September 03, 2003
Where the alphabet starts with Z.
Sitting at the Dopehouse writing code (duh) and half-watching tivo (duh!) and thinking about Sara's cooking (duh!!), and I hear the strains of Tones on Tail's "Go!". It's the backing sound for a commerical. However, since that song was also on the soundtrack to Grosse Pointe Blanke, it's not as surprising as sitting at the counter of Bob's Donuts and hearing a Nissan ad set to "Gravity Rides Everything" by Modest Fuckin Mouse. Do a Google search on "Nissan Modest Mouse" and you'll get a bunch of smart alterna blogs on this same topic.
This way to the future.
Planners are again barking about the Transbay Terminal, about spending three-quarters of a billion dollars to bring Caltrain a little further downtown. More interestingly, they've sprinkled housing and public space into the plan, which will immediately grab the attention of legislators.
A signifcant problem with the idea is the massive cost with relatively little improvement to infrastructure: a rail terminal for Caltrain that doesn't directly connect to BART? or to MUNI trains? that's a big horse pill. And a rail terminal that doesn't include Amtrak? Presumably the Amtrak bus bridge could stop at the new Transbay, but with this kind of a budget I'd hope that actual train connections might happen. There isn't anything in this plan that really improves the transportation nature of the Transbay Terminal itself. -- except that you're potentially adding more customers for the buses to the immediate area.