Scotto's Wall Scrawls

“INFORMATION ONLY”

 Metro is preparing for large crowds and extensive traffic detours during Pope Francis’ three-day visit to Washington, D.C. Tuesday, September 22, through Thursday, September 24.

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend events during the Papal visit, which will likely result in crowding and delays on trains and buses, and could produce near Inauguration ridership levels at selected stations.

While many regular commuters are expected—and encouraged—to adjust their work schedules or take advantage of telecommuting, Metro will take steps to provide additional train service during non-peak hours Wednesday and Thursday during the Papal visit. (Metro does not have the ability to add significant capacity during the traditional morning and evening rush hours.)

Riders should expect significant crowding aboard trains and at rail stations near Papal events. Due to crowds following Papal events, riders may need to wait extended periods of time–possibly hours–before re-entering the Metrorail system at certain stations. In addition, bus customers should expect extensive detours and service adjustments as a result of events and associated road closures. All riders are encouraged to allow extra travel time during the Papal visit.

Metro is continuing to work with its external partners to plan for the Mass at the Basilica on Wednesday afternoon, which is expected to place extraordinary ridership pressure on the Red Line at the height of rush hour. Brookland Station, the closest station to the event, is the smallest Red Line station with the ability to accommodate fewer than 5,000 boardings per hour under normal conditions. In order to provide alternates to Brookland Station for the more than 25,000 ticketed guests, Metro and the D.C. Department of Transportation (DDOT) are developing plans for supplemental shuttle bus service from two adjacent Red Line stations: Fort Totten and Rhode Island Avenue. Details regarding shuttle bus service will be provided at a later date, but guests attending the Basilica event are encouraged to consider travel options other than Brookland Station. In addition, Brookland Station may be designated as “exit only” for a period of time prior to the Papal event, and “entry only” following the event. This step will effectively double the number of riders that can be accommodated per hour.

Anyone planning to use Metro during the Papal visit is strongly encouraged to purchase fare media in advance. Each traveler needs his or her own SmarTrip or paper farecard, which should be loaded – in advance – with sufficient value to pay for all planned travel. Riders are encouraged to purchase SmarTrip cards in advance to avoid potentially long lines at station vending machines. Riders can purchase SmarTrip cards online prior to September 14 at smartrip.wmata.com/storefront.

For additional information, please view the news release: http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/news/PressReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=5962

Originally published at The Scotto Grotto. You can comment here or there.

The Metropolitan Police Department has closed 4th street from the corner of M street  in front Harris Teeter to just beyond the SEFC loading dock. There is a suspicious package in one of the trash cans in front of Harris Teeter.

The SEFC 4th street lobby and the loading dock is currently closed.

Please avoid the area until further notice.

The sender provided the following contact information.

Sender’s Name: DOT Alerts

[update]

A block of M Street SE in Navy Yard is closed as police respond to a report of a suspicious package.

The package was reported about 11:25 a.m. on the 400 block of M Street SE, a police spokeswoman said early this afternoon. The entire block, which is home to Harris Teeter, is closed to traffic in both directions.

Originally published at The Scotto Grotto. You can comment here or there.

24 hours of gaming going to help sick kids.

Please help, if you are able.

Originally published at The Scotto Grotto. You can comment here or there.

Went out to lunch with a few coworkers – Kruba Thai and Sushi in DC, a short walk from the office.

Not bad! $11.95 for lunch special – I had drunken noodle, came with a tasty tiny spring roll and miso soup. A reasonable portion, though one of my coworkers who came with me mentioned that it was a great deal more generous on previous visits.

Awesome sink in the water closet -

that poor ent.

We went at about noon, and it was active, but not super crowded.

Nice atmosphere, worth a visit if you’re in the area, but I wouldn’t make a special trip.

Glad to have a little weekend ahead of me. Time to catch up with chores and relax with the family. Next weekend is Chris’s birthday and Valentine’s day. I think we’re doing a nice something at the Royal Tea Room.

Comorbidity of Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder both seem to have reduced since I’ve started working full-time again.

Other things that I feel have helped me.

The mild workout I get walking around DC, especially when it’s not within a large crowd. I’ve found that I think more clearly if

I enjoy Calm.com.  A little bit of guided meditation makes a great deal of difference for me. It’s not just “woo woo” flaky junk, but consistently and reasonablyproven to be of use. The  phone app is good, though I spend a lot of time in front of a laptop or the kindle, the bigger screen helps me to more easily focus. 

Originally published at The Scotto Grotto. You can comment here or there.

Almost Preferable to my shin pain.

Slip-sliding into work today. OPM had a 2-hour delay but I made it in only about an hour after normal schedule. The woman sitting next to me slid on the wet floor and sent a sharply pointed shoe-toe into my right shin. That stung like a son of a bitch.

Random factoid -A 46-sided polygon is a tetracontahexagon using the Greek prefixes.  For the molecular structure of alkanes, the terminology would be reversed (hexatetracontagon).

So… would a 46-sided die be a tetracontahexahedron ?

More random – What is the shaking frequency of a wet badger?

(info re: shaking frequency of wet critters)

wet animal shaking frequency |  
mass of male animal | American badger: 18 lb  (pounds)

f = (11.96 kg^0.22Hz)/M^0.22 
f | frequency
M | mass of male animal
kg | kilogram (= 1000 g)

frequency - 7.6 Hz  (hertz)

     | mass   | shaking frequency
wolf | 48 lb  | 6.075 Hz
cat  | 4.5 lb | 10.23 Hz

Sean M is having LASIK done on his 20/800 peepers.  (20/500 to 20/1,000 : is considered profound visual impairment) Thankfully, he’s close to 20/20 with spex.

I can only imagine 20/800.

It must be like getting a super power. Suddenly not having to worry about glasses in the rain, full range of vision… makes me appreciate my eyes that much more. Needing an appliance to get any sense is upsetting to me – hearing aids would be difficult, too. 

Originally published at The Scotto Grotto. You can comment here or there.

Happy Midweek and Midmonth, Dear Journal. Another day, another 2¢.

Glad to be on the rails home.  I'm chilly and tired, happy to be snuggled up in my homemade scarf. I'm feeling pretty good, though I am more than a little hungry... ready for dinner, for sure.

I was chasing phantoms much of the day today - phone meetings, web searches and inventory taking up the bulk of it. All of it useful, but very time-consuming.  I've got more than a few meetings tomorrow morning, too - I have one user that is very itchy to get his version software in place - I get to teach him about repositories and more to the point, branching/merging. Ideally, this won't be too much of a challenge, but I need to keep things focused and helpful.

_{Drunk Octopus wants to fight you, but I think you're AOK.}

Ah well.. I'm going to get back to reading my documentation - until later, dear journal!

On a semi-tangible tangent - I've got a feast of goodies landing on my PS3 and PC lately. Not sure when I'll have time to play it all!

• Beta for Little Big Planet 2
• Beta for DC Universe Online
• Sam & Max - Free!
• Osmos
• Revenge of the Titans HIB
• Braid
• Cortex Command

The last 4 are via the humble bundle 2 - I got one for me, and another for Shaun W as Double-win Christmas Presents - Proceeds go to charity, and we get games!

----------------
Now playing: Irving Berlin - Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)

Current Location: Red line Silver Spring to Fort Totten / Green line to Suitland / Love Cube to Home

Originally published at The Scotto Grotto. You can comment here or there.

• photos taken- Baltimore /pneu test doodles (bhk's pics at my pneu-check here )
  

Ahh, rise and shine, Washington! It's another beautiful fall day, so stretch and breathe in deep ... but not too deep, unless you enjoy inhaling some of the worst air in the nation. Scientists are putting numbers on information our lungs already knew: the D.C. area "produces more carbon dioxide than several medium-size European countries," the Post reports. This is due primarily to Maryland's coal-burning power plants and our stand-still traffic, though the study notes that this doesn't include other greenhouse gases, like methane. Still, seems like investing in asthma inhalers isn't a bad bet.