In re: sharks

I sat in the front of the first metro car tonight while I was headed home, and watched out the front window, which is usually too reflective to see through. Going on the track between stations was like some perverse Disneyland ride - perverse because Disneyland has a higher safety record than WMATA. it did make me want to go on Indiana Jones 15 times in a row.

Happy Shark Week!

Speaking of shark, my new platform pedals that I switched to on my bike are made of shark. The stabby bits on them keep biting me and then I am awkwardly bleeding and people are constantly informing me that I am bleeding and asking if I am okay.

HEYOOOO CALIFORNIA
now, onto appeals, and all the way up to the Supreme Court, so we can get this ridiculous one man-one woman bullshit kicked out of the country. No mans! No womans! All people!

Five Votes Down

You should watch the whole 5 minutes, but this is the coolest part ---

from 4:17 to the end, this is the answer to the question from Thaddeus in Lansing, MI, "Is the new administration going to get rid of the 'don't ask don't tell policy[?]"...
Robert Gibbs, incoming press secretary in the Obama administration: "Thaddeus, you don't hear a politician give a one word answer much, but it's yes."

Like I needed more reason to be in love with the administration-elect?

I would be happier if they got the rest of their GLBT-agenda-ducks all in a row. I suppose that's something we can work on. Like Michelle Goldberg says, Gibbs doesn't elaborate on how long it will take, or what it will look like, and Rick Warren will still be giving the Invocation at the Inauguration, and President-Elect Obama still opposes same-sex marriage BUT it seems to be a step forward! I am being optimistic.

In that video, by the way, the No Child Left Behind/Education answer was totally campaign-y (hello? you won? now do stuff?), and the universal healthcare question was barely even worth that politicked answer. Overall I'm pretty pleased so far.

In Inauguration News, the Metro has shown definite signs of preparing for the 20th! They have added many many 8 car trains (as opposed to the standard 6), and there are Metro Police everywhere, and of course there was the incident with the Two Metro Dudes, and also there are announcements about the train schedules for Inauguration Weekend ALL the time.

It basically rocks.

Stirred

A funny thing happened today as I was riding home on the Metro. Very ... odd.

After the Grosvenor-Strathmore station, the train goes into the underground tunnel on its way towards downtown. It honked the horn, which is not abnormal, and honked a lot, which is a little abnormal but not terribly strange. I was reading made-up case law for mock trial and wasn't paying attention when the train came to a dead stop in the middle of the tunnel. Not terribly unusual.

I did pay attention when half of the door (only half) nearest me opened, and two Metro employees climbed in with flashlights and bright yellow vests and what looked like purple gas masks? One of the guys banged on the conductor's compartment and said "THANKS HAPPY NEW YEAR MAN" and then the train kept going. The two Metro dudes stood around reading newspapers that they picked up from the floor of the train.

Then, one of them said "we're in Bethesda," talked to the conductor for like 10 seconds, and went back to reading the paper. Between Bethesda and Friendship Heights, the train stopped again in the middle of nowhere, the shrimpy white pasty dude got out his keys, crouched down and opened the door, and the two Metro dudes jumped down and disappeared.