Archive for the ‘angry commuter’ Category

Were you as shocked as I was last night to learn that Jon and Kate separated and are now in the process of filing for divorce? I can’t believe it, and it has most certainly topped the list of things that I will be talking about today on my train ride in to work, and then again when I speak with my co-workers in social situations. All I can think about is what is going to happen to Jon? What about Kate? What about the children?

That’s right folks. The lovely people at the Flying Fish Brewing Co. have come up with an ingenious way to pay homage to the Garden State’s own stretch of I-95, the Jersey Turnpike: They’re going to name their beer after the exits.

Brewery founder Gene Muller says he was tired of going to beer conferences and having everyone make the same joke when they found out he was from Jersey: What exit are you from?

His response came in alcoholic form. Exit 4 is the location of the brewery and the first beer in the company’s exit series.

Sounds like a great idea to me. Why not name a beer (or series of beer) after a roadway? Can’t see where there might be a conflict of interest in that at all.

At first, we were going to have the alcohol level match the exit,” Muller says. “But Exit 1, 2 and 3 people really wouldn’t be interested in. And Exit 17 and 18, you’d probably start to get in trouble.”

Well god knows you don’t want to get in trouble for having too much alcohol! What do they decide to do to remedy the situation?

Right now, the brewery is working on Exit 11. That’s the spot where the New Jersey Turnpike intersects the Garden State Parkway.

PHEEW!!!! Now that that’s settled. I guess there’s nothing else that could go wrong with the beer named after a roadway exit.

But that leaves 16 more exits. The brewery has opened up its Web site to suggestions from New Jersey residents. One drinker recommended a Christmas beer for Exit 5, gateway to Mt. Holly. Another demanded a light beer for Exit 10, Edison. Get it? Edison? Light bulb?

16 More Exits??? Quick people, we need ideas! How about “Daddy Got Drunk at Exit 7 and drove in to Six Flags Great Adventure and killed a family?”  OR  “The Exit 14 Drunk Airline Pilot Ale,” because Newark airport is at exit 14… get it.

Come up with your own Exit Series beer name in the comments section. I’ll tweet some of the better ones.

So after 15 years since its original conception, NJ Transit has finally announced the groundbreaking for the new tunnel to Manhattan.  At the measly price of 8.7 billion, the tunnel should hopefully end the cluster-fuck that is mass transit commuting from New Jersey in to the big apple.

For folks like me, who commute from one of the closest NJ counties (Bergen) to the city, this tunnel project couldn’t have come sooner…. well maybe 15 years ago, hell 30 years ago. Commuting to the city has always been a problem. Instead, however, NJ Transit took a different approach and constructed the $450  Million dollar Secaucus Junction in 2003. Now, this new tunnel will basically cut the traffic in to Secaucus in half, rendering it a $450 million dollar waste of time.

I would love to know what you think about the new tunnel project. Will it EVER see the light of day? Maybe while we’re still commuting? My thoughts… we’ll have a great new tunnel system and easier commute in and out of New York City when pigs fly, hell freezes over, and there’s a black pres…. woman president in the white house!

This morning I had a long and heated political debate with a homeless man while waiting for my bagel at the bagel cart across the street from my work.

I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of David Carradine. To all those fans and loved ones, hang in there!