This week we step away from our usual law discussion to share a list of “lifehacks” for living in Baltimore that we found on social media site, reddit. Some are pretty amazing, and this list might give you a few ideas for how to spend your free time. Enjoy!

Baltimore Life Hacks

You can bring whatever food/drink you want into an O’s game as long as it’s not booze or an opened drink container. Sub from DiPasquale’s, crabcake from Faidley’s, Berger cookies, pretty much whatever you want.  (From 1ReasonableMan) (no glass or metal containers though)

The Baltimore Tool Library. It’s almost exactly what it sounds like. You pay an annual membership fee based on your income, and you can check out tools for a few days. Most of us live in apartments and it may not be economical to buy something like a belt sander or cordless drill, but having the option to borrow these things can come in handy. (From SpaceManAndy)  Additionally – The Baltimore Community ToolBank has a much larger selection with the caveat that it only supports non-profit organizations. Huge inventory, great service, and great for the community. Not to trample on the Library but it is a similar resource worth checking out. (from anthem22)

If you’re looking to rent a place look up your potential landlord on MD Judiciary Case Search. (link) (CatnipFarmer) You can also look up the name of the owner of a property (if you’re looking at somewhere like Craiglist) to make sure they are actually are the owners. (link)

The Target at Mondawmin is a thousand times better than anyone would have you believe. It’s bright, clean, quiet, never crowded, and usually has everything in stock. (While you’re there, take a minute to walk around the Mondawmin Mall and wonder what has actually kept you away from there all these years.) (from BaltimoreC)

Use the Waverly Farmers’ Market every Saturday morning. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, there’s a Giant and a Rite Aid right next door. (from caffedriade)

JHU lectures and speaker events are FREE and open to the public. The best ones are the MSE Symposium ones (past guests: Jerry Springer, Malcolm Gladwell, Aziz Ansari, Michael K. Williams, etc.) (from caffedriade) Additionally, concerts are open to the public, though students get first priority.

your community association’s listserv will have way more information about crime/construction/events/closures than a newspaper (from bippyboo)

The Book Thing is an awesome place for free books (from al666in)

http://baltimorebeerweek.com/  (from N8CCRG)

The B&O Railroad Museum in Pigtown is a great outing for kids or people who are interested in trains or a piece of Baltimore history. By far the best museum I’ve visited here but some outsiders might see it as a “sketchy area” so I don’t think it’s very popular. Totally worth checking out, especially during the Christmas time–it’s decorated out to the 9s, Santa and Mrs. Clause make an appearance, the model trains are adorned with Christmas stuff–wonderful for kids. (from alpharatsnest)

The Johns Hopkins Career Fair is open to all. Check the calendar on the JHU website to see the dates of this fall and spring event. Bring resumes. Get goodies. (from caffedriade)

There are TONS of Free Outdoor Movies around town. Check out this blog post for a great list: http://www.bmoreinterested.com/bmoreinterested/baltimore-outdoor-movies-2014

Travel Tips:

The cheapest way to get to BWI is the light rail – buck-fifty even from Hunt Valley. Make sure you get on a train that says BWI on its sign, though – not all trains go to the end of the line, and that goes for both directions.  (but it’s SLOW)

The MARC train runs on weekends now (although I’m sure you’ve heard) and you can buy a ticket on-board for $10 cash to go from Penn Station to Union Station (DC). $7 if you buy it in the station. The blue machines in the train stations look like they just sell Amtrak tickets, but they sell MARC tickets as well and are very quick little terminals to pay with a card.

MARC passes (not single tickets) are honored on other MTA services like busses and light rail – just show your pass to the driver or fare inspector.

If you go to visit DC (ok it’s sort of a baltimore tip) use one of the machines to purchase a SmartTrip card instead of a paper farecard for the DC metro – they’re charging an extra dollar each leg of a trip on a paper farecard, and the SmartTrip cards now cost $2, so it covers itself the first round trip you use it on. WMATA is incentivizing the use of the electronic cards because the paper farecard hardware is expensive to support.

Don’t you dare stand still on the left side of the escalators – move to the right or keep walking… or we’ll all glare at you.

On the topic of MARC trains: the Camden and Brunswick lines are the bastard-children of the service. They run to DC in the mornings and back north in the afternoons, and they run on freight rails so they’re slower and subject to heat restrictions in the summer. The Penn line runs on Amtrak rails which are all steel-reinforced concrete high-speed rails for the Acela service, so it’s a much more consistent service. The trains make trips to and from DC/Baltimore in both directions all day, though there’s more frequent service during the commuter rush.

 Union Station is Amtrak Headquarters and is very nice – more on par with 30th Street Station in Philadelphia or Penn Station in NYC – good place to grab a bite or find a quiet corner to sit down.  (From cwilliamhicks)

Free CharmCard with the purchase of a 1-Day Pass, 7-Day Pass, 30-Day Pass, or Stored Value if you pick it up on the downtown MTA office (from BmoreInterested)

Use the Charm City Circulator to get around downtown. It’s free. (From Rickst75)

If you find yourself needing to get between Charles Village and Mt. Vernon for free, use the Johns Hopkins shuttle. I’ve never seen them turn anyone away (from br4in5)

 

Hattip: reddit.com