A Post on Why I Love Public Transit (Sometimes)

Whoops. It's been another three years of not blogging. My bad.

What It Is

Do I need to explain this? Public transit or mass transit is an area's system of high-capacity vehicles, for which you pay a small fee to travel back and forth from places you go. 

What It Costs

Metrorail (henceforth referred to as Metro, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) rail system) fares are based distance time of day and distance traveled. Each fare period (peak/off-peak) charges a base fare ($2 off peak, $2.25 peak) and adds distance fare based on where you tap in and out of the system. It's kind of expensive. My office is about 7 miles from home by car and a one-way Metro trip costs $3.70.

Why It's Awesome

I live near Washington, DC and work in the District. My daily commute is nearly an hour and a combination of walking, trains and a work-provided shuttle bus. When WMATA works, it's awesome. I can drive to work and sometimes do, but despite a shorter commute by car, I arrive to work angry. I don't like shouting at other cars when they inevitably do something stupid in my way. Metro saves me the frustration of sitting in traffic and the anxiety of trying not to get in a wreck. I also get to read the paper during my commute, which keeps me informed and entertained most days.

Why It Might Not Be Awesome

Sometimes Metro is decidedly not awesome. They've recently completed a year-long compacted maintenance plan designed to reduce delays and improve safety, which itself created delays and impacted commutes across the city. While they have reported fewer fires and incidents this year compared to the last few, when there is an incident it can cause widespread issues across the system because of a lack of redundancy within the routes. Unlike NYC's subway system, each line in DC only has two tracks (most of NYC's have three, with the third used as express unless needed because of track problems), meaning trains must share a track around problems, which causes backups in both directions. 

Verdict

I like public transit. Of course now that I'm putting this in writing, I'll end up with a nightmarish commute for the next three or four weeks, but it's been generally good lately.

Evaluating Apple Chips

I am OBSESSED with the apple chips my employer (AU) serves with "healthy staff" luncheons. So naturally I've been trying to find how to purchase them myself. I haven't been able to figure out exactly how AU does these chips, if they purchase them from somewhere else or quite what the process is to end up with crispy apples that aren't greasy. I rank the AU chips 5/5 and they are the baseline against which I measure other apple chips.

I have tried the following brands:

Seneca Apple Chips

These are fried, as far as I can tell, and a bit greasy. The density of the chip is similar to the AU chip, but I don't believe AU's chips are greasy like these are. These are kind of expensive at our grocery store ($3+ for a little bag). I rate them 2/5 

https://www.senecasnacks.com/product/original-apple-chips

Trader Joe's Freeze Dried Fuji Apple Slices

These are a bit thicker than I wanted, though I like the freeze dried texture. They are at least all sweet, which is not the case with all apple snacks I've found so far. They're also inexpensive ($3 for a good sized portion). I rate them 3/5 https://www.traderjoes.com/fearless-flyer/article/1685

(Target Brand) Simply Balanced Freeze Dried Apple Slices

Again, these are a bit thicker than I wanted, though the texture is ok. They're a mix of sweet and tart apples (some have green skins so I suspect they are Granny Smiths). Quality was similar to Trader Joe's. I rate them 3/5 https://www.target.com/p/freeze-dried-apple-slices-1-25oz-simply-balanced-153/-/A-15909821

Brothers All Natural Freeze-Dried Fruit Crisps - Fuji Apples

These had the best texture and width of the freeze dried apples. Also no peels, seeds, or stems to be found. I ate the whole 1/2 cup package in a few minutes! These were available at Wegmans for 99¢, though the portion is pretty small. The texture is still not quite AU level, but I'd eat these again. I rate them 4/5.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0019413WA/ref=twister_B01LXTEWT4?th=1

Bare Baked Crunchy Apple Chips - Fuji & Reds

These came closest to the texture of AU's chips, so I suspect AU's may also be baked. These were still slightly thicker than AU's final product and some were a little soft. Overall I liked the texture and thickness of these though and I'd definitely buy and eat them again. I think this brand is pretty widely available too, so they'd make a nice snack. I'm pretty sure I've seen them at Sheetz. I picked these up at Wegman's for something like $3.50 for a 3.4 oz. package. A little pricey, but certainly not at the top of the spectrum. I rate these 4.5/5

https://smile.amazon.com/Bare-Natural-Apple-Chips-Gluten/dp/B007TG662Y?th=1

Verdict

I haven't quite found commercially available apple chips with the same texture and thickness as AU's, but plan to continue trying them. The Bare Baked Crunchy Apple Chips seem to be the closest of the ones I've tried so far.