Schreiber

[me to our host for the Philadelphia ringing weekend]

So we’re going to be a little later than expected: [My Ride] hasn’t actually slept (which is apparently a whole story), so we’ll probably be getting to Philly around 5: just in time for rush hour! Worst-case, though, we’ll park and then meet you at the restaurant.

In retrospect, I guess I should have brought one of my computers: I could be getting some work done right now.

It is a sad commentary on how crap bus service is in this town these days - especially on the weekends - that I am rapidly becoming an expert on how to get to Harvard and Porter Squares on foot.

1. I've realized what the worst thing for productivity is, where job applications are concerned.

It's not trying to map the lost wetlands and burhs and shires of Anglo-Saxon England. It's not listening to Ursula talk about masturbating cats and her IUD. It's not snacks or books or chores or a caffeine habit.

It's when someone is supposed to be contacting you about a job interview for something that might actually pay the bills, but hasn't bloody done so yet.

Arrrggh. (tears metaphorical hair.)

2. Yes, the city did-- eventually--come remove the half a tree that was leaning against my window. No, nothing else seems to have broken in the process, so the only apparent casualty is one of my screens, which my landlady has promised to replace.

3. Yes, I did get my car into the mechanic this morning. The check engine light had--inevitably--turned itself off the moment I made the appointment, but they did put a patch on my muffler and replaced all the [untranslatable mechanic-speak], which they assured me would make a big difference.
And replaced a busted tail light that I'd failed to notice, which would have been the thing that would ACTUALLY have got me into trouble.

The rust was apparently nothing that was going to make my car fail inspection, but just to be on the safe side, I had them do one a month early. So now it's all inspection-stickered and stuff.
I must say, though, it's a bit disconcerting when you can remove bits of your car with your fingernails...

4. Jheesh, what is with me and the MBTA this week? The subway was massively and inexplicably delayed each of the last two days, and today it's apparently the commuter rail's turn.

Sent from my iPhone

- Being on endless bus rides is, I think, a distinctive American experience. I feel like I'm in On the Road.
That does not mean it's pleasant.

- I am never doing this again. I may consider taking a bus partway to Kazoo in the future...but I'm gonna make DAMN sure I get a ride at least from Buffalo. The bit between there and Kazoo takes an irritatingly long amount of time. Especially since you are dependent on the ONE bus that seems to go between Detroit and Kalamazoo per day.

- Cities: Buffalo seems somehow cheerful and pleasantly thriving. I always forget how large the second-tier cities of upstate NY and the Midwest are.
Detroit, by contrast, is deeply surreal. It looks vaguely like a film set of itself, set in a world where someone set off a neutron bomb in the place: all these buildings, but scarcely any people OR cars.

ETA:
- Always take a taxi to the station for these occasions. The parking is NOT free, so you'll about make your cab fare back in what you'd've paid for parking. Also, if you don't fate will ensure that if you take Greyhound out you'll come back by train or Concord Coach, and their respective terminals are nearly a mile apart...

- Spending 30 hours on buses will make you hone fatalism to a fine art.