Archive for Hoverblog: September 2004 | Main >
Annual Apple Picking
| 9.26.2004
I’ve been blogging on and off for about 3 years now. My friend, Will #2 (not to be confused with Will #3 who’s dead or Will #1 who I met first), got me excited about the idea of channeling my energies toward authoring and posting thoughts that probably would never be read by anyone. With friends like that….
They say the exercise of personal writing is a solo event that’s for the author and not intended for any particular audience. My blog, Hoverblog, is mostly a resource for other designers and creative people looking for interesting and useful links and information. Mostly means: everything but the home page, which is typically a rant and rave monologue. Even though I post, I never expect anyone is reading it although that would be OK…I think.
So you can imagine my surprise when of all people, my sister-in-law, Linda, mentioned during our annual apple-picking event, that she frequents Hoverblog. I forgot exactly how it came up but I was both excited and shocked that I actually had met a real Hoverblog reader. Not sure exactly what the draw is, but I imagine much of it’s f r e a k s h o w appeal. I guess if she’s entertained, I’m doing something right. She ribbed me about it for a few minutes as retribution for an earlier family incident in which I made her laugh in someone's face with one of my famous take-no-prisioners remarks. Linda is one of my favorite in-laws--she tells it like it is and you would be crazy to cross her, but she has a heart of gold and is a great mother. You can usually find us hanging together on the sidelines during ANY Evans B-day party sing-a-long.
Well here you go Linda. You made it into my blog. I’m sure you’re already plotting your revenge but while you do, think of the bright side…I decided against the inclusion of your picture.
posted at 10:30 AM
|
0 comments
PainLain
| 9.25.2004
Anyone who uses the Mass Pike enough knows that The Fast Lane should be renamed “The Pain Lane”. This joins other public works blunders such as “The Big Ditch” and The MBTA (Mass Bay Tunnel (not transit) Authority). Maybe I’m over expecting but I thought the idea behind an “express or fast lane” was just that, fast and simple. Not so. The concept is great but Massachusetts’s execution is embarrassing. Let me explain how it should work.
Go to Denver, NYC, LA and their version of “The Fast Lane” is truly an efficient, time saving event. Maybe I’m gently retarded when it comes to Public Works process and strategy but isn’t the main idea to keep traffic moving at full speed in a dedicated lane? In Boston, your regular travel lane automatically turns into a “Fast Lane” 100 yards prior with no early signage systems. The result is hundreds of cars cutting each other off in a lane jockeying frenzy. Cash-only cars getting out of fast pass lanes and visa-versa. To add insult to injury, you must slow down to 5 MPH when going through the detectors only to once again, jockey again on the other side of the toll to get back into the correct lane.
The whole prepayment process is screwed up as well. One would think that giving a debit or credit card number and having your tolls deducted would be simple enough. We all have auto deduction transactions such as health club fees, student loans, etc. Why is it that Turnpike Authority wants you to send in a check and have you work toward deducting from it rather than just pulling from a debit or credit card every month. Then there wouldn’t be a need to keep sending in checks, usage would probably go up and there wouldn’t be a need for that annoying yellow light that says “low balance.”
The subway authority is even stranger. Boston’s idea of an “Express Train” is a train that is does not to stop for 4-5 continuous stops but slows down to 2 MPH while passing through those stops (slow enough for even a grandmother to jump on/off safely if they opened the doors). And did I mention that it’s not on a dedicated track? So the train is still in traffic (behind 6-10 non-express trains), and often stands by at non-designated stations for several minutes but won’t open the doors. So people on the platform don’t understand why there is this train sitting there that won’t let people on or off. So they start thinking there is something wrong and looking for emergency personnel…
posted at 10:32 AM
|
0 comments
Garden-Level Restaurants
| 9.20.2004
What is it with underground or "Garden-Level" restaurants? I just can’t eat in them. It feels like a basement no matter what the decor. Every now and again, I dine at Morton’s Steak House (for special occasions), a high-end chain restaurant located on Boylston Street. They have great decor and $35.00 steaks, but it still doesn’t change the fact (or feeling) that it’s in the basement of a bank. Maybe it’s me, but is there something about eating below the water table that dampens ones appetite? Comments welcome.
posted at 9:46 AM
|
0 comments
There is an even cooler player on the market these days. It’s Geil USA and they produce memory DIMMs. What Intel is to chips, Geil USA is to memory…but on acid. Most memory manufacturers are wrapping their DIMMs in different color aluminum to dress them up but Geil has launched their series of “Golden Dragon” memory line-possibly the best looking and packaged memory on the planet. They come in a Chinese-like case that’s velvet-lined and the chips are gold plated with a sketch of a dragon that has two tiny red led lights for eyes….and yes, they light up when the chip is inserted. Even if the looks don’t kill you, the performance will. Geil are considered by some, if not many to be in the top several performance memory manufacturers. This puts them right alongside Kingston, OCZ, Corsair, Mushkin, and Twinmos. I’m buying some in the next couple of days for my system but it will be a couple of weeks until I actually install them as I’ll be showing them off to family and friends.
Dragon Memory
| 9.12.2004
Thanks to Apple, style is playing a gigantic role these days in the computer and electronics market. Just one look at the new iMac or iPod should be a strong indication that there may be no limit to how far product design and brand will go to differentiate itself. “Intel Inside” was coined many years ago and was one of the first successful “ingredient brand” slogans to permeate every household in America and Europe. What use to be grouped under the hardware manufacture’s brand, was now taking on a brand promise of its own and becoming even more powerful than the beige boxes they were coming in. Hats off to Intel.
posted at 9:48 AM
|
0 comments
|
Hoverblog Archives August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 September 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 Latest Links Myallo - Uses an “interest profile” to find the most interesting Web pages on the Internet, and can actually learn over time. Acquisition - Probably the slickest P2P file sharing application on the web. Beautiful and intuitive OSX-like interface. iPod Music Liberator-Great little shareware for copying music directly from your ipod into ITunes and your finder...No Stealing Bad Music! MusicPublisher - For those of us who are not content just sharing the songs within ITunes, this little app lets you also share any iPod you have docked to your computer as well.
Some Favorite Sites Stuff I Want Contact Hoverblog is |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
