ghotifish.net

Totally cool: the St. Paul Public Works Department has put together a demo video simulating the proposed Central Corridor light rail transit line.

The video does a good job illustrating how well the line will be integrated with existing businesses and infrastructure. Given that the Hiawatha line was a runaway success even with what I’d consider rather poor (though improving) connections with its surroundings, I am hugely optimistic about how good this line could be for its users and for the Cities as a whole.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, pictures from Christmas 2006!

As I began to drive to work this snowy morning and realized I was going to be late, I had the following thought(s):

“Man, you know what would be a great excuse regarding why I am late to work? I could say that a wreck happened right in front of me on the highway, and due to my humanitarian nature I had to stop and make sure everyone was OK! Of course everyone turned out to be fine and I went happily on my way. This would be the perfect excuse for the following reasons:

• “Its believability is enhanced by the current weather conditions.

• “The sensational nature of such a story would immediately distract attention from the fact that I was late. The audience would be hungry for more details, and their questions would in turn serve as a springboard for discussions of their own near misses, the driving habits of others, the weather, et cetera. Within a few minutes no one would even remember that I’d been late!

• “As news of my adventure filtered through the cubicles I would become The Guy With The Story! Coworkers gather around to chat! Camaraderie abounds! Morale skyrockets! Our stock price rises another 30%!

“However, I must also recognize that all is not games and fun in this world of fictitious highway happenings! Despite my best efforts this ‘perfect excuse’ suffers from the following inadequacies:

• “It’s pretty much a one-shot deal! If I use this perfect excuse today, it then becomes off-limits for quite some time — I can’t exactly show up next week with the same story. I estimate a year or even two before I could use it again, and that is a long time! What if during that year (or two!) I encountered a desperate need for the perfect excuse — but had already used it?!

• “It requires preemptive lying. Under normal circumstances you just need to have your excuse filed away in case anyone asks — but how (if it were true) could I keep this one to myself? If I truly had witnessed a highway wreck, no way would I simply go about my business once at work! No! I would have to tell everyone! (See third item above.)

• “It requires the fabrication of an entire story, which would have to remain consistent throughout the telling. What kind of car was it? Did they flip over twice or only once? And, oh yeah, the guy in the other car had this big honkin’ pirate eyepatch! These are the harrowing details I of which I would be forced to keep track.”

In the end, I was distracted by something while merging and forgot all about my scheme — but only for a moment! Ahead of me, brake lights suddenly blinked on and the sound of screeching tires echoed beneath an overpass! Like a frightened herd, the mass of traffic tensed, slowed, and seemed to crouch in anticipatory vigil. As I crept forward through the instant congestion, I had plenty of time to imagine the scene — twisted metal? Fire? Mangled flesh?

Turns out, just twisted metal. By the time I reached the accident, everyone involved was out of their cars and chatting on their cell phones — no doubt explaining why they would be a bit late for work today.