Public Transportation @ MindSay

Right then.  Woke up earlier then usual, went down to retrieve my car from the pay lot and returned it to Enterprise.  I really don't need a car if I'm right smack in the middle of everything already.  They were really nice about it too, charging me only the weekend rate even though I only had the car for one day.  Very cool.

Home I went and Grandma made me breakfast, then we went down to Pike's Place Mall.  If you don't know what that is you're seriously missing out.  This is a classic half-outdoor multileveled malls right near the docks.  Fresh fruit, fish, flowers, and other goodies abound.  There's an Italian market in there that has fresh dolmas for 6/$1.50.  I think I'm in love.

Much fun was to be had and I took some good shots.  Afterwards Grandma's knee was bothering her so I went out, explored the Westlake mall briefly and then found Zanadu.  Zanadu is an awesome little comic shop full of rare and cool stuff.  Very neat.  Then my uncle called me and invited me to go join them at the Freemont Fair.  It's amazing how easy it is to get from one place to another in a city with good public transportation.  Coming from Colorado Springs, I had never experienced that before.

The Freemont Fair was a great street fair.  They had a wild parade, which I missed, lots of booths, great food, Art Cars (cars done up with all sorts of artistic crap to them) and abbreviated outfits, heh.  Hung out with them, then fell into a pot hole, twisting my ankle, then walked it off while finding out about a troll.  Yes, in Seattle, there is a troll under a bridge.  It's very cool and a damn big troll at that.  Had dinner, came home, watched TV.  All in all a staisfying day.

Also, the most disturbingly entertaining thing I've seen in a while is G4's ads for their Midnight Spank shows.  "Watch Midnight Spank or Butterfly will open the Hideous Bag."  Friggin' creepy as shit and yet entertaining.  I also saw Cinematech: Nocturnal Emissions.  I really don't know what to make of that show.  Anyone have ANY ideas as to what the hell it's about?  Anyone?

How likely are you to get sick from using public transportation?

RedEye hired a local laboratory to randomly test some CTA surfaces for cleanliness and harmful bacteria. Though the tests conducted along the Red Line, Brown Line, No. 66 and No. 151 routes revealed no staph or E. coli bacteria cells, approximately 57 percent of the tested surfaces registered as dirty enough to breed bacteria that can make you sick.

Surfaces tested on Red and Brown Line trains averaged "dirty" readings, though Red Line cars were found to be significantly dirtier than those on the Brown. Among the dirtiest surfaces tested were the upholstered seats on trains and the stop cord on one bus.

The bottom line: Despite the CTA's efforts to keep buses and trains clean, tests show that the potential for bacteria buildup on the "L" and buses is nothing to sneeze at.

Riders who don't wash their hands between riding the CTA and eating are potentially at risk for colds, the flu, cold sores and food-related illnesses, such as salmonella poisoning

Nothing much to blog about. Public transportation is still a bummer.

This girl I ride the train with is going to Paris in March, she told me. I've been to Paris once on a inter-rail trip I did with a friend long ago. I guess I like getting new input from being new places and stuff. But traveling doesn't say me much I must say. I don't know why - everybody is always "I'm going there and there - oh I just love travling". I just don't appeal to me I guess.