So, as far as I know, my guest stint as a 2logger is sadly coming to a close this afternoon, and, despite misspelling Mitt Romney's name, I've had a blast. However, I'm not winning the points competition. Yet.

Presented for blatant point-whoring is a plate of deliciousness. Flickr, folks, is an amazing resource.



So who among the 2log's New York wants to drive down to Pennsylvania for a plate of Iron Hill Nachos?

How could I go a weak of posting on the venerable 2log without some toilet humor? So submitted for your approval is a picture of the sign on the urinal in the bathroom at work.

Now on the surface, pictures of signs are pretty boring unless they have a gimmick. Well, here's the gimmick: This sign has been sitting there for nearly two weeks now, and I'm convinced that this urinal is not at all broken. I'm beginning to wonder if someone put the sign up there as a joke. Let's see how long we can get those suckers to use the other urinals before someone actually realizes it's not broken.

The options on the New York radio dial are notoriously terrible. What used to be the cutting edge of radio innovation in the 1960s and 1970s is now just your typical broadband of white bread Clear Channel/Infinity-owned stations that play the same thing you can find in Nowheresville USA.

True, we have our public radio stations and college stations, but for unabashed fans of rock, it's been a tough few years. K-Rock bounced its format a few years ago only to return with a more classic rock bent, and Q104 has been mired in a 20-song playlist for the 15 years. But maybe salvation is on the way.

Enter WRXP 101.9. Until 4 p.m. yesterday, it was the home to the worst radio station in New York City, CD 101, home of smooth jazz. Except for a two-hour swing show on the weekends, this radio station would be better suited for use in torture situations than anything else.

But now 101.9 is home to what the press release says is New Music, Classic Rock, Alternative and Local Rock all part of a brand called "The New York Rock Experience." The first hour of music included the Velvet Underground, Springsteen, The Bravery and the Chili Peppers. It has promise.

And for those about to rock, we salute you.

While writing this post, I received an e-mail from Apple. It was all about their new products: The 32GB iPod touch and the 16 GB iPhone.

For some of us - our friend the Taximan comes to mind - the 16 GB iPhone is just something else to lust after. For $100, it comes with twice the memory of the next model. You, Sam, can have your phone.

For me, it's all about the iPod Touch. I've long lusted after a flash-based MP3 big enough to hold my entire music collection for the simple reason that I hate running with a hard drive-based iPod.

My old iPod - a 3G model that can hold 30 gigs - looks like a dinosaur right now and holds its battery charge for about an hour. Since day one with that one four years ago, the idea of jogging for 30 minutes while shaking a hard drive never struck me as sensible. Sure, Apple says its product can pretty much handle it, but I wouldn't be too keen on running with my laptop hard drive either.

While I have a 2 GB Nano that I got for free with my MacBook, it holds a few hundred songs and not the 24 Gigs currently living on my computer. I really want an iPod Touch, but I have a problem: I freeze up whenever I want to get a new iPod. And that's nobody's fault but Gordon Moore's.

For the uninitiated among us, Moore's law states that "that the number of transistors that can be inexpensively placed on an integrated circuit is increasing exponentially, doubling approximately every two years." In other words, in two years, I can buy a flash-based drive with 64 GB of space for the same money with incrementally larger options coming out in the meantime.

One day, I'll just bite the bullet and buy myself a fancy iPod Touch. When the price drops, when my bonus one day comes, maybe I'll run next store and just impulsively purchase one. But the longer I think about it, the more I dwell on waiting. What if I just wait until the next model with more space hits the shelves?

We're all voting for Obama because she is, right?

Once upon a time, Gerrit threw down the gauntlet, and I just let it fall. So for my first post here, let me get right to it. I'll vote-whore myself with promises of Iron Hill beer and nachos later in the week.

In my other life, I write an MTA-obsessed blog about the New York City subways called Second Ave. Sagas. It started out as Manhattan's new Second Ave. Subway got underway at the end of 2006, but it's since become a clearinghouse for news and views on all things Metropolitan Transportation Authority. In November, the Ao2 crew challenged my to answer their subway questions. What did the self-proclaimed subway expert have to say about their subway quandaries? At the time, nothing. But today, I've got something for 'em.

Why is it that, whenever I sit down next to an attractive lady on the subway, she gets up, walks across the aisle, and wedges herself into a seat between a sweating 300-pound man and a hobo brandishing a knife? I mean, c'mon! I shower, like, every day.

Clearly, everyone loves hobos. When you ride the Hobo Train, people who shower too often secretly smell bad. Plus, 300 pounds is the new skinny.

Am I a terrible person if I ignore the one-eyed toothless person who comes in and sings for money? If so, why? If no, why not?

The next time I come through the train singing Ain't No Mountain High, I expect more money from you, Mr. Hall. I know where you sleep.

More seriously, why hasn't the MTA sought to combat rising costs by equipping their subways to move commercial freight after-hours (outwards from stations near major ports). I'd imagine, with rising oil costs, it's far cheaper to move freight to its destination by train than by truck. This would certainly provide a major source of revenue, and allow the MTA to get more use out of its infrastructure at all hours of the day. If this caught on and a significant volume of freight was moved overnight, a couple of cars could even be reserved for passengers, allowing shorter wait times at night.

Oh boy, a serious question. It all goes back to hobos. Freight trains always have hobos on them. And as you noted, the MTA has a problem with hobos. So the fact that they don't run freight trains through the tunnels has nothing to do with the closed nature of the NYC subway tracks or the gauge on the train cars being smaller than standard freight trains or the delivery of electricity through a third rail instead of overhead wires. It's all about the number of hobos.