Tuesday, March 14, 2006
(From Wilmington, DE) 'I Read Your Blog'
by Tom Bozzo
Why? My policy of not blogging subjects on which I'm likely to be required to render a professional opinion did sort-of pay off, as I'd heard from an attorney who works for the Postal Rate Commission's Office of the Consumer Advocate that the URL of this blog had been passed around the Commission at some point. Hopefully, they won't think less of me the next time I'm in the witness hot seat.
In other news, I was hoping to taking a joy ride on the Acela Express from Washington to Wilmington, but the non-reimbursable price differential led me to settle for the Acela Regional, which uses equipment I knew as the "Metroliner" in my semester of commuting between Wilmington and College Park (go ask Stephen Karlson for the full trainy details, I'm tired). Interestingly, the reserved fare on the Regional was only about $5 more than I remembered the Metroliner fare to be back in early '96. The Metroliner was only a modest splurge over the unreserved local N.E. corridor trains back then. Now, the walk-up-at-3:30 one-way fare for the 4:00 Express was a whopping $75 premium over the Regional. Yeah, I'm sure I could have been even more shocked walking up to certain airline ticket counters. But I don't make nearly enough money to justify the Express's premium to arrive 20 minutes earlier in Wilmington. So for now, the latest in higher-speed U.S. train sets remains a mystery for me.
I spent the bulk of the day in a series of seminars given by a professor in an area in which I've spent a solid chunk — almost surely a majority — of my work time over the last 9 years and 9 months. No comment on the substance of the exchanges.
Why? My policy of not blogging subjects on which I'm likely to be required to render a professional opinion did sort-of pay off, as I'd heard from an attorney who works for the Postal Rate Commission's Office of the Consumer Advocate that the URL of this blog had been passed around the Commission at some point. Hopefully, they won't think less of me the next time I'm in the witness hot seat.
In other news, I was hoping to taking a joy ride on the Acela Express from Washington to Wilmington, but the non-reimbursable price differential led me to settle for the Acela Regional, which uses equipment I knew as the "Metroliner" in my semester of commuting between Wilmington and College Park (go ask Stephen Karlson for the full trainy details, I'm tired). Interestingly, the reserved fare on the Regional was only about $5 more than I remembered the Metroliner fare to be back in early '96. The Metroliner was only a modest splurge over the unreserved local N.E. corridor trains back then. Now, the walk-up-at-3:30 one-way fare for the 4:00 Express was a whopping $75 premium over the Regional. Yeah, I'm sure I could have been even more shocked walking up to certain airline ticket counters. But I don't make nearly enough money to justify the Express's premium to arrive 20 minutes earlier in Wilmington. So for now, the latest in higher-speed U.S. train sets remains a mystery for me.
