This is so exciting! The new Google-powered Blogger.com has a nifty new
feature that will make it so that I can post from work. The trick is,
you email your blog, and it posts the email. How cool is that?! This
should definitely up the number of blogs I do in a week, since my main
problem with blogging is not wanting to sit at my computer at home,
after having spent 7 hours in front of one at work.

I was thinking on my way to work, that'd I'd like to blog about the new
test cars the CTA is using on the Brown Line. I know 99.999% of the
folks who read this blog don't actually know what the CTA Brown Line is,
so I'll explain. It is a train, see. An
overcrowded-but-cleaner-than-the-red-line form of public transportation
that is completely over ground, sometimes well above ground. When the
90-year-old wooden tracks aren't burning or under re-construction, the
train is a quick and efficient way to get around.

By the time this train gets 10 stops, it is so full that people are
clamoring for room to stand in a way that keeps them from having to
touch other people in a most intimate fashion.

Now, the CTA is trying to fix this in two ways. One is to expand the
length of the platforms so that they can handle eight cars rather than
six. This is going to take a long time to complete, but it is a good
idea. The other way, or at least the test way, I encountered this
morning. The new train cars have the same 39 seats as the old cars, but
the majority of the seats line the side of the train car, so that people
are sitting sideways rather than two by two. The justification for this
is plastered all over the car. They think this car is a better design
because: 1. Most major cities in the world have sideways seats; 2.
There is more room for people to stand (and indeed they put straps on
the ceiling so that people can hold on) 3. It is easier to make the
trains accessible for the handicapped.

Ok, so I agree with the handicapped thing. There SHOULD be more trains
people in wheel chairs can fit on. But with summer coming up, the
sideways facing seats present ONE problem. When the train is full, you
have somebody sitting next to you on both sides with lots of naked skin.
And as a grown-up, it isn't ok for me to push the intercom and whine at
the conductor, "he's touching me with his hot, sweaty arm!" Of course,
since I get on the train at the second stop, there was LOTS of room.
Four teenaged boys were obviously thrilled about the new cars. They were
laying out flat on the seats, doing pull-ups from the hand grips, and
started playing hacky-sack in the new, roomier, car.

But mostly, I just liked explanation #1, about how "all the other cities
are doing it". Cuz you know, following the crowd -- that's the best
reason to do anything.