I just got in from Chicago. I took some pictures while I was there. (See them here.) Worked. Hung out with Sophie and Chris. Met a person with Alton Brown’s phone number in their cell phone. All in all a great trip. I’m freaking exhausted.

I rode the L a bunch while in Chicago and it made me think about how sad it is that I live in the largest city in the United States without any form of public transit. How can Arlington have a major league baseball stadium and soon be home to the most popular franchise in the NFL, yet still not have a convenient way for people to get to the games?

While in San Francisco last weekend I rode the Muni to the Giants game. It was ridiculously convenient, and if I lived in that city I’d go to games all the time. I used to have season tickets to the Rangers, but not only has the product on the field not really been worth watching lately, but when you also factor in that you have no choice but to drive to the game and pay ten bucks to park on top of the ticket, it hardly seems worth it. (Especially in the summer heat.)

If I could ride a bus from the “park and ride” down the street from my house for a couple of bucks, that would make the ball game a much more enticing night out.

And that’s just a selfish and frivolous reason it would be nice to have public transit. I won’t even get into the economic and environmental reasons why it’s such an important thing to do.

It’s pretty rare that I’m embarrassed for this city. But this is one of those times.