We're just cogs in the railway of life

I've been on a few trains, but only one in the US: the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) that goes from ORD (O'Hare Airport) to downtown Chicago. It was late at night, and the train was accompanied by 2 policemen with their German Shepherd Dog. I felt safe, until they escorted a vagrant from the train, about 3 stops from my destination. I remember being accosted by a panhandler when I exited the station, but I really didn't fear for my life (like that time I took a wrong turn leaving the Los Angeles Convention Center).

Anyway, I was spellbound to read about the Pikes Peak Cog Railway which uses a non-traditional track in order to climb (and descend) the steep grade in the Colorado (Rocky) mountains. Gotta do that sometime. Also, I wonder how that compares to the Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway in Albuquerque (far as I know, it's the only way to get to High Finance restaurant).

I've been to the local train station, but for a business gathering at one of their meeting rooms (distantly reminds me of a meeting on the RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach CA, but that's an item for another blog entry, on a future day). Amtrak's Texas Eagle departs from Dallas' Union Station.

Then there's the story of the oh-so-entertaining round trip train from Vienna to Budapest (you guessed it .. a future blog item).

Finally, I'm amused to see that green fluorescent tubes are still manufactured. When I was in college they were tested in the library; we were told that as the older tubes burned out, they'd be replaced by the low-power green tubes, and that we'd never notice the difference. Wrong! Not only did they really stand out when side-by-side with the traditional white tubes, but they didn't seem to have the same lumens. Now, I see them marketed for night fishing and infant phototherapy. Hmm. I thought about this when one of my GE reveal® bulbs malfunctioned (it didn't burn out .. it's one of those $%^& 3-way bulbs that never seems to work correctly). I'm still unconvinced that they make me feel any happier than traditional bulbs.