Adventures on the CTA #6 -- Truth in Advertising

You may have heard that there's been quite a stink with the CTA lately over a lack of funding, with all kinds of dire consequences promised if they don't get more money---routes cut, all trains running on Sunday schedule, that kind of thing. Someone added some text to a sign on the Red Line poster. The text that the CTA put on it said "Learn how to cut your commuting costs by up to %40!" (by using pre-tax transit dollars from your employer). Someone taped some paper underneath that said "And we'll cut your service by up to %40!". :-/ (It would be funny, except for the minor detail that it might be true!)

Brew #16 Has Begun!

I got a new toy...

It's called a V-Vessel.  It's supposed to make brewing a lot simpler, because you don't have to transfer the wort from one vessel to another all the time.  When you would normally have done a transfer (to move the fermenting wine/beer off the sediment) you simply remove the ball at the bottom (remember to close the valve first!!), dump it out, resanitize, and add it back in.

More pictures are on my Brew 16 Album.

Adventures on the Shangahai Transit

Here's a special edition of Adventures on the CTA. I'm up late at night, absolutely wide awake because of jet lag, because of my trip to Shanghai. To pass the time I thought I'd tell a CTA like story. Here are a few pictures of the Shanghainese equivalent of the El. The first thing to notice is the TV set on the tunnel. It tells you when the next train is coming. Very cool! The subway is also very popular here. Here's a picture of what greeted my when I was about to get on the subway during rush hour. Dive in! In all, though, their system is very clean, and it only costs 2-4 RMB (25 - 50 cents!) to ride. And when it's not rush hour, it's not nearly so crowded. The other cool thing I got to do was ride the maglev train to the airport. I didn't get many pictures, but the inside looks like an airplane. It takes 7.5 minutes to get from the city to the airport. Finally, I'll leave you all with this imporant safety tip from the Shanghai public transit.

Adventures on the CTA #5 --- Perverts and Heros

Wednesday I was riding back at night on the Red Line (never a dull moment, as one rider that night put it). One very foul-mothed pervert with a camera phone was trying to take pictures of this one woman, who was clearly not happy about it. The only place she could really be was by the doors, so she could at least look away from the pervert. Meanwhile, he was harassing her and swearing up a storm. My first instinct was to pray that God would thwart his plans. Within 1 second, a man with a newspaper stood up, walked to where the pervert was sitting, and stood between him and the woman, causally reading his newspaper like nothing else was going on. The pervert wasn't very happy, but it's not like he could say anything. Thought one: it's nice to see there are people who are willing to intervene. Thought two: why didn't I think of that? Next time I'll know what to do. Thought three: Praying for strangers has special rewards.

Adventures on the CTA #4 --- Not the best way to wake up.

This morning I was taking a nap on the red line on the way to work. I woke up to the sound of someone puking on the floor behind me. Needless to say, I went to the other side of the car. Yuck!

Adventures on the CTA #3 -- They want me to report what?

So, in a post-9/11 world, we are told to be on the alert for all kinds of things... unattended packages, for example. On the CTA busses, we are told to report to the driver if we see "anything unusual". Um... hello?.... If I said something everytime I saw something unusual on the CTA I don't think we'd be able to get very far!

Adventures on the CTA #2 -- Christmas on the CTA

The other day I got on a bus that was all wrapped up inside. Shiny paper down the poles, gifts piled up on the side next to the door. The bus driver gave me a candy cane when I paid my fare.

Adventures on the CTA, Back-Issue #1 -- Stupid Robber Tricks

Whenever a week goes by with no new adventures, I'll tell a story that happened in the past year. Eventually I'll run out, but that should take a while---it's the number of stories that inspired me to write this, after all. Perhaps the most disturbing thing I heard on the El was when three people got on the train and sat just behind me. The two directly behind me seemed to be a couple having quite a spat. As near as I can tell, ettiquette in these situations is to pretend not to notice. It was actually pretty annoying to have to listen to all of that, but it began to get interesting when the woman started complaining about how what they did was not how it went in the "dry run". Meanwhile the man was exasperatedly trying to explain to his lady friend that if she did not feel comfortable with things, she should have said so earlier. After a few more minutes, it starts to become clear that they are arguing over who's fault it was, exactly, that the robbery they had just committed ended up being a complete failure. Lady: Yeah, and now they have my description! Man 1: Now they have all of our descriptions! Man 2: Guys! Not on the train! I decided to get off and switch cars before they came to their senses and decided that they had to kill all the witnesses. Unfortunately, when I got off I was not in cell phone range in time to report this, but I suspect with this level of competence, they'll be caught soon enough.

Adventures on the CTA #1 -- We're All Friends Here

I love riding the CTA. It's a lot cheaper than owning a car, and you get to see all kinds of strange things. Today, when I got on the Red Line and sat down, and a woman next to me said "You know, I've must have seen you on the train at least 4 times. I figure I should introduce myself. My name is V---." The funny thing is, just a few days ago I had been thinking about how someone said of New York City that you will walk by all kinds of people who you have never seen before, and would never see again. I guess Chicago is not New York.