The Week in Review

It has been another eventful week at Chez Casa de Brewgal.


Monday: Brewgal attends focus group research as a courtesy to a colleague in industry. The facility is much, much fancier than Brewgal can usually afford. Beer and wine are served for the evening group. Being on duty, Brewgal does not partake. At the end of the evening Brewgal sadly leaves the bottle of champagne on the cart and does not attempt to sneak it home under her coat.



Tuesday: Brewgal heads to Boston to observe focus groups of her own. Brewgal takes Amtrak and again marvels at how cool train travel is. Note to Amtrak: the section between Washington and New York causes the train to vibrate so much that drinks will shimmy themselves off the tray table. Please adjust. Thank you.


On the train, Brewgal discovers podcasts of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Brewgal laughs all the way to Boston and prides herself on knowing many of the answers.

Brewgal learns how to pronounce Faneuil Hall. Tip: it is not French.

Little Brewer #2 loses his first tooth and is visited by the Tooth Fairy. Discussion ensues about the fate of all the teeth collected by the Tooth Fairy. Brewgal's theory: the teeth are used to build a giant, tooth-shaped castle. This theory is not endorsed by the Little Brewers.

Wednesday: It is 63 degrees and raining in Boston. Brewgal is wearing too many layers (four) and has brought too few umbrellas (none). This severely curtails her walking plans.

Brewgal discovers a cute little wine shop and engages in a 20 minute dialogue with one of the owners about the overpriced nature of California wines. Brewgal lugs home two bottles of wine to thank Brewguy for holding down the fort while she is gone.

Thursday: Brewgal spends all day in meetings. She takes the Myers-Briggs and scores as a ISTP in class and a INFP on the sheet. Brewgal hopes management does not take the test too seriously.

Friday: Brewgal turns 43 and is visited by the cake fairy.

Boston is paralyzed by a massive ice storm. Even the trains are not running. Brewgal is thankful she made it out in time.

Brewgal drives out to a mall in Hanover, MD to observe pretest #2 for her study. Pretest #1 failed because the contractor's computer kept crashing. Brewgal notes that the mall has an air of quiet desperation.

Nature provides Brewgal with an amazing full moon.

Fun With Amtrak

As I metioned in my previous post, I've been busy. We returned from the week of camping on Saturday, 21 June. On Sunday I left to go to Boston. Rather, I attempted to go to Boston.

I had a reservation on Amtrak. I knew in advance that Amtrak had cancelled all Acela trains between New York and Boston between 14 June and 17 June to repair a bridge in Connecticut. No problem, I wasn't leaving until the 21st. What I did not know was that the bridge repair was not finished.

I had packed all my fancy clothes (I was scheduled to present at DIA) and just before we left the house, I turned on my cell phone. There was a voicemail message from Amtrak saying that all trains between Boston and New York had been cancelled starting on Tuesday. Uh oh. I immediately dialed the Amtrak reservations number but "all their agents were busy." I could talk with an agent if I waited a mere 21 minutes. In 21 minutes I was supposed to be on a train. So we took off for the station.

Bad move #1.

At the station, the line to talk with an agent is almost out the door. There is one - one!- agent at the desk. My train is scheduled to arrive in 10 minutes. So I got out of line and tried to pick up my ticket at the Quick Ticket machine, thinking "I'll just get on the outbound train and fix the return trip in Boston."

Bad move #2.

The machine tells me that my reservation is "not found." Now panic starts to set in, that rising hot feeling in your stomach that you are truly screwed. Not found? Where the hell did it go? I have the confirmation email. I've paid for the ticket. I have to be in Boston tomorrow to give my presentation.

My train arrives. I run to speak to the conductor, telling him that I have a reservation on the train but that I cannot get my ticket out of the machine and the line is too long to get to an agent. He says he can't let me on the train without a ticket. "But I have a ticket, I just can't get it!" I say. "I can't let you on without a ticket." he replies. I look to the other Amtrak train employee on the platform for help. "He's the conductor." the employees says, shrugging. Arrrgh! Now I am hot, sweaty, panicky, and MAD.

So back into the agent line I go. The train pulls away. When I get to the window, I explain my plight, starting with reservation not found and ending with "and now I've MISSED my train." The agent, whose name was Mariea, was incredibly helpful and patient. She explained that the machine can't handle changes in train schedule and that is why it wouldn't print my ticket. Note to Amtrak- if your machine can't handle train changes, please come up with another message than "reservation not found." Like, say, "please talk to an agent."

She fixed my return. Because of the bridge work there were only two trains out of Boston on Wednesday, both in the morning and both regional, meaning the trip would take 10 hours, rather than 6. I would miss the morning sessions at the conference but getting home was important. Now for the trip to Boston. The next train was a regional- so much for my comfortable Acela trip. Add to that the complication that the next two trains were showing sold out, so she couldn't know if there was really a seat available until the trains left Washington, DC. In the end I got a seat on the afternoon Acela (in first class!). I missed my dinner date but I did make it to Boston. My presentation went fine and I gained a good story to tell.

While I was at the conference, I mentioned my ordeal to a colleague, who looked at me in horror. "You mean, they've cancelled all the Acelas this week?" she said. Obviously Amtrak didn't notify everyone, a fact that became even more clear when I arrived at the Boston station on Wednesday to ride back to Baltimore. Person after person showed up at the station to discover their train had been cancelled. With only two trains between Boston and New York I can't imagine how these people got where they were going. Also, because the train was much taller than the platform I had to lug my bag and carry-on up three narrow stairs. I need to work out more.

The kicker? I was so flustered at getting the initial Amtrak call that I forgot to take any knitting or crocheting with me. I did catch up on all the episodes of Cast On, however.