7 a.m., wake up, survey my outdoor surroundings, think I’ve woken up on Mars.

7:15 a.m., tune in to Fox 5 and see traffic reporter say Metro-North service is suspended.

7:30 a.m., traffic reporter says some service has been restored.

7:35, check email for Metro-North service alerts. Surely something in light of the snurricane/snowicane/snowbeaster? Nothing.

8:25, head out for 8:43 train.

8:26, attempt to hop over three foot snow cliff at end of walkway and get snow in boot.

8:30, almost wipe out twice while walking down Broad. “It’s not worth it!” yells a middle-aged woman shoveling snow. There’s 15 inches down.

As I said yesterday, the only way to get any service updates from Metro-North is to get on their press distribution list. That list offered up this snurricane tidbit today: Ridership was down 60-65% this morning, with Hudson Line down 79%, Harlem 66%, and the New Haven Line down just 56%.

Those New Haven Line riders are battle-tested for sure.

8:43, no train. Dozen people in overpass.

8:55, a train approaches from the north. Everyone descends stairs. Train keeps going.

People talk on platform. Several mentions of downed tree between Hartsdale and White Plains and ensuing delays.

8:56, Dad calls from Florida vacay, where it’s 48 degrees. Tells me to go home. He’s not the boss of me…anymore.

Lots and lots and lots of platform announcements regarding northbound trains. Nothing about southbound.

9:17, train pulls up. Two dozen people board.

9:31, pulls into White Plains.

9:32, anxiety about downed tree and fear of bottleneck.

9:34, Hartsdale’s in the rear view mirror.

9:52, Harlem.

10:03, Grand Central. Train was 34 minutes late, but made the trip in 46 minutes once it arrived. Not bad.

I got an email from Metro-North Tuesday informing me I’d been picked to fill out an e-questionnaire regarding the railroad’s email and text message alerts.

“To help us continue to improve this system, we are asking selected subscribers to complete a brief online survey.  This will take about five minutes to complete and your responses will remain completely confidential,” it wrote. “Please help the MTA make its email and text message alerts more useful by providing the kind of information you need to make travel decisions easier and faster.”

I did the thing and, frankly, gave it low marks because I can’t remember the last time I got an email alert from Metro-North.

I searched my email box for Metro-North, MNR and MTA, and got my weekly CleverCommute news, my monthly Mail N Ride statements, and of course the questionnaire from earlier in the week. My box goes back to October and I didn’t see a single service alert. I haven’t seen one in my spam folder either. Not one!

And today, we’ve got a snowicane/blizzicane/Norbeaster, and nothing from Metro-North either.

So, yes, I suppose the alert service could be a little more useful.

For a much better way to get updates from Metro-North, email their PR people and tell them you’ve got some sort of wacky commuter blog or something. Metro-North’s updates to reporters are timely and informative; it’s odd that the railroad sees its relationship with reporters–most of whom do not ride Metro-North each day, and probably don’t report on it very often–as being much more important than its relationship with riders.

I got this a few minutes ago:

Because we expect ridership will be lighter than usual tomorrow morning, (Friday February 26) Metro-North plans to operate a slightly reduced schedule during the AM peak. About two dozen trains will be affected, either by elimination or combination.  The details will be posted shortly on the website (mta.info)

The trains selected were chosen to impact the fewest people.  As a result of these changes, the maximum additional wait for the next train will be less than 15 minutes.

In addition, customers can expect minor delays due to slow boarding on snowy platforms.

Crews are working and will be working all night to clear platforms, stairs and walkways.  Additionally track workers and signal maintainers are deployed to keep tracks and switches clear.

We will update you if and when conditions change. 

Come to think of it, I can’t remember the last time I got an alert from CleverCommute either, which relies on riders to submit their own train delay updates to members’ emails. I do get the CleverCommute track report each day, which tells me what track my train is on. Frankly I don’t use this anymore; I pass a departures monitor in Grand Central, which is easier for finding my track then pulling up my Blackberry and opening an email. I don’t know that you could enter Grand Central anywhere and not come in contact with a departures screen.

CC tells you to check the board anyway–PLEASE CONFIRM TRACK BEFORE BOARDING, it reads–which makes the service somewhat useless, at least in my opinion.

Plus, my train has been on the same track for months and months. An alert would be useful should it ever be on another track.

Phone rang at 5:50 this morning, cancelling school for the day. It’s an automated message, and ALL our phones ring. (house phone and two cell phones, scattered around the house.

It was snowing wet-heavy Vancouver Olympixels, and starting to stick. My wife informed me that today’s storm has been dubbed The SNURRICANE, (or as they call it in Vermont: “Thursday.”). [Editor’s Note I: Does “Blizzicane” sound too much like a limited-time-only Mardi Gras milkshake at Wendy’s?]

Processing snow day factors, I heard the train whistle of the early train. Good. Things
are moving.

Time to join the morning commuter Olympiad. (ed. query - why doesn’t NBC use the term Olympiad?…much cooler than Olympics)

It was a wet but pleasant walk in the snow. Monday is March, but still winter.

- jerseyjim

[Editor’s Note II: Metro-North humming along too-we actually got in two minutes early to GCT.]

This is awful.

A little over a year ago, a Metro-North signal maintainer by the name of Kenneth McGrath was killed in the line of duty.

The ensuing media reports–Journal News, NY Daily News, USA Today–got McGrath’s name wrong in their stories, calling him Kevin.

We did the same, grabbing the story from the local Journal News.

We heard from McGrath’s daughter, still every bit in grieving over a year later. Lana asked us to please get her father’s name correct.

So that’s what we’re doing. Kenneth McGrath was hit by a Metro-North train and died Jan. 9 near Rye.

From the comments we got from people who knew Kenneth, he was a motorcycle enthusiast, a karate black-belt, a father of three, grandfather of three, and a fun guy who answered to “Shrek” or “Heavy Metal.” He owned three rescue dogs. He lived in New Rochelle. He would’ve been 51 Feb. 20.

“He was a father who layed a strong foundation down for his children. He was a very good brother, son , husband and family man. He was a superior person and he is with me when I wake and when I go to sleep,” wrote Alberta.

Rest in peace, Kenneth, and we’re sorry Trainjotting–and the media as a whole–got your name wrong.

A comment from a reader today who, after “extensive” research on the topic, decided the best commuter town in the area was Westfield, New Jersey, has prompted Trainjotting to conduct its second-ever Best Damn Commuter Town Period Contest.

It is you, readers, who decide which town has the best mix of commutability, walkability, and other overall abilities. Who’s got a nice downtown, including a Manhattan-esque restaurant or two, reasonable taxes, decent schools and a relatively low a**holes-per-capita rate? Sidewalks? A movie theater? A town pool? A beach?

Pleasantville, NY won the first and most recent time we conducted the poll, beating out the likes of Mamaroneck, Ho-Ho-Kus and a handful of other hamlets. “P’ville is eminently walkable and human scale, being a classic pre-automobile village, as yet unsullied with sprawling development,” wrote reader Peter. “A very livable little burg.”

Your best town can be any relatively commutable burg in the tri-state area (if you really want to nominate something in Pennsylvania, you better make a very strong case). Send your pick in via the comments section or drop us an email at trainjotting@gmail.com.

Seeing as we’re caught up in a bit of Olympic hysteria, Trainjotting will be awarding the gold, silver and bronze medal to three separate towns.

I picked up a discarded fortune cookie slip in front of the work elevators while commencing my journey home last night.

It read:

The greatest danger could be your stupidity.

OK, then.

How could I forget, one of the main highlights from our Metro-North excursion to the city Sunday. We were heading home and had just arrived in Valhalla. “Get ready,” I told Little G. “The next stop is ours.”

The conductor then announced that the next stop wasn’t in fact, Hawthorne, but Mount Pleasant. The Mount Pleasant stop is that teeny tiny little platform near where Stevens hits the Taconic; it’s for those taking the train up to visit the dearly departed, such as Babe Ruth, in Gate of Heaven cemetery.

The Bambino rests eternally in Hawthorne.

The train eased into Mount Pleasant, but to say it was a “stop” flatters it a bit. The conductor said the last car was the only one that would open. No one got off and no one got on. We may have stopped for three seconds.

Nonetheless, it was my first stop ever at Mount Pleasant after almost 3 1/2 years on the rails–though I did come close three years ago. This actually qualifies for “exciting” for me these days.

[image: findagrave.com]

Some $67 million worth of renovations are in the works at the Philipse Manor, Scarborough and Don Draper’s own Ossining station houses, reports the Journal News. The projects should be completed by Aug. 1.

Among the improvements: digital message boards telling you when the train is coming, less harsh lighting, and walls and structures to block those brutal winds coming off the Hudson.

Those being the artsy river towns and all, the stations are also getting new artwork that reflects the local landscape.

Philipse Manor already has its piece, a set of stained-glass windows designed by Manhattan artist Joseph Cavalieri [Pictured above]. They depict a stylized blue tree on a bold yellow background with a haiku Cavalieri created, written as a single line on the main tree branches: “A gentle Hudson whistle begins my journey north and south and home.”

Cavalieri, who grew up in Pleasantville and has relatives in the Tarrytown area, said he unofficially dedicated the work to his mother and father, and saw in it the idea of family.

“The whole design itself is like a big, strong old tree and that just represents a community, almost like a family tree,” he said. “But it encompasses the community there.”

Since I don’t spend nearly enough time riding the rails to New York City, we packed up the gang to head in for a day trip yesterday. Little G is obsessed of late with two colossal things: skyscrapers and dinosaurs. So we threw it to him: see the dinos at the Museum of Natural History, or see the skyscrapers in midtown.

He opted for the buildings, which meant we could take the train.

We bundled up the kids, packed the snacks, and I got a taste of what the rest of my commuting brethren enjoy each day: driving to the station and parking in the lot. It being a weekend and all, we had our choice of spots, so I took the one usually occupied by the Yankeemobile during the week, hoping to impose some sort of jinx on the spot.

The 9:53 was about five minutes late (what, you couldn’t be late when I was chugging into Hawthorne station on my bike today with seconds to spare, having read Little G one too many pages from one of his dino books this morning?), and it was pretty packed. The Missus had suggested seats near the front, to minimize walking along the Grand Central platform, so we set out for seats.

I saw what looked for all the world like an empty three-seater, but upon arriving at it saw a SnoozerLoserThree-Seat-User–a young woman napping across all three. (For the record, SnoozerLoserThree-Seat-User is just a working title…we’ll try to come up with a snappier term for those seat-sleeping types. If you can think of a good Word of the Week for this, please send it along.)

[The Missus snapped this shot moments before the woman woke up.]

We instead grabbed a pair of folding seats facing each other, but Little G–his first train ride since the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City in December–started howling because there’s no window next to the folding seats (handicapped people apparently don’t enjoy looking out windows, I s’pose). He and I relocated to a two-seater with a window behind the SnoozerLoserThree-Seat-User, and he was happy again.

North White Plains saw a cattycorner two-seater open up, so the Missus and Little Miss C slid in there.

And we were off.

It’s interesting to see what affect the SnoozerLoserThree-Seat-Users (SLTSUs) have on the train. At White Plains, we saw at least four different parties do just as I did: See what looked like an available seat (or three!), approach it, then look with dismay at the body lying supine across it. We get it, you’re tired, you’re hung over. But it’s not a victimless crime. Buy three tickets and I promise I won’t blog about you.

The SLTSU eventually woke up around Bronkers and then, to ensure she had all three the rest of the ride, spread her backpack and a second back across all the seats. No longer snoozing, she was merely a LoserThree-Seat-User.

Much like Little G’s beloved view out the window from the train, making the trip with newbies is a good reminder that there’s interesting stuff to be seen amidst the boredom of the daily commute. Little G’s favorite among the New York skyscrapers is the Chrysler Building, and we were all of a block south of Grand Central when we looked back and saw it in all its silvery majesty–a vantage point I’d hardly noticed in three years of walking that route. (Cue the Annie soundtrack: You’ll stay up, until this place shines….like the top of the Chrysler Building!)

We meandered down to 34th and Park and decided not to tell Little G about what skyscraping colossus awaited around the corner. It took seconds before his eyes went wide and he said “Look!!!” Indeed, the Empire State Building (the informal “Empire”, to Little G, who’s on a first-name basis with all the Gotham skyscrapers–the Empire, the Chrysler, the Flatiron) loomed like Kimbo Slice in the foreground.

Staring skyward as we were, we were pestered by the usual swarm of hawkers looking to sell us a trip to the top. We turned them down, but did stop at a gift shop to get post cards. Little G wasn’t having the 10 for a buck cards, opting instead of the 99-cents apiece ones: One of the Empire, one of the Chrysler, one of the World Trade Center, RIP, and one of the Brooklyn Bridge.

After a cold but fun frolic in the Madison Square Park playground and a pit stop at my work, we headed back for the train. We grabbed some sandwiches at Mendy’s (”You said lunch, Jerry. Soup is not a meal.”) and hit Grand Central with time to spare. I made a big show in front of Little G to drop a quarter into the cup of a homeless man huddled in the foyer of Grand Central (the hypocrisy…like I ever do that on a normal commuting day). Sensing a teachable moment, I paraphrased the man’s placard for Little G once we were out of earshot, telling him that the man did not have a job and did not have any money.

Little G found the positive in that way kids do: “If he doesn’t have a job, then he can play with his kids all day?”

I stammered through a response that said he could, but the toys would not be very good.

We hit the 12:48 with a few minutes to spare, grabbed a six-seater, busted open our Mendy’s bounty, and looked forward to one final view from the bridge.