Normal Monday Morning

Sorry for leaving you hanging last week but a man needs his time off from work on occasion.

Today has started off to be a typical Monday MAX ride full of platform smokers, seat hoggers (airline employees! WTF, share the seats ass) and MAX engineers that can't tell time (see my Twitter post). School and the sun is out so that must mean all of the jackasses are here too!

Portland Police and TriMet Fair Inspectors were at the 82nd Ave MAX stop today. This is the first time I have seen Fair Inspectors since mid May! But they of course were too lazy to check our train. It was easier for them to stand like wall flowers against the light post and ask to see fairs before riders boarded. Moving more than 3ft to enter a train and check fairs would be considered work and may cause them to drop a few pounds as well. Lazy ass fools.

That's enough from me this morning...

pdxMAX

Freight Train derailed in NE Portland

A freight train derailed around 7 a.m. Thursday at Northeast 102nd Avenue and Northeast Fremont Street, not far from MAX's Gateway Transit Center. Clean up will continue through Friday causing traffic delays on I-205 and 84.

Read more @ KOIN NEWS

On Vacation

Sorry for the lack in posts this week. I am on vacation relaxing at home with the young ones. I may have a reason to ride the MAX this week, so we will see what happens. If not, I will resume diary entries on Monday the 30th.

pdxMAX

Portland MAX Diary on Spicypage

Check out The Portland MAX Diary on Spicypage.com


Vote for my blog at

TriMet's WES Rail Cars are Here

These vehicles will be used on TriMet's new Wilsonville-Beaverton commuter rail line.

http://trimet.org/wes/vehicles.htm



WES will begin serving Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin and Wilsonville in the fall of 2008.

http://trimet.org/wes/index.htm

Light rail construction to interrupt MAX two weekends this summer

Gateway to 102nd Ave service impacted in June & July...

Read More at:

http://trimet.org/news/releases/june20_blueline.htm

The Friday Eavesdrop

"Either you or Holly need to go to the airport today and get $50 worth of Pesos"

"Mom, is this what rush hour looks like?"
"I hate math, I don't get the numbers part"


Kinda quiet Friday ride home.

Observed many woman with low cut shirts and shorts, must be summer. Guys sporting shorts and sandals to work as well. A cute couple holding hands in the square and a ton of homeless teens/young adults. Not sure where they all came from but the warm weather drew them out. Oregon has a top ten rating for the amount of homeless (16,221 as of Jan 2005) individuals living in the state.

Well- on that downer... I'm getting off of this MAX train.

pdxMAX

Timelapse Video of MAX Crossing Installation

A cool little video of construction workers moving WAY faster than they do in real time...

http://www.portlandmall.org/video/crossing/index.htm

Friday Eavesdrop

Man says to woman-
"Should I drop you off at the Barn first?"

Person on cell-
"Do we still have potatoes at home?"

Woman-
"No thanks, I have been sitting on my behind all day"



Boring day for conversations. The man next to me is reading 'Jumper'. He is quite ripe smelling too. Someone 2 rows back is cranking the Eagles at like 200 decibels in their headphones, sounds good though.

Enjoy the weekend!

pdxMAX

No Biting

My toddler was in a stage where biting was her best defense as well as favorite thing to do at daycare. My wife and I would give the morning reminder "no biting at school today" in hopes that would deter her from doing so. Well I'm glad to say that she has moved on from that and has only bit on occasion.

So this morning my little reminds me "no no biting on the train daddy!". My wife and I broke out laughing. I said, "daddy won't bite on the train, don't worry". It got me thinking though...imagine the diseases you could quickly get by biting your neighboring rider?
Or could you use this technique as a deterrent?

Imagine...

-A lady is flipping out on her cell and is so loud its getting on everyones nerves... Bite that bitch! I bet she shuts the hell up quick. Or at least drops the cell fast.

-A business man has just boarded the train and is taking up 2 seats with his bags... Bite that fool right in the shoulder and let him know that he is only allowed to occupy one seat at a time! (A shoulder bite should make him remember you each time he mounts that laptop bag on it)

-A transient bugs you for change even after you have told him you have none... Bite that dude (if you want an instant dose of Hepatitis) in the back of his hand so every time he puts it out for more $$ he will remember that time some dude said no, twice!

-A smoking hot female (or male depending on your wants & needs) sits next to you and you can't help but notice... Bite her! This bite is not meant to be sexual, it is performed to let that person know that they are hot and you noticed. (Ok, maybe I'm off my rocker on this one- but it could be fun)

A world of biters would and could be safer than the world we have now...all diseases aside.

Ok back to reality-

pdxMAX

Steel Bridge Construction through August 24, 2008

Taken from The Portland Mall's site:

http://www.portlandmall.org/news/steelbridge.htm

Transit and auto traffic will be affected as crews install new MAX infrastructure.

New MAX tracks on 5th and 6th avenues will connect with the existing MAX system on the Steel Bridge. Construction on the Glisan Ramp is under way, with more extensive work to begin in June

TriMet continues to break ridership records

From TriMet's site...

http://trimet.org/news/releases/june10_ridership.htm

Agency sets new record of 8.9 million monthly ridesTriMet MAX and bus
ridership breaks new records in May 2008:


-A record 8.9 million monthly rides were taken during the month.

-Weekly rides on MAX and buses were up 4.4 percent from May 2007,
averaging 2,064,800 rides. This record is also a 3.3 percent increase over April
2008 weekly figures.

-Weekday trips increased to an average of 225,200 bus rides and 112,100
MAX rides. Bus increased 4.4 percent and MAX increased 1.6 percent from May
2007.

-Weekend ridership averaged 217,500 bus trips and 160,800 MAX trips.
Bus increased 7.6 percent and MAX increased 11.2 percent from May 2007.

-More commuters are riding during morning rush hour (7-9 a.m.): an
additional 5,400 trips were taken as compared to May 2007, an 11.2 percent
increase from May 2007. This brings the total morning commute trips to 52,500.

-New record trips taken during evening rush hour (4-6 p.m.): an
increase of 6,000 trips as compared to May 2007, a 10.2 percent increase. This
adds up to 65,100 daily commuter trips in the evening.


"This continuation of record ridership shows that riders are looking
for alternatives to driving and ways to help offset high fuel prices, and TriMet
is a great alternative," said TriMet General Manager Fred Hansen.

Ex-cons

To pieces of shit sat behind me today talking about how they both got locked up and why. Both couldn't have been more then 22yrs old. They laughed about a woman who was raped and murdered (by a cell mate) and were just plain d-bags. I'm sure they rode Max for free today as well.

It sickens me that they both had the same views.

pdxMAX

Friday Eavesdrop

Each Friday I will post the random phrases and conversations that I can hear from my seat. Enjoy.


"It's ok my uncle just moved out of his parents house and he is 38"

"I have to clean the bathroom at home since it's my weekend"

Man says to woman: "Did you vote for Obama in the Primary?"
Woman says: " I'm not gonna answer that!"

-----News Break-----
A small pickup truck just came within about a foot or less of running straight into the MAX that I am on in downtown. The truck came barrelling out of a parking garage and right towards my window! Holy Shit! Ok sorry, back to the eavesdrop.
-----------------------

"If I hold the END button down on my cell while it powers off it keeps vibrating and won't stop, nifty feature"

"You need a job like WalMart cause when have that baby, they will put you on maternity leave, they have to!"

Have a great weekend...

pdxMAX

Can I borrow your phone?

This is not the 1st time I have been faced with this question. Its probably the 5th. The last time I agreed it was for a guy lost trying to get to his girl's house and being from outta town he was way lost. So a 2min call wouldn't kill me.

This morning I step on the MAX and within 30 seconds this homeboy asks me if he could use the phone or if I could make a call for him and tell the girl on the other side that he's on his way. Without hesitation I agree. Now for those that may know me that would not have been my answer 2 or 3 years ago riding the MAX or better yet the NY/NJ PATH train. It woulda been "get a effn job!" Or "sorry can't help you". But living on this side of the world has calmed or smoothed out my rough edges.

Anyway, homeboy tells me the number, I call and no answer. He thanks me and says "she prolly still got da ass in bed". At that point she calls me back. I put the cell on speaker and let them chat. The thought crossed my mind as it did the last time I lent my phone...'don't jack my phone'.

Homeboy made his call and got his pickup lady to meet him at the next stop. He thanked me again and hand back the cell. Now I know what your thinking, what if she calls back the next time she is looking for him thinking this is his cell? What if it was just a drug pickup and she gives my number to the police. (That would be funny!) You know what, who cares. You live only once and if you stay hiding in the shadows I'm sure your time here will get real boring.  I answered a simple favor from a stranger, maybe one day when I need a favor a stranger will lend me a hand too.

pdxMAX

Monday Night Max

The crowded train is packed tight with mostly high school kids making their way to the Lloyd Center mall. Conversation fills the car from front to back. Cell phone chatter about what's for dinner to dropped calls ("did you hang up on me!?") Can be heard from any seat. I'm in the front of the train near the driver and for some reason there is this obnoxious beeping coming from behind the driver's door. Has he fallen asleep at the controls while riders exit? Are we stuck at this stop and its time to walk? What the heck is beeping and why can't he make it stop!?

Now the driver has just parked the MAX and powered it off at this stop. He comes out of the drivers pod and says "Someone was nice enough to pull the Emergency Door lever at the stop" as he makes his way to check both cars and reset the door. Ah ha! The Emergency Door Is Ajar Alert was going off, I get it now.

He's back and spits "I love 2 year olds!" as he starts the train back up without delay. The overhead speakers should be playing Willy Nelson's "On the Road Again".  That might help me from overhearing some kid on his cell explaining the meaning of Eminem's song "Cleaning out my Closet" to his girlfriend.

Ok good he got out, thank you God.

Almost home...

pdxMAX