So I commute into Manhattan just about everyday from New Jersey, other than the fairly standard New Jersey transit delays and over crowded trains most days are fairly uneventful. This morning was not uneventful; I arrived at the station at 6 AM and hopped on the Hoboken express train (I do this often depending on when I get to the station and transfer in Newark to a train bound for NY Penn Station). I got on to the train, secured a decent seat and broke out my laptop – thus far a fairly mundane morning. Completed a few open tasks leftover from the previous day – again a fairly normal morning train ride. Once I completed a few tasks I spent the rest of the time stumbling the internet (I suggest the FireFox plugin), as the train pulled into Newark Penn Station I closed my laptop and reached under my legs to grab my backpack. As I tried to lift the backpack onto the seat it was seemingly tethered to the floor (I know this seems really odd), upon further examination it appears as if one of the dangling straps from the backpack had made its way into a vent slot on the floor of the train. The strap was stuck, really stuck, needless to say I did not have a pair of scissors, pocket knife or my trusty leatherman (just kidding, I don’t carry a leatherman) to cut the strap and release my bag so I was forced to stay on the train, I missed my connection in Newark as I attempted to wrestle my bag from the grasp of New Jersey Transit. After 2 to 3 minutes of tugging, yanking and pulling the bag was free, the strap was completely destroyed as if it had been eaten by the trains ventilation system. I guess the moral of the story here is use the overhead storage, the floor of NJT trains is a dangerous place. Hopefully tonight on the way home I can grab some pictures of the vents and put together a pictorial follow-up post. Not a good start to my day.