From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net> To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net> Subject: [WSFA] Re: Just passing through ... Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2010 20:44:02 -0500 (EST) Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net> I'm no fan of snow, but it's not all bad. It has caused Metro to cancel their plan to completely shut down a chunk of the Blue and Orange Lines in Virginia starting at 10 pm Friday. As a result, I can go to Friday's PRSFS meeting after all. I'm increasingly frustrated with Metro. Their service has been getting worse and worse, and as for their fares -- if they go much higher, it will be cheaper to just take taxis everywhere. As for snowfall, here in Vienna it's more than knee-deep everywhere that it hasn't been shoveled or plowed. And in many places that it's been shoveled or plowed *to*, it's over my head. And more snow is falling right now. I don't expect to see most sidewalks until March. When there's snow on the roads, there are fewer cars and they're moving slowly. But a week from now, two weeks from now, three weeks from now, when pedestrians still have to walk in the road, cars will be rushing along in their usual numbers at their usual speed, inches away from pedestrians, as if they owned the world. As for Internet at home, computers may be cheap, but Internet service is not. Dialup is comparable in price to my electric bill and my phone bill. Broadband -- which is pretty much a necessity except with a text-only account like mine -- costs even more.