well, my primary plan is a very safe bet, taking Metro Bus 94 to the Glendale Amtrak station... leaves about every half an hour, and only takes 37 minutes... the Metrolink train would have taken 10 minutes, but its highly unlikely I'll make it.
according to wikipedia there is a free shuttle bus to the train station, so I guess I good indicator of me missing the train would be the absense of the bus.
its too bad the train station and the bus stop are in two completely different directions, I would have liked to try the train first and then take the bus if I missed it.
--Russ