Metropolitan Rural

Two weeks ago I was standing in a conference center in Scottsdale, AZ.  I was with a good friend and business partner trying to hock our new business service to potential clients.  Things went really well and we’ve had a lot of follow-up and planning going on since.  Between that and trying to catch up with the new class I’m teaching, these past 2 weeks have been extremely busy.   I finally feel like I’m caught up at this point and wanted to share a few thoughts that have gone on with me the last several days.

1. I was really impressed on Friday night when we stopped by our local PetSmart to pick up some bedding for our guinnea pig.  Parked right next to us was a shiny, black Ford Escape Hybrid.  This was a car my wife and I had considered last year when we bought our new one.  It gets an EPA estimated 34 MPG in the CITY!  That’s right, 34 MPG In the city for a small SUV, that’s very impressive.  Still, we don’t drive enough to really justify the 10 grand extra that would have cost us.  What impressed me most was the license plate.  It read, “City of St. Louis, Director of Public Safety.”  Yep, a city vehicle.  And for an office that’s undoubtedly putting a lot of city miles on it.  Very smart decision and good use of my tax dollars.
2. Over the weekend I heard that Metro had finally announced their rate increases for next year.  My monthly pass will be going from $60 to $68.   Still not bad I guess.  My only problem still is the possibility that my express route could get canceled come spring.  That would mean my 35 minute trip to and from work would now become nearly an hour (if everything is on time).  That extra 25 minutes each way everyday makes me not want to use Metro.  I mean, I live about 5 miles from work, it shouldn’t take me an hour to get there, I could nearly walk that far in that amount of time!  So, I’m still thinking of options for me and waiting for the official announcement, but look for an extra car on the road for morning commutes come spring.
3. On Saturday I read a note on Mayor Slay’s website (he calls it a blog, but it hardly is considering there are no comments allowed) encouraging Metro to work out a deal to allow their system to be integrated with Google Maps.  I too would agree this is a great thing.  With my business I’ve started, I’ve got a cell phone with a data plan and built in GPS.  Google Maps has been great to have on my cell phone to look up directions.  To have easy access through there to bus routes and times would be awesome.

So, things have been busy, the holidays are upon us, and the boy is at the airport now on his way to visit his father for 10 days over Thanksgiving.  I’ve got lots of cleaning and organizing to do around the house so we can set up a Christmas tree in a couple of weeks and so I can turn our front “junk” room into a home office over the holiday.