Weird MBTA Happenings - (Not-Dead) Man Falling

Very strange evening last night. I managed to leave my office the perfect time to amble to the Subway and arrive at North Station with enough time to hang out and listen to Neil Gaiman's "Stardust" which I had originally borrowed from the library but soon realized the "movie in my head" power-imagination I had would best be triggered if someone were reading it and I could close my eyes on the Commuter Rail Train home. I wanted to "read" it before the movie came out.

So there I was at North Station, listening to Neil when out of the corner of my eye I see a flash of something big falling off the platform onto the rail. When my "power imagination" gets going, I often have to wait a few beats because who the hell knows if I see what I think I see.

I wait a few minutes and look around. Despite hundreds of people staring at the platforms and schedule no one reacts. Maybe I'm seeing things. So I go over to the Platform 5/6 door and look out the window. Definitely looks like a body. I walk out onto the platform and carefully crane over the side to see better- yup. Pretty sure at this point.

No one's moved. I see what looks like an engineer on the next platform over and go out to meet him. I thought about yelling but thought I'd feel stupid - too nervous to go down onto the track myself. Luckily, the guy thought he saw someone too and was getting out of the engine to check. So he goes over and repeats the "viewing" steps I do and runs off.

Still no activity. Finally, a female Transit Police officer comes onto the platform looking concerned. I point out to where I can see the body and she starts running. Another male officer joins her walking a bit more slowly and looking irritated. The radios must have gone off because engineers, conductors and linesmen (?) start converging on the area or getting out of their trains to peer over at the scene.

The 5:55 train is announced on the same platform, opposite side. I walk out to the officers and yell down asking if they want a statement since I seemed to have been the only one who noticed. The male officer looked at me not really believing I saw it and said "No, he's going to be fine". The victim appeared to be walking with the assistance of the two officers.

I got on my train and turned Neil back on.

It was the strangest thing. When I played the moment back in my mind, I saw what looked like something cartwheeling over the side of the platform and dropping dead-weight. The problem is he wasn't lying out in the middle of the tracks. I don't know if he was peering over the side but he ended up under the 2ft overhang against the wall of the platform and not obvious to the eye.

Part of me wonders where he came from - I just don't remember seeing him out there. Did he fall off the awning for the platform? Did he fall from even higher, slide off the awning and flip over under the overhang? I just don't know.

I also wondered if I should have moved faster. Should the Red Cross part of me have raised the alarm? Should I have gone down there and assessed my ABCs like the First Aider/CPR trained part of me should have. I figured the MBTA would be out there in force in seconds. But I guess it is true that they have no cameras out there. How much did they just friggen spend redoing North Station?

Part of me looks at the possible security breaches at North Station and cringes. When the 7:29am Salem train arrives in Boston about 8am there are 2-3 other trains that arrive at the same time. About half of the people go right and half go left out the back to the Green Line and it BOTTLENECKS. Huge amounts of people moving very slowly - moreso since there's huge scaffolding erected outside the side of the building.

Did anyone else hear about this, see the gathering after police were alerted or see what happened after the 5:55pm train left?

What a Weekend - smoke alarms, shopping carts and taxes, OH MY!

I'm sitting on the couch with the Little Man watching an episode of "Curious George" on Tivo. CG has replaced "Little Einsteins" as his "comfort show" that he can watch over, and over and over again - PBS did a really good job with this one.

This weekend has been interesting. It started with a robust list of goals. We're just starting the adoption process and are beginning preparation for the Home Study. I'm playing a supporting role in this production as Kirky has been advancing on all fronts regarding the paperwork for the process. There's a lot to produce and, (if anything), she's been producing extra to be sure when they ask for documents, we won't be surprised.

I've been fighting some major fatigue of late - not quite sure what's causing it, so all I want to do is relax or sleep. Not exactly conducive to participating in one's household. This as been exacerbated by my asthma, which doesn't seem to know whether it should go away or stick around as the weather can't make up its mind. I'm about ready to change my eating habits - doing that about a year ago gave me back more energy it's just the prep time was about triple.

So I fumbled my way through various chores and projects, dedicating most of my energy to keeping the kitchen clean as Kirky cooked her way for the next week's meals. Then this old man watched a bit of TV and went to bed around 10:30pm - yes, I'm going to be the same time I did in high school. I've got to figure this energy thing out.

So the evening started with Will coming into bed around 11pm and me still having the presence of mind to carry him back. Cue a 3am smoke detector alert - Kirky went through the house making sure they all had fresh batteries. Unfortunately that didn't include cleaning them off, (and why would it?). Yet for the next hour, some idiot spider or intrepid dust bunny decided to keep testing the detector at random times.

Finally, I decided to get up and explore the house carefully squeezing past Will who somehow managed to climb back between us without us awaking. I actually turned on lights - ugg. Not a good thing when one is trying to stay asleep. Discovered that the detector was going off in Will's room. Niiiice. Strike one battery. Thank goodness we have a full-house system.

Back to sleep until.....bang.....4am Red Cross call to activate calls. Done with all haste despite fury at being cognizant and coherent due to not laxing back into sleep.

Time to wake up! OK, about 3 hours later - I shouldn't complain since many of you suffer insomnia but obviously if I felt rested I'd be happy as a cherrystone clam. I dragged myself out of bed because I told Kirky she could sleep in. So we hung out watching George and Backyardigans for a few hours while playing with his puzzles, racetrack, cars, dress up gear and building blocks. Rock on.

Cancel visit to due to her own family fun - next time, then!

So Kirky gets up and makes some yummy egg sandwiches, we start doing some cleanup and then she gets Will dressed to go out shopping. Woo! A couple of hours of quiet time to finish cleaning!

30 Minutes later, a very shaken Kirky and a sad, weepy Will is back. I won't go into details but suffice it to say it was Will vs Target and Target won. Sidetrack trip for the next few hours down to MIT Medical for a checkup and sympathy lunch.

Back for naptime - which I partake in. What's up with that?

Finally we wakeup and hit the playroom again and resume where we left off. Now I'm watching an "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" marathon and Will is off with his Mom to "ride" the tractors and mowers at Home Depot. And I am here.

(I've noticed my tolerance and palate for animated Children's television has grown over the past few years. Some of the folks at Toon network have some funny stuff. Please bring back Eureka, Heroes and bring me another Dresden Files soon. Please?)

In SCA fun, I've friended everyone I met at Goddesses and dance practice. Planning on attending Coronation, May Day, Boredom War, and the Great Northeastern War. I'm looking at Bardic Brawl and will hit others as the schedule fits. However now that I'm participating in the Jongleurs Guild, (singing in the Quire), and Kirky & I will continue doing dancing practice, I think we're keeping busy.

This weekend, I'm ready for the next.

Nerdy Memeage

Podcast/Potter Domains for Transfer

I have 5 domains at GoDaddy that are expiring. I registered them back before the Pottercast was started and around the time Book 6 came out for my "One Potter Day" concept was announced.

Let me know if you want them and we'll get the transferred.

FANDOMPODCASTS.COM
FANDOMPODCASTS.NET
FANDOMRADIO.NET
ONEPOTTERDAY.COM
ONEPOTTERDAY.NET

LinkedIn Networking

I've been adding quite a few people from my professional network, (and some from the personal), to my LinkedIn profile. I've found LinkedIn to be one of the most valuable business connection and social networking tools I've run into - those who have known me and read this journal for a few years know I am passionately albeit grumpily a champion of social networks that actually work.

One of my professional abilities and skills has been networking. I don't manage to keep much in my head, what with stuffing it with whatever topic or specialty I'm trying to delve into at any given point of time. So I make sure I know where to find it, know someone who knows it, or knows someone who knows where to find it. Then I use that skill to bring two people together who have a joint interest or need and make sure their questions get answered.

LinkedIn is perfect for that - it allows me a place to store my list of contacts and the ability to find out who they know and who their friends know. I'm very good at finding people but it helps to know where they work, what their title or area of specialty is and skills with any particular hardware or software they're using. It helps me find those same contacts new jobs, people who can answer questions my contacts have, and companies who have implemented products or use services that they're just starting to look at.

So....now you know. I'm not just someone randomly adding people to the profile. In fact, there's probably 10 people who I don't have a connection to - I added a few recruiters before I realized what they were doing.

If you don't have an account - do. It's no longer just for technologists - people in academia, hospitality, retail are all using it to build their network. And once you do, let me know. I'm here to use what skill I have to help you.

SCA Ramblings

Jeeze- I don't remember the last time I posted something myself. Many of you will notice I just did a major LiveJournal Friending effort. That's because this weekend I had the great honor of being Deputy Autocrat for my first SCA event. The Barony of Carolingia put on a recreation of Samuel Daniel's 1604 Jacobean masque "Vision of the Twelve Goddesses" in Cambridge.

This was only my 3rd SCA event ever - the first being Falling Leaves within Carolingia and the second being Yule across the state in my "home" Barony of Bergental, where I grew up. How I became a Deputy Autocrat in such a short amount of time is due in no small amount to Cassandra () who took me under her wing and answered many questions as I nervously tread the path of newbie.

Joining the SCA was meant to be.....from my ties to nature since I was a kid on 10 acres of woods to explore, to being an Eagle scout where more of the same was explored, to my love for all things Celtic and Renaissance and my mother's influence, and my passion for the genre of fantasy.

I think the reason why I never joined was because it just wasn't high profile enough in my circles. After being thrust into one of the largest fandoms on the Web through creating a site they all flocked to, I was exposed to some of the more interesting sides of fandom - including LARPs, leading me to confuse the activity with the SCA. Nothing wrong with LARPing, just not my thing. I like to think the SCA is a much more historical, canonical and academically serious form of LARPing.

Long story short, I'm having a great time. The event this past Saturday was amazing and I met some wonderful people. As a result, I went to Quire rehearsal and brought Kirky () to Dance practice.

I must admit - I need to find more ways to warm up for dancing. By the end of the evening, I was exhausted. My feet were ripping sore, stomach aching, head pounding and lungs wheezing. I need to get much more comfortable shoes. I have no damn clue how I keep going through them so fast. Well, it doesn't help that I continue to slip into them tied. But this time it was the soles. My size 13s are giving me no support whatsoever and I think my weight is taking its toll on the old tootsies.

I'm ready for summer. This cold exacerbates my asthma and I don't keep my inhaler with me. Hell, I can't even tell if its working when I use it anyway.

* whine, bitch, complain *

I posted some pictures of "Goddesses" on Flickr and painstakingly, (in my anal researcher way), tried to identify all the people by their SCA name.

LiveJournal Scategories

Ah well. It's been a long time since I've succumbed to the draw of a meme but "everyone else is doing it":

LIVEJOURNAL SCATTEGORIES
Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...They MUST be real places, names, things...NOTHING made up! If you can't think of anything, skip it. Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Your Name: Benjamin
Famous Music artist/group: Ben Folds Five
3 letter word: Vie!
Color: blue
Gift/present: Book
Vehicle: Buick Centieme
TV Show: Bones
Country: Burkina Faso
Boy's Name: Broderick
Girl's Name: Bronwyn
Alcoholic drink: Black Russian
Occupation: Busker
Flower: Bee Balm
Celebrity: Billy Barty
Food: Beef
Something found in a kitchen: Beans
Reason for Being Late: Barly alove
Something You Shout: Blast!

LiveJournal Scategories

Ah well. It's been a long time since I've succumbed to the draw of a meme but "everyone else is doing it":

LIVEJOURNAL SCATTEGORIES
Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...They MUST be real places, names, things...NOTHING made up! If you can't think of anything, skip it. Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Your Name: Benjamin
Famous Music artist/group: Ben Folds Five
3 letter word: BIS
Color: blue
Gift/present: Book
Vehicle: Buick Centieme
TV Show: Bones
Country: Burkina Faso
Boy's Name: Broderick
Girl's Name: Bronwyn
Alcoholic drink: Black Russian
Occupation: Busker
Flower: Bee Balm
Celebrity: Billy Barty
Food: Beef
Something found in a kitchen: Beans
Reason for Being Late: Barely alive
Something You Shout: Blast!