Opponents of an elevated rail line through Tysons Corner have sued the U.S. Department of Transportation, contending that the agency violated federal law by failing to seriously consider the idea of placing the track underground.

"Elevated-Line Foes Sue U.S." - Washington Post

Are.you.kidding.me…?!! :twitch:

Good lord, these Tysons Tunnel people will stop at nothing to get their precious tunnel built!

Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather have an underground metrorail going through Tysons, but it ain't gonna happen - and with this lawsuit, the whole project may not happen, either. The tunnel is preferred by many people who live/work in the Tysons Corner area, Though the Fairfax Board of Supervisors voted 8-2 against it - and for good reason!

However, this lawsuit stymies the overall goal - to lessen traffic and provide a viable means of public transportation to the ever-growing Fairfax/Loudoun counties… plus give us po' folk who have to fly out of Dulles a way to get there without having to take 3 different bus lines. (Just kidding about the po' part… plane tickets from Dulles are frequently more expensive for me than ones out of National. Go figure.)

Anyway. To say the lawsuit doesn't have merit would be to label myself as one of those people who thought the Halliburton contracts were "perfectly fine!" I find the news about the no-bid contracts a little disturbing, yes, but let's face it - the more monkey wrenches thrown into this metrorail extension development process, the less likely it's actually going to get done. Annnnnd, from what I've read - there are some allowances when it comes to non-competitive bidding:

1. the existence of an unusual and compelling urgency, and
2. the public interest.

Granted, #1 states that "that the Government would be seriously injured unless the agency is permitted to limit the number of sources from which it solicits bids or proposals." That's a little exaggerated, but if anyone has ever sat through the clusterf*** that is Route 7 during rush hour, they may think differently in that building this extension IS an urgent matter to be addressed. And #2 is self explanatory.

The second part of the lawsuit, has to do with the actual tunnel itself:

Tysons Tunnel and Ratner allege that DOT violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to carefully evaluate the proposal for a tunnel, especially in light of new "large bore" tunnel-building technology. They say the new techniques, which use machines that can build tunnels wide enough to accommodate two tracks, would have fewer adverse environmental impacts than an elevated line and reduce the cost.

Uh huh. I noticed they failed to mention that digging a tunnel would preclude us from receiving a TON of money from the government (nearly $1 billion) to subsidize the project. The tunnel project "may" cost less to build, but honestly, I doubt it would. So, the longer this project sits, waiting to be implemented, the more likely it is that we'll lose that money… and, as a result, the entire extension project will probably die. I honestly would rather deal with a little traffic diversion from building the above-ground rail than be stuck in decades more gridlock on the roads due to a no-longer viable project.

Squish the lawsuit and let's build this rail before I succumb to road rage and have to be institutionalized. (Kidding.) Seriously, I think enough is enough, and the Tunnel advocates need to accept their defeat and allow for the expansion to actually be implemented… eventually, it'll make life easier on all of us.

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm a few days late with the wishes, but unfortunately the computer/internet access at my parents' house is horrid, so any blog updates would have to wait.

The few days off were interesting (and busy), to say the least.

Thursday: Scheduled to depart from Dulles at 8:50 AM. All within the span of 1 hour, I managed to accomplish the following:
-Trip over a tree stake in the ground and do a faceplant into the dirt, much to the horror of the flight attendant walking behind me.

-Convince TSA that the luggage/cargo cover to my car I was carrying was NOT an uzi… I actually needed to bring it home for my dad to fix.

-Got to the gate, found out they were overbooked, volunteered my seat, and received a free round trip ticket in exchange. YESSSSS! Got myself on standby for the 12:30 flight, ran home, changed, drove to the barn, rode Cass, then back to Dulles to see if I could get on that flight and not have to wait until the 2:30 one. Fortunately, I was able to board that plane and even managed to sleep the 45 minute trip home.

At dinner a few hours later:
[Leah talking about adding a bit of liquor to her to pecan pie mix]
Aunt Jan: "Wouldn't that be funny if there was a liquor called wild turkey? You know, for thanksgiving?"
Cousin Ryan: "There is. It's called 'Wild Turkey Liquor.'"

Friday: Ate leftovers. Fixed Dad's motorcycle GPS navigator. Watched Rescue Dawn. (Wonderful movie, by the way.) Ate some more leftovers.

Saturday: Packed up a few large picture frames in about 100 lbs of cardboard and fleece to bring on the plane home. All 3 survived the trip back to D.C. (Sadly, the 3rd one broke after I got back when I tripped over the frame and stepped on the glass. D'oh!) My flight back was uneventful, except for the 15 minute interlude after we pushed back from the gate… I looked out the window to see a baggage truck zooming toward our plane with about 10 pieces of luggage on it… one of them being my suitcase. Heh.

I have a supremely boring life, I know.

The barn where I board is laid out a little strangely - for example, the hydrant (hose pump) is actually IN one of the stalls. This particular stall is also good for horsey sightseeing, as it's on the end and has two windows to peek out of… one of them being our sort of "hose window," as the only way to get the hose down to the grooming area below is to stick the hose out the open window.

This is great for Streaker, who is extremely insecure without his girlfriend Glory. This way, he can stick his head out the window and watch her get ready to go out. The first thing he does when we bring him in is run to the window to make sure Glory hasn't left his sight.

This past weekend at the barn, a few plexiglass pieces were put in the windows of the stalls to help with the cold, including the hose window/Streaker's "TV." Unfortunately, no one told Streak that the window was now covered up… so you can imagine what happened when he was brought inside. Streaker runs to the window and WHAM! Faceplant right into the plexiglass.

I, of course, laughed my ass off because Streaker is kind of annoying with his incessant whinnying and running around every time Glory isn't within sight… that and his habit of stepping on the hose when I'm trying to fill water buckets. :finger:

Okay, the real point of my post. On my office's floor, the door to the women's bathroom doesn't latch, so there's no handle-turning required. (I'm betting you're getting a good idea of what's about to happen.) Yesterday at work, I was on another floor for a meeting and decided to visit the bathroom before going back downstairs. Smart me, I pushed on the door and promptly slammed my face against the door. Good thing no one was there to witness this…

…but I'm thinking that if horses could talk, Streaker would be saying "Ha-ha! Sucker!"

I think I need to add a "Launchcast" blog category, since it seems I have at least one post related to it every few months.

I'm sitting here listening to my station, and what should come up? Think… Thanksgiving is no longer the harbinger of Christmas overload - I saw decorations up in Target in effing OCTOBER - so naturally, Launchcast has started shuffling some Christmas albums into the playstream.

I couldn't hit the "Skip" button fast enough for this one:
Christmas Carol Cats - "Deck the Halls"

WHY?! Seriously, why?!

then, if that weren't bad enough… a few songs later:
Jingle Dogs - "Ding Dong Merrily On High"

I kid you not. Who thinks of this stuff? Better yet, who buys music like this?!

I love Swedish Fish. Not just 'cause I'm Swedish, but they're so damn good.

One of my roommates left a package of assorted Swedish Fish on the kitchen table, and I've relived my love for the artificially colored candies… though after a few, I remembered WHY I don't eat them very often. 1) They give me a headache, and 2) I swear the gummy portion sticks to my teeth and refuses to come off. Sometimes love hurts. :stupid:

Anyway, I looked up Swedish Fish on Wikipedia, and here's an interesting tidbit of information:

This is one of the few gummy candies that contains no gelatin and is fully vegan.

That might explain why my vegetarian brother-in-law likes them.

Ingredient list:

• Sugar
• Invert Sugar
• Corn syrup
• Modified Corn starch
• Citric Acid
• White Mineral Oil
• Artificial flavors
• Coloring (FD&C Red 40 for the red color)
• Carnauba wax

I'm guessing the headache-causing ingredients are probably the inverted sugar, corn syrup, artificial flavors, or Red 40. Or all of the above.

But, hey! They're fat free!