White Halloweekend

The strange NY weather doesn't end with a monster hurricane or earthquake. Now we have snow in October! I saw the forecast earlier in the week.. around 30 degrees and rain mixed with snow on Saturday. It rained all week, so I just thought we would have rain today with a few flurries mixed in. But it turns out that it was a legitimate winter weather watch with some areas getting 4-6 inches of accumulation. This is 2 months early and hasn't happened this time of year since 1952!

Bad Plan

All office buildings have some kind of security on each floor. Usually, you can't enter the office area after the elevators without a key or some kind of ID card. This can make things tricky if you're arriving in the morning with your bag(s), some groceries and breakfast. We all adapt in some way though. The idea is to get one hand or a few fingers free to swipe your card and tip the door open. Some people can position their back pocket or purse so that they can swipe with no hands. Today, I was walking towards the elevator area and noticed one guy that was carefully carrying a coffee (without a lid) in one hand and a plate with breakfast in another. He was going slowly so he wouldn't spill the coffee. He stopped at the entrance and did nothing because he saw me behind him in the door's reflection. I was 20 feet away. Then, another guy came out the door and opened it for him. The guy with the breakfast was just going to wait until someone helped him. He made zero effort to help himself. I was 20 feet away. What if I turned down another hallway? What if no one came out of the doors? Bad plan!

Subway Tales: Trash War

Our subway system is probably the dirtiest in the world. Over the years, we've improved the train cars themselves and even added countdown timers to some stations. We have a non-coin payment system. So the MTA, while still behind in technology, isn't that bad. But one thing consistent is that NY will always be dirty. So what's the MTA's genius decision? They want to remove garbage cans from stations now because they think that if there are no cans, people will bring less garbage with them. That's about as dumb an idea as they come. We should expect an increase in garbage. With cans present now, there's already newspapers and food all over the place. Take them away, and everything in the cans will be on the floor. This won't save money either because what's going to the people maintaining the cans will have to go into more cleaners.

Bus Stopper

One of the problems with this city is that everyone thinks the world revolves around them. The Bus Stopper is a prime example. There's one of these on every bus. This is the guy that stands in the middle of the bus, blocking access to the rear. He stands in the middle because he wants to be the first out the side door when the final destination is reached. I was standing when I got on the bus and 3 stops later, it was nearly full... except for the rear of the bus, which was empty thanks to Bus Stopper. At the next stop, the driver stood up and told everyone to move to the back. After receiving many dirty looks, Bus Stopper finally moved back. That made room for 2 more stops with around 12 people. Imagine that... one man's ego prevented 12 people from getting on a bus that wasn't actually full. If he had just moved to the back from the beginning, there would be no need for delay.

Tech Deals of the Week (10/23-10/29)

Flash Sales
- 8 GB PNY @ ST for $9.99
- 16 GB PNY @ ST for $19.99
- 32 GB PNY @ ST for $39.99

Mouse Attack
- Logitech M305 @ TG for $15 ($19.99 @ ST)
- Logitech M310 @ TG for $15
- Logitech M525 @ BB for $29.99
- Logitech M510 @ BB for $29.99

iPod nano Accessory Combo @ BB for $14.98
This package for the Gen 6 Nano (the square watch one) includes a 5-pack screen protector and a USB wall charger by Dynex... must haves that would usually cost $15 each.

iPod touch Accessory Combo @ BB for $24.98
You get 2 cases and a space-saving USB wall charger by Belkin.

Store Key: BB = Best Buy, CC = Circuit City, CU = CompUSA.com, DI = Directron, NE = NewEgg.com, OD = Office Depot, RS = Radio Shack, ST = Staples, TG = Target

Blog Design

It looks like my file server, Fileave.com abruptly cutoff sometime this week. That's why you didn't see the usual header, footer and other graphics for the past few days. I originally thought I forgot to logon this month. It used to require that in order for accounts to stay active. I gave it a few days to see if their systems would come back online, but it looks like they just disappeared. I didn't even get any email notifications. So I just quickly customized one of the Blogger templates until I can work on it again.

The Tape

The yellow tape on a NYC bus is used to indicate a stop request to the driver. On the rear doors, it's also supposed to make them open automatically when the bus is stopped. However, I'd say the tape on the doors doesn't work like 90% of the time. Yet I see people pushing the tape all the time. They'll push the tape first and when it fails, push the door. Why not just go straight for pushing the doors? Given the short window you have to open the rear doors, it's best to cut your time and try one method instead of two. I've seen several times were a passenger tried pressing the tape more than once and then miss his/her stop... or have to yell to the driver to open the rear doors. It's simple... pushing the doors works 100% of the time. The tape works 10%. Just go for the 100% from the beginning!

The Bull: Behind the Scenes

With the NBA still in a lockout, all preseason games have been cancelled and my sports posts have been reduced. As you can see, my October posts are far from my one-a-day norm. The Yankees early elimination didn't help much either. Anyway, Derrick Rose's 2.0's are out now and here's a behind the scenes look at The Bull commercial.

Tech Deals of the Week (10/16-10/22)

Flash Sales
- 8 GB Sandisk @ BB for $9.99
- 16 GB Sandisk @ BB for $17.99
- 8 GB PNY @ ST for $10
- 16 GB PNY @ ST for $17.99

Mouse Attack
If you've been holding out on a new mouse, this is the week to upgrade. Check out the long list on sale and take your pick...
- Logitech M305 @ ST for $12.99
- Logitech M310 @ ST for $12.99
- Logitech M325 @ BB for $19.99
- HP Mobile @ ST for $14.99
- Logitech M505 @ ST for $19.99
- Logitech M510 @ ST for $19.99
- Logitech M705 @ ST for $24.99

Samsung HM1100 Headset @ ST for $10
This is a good above average Bluetooth headset. The normal price is $29.99. You get a $7.99 instant savings and then a $12 rebate.

Electronic Cigarattes

As I sat down int he train this morning, there was a suspicious looking guy across from me that looked like he was hiding something. He kept looking around to see if anyone was paying attention to him. Hiding behind his jacket, he was obviously smoking something. It looked just like a cigarette, but yet I saw no fumes coming out. I also didn't smell anything.


After asking a smoker colleague about it, I learned that it was an electronic cigarette. They're used to help people quit smoking by replicating the inhaling sensation of nicotine. The mist is nothing but water vapor.

Subway Tales: Intersection

There's traffic chaos whenever a train stops at a station with a connecting line and both arrive at the same time. You have people trying to cross over and at 90 degrees, there are people going parallel to the platform, trying to get to stairs or an exit at the end. While the platform can be seen as the main road, and the one that has the right of way, it's usually the people transferring trains that act as if they own the intersection. They're in more of a rush because conductors often like closing the doors on people during a transfer. So if you're going accross a platform and there are 2 trains stopped on either side, get ready to protect your sides or you'll get flanked!

Subway Tales: Back-to-Back

Most of the time subway cars will open up one side at a stop. In a few rare places, usually at the first/last stop it opens up both if there's a middle track. There's often no pattern as to which side will open first. If it's a major station during rush hour, there will be crowds on both sides of the train and a bunch of people on the inside trying to get out. What the people on the inside have to do is make sure one of them gets out before one of the outsiders gets in because a crowd always follows behind. If you're in a party of 2 or more, you can prepare for this strategically by going back-to-back. One person exits on the left side while the other stands at the right. That way if the left side opens first, it's covered and the other guy can turn around and follow behind... and vice versa. If you're both on one side and the opposite doors open, you'll be flooded by outsiders before you can turn around. Naturally, this works if the inside is crowded and people are readying themselves on both exits.

Culture by Floor

I had lunch with a bunch of colleagues and we were all talking about our office environments. We all used to work on the same floor years ago, which is how we know each other. We got shifted around over time with restructuring and department transfers. It's amazing how different the culture can be in the same company, but on different floors. For example, people tend to eat out more on my floor as there's always space in the refrigerator. On my old floor where Will works now, the fridge is packed to capacity from Monday morning. Some of the floors have really clean restrooms. Mine is a dump all day long, even with cleaners maintaining it constantly. One floor has quiet, hardworking people. All you can here is keyboards. Another floor has people socializing all the time. The floors of a large company are like different states in the US.

Real vs. Fake Chinese Food

There are so many Chinese restaurants in the city outside of Chinatown that it's so hard to tell which ones are the real ones. Most that are outside of a Chinatown area cater to Americans and aren't really Chinese food even though they taste good. 

It's real when:
- dishes are less colorful and more natural looking
- interior design has a middle class home look and feel
- large portions
- misspelled English translations
- employees with accents
- more than one tea option

It's fake when:
- there's a display of generic food photos above the order counter
- General Tso's chicken is on the menu
- portions are small (typical in the "gourmet," touristy ones)
- chopsticks aren't on the table by default
- the place is too clean

Fishing in NY

Detroit earned a win and a trip to the ALCS by defeating the Yankees last night. There can be no complaints about what the Yankees did on the pitching side. We had CC Sabathia in the most critical game. We ended with Soriano, Robertson and Rivera. CC Gave up 3 runs. It's a game that should have been won with that combination. The offense was terrible though as we went into that mode where we stranded runners in scoring position. We struggled in making a comeback as the Tigers won 3-2. It was 3-0 for most of the game. Cano hit a homer to put the Yankees on the board. Then we clawed our way to get another run as Tex worked a walk with the bases loaded. And that was it. The Yankees just failed to rally with several given chances. Detroit played a better series and they're the ones that deserve to move on. The Yankees have some figuring out to do, mostly in the layout of their offense. They'll have the whole offseason to do it. At least they kicked the Sox out first!

So that's it for the Yankees season and that's enough baseball posts in a row. I'll try to get some non sports ones in there now.

Cycle of Employment

Something I notice about most employees in an office environment is a certain cycle they follow. When someone is freshly hired, they work really hard. They're often the first ones in the office. They take shortened lunch breaks if any. They also like to work from home after hours and on weekends. They do what's asked of them and are very helpful. Many of these things drop off after some time. The first one that goes is getting in early. Our company hours are 9-5. The newbies get in around 8 or 8:30 for the first few months. They start getting in later little by little as they get more comfortable. By the end of the first year, they're in at 9am like everyone else.  Fast forward to several years later and you have employees who have moved up a level or 2 and start coming in around 10:30... seriously! So that's more money for less work hours. Lunch breaks get stretched to over an hour... 2 hours if there's a group. So very often, someone with many years under his/her belt becomes a useless employee sucking in money for free. This is when they're better off getting replaced, but are often comfortable and out of respect, the company doesn't let them go.

Naturally, I've been around long enough to see this cycle. I refuse to follow it myself though. I have the same pattern now as when I was first hired.

iPhone 4S

Apple had their own event today, the first without Steve Jobs hosting. These events get a lot of attention no matter what Apple releases. Truthfully, I wasn't that interested in this one because I knew it was going to be the iPhone. I was just hoping they quietly updated one of the computers.

iPhone
This was a significant upgrade for the phone despite it not being the iPhone 5. The 4 got a dual core processor, 8 MP camera and updated software/OS. So it's essentially a small iPad 2. I think it's worth upgrading only if your contract is up. I wouldn't go crazy and upgrade if I already had the 4 and was mid-contract.

iPod touch
There was really no change to this device except that it now comes in white. The price points and storage sizes are the same.

iPod nano
They dropped the price a bit on this and officially built-in the popular watch feature. Again... nothing significant.

ALDS So Far

After ending the regular season with no off days in the final month, the Yankees faced another tough schedule with Game 1 starting out with a delay. The much anticipated Sabathia/Verlander matchup only went 1 inning. The game was suspended and moved to Saturday. They resumed with each team using their #2 pitcher instead. Nova pitcheed pretty well and kept the runs low enough as the Yankee bats took care of this game 9-3. So they essentially won the Verlander game... one many expected them to lose.

They then lost the next game 3-5. The bats came a live in the 9th, but it was too little and too late. The Sabathia/Verlander makeup on Sunday was much like game 2. The Tigers jumped out in front and the Yankees threatened in the 9th, but couldn't get the job done.

So Game 4... the potential elimination game is in the hands of the most inconsistent pitcher on the team, A.J. Burnett. It's hard to tell in baseball what trend to go by. So we look as his last couple of games, his 2nd half or his postseason experience?

New Kindles

Last week, Amazon released the next generation of Kindles... 2 e-readers and one full blown tablet. The most attractive feature of all of them is the price points. At $79, $99 and $199 they should be able to sell a lot. The e-readers, both under $100 will get a lot of people who hesitated on previous Kindles because it's so much cheaper for the same thing. If you think about it, at $80, if you buy 10-20 books, you make that money back on savings over the paperback or hardcover version.

The $200 Kindle Fire (Android tablet) doesn't compare to the iPad or any other top Android tablet, but it will take some marketshare away from the main players because it's a legitimate tablet that fills a gap left by Apple. Most tablets start at $500 for a 1 GB model. The Kindle Fire is $200 for 8 GB... it's half the storage as Amazon is pushing their cloud service... but it's less than half the price. So if you hesitated on $500 for a basic tablet, the the Kindle Fire is just what you've been waiting for. Tablet storage gets used up mostly my movies. Since most people use it for web surfing and games, 8 GB is more than enough for the majority of users.

The e-readers are available now... unless they get sold out. The Fire comes out in November, but you can pre-order now. I'm predicting that one will get sold out, so definitely pre-order while you can!

The Bull by Derrick Rose