I try to avoid public transit whenever possible.

Out by you, it's not so bad. Regional rail is decent. Subway, El and city buses all bite the big one.

I use the train once per year, and that's to go from Norristown to Manyunk for the bike race ... driving and parking for the event SUCKS ASS to the point that I am willing to walk a mile STRAIGHT UP A FUCKING KILLER HILL to my friend's house (He lives on The Wall, has a party every year). I've missed it the last couple years, and am hoping my schedule works out to go this year.

I don't know how people live in some parts of that area, specifically some of the small streets off Manayunk Ave. Super steep hills, super narrow streets...eek!

I use public transportation almost 500 times a year. Walking to and from subway stations 4 times a day keeps me fit as a fiddle. I probably walk 3-4 miles total each day as I commute.

I always had this notion that people who live out in the country get lots of excercise. I never noticed when I was a kid, visiting my granparents out in the country, that they never ran around in the woods like we did. Now when I visit my mother in law in the country, I realize there is no place to take a walk. It's all farmers' fields and narrow two lane roads with speeding cars. We eat and sit on the couch. I think city dwellars are more fit than country and suburb dwellars as a result.

I use it almost every day, and generally don't mind it. Especially since I switched from taking a bus and the El to a regional rail train.

I decided to drive today though. Paid $23.50 like a big retard and parked in the garage across the street from my office.

Glatt, I see you're in NoVA...orange, blue or yellow line? When I first moved there, I lived about 4 blocks from Clarendon.

Absolutely. I live in the country and stay with the BF in the city regularly. I walk far more in the city because we get everywhere by public transport there, but here at home I use the car and the farthest I ever walk is to the gate ...

(edited to remove unnecessary ])

Sycamore,
They have garages where you can pay 23.50 to park for a day?! The only place I ever had to do that was at a downtown hospital when my wife had our daughter.

I've lived at various stops on the Orange line for the last 15 years. It's a nice place to live. The METRO gets really crowded though. Some trains, you just have to let go by because there isn't enough room to squeeze on. It's changed a lot in the last 15 years that way.

Now that I think about it, I didn't see a whole lot of parking available in downtown DC. I think it cost me $8 a day to park in downtown Bethesda (used to work just off Wisconsin Ave.).

I work in the heart of Center City Philadelphia--lots of garages down here. I believe the garage I park at is the most expensive one in the area--$23.50 for up to 12 hours. I'm a complete 'tard for doing it, but it's incredibly convenient (I walk out the door, across the street, go up an elevator and there's my car).

I enjoyed my time in Arlington...nice little place. I was only staying there temporarily though, and Rho and I couldn't afford it over there when we got our own place (wound up moving to a complex near the West Hyattsville green line station). I never had any problems getting on at Clarendon, but the transfers to the red line at Metro Center were a real son-of-a-bitch.

I grew up in DC, near a Red Line stop, and had no need for a car until after college, for the commute.

When I was in Junior High School, there was a baskeball game during the middle of the school day, where the faculty played the school team. It was a pretty cool idea, because we got to miss some classes, and talk up the rivalry a little before the game. A welcome diversion. We always loved assemblies.

The whole 8th grade was sitting in the bleachers, watching the game, when some little troublemaker threw something out onto the court. All play immediately stopped, while they cleaned up the mess. I felt some of the stuff hit me too, sitting in the stand. So I reached down and saw some dried split peas sitting on the stand next to me. I picked a few up and showed them to my friend sitting next to me.

One of the teachers, down on the court, saw me holding "something" and passing it to my friend. So he called me down to the floor and told me to bring whatever was in my hand. In front of my entire grade, he started accusing me of throwing this stuff down on the gym floor and ruining the assembly for everyone. I denied it, but he didn't believe me. Fortunately, one of my regular teachers, who knew me, saw this going on and intervened. I didn't get in trouble after all. I learned a little lesson about fairness that day too.

The government drafted anyone that was still breathing during the war. As to your boots, the US supplied the ARVN Forces (Vietnamese good-guys) with uniforms and weapons and they all tended to be short, thin and about a hundred pounds or so. (Tough little fuckers, though) Maybe you got a set of boots produced for the Army/Republic of Viet Nam

The people on the steep streets (Levering/Lyceum aka "The Wall") sometimes deal with it by paying for parking rights on one of the lateral streets. I don't understand how they get anywhere in the wintertime, though, especially with Philadelphia's tendency toward bad ice storms.

You can tell a kid's from Manyunk because his downhill leg is longer than his uphill leg.