Back home in Indiana, my alma mater, Indiana University, used to house a McDonald’s in the Read Center dormitories.
Last May that McDonald’s closed. Let me impress upon you the historical importance of this facility. This was the only name brand chain which accepted residence hall meal points.
I have had a hard time lately putting aside feelings that I’m inadequate, lack direction or focus, have no real employable skills, etc. These feelings started bubbling up in the past year or so, when I realized I was having a hard time finding a job I really enjoyed or a city that really fit me perfectly.
It turns out I am not alone. Anecdotally, numerous friends of mine seem to be experiencing the same challenge of making life ‘fit’ as they had imagined in their younger years. I have seen the term “Quarter Life Crisis” thrown around frequently and, at first, it seemed appropriate.
Then, I hit a paradigm shift. The other day my girlfriend sent me this great column in the NY Times which introduced for the first time (for me) the term “Odyssey” to describe these years.
Odyssey! What an amazing term. This captures the essence of what is now a common life transition in such a positive way. It sounds so adventurous, with limitless possibilities. I love it.
I stumbled upon this excellent set of posts by “Eric” on his Transbay Blog. If you’re interested in BRT in San Francisco, these are an excellent read:
But, this begs the question. Will the Van Ness BRT line go down with a fanfare of failure just like the abysmal T-Third line? MUNI’s strong suit isn’t implementation. Frankly, I don’t think MUNI has a strong suit.
What if MUNI were to not implement this line and instead contracts were offered to private entities to operate the line? Of course, this would never happen give the structure of the city agencies, but work with me. Imagine: the Van Ness BRT line run as a separate entity given clear performance goals, free of unions, horrible bureaucracy, and general incompetence.
How well would a private company operate this line? Answer: very well. Look at Google’s implementation of its free commuter buses for its employees. The instant Google sees trouble with Bauer’s performance delivering its highly paid employees to work safely and on-time, Bauer’s is out. The City has no option like that. MUNI can’t be ‘fired’. Maybe that needs to change.
A cab driver was shot on Sunday morning at the same time I was leaving the garage. Scary! Further adding to this tragedy is that this occurred in the SUNSET district.
Yes, the Sunset. Is there any place that’s really safe in the City?
The driver is thankfully okay.
Coverage:
I love this picture on Muni’s routes and schedules page:
Through clever use of the ‘motion blur’ Photoshop filter they give the impression that Muni transit vehicles move quickly enough to be blurry. Ha ha ha! Boy, that Muni website staff sure has an ironic sense of humor!
I hate blogs. I guess that’s out of the way now.
kfarr 