Category: USA

Seattle: Rainfurrest convention (aside)

So last weekend I was taking a motorcycle course near the Sea-Tac airport, where the classroom portion was in a hotel conference room.

It turns out that the hotel was the overflow hotel for the Rainfurrest (“furry camping”) weekend, and I did see a few people with animal tails and/or full animal suits on (alas on photos). It reminded me of a CSI episode where a murder happens at a similar anthropomorphic convention (i.e. people in animal costumes). Trippy.

And yes, I did pass the motorcycle course, thank you. Though a scooter is easier and thus more fun for now.

NYC: subway/train expansion

On a recent flight, I watched a show called “Build it Bigger” – this episode was about NYC which is doing a $15 billion expansion/renovation of the subway and train systems in Manhattan (to be done by 2015). I hadn’t heard of this before.

  1. They are building a new subway under 2nd Ave.
  2. They are building a new east-west midtown Manhattan subway line.
  3. They are expanding Grand Central Station… underneath it! Both a new concourse and new platforms.
  4. They are building a new train tunnel from Long Island to Grand Central Station (so trains can go there instead of the less convenient Penn Station, since most commuters want to get to midtown)
  5. They are also building/improving system interchanges

Some cool stats (remembered reasonably accurately but don’t quote me on it J

  • The subway system is almost 100 years old (started in 1913)
  • The subway system started as 3 competing systems
  • Grand Central Station (GCS from now on) is the busiest train station in the world
  • 750,000 people pass through GCS every day (on 750 trains)
  • There are 400 miles of subway and train tunnels in NYC (20 subway lines and a few train lines)
  • The new train tunnel to GCS will add another 150 trains and 250,000 commuters per day to GCS
  • What slows people down in the stations/interchanges is not having a clear line of sight (and signage) to know where they are going, so in some places they are adding support beams to the ceiling so that they can get rid of support columns in the middle of the “hallway”

Some of the construction feats are cool:

  • Literally underneath GCS, they are building a huge new concourse with soaring ceiling, in such a way that you can’t feel or hear anything up in GCS
  • The new train tunnels to GCS are being bored as 4 smaller tunnels that are then joined by exploding the rock in between them (while also adding support beams)

Seattle: lottery tickets

Why is there a scratch-off lottery kiosk in the airport? State-providing gambling is ok, but online poker is illegal…

On a related note: while channel surfing, I recently saw a show about lottery winners, and before a commercial they’d pose a question that got answered afterwards. In particular, 2 such questions/stats caught my eye (these may be a little inaccurate now, but you get the gist):

Q: How much do Americans spend on lottery tickets every week? A:$300 million (equals $15 billion per year)

Q: How much is paid out in lottery winnings each week? A: $100 million (note this means only 35% of ticket purchases is paid out as winnings)

 

Amtrak train, Vancouver to Seattle (final leg)

I’ve only taken an Amtrak train once before, and not across the border, so I was curious to take the train instead of the bus, even though it’s 1 hour longer (but more comfortable).

First I had to pick up my ticket, since you can’t print it online – you get a reservation code which you give to an agent (actually, they only needed my name this time) who then gives you your ticket and picks a seat for you at that time (i.e. no advance seat selection).

Then I had to go through immigration and customs at the Vancouver train station (much like large Canadian airports have US immigration and customs onsite) and baggage x-ray. There is checked luggage which you hand in after customs, and your luggage appears on a carousel at the destination terminal, much like at an airport.

The seats (2 on each side of the aisle) were pretty comfortable (more so than an economy airplane seat), leaned back, with a regular power port and free wi-fi (ok speed, and it worked on both sides of the border). Unlike the bus, you can get up and stretch your legs, and there is a dining car with hot and cold snacks and alcoholic beverages. I just bought a cup of Ivar’s clam chowder which hit the spot. (Steve picked up a snack for me while I was in line because I thought I heard someone say that there was no dining car. Oops)

The train stopped at the border for 10 minutes, literally right next to the big Peace Arch car border crossing, where 3 US agents went through the train checking passports and collecting the customs forms (though they didn’t look at bags).
Semi-surprisingly, about 8 people around me were visiting boyfriends or girlfriends across the border.

A few stops and hours later the train pulled into Seattle. Voila. End o’ journey!
(32 hours door to door including the train; for a while on the train I could barely keep my eyes open, but I wasn’t able to sleep)