Backed up from Albro to the Brewery

In an ongoing exercise of self-exploration, I consider my past, present and future on a daily basis. I think about where I've been, who I am now and what I want to do in the future. (I almost never know what I want to do in the future. Sometimes I wonder if I'm afraid to plan for the future because I've been disappointed so many times before?)

Today, I've been looking at my past.

In a fit of boredom, I travelled to the Washington State DOT website and to the traffic cameras I used to consult frequently during my former life as a Seattle Traffic reporter. I examine the grid-like traffic-flow map and then, if I see a black or red patch of freeway, I click on the camera icon to determine the problem. I used to pride myself on finessing the traffic map better than any other reporter I knew. I used to predict problems and call the DOT to move the traffic cams in order to verify my hypothesis. More often than not I was correct.

So, today I noticed that traffic on "Northbound I-5, just before the I-90 interchange" seemed a little slow on the map. Sure enough, when I checked the live cam, there were two State Trooper cars with an accident. I found myself remembering the correct lingo I'd hear on the police scanners: "Seattle Zone two: Northbound 5 south I-90 two-car accident, lanes one-and-two blocked". Off and on I challenge myself to remember this language and the correct names for all of the interchanges in the Seattle Highway system. I don't know why I don't want to forget it. Maybe because it took so long to get the system down.

I became a traffic reporter in Seattle after living in town for only 2 years. There was much to learn and I had to sound like an expert very quickly. After a while, I enjoyed the process of researching traffic and the detective work involved in getting to the root of the problem. When I worked at independent radio stations, instead of at the Metro Networks "traffic clearing house", I could also depend on listeners to help find accidents. I was on a first-name-basis with many 9-11 operators in three counties. Everybody loved "Smith" in Snohomish county. He had a great voice and was always cracking silly jokes. I wonder if he's still doing that job?

Sometimes it feels like ages since I was a traffic reporter. Sometimes it feels like just yesterday. And sometimes I miss it.