Friday, January 25, 2008

Moveable Proximity

I fancy this commuter story about the importance of the bar car for people who travel long distances to work in New York City:

After years of griping and suffering through delays, broken cars and interrupted service, these commuters are finally getting new trains sometime starting in 2009. They are also getting new bar cars.

In the meantime, Jaaka and a few of the other regulars, have a way around the patchy service. Everyday, he and his buddies get a text message from a well-informed bartender on the train who lets them know if and when the car is running.

“Once I discovered these guys, I changed my hours to meet up with them,” said Chris Berberich, pointing with his beer to a few friends. Though Mr. Berberich’s end goal was Redding — he moved their seven years ago from Stamford, Conn., because he likes “living in the woods” — a good chunk of last night’s crew was headed to Fairfield, a town known for its large commuter population. It was also the setting of the television series, “Who’s the Boss?”

The article offers a number of possible points of a departure for a blog post, but the two blogs listed as related to the bar car community sparked the most curiosity. I prefer the Barcar website, as opposed to the poorly designed Beer Train Friday. Still, I like the idea of a blog serving the community that develops around a certain place of patronage.

How many blogs of this type exist in Pittsburgh? I'm not referring to a business-sponsored blog such as the one for Aldo Coffee. I want to know if there are any blogs written by the people who frequent a certain establishment. If I lived in Pittsburgh, I might start a blog about the Sharp Edge and the community I join there as a regular. How about a blog for Entrepreneurial Thursdays?

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