Please vote for my pic in the Washingtonian Photo Contest (title is “Atop the dome”) http://link.bomblemail.com/photo
Monthly Archives: April 2010
What in God’s name is a Holga, you may ask? My friend Bart Lissner told me about them a while ago, and I have been looking for one ever since.
Some people at work asked about this bulky ugly duckling today. But, I must admit, it takes wonderful pictures. I worked a photoshoot the other day, and was talking to the photographer about this camera, and replied deadpan that “you can buy ‘em from from Urban Outfitters.”
Imagine my surprise. Those of you who know me realize I have never set foot in one of their stores before. So, off I went. The camera was $46 and it uses 35mm film. For those of you considering, you can also buy them on here. Do your research, as some require modification.
You can see all of my first roll of Holga pics by clicking here. Some of them didn’t come out because of the poor lighting in the Capitol’s underground bowels. Lesson learned. I thought I got a good one of Pat Leahy too. Darn. It’s called the Bomble Holga.
One cool thing about them is because a.) it’s a film camera and b.) it’s manual advance, you can do double exposures. Like the one below.
From Wall Street Journal’s Best of the Web….
MoveOn.org Loves Insurance Companies
Yesterday brought an email from Nita Chaudhary of MoveOn.org, which is raising money for a new ad campaign:
Republicans are on a rampage to repeal health care. It’s time to fight their misinformation with the truth. We’re launching a big campaign to make sure voters know how health care reform will help them and put the Republican lies to rest.
This reminded us of another fund-raising email, from last December. It urged us to sign a petition:
America needs real health care reform–not a massive giveaway to the insurance companies. Senator Bernie Sanders and other progressives should block this bill until it’s fixed.
That petition was from MoveOn.org! Of course, the bill was not “fixed.” The Senate approved it on Christmas Eve, with Sanders voting “aye.” It became law last month when the House followed suit.
Now MoveOn is raising money to defend a law it called “a massive giveaway to the insurance companies.” How dumb does it think its backers are? That was a rhetorical question, because apparently they are very dumb: As we write, the group claims to have raked in more than $183,000 from its latest pitch.
Come one, come all. Public transportation advocates. Health Care Reform advocates. Let’s sit around the table and discuss the latest and greatest in one of the country’s most heavily subsidized systems, WMATA, and how they’re about to ration their services to the DC area.
My sister posted a link on her facebook page, saying:
“so wmata, you propose cutting service btw king street and huntington on the weekends as well as after 9:30 on weekdays. great effing idea.”
One of her liberal friends commented “that sucks,” so I responded “Wait, you mean that the government can ration services? Who knew?” I was just trying to make a pointed remark alluding to health care, but given my hatred of WMATA, this got me thinking that I had to delve further.
Sorry, Vice President Biden, we can talk about how AMTRAK has never made a profit another day. But let’s ride the rails of metro down memory lane.
First off, I took a brief look at the history of metro fares since metro was created. They’re behind the cost of inflation on most fares. If you’d charged us correctly the entire time, people would be less likely to bitch about a dime increase, even if they’re not paying for it. People usually assume they’re being ripped off. But I guess we’re being ripped off when a bunch of dipshits are running our public transportation system and aren’t charging riders adequately, thus increasing the cost to taxpayers who may/may not use the system.
I looked at the history of metro fares, and used the first and last years for comparable data. 1984 and 2008. In its infancy, WMATA was pretty much just the red line and a few small versions of the current lines. They’ve expanded their services dramatically, at great taxpayer expense, and they haven’t done a good job at pricing. Maybe they hired too many people from AMTRAK?
As you can see, metro has only had fare charges above the 1984 charge’s inflation adjusted numbers in boarding charge, maximum possible fare, and maximum possible fare to metro center (a no longer relevant statistic I am sure). Metro drastically expanded service and didn’t keep fares consistent with cost. I am not an expert on their historical ridership, but even I know this is a bad idea.
On metro’s webpage, their response to “What are the economic pressures on the Metro operating budget?” is…. (get ready for this)
It’s very important to understand that virtually no transit agency in the country, or in the world, makes a profit or even breaks even. Each year, Metro customers pay only a portion of the actual cost of each ride they take. The remainder comes from state and local government, often referred to as a local subsidy, and other revenue such as advertising. Metro and the state and local governments have kept fare increases below the inflation rate for more than a decade, and even with fare increases, customers still do not pay the full cost of their transportation.
Yes. That’s really their answer. Well, nobody seems to make a profit with this whole public transportation scheme, so why should we? Break even? Ha! I do not give two shits about whether you’ve kept costs under inflation. I know you have. I did the math myself. My question is, why did you do that? Were the local governments not burdened enough, so you thought they could use the extra expenses? Jesus.
Some other observations from their FY10 budget. Metro has more than half of a billion dollars in bond debt, in addition to their current budget shortfall! Each year, they spend over $1 billion dollars on labor costs. $1.03 billion, in fact.
The average annual pay for metro employees is $66, 756. This is higher than the average pay every state in the country and the national average.
Metro bus’s cost per passenger is $3.62. $2.50 of that is subsidies. Average passenger fare for buses is $.86. There is something wrong with that. Every time I hope on a metro bus, cha ching! $2.50 disappears, just not directly from my wallet, but from the federal subsidies and local government “contributions.” My friend who walks to work, my friend who drives to work, my friend who bikes to work, in effect, are paying that $2.50 through their taxes. (I don’t actually take buses, though.)
Metro needs to charge the passengers more, plain and simple. They’ve been screwing this up for far too long.
Here are some ideas for how metro can raise money, and maybe even break even.
- Charge more for general fares. People value consistency, and if they’d been paying the right price all along, you wouldn’t have to propose massive cuts to the system.
- Charge more for parking. $4.50 a day at Huntington equals about $90 per month. My dad pays more for parking in Cleveland.
- Sell more ads. Let people sponsor entire metro cars. I’ve seen enough stupid political ads for the rest of my life. Call me crazy, but letting the National Resources Defense Council run their stupid polar bear ads isn’t going to allow you to bring in a lot of money. Let Google pimp out entire cars with wifi or something. All of these non-profits are probably getting a huge deal, you can get better people to increase revenue in ads. Plus, we’re all sick of political ads.
- Get rid of unions. I’m sick and tired of reading how the local transit union is pushing for second chances for drivers who have messed up left and right. Plus, union labor costs more. The average full time station manager makes $27.65 an hour. I see them sleeping all of the time. King Street has 2 station managers. I see that’s on your proposal to close some entrances. Good. Do that, and get some non-union labor to do the work.
- Fire people. More over, fire the entire escalator fixing department. One of the main escalators at Gallery Place China Town was fixed this week. Only, it had been closed since November. Look, I get it. Overtime costs more money, these employees are unionized and cost a lot of money. Fire all of them and hire contractors. You’ll save a boatload of money.
- Fine the bejeezus out of people. Not once in three years have I ever seen somebody fined. I see people eat, spit, and play music without headphones all of the time. Why not give the ability to fine people to every WMATA employee? I saw a kid at Gallery Place throw about 50 twizzlers onto the tracks. Fine that kid $100 for every twizzler. People drinking coffee. Every morning, every train. Nobody gets fined. Similarly, kids love playing music aloud through their cell phones. It annoys all of us. Please fine them the most.
- Eliminate discounts / free rides. Students, disabled people, and seniors all get discounts. Metro employees, law enforcement, and metro retirees ride for free. Nobody should ride for free. Nobody should get a discount. It’s like at McDonald’s, during your shift you typically get a free lunch, but you don’t get free food when you’re not working. If you’re not taking the train or bus to work, you’ll pay like the rest of us. Many airlines don’t even give unlimited free travel these days.
- Fine people who take up two seats. I am serious. The dude who takes up two seats should have to pay for two seats. Airlines do it. Ask Silent Bob. If you’re too big to fit in a single seat, find a good place to stand. Otherwise you get fined. Similarly, the person who feels he/she deserves both seats should be fined. I don’t care if you think you are important, if that you have space issues. You’re riding in a telescoping death trap with up to 150 of your closest friends. If you really cared about personal space, you’d drive.
- Charge more for people with large bags. Oh, you bring your entire office to and from work every day? That’s your fault, not mine. Can’t carry a normal backpack or satchel like the rest of us? Have to have a roll bag that takes up space. Double fare for you. Traveling? Same thing. Double fare for you. Hey, it’s still cheaper than a cab, and you’re utilizing more space than a commuter. Seems fair to me.
Just got back from a trip to Cleveland for Easter. I went back with Betsy and my girlfriend Mary. Here’s a brief recap.
FRIDAY:
Got up at the ass crack of dawn and picked up Mary. Arrive in Cleveland around 1pm. Mary and I drive around Cleveland, visit my Dad at work, St. Ignatius, and had horrible service at Great Lakes Brewing Company. I was disappointed, but it was Friday afternoon, they were busy, and the basement bar was closed as they were adding some new fermenters. We stopped at the gift shop, picked up some shwag, and headed over to the West Side Market to browse.
Had a Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold at the bar in the West Side Market, where they had an Ignatius flag and football helmet. We tipped well for their good loyalties.
Then we went back to Shaker where we saw my old house on Ingleside Road. After that, we picked up Ali and Betsy and went to MELT, the famed Cleveland grilled cheese place in Lakewood. It was featured on the food network . Mary, Betsy, and I all watched the show, so we were eager to eat there. My mom goes there all of the time and they’re opening an East Side location in Cleveland Heights later this month.
We got there at 6:00 pm, waited over 2 hours for a table, and had our food 3 hours after arriving at about 9:05. Mary had the “Parmageddon” and I had the monthly special, called “The Corny Beast.”
It was described as:
Our wicked version of the almighty corn dog!! An ultra jumbo all beef dog char-grilled to perfection, split and stuffed inside the with double American cheese then slathered with our special cornbread batter and deep fried to a golden brown.
Here is a picture:
This was a good grilled cheese. However, Melt was one of the most inefficient restaurants I have ever been to. Melt kind of reminds me of what would happen if the staff of Big Fun decided to open a restaurant. Don’t get me wrong, I love Big Fun, but it was utter pandemonium. Also, you can read the blog of Big Fun for a sincere, but economically misguided missive on “Buy American.” A bit ironic, given that Big Fun sells antique toys, many of which I am sure were imported from abroad…. But I digress.
So, we got home around 10:30, and I was tired, a bit tipsy, and livid that Melt ran their restaurant so poorly that it appeared to me they didn’t really care about maximizing profit. I went to bed early. I missed being able to catch up with my good friend Mary Beth Heyka downtown to watch the Cavs game, and I really wanted her to meet Mary. Mary B, I’m sorry I missed ya. We’ll be back!
SATURDAY:
Saturday morning came around, and I was up and at ‘em. I woke up Mary and we decided to go to White Castle in North Randall for lunch. It was our first White Castle date and it went well. I used all $15 of my gift certificates for serving on the White Castle Crave Panel, and we still owed them $1.06. We were hungry.
With full tummies, Mary and I visited Heinen’s, our local grocery chain. Good idea to eat first. Never shop on an empty stomach! We picked up some Cleveland delicacies like Stadium Mustard (even though I don’t like mustard) and Patterson’s Apple Cider. Mary went to go see if they sold Steak and Shake Chili — they didn’t — but returned to find me in the beer aisle with three cases of various Cleveland beer in my cart. A 12 pack Great Lakes Sampler, a 6 pack of Eliot Ness for Pete, a 6 pack of Indigo Imp Winter Solstice (I am drinking this right now), and a Crooked River 12 pack sampler.
Those of you from Cleveland will say, hey wait a minute, didn’t Crooked River close? It did. Their beer was delicious. One of my classmates at St. Ignatius’s dad was one of the individuals who helped save Crooked River the first time. Unfortunately, they didn’t ultimately make it. I do not know who is behind their reincarnation this time, but the beer is chilling in my fridge. More reports on that later. The bottles say it’s now brewed in Westlake.
Mary wasn’t surprised that I had 3 twelvers of good Cleveland beer ready for the trip back. We headed back to the Swift house to prepare for some golf at Shaker Heights Country Club. Betsy got roped into playing 9 holes at the last minute, and although it was her second time golfing on a course — ever — she did exceedingly well. She was even putting for a legitimate par once! I only lost one ball, and I shouldn’t have lost it, frankly.
A fun time was had by all, and although my score of 53 for 9 was a bit higher than usual, Shaker is a difficult course, having been designed by Donald Ross, so I was OK with it.
After that, we went to dinner at Grovewood Tavern in Collinwood. It was great, and we caught the end of the Butler game. The girls (Betsy and Ali) split off, and Mom, Dad, Mary, and I went to Beachland Ballroom. We didn’t stay for any concerts, but went downstairs to the store. I got a Hank Williams III poster, and we then departed to Dairy Queen. I was out for the night and went straight to bed.
SUNDAY:
We got up and went to St. Dominic’s, where mass was long with the new-age Catholic music, and Father Fanta did his typical mea culpa to say “come back” if he or the Catholic Church has done anything to push you away.
We then went to Shaker Country Club for brunch before we headed back to D.C.. Traffic wasn’t as bad as it has been, and I got back in time to do some laundry, watch The Pacific, and even write this blog post.
Hope you had a happy Easter.
This is amazing.
