I jumped aboard the #14 headed into Portland after attending the kick off night of Bar Camp Portland #3.  I decided the bus would be a good spot to finish up some blogging and test out my new Clear USB Wimax Device.  We made the loop into downtown and headed back out Hawthorne in short order.  As always, #14 is well past the average load of bus routes with a solid 30+ people aboard.  Keep in mind, it is 8:00pm and it is this full.  This isn’t rush hour, it’s a regular hour for the #14.  🙂

I immediately started churning through some tech ideas and following up on the weeks training and activities, clarifying what I’d learned and want to keep in memory after this week of training.  However I had to interrupt myself as the short ride to the Fresh Pot on Hawthorne was complete.  I jumped off and continued my written banter (follow for link to my other blog).

After a short while I decided to continue testing out my Clear USB Wimax Device and see about some looping about town.

Earlier Trip and a Clear Disconnection

Earlier in the day I left work after training and boarded the #9.  I had waited a bit up at Momo’s on 10th for some coworkers but I got a txt to head on over to BarCamp and needed to go ahead and run a quick errand before hand.  I sat in the back of the bus, with a clear signal on my Clear, I started surfing the tubes.  However around the lead up and while crossing the Ross Island Bridge I had a 30-45 second disconnect.  This would lead me to believe that this is a hole in coverage right in this area.  I’ll have to see because that is a pretty important area to have coverage.

The Idea Behind My Thinking Place & Why it Becomes My Thinking Place

Riding transit as anyone knows is a great way for me to relax, unwind, do a little coding, and when able to connect to the Internet and really get some things taken care of.  There is nothing so chill as riding around on the bus, or better yet on the MAX, Streetcar, or WES and doing a bit of catch up or fun side projects.  Buses work great, but are sometimes bumpy and I can’t really pull out the laptop, those routes I can’t use for stepping out and doing some thinking.  The routes that are smooth though work well.  The MAX & Streetcar on the other hand are pretty much always smooth and I can ride around aboard those modes and work for hours.  The best though, is the WES.  Unfortunately it has the least efficient route and schedule of anything.  I do still need to go into the office, and the WES is just not in a very usable place.

What else makes transit a great thinking space?  Simply put, I enjoy observing people, learning the psychology and what makes people do what they do.  The only place one can get an honest vertical slice of humanity is on transit, especially in Portland.  There are a few segments of society that won’t ride transit that I can’t observe, but I’ve seen enough of their phobic actions to know their actions and behaviors.  Transit users are interesting to me.  So in addition to getting work done I’m always learning.

What else makes transit a great thinking space?  One never knows when that odd conversation or new idea will pop into ones head while hearing conversations, ramblings, or even the slightly imbalanced person might say something of pure genius.  Transit, and riding around without worrying about crashing into something or someone, using a minimal cost impact mode environmentally and economically just sets me at ease.

All in all it is a great place for a trip about, a random thinking, good thoughts, and general entertainment of sorts.  Really, in the end, I am even when introverted and antisocial, a people person.

Well, that’s the entry for today.  I’m going to try and get back to my regular interview schedule for next week and also have some prospective thought pieces coming up on what would happen if transit ridership in Portland went from sub 10% of the metropolitan area trips up to 15%, 20%, or even 30-40%.  I might even follow that up with or include what would happen if the ridership increased to 60-80% of trips in the area.

Just imagine.  It would be a serious concern to tackle.