Jul 11
15
I Want to Ride My Bicycle
Globe “columnist” Brian McGrory (@GlobeMcGrory) put out this “article” talking about his desire for a ban on bicycles in Boston. Here’s the email I sent him in response:
Mr. McGrory,
As I sit here reading your so-called “article” on boston.com (which reads more like a LiveJournal post that you accidentally submitted to the wrong website), I can’t help but get the impression that you’re an overweight, hypocritical Masshole from the suburbs. I’ve never read anything you’ve written before (knowingly, anyway), so I can’t say it’s all drivel, but this “Make Boston Bicycle-Free” hissy-fit you’re throwing all over the internet for all to see is worse than a child screaming in the supermarket because his mommy won’t buy him a Lunchables.First and foremost, you assert that Boston’s roads were “built for… cars,” and in the very next breath admit that the streets are narrow. Surely someone who writes for a newspaper as widely-known as the Boston Globe has spent enough time in Boston to know that the streets of this city (especially downtown, where I’d imagine most of your fish sandwich-fueled rage takes places) was designed with horse-drawn carts in mind (“grew in a meandering organic pattern from early in the 17th century,” according to the Wikipedia page for Boston; you’ve at least read that much, right?).
I find it interesting that in the same paragraph in which you chastise bicyclists for being so brash as to think we should be allowed to ride our bikes to work and maybe get there faster than if we drove or took the hardly-reliable T, you fully acknowledge that the dismal conditions of daily travel are attributable to the “delivery trucks double-parked nearly everywhere.” You forgot to mention that “nearly everywhere” includes the bike lanes we’re supposed to be ALLOWED to ride in (note: not SUPPOSED to ride in; we’re still allowed to ride in the street if we feel that’s safer than riding around the double-parked delivery trucks and taxis, dodging car doors, and getting plowed into by distracted drivers who don’t check over their shoulder before making right-hand turns).
You’re crying because the city gave out warnings instead of citations to bicyclists? Oh, and gave out free helmets to promote safety? Don’t worry, I doubt your tax dollars went towards those helmets, which were probably donated by the manufacturer or one of the local bike shops that do a lot more for this city than your car dealership.
You praise Cambridge for punishing cyclists riding on sidewalks… I mean, I agree with you on that front. Cyclists should be riding in the street, with (not against) traffic; not on the sidewalks with the “daring pedestrians.” So, not in the streets, and not on the sidewalks. Because you’re cranky in the morning and don’t want to have to pay attention before finishing your morning coffee? Because you get angry when cyclists fly past you (even those who DO abide by the rules) and make it to work faster than you?
Tell you what. I’ll rent you a bike and take you around the city. You can see first-hand what we deal with on a daily basis from people too busy putting on makeup, sending text messages, and yeah, even reading newspapers (who even does that anymore?) to pay attention to the actual task at hand, driving, who then get pissed off at us when we end up next to them at the traffic light. Even following all the rules, drivers constantly shit on us. There needs to be a reeducation program for drivers, wherein they can learn to be less shitty human beings, not a ban on bicycles.
While I get that you’re probably trying to be funny or something, and your article is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, it comes off as more head-in-ass and doesn’t help anything.
Sincerely,
Mark Corsillo
Hey, McGrory, you know what’s gonna be gone long before bicycles in this town? Newspapers.
Jun 11
6
I Don’t Wanna Grow Up
Today was Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, in which they announced with great fanfare that they were going to finally start doing things that other software companies already do. From Slashdot:
Steve Jobs was on hand today to kick off Apple’s WWDC keynote. Lion took the lead, with no surprises except a $29.99 pricetag and a July ship date. iOS is getting a new “Notification Center”; Twitter is being integrated; he announced a split thumbable keyboard for iPads; wireless syncing; and a native IM system for iOS devices, shipping in the Fall. iCloud will be free, syncing apps (Mail, Calendar, Contacts and iWork apps) across devices. Photostream is iCloud for pictures. iTunes iCloud will let you re-download your tracks at last, and iTunes Match will let you match your ripped CDs to Apple’s copies.
Let’s break this down by item:
-Lion took the lead, with no surprises except a $29.99 pricetag and a July ship date. [Paid DLC for your OS! Neat.]
-iOS is getting a new “Notification Center”; Twitter is being integrated; [Android already lets you integrate Facebook and Twitter pretty seamlessly. Good try, though.]
-he announced a split thumbable keyboard for iPads; wireless syncing; [Blackberries have done wireless syncing for years, haven’t they? Bluetooth + Blackberry Desktop Manager?]
-and a native IM system for iOS devices, shipping in the Fall. [Cool. Like Blackberry Messenger for Apple devices. Original.]
-iCloud will be free, syncing apps (Mail, Calendar, Contacts and iWork apps) across devices. [Google did it.]
-Photostream is iCloud for pictures. [Google called it Picasa.]
-iTunes iCloud will let you re-download your tracks at last, and iTunes Match will let you match your ripped CDs to Apple’s copies. [a la Google Music.]
There was a time when Apple was a leader in innovation. Now they are consistently five steps behind everyone else, and all the Apple Fanboys gush when they finally get around to introducing features other companies already have in production. Siiiigh.
May 11
11
Failure’s Not Flattering
Holy Twitter fail, RCN.
@RCNConnects has been tweeting about a promo they’re running at DePaul University in Chicago all day. Granted, there were only 4 tweets about it, but I can’t imagine those tweets are bringing in more potential business than their number of non-Chicago-based followers. So I tweeted to them, and they responded:
And this is how your customers find out your Twitter feed is run by bots.
Jan 11
12
There’s Always Something Better
Surprise of surprises, Verizon announced yesterday that as of February 10, they’ll be offering Apple’s iPhone 4. Wannabe geeks everywhere, rejoice!
Sure, it SOUNDS like the solution to all of life’s problems (or at least, all of the iPhone’s problems… with the exception of that death-grip issue, which still plagues the device). Verizon promises they “have advanced the capacity and built margin into it. We’re ready for this launch,” but just how ready are they?
Months ago, I wrote about the trials and tribulations of using attempting to use an iPhone 3GS in a big city. Specifically, whenever there was an event at Fenway Park (2 blocks from my apartment), my phone would turn into an expensive paperweight. Various people at AT&T told me that this was due to network congestion, and would be alleviated with the addition of more towers in the area as well as a planned revamp of network infrastructure within the park. Knowing other people who still have AT&T service (sometimes) in this area, I can tell you that whatever changes the provider made have not (so far) helped.
A European carrier, O2 (formerly the sole iPhone carrier in the UK), experienced similar issues with their network. They found that congestion was only part of the issue. It wasn’t just that too many users were connected, it was that too many phones were disconnecting and reconnecting every time they needed to use data, a feature of the iPhone (and some Android devices) designed to save battery life, rather than keeping connections open like on Blackberry phones. O2 explained their findings to other providers, including AT&T, and the solution (which is a matter of reconfiguring existing systems, not adding new hardware), but it seems as though AT&T has yet to implement the necessary changes.
So, Verizon says they’re ready. The question is whether they’ve actually made the back-end changes necessary to avoid affecting all of their customers when the massive iPhone 4 migration takes place.
In addition, there are a few other issues that seem to be getting missed in the Verizon’s-Finally-Getting-the-iPhone hullabaloo:
-Due to the fact that Verizon’s network is CDMA (versus AT&T’s GSM network), users will not be able to access data services while in a phone call. There is a work-around for this, though: just connect to a WiFi network and you’ll still be able to browse the internet, get new emails, and check Facebook while on long, boring calls.
-Again due to the Verizon’s CDMA vs. AT&T’s GSM, current iPhone 4 users will NOT be able to just bring their phones with them. The technology in AT&T’s phone will not work with Verizon’s network, and vice-versa (though, in the same way AT&T’s iPhone can be brought to T-Mobile’s GSM network, Verizon’s iPhone will be technically usable on Sprint’s CDMA network).
Also, keep in mind that the iPhone 4, regardless of carrier, is still not a 4G device (though as far as Sprint’s WiMAX network and Verizon and AT&T’s LTE networks, none of which met original 4G standards, are concerned, the definition of 4G has been amended to include these previously-technically-advanced-3G networks since they were all calling them 4G anyway).
All that said, I have seen the light with my HTC Evo (on Sprint’s unprecedented $70 “Everything Data” plan) and won’t be switching back to Verizon.
Sep 10
15
Everybody Get Dangerous
Aug 10
23
Reckless Abandon
I’m actually excited to wrap up a weekend that involved more drinking than I’ve probably done in any weekend since the end of college. A significant amount of the damage (and ridiculous events) were a direct result of being convinced to host the Function Party Crasher, @functionwillie, on Day 82 of his sponsored 100-day party binge. Starting the night at my dive-of-choice, the Pour House, we downed a few 22-ounce mugs of beer before heading to pick up a friend of the Party Crasher’s.
We stopped at a really lame hotel bar where we had a beer while talking to groups of strangers, then headed back to the Pour House. Willie and his friend disappeared at some point, and I met a guy who kept playing an air guitar. I told him about my brother’s exploits in the US Air Guitar Championship under the moniker of Mitt Umlaut, only to find that this guy’d actually heard of him. Weird. We would later end up playing catch with a football while standing on opposite sides of the street, though I still don’t know where the football came from. This was right after I apparently also borrowed a stranger’s iPhone to friend myself from her Facebook shortly after meeting her outside the bar (I didn’t have any recollection of this until she explained it to me).
We won’t even start on the rest of the weekend. No stories as good as those, I think, but I think those are pretty exemplary of the kind of weekend I had. How was yours?
Aug 10
10
Telephone Call to Istanbul
That reminds me… I never closed out the AT&T fiasco!
I ended up finally getting an AT&T manager (on the phone) to agree to waive my early termination fee through an hour-long debate. It wasn’t reason or logic that finally convinced him, but I think I guilted him into it. A nice, solid “put yourself in my shoes” monologue was followed by a few moments of silence broken by, “I’ll make a note on your account that the termination fee will be waived after you port your number.” Stunned, I had him repeat himself a few times and told him that he was a lone beacon in the darkness that is AT&T. I headed straight to Best Buy and picked up a (Best Buy-exclusive) white HTC Evo. I’m still learning how to use it, but what Android lacks in ease-of-use it more than makes up for in customizability. I don’t know if that’s actually a word.
Anyway, I went to the AT&T store and transferred my old roommate’s line back over to him, closed out my bill, and was ready to wash my hands of AT&T (and their pushy salespeople who continued to bash Sprint and the Other Carrier even after I told them how much happier I was without them), but today I got a bill from AT&T.
Huh? A $135 charge? No no, I even saw the note on my account when I went to the AT&T store. That fee should be waived! I started to worry that settling my bill or moving the old roommate’s line somehow purged the note on the account. After a very irritating conversation with yet another customer service rep with the brain function of a household pet, I was able to find that instead of me paying AT&T $66 like they were asking, they in fact owed me $76 because I overpaid my bill! Kaching. You can make that check payable to…
Wait. She tells me I have a $76 credit on my account.
Wait. I don’t have an account anymore. I have no use for a credit on my account. The moral of this story was that I wasn’t giving you anymore money ever. Can I have that back? It took her a good 15 minutes to figure out how to get a check sent to me. I’ll be sure to frame it. Or deposit it in my account, actually… maybe I’ll take a picture. (Of course, Maria closed out the conversation with a clearly from-the-script “We thank you for being such a loyal customer and hope you enjoyed your experience today.” I didn’t have the heart to point out again that I had already closed my account.)
Of course, then I got home and looked at my RCN bill to find that I’ve been charged $45 a month for the telephone line (which has gone unused) that I was told would only be $10 a month. Supermark versus the Telecommunications industry, round… um, I’ve lost count. Whatever. Fight!
Aug 10
10
The Going Price for Home
So this past weekend, Hawk and I traveled to the faraway land of New York City (From Whence We Came) to celebrate Pouchie’s 21st birthday. The trip down started off normally, but apparently our double-decker @MegaBus encountered some traffic around New Rochelle (which pretty much lasted the rest of the way into Manhattan). That, combined with the horrible New York Subway system, made our trip down take a full 8 hours. Yowza. It also didn’t help morale that we passed within two blocks of Mama’s house but couldn’t ask the bus driver to stop (we didn’t make it back to the house for almost 3 hours).
The way back was hardly better. The MegaBus stop is a strip of sidewalk outside of Penn Station where it is never clear what line goes to which bus. The brilliant minds left in charge of coordinating the loading of the buses told everyone waiting for the Boston-bound bus to wait “over there under the scaffolding,” and when it came our time to board, shouted “Boston!” and everyone ran towards them.
Suckers. Turns out they overbooked the bus, so the first 55 people were loaded onto a Dattco coach, while the remaining 46 of us (I overheard the headcount) were boarded onto the double-decker we had booked (which holds 81 passengers normally). This part would’ve been awesome, except that the driver took the most bass-ackwards way to Massachusetts (I believe the route was New England Thruway to the Cross Westchester Expressway to 684 to 84… whatever way he went, almost three hours after I was supposed to have started my trip and I was still in New York).
We ended up at South Station at something like 1:30am, effectively defeating the purpose of taking the 7:50 bus, which would’ve normally gotten us to Boston in time to catch the T home. Instead, we had to take a cab back (which was another shitshow of its own) which cost $20, versus the $3.40 it would’ve cost for both of us to take the T had the bus been on time.
I’ve never had a bad experience with MegaBus before, but this is really making me rethink Thanksgiving travel…
Aug 10
2
We Laugh Indoors
Following a brief discussion on the academic merit of Mario Kart for the Wii:
Me:
luigi is totally a linguistic anomoly.
consider the differences between the way he speaks and how mario speaks
they’re brothers!
doesn’t make sense.
Lauren:
hahahaha. that is quite true! perhaps they grow up in different regions of Italy which would explain their distinct regional dialects in how they grew in an impending accident
Me:
they’re way too close as brothers to have grown up so far apart.
Lauren:
good point. I’m not as well-versed in their fraternal histories. I trust your judgment of it though
Me:
my real curiosity is how two fellows from mushroom kingdom ended up with italian accents.
Lauren:
now that is a whole other mystery. I mean, if Italy exists in these other dimensions, I’ll have a profoundly new appreciation for the Roman Empire.
This weekend, I went to New Hampshire to ride in the Prouty. The Prouty is a walk/bike ride to raise money for the Norris Cotton Cancer Center with various distance options for both activities. Four of us from the office did the 50-mile ride, and a couple of guys did the 100-mile ride. I was able to raise $400 thanks to some awesome friends and family members (thank you all!) to help the NCCC. Overall, our team came in 9th place out of all the teams in terms of most money raised, which is pretty awesome.
I’m pretty pumped that we had almost 30 people riding in bike jerseys that I designed. I really like being able to see things I created in a physical form and hear complete strangers comment on how cool it is.
Here are the four of us that rode the 50-mile route (L-R: Rick, Brian, Cait, and me):
It rained for the majority of the ride, but it was still a lot of fun, and I didn’t even see anyone wipe out, which is good. There were some pretty brutal hills, especially since I was on a single-speed bike and couldn’t just switch into a better gear for the steep or long hills. There was only one hill where I walked it; the hill wasn’t very long, but it was really steep and I thought my chain might snap if I put that much strain on it. There was a hill at the end that was really brutal, but I powered through it. I’m actually really looking forward to the Hub on Wheels/Mayor’s Cup 50-mile ride in a couple of months, which I’m also definitely gonna do on the single-speed (Elizabeth). If it’s the same course as last year, there’s going to be at least one hill I’ll have to walk, because I think I even walked it on a mountain bike last year, but we’ll see what happens.
After the ride, a bunch of us went back to the boss’s house and swam in one of his ponds and then hung out in the jacuzzi, which really helped the muscles. Then we went and grabbed burgers at this local bar, and then we got back to the house and looked at the sky for a while. The sky up there was so clear that we could see satellites floating around in space (they look like regular stars, except that they move consistently). It was awesome. I basically love the company I work for. Back to the grind/reality tomorrow!
Oh, hey.
There is no topic. There is no recurring theme. There is no schedule. I will post whatever I feel inclined to post, whenever I feel inclined to do so.
The opinions and judgments expressed herein are mine and have nothing to do with my company or any organization with which I may be affiliated. If you don't like something I say here, feel free to tell me (though that doesn't mean I'll necessarily care).
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