Al's Handwritten Blog

Rusting Tractor in Kansas Field

For a few years now I’ve been trying to chronicle the buildup of unstoppable forces bringing a world class transit facility to the shores of Lake Boren in Newcastle, WA. Writing about local events is a part time hobby. Nobody asks me to and nobody pays me.


The process is I write the story and then send it out as email to selected friends, acquaintances, and relatives. Provides evidence that I’m still alive while giving me with a therapeutic vent. A lot of it is based on real events with my added slant.

Then I upload that same story to my Lake Boren Rapid Transit Report blog. Sometimes I add photos and change the title. I’m a definite rooky formatting a blog and/or web page. I can get photos uploaded and I figured out how to re-open a post to fix a minor error.

One thing I can’t figure out how to get a background design working. I’ve had some help and found some hints but I still don’t know how to cause that “code” to actually get into the internet and make a background. You’d think I could do it. Everyone says it’s simple. I’m kind of simple too. It may be simple but you have to know what to do to make it happen.

A real event came along and kind of made my blog premise moot. Newcastle and Sound Transit spent a lot of last year installing a “Transit Center” at the main crossroads in Newcastle. Essentially it’s a bus stop. Paint on the street says “BUS ONLY” and some tiny rain shelters were added. The intersection got new pavement and new poles for traffic lights. Newcastle is very proud. However it’s not the palatial edifice envisioned in the Lake Boren Rapid Transit Report. I call it the “interim transit center” providing service until the real one is built in the future.

In the mean time there are many other interesting things going on. I’m a man of leisure these days and I like to follow what’s happening. Lbrtr sometimes branched out to discuss other public and transit related construction projects. Some of these are getting stale. Maybe it’s me getting stale.

The Lake Boren Rapid Transit Report will add a cousin. Transit rants will still be sent to the lbrtr email distribution list. The Lake Boren Rapid Transit blog will continue with random updates. Light Rail on the eastside and various other local road and transit projects will continue to be found in email and in the blog. The new cousin will not have an email component.

My working title for the new cousin blog is “Al’s Handwritten Blog.” By not including the email I’ll have more flexibility to include photos referenced in the words and links to pertinent web sites. The blog building tools (although I don’t understand a lot of it) seem to be getting better allowing more items and hopefully more interesting visuals.

For now I'll be including these posts in my current blog rather than open a new one. I expect you’ll be able to tell the difference. Especially if you read both the email and blog versions – you won’t see the “Handwritten” posts in email. If you are particularly interested in reading what I write but only use email maybe this will encourage you to get the RSS feed. It’s easier than email and you’ll see all the photos, links, and confused logic.

On the other hand if you like reading what I write you need to visit a library. It’s full of stuff written by people who are actually good at it. Some of them use the correct words and form sentences way gooder then I ever done.

Downtown Bus leaving bushes at the Seaside Trolley Museum in Maine

Transit is still one of my prime interests. The evolution of transit vehicles has been amazing. Probably a subject for the Handwritten blog. What was that bus doing in the bushes?  I like history and the history of transportation is particularly fascinating. The “Handwritten” reference means these new posts will be even more along the lines of what I’m up to and where I’ve been. "Handwritten" in the sense that I do all the labor rather than gleen stuff from other sources.  I took that photo.  If you recall I’ve written about birding, photography, and maritime museums in the past. These are examples of subjects that will fall under “Handwritten” in the future. Pretty clever, eh?

Therefore, if you have questions, suggestions, a sense of wonder, or you’re just annoyed please feel free to let me know via the comments button below. I don’t know how it works, but I think all you need is a Google account – it’s free. It’s part of planet Google. When you send a comment I’ll read it (unless the “subject” has been flagged as spam in my gmail account).

I’m still not comfortable publicly ranting about national politics or the entertainment industry so you won’t see that stuff. Sports and “news” don’t hold my interest much either. Also my three rules will apply to the Handwritten posts: Accuracy – optional; Plagiarism – I’m not above it; Frequency – whenever.

The second one was from my college days. Several of us were putting our heads together on some project that was due very soon. One of the guys was a paragon of virtue, a well spoken stiff collar type who expended extra effort to obey all the rules. He spoke in complete sentences and used adverbs correctly at all times. Another guy suggested we could speed up the project if we were to copy a small section from a library book. Someone pointed out that copying was plagiarism. Mr. Straight Guy in his usual precise speaking voice immediately said, “I’m not above it.”

Just in case you’re curious, I still intend to maintain my own point of view. “What were they thinking?” Or “Could they possibly have made it any harder???” However, Glen, the Lake Boren Carp, will most likely stay with the Rapid Transit Report.

My other intention is that photos in these posts will mostly be my own. In the past I’ve borrowed web photos as a way to punch up stories. I’m not above it. That will probably continue in the transit posts. But the Handwritten posts should be more about the interesting stuff I find on my own. You’ll see some 3D photos. Dig around and find the red/cyan 3D movie glasses. You’ll need them. Again, if you have any comments please feel free.

Al