Further training

I called Amtrak about half an hour before their daily northbound train from Orlando was due to leave this afternoon, and there were still seats available. So much for the idea that I'd have to book well in advance! Interestingly, though, it turns out that daily train leaves for different destinations on different days. Today it was going to Washington, but tomorrow it goes all the way to New York. You can put it down to the recession and reduced freight on the tracks -- or at least, that's what one article my awesome friend sent me would attribute it to -- but it makes travel both more complicated and in some ways more interesting. There's something glamorous about hopping on the next train out of town no matter where it happens to be going. Waking up, checking the schedule -- oh, today there's a train to Phoenix, awesome! -- and off we go. Of course, I have no idea what it's like in cities other than Orlando, where they keep a station manned thirteen hours a day for the sake of the one or two trains that come through. Amtrak is a totally different animal in the northeast, and I imagine its transcontinental trains are more frequent than once a day too. Chicago in particular is a hub for them. That station is open eighteen hours a day, with a train coming in just about every hour. Good thing, too. You can't go coast to coast on Amtrak without passing through Chicago or New Orleans. If I go by train I'm not going to get away without visiting Chicago, probably more than once.

My goal for tomorrow is to visit a local AT&T store and ask them about the network card I mentioned yesterday. One way or another, I also hope to conduct an interview this weekend!