Today, October 26, 2005, I Andrew Wambach, officially become a legal adult around 8 AM (the time I was born). It has taken 21 years to get this far and now I can finally join the rest of the adult world and finally order a beer at a restaurant. The activities of the day inlcude going to class and work at the minitex followed by dinner with the folks, roommates, and girlfriend at Vescious, my favorite italian eatery in Dinkytown Minneapolis.
Afterwards the bro, Franky J, and the roommates are takeing me out for a night on the town to check out some of the great bars that the Twin Cities has to offer. Although I am not entirely sure where we are going, I can assure you that it will be a great time. For those potentially worried about my well being, i don't plan on getting so wasted that I pass out and die or through myself off a bridge. I know people have been concerned about people turning 21 and over drinking, but I am not that kind of drinker. This will sound cliched, but I think I can handle my liquor pretty well. Those German genes come in handy after all.
Anyway, I'll be sure to make another post thursday morning (the day after) to let all the readers how the night went.
To quote a song by Something Corporate, "I'm 21 and invincible".
Laters yall and see you at the bars...man that sounds lame (oh well) :)
Andrew
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Hibernation season starts early for the Caboose
Sleeping Drew -photo taken by the KURight around October, the seasons begin to change drastically in Minnesota. Fortunately we have had a beautiful fall so far with warm temperatures and not too many days of rain. There were a few storms near the end of September that caused some trouble but so far things have been pretty pleasant. Cool temperatures at night ranging in the low 40’s make for great sleeping weather and “hunkering down” underneath the covers or cuddling closer to a significant other when they accidentally kick off the covers (sorry about that Kristen).
Around this time, people begin to notice changes in their Circadian Rhythm or what is known as the “Biological clock”. It is a process in your mind/body that wakes you up at the same time every morning or if your unlucky every night at 4 AM and won’t allow you to go back to sleep. For me, I notice the natural instincts of sleeping in and hibernating begin to take hold right about now.
Take for example this morning. Last night I went to bed around midnight (my usual time) and was out like a light after doing some light reading. In anticipation for the morning, I set my alarms with the hopes of getting up and heading into campus early to catch up on some important reading for classes.However, nature or my body it seems had other plans.
This morning I woke up at about 6:45/7:00 AM, physically got out of bed, walked over to the bottom of the stairs and stopped. I remember thinking to myself, “It’s still dark out, screw this I am going back to bed.” The problem is I did just that!!! Instead of getting dressed and ready for the day I went back to dreamland.
Now I have to admit, that bed of mine is very comfortable, and when it is cold in the morning and still dark out, it calls to me saying “don’t you want to spend a few more minutes with me?” Like the smell of fresh cookies will draw you to the kitchen, the warmth of the covers and the softness of the sheets pulls you in only to latter face the hard reality that when you look at the clock it reads 9:23 AM, not 7:23, not 8:23, but “oh god no not 9:23" and “I am so going to be late for my class” AM.
I like to refer to oversleeping as my own personal version of hibernation. Though the true trophy on resembling animals in their hibernation practices has to go to my roommate Kevin who from most of the time that I have known him can sleep until 1, 2, at the latest 3 PM.
I know this does not excuse me being late for class, but humans need their sleep. That’s one of the reasons why I some day hope to never have class on a Friday or never have to do anything with my Fridays or at least be able to sleep until 10.
If I was to be an animal in my next life, I would choose to be one of two. The first choice would be a bear. How cool would it to be a bear living in the forest, eating berries, wrestling with other bears, spreading my bear seed with female bears for the betterment of the gene pool, mauling the occasional woodsman who gets to close to the cubs or my cave, and then like Yogi stealing the occasional Picnic baskets from unsuspecting campers.
The other choice would be a house cat named Henry. I could lie around all day or go exploring in the house of my owners looking for mice to kill and other forms of prey to show that I can contribute around the house. Mostly the thought of being petted and massaged doesn’t sound like such a bad life.
On second thought, the bear is still the coolest one that I have come up with in a while and if souls truly do transcend space, time, species, etc, I would like to come back as a Grizzly Bear living in the wild.
What kind of animal would you want to be in a next life? And if you could, would you hibernate?? You know I would.
Think about it, and drop me a comment
Until next time
Andrew, or should I say Boo-Boo
“Hey Boo-Boo, I am smarter than the average bear!” –Yogi Bear
On second thought, the bear is still the coolest one that I have come up with in a while and if souls truly do transcend space, time, species, etc, I would like to come back as a Grizzly Bear living in the wild.
What kind of animal would you want to be in a next life? And if you could, would you hibernate?? You know I would.
Think about it, and drop me a comment
Until next time
Andrew, or should I say Boo-Boo
“Hey Boo-Boo, I am smarter than the average bear!” –Yogi Bear
Monday, October 17, 2005
Minnesota…tough place to be a sports fan
I swear we are cursed. Whenever any one of our teams in the state; be it private, public, professional, or college doesn’t matter, is just getting good and has the chance of being champions or the best in the country, something happens that messes it all up.
Ultimately we choke. Pure and simple.
No matter what sport it is, our teams find new ways to lose. The Vikings are overrated and this is not a rant about them. The Twins, an ok baseball team, but I hate baseball so I am not going to give them the light of day.
The team that I am talking about is the Minnesota Gophers or the goof-ers as we called them this weekend after the close loss to Wisconsin in the final minutes of the game. Minnesota’s punter fumbled the snapp and tried to punt the ball, which was battered down and recovered for a Wisconsin touchdown with no time for the Gophers to come back.
The Wisconsin fans were their usual creed saying “Sucks to be a Minnesota fan today, huh??” It may have been tough to be a Minnesota fan on this day, but none of us Minnesotans had to make the drive down I-94 to “where are you from?? Oh that’s right, WISCONSIN”, be it Madison, Milwaukee, or whatever bum-fuck part of that state you are from (pardon my French I am a little upset over the loss still). This was a border battle, and that's why I am being harsh on the Wisconsinites. Often we can be nice and polite to each other, but not during football season especially when we play against each other at the dome. It would be no different showing up to watch a game at Camp Randall as a Minnesota fan. This is the event where things become hostile between our two states. On the bright side, our states are better than the Dakotas and of course we both get to participate in the "Who Hates Iowa, We hate Iowa".
On th other hand, Wisconsin did have some help from the officials. Minnesota had at least two touchdowns taken back because of penalties, holding of course, which if you look carefully is in every single play of football to a degree. A number of other calls where questionable as well. The point is we didn’t get outplayed, Minnesota made some bad decisions in the final minutes of the game. Laurence Maroney who ran for 258 yards contributing to Minnesota’s 510 yards total (compared to Wisconsin who only had 366 yards total) was unstopable and Gary Russell, who had almost 140 yards rushing and two touchdowns, was a force as well. I do have to give the Sconies some credit in that Stocco had a hell of a game with third down conversions due to the lack of a pass rush on the part of the Minnesota defense.
Here is the problem, Glenn Mason played “not to lose”, when he should have played “TO WIN”. Mason redeemed himself last week by defeating Michigan at Michigan by putting faith in Russell who later broke a 61 yard run to put Minnesota in prime field goal position to win the game. Why didn’t he do it this time? Where was the gutsy call to get us the three yards and the first down to run out the clock and all the Minnesota fans get to brag and Minnesota has a chance at a Big Time bowl? What would have been even better than getting the first down, would have been the kicker recovering the ball from the fumble and then falling in the end zone for a safety.
But oh well, we choked, and that happens. And we lost to Wisconsin that happens too. On the flip side, we have the opportunity to play them again next season and get our revenge. Minnesota and Wisconsin have one of the oldest rivalries in college football, and that is something to be excited, not angry, about. It just would have been really nice to have the jug and the axe back in the trophy case. I guess we'll have to settle on the jug.
Thanks for indulging the rant,
Andrew
Ultimately we choke. Pure and simple.
No matter what sport it is, our teams find new ways to lose. The Vikings are overrated and this is not a rant about them. The Twins, an ok baseball team, but I hate baseball so I am not going to give them the light of day.
The team that I am talking about is the Minnesota Gophers or the goof-ers as we called them this weekend after the close loss to Wisconsin in the final minutes of the game. Minnesota’s punter fumbled the snapp and tried to punt the ball, which was battered down and recovered for a Wisconsin touchdown with no time for the Gophers to come back.
The Wisconsin fans were their usual creed saying “Sucks to be a Minnesota fan today, huh??” It may have been tough to be a Minnesota fan on this day, but none of us Minnesotans had to make the drive down I-94 to “where are you from?? Oh that’s right, WISCONSIN”, be it Madison, Milwaukee, or whatever bum-fuck part of that state you are from (pardon my French I am a little upset over the loss still). This was a border battle, and that's why I am being harsh on the Wisconsinites. Often we can be nice and polite to each other, but not during football season especially when we play against each other at the dome. It would be no different showing up to watch a game at Camp Randall as a Minnesota fan. This is the event where things become hostile between our two states. On the bright side, our states are better than the Dakotas and of course we both get to participate in the "Who Hates Iowa, We hate Iowa".
On th other hand, Wisconsin did have some help from the officials. Minnesota had at least two touchdowns taken back because of penalties, holding of course, which if you look carefully is in every single play of football to a degree. A number of other calls where questionable as well. The point is we didn’t get outplayed, Minnesota made some bad decisions in the final minutes of the game. Laurence Maroney who ran for 258 yards contributing to Minnesota’s 510 yards total (compared to Wisconsin who only had 366 yards total) was unstopable and Gary Russell, who had almost 140 yards rushing and two touchdowns, was a force as well. I do have to give the Sconies some credit in that Stocco had a hell of a game with third down conversions due to the lack of a pass rush on the part of the Minnesota defense.
Here is the problem, Glenn Mason played “not to lose”, when he should have played “TO WIN”. Mason redeemed himself last week by defeating Michigan at Michigan by putting faith in Russell who later broke a 61 yard run to put Minnesota in prime field goal position to win the game. Why didn’t he do it this time? Where was the gutsy call to get us the three yards and the first down to run out the clock and all the Minnesota fans get to brag and Minnesota has a chance at a Big Time bowl? What would have been even better than getting the first down, would have been the kicker recovering the ball from the fumble and then falling in the end zone for a safety.
But oh well, we choked, and that happens. And we lost to Wisconsin that happens too. On the flip side, we have the opportunity to play them again next season and get our revenge. Minnesota and Wisconsin have one of the oldest rivalries in college football, and that is something to be excited, not angry, about. It just would have been really nice to have the jug and the axe back in the trophy case. I guess we'll have to settle on the jug.
Thanks for indulging the rant,
Andrew
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Drew Victory, Mouse=Death
I am betting most of you have already figured out by the title of this post that I was able to kill the little bastard. Somehow last night I was able to get some sleep (only two hours) and when my alarms started going off, who did I see in my window crawling around like he owned the place?? You guessed it! That little punk mouse. This was when I decided that he had to go; the little fucker had already chewed up my screen seven ways from Sunday with about 8 chew/crawl holes that he had created throughout the night. I don’t know what time he got started, but boy he was determined even though it wasn’t going to get him anywhere because the window into the house was still shut.
With that I ate some breakfast and readied for battle. I threw on my trusty shoes and a shirt and trudged out to the backyard through the back porch. I think he heard me coming because when I got to the window well, he had already ducked back down into his hole. Frustrated, I went back inside and waited for him to show up at the window and start crawling around again. The second time I went out through the front door and sneaked around the side of the house trying not to get him to make a break for it. I waited patiently until he popped his head out of the ground and he had crawled through the screen when I sprung my trap.
When I was watching him crawl around, he always went the same way, this made it easier ton anticipate his movements. As soon as he was through the screen I sealed off his exit and the hole he had recently popped out from so that to escape me he would have to dig a new hole. The next 20-30 seconds where all human instinct on getting rid of vermin. I bashed the critter with my shovel repeatedly until it stopped squealing and moving. Then I scooped him up and tossed him in the bushes.
I would have rather the mouse had met his end in the claws of a Hawk or Owl, but obviously this mouse was clever enough to evade those types of birds. I also would have preferred either trapping him with a mousetrap or poisoning him, however we had none of these things at the house on Lindig. So it had to be me, either I was going to kill that mouse or it was going to keep doing damage to our house.
Now I know there has got to be somebody out there saying “that’s a terrible thing to do, how can you kill a poor defenseless creature that didn’t do anything to you?” What they need to understand is: Mouse, squirrels and chipmunks all may look cute but they are rodents. It was because of rodents like mice and rats that killed over half of Europe’s population by helping spread the Bubonic Plague. Rodents also do damage in the form of chewing on electrical wires in your house that can end up burning your house down, or building large nests in your basement, attic, or the top of your chimney in the case of squirrels. And another thing, these creatures are not defenseless. They are small, fast, and maneuverable and have teeth, sometimes even have rabies or other diseases. People on campus should know what I am talking about, when you walk by a garbage can and all of a sudden this squirrel about the size of a housecat jumps out at you, you instantly think to yourself or out loud
"That is the biggest fucking squirrel I have ever seen!!”
People need to realize that rodents are not man’s best friend, those jobs are already taken by dogs, cats, and fishes. The world is not how it is shown in Disney films, if it where believe me I would have a pet Raccoon named Rosco and we would go cause trouble together. In reality, Rosco probably spends his time digging through garbage cans and scareing Freshman kids who wander to close to his nest in the tree near the law school. I swear these Raccoons can get to be the size of dogs and would like nothing more than to get into a fight with a drunken student.
So thus ends the 2 part battle between the mouse and the Drew, coming up this weekend two big time rodents will battle it out on the field as Minnesota hosts Wisconsin at the Metrodome for BIG TEN FOOTBALL. I know my favorite rodent, Goldy Gopher, is totally going to exterminate that damn Badger.
Rah Rah Rah for Ska-U-Mah… Go Gophers!!
M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A
Minnesota, Minnesota, Yeah Gophers, RAH
Until next time,
Laters
Andrew
With that I ate some breakfast and readied for battle. I threw on my trusty shoes and a shirt and trudged out to the backyard through the back porch. I think he heard me coming because when I got to the window well, he had already ducked back down into his hole. Frustrated, I went back inside and waited for him to show up at the window and start crawling around again. The second time I went out through the front door and sneaked around the side of the house trying not to get him to make a break for it. I waited patiently until he popped his head out of the ground and he had crawled through the screen when I sprung my trap.
When I was watching him crawl around, he always went the same way, this made it easier ton anticipate his movements. As soon as he was through the screen I sealed off his exit and the hole he had recently popped out from so that to escape me he would have to dig a new hole. The next 20-30 seconds where all human instinct on getting rid of vermin. I bashed the critter with my shovel repeatedly until it stopped squealing and moving. Then I scooped him up and tossed him in the bushes.
I would have rather the mouse had met his end in the claws of a Hawk or Owl, but obviously this mouse was clever enough to evade those types of birds. I also would have preferred either trapping him with a mousetrap or poisoning him, however we had none of these things at the house on Lindig. So it had to be me, either I was going to kill that mouse or it was going to keep doing damage to our house.
Now I know there has got to be somebody out there saying “that’s a terrible thing to do, how can you kill a poor defenseless creature that didn’t do anything to you?” What they need to understand is: Mouse, squirrels and chipmunks all may look cute but they are rodents. It was because of rodents like mice and rats that killed over half of Europe’s population by helping spread the Bubonic Plague. Rodents also do damage in the form of chewing on electrical wires in your house that can end up burning your house down, or building large nests in your basement, attic, or the top of your chimney in the case of squirrels. And another thing, these creatures are not defenseless. They are small, fast, and maneuverable and have teeth, sometimes even have rabies or other diseases. People on campus should know what I am talking about, when you walk by a garbage can and all of a sudden this squirrel about the size of a housecat jumps out at you, you instantly think to yourself or out loud
"That is the biggest fucking squirrel I have ever seen!!”
People need to realize that rodents are not man’s best friend, those jobs are already taken by dogs, cats, and fishes. The world is not how it is shown in Disney films, if it where believe me I would have a pet Raccoon named Rosco and we would go cause trouble together. In reality, Rosco probably spends his time digging through garbage cans and scareing Freshman kids who wander to close to his nest in the tree near the law school. I swear these Raccoons can get to be the size of dogs and would like nothing more than to get into a fight with a drunken student.
So thus ends the 2 part battle between the mouse and the Drew, coming up this weekend two big time rodents will battle it out on the field as Minnesota hosts Wisconsin at the Metrodome for BIG TEN FOOTBALL. I know my favorite rodent, Goldy Gopher, is totally going to exterminate that damn Badger.
Rah Rah Rah for Ska-U-Mah… Go Gophers!!
M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A
Minnesota, Minnesota, Yeah Gophers, RAH
Until next time,
Laters
Andrew
Of Mouse (vole) and Drew
Okay, so its about 4 in the morning, and I have been working on this CBD mapping project since about 7 o clock give or take. I finish up with a couple questions to go and jump into bed for some much needed zzz's. All of a sudden I hear this “shkshkshkshksshks”, I wait for it to go away but it doesn’t. I think, man who the hell is making all that noise at this time of night?
So I turn on my light and I see this thing moving along my window. Apparently a mouse had chewed his way through my screen and was trying to squeeze through or bite his way through glass as well. So I am thinking to myself, great now I got a rodent to deal with. And I remember how a few months or weeks ago suggesting to my brother that we get some diazanone or something to keep critters from getting in the house.
So I went and knocked on Frank’s door, at 3:45 in the morning to try to wake him up and help me with this problem or at least show him I was telling the truth. Nothin’, couldn’t get him to wake up, That’s ok, he’s a busy guy and I should be able to handle this myself. So I threw on some jeans and a shirt and marched over to the fireplace and picked up the shovel.
I then ventured out into the yard next to my window by my bed, which looks out on the backyard, and sure enough there was the little bitch climbing on the window again. Not wanting to damage the window I tried to lift him off of it and then to kinda throw him onto the grass or at least out of the well. Little did I know the punk had a hole pre dug and escaped my fireplace shovel before I could even do any damage. Throwing some rocks over the hole, does nothing really, I gave up and went back inside to hopefully go to bed. Tomorrow morning I am going to bring it up with Frank and Pete and that we need to either inspect the house for possible mouse holes if any exist and if we need to start trapping and or poisoning or both.
Anyway, until next post gnight, or should I say good morning??
Whichever it is I am crashing
Andrew
So I turn on my light and I see this thing moving along my window. Apparently a mouse had chewed his way through my screen and was trying to squeeze through or bite his way through glass as well. So I am thinking to myself, great now I got a rodent to deal with. And I remember how a few months or weeks ago suggesting to my brother that we get some diazanone or something to keep critters from getting in the house.
So I went and knocked on Frank’s door, at 3:45 in the morning to try to wake him up and help me with this problem or at least show him I was telling the truth. Nothin’, couldn’t get him to wake up, That’s ok, he’s a busy guy and I should be able to handle this myself. So I threw on some jeans and a shirt and marched over to the fireplace and picked up the shovel.
I then ventured out into the yard next to my window by my bed, which looks out on the backyard, and sure enough there was the little bitch climbing on the window again. Not wanting to damage the window I tried to lift him off of it and then to kinda throw him onto the grass or at least out of the well. Little did I know the punk had a hole pre dug and escaped my fireplace shovel before I could even do any damage. Throwing some rocks over the hole, does nothing really, I gave up and went back inside to hopefully go to bed. Tomorrow morning I am going to bring it up with Frank and Pete and that we need to either inspect the house for possible mouse holes if any exist and if we need to start trapping and or poisoning or both.
Anyway, until next post gnight, or should I say good morning??
Whichever it is I am crashing
Andrew
Sunday, October 09, 2005
The Jug has returned to the U of M!!
Yesterday, October 8, 2005, the Battle of the Little Brown Jug (Michigan vs. Minnesota pictured above) ended with a victory for Minnesota. The last time the Gophers beat the wolverines was in 1986. The final score was 23-20 Minnesota thanks to the freshman kicker Jason Giannini kicked the winning field goal through the uprights.
Read the story of the Little Brown Jug: http://www.gophersports.com/history/mfball/LittleBrownJug.asp?sport_id=mfball
(picture was obtained from this website)
This victory was crucial for the Gophers and could lead to a New Years Day Big Ten Bowl Game. With this victory, The Gophers have proven themselves worthy for an on-campus stadium. After last weeks defeat at the hands of Penn State, they were able to spring back and defeat Michigan at Michigan’s “Big House”, not a simple task by any means.
Speaking of the Gophers Stadium, Governor Pawlenty announced that the Gophers have priority over the Twins and the Vikings stadiums in terms of state funding. This is as it should be, considering that the Gophers are a part of the University of Minnesota and don’t have any plans of leaving the state.
(Bowl View of Gopher Stadium)
Support the Gophers on-campus stadium:http://www1.umn.edu/stadium/
OHHHH WHAT A WIN!!!!!
To finally beat Michigan after those two close loses. The worst as many Gopher fans remember was 2 years ago at the Metrodome where the Gophers were ahead, and then we let Michigan come back and beat us in the fourth quarter. The Gophers came through and didn’t quite. Mason did great by playing to win with a gutsy call to play for field goal position instead of playing for overtime.
I think a bunch of us are going to be taking pictures of the Jug as soon as it is sitting next to the Paul Bunyan Axe after we play Wisconsin and the Badgers. It’s going to be a war.
Go Gophers!!! Rah Rah Rah for Ska-u-mah
And for your enjoyment here is the Minnesota Rouser:
Minnesota Hats off to thee,
to thy colors true we shall ever be
Firm and stron united are we
Rah Rah Rah for Ska-U-Mah Rah Rah Rah Rah
Rah for the U of M
M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A
Minnesota, Minnesota
Yeah Gophers, Rah!!
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Zoom Zoom Zoom, not in a Mazda, But in a freakin’ fast train!!
All right, for all of you readers who complained about the CC post, this will be one of my last entries on Transportation Issues in the Twin Cities. On a side note, it is my Major here at the University and if you don’t like it don’t read it. It’s as simple as that.
Over the Summer, I was working at Minnetex over on the West Bank of the University of Minnesota. I would get up in the morning and ride my bike along the transitway between St. Paul campus and East Bank; then make my way to Wiley Hall. The ride was about 5 miles from the house on Lindig to the West Bank and took me about twenty-five minutes to a half hour to get to work.
As I was riding, I noticed the existing rail infrastructure that ran parallel to the transitway and into the big industrial complex near the Huron lots. I also noticed the seldom Campus Connector that would run past from time to time. It was Summer and the busses weren’t running as often as they do during the school year. The rails were often empty, except for the occasional large freight train burling down the tracks at top speed, and another morning I was up early enough to cross over the tracks and see an Amtrak passenger train making its way towards St. Paul.
One particular morning it was raining really hard, and I had slept in so I was already late for work and had missed the Campus Connector at Gortner. As I am riding I am thinking to myself, “This really sucks, why did I sleep in? I swore my alarm clock went off, and on top of that I have to ride in the rain!! I wish there was a faster way to get where I am going.” And then it came to me. One of the craziest ideas I had of the summer, building a Maglev line between the St. Paul campus and the East Bank.
Over the Summer, I was working at Minnetex over on the West Bank of the University of Minnesota. I would get up in the morning and ride my bike along the transitway between St. Paul campus and East Bank; then make my way to Wiley Hall. The ride was about 5 miles from the house on Lindig to the West Bank and took me about twenty-five minutes to a half hour to get to work.
As I was riding, I noticed the existing rail infrastructure that ran parallel to the transitway and into the big industrial complex near the Huron lots. I also noticed the seldom Campus Connector that would run past from time to time. It was Summer and the busses weren’t running as often as they do during the school year. The rails were often empty, except for the occasional large freight train burling down the tracks at top speed, and another morning I was up early enough to cross over the tracks and see an Amtrak passenger train making its way towards St. Paul.
One particular morning it was raining really hard, and I had slept in so I was already late for work and had missed the Campus Connector at Gortner. As I am riding I am thinking to myself, “This really sucks, why did I sleep in? I swore my alarm clock went off, and on top of that I have to ride in the rain!! I wish there was a faster way to get where I am going.” And then it came to me. One of the craziest ideas I had of the summer, building a Maglev line between the St. Paul campus and the East Bank.
Maglev Train
Maglev stands for Magnetic Levitation and is a transportation technology involving the use of magnets to propel passenger trains at higher speeds than existing rail technology. There are test guideways in Germany and in other countries and China has already developed some lines that use this technology. We discussed this technology in my Fundamentals of Transit Planning class last semester. My professor had been to the test track in Germany and had a chance to ride on it. Speeds could be reached of upwards of 256 Miles per hour, but where not tried any higher due to the length of the guideway.
There are some disadvantages associated with Maglev. The first and most important is the cost of building and maintaining the guideway that maglev runs on. Maglev runs similarly to a monorail type of track, no rails, often just concrete with lots and lots of magnets and sensors built into them. This is why the technology is not as popular as it could be. Most of the world still has a ton of regular rail infrastructure that can be upgraded for the use of High Speed passenger trains as has been done in most of Europe and Asia, but not here in the United States. The cost of building the new guideway is often what kills the enthusiasm for the project.
However, if the University of Minnesota and specifically the Center for Transportation Studies where to try and get a test track similar to the one in Germany , we may be able to get some of the cost of the guideway paid for by the Federal Government. I know a lot of students would rather see a stadium ( I want one of those too) or reduced tuition (me too as well), but imagine for a second, getting on a train at the newly completed Gophers stadium after a Gopher victory, and being “zoomed” over to the St. Paul Campus in under 7 minutes!!! Same with people who have live on St. Paul campus or near the St. Paul campus (as I do), they could get themselves to the St. Paul Student Center and then take the train to the East Bank. The system could later be extended to the West Bank, and could initially connect the State Fair grounds as well and limit the number of buses coming from the Huron lots.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but the idea of getting on a train and being able to travel from the St. Paul campus to the East Bank in under 7 minutes compared to the bus system (which is great I admit) that takes 15 minutes to a half hour, will sound awful nice come December.
In the meantime, see you on the bus!!
Andrew
Sunday, September 25, 2005
In a funk…and I think it’s because of a rainy day.
Today, I woke up at about 8:40 and all day I have felt like doing nothing. I guess old habits really do die hard. Sometimes I feel that all I am is a slacker and that I will never amount to anything, not that I don’t have goals, just no motivation and no sense of urgency on tasks. This is very frustrating for me.
It’s funny the effect of the weather on a person’s day. Usually on a warm and sunny day people will work outside and go for nice walks in the park. Cold days there is some outdoor activity accompanied by heavy coats or hooded sweatshirts. Rainy days, on the other hand, good luck getting anything done at all. It seems that as soon as the rain starts to fall, so do people’s ambition. A day full of HW to do becomes a day full of napping and chatting with friends online or writing blogs.
I know I can’t blame the weather for my problems, and at the end of the day it is me who is responsible for the actions and the choices that I make and the consequences that I must face the next day, week, month, and even years to come. I keep telling myself that I have turned over a new leaf, when all I have done is grown out my hair, and not shaved in a while. I am not quite sure if I have completely recovered from my cold as well and sometimes I still really feel like junk. Today didn’t help. Helping cleaning up the grandparent’s house went well, but I just feel like I was spinning out of control. Not really there, you know what I mean?
I mean my body was there, but my mind was off somewhere else, having adventures while my body was stuck here. I am listening to Bob Dylan right now, specifically “It Takes a lot to Laugh” from Highway 61 Revisited one of my favorite songs, I just don’t know if it will be able to get me into a better mood.
I wish KU was here. She always knows how to cheer me up (not that way you sickos) and put a smile on my face. I think I am going to grab a shower/shave and then try to settle into some hw before the weekend is over and the chaos of the week begins.
Hopefully, I will have a more interesting post either later on this evening instead of me whining about the weather.
Laters,
Andrew
It’s funny the effect of the weather on a person’s day. Usually on a warm and sunny day people will work outside and go for nice walks in the park. Cold days there is some outdoor activity accompanied by heavy coats or hooded sweatshirts. Rainy days, on the other hand, good luck getting anything done at all. It seems that as soon as the rain starts to fall, so do people’s ambition. A day full of HW to do becomes a day full of napping and chatting with friends online or writing blogs.
I know I can’t blame the weather for my problems, and at the end of the day it is me who is responsible for the actions and the choices that I make and the consequences that I must face the next day, week, month, and even years to come. I keep telling myself that I have turned over a new leaf, when all I have done is grown out my hair, and not shaved in a while. I am not quite sure if I have completely recovered from my cold as well and sometimes I still really feel like junk. Today didn’t help. Helping cleaning up the grandparent’s house went well, but I just feel like I was spinning out of control. Not really there, you know what I mean?
I mean my body was there, but my mind was off somewhere else, having adventures while my body was stuck here. I am listening to Bob Dylan right now, specifically “It Takes a lot to Laugh” from Highway 61 Revisited one of my favorite songs, I just don’t know if it will be able to get me into a better mood.
I wish KU was here. She always knows how to cheer me up (not that way you sickos) and put a smile on my face. I think I am going to grab a shower/shave and then try to settle into some hw before the weekend is over and the chaos of the week begins.
Hopefully, I will have a more interesting post either later on this evening instead of me whining about the weather.
Laters,
Andrew
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Central Corridor
(Note) Picture on left origionally posted in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and obtained from the Metropolitan Council Website, and is of the Hiawatha LRT Line. Thought it would add to the post!!.
As I was heading over the Washington Avenue Bridge today, I had a realization: There are way too many busses on Campus. Especially on Washington Avenue, which besides University Avenue/4th St. is the main thorough fair in and out of Campus. Washington connects the two main banks of the U of M campus (East and West) and is therefore pretty busy in the morning, lunch period, and evening rush hours. This can be seen by the amount of pedestrian and bus traffic in and around stadium village during the lunch period, and the sheer amount of congestion this area experiences during the three time periods listed above.
In Geography 3371: Cities Citizens, and Communities, I have been given the opportunity through CSL (Career Student Learning) to intern with Transit for Livable Communities (TLC). TLC is a major advocacy group for the development of Transitways, bike and pedestrian friendly paths, and Transit Oriented Development in the Twin Cities metro area and region. The major focus of our group’s internship is the Central Corridor Light Rail project. The Central Corridor is an 11-mile corridor consisting of Washington Avenue and University Avenue between the downtowns of Minneapolis and St. Paul Minnesota also known as the Midway District. Historically, the Midway district was serviced by the streetcars and was a location of heavy shipping, industry, commercial, and residential development. In the 1950’s the streetcars were ripped out and replaced by the bus system, it was a very complicated issue and a number of people went to jail. Ultimately the Twin Cities lost one of the best streetcar networks in the country, and we have been struggling to get back to that glory ever since.
Currently the area is serviced by the Route #16, #50 and #50S bus lines operated and owned by Metro Transit. The Express bus 94B, C, and D operate on Highway 94 and offer express service between the two downtowns with higher speeds than the routes #16 and #50.
Our main task with Central Corridor is to help determine the actual path of the LRT and ease the process of implementation. Also, we have to consider how to keep the current residents from being displaced from new development and the higher densities that are expected (hoped for) with the running of LRT between Minneapolis and St. Paul. Which brings me to my opening paragraph. The planners want the LRT to run on the surface until Washington Avenue and then tunnel under the East Bank of Campus and then re-surface on University Avenue all the way to Downtown St. Paul. Sounds pretty cool huh?
Howver, there are some problems with this plan. If the city planner wants to tunnel, then he should tunnel starting on Washington Avenue, underneath Cedar Avenue right before the West Bank Skyway/Blegan and Whiley Hall complex. By placing the tunnel further back, we can dig below existing utility lines and have underground stations on both the West and the East bank sides of campus, with either express elevators going to the street level for campus connectors, and plaza level for students/guests etc. similar to what was done at the Lindberg Terminal. The University would be asked to contribute in a number of ways. Have architectural students create plans for University Subway Stations both at East and West Banks and any of the other stations that students interested in the project would like. At the same time, the University could buy advertising space on a couple of the trains and have them painted in Maroon and Gold motifs with Goldy the Gopher on one of the trians. At the same time, professional architects and designers will plan out station designs as well. University United should be contacted and asked to voice their opinions as well. I have contacted and worked with this group before and they are very determined to make University Avenue more like the grand Baroque Avenues and Boulevards with intense commercial, but predominantly residential development.
However, creating stations on both sides of the river could cause problems with headways and running times. There are already two-three stations relatively close to the University of Minnesota West bank. These are the Cedar Riverside Station, the Metrodome Station, and to the extreme the Franklin Station. However, adding another station beneath the west bank, could potentially decrease the amount of bus activity above ground and provide new tunnels for the Gopher way, and a true connection from both sides of the West Bank underground than across the West bank skyway.
Platforms underground would be reached by elevators or escalators (depending how far down we dig) and once on the platform the other side could be reached by pedestrian bridges that cross over to the other side, or tunnels that go under the tracks/trains and come up on the other side.
Another problem concerning the underground stations is passenger security. Underground stations would have to be well lit and potentially have barriers to entry similar to New York subway stations. Otherwise, campus security could monitor these facilities as well as officers of the Transportation Police Department. By creating barriers to entry, Minneapolis and the State of Minnesota could begin using a system like the Metro Pass; many people already buy discounted transit passes including many students who use the UPass program.
The decision to go underground was made after seeing the incredible amount of bus traffic already on Washington Avenue on campus including Campus Connectors and Shuttles, Metro Transit, Southwest Transit, and Metro Valley Transit Authority (MVTA) all operating in this space and having to contend with heavier traffic.
Now that I have covered some of the issues with the tunnels proposed by the Central Corridor, it is time we addressed some of the surface effects. I know some of you are asking me, “you started this argument with buses, get to the buses already.” I am about to do just that. By implementing the CC LRT plan; the train would replace the limited service provided by the route #50 and #50S. The route #16 would still provide service to all other stops. Most likely, the 94B would still run on Highway 94 depending upon the success of LRT.
Some classmates of mine have argued that the LRT will only make things worse along University Avenue. University Avenue is one of the busiest Truck corridors in addition to regular traffic. By running LRT down the middle, it may be difficult to maintain University Avenues uses as a truck route. In addition, two lanes of traffic may be eliminated in both directions to make room for trains and stations. To eliminate this problem, the LRT may have to be elevated similar to Chicago’s L line. Although this would increase the costs and diminish the appeal, it would allow for stations to be placed in the locations picked out and not interfere with traffic, until entering downtown St. Paul and the Union Depot which has plans to be turned into a multi-mode station for both the CC LRT and the Red Rock Commuter Rail Line running from St. Paul to Rochester.
My classmates have also argued that the CC will not solve commuting problems if there are too many stations. The CC will have to be fast, and get people from Downtown Minneapolis to Downtown St. Paul in under 30 minutes (my desired figure). The #50, can get you to downtown St. Paul in about 45-50 minutes depending upon traffic, the #16 takes about an hour or more at the most, it’s worse with traffic. If the CC can provide commuter service to both downtowns, then it might be as successful if not more than Hiawatha. We will just have to wait and see what Metro Transit and the Council decide.
The Central Corridor is a very ambitious plan. Meaning that it is going to be expensive. Hiawatha, which was a longer corridor and had more stations, ended up costing about $725 Million Dollars and that was with a trimmed budget. Because of the tunneling and infrastructure costs of elevating CC, the cost of the project could potentially be in the billions. This is why, Metro Transit, and the Metropolitan Council, need to be careful and listen to the public before going and building something as extravagant as the CC LRT. I, like most people in the Urban Studies program here at the University of Minnesota, want to see this project get the green light and pass with flying colors. To do this, the citizens of Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the region need to get involved and push for a reform in the way our Transportation system is funded. A dedicated sales tax, as has been done in many other cities in the United States, could help Minnesota reach her goal of a dedicated public transportation system by 2030, and allow for new residential and commercial development in the cores of both downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul that we are already seeing in the Loft and Condo boom. Just imagine the amount of cars on the road if we don’t invest in a new system, our entire workdays will be spent on the highways. And gas prices are only going to increase, unless our nation spearheads the move toward renewable energy sources.
Time to get down from the soapbox, but to emphasize that public involvement is needed and appreciated. We as citizens, control what is implemented. Although it may not seem like that at times under the current administration, this is still a Democracy. Citizens of this State and region have a duty to plan and anticipate the future so that we can tell our leaders what we feel is best for the state of Minnesota, our role in the Midwest, the Nation, and the Global Economy.
For any questions:
Email: wamb0011@umn.edu
For news and how to get involved in other transportation projects around the region: (URLS’s)
Northstar Commuter Rail: http://www.northstartrain.org/
Central Corridor: http://www.centralcorridor.org/
Metro Transit: http://www.metrotransit.org/
Metropolitan Council: http://www.metrocouncil.org/
Transit for Livable Communities: http://www.tlcminnesota.org/
Thank you,
Andrew Wambach
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Urban Studies
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