Did I say tomorrow? I meant two weeks...

Dear readers (assuming there is still anyone out there who reads this thing), I apologize for not posting something immediately after my last post like I said I would. However, I have good news: I've spoken to President Bush, and since I have a relatively long record of faithful service to this blog and this is only the fifth or sixth time that I've not followed through on my promise to post something soon he has kindly agreed to wipe away most of the ill will you may have directed at me. I have agreed to serve out my probationary period by writing at least one post a week for the next month. Obviously the damage to my reputation and professional standing more than compensate you for any hurt that may have been caused by my lack of posts.

Okay, now that we've established that I'm to be held to a high standard, just not the highest standard, of justice, let's get to the real juicy part of this yellowcake...er...post. As you all know by now, there's not much for me to do around 2am. Typically, this results in me surfing the Internet, generally reading all things college football related, but making an effort to check epicurious.com every now and then to see if they have any new delicious recipes that I can avoid making for the Wife. Occasionally it also results in me coming across a news item that I find particularly funny. Now, some may recall that in a previous post I discussed the problems with the passenger rail service in this country. Good news! Amtrak has decided to do something about it (see story here). Okay, so they're just partnering with a luxury train company to provide extraordinarily luxurious accommodations and high levels of service and food, but it's a start. Or is it? Amtrak's spokesperson says that "Anything that elevates the profile of passenger-train service is beneficial to Amtrak." Okay, getting the brand name out there is a good start, but it really doesn't matter a whole lot when your trains don't go where people want to go and service between geographically close cities remains limited at best. Instead of upgrading the train cars, how about upgrading the lines, routes and engines to service more destinations at a quicker pace. Trains should have the advantage over air travel in that trains are often able to drop their passengers near the city center, while airports tend to be built out in the boonies. Granted, the decline in passenger rail travel over the past 50 years has probably led to many of these stations and tracks being torn up, but their viability should at least be looked into. Besides, I'll deal with a train station that's been falling down since the mid-80s before I willingly step foot inside an airport as poorly laid out as Dulles again. Is train travel as fast as flying? No, but with upgrades to the equipment being used and better route planning, it can come close, especially once you factor in the time needed to get to the airport, clear security and then claim bags at the end of the flight. There is absolutely no reason that rail cannot compete with air travel in this country, although I have doubts about the ability of rail to compete with long distance automobile travel (or short distance car trips for that matter).

All that being said, I might be tempted to give the new service a try. Why? Did you see the final sentence? "Did I mention the complementary wine?" he added. "And they don't limit you to one glass." I bet the Wife and I could make them rethink that policy.

Okay, that's all I've got for now. I'm glad to be back, even if it took a Presidential commutation to make it happen (these aren't one time things, right? I've got some things in the works that I might call for something like this again...).