Just a Normal Workday

Monday, February 07, 2005, at 02:36PM

By Eric Richardson

I know, I've been a bit quiet here over the last few days. That happens sometimes...

Taking public transit to work is starting to become a comfortable routine. This morning I walked to the corner at 9am to catch the DASH D, rode that to Union Station, took the Gold Line to Pasadena, and then caught the 177 to JPL. Not quite clockwork, but it's a workable life.

I got some good reading done today, which was nice. I'm always sort of torn inside on this; I want to read but at the same time I get caught up just looking out the window and taking in the sights. The last few times the sights have won, but today I kept my head in my book.

My sense of timing isn't quite perfect yet, so I got to Pasadena about twenty minutes before the 177 was set to arrive. I walked around the block for ten minutes or so, and then spent the rest of my waiting time on the phone. Still, it's better to be twenty minutes early than five minutes late.

Coming back I was on the same bus as a guy who had also been on the Gold Line and the 177 on my way in. We started talking after getting off the bus at Memorial Park. He lived right near the Southwest Museum station. He shared my major complaints with the 177: obviously it's 50-minute headways and that's pretty rough, but almost as importantly the buses they use ride awfully on the freeway. The 177 takes a little stretch on the 210, and the little high-floor buses they use jostle you around worse than anything else I can remember. I had to give up on reading on the way back; I couldn't keep the book still enough to focus on it.

Getting into Union Station I wasn't sure if the DASH D ran until 6:30pm or 7pm (turns out it's 7pm, so I could have taken it), so I walked down to the Red Line and rode that to Pershing Square.

Walking back from there I went down Hill to stop at the ATM, headed south, and then east on 6th. Waiting for the light to change at Broadway I noticed a lady on the other side with the familiar blanket spread out full of pirated DVDs. Stopped at the light was an LAPD squad car, just eight feet or so from her illegal wares. Yet neither of the two chose to acknowledge the other's presence, though both surely were aware of the situation.

Now I need to figure out something to make for dinner.