When I was commuting around the DC area, I was accustomed to seeing all sorts of law enforcement inspecting packages and people along the areas where commuters would congregate and move through. It was post-9/11 in the nation’s capitol, after all. But out here on the west coast things have been much more – shall we say – relaxed, that is, until recently…

Walking the gauntlet of sherriff's vehicles on the way to the escalator is oddly comforting

There’s been a significant up-tick in bag/ticket inspections at both ends of my Metro commute. I’m not sure if it’s this intense all along the line because I don’t venture too far off of my regular stops, but it has been a steady diet of checks of late. Actually, I’m kind of glad to see it going on – it shows that authorities are paying attention to the news. And in most cases things go pretty quickly (except for those who thought they could jump the turnstile without getting caught). However, when you have to go dumpster-diving into your laptop bag to find the Metro pass – everyone gets a bit annoyed, including the poker-faced K-9 units.

Dude - I'm a German F-ing Sheperd. I can smell what you had for dinner two nights ago. Do *not* waste my time.

So when I found a stash of swag left over from the winter NAMM trade show (along with a few items from my old DC commute), I felt like I had struck gold. The first thing that caught my eye was a really well-made lanyard from Native Instruments, a developer of software-based virtual music instruments and effects. As much as I’ve spent on their products over the years they should have given me one with a gold clip on it – but the chrome/silver is still a nice touch. I also found an old auto-retracting belt clip and transparent zip-lock type badge holder from my days of commuting in DC. Since I can’t punch a slotted hole in my TAP (Transit Access Pass) card (they put a wire along the edge as an antenna) I had to find something with a slot pre-punched as a holder, and this fit the bill perfectly. It’s a bit old school, but I’m OK with that.

Houston's LN & Metro IDs on one "leash"

Aside from making it faster and easier to get in and out of the Metro by having the ability to flash my badge and keep going, it also puts all of the important things on one ‘leash’ per se. When I get home from work I can just hang the lanyard on the inside doorknob so I can pick it up as I go out the door the next morning.  (the only thing worse than having to dive into your laptop bag for your badge is to come up empty – hasn’t happened to me yet, but I’ve seen it happen to others and it doesn’t look like fun to get so much undivided attention) Since I’m the poster child for ADD, I need all the help I can get.

Of course this “find” could lead to the wrong conclusion about all of the junk that I’m now tossing out. On the one hand, it would be easy to think this affirms keeping all of that junk is a good idea. Then again, if I didn’t have all of those papers and other useless stuff piled in a box, I might have found these things three months ago when I started the new day gig. So, back to sorting, recycling and so forth…

decor at Uni City station

film cans line Hollywood/Vine

The film cans are EVERYWHERE

The thing that I found amazing was the use of old film canisters at the Hollywood/Vine Metro stop. There must be thousands of them mounted on the ceilings throughout the structure. I suppose that there are scads of them stacked up in storage around town, but it was still surreal to see them used in this way. It’s a very unique approach to industrial art – both a very Hollywood-styled bit of self-congratulation while also making an interesting use of space and architecture.