week two draws to a close today and i have yet to get in my car to drive to work. i have read a full book, started another, and haven’t lost my temper and had an imaginary confrontation with another driver in that two weeks.

i am loving it and have no plans to stop. if you have been reading some of the posts on my blog about my marta adventures you will know that i have also expanded my marta use beyond my regular commute and discovered that the big. bad marta bus is actually a really easy and relaxing way to get around town.

tomorrow my girlfriend and i are going to try to spend a whole day moving around town using trains and buses.

folks, you really can get around this town without driving. believe me i was the biggest skeptic in the world and i am converted.

give it a try.

in the meantime enjoy the cfpt’s vision of world class transit in atlanta and just imagine the possibilities.

p.s. – i am still waiting on my $25 gift card.

i have been following the saga of grady hospital with some interest, although i really don’t understand the situation as well as i should. it hit me the other day that if i were to have an emergency at home, odds are the ambulance would take me straight to grady no matter how much insurance i have. this makes me thing, if only for selfish reasons, that i ought to care more about the situation.

i know that the grady board voted yesterday to incorporate the hospital as a 501(c)(3) non-profit with control handed over to a non-profit board from the current board which is made up of elected and appointed representatives. i know, like so many things in atlanta this issue has been clouded by issues of class and race.

but i don’t really understand it all. i’m going to be doing some research over the next few days to really grasp it, but was just wondering if any of you had perspective to share. we have quite a few bright, connected commenters on this board so i’m hoping….

Since we’re so commute/transit-focused here lately, I thought I’d share some not-so breaking traffic news. This morning, at approximately 8:24 a.m., 6 cars were involved in a chain-reaction fender-bender.

I can honestly say this was the largest non-highway accident I’d ever seen. All likely the result of someone turning into King Plow as they were travelling Southboud on Marietta Street.

I’m curious, what’s the biggest avoidable/rubbernecker accident you’ve ever seen on a surface street?

Citizens For Progressive Transit have put together a way cool online trip planner. It enables you to plan trips in the Atlanta area using public transportation, your bicycle, and even your own two feet. You choose your trip type (walking, biking, bike to transit, etc.), the time of day, and even your walking or biking speed, and a starting and ending location, then click a button, and it spits out a travel plan for you.

I haven’t used it yet, but would love for public transit folks to give a review. Like, maybe, our very own James, who is conducting his very own experiment with Atlanta’s public transit.

This Friday marks the 100th football game played between the University of Georgia Bulldogs (my alma mater’s team) and the hometown Georgia Institute of Technology Yellow Jackets.

It’s a game they call Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate for a reason.

UGA fans calls GT “gnats”, “nerds” or “techies” and refer to their school as “GTU” or an “Institution”

GT fans calls UGA puppies, refer to UGA as “”The University (sic) of Georgia” and teaches their sons, per their fight song:

But if I had a son sir, I’ll tell you what he’d do:
He would yell, “To Hell With Georgia!” like his daddy used to do.

Needless to say there isn’t a lot of love lost between these two schools, fan-bases or teams.

So fire up your TV set for some post-Thanksgiving blood-letting. The game is on Friday Saturday (I won’t be lucky enough to attend this year, but the game is at Bobby Dodd) at 3:30 on ABC.

Go Dawgs!

photo courtesy of Josh Hallett

i’ll be the first to admit that for the whole time i have been in atlanta i have been about the biggest marta naysayer ever. in fact just last week i published a post called “it’s not smarta”.

i never even considered the idea of using marta as a means of daily commuting. now, i didn’t want to sound like a jerk, so i would often say, “if if didn’t have to ride a bus…..” but the reality is i have never had any plans to use marta for anything other than a trip to phillips arena and then only in duress.

and then last friday hit. my commute from my workplace off of old milton parkway in alpharetta back home to north ormewood took more than two hours to complete. i was frustrated, upset and stressed. i seriously could feel my blood pressure increasing with each time i tapped the breaks (you can read all about my frustration here written when it was fresh and raw).

as i watched each marta train cross over me on 400 zipping into town i asked myself, can it really be that bad?

after some quick research i discovered that i could make the trip in two train rides and one bus. east-west from inman park to five points, north-south to north springs and the 140 bus to my office. so i decided over the weekend to go for it.

monday morning i set out early and parked at the inman park marta station, getting onto the track just before the e-w train got there. i waited maybe 5 minutes at 5 points and then another 10 minutes after getting to north springs for the bus. the bus ride was definitely the longest part of the trip, but also the most relaxing as i settled in to read my book.

but coming home, ah, now that was the joy.

i picked up the bus right outside my office and rode back to north springs, where i caught the train immediately. and words cannot describe the feeling i felt zipping over 400 on the marta bridge and seeing all those cars STOPPED and realizing, for the first time that i wasn’t in it.

all told, the trip took about 30 more minutes in the morning and ended up being about even or a little less in the evening. and for the $$ i saved in gas and more importantly the stress that i never once felt on the commute i am sold.

this morning i loaded thirty days on my breeze card and i will be using marta as much as possible from now on.

so there ya go…one more car off the road….5-6 less gallons of fuel used a day.

oh and by the way, the state of georgia will even pay you to ride transit.

it’s friday, which means i want to hear what you are up to this weekend.

your interpid blogger will be taking in the hawks game at phillips tonight – and yes, after getting thoroughly trashed for my rant about marta i will be giving the trains another shot – but other than that i don’t really have anything on my calendar.

so if you are doing something cool, let us know here and i may just end up there.

All that Capital-praying was such a rousing (raining?) success, there’s a party at my house tonight. Bring your bible, totem or diving rod: any which-way we can, we’re getting water!

What? That’s hip, right? With the @ and the letters instead of words? Right?

I got nothing. All I know is I asked my wife (the hackbooker/craftswoman) what she’s up to this weekend and when she tells me, I go, “Dammit! I forgot to mention that on the Metroblog!” And, check this out, I’m doing it more than a whole day before the event. I know you prefer it when I do that, dear readers, so doing it I am.

What am I on about? The Indie Craft Experience (ICE) annual holiday craft market at the B Complex.

Here’s the data I have on the show:
Who: 70+ vendors of handmade goods
What: Indie Craft Experience Holiday Shopping Spectacular!
When: Saturday, November 17 11am – 6pm
Where: B Complex: 1272 Murphy Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30310
Admission: $5, benefits Hagar House and Handmade Nation

Live downtown? Downtown residents are planning to decorate their homes in white lights, candles, or snowflakes this December. I am a kid at heart when it comes to Christmas lights.

Email here for more information.