Thursday, March 27, 2008

Transportation

The whole slow carb thing is going well, but not exactly as planned. Of course I should know that because nothing in my life ever goes exactly as planned, but it is what it is. I'm actually sort of bored out of my skull a tiny bit right now because I'm stuck in my house, carless and the dog can only go on so many walks. And today is supposed to be my weights day and I wanted to go the gym, but I guess I may have to improvise and do some sort of bodyweight workout or something. Or maybe I'll see if there are any yoga workouts on TV or something.

The good news is, I'm supposed to be getting a rental car either tonight or tomorrow (apparently my car needs an entirely new engine, thank god they are paying for it, but I guess that takes a while to repair so they will be giving me a car.) It's weird not having a car though, because Denver is such a car city. I mean it's not terrible, I could probably get on without one, but I'd have to do a little more planning in advance.

Our public transportation is just not up to par with some other cities. Now I know Denver is nowhere near the size of DC (in population of course, not actual area because DC is tiny) but when I lived in DC I never drove anywhere. I always walked, or took the metro, or the bus. It was great. I never had to worry about my car if happy hour went a little long (which it often did) and I never thought twice about trying to find a parking space or any of that other lame crap that comes with driving. And - I was saving the earth. Yay!

The whole public transportation thing was sort of a novelty to me when I moved to DC because I grew up in a southern suburb of Denver and the closest I had ever been to a bus was to look at the side of one. Taking the bus just wasn't really something people did. There were barely any routes, and the ones they did have meant it took forever to get anywhere. And then I went to college in Boulder, and we did have buses there, but they didn't really seem like buses because everything in Boulder is just so pretty and clean and sparkly and I swear it's not even a real city. The people who live there are robots. They call it the Republic of Boulder for a reason.

So yah, when I got to DC I was all excited by the metro and I rode it everywhere and I loved coming down the tunnel. It just made me feel so urban! grown up! and smart! And looking back, it wasn't really all that great, but without a car this day, I'd give anything to have a little train right down to my gym so I could go, instead of surfing the net and hoping there's a yoga show On Demand. I guess if I was being really fit and all that I could just run the three miles down there, but it's rainy here today, and I'm a baby, and I don't wanna. So I guess I'll just sit here a little while longer.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, I haven't posted in awhile on your blog. Things have been crazy. Anyway, I totally agree with you and our public transportation. I used to ride the Light Rail to and from school and until the FINALLY extended the south line, I had to drive the park and ride, hope to find a parking spot, and then catch the train. I used to take early classes to be assured I beat the crowd to the park and ride. What a hassle!

Unknown said...

i take the metro every, single day but it's incredibly expensive ($4.50 each way PLUS $4.75 to park)... i would never drive downtown so at least it's saving me wear and tear on my car... there are days when i like it and days that i don't - esp. now when everyone's coming to see the cherry blossoms! ;o)