Thank you for reporting it.

If you don't already, please consider putting Metro Transit Police's text and call numbers in your phone. If something like this happens again, you can text your train's location (and which way it's going) to the number and tell them you're being threatened with assault. MTP has been a lot more responsive than MPD in my experience and an officer is usually on the train within 1-2 stops.

text: 696873 (MyMTPD)
phone: 202-962-2121

Whenever I do this, the plan is to meet in the first or last car.

[SOMETHING'S HAPPENING]

> 2012 - 88

Thanks Obama!

I recommend Budget Bytes for recipe planning, especially for pasta, sheet pan, and one pot meals that yield leftovers. A lot of the recipes are a little simple/bland but are easy to dress up with extra herbs/spices/sauce.

You can also look at what you're buying pre-made frozen or from restaurants and try making that at home.

But are you guys buying a ton of pre-made frozen meals? Because those end up being around 2-5x the price of a serving of food made from scratch, and you get more food for the same money. If you do buy a lot, Trader Joe's freezer section is usually cheaper than the premium meals at other grocery stores.

If neither of you are realistically going to meal prep, look into buying a pressure or slow cooker. There are countless recipes that are just throwing stuff into those things and setting a timer.

I hope it won't be staffed by employees who support far-right domestic terrorist groups in their free time.

Amtrak coach seats are going to be only a few bucks higher than MARC fares, if not the same price. But MARC tickets can be used at any time of day for whatever train is most convenient for you. Amtrak is for a specific train at a specific time. If you don't know how long it'll take to get from baggage claim back to the station, I'd go with MARC and maybe Amtrak to drop her off when she leaves.

Dan's Cafe (unironically).

> not having to hear constant NPR

I feel this. Used to have NPR set as my morning alarm until I realized I hate listening to strangers talk about topics that I don't care hearing an opinion about.

I would probably skip apartment searching in downtown Bethesda and off the Medical Center stop because it's an expensive neighborhood. But anything further up the line toward North Bethesda/Rockville, you'll have rental prices drop a bit.

I'd say most of the suburbs are generally car dependent but the stations that run through them often have housing built within walking distance. The North Bethesda and Grosvenor stops have at least 2 apartment buildings within short walking distance of each. This area isn't people's first choice because the night life is lame and you might have to take a bus to the grocery store but if those aren't a priority, I would check it out.

Are buses an option for you? If so, Montgomery County is also very accessible by bus routes and you could expand your search out a few miles from the red line on that stretch. The North Bethesda stop has a grocery store at the base of one apartment building. Generally I'd prefer struggling in this area and saving a couple hundred a month instead of living paycheck to paycheck down to the last dollar in downtown DC. You can find cheaper rentals in DC than the suburbs but it'll be at the cost of safety and/or grocery access. In the suburbs you might be able to swing renting a studio or just having one roommate instead of sharing a group house.

If you find a higher paying job after a few years, then you can move closer to your place of work or perhaps you'll find you don't mind the train commute that much.

How come you're considering Baltimore and not the DC suburbs off the metro trains? The area between North Bethesda and Shady Grove on the red line has high rises at slightly lower prices than DC while still being accessible to downtown by train. Montgomery County in MD also has a program for moderately priced apartments if your income qualifies (yours should). The link to that info is below. I'm not sure if you would have to live in the area for a minimum of a year before you qualify but either way, it's an easy way to knock off a few hundred dollars every month in rent:

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DHCA/MPDU/mpdu-rentals.html

This area also has a lot of private landlords who rent out their condos at slightly lower prices than the corporate owned high rises. You could make a post asking for advice on the suburbs off the other lines. I've never lived in those neighborhoods so I can't vouch for walkability but it's one way to save money by still living near the train.

From the article:

> On the ride back she filed a report online with Metro. Transit police called quickly. But the officer seemed to lose interest, she said, when she explained that the man hadn’t exposed himself. He had stuck his hand into his pants. It didn’t seem like a crime then, the officer said.

> A Metro spokesperson wouldn’t explain why police considered what the woman saw to be legal. As Express reported last year, Maryland is the only one of the areas Metro trains run through that requires genitals to be visible for something to be considered indecent exposure. D.C. and Virginia laws prohibiting public masturbation or simulated masturbation do not require visible genitals.

washingtonianprobs on Instagram would probably be happy to post it for you.

> In a workplace scenario this assuredly would be sexual harassment.

obligatory

It's possible he's been confronted, or even charged with something, but he's not going to be locked up or banned from the metro for this behavior. If he doesn't care about his record, he'll keep coming back to do this.

Are you texting MTP when you see him on the train or after the fact? I don't know if you can attach photos to the text line but at least provide a description of what he's wearing, what stop you're at, which direction the train is headed, and car number if visible. I've had luck with MTP getting officers on the train within a stop or two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUhNV_EJN1E

No, I haven't, so thank you for posting a heads up. Hopefully OP lives near their campus and has private workspace access.

> Bear spray is illegal in DC

So is protecting your home and family from an intruder when the police decline to help. What's your point?

West End Neighborhood Library is around 3 blocks from you as an immediate solution.

Did he show up recently? If you let yourself hear him while you go about normal activity in your apartment your brain might start tuning him out as background noise. Dealt with the same thing in college with a saxophone player and he eventually got drowned out with traffic and siren noise. Some people recommend white noise machines.

> axe body spray

Worse form of punishment than bear spray IMO.

Is he breaking into individual units or just the lobby so far? If this is a condo building, can you get the board to replace or reinforce door he's using to get in? If it's a rental, best you can do is ask management to install a budget camera to get your own footage but even then, I doubt MPD will file any sort of report.

You could buy bear spray but you'd likely be breathing it in and contaminating an indoor space after setting it off. And knowing MPD, they'd probably end up charging you for trying to protect yourself.

I thought it was diabetes they cured. 🥴