Okay, I'm calling it. Staunton Mall is a dying mall, if not already basically a dead mall. I was in there on Friday with Katie, and I believe there are now more empty locations than there are full ones. Steve and Barry's, in an anchor spot, is gone. Books-A-Million is gone, in another large spot. KB Toys is gone, as part of the chain's complete closure earlier this year. The former Piece Goods location has never been filled for any appreciable length of time since Piece Goods left. The old CVS/Pharmacy location is still empty after more than two years since CVS moved to a freestanding location nearby.

Additionally, Peebles, while open, is in deplorable shape, with visibly worn tiles, stained and worn carpet, and stained ceiling tiles. That location needs to be renovated badly, but I doubt that Stage Stores (which owns Peebles) will invest in it, considering that all they did when it changed to Peebles from Stone and Thomas was change the nameplate, change some interior signage, and wall in a gift-wrapping counter. Meanwhile, the Belk store in Staunton Mall has never been remodeled since I've been there, aside from changes related to when the store changed its nameplate from Leggett to Belk in 1997 or so. It, however, looks to be in better shape than Peebles, but partly because the lighting is somewhat darker in there, and thus it hides the aging. Still, it certainly says a lot about what a company thinks about certain locations when they don't bother to ever remodel or update them, while remodeling and updating other locations, sometimes multiple times.

I believe I'm to the point where I can honestly question what the point is of going there anymore, since Staunton Mall has very little left in it worth going to. And when Katie and I go there, it's not even really to shop - more to goof off, and if we buy something in the process, then great. I think it might be time to think about what can be done with Staunton Mall in other formats. Something tells me that Staunton Mall would probably do very well if they sealed the mall entrances to JCPenney, Belk, and Peebles, demolished the rest, and rebuilt it as an open-air shopping center, with a new movie theater building somewhere on the property. Considering the size and shape of the property, though, it likely could not be a town center style shopping center (too narrow), but rather a strip-style facility similar to Waynesboro Town Center or Harrisonburg Crossing.

Maybe with a new development to replace Staunton Mall, it will give Greenville Avenue a boost, and give all the businesses along Staunton's southern gateway a little boost...

In reaction to last weekend's violence in the streets:



As I understand it, these kinds of demonstrations will take place monthly until demonstrators are allowed to take to the streets again. For those wondering, cops have been increasingly more aggressive as of late in regards to ensuring that protesters do NOT take to the streets, shoving them back onto the sidewalks whenever possible. Compare this to marches in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007, where, despite lack of march permits, DC cops actually would stop traffic ahead of these types of demonstrations. Nowadays, they get physical with demonstrators, and just start shoving people onto the sidewalk.

If a monthly schedule really does take hold, I'm going to be busy, with Friday night protest marches on DC every second Friday, and Anon raids often on the same weekend. That will certainly give a new meaning to the phrase, "Pope John the Exhausted" after those weekends. But it will be for a worthy cause, because we can't lose our streets.

So Saturday was fun. I got together with Matthew Tilley, and we went to the WMATA Rail Rodeo at Branch Avenue Yard, went up to Dupont Circle (I had to stop by my office), and then checked out Amtrak's National Train Day events at Union Station. The day didn't go quite as expected, but we still had a lot of fun.

Starting out, of course, I picked Matthew up at his house. This would put my new GPS device, an early birthday present from my parents (thanks, Mom!), to the test. It did very well, and sent me on a very quick and easy route there, and one I would not have thought of - essentially the back way into Matthew's neighborhood.

After I picked Matthew up, we got back on the Beltway, and rode over to Branch Avenue Yard to watch the rail rodeo in action. The WMATA Rail Rodeo, for those not familiar, is an annual event where Metro's rail employees get to show off their skills in various competitions. The event is usually open to the public. I'd been wanting to go to the Rail Rodeo for some time, and this year, I finally did my homework ahead of time, writing Metro's customer service department back in late February to find out the tentative date, and following up in late April to confirm that date.

Arriving at Branch Avenue Yard, we stopped at the security checkpoint at the gate, and indicated that we were here to see the rail rodeo. The security guard asked if we worked for Metro (we didn't), checked my driver's license, and waved us in. We parked, and asked a few Metro employees we found where the activity was. They weren't too sure themselves. Okay, fine. We're resourceful. So we went about finding out for ourselves. Matthew and I soon found ourselves in the shop building, where WMATA mechanics perform routine maintenance on the trains.


Wooden cowboy cutouts outside the shops building, welcoming people to the Rail Rodeo.




Train service bays. I was surprised to see this room empty, as others' photos from past Rail Rodeos indicated that Metro usually puts a train up on a lift for people to see.


Mockup of train doors, presumably part of the competition. In the extreme left of the photo, if you look carefully, you can see two mockup rail cars stacked at left. These are presumably also part of the competition, and they had car numbers: 5000 and 5001. In other words, CAFs. However, the illustration of a car end on these cars looked very Rohr-like. Details, details...


More service bays. The far end of this room was cordoned off for a meal that Metro was serving participants.

And then we at last found some people who knew what they were doing. Turned out that we found the judges' table for the mechanics' competition. Unfortunately, we were unable to stay for very long, owing to OSHA requirements - we didn't have the correct footwear (I was wearing my Crocs, and Matthew was wearing sneakers). However, the gentleman that escorted us out of the shops was incredibly friendly, and described all of the various competitions that the mechanics would be engaging in. Most intriguing to me was the "mystery box" competition, where mechanics were presented with a closed box, and using their tools, had to determine not only what the components of the box were, but what the problem was with those components. He also explained that the main benefit of eight-car trains, mechanically, was that they could be used as their own recovery vehicle. Thus if an eight-car train goes down and has to be recovered, they can use the remaining good cars to remove the train from the line. I remembered back to about a year ago, when I was on Breda 4051 when it broke down, and how they had to use a second train to remove our train from the line. He also explained how sometimes a train must be operated from the third car rather than the first during a recovery. In that case, the motorman is in the third car's cab (the next facing-forward cab after the lead car), while another employee is in the lead car giving stop and proceed instructions to the motorman via radio.

All in all, we learned a lot. He also kind of indicated where the rail car events would be held, but questioned how much success we would have in watching.

After we parted company, Matthew and I continued figuring out where things were. Matthew was understandably a little nervous now about continuing to find out what was going on, but I reassured him by saying that the worst that they could do was to ask us to leave. After all, we weren't trespassing - the security guard allowed us entry, and we were quite upfront about who we were - we were members of the public, and rail enthusiasts. Additionally, we were under the impression that this event was indeed open to the public, and thus that we were supposed to be there.

We ended up at the far end of the yard, near the lead tracks to the mainline. There, we observed a six-car train consisting of, front to back, Alstom 6094, 6095, 6088, 6089, 6141, and 6140, leave the yard signed as a Green Line train to Greenbelt, to enter revenue service. Once the train had passed, we walked near the set of tracks that the train had just passed on. From the road, I called to the gentlemen in the yellow safety vests. One approached us, and we asked where the rail car events were being held. He indicated that those events were being held at the other end of the yard. So we went down that way.

Along the way, we saw trains in storage, as well as all sorts of work equipment:


TC-02, a Bridge Crane vehicle.


PM41 (right), and F-507 (flat car, left).

We eventually ended up at the Yard Operations building, where we posed with the cowboy cutouts:



We went into the Yard Operations building, and eventually found the events. There was an obstacle course at the far end, as well as an announcement competition. They weren't running the obstacle course when we were there, but they were indeed doing announcements. There, the operators sat in the cab and made announcements while a judge made notes on their performance. The strangest announcement I heard was for a Red Line train to Shady Grove. This is a part of Metro I'm quite familiar with, as Red Line to Shady Grove is my morning commute. The announcement went like this:

Attention, customers. The Farragut North and Dupont Circle stations are closed. The next station will be McPherson Square. The next station is McPherson Square.

I heard that, and I was like, whaaaaaaaaa? After all, I've been on the Red Line on more than one occasion where stations were closed and rendered impassable for whatever reason, and in those cases, the trains generally serviced the last station that they could, terminated, and then entered service in the other direction (i.e. a Glenmont train would become a Shady Grove train and be on its way). I can't imagine what sort of catastrophe might occur that would require a Red Line train to use the A&C Connection (running between Farragut North and McPherson Square on Track 2) with passengers. Normally, that connection is only used for trains on non-revenue runs, such as the Money Train, or swapping trains between lines. Seriously, to have to leave the Red Line (A Route) entirely and go to a Blue/Orange Line station (C Route) would have to be something pretty serious.

We also got to get some fun yard photos...


Rohr 1165 in the yard.


Breda 3217. The train operator is competing in the announcements competition. The judge is visible in the right-side window.


CAF 5139. Again, announcement competition is underway, with the judge seated at the opposite side of the cab from the operator.


Yard signal at the end of the storage track. This signal is always red.

We also got into a great conversation with a train operator about various odds and ends. Much to their credit, and contrary to Metro's normally well-earned reputation for crabby customer service, everyone at the rodeo was incredibly friendly. Not one rude individual in the lot of them.

Eventually, one of the supervisors, wearing the special 2009 WMATA Rail Rodeo shirts (what I would do to get one of those shirts!), asked us why we were there. Again, I explained that we were members of the public there to watch the rail rodeo. Now is where we were finally set straight. This also explained why we were the only non-employees to be at the Rail Rodeo, for an event that we were led to believe was open to the public. I had thought it was simply poor turnout by the public because Metro had not promoted the event this year. Turned out that this year, they weren't running the rodeo as a family event, but rather just as an employee event. And thus they asked us to leave, and they got a retired train operator to escort us back to the car. Fair enough.

Obviously there had been a breakdown in communications somewhere along Metro's chain of command, and thus why we were led to believe by customer service that the event was open to the public and allowed entry by the security guard, but that the event was actually not public. Unfortunately, such seems to be typical of Metro, and so while we were disappointed, we were also not all that surprised. However, we did have a great conversation with the gentleman who escorted us back to our car.

However, that wasn't the end of our day. Not by a longshot. Leaving Branch Avenue Yard, we drove over to Branch Avenue station, and caught the train. There, we got Alstom 6104, part of the original carpetless Metro pair. How cool was that! We then rode over to Dupont Circle, since I had to check on something at work. After swinging by work, we got back on the train, and rode over to Union Station, where the National Train Day event was in full swing. Amtrak was showing off some trains, and so we got to see a number of trains on display.

On the way, we saw someone make a stickered statement on CAF 5031 about Metro's policy of turning back trains at Grosvenor during rush hour:



That sticker read:

This is an asinine policy.
The trains that go to Shady Grove are packed, and the trains that go to Grosvenor are half empty. This policy only serves the purpose of creating a comfortable ride for the wealthy residents of Northwest DC and Bethesda. Please change this.

All I have to say is, that takes guts to do - not only to write it up, but to sticker it on, though unfortunately, I doubt anyone in a position to change it will see it (though perhaps I'm helping with this Journal entry). And I for one agree that turning back Red Line trains like that is a poor idea, though I'm a victim of the other side, as Metro also turns trains back at Silver Spring, which leaves me with reduced service to my home station of Glenmont. I've been put in the situation of explaining to friends that not every Red Line train goes to my house. I'm like, "Not that Red Line train!" regarding Silver Spring trains. But anyway...

Arriving at Union Station, we had to wait in line:



And then we got to tour the Acela Express.


Business class coach.


Snack car service counter.


Restroom facilities.

Leaving the Acela, we got to see Superliner and Amfleet cars. I was quite familiar with the Superliner cars, since that's what the Capitol Limited uses, and that's what Mom and I took when we went to Chicago in 2007. Interestingly enough, Matthew and I ran into same room attendant that Mom and I had on the westbound trip. We didn't, however, run into Lou, our room attendant from the eastbound trip. Turns out Lou was at a conference in Los Angeles...


Superliner I cars.


Matthew is all smiles in a Superliner Roomette seat.

Meanwhile, much to my surprise, the Superliner dining cars had been renovated since Mom and I took our 2007 trip. Take a look...





Fancy! And then finally, we got to see the Amfleet cars.


Amfleet dining car. This is more like how the Superliner dining cars looked when Mom and I traveled.


Amfleet passenger coach.

And lastly, we got a peek at the rail car used in the Obamas' inauguration train ride:



And that was it! From there, Matthew and I rode back to Branch Avenue, and then I took him back home. All in all, I'd say we had a fun time, and my GPS has proven itself to be a worthy tool in navigating unfamiliar areas in my local area.

I've been known to comment about Metro's YouTube videos as being beyond corny, but this one was actually pretty good. This time, Metro did a spoof of the in-flight safety videos that the airlines do. Take a look:



Ask our IT manager at work - I was laughing out loud watching this video during my lunch hour. My favorite spot was when the lady said, "Smoking, eating, or drinking is not allowed," and waggled her finger at the camera, making fun of a Delta Airlines safety video where the woman said, "Smoking is not allowed on any Delta flight." That Metro actually spoofed that was hilarious, and it shows that Metro has certainly graduated from last year's controversial Pope bobblehead ad. Plus they showed a little attitude, saying, "We really don't care what you're having for dinner, or who needs to pick up the kids." Now if they would also mention those whack jobs who sing so loudly from their seat that I can't even drown them out with my big headphones (it really happened - thankfully, he got off at Forest Glen, still singing), sing songs from the 1960s badly off-key, and people who carry religious signs while railing against George W. Bush (even if I do agree with them). Additionally, kudos to Metro for showing the computer-animated customers getting mad when discussing door problems. After all, it only takes one jackass to cause a door problem, and when that happens, we all get offloaded.

Meanwhile, Metro apparently mix-and-matched their rail cars in the video, showing Alstoms, CAFs, and Breda rehabs, and as a result, made some mistakes. Most prominent was when they referenced the glow-in-the-dark exit signs on all emergency exits. The way Metro was talking about it, you'd think that these existed on all 1,140 rail cars in their fleet. In truth, these signs exist on only 364 rail cars - the Breda rehabs. These signs are not present on the Rohrs, the Breda 4000's, the CAFs, or the Alstoms. Thus while Metro is leading passengers to rely on these glowing signs in an emergency, these signs do not exist on a majority of the cars. Another oopsie, though less serious, is that some rail cars (Alstoms) also have intercoms at the center of the car, beneath the emergency door release handle.

As a side note, I've used the emergency intercoms twice, both for situations that were important, but not really emergencies. Once was on November 28, 2006 on CAF 5191, when I alerted the operator that they had never turned the interior lights on. A second time was on July 25, 2007, when, on Rohr 1064, I used the intercom to alert the operator that I was sending people through the bulkhead door when the doors failed to open at a station stop.

So all in all, it was an amusing and well-produced video, though Metro made a mistake in leading people to believe that some safety features exist on all cars, when they actually don't.

Nothing like a mid-spring day to hawk some stuff for the rush-hour crowd. Today, there were two groups out doing advertisements.

First, the sign-spinners, on the west side of 19th Street:







It appears that they're out promoting Dance Flick, which is slated for release tomorrow. Apparently, they're dressed like characters from the movie.

And then another group, near the large grate at the south entrance to Dupont Circle station:







As you can see, it was set to look like a beach scene, complete with sand on their giant blanket, tarp, or whatever it was underneath, and these two college-aged girls were out sunning themselves while telling passers-by of the latest promotion by Zipcar, a car sharing service in the Washington area.

Dupont Circle is certainly a happening place in DC, that's for sure. That's why I love it that my office is in Dupont Circle - because I'm where a lot of the fun is! Seriously, I've loved the Dupont Circle area for a long time, well before I moved up here. And some of the advertising can be amusing. Anyone remember the man in the chicken suit?

Meanwhile, the area is also ripe to be raided by Anonymous, because I've seen Scientologists on multiple occasions handing out their literature as well. I think I need to keep a few You Found The Card cards on me for just that purpose...

What an odd coincidence that all these new anti-war photo sets end up hitting the site on Memorial Day weekend of all times. That's just slightly awkward, but it's right in line with my policy on photo sets. They are published as soon as they are finished. I do not hold sets for a certain pre-designated "street date".

Still, this brings a few things together. For one, it explains why there have been few Journal entries this month, as I took production of these sets into high gear. It also explains how MPDC Captain Jeff Herold knows me, plus lends context to a Journal entry I wrote from home between the two G20 events. Then I also kind of went silent about Funk the War 7 and ANSWER's alleged march on the Pentagon, which I referred to as the March on Crystal City. I did that partly because we spent more energy in Crystal City than at the Pentagon, and partly because I just don't like ANSWER all that much, and calling it what it was drew attention to ANSWER's off-the-wall march plan.

Still, I believe I've outdone myself with this. 218 photos and seven pages in the Crystal City set still just amazes me. This is why record-breaking photo sets are few and far between, with a few years between record-breakers. After all, from mid-2003 to February 2007, An Urban Comparison was the largest set, a distinction it held for nearly four years. Then on Valentine's Day 2007, J27 became the largest by a small margin. Now today, March on Crystal City blew that distinction clear out of the water, as I broke that record by 77 photos (J27 has 141, and Crystal City has 218).

Of course, just because this project is finished doesn't mean my work is done. I still have lots more waiting to be posted in photo set form...

Once again, this place is clean. And it looks quite nice, if I do say so myself. After all, Mom's coming tomorrow morning, and so this place has to look its Sunday best. And when it comes to Mom, you see, I must pay extra attention to cleaning, because Mom just can't help herself. If it doesn't look spotless, she'll clean. I still remember the time she "accidentally" swept the kitchen floor.

Still, though, having visitors over on a somewhat regular basis is one way I keep the place all neat and tidy. After all, I don't want people to see the place the way I see it when I'm just kind of doing whatever. I want to put its best face forward.

Of course, if I really want to make the place look sharp, I need to get serious about decorating. I've had a whole bunch of picture frames from IKEA, still in their original shrinkwrap, in a corner in the blue IKEA bags for nearly a year and a half. The idea is that I'm going to take a bunch of my pictures to somewhere to have them printed on nice paper, and then frame them. After all, what better way to decorate than to have selections from your own body of work on the walls, right? And I have plenty of photos that would look very nice on the walls here. It's just a matter of actually doing it already...