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Back in Bloomington
2011-09-30 14:31Got in yesterday. Currently facing the choice of (a) getting up, because it's after 2pm or (b) trying to sleep even more, because I've only had 11-12 hours today and probably need 16...
Non-public transit
For readers who don't know the town, it's a college town of ~60,000 about an hour south of Indianapolis. After Greyhound stopped coming[1] the only non-car way into town was Bloomington Shuttle, a private shuttle to the Indy airport that ran every 2 hours and charged $25. A few years ago they got competition from Star of America, running every 2 hours and charging $15 -- but that scheduled itself 20 minutes before BS, as if to poach all their customers with predatory pricing rather than trying to complement them by running an hour before.
Somewhat to my surprise, Bloomington Shuttle is still around, and at the same time, but is calling itself GO Express now, and even more surprisingly, has gone from the dinky van-like shuttled they'd had to full coach buses, with a bathroom in back. Total overkill for the 5 people it had yesterday. Very useful for me, since my plane got in about the same time Star would have left, but I'm baffled as to the business model.
After experiencing the plethora of yield signs in the Boston area, I look upon 3rd street even more critically than before, especially that deadly freeway-like stretch between High and Jordan, where I tried crossing after being dropped off near Wilkie dorm by the bus. I suppose a moat of moving metal helps insulate the homeowners in the south from the dorms to their north.
Airports
All airport gates seem almost the same: big windows, flat expanse, trees or hills in the distance. Sometimes tall enough to really dominate. Baltimore was a bit greener than Logan. Indy is distinctively for a lack of features in the distance, it's just flat.
Indy's also still distinctive for the central pre-security restaurant area, one of those "outdoors indoors" setups I love, with not just high skylight roof but plots of potted trees. It'd be a cool place to hang out if I ever had time and reason to hang out there rather than rushing between shuttle and gate.
Mr. Hibachi
The much-praised new restaurant certainly had an amazing range of buffet options, and a decent cook-as-you-watch hibachi grill. $11 for a dinner buffet I'm told, which seems decent. A while back Bloomington was seeing $11 for Indian lunch.
Misc
Got to talk with Hofstadter for a short while, in a break from his packing for France. He's translated another novel, this one from Italian. I forget the title, I'm sure it'd come up if you look.
I'd say the air mattress was comfortable but I suppose a first night and an exhausted one isn't a fair judge.
A growing number of my webcomics are getting irregular or even freezing until November. Away to RSS with them! No more frustrated checking!
Hmm, 4 hours in which to pick what music to inflict on the wedding reception before Gamer's Guild, and get some sunlit exercise. Guess I'll stay up. More sleep is soooo tempting though.
Non-public transit
For readers who don't know the town, it's a college town of ~60,000 about an hour south of Indianapolis. After Greyhound stopped coming[1] the only non-car way into town was Bloomington Shuttle, a private shuttle to the Indy airport that ran every 2 hours and charged $25. A few years ago they got competition from Star of America, running every 2 hours and charging $15 -- but that scheduled itself 20 minutes before BS, as if to poach all their customers with predatory pricing rather than trying to complement them by running an hour before.
Somewhat to my surprise, Bloomington Shuttle is still around, and at the same time, but is calling itself GO Express now, and even more surprisingly, has gone from the dinky van-like shuttled they'd had to full coach buses, with a bathroom in back. Total overkill for the 5 people it had yesterday. Very useful for me, since my plane got in about the same time Star would have left, but I'm baffled as to the business model.
After experiencing the plethora of yield signs in the Boston area, I look upon 3rd street even more critically than before, especially that deadly freeway-like stretch between High and Jordan, where I tried crossing after being dropped off near Wilkie dorm by the bus. I suppose a moat of moving metal helps insulate the homeowners in the south from the dorms to their north.
Airports
All airport gates seem almost the same: big windows, flat expanse, trees or hills in the distance. Sometimes tall enough to really dominate. Baltimore was a bit greener than Logan. Indy is distinctively for a lack of features in the distance, it's just flat.
Indy's also still distinctive for the central pre-security restaurant area, one of those "outdoors indoors" setups I love, with not just high skylight roof but plots of potted trees. It'd be a cool place to hang out if I ever had time and reason to hang out there rather than rushing between shuttle and gate.
Mr. Hibachi
The much-praised new restaurant certainly had an amazing range of buffet options, and a decent cook-as-you-watch hibachi grill. $11 for a dinner buffet I'm told, which seems decent. A while back Bloomington was seeing $11 for Indian lunch.
Misc
Got to talk with Hofstadter for a short while, in a break from his packing for France. He's translated another novel, this one from Italian. I forget the title, I'm sure it'd come up if you look.
I'd say the air mattress was comfortable but I suppose a first night and an exhausted one isn't a fair judge.
A growing number of my webcomics are getting irregular or even freezing until November. Away to RSS with them! No more frustrated checking!
Hmm, 4 hours in which to pick what music to inflict on the wedding reception before Gamer's Guild, and get some sunlit exercise. Guess I'll stay up. More sleep is soooo tempting though.