This weekend, as most was full of transit usage for Joleen and I.  We got tons of things done, the only "slow" progress we made in our tasks, shopping, and entertainment was when we had to eat up an extra 25 minutes driving out to Beaverton for an oil change.  But I digress, I'm going to run through how this weekend has been gang busters of fun!

Friday

Friday started off with departure from work and the routine streetcar ride home.  Often I walk, probably most of the times, but the Portland Streetcar is still a regular routine that creeps into the daily commute.  We didn't do much this Friday, aside from starting a Blockbuster Account since I received a cool award from work with freebie Blockbuster rentals, coke, and popcorn.  I figured this would be a good reward for a hard week of work, but upon arrival we realized we ought to catch up on our movies.  So instead of just getting the freebies I signed up for an account and we rented enough for a good solid weekend of movie watching.

Saturday

Saturday kicked off with an early rise for Joleen and I to go meet our friend Shannon Atkinson.  We strolled our block to the streetcar and rode down to Isabel's in the Pearl District.  Isabel's has some great breakfast and I'd assume lunch too, if you haven't been check it out.  We grabbed breakfast and then strolled through Rich's Cigar and Magazine Rack.  After that we grabbed a ride with Shannon in the Subaru STi back to the Apartment.  He went his way and we prepared for the rest of our day.

We both jumped in the Daytona Blue (my 350Z) and headed for Beaverton Nissan in - yup, you guessed it - Beaverton.  Upon arrival they informed me they had no openings until Tuesday.  After finding that out, with no fear, because this is Portland, I told them, "I don't care, can you keep it until then?"  They looked at me confused and almost distraught.  But as always, in Portland, being I drive the Daytona Blue no more than is necessary to maintain the engine between race track runs and back road debauchery I didn't care if they kept it for two weeks!  They decided that was fine and Joleen and I headed for the Beaverton Central stop.  They've recently added a road that cuts across the tracks and a railroad gate pending the construction of a new building.  I hear the building has lost funding too so now the lot sits rather empty.

We arrived and waited about 3 minutes for the Blue Line MAX back to downtown.  We boarded, warmed up nicely aboard on our trip.  I dozed off for about 5 minutes (imagine doing that on Highway 26 coming into town, I dare ya!) and then we pulled out of the tunnel.  A few more minutes and we made our transfer to the Streetcar.  The Portland Streetcar pulled up but we decided to skip this one and instead walk a few blocks more to purchase a nice piping hot Mocha at Stumptown.  This was a good idea as it was freezing outside and a Mocha was exactly what we needed.  After enjoying that we checked the arrival time via my phone browser, which failed.  So we though, "to hell with it, let's just go see if it is coming".

We left Stumptown and as we approached the store there went the Streetcar rolling by.  We decided to catch it at Couch, which we pulled off since it got stuck and extra cycle at the Burnside light.  The Burnside light being a regular thing that catches the Streetcar to make it a 30 minute trip instead of a 20 minute trip to south waterfront.  We rode back and prepared for the other legs of our logistical needs for Saturday.

After a little while it was mail box and bill paying time.  After rounding up the mess of mail and bills we again strolled the block to the Streetcar.  We boarded and transferred to a MAX.  Usually we walk east from the Streetcar stop to the mail box, but we figured since it was freezing cold and we where able to just walk on board the arriving MAX, why not?  So we went down the 3 stops and got off.  After grabbing the mail at the 3rd Street UPS Store we headed over to try getting some money orders for some other bills and such.  That was a no go but we where downtown so piddled around walking back around and perusing some shops here and there.

We finally ended up making the decision to board the #17 21st/St Helens back up to Lovejoy.  We had a short wait of about 8 minutes, the #17 21st/St Helens arrived none too soon, as we felt the icy cold begin to beat us up.  We boarded and got warmed up on the bus.  They always seem to be nice and cozy.

I've noticed, speaking of cozy, that certain vehicles maintain warmth and others are really bad at it.  The older buses (not sure which series numbers) maintain heat and warmth horribly.  The older MAX cars from the late 80s also are really bad at maintaining a consistent temperature.  The later series MAX cars however are awesome at maintaining a temperature.  Only on the warmest days does the air conditioning not cool the air.  But really, I know better than to expect such with the doors opening every few minutes.  The warmth and coolness of the Streetcars also is maintained well.  At least when the air conditioners aren't leaking all over the floor or just not working (tell me again why we bought products from a foreign country that ARE NOT as good as the American built cars?  Oh yeah, that's right, cuz we're superficial and wanted snaking "modern" looking streetcars.)  Overall the TriMet fleet does very well, fortunately the temperature is moderate in Portland so even the worse performing vehicles do ok and are more than tolerable.  I would however like to see these vehicles designed in a way that is more efficient for maintenance of temperature etc.  The buses should be the best at it since they are likely losing and gaining the least amount of air during passengers on and off.

But back to the tale of the transit usage for this weekend.

After our ride home on the #17 21st/St Helens we settled for Saturday to enjoy some movie watching and such.

Sunday

We arose Sunday with plans to go war gaming, grognard style, but alas that didn't play out well.  We eventually did get moving and as always headed for the trusty Streetcar.  After a short hop we arrived downtown and headed for the transfer to the #14.  We had a few errand to take care of along the way such as ticket purchase and such so we handled those en route.

The errands went well except, as usual, the ticket purchasing.  We tried 7 machines and finally one allowed us to purchase the tickets and then spent about 3 minutes printing each individual ticket out of the 10 pack I bought.  ANNOYING to say the least.  Especially after trying 6 machines before that either didn't work, didn't take credit cards, or couldn't read the credit card, or outright failed the transaction.  So I guess TriMet is up to massive "FAIL" with the ticket machines again.  Can we get a petition signed to hire a competant company to collect fare money for TriMet or something?  It's not that freaking complicated but they make it seem like an act of Congress needs passed. (maybe it does?)

After that we decided no more tickets would be purchased from TriMet, we'd head to Fred Meyer out on Hawthorne.  We then went to the ATM and performed the rest of our errands.  All of those went smoothly, Bank of America rocked as usual, and we then used the phone browser to check on the status of the #14 we wanted to catch.  It stated 2 minutes, we waited and supposed it was a "ghost" #14 because it never got there.  About 7-8 minutes later though a #14 arrived and we boarded, again happy to be in the warm.

We arrived out on Hawthorne and began our shopping and other entertainment.  At Fred Meyer we got our other tickets we originally set out to retrieve.  Fortunately, Fred Meyer doesn't screw up ticket purchases like TriMet does.  To be fair, TriMet has never refused to sell me a ticket when there was a  person involved.  Just the machines suck.

After some shopping, picking up a few knickknacks here and there we boarded another #14 to head up a dozen blocks or so to the yarn shop.  Upon arriving I went to the attached coffee shop and took a seat.  Ordered a French Press Single Coffee and began reading my latest book purchase from Powell's.  After Joleen finished her yarn explorations and found the needles she needed, the purchase was made and we chilled in the coffee shop waiting for the #14 for our last leg back into town.  We checked the phone browser and had a 5 minute wait.  With good timeliness we headed out a couple minutes ahead of time and along came our ride.  We boarded and got off downtown on 2nd.

We grabbed a rocking Thai meal at E-San and then headed a block or two up for #17 21st/St Helens.  Begin Sunday it was running on a really crappy frequency.  With over 15 minutes to wait we decided to just walk up and grab the next Streetcar.  It arrived in a timely way and we road home.

Later in the day after a movie and some video games I decided I was going to ride around the Portland Streetcar loop to just do some thinking and knock out this blog entry.  In addition of course I find it comforting and relaxing to do work aboard.  So I donned my wireless card (SprintPCS) and laptop, strolled out again to the Streetcar stop and boarded...

...the rest is this entry.