The Back Way Home.

So Earl and I spent the weekend visiting my in-laws. It was a very nice visit as we had the opportunity to just sit down and talk with your relatives, which is something we haven’t done in a while. It was a nice change of pace. A bonus feature was that we went and checked out the new casino in Bensalem, Pa. At the old Philadelphia Park, the new casino is called Parx. I lost some money on slots but Earl made up for it and then some. He’s definitely the skilled gambler of the family.

Normally for Easter Earl and I made the occasion our first picnic of the year, but because we were on the road headed home from our visit, we didn’t have a picnic basket or any of the items necessary to make it a fun picnicking experience. So instead of bolting straight home via interstate, we came up through the Catskills and took the back roads to get home. The weather was rather enjoyable (though not as warm as it was a month ago). We talked and laughed as we made our way up and down the hills and through the valleys. We ended up stopping at a diner that we enjoy in the small city of Oneonta, The Neptune Diner. They were open for Easter and did not have a need for reservations. Earl had turkey, I had chicken marsala. Both were enjoyable.

It was a good way to celebrate this springtime holiday and to get ourselves grounded for the work week. Thinking about the day together makes me smile. And that’s what’s important.

Smiling.

9 April 2012 by Fun and Games Dept 0

The Debate Discussion Revelation.

So last night Earl and I talked about my feelings on the Affordable Health Care Act, and after much ranting, glaring, yelling and steaming, there was education on my behalf.

I am married to one smart cookie. I should know better than to try and debate a man that went to school for political science. I barely made it through Mrs. Catella’s social studies class in high school.

I’m still not a fan of the government telling me what to do. The problem is society. I strongly believe in personal responsibility and lazy people that think that the world owes them something make me angry. But just because they’re lazy and unproductive doesn’t mean that they’re not worthy of health care. Everyone deserves health care, even if it’s because that have sat on their ass drinking gin at noon and staring at Facebook all day playing “Jewels Be Woo Woo” or something other abuse of technology. And, as a quick aside, let’s not confuse “lazy and unproductive” with “unable to be productive”.

Even though I’m not a fan of the government telling me that I must have some sort of health insurance or be penalized, I now realize that this may be the best solution for an all around crappy scenario. I get that now. And I have my husband to thank for that.

I don’t have a better answer to this problem so who am I to judge? Just do good, live a good life and love one another. That’s all I got.

6 April 2012 by Fun and Games Dept 4

The Healthcare Conundrum.

Nothing gets a good politician worked up to a frothy state (see what I did there?) like the mention of the Affordable Health Care act a.k.a. “Obamacare”.

Now before I continue this blog entry, I must say that I don’t like the term Obamacare. It’s snarky. And even though the Obama administration has begun “owning” the term by using it themselves, I still think that it’s a snide way of referring to the Affordable Health Care Act. We don’t call Social Security “FDR Security” or “Roosevelt Security” and we don’t call Medicare “JohnsonCare”, but those programs were started back when people had more class and respect for one another, at least in a general sense, so we didn’t do things that way back then. “Obamacare” just rubs me the wrong way.

Anyway, I think that the Affordable Health Care Act is generally a good idea. I agree that ALL Americans, regardless of socio-economic standing should be afforded the same basic healthcare benefits. No one should be forced to choose whether or not they can treat cancer or HIV or the results of a catastrophic accident on the basis of financial standing. And quite frankly, I don’t believe that people should be turned away from insurance companies due to a pre-existing condition.

Now I fully believe in smaller government and I believe that the government is involved in way too many things that quite frankly is none of their business. But with that being said, I do believe that the government should impose regulations on insurance companies and the medical industry (the word ‘industry’ is completely on purpose) to keep costs under control so that medical care is affordable and available for everyone. Personally I think that regulation should dictate a cap on the percentage of profits made from medical care and associated services (pharmaceuticals, etc). It goes completely against my Libertarian streak but if they can’t behave themselves then someone has to reel them in.

However, there is one thing about the Affordable Care Act that just rubs me the wrong way. There’s actually a couple of things, but I’ll focus on the main thing so that I don’t sound like I’m completely ranting.

I have issue with Americans being penalized for not carrying health insurance. I had a problem with Massachusetts instituting that approach and now that it’s in the ACA I have an even bigger problem with it.

There are people in the United States that do not believe in Western medicine. Admittedly, the percentage is quite small, but there are folks that do not believe in loading up their body with man-made chemicals designed to treat symptoms of a problem. Some simply believe that they should strive to eat healthier and make healthy choices with their lifestyle instead of taking a cholesterol lowering pill that’s going to slowly destroy their liver. There may be some women that don’t believe in blasting their boobs with radiation on a routine basis. There could be men that might not want to know about the size of their prostate. Do I agree with their choices? It’s none of my business, but if they decide that they don’t need health insurance because they’re never going to use it then they shouldn’t be penalized for opting out of a plan. There shouldn’t be a tax, there shouldn’t be a fee. At no time should the government say, “you have to buy xxxx from a privately run corporation”. Sorry, I have a problem with that part of the Affordable Care Act. Most disagree with me. Some counter that it’s like paying school taxes when you don’t have kids. I get the theory behind that (investing for the future after all, the children are our future and all those other lyrics), but that bothers me too, but not as much as the mandate in the Affordable Care Act.

I’m rather anxious to hear the Supreme Court’s decision on the subject in June. I really hope that don’t throw out the entire act and do the sensible thing by ruling on just the mandate instead of ruling the whole thing unconstitutional, because in the overall scheme of things, that would be bad. As a relatively sensible individual, I’d rather see the mandate than have Americans denied health insurance based on the whims of the greedy insurance companies.

But every time that mandate part is mentioned around me, I’ll roll my eyes and sigh.

5 April 2012 by This Ain't No CNN. 4

The Smartphone Competition Equation.

Crossposted to techbear.net

A few years ago Earl bought me the first generation iPhone for Christmas. This was an absolutely delight for me for a number of reasons, the primary one being that the idea of having access to the internet in my pocket was sort of a geeky good time. I’d dial up the weather, look up things on Google just because I could and avoid the at-the-time trend of sending a text message by banging out letters on a 3×3 keypad. The original iPhone was my favorite of the iPhone designs because it had a solid, metal presence to it that made me make grunting noises like Tim Allen.

I upgraded to the iPhone 3G when I had the opportunity to do so, so I could do everything I was doing with my original iPhone, only faster. Admittedly, it did feel like a step backwards in the hardware department in that it didn’t feel quite as nice in my hand as I would have liked it to. That phone still lives today in the cubicle next to mine at work, because I sold it when I realized that the city I worked in did not have 3G service with AT&T. This was before Verizon offered the iPhone, so I switched to Verizon and got the original Droid.

I liked the feel of the Droid in my hand but the whole experience didn’t feel as polished. The Android OS felt unfinished and the camera did not take as high quality photos as my iPhone 3G. It was within the first week that I wished I could go back to AT&T and start using an iPhone again, but I couldn’t because of my new Verizon contract, so I stuck it out until that magical day one February when Verizon announced that they would be carrying the iPhone 4. I stayed up that night until I was able to order it and did so. I was so happy to be on the iPhone again.

Last spring I lost my mind for a little while and got bored with the iPhone and opted for an Android-based HTC Thunderbolt. That lasted a week. The phone rebooted spontaneously, usually while I was doing something, the battery barely made it until lunch on a full charge and I felt like I was talking on something the size of a phone book. Plus, I was really missing the quality of the photos taken with my iPhone 4; the Thunderbolt had more megapixels (8MP instead of 5) but the lenses weren’t as good and the quality of the photos suffered. And on Android (which still felt unpolished to me) I didn’t have a way to get to Instagram and I was missing Instagram.

I switched back to an iPhone 4 within a week and I haven’t looked back.

Yesterday, Instagram was opened up to Android users. From a social perspective (and when you think of the user as the advertising revenue product instead of a customer) this makes absolute sense. Folks on the Android platform can now share their photos on Instagram and interact in this formerly iPhone-only space. It’s a good way to share with more friends but the quality of the photos from the Android phones appears to be not as good, in my opinion. A couple of folks have posted comparison photos and the results are very apparent.

Compare these two photos from John Gruber.
iPhone 4S: http://instagr.am/p/I-fP3KFzZT/
Galaxy Nexus: http://instagr.am/p/I-fPpPFzZS/

My friend John Matthews is really good at iPhoneography. He is an iphoneography purist in that he takes all of his photos with an iPhone and his entire workflow takes place on his iPhone. That’s cool! In fact, that’s wicked cool! I guess I have come to think of Instagram as more of a place for folks that thought along these lines to share their photos. Yes, there is a huge social element to Instagram but to me it was a place where iPhone folks could share their photos using their favorite smartphone platform.

Plus, I have that whole Apple snob thing going on1.

I keep reading stats about how the Android platform is the most prevalent of the smartphone platforms. My question is, if Android is bigger and better, why didn’t someone build their own Instagram-like ecosystem instead of clamoring to get onto the ecosystem already built for iPhone? Why didn’t someone innovate, establish an Android user base and then later open it up to iPhone users so they could sigh with “ok, we’ll let you in the party”.

As my interest in iPhoneography increases (especially with the nicer weather), I’m going to be on the lookout for a social networking site where likeminded photographers (amateur and professional) can share their photos without having to guess as to what type of phone was used and what kind of optics the camera had and the like. Does anyone have any suggestions?

1 Yes, Sheldon, that was sarcasm.

4 April 2012 by Geek 0

The National Mustache Mention.

I am an avid listener of Sirius/XM’s POTUS (Politics of the United States) on channel 124. Listening to POTUS keeps me engaged with the affairs of the country during my daily commute and while there are times when I have had absolutely too much political news and I search for something else, most of the time I end up listening to POTUS. In the morning I listen to “The Morning Briefing”, I catch a few moments of “The Press Pool” at lunch time and on the drive home I listen to “Stand Up with Pete Dominick”. Interesting stuff.

One of the features of the program, The Blogcast with Pamela Kirkland, Pamela mentioned the “Million Mustache March” that took place in DC on Sunday. Please note that Sunday was the first of April. The “Million Mustache March” was a protest demanding tax breaks for the fuzzy faced, equality for all with facial hair. After the mention of the story, Morning Briefing host Tim Farley mentioned that it’s been a long, long time since we’ve had a president with a mustache. So I tweeted this1:


Imagine my surprise when later in the program (around 0720 ET), Tim came out of a break mentioning the first tweet they had received of the day. And it was my tweet. He mentioned me by first and last name, kind of sarcastically mentioned that with all the problems in politics, this is what I was tweeting about (I was keeping within the spirit of the “Million Mustache March” but apparently couldn’t convey that in 140 characters or less) and then mentioned that I have a rather large, “handlebar like mustache” on my face, with something the size of a small country under my nose.

Honestly, I take that as a compliment. I love my large mustache and I have no plans on taming it or trimming it down. I’m just letting it grow and go where it wants to go.

The mention of it on Sirius/XM kind of gave me the jolt I needed to wake up for the day. So I thanked them with another tweet and went on with my commute.

Thanks, Sirius/XM POTUS 124! You made the small country under my nose ride along with the grin on my face.

1 When I tweet during my commute, I am usually stopped at a stop sign or pulled over on the side of the road. Even in the small country under my nose, one has to act responsibly.

3 April 2012 by Geek 0

iLove.



093/366., originally uploaded by TheTechBear.

I never thought I would see the day when my husband would bring more iDevices than me to the kitchen table.

2 April 2012 by Fun and Games Dept 0

Speed.

So lately I have been making a conscious effort to stick to the posted speed limit. I usually attempt this while I’m driving. There are a couple of reasons for this effort, the first and foremost reason being that I am very concerned about the rising cost of fuel and I am doing everything I can to keep my commuting costs under control. Ironically, the Jeep performs better in the area of fuel efficiency when I’m on back roads instead of driving the freeways. This is backwards from what I have always been taught, but I guess that’s just the way this Jeep works. I’m fine with that; the scenery on the back roads is much better than the interstates anyways. It’s only five minutes or so extra to take the scenic route to work.

One of the features of my Jeep that I enjoy is the “eco” notification. A little display on the odometer tells me “ECO ON” when I’m driving in an economically fashion and just “ECO” when I’m not. There are no recommendations as to how to improve my driving skills to be more economically friendly, because quite frankly, I don’t believe a Jeep Wrangler is the place for a touch screen or anything that fancy but I have noticed that the I am not driving economically whenever I am driving over 71 MPH, even if I’m driving downhill.

In New York State the statewide speed limit is 55 unless otherwise posted. On the interstates and a few other freeways, the speed limit is posted at 65. Traffic rarely moves at that speed, 75 is commonplace and I am seeing more and more drivers doing 80 or more these days. Everyone is in a hurry. During my little experiment I have been driving at 66 MPH (because I’m a rebel) in the 65 zones. I try to stay a close to 55 as I can when that’s the posted speed limit, but occasionally I creep up to around 58 or so because I’m just bored.

I have increased my fuel efficiency from 18.5 MPG to 20.7 MPG using this approach. I think that’s pretty impressive. That’s around 30 extra miles on a tank of gas. That’s around $300 a year in fuel savings for me. I think the five extra minutes it takes to get to work is worth it.

I am a little surprised by the number of other folks on the Thruway that are driving around the same speed as me instead of whizzing by in the left lane without a care in the world but a thumb on the smartphone sending a text message. I don’t think distracted driving is a good idea under any circumstance and I don’t care what the distraction is: unruly kids, bossy GPS systems, phone calls, text messages, makeup application, shaving, eating, it all doesn’t matter, you should be driving and not doing other things. It just makes sense.

And it makes even more sense if you do it at a reasonable speed.

2 April 2012 by Geek Life In Motion. Ponderings and Musings 0

Impressive.

So last night when I was at the Apple store at the future Destiny USA, a younger woman walked up to Bryan, the Apple person that was helping me get my new iPad set up (we were basically waiting for my backup to download from iCloud, it was moving along at a wonderful pace). She was dressed in a way that suggested ‘hipster’ but not really quite there. Perhaps it was more her glasses than anything that looked hipster. She had an air of money about her. I didn’t find her unpleasant.

“Excuse me,” she said to Bryan, “may I speak with the manager, please?”

Bryan was very courteous with his reply, “Is there something I can help you with?” I don’t know if Bryan was the store manager or if the folks at the Apple store try to field these things before calling a manager, but he was quite nice about it.

“My friends and I have been standing over there for 20 minutes and no one has helped us and I’d like to let the manager know how rude the staff is here.”

Now this kind of bothered me, because I have been to many Apple stores over the years and while I have had some employees be less enthusiastic about Apple products than I am (because, I am a nut after all), I would never categorize any Apple employee that I have ever encountered as ‘rude’. Bothered or distracted? Maybe, and that’s usually because they’re handling a line of people out the door, but not once have they been ‘rude’. Not even ‘miffed’.

“I’m sorry about your experience,” Bryan replied, “did you press a specialist button on one of the iPad kiosks to indicate that you needed help?”

“What are you talking about? The folks on the floor have helped the people all around us but never talked to us.”

I would have been one of those people. I noticed this barely hipster girl (I like the male hipsters better, but that could be due to the mustache and gay thing I have going on) sitting in front of a cinema display playing on Facebook with a couple of her friends when I was looking at the iPads. Now granted, I didn’t press a specialist button until I was shown to do so but I did make a conscious effort to make eye contact with an Apple Specialist to show that I needed some assistance. I don’t know if the woman with the complaint had done the same thing because I didn’t notice.

Again Bryan apologized for her experience at the store and said, “if you’d like, I can get a specialist for you right now.” Seemed reasonable enough to me.

“Never mind, I called Best Buy and they have what I’m looking for on hold for me now, so I’m going to go there, but I just wanted to let the manager know how rude the sales staff is here.”

This kind of bothered me for the aforementioned reasons based on my experience but the thing that really bothered me is that she was really just trying to convey an air of bitchiness. She never mentioned the product that she had on hold nor did she ever say what she was trying to get an Apple Specialist to help her with. She just needed help.

“I’m sorry that you didn’t find what you were looking for and I will relay your experience to the manager. Again, I apologize that you weren’t helped in a timely fashion.” I admired Bryan’s calm approach.

“Well never mind,” and with that she bolted out of the store. A casual observation from me noted that she headed down the mall hallway in the direction opposite of Best Buy.

Bryan and I resumed the setup of my iPad. We then had a casual conversation beginning with me asking, “So, how is it to work in the mall?” He told me that he loved working for Apple but the mall … he could take it or leave it.

I get that. Bryan and I finished up my business (and I walked out with a beautiful new iPad) and I thanked him for his help and went on my way.

I mention this little scenario because it reinforces a couple of things I’ve observed over the years: 1. Folks are in way too much of a rush these days and don’t give customer service folks the respect they deserve. 2. While many customer experiences are absolutely hideous these days, there are establishments out there that focus on a premium retail experience for the customer, and while it may cost a little more than the bargain basement crap experience you can get from a big box, it is available to those who still prefer quality over quantity. 3. Most people are just rude and some folks just look for a reason to be rude.

I learned a little bit of a lesson with that scenario last night that has put me in a better mood this weekend, a little patience goes a long way and I need to remember that.

1 April 2012 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Memories.

I consider myself very lucky in that I inherited a magnificent (albeit, convenient) memory from my father. When a customer came into the family store, my father could tell that customer what they bought the last time, even if the last visit had been a decade ago. There was no need for a computer or a contacts tracking database, my father kept it all in his head. I found this amazing. I remember key details of people when I meet them, but unfortunately their name isn’t one of those details. But other things remain. My sister is always amazed when I can relay an event from when I was preschool age. She says she never remembers these things.

I spent the evening with my sister and my mom looking over old photos, some of which included photos from my mom and dad’s wedding day and from their “pre-kids” era. One photo of mom and dad locked in a playful embrace was particularly enjoyable. They were both 18 or 19 and looked very happy. Jennifer remarked that she doesn’t remember any other photos of mom and dad embracing. Despite my memory skills, I don’t remember one either. It’s not something that was commonly photographed. They hugged, we just didn’t film it.

Even though my mom and dad separated and later divorced, I still vividly remember the last time I saw my dad lovingly gaze at my mother. It’s a memory that brings a smile to my face and it makes me feel like a happy kid again.

There are little random things here and there that stir up a memory or two from my childhood and it’s a good feeling. I was a pretty happy-go-lucky kid and I think, like my dad, that when I tried I could find happiness in just about any situation. I need to remember how to do that more often. That’s a memory I need to hold onto. The ability to be happy.

I like looking through old family photos and coaxing more memories to life. It keeps me grounded and helps me remember my roots. I am who and where I am today because of all the influences that built those memories and that’s an awesome thing.

31 March 2012 by Spiritual Stuff. 1

Baggs Square Café

So a few months ago I met up with our friends Shirley and Christine (whom I used to work with) at a local eatery, Baggs Square Café. They were offering a weekend brunch buffet that I found a little unique for this region. Instead of going up to the a buffet area to fill your plate up with food, you paid one price and you could eat as many items as you wanted off the menu, in whatever quantity you were in the mood for. So, for $19.95 you could order eight servings of prime rib if you wanted, which of course would be preceded by 14 servings of shrimp cocktail, a dozen bagels and to bring your meal to a satisfying finalé, a cupcake.

Of course I’m being extreme here, but they had it setup so that servers were constantly coming to your table to check on your happiness and to see if you wanted more food. It was kind of a nifty way to eat and it made for a great way to enjoy the company of your friends; you didn’t feel rushed and if you were in the mood for more, you could always order it.

Today I met up with our friend Mike (more on that in a future blog post this weekend) and I took him to the café for this fantastic brunch experience.

Except the experience was no more. Baggs Square Café was back to their standard, workday breakfast and lunch menu. You ordered at the counter and then they brought it to the table you selected. It’s not a very busy place so they didn’t bother with the likes of numbers on a tall stand or anything like that.

The food was delicious as always but when I asked why they had discontinued the brunch buffet they didn’t really fully answer the question. The counter attendant simply told me that this was the first week that it they were back to the original way of doing things but if I wanted to come back next week they were having a one-day offering of the brunch for Easter.

It’s a shame that this didn’t really catch on because I enjoyed the different eating experience on a Saturday morning. Perhaps we should have visited them more often.

31 March 2012 by Ponderings and Musings 0

About J.P.

Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.

Weird? Eccentric!

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