Tents and the T

Tents and sleeping bags

More tents and sleeping bags

Took these photos awhile ago. I’ve only ever seen these miniature displays in Target stores. I got such a kick out of them the first time I saw them. I like to think of them as matching tents and sleeping bags for your ferret should you go camping with your ferret. You could have the miniatures inside of the human-sized counterparts. Very postmodern.

I spent the July 4th weekend in Boston. I’ve been to Boston a few times now, but I still learned new things about the place, the characteristics that make each city unique. For example, sometimes two people will go through a rotating turnstile together on one subway token. I’d never seen that done anywhere else, but apparently it’s common in Boston, at least in places where security cameras have yet to be installed. I’m not even sure two people can fit into the turnstiles here in the New York City subway.

The T is phasing out its token fare system. One night, I had to buy a token from the attendant. I could see through the glass that he had lined up all the tokens on the counter to his left. On his right he’d lined up different coins so he could quickly give out change.

The T passes are known as CharlieTickets and CharlieCards, named after the Charles River. That’d be like New York City’s MTA naming its passes the Hudson or, as a friend pointed out, the East.

The announcements on the T sound a little mournful, not at all jaunty like the announcements on the Chicago El. No one can hear anything on the MTA, at least not on the older trains. (Saturday Night Live got it right with its sketch about why subway announcements are impossible to understand.)

Tiny Cars for Tiny People

I was a little caught off guard when I saw my first Scion xA:

Scion xA (photo from Consumer Guide)

For the briefest moment, I thought I was looking at a Geo Metro, which my friend Jojo drove before she traded up to a Honda Civic. That is, I thought it was a Geo Metro before I saw the sleek Scion logo on the back of the car.

The humble Geo/Chrevolet Metro, also Ned Flanders’s car on The Simpsons (photo from Consumer Guide)

It’s nice to know that consumers now have more options should they choose to size down from their SUVs. A report I read or heard recently indicated that the popularity of cars like the Chrysler PT Cruiser and Mini Cooper and declining sales of SUVs along with increasing gas prices are spurring automakers to focus more upon developing small cars.

Things You Didn’t Know You Needed

I never used to pick up SkyMall, but then I realized I like looking through catalogs (more so than shopping in person). On my latest airplane trip, I was flipping through SkyMall when I noticed this item:

WonderVase

According to the catalog, WonderVase is made of a “stury, thermal-plastic material” that can be molded into a vase shape when exposed to warm water. Once molded, it can be filled with cold water and flowers. I’m not sure I’d go so far as the catalog to claim that the product looks like glass. But I like the fact that WonderVase can be stored flat. The catalog suggests that it can be used while traveling to brighten one’s hotel room, but for someone like me who gets flowers fairly infrequently, a vase like this would definitely cut down on the clutter factor.

On the other hand, this item might look nice, but I wonder whether or not it merely makes people more fearful:

EVAC-U8 Smoke Hood

Though the hood is recommended for when one is traveling, I wonder whether or not something like this might make more sense for one to keep at home or at work, given the fire that occurred in a Chicago high-rise in 2003.

On an unrelated note, after my airplane ride I had a hell of a time navigating the MTA (New York City) with my suitcase. Even though I was using one of those suitcases with wheels (for the very first time!), getting to and from the airport was still a hassle. For one, I was stymied every time I got to a turnstile. At least the CTA (Chicago) turnstiles at O’Hare Airport are wide enough to accommodate a grown person with a suitcase. But I had to lift my suitcase over the MTA turnstile every time I went through. Then there are the numbers of stairs that I encountered. I actually don’t know how someone in a wheelchair could have navigated the route I did because I don’t recall seeing any escalators and very few elevators. I’ll probably go back to traveling with a duffle bag. It’s slightly lighter than the suitcase, and I can carry it on my shoulders instead of having to watch out for this thing behind me.