and relaxed so didn't resist as much so nothing "snapped" -- but I don't think the tree is going to last. The impact stripped off a big chunk of bark and over time rubbish and mold and critters and fungi have lodged in the dent and the tree will surely die faster than it was intended to. I doubt the guy whose life was saved by the tree appreciates what this creation did for him. But there's always the hope that somehow his life was changed by the tree's sacrifice.

Fried Chicken a la WMATA

Munching on fried chicken leg

WMATA bus

People drinking coffee, sodas, water and other slurpable items on the bus always annoy me but this fried chicken eater is over the top.  What was amazing was that this person got on the WMATA bus with the bag of hot fried chicken open, the greasy seared smell of it wafting into the bus and right under the nose of the driver who said nothing and did nothing. There are plenty of signs on the bus that say No Eating or No Drinking but apparently these mean nothing. By the time I got my cell phone camera lined up -- and I've finally figured out how to set it so it does not "click" when it takes a photograph, thus avoiding dirty looks from fellow passengers -- a second drumstick was wafting its oily rancid smell into the chilled air of the bus.  Traffic was moving quickly and my bus stop was next, so I got off, my nausea arrested. Thank God for small things!

Seeing Art Deco in Downtown WashingtonDC

Going home on the bus recently, I glanced out the window and snapped a shot of the old Greyhound bus terminal building on its 11th street side. I am very glad some preservationists fought the good fight to ensure this landmark didn't get torn down in some improvement scheme. I remember reading and hearing about this when I first moved to DC and was glad when they won Historic Building status in 1987. You can read some history of the building here or see some historic photos here.  Of course it's no longer a bus terminal and the entrance serves as an entryway to another much bigger edifice -- and there's other businesses using the window space --  but nevertheless, in my mind, it's important to keep pieces of the past around us, especially when they are so distinctive and evoke a different time and place so strongly. And I've always been a fan of that guy Art Deco! Apparently, there's a museum in the lobby at 1100 New York Avenue that I'll be sure to go and visit some time. And kudos and big thanks to the people who fight to keep our history with us!

Coca Cola, Starbucks, Dasani: Drinks of Choice on #WMATA Buses

Coca Cola, Starbucks and Dasani water were the drinks of choice by passengers on the G2 metrobus coming home one evening recently. The morning's bus passengers enjoyed iced coffees, water and one rather foul-looking green grassy looking liquid (something very healthful no doubt). These passengers get on the bus openly carrying their big girl sippy cups and enjoy their rides sucking down their drinks of choice. Several of them are regulars (the lass carrying the green-filled glass, for instance, gets on the bus each day with this breakfast drink) and most of them look like they are quite literate -- as in able to read the sign at the front of the bus that says "no food or drinks."  When I see these beverages passing by me I tend to lean away and desperately hope the passenger with the soupy, sugary slurpee doesn't drip it or drop it near me as the bus lurches its way through construction, potholes and sudden stops brought on by those idiots who insist on turning right from the left lane passing across the front of the bus at various intersections. You know when it happens as the bus driver gasps or cusses or otherwise expresses indignation at being put in such a spot.  But rarely, actually never, do I see a bus driver say to the passenger with the drink "don't get on" or "throw it away" or "put it away."   Does the bus driver expect other passengers to admonish these scoff laws?  Am I supposed to bare the glare of youth who think they are entitled to a cold drink on the bus the same way they got a nice sippy cold cup from mum in the family mobile when she picked them up from school? Just what is this expectation that one can eat and drink at will on a public bus?  Is that what freedom means?  Due to this laxity in the regulations, the lovely cloth-covered seats in the newer buses are getting stained with the remains of either these drinks or food or snacks.  More and more often I pass by a seat with something suspicious-looking on the seat and try and find another spot.  I expect I'll end up being a real little old lady and having to bring a little cloth with me to sit on so my work clothes don't get all dirtied up. Really, when are the bus drivers going to start acting like the authority figures they want us to be when an emergency occurs.  It is hard to respect them now when they can't even enforce this simple law. Do they really think anyone will listen when they really try to take control of the bus in some sort of emergency situation?

Hard to believe Las Vegas is in a desert

View from desert approaching Las Vegas

Half-naked men billboard

It's hard to believe that Las Vegas is in the middle of the desert as it's a place where you see giant Coca Cola bottles and motorcycle wheels, half-naked men on billboards, and a disneying array of "landmarks" like the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty and an Egyptian pyramid, among other pseudo-sites.  A recent visit reminded me of how fantastical this city is; we'd spent two weeks visiting canyons and national parks in the surrounding area and realizing what richness there is a desert land.  Then to drive in from this desert into Las Vegas jarred our sense of place and time. One minute we're looking at petrified dunes and trees, hoodoos, chasms and mountains of rocks and sand and then, hey presto change-o, there's a Subway and 711 store and a bus blinking its route number at us and grocery stores and banners advertising "move in now, one month free rent." It all seemed such a contrivance, so flimsy and false and yet it's clear thousands of people live and work here.  As we drove through various residential neighborhoods on our way to the center "strip" we saw schools and offices and all the buildings of any modern city.  This experience  made  me think how cities and towns can be such contrivances on the landscape and then, what a big energy suck this metropolis is. Just imagining the amount of electricity the casinos use and the gallons of water the hotels flush each day was mind-boggling. This is no green city!

Magic Kingdon, Statue of Liberty, Caesars Palace all jumble together in Las Vegas

No Parking in the Sunflowers in DC

I forgot to publish this photo when I snapped it while waiting at the bus stop at the corner of P and 16th Streets NW last summer. This "No Parking" sign 'grows' among the sunflowers that someone had so nicely planted in the tree box alongside the church there. I believe this is the Foundry United Methodist Church which President Clinton occasionally went to when he was in office.  These tall flowers certainly made standing waiting in the heat for the #G8 WMATA bus a lot more tolerable as it was late again (!) and watching traffic really isn't that interesting! A big thank you to whoever planted these! Blessings on you!

There Goes that Elusive Verizon FiOs Truck!

Sometime in the past month I actually for the first time ever saw a FiOs truck go by me here in DC. Big and white and shiny with a picture of a giant TV with blue ribbons tailing along the side of the van, it surely looked like something new in town as I sat at the bus stop watching the traffic go by.  You have to realize that in my neighborhood no-one has Verizon FiOs as they haven't laid the fiber cable yet here and I've heard it will be years before it will happen. While there's some diehard over-the-air free TV types, most either have cable or satellite TV and most get Internet either via DSL or a bundled cable TV package. Some spring for 4G wireless but that really adds to the bill.  As a DirecTV subscriber AND a Verizon DSL subscriber, we'd like to lower the costs of all our electronic communications so we keep hoping FiOs will come to our neighborhood soon.  We receive Comcast promotion cards in the mail all the time, trying to persuade us to switch back to cable TV in a bundled package with their phone and Internet. We also see Comcast trucks a lot.  And I have a neighbor who works for Comcast and he says it's a great company.  Somehow, though, we've come to really like our satellite TV service as the service people are extraordinarily nice when you talk to them about adding a TV channel or two or otherwise adjusting the bill. But, there I was at the bus stop and there went that elusive FiOs truck and I started to imagine having all my communications service on one bill, and a really fast and strong connection and maybe even a bit cheaper than all the different providers we have now.......hmm....

WMATA G8 Bus Route Gets Ever More Crowded

Sitting on the bus the other day jammed in and watching how it kept getting more and more crowded with strap hangers, so many that the driver had to pass by people at several stops, who looked a bit on the angry side, naturally, as it was Monday morning and who wants to miss the bus and be late on a Monday morning? And it's not as if another bus comes right away.

I can Hear the Music on Your Headphones on Metro Bus

Very loud music playing on these earphones

Surely you are damaging your ears if I can hear the music you are playing and listening to on headphones on the bus.  This young man was sitting right in front of me on the bus the other morning and I could almost every word sung, the crashing beat of the music and all the "noise" that he was listening too.  I'm pretty sure the rest of the bus could hear it too but nobody said anything.  Once I did say something to one person who was playing very raucous rude rap that had horrible curse words in it and I leaned over and asked him "would you turn the music down as i can hear all the way from where I am sitting?"  And he did turn it down. He had been sitting about three seats away from me on the bus and yet I could hear it.  I'm sure these people are damaging their ears when they do this.  At a minimum, they are missing out on the sounds about them and could miss warnings or alerts, but I'm not so worried about that. As a morning person who doesn't like loud sounds -- like alarm clocks and phones and beeping things -- I just don't want to have to hear crashing loud music on the bus in the morning!

Enough with the Sippy Cups on the Bus

The drunks on the bus are bad enough with their retching and careening and stinky clothes, but it's the far more often seen passengers clutching cups of coffee or other hot drinks on the bus that I find most annoying. One young lady squeezed past me recently, sat down and calmly sucked on her little sippy cup of coffee, the odor wafting towards me, for the rest of the bus ride. Every time the bus lurched, I was afraid that she would slurp her drink on me or the cup would fall and spill on my clothes. Another passenger sat openly on the bus holding his styrofoam cup of steaming coffee and taking the lid off every once in a while for a big gulp. I really don't know why the WMATA drivers let people on with their sippy cups as the signs are quite clear that passengers are not supposed to eat or drink on the bus and there's even a new sign that says "a bus is not a deli so don't treat it like one."  Scoffeelaws?

It's Easy to Miss Seeing the Homeless in DC

You might think s/he's a rock or something.

The grey lump on the fourth bench, in front of the statue.

Blanket folded at bus shelter

Still sleeping as commuters pass by

It's easy to miss seeing the people who live on the street and without homes, huddled in plain sight around us in D.C. But I tend to gaze out the window somewhat mindlessly as I travel to work on the bus and then I see them in the parks, in the church gardens, and in the bus stops and alleys, grey blanketed, avoiding the eyes of others and passing by in wrinkled clothes. They all seem to have these large thick grey felted blankets to keep themselves sheltered and warm and these blankets are so common I almost think they must be issued by the City or something. And, according to the National Alliance on Homelessness, there are/were more than 6,600 people (2009 statistics) who are homeless in Washington, DC. And according to another group, the National Coalition for the Homeless, they say that in most cases, homelessness is a temporary circumstance and not a permanent condition. They say a more appropriate measure is the number of people who experience homelessness over time, not the number of "homeless people" and that there are many causes of homelessless.  The one person I ever talked to about homelessness said that alcoholism and addiction were at the root of family homelessness as the addict steals and sucks out the family resources.  The one older woman I knew who was homeless lacked English language skills and the ability to make "good" decisions. I think the least we can do is see and acknowledge these people who are all around us, living "freely" on the streets, in alleys, on benches, and other hideaways.

DC Chinatown is Fine

I was sitting on the corner of H Street and 7th NW waiting for a bus to take me back to work and I looked up and saw the old and the new buildings and the marvelous painted archway in Chinatown. Although it was cold, I enjoyed the view of the new buildings and the fresh paint which is a big change from how it looked about ten years ago. All of a sudden this intersection and the area around it look like New York city. It's all because they built the MCI center, whoops, now called Verizon center and that became a magnet for a lot of great development in what was becoming a decaying section of the city. My bus finally came and I found myself glad for the resurrection of this part of the city.  

Another Rant About Late & Packed DC Metrobuses

In this cold snap of weather we're having I'm finding myself very irritated when the bus is late, or crowded, or fellow passengers are well, just disagreeable. This week has been difficult.  On Monday morning I waited 20 minutes and the first bus that came was packed with passengers so the driver didn't even stop and waved to the fifteen (!) of us that were now waiting at the stop to indicate that another bus was coming. So we all got on that a few minutes later, a bus that filled very quickly by the next stop and was jammed with Monday morning scofflaws holding steaming cups of coffee that I felt sure would be spilled on me. Why do the drivers let people bring cups of hot liquid with them? On Tuesday, I missed the bus as it came earlier to the stop than the schedule indicated and I saw it whizzing gaily past at the top of the intersection, too far away for me to run and try and hail it..Someone said it was the earlier bus, but just running late. Oh well. On Wednesday, I waited in the cold wind again during another ice age while going home and it seemed like everyone on the bus was coughing and not covering their mouths.  Thursday, the bus was totally packed again and some little girl kept sneezing and wiping her nose with her hand and then -- watching in horror -- I saw her touching just about everything she could reach within arm's length, like the hanging strap, the hand rail, the overhead bar, the rim of her seat and the rim of all the seats around her. Truly, I was getting grossed out as over a ten minute ride she sneezed three times and did this. Did I mention my SmartTrip card didn't work half the time on the electronic meters, even though I know it has over $40 on it? I'd wave it over the sensor and the stupid thing wouldn't beep or the screen would give up an unintelligible illegible message so I'd ask the driver "did it work?" and they'd just wave me past as this was happening to every other passenger getting on the bus and the drivers really are trying to keep to the schedule, I think. And the stinking smokers! People whose clothes stink of cigarette smoke shouldn't be allowed on buses when it's packed as there is just no seat to shift to and get away from it. And what about those people who start cursing and running their mouths at any ole provocation or who glance at you sideways because your bag brushed against them? The bus is jammed full, buzzbreath!  Tomorrow's Friday, so who knows what irritating thing will happen?  Maybe, it's just this long cold stretch of winter causing me to feel like I might dump out a hot coffee on someone, stomp on someone's toe and utter some unladylike verbal exclamationsl!.

DC Metrobus G8 Kept Me Waiting in the Cold Too Long!

Twenty-five minutes is too long to wait for a bus on a cold Monday morning! After waiting for about ten minutes in the freezing windy cold at 8:50 am on Rhode Island Avenue along came a bus!  However, it zoomed right past with the driver apparently unable to tell the standing passengers to "move back" so he could say he had no room for the six of us waiting.  So he didn't stop. You'd think another bus would come along within a few minutes? Nope. It was another fifteen minutes later before a bus arrived for us poor freezing passengers. And the driver had draped a jacket over the Coin/Smart Trip fare machine as apparently that wasn't working well either. Or were we given a free fare as we'd waited so long for the bus?  How can DC Metrobus keep on not running enough buses to pick up passengers on time IN THE MORNING?  It wasn't raining. It wasn't snowing. The traffic wasn't even heavy. It's not like this isn't a busy route as there's usually at least half a dozen passengers at this G8 stop every day and the bus fills up. And why the no-fare or broken fare machine?  On reflection, at least once a week I get on a bus and the fare machine is broken or not working or the driver just waves us past. How can WMATA make any money this way?  Just what is going on?

Halloween Leftovers

This morning on my way to catch the #G8 bus to work I looked down on the sidewalk and saw the remains of Halloween candy scattered about. Of course this was just the empty wrappers of Milk Duds and Snickers, and a candy carrying bag and not the chocolates or candy that the kids had gobbled up already. At first I was kind of annoyed that the neighborhood streets were littered with more than leaves and nuts and other seasonal debris until I realized that these wrappers were seasonal debris and paper wrappers are just leaves and nuts in different form. So then I thought how great it was that kids could freely walk about in our neighborhood and knock on the doors of strangers and ask for tricks and treats and only get treats. In fact I can easily recall when it was not safe for most of the neighborhood kids to go out on Halloween as the drug sellers and buyers were messing up the streets too much, leaving their litter of little crackie baggies and cigarette lighters and occasional needles and condoms. But that was over ten years ago and seems like ages ago. And so it's a good thing -- that children go out and do this.  I also felt sad that I wasn't at our house to give out candy this year as I had to go out of town unexpectedly. I rather enjoy putting on a witch hat and cloak and opening the door and seeing all the angels, princesses, Spidermen, Supermen, bumble bees and spooky characters that ask for candy each year. So this year we ended up giving all our candy to my neighbor to give away for us. Thank God for little kids knocking on strangers' doors and wearing strange costumes!

No Bobbies in DC

You might see some double decker red buses whizzing around filled with tourists in DC but you are not going to see a couple of London policemen with their anti-cosh round helmets standing on the corner calling in on their wireless devices. These two were near Trafalgar Square when I was there recently and they were busy reporting in to HQ using their wireless devices. They wore very serious expressions and were heavily armed, including wearing bulletproof vests. In fact, due to the elevated emergency alert, I saw a lot of security in London. When we got off the plane two army soldiers guarded the shopping mall at Heathrow Airport, once we'd made it through Passport Control.  They were carrying machine guns and had bands of bullets slung around their shoulders.  They did not make eye contact with anyone and gave the impression, by their stance and set of the jaw, that they would shoot anyone who was determined upon terrorist activity.. At the train stations, we also saw more security guards and policemen than we usually do. They were very good at monitoring the crowds managing to never catch your eye but very alert and watchful every time a train pulled in or out. The crowds were dense, so I imagine their job was quite difficult.

When It Rains, Bus Driver Shines

On a recent rainy day on the way to work on the bus, at one stop the Metrobus driver was about to pull away from the kerb when a passenger called out "somebody left an umbrella," and another passenger called out "it was the guy who just got off with the pony tail."  So the bus driver tooted the bus horn several times to get the attention of the guy with the long grey ponytail who was walking briskly away from the bus, sans brolly.  The guy didn't turn around so the driver pulled up behind him as he was now in the intersection as it was a red light for the bus.  The driver pulled down his window and called out "hey, you, ponytail, you left your umbrella!" and this time the guy heard him and stopped in front of the bus right in the middle of the intersection.  The driver turned towards the passengers in the back of the bus who had called out and said, "Quick, get me the umbrella" and one of them grabbed it and ran and handed it to the driver who then passed it out the window to the man with the long grey pony tail who smiled and said "thank you very much."  You just never know when something good might happen on the bus!

Bus Rides in Summer

This morning, I got off the Route 80 bus at the bottom of North Capitol street to switch to the DC Circulator bus as the noise in the Route 80 bus was just too loud for me. Everyone was having extreme cell phone calls at 8:45 a.m. in the morning, telling off their kids or screaming at their spouses or demanding something from somebody or telling the dentist they were going to be late, or things like that. Plus the bus was crowded; even though I got a seat, I found myself jammed into an inside seat by a very large man who, of course, was yelling into his cell phone the whole time the bus meandered its way down North Capitol street from my street to the Post Office at the corner. And everyone was standing and lurching into one another at every stop and looking like they could bite someone if you looked at them the wrong way. At the Florida Avenue intersection a very drunk looking older guy was yelling at the bus waving his fist, looking already like he was over-heated and quite dehydrated. Even more people piled onto the bus so, feeling more than just slightly claustrophobic, I got off before the Massachusetts Avenue turn to transfer to a nice uncrowded Circulator bus which pulled up almost immediately. Since that's the beginning of that route, there were only three people on the bus and I got a wide seat all to myself. This lasted until 7th street when a huge crowd got on bringing gusts of hot August air in with them, turning the bus into another hot, human-filled metal container. But no one was making loud cell phone calls; instead they all seemed to have plugs in their ears attached to those IPod music things so they couldn't hear anybody and clearly didn't want to talk to anyone. The bus got caught in traffic and took ten minutes to go from 11th to 14th streets due to some tie-up involving an out-of-town car backing into moving traffic just to drive the rest of us crazy in the heat in the summer. Bus rides can be a humbling experience! Lord, get me through today!