Always a joy

I love people that load up on the cologne before they go into work. Especially when it's super sweet smelling, like rotting flowers. Oh, and if they have really bad breath and breathe on you the entire commute in, that's fantastic as well. If you hit your head on the plastic hand straps that hang from the ceiling poles, that makes for a fun commute. Finally, if you read in the paper about how the board of directors for metro don't ride the train or bus with any consistency during the year because it's not convenient for their commute, you must have been sitting with me today as I rode into work and you are ecstatic.

Single tracking

Probably the most aggravating two words a metro rider will ever hear are "single tracking." This means that whatever lines are running in a particular direction are restricted over a set space to one line only. In other words, it blows. Invariably these always show up when you're in a hurry. Unlike on the beltway when people will jump on the shoulder if they're in a hurry, you have no where to go when this happens. Forget any immediate plans that you had because you're going to be sitting. Those two words ruin anyone's day because you automatically add 20-30 minutes onto your commute. That and the odds are that you are stopping and starting the entire single track stretch, so best of luck if you have motion sickness. If it's a cold day, like today, you have the joy of having the heat blasting with all the stopping and starting. You are at the mercy of public transportation. Fantastic times.