How Early Do You Rise?

My wife and I have a pretty fixed routine in the morning.  We wake up at 6:30 and catch about 10-15 minutes of the news (Tivo'd from the 6am start time so we don't have to sit and wait for commercials), until the kids start waking up.  Then it's up to brush the teeth, shower, make the beds, and basically the day has begun.

Well, spring is here.  Among other things that means sleeping with the windows open on a nice night, and "waking up with the birds" who are now loudly and clearly chirping outside the window.

This is a good thing, though, right?  We've often extolled the virtues of early rising here on the blog.  Get up, get some stuff done, get a fresh start to the day.

Sure, if by early you mean 6am instead of 6:30, or maybe even 5:30. 

Frickin birds woke me up at *4am* this morning.  NOW what?  Do I get up and try to occupy myself for two and a half hours until the rest of the house wakes up (without being the one to wake them up)?  Do I sit in bed and listen to the birds?  Do I go outside, climb a tree, and strangle the birds?  Do I attempt to go back to sleep?  I hate making the judgement call on whether to go back to sleep, because we don't use an alarm clock and screwing with the cycle can easily mean that I wake up at 7am instead of 6:30 and then the morning is a madhouse.

I manage to get back to sleep.  I wake up at 6:25, and turn on the news.  My wife opens one eye and says, "That clock says 6:25.  I have 5 minutes.  Whaddya doing??"

What would you have done?

Awwww! I missed it!

Coming down the steps into the park this morning I saw an unusual sight - the flashing blue lights of a police car. In the park.  Looking closer I saw a police officer standing on the grass near his vehicle.  About 10 feet away from him was a white sheet, and under the sheet what was clearly two bodies moving clumsily around while obviously trying to keep the sheet from slipping away.  Both heads were under the sheet as well.  Clearly they were putting their clothes on.  Whether the officer had provided the sheet for them or if they'd already been under it when they were busted, I don't know.  I do know that I wish I'd taken the early train this morning! :)

It Does Happen

Want to know what I saw today?  A guy standing on a street corner, holding in his hand what was clearly a printout from Google Maps.  As I approached I watched someone walk past him, stop, come back and ask, "Need help?"  The guy then explained that he was trying to find an address, so the samaritan gave him directions.

I know, it's a small thing, but it's worth mentioning.  I'd rather tell the story of someone who randomly stopped to help someone else than a story about the dozens of people that walked by the guy like he didn't exist.

I also saw a man carrying an army camouflage backpack, and wearing a bright pink baseball hat.  Not really a combination you see every day.

What did you see today?

Lousy Ways to Start The Day

You ever have one of those days where you're running late so you rush out of the house in the morning, not grabbing any breakfast and forgetting the important papers you were supposed to take with you?  And then you're sitting on the train, a good 45 minutes from home at this point, and you look down and realize that there's a big stain on your shirt that you didn't see before?

Yeah, me neither. :-/

Nice Recovery

So today I'm standing at one of those busy complicated intersections where there's a good 6 different lights directing the traffic coming from 4 different intersections. Boston is not based on a grid, for those that have never been here.  Intersections are interesting beasts where, traffic lights be damned, you pretty much have to interpret when you think it might be safe to cross.  At any time, cars could suddenly start coming at you from a variety of directions.

Anyway, I'm waiting to cross because there is a green left arrow showing for my lane, meaning that cars are coming this way.  They aren't moving, though, because the cars that had been coming the other way have blocked the intersection.  I could probably have gone for it, but as I've written about on the blog previously I try not to take my life in my hands just to get to work 30 seconds faster.  I'll wait my turn.  Speaking of which, walking towards me from the other side of the intersection is a police officer.  He is not really watching the lights, but rather the fact that there are no cars moving at the moment.  The traffic begins to break just as he steps off the curve and is about to walk straight into the guy who now has the green light to take a left turn. 

Without missing a step the cop steps back onto the curb, and then waves the guy through the intersection.  But the best part was that now, to cover himself, he stood there and waved all the cars through, like that's why he'd been standing there in the first place.

10 Benefits Of Rising Early

I'm a big fan of the benefits of rising early, even if I'm not the greatest practitioner.  Truthfully I think that "early rising" is a relative term - if you already get up at 5am every day, what are you suposed to do, get up at 4 now?   But anyway, you're not just adding a little extra time to your day, you're starting your day in a whole different mindset.  I read someplace once that when you wake up, the first thing you should do is turn around and make the bed.  It gives you a task to focus on, it prevents you from climbing back under the sheets, and you start the day by accomplishing something.  Does not work if you have a spouse that doesn't get up when you do :).

Bonus points to the above article, by the way, for quoting the Dalai Lama on the first point.

Ok, Who Wants To Try This?

http://lifehacker.com/software/body-hacks/amplify-your-car-remote-signal-with-your-head-263259.php

I have to admit it sounds tempting.  The range on my car key remote is very short, I have to be within about 10 feet of the car to do anything.  So there are times when I walk away and forget if I've locked it, or times after a long day when I can't quite remember where I parked.  According to the video above, and to the comments confirming it, you can extend the range of the signal by holding it against your body to increase the antenna.  The video says you have to use your head but people in the comments say holding it against your hip works fine as well.

If it really does work, that's pretty cool.

Use Your Free Time

Lifehack's got an article up with 20 Productive Ways To Use Your Free Time that might have something to get your juices flowing.  I think it's all stuff we've discussed in the past, but it's nice to see it all put up in bite-sized chunks as it should be. 

Talk About A "Wandering" Minstrel!

Andrew should appreciate this story.  In my commuter travels I have reported on seeing:

• a guy play the guitar while driving.  Not air guitar, I mean literally the neck of the thing was sticking out the window and he was playing it while he drove, periodically putting one hand on the wheel to stay in a straight line.
• someone playing the drums while driving.  Not quite as cool, but still, he was using drumsticks and going to town on his dashboard.

Today I saw something that topped those guys.  Somebody who was actually walking across town while playing his guitar.  Nice. And this was no street musician out for a stroll in the park, this was a guy walking across busy intersections to get from the train station to wherever he was going.  It was an electric guitar no less.  He had on head phones and was just having a grand old time.  For a minute I thought maybe he was just practicing his fingerings, but then he reached into the bag slung over his shoulder and adjusted something, and I realized he was packing a portable amp in there as well. 

I have to admit, I'm impressed.  Never in a million years would I have thought of something like that.  Here's a guy who's managing to actually pay attention to where he's walking (since he's not looking elsewhere like, say, somebody reading the newspaper would), he's not bothering anybody with the sound (hence the headphones), and he's actually getting something done (whether he was doing it because he's hardcore about practicing or because he enjoys the music he makes, who knows, but does it matter?)

What did you see today?

Remember Your Playback Positions

http://lifehacker.com/software/how-to/set-your-long-mp3s-to-remember-playback-position-262759.php

One of the reasons I don't listen to audiobooks is that I hate losing my place.  I tend to go back and forth since I download lots of daily podcasts and don't want to fall behind.  I reserve the audiobooks for downtime when I am caught up on those.  When you've got 9 different files of over an hour each, it's a pain in the neck to try to remember where you were.

Hopefully the above trick (which is an iTunes thing, by the way) will work.  I could combine all the CDs into one massive file if it does, and then always remember my position when I come back to it.

 

Technorati tags: iTunes, iPod, mp3

And Now, A Joke

This little old couple, been married forever, are sitting on the couch one evening watching tv just like they've done every night for the past 30 years.  All of a sudden the little old lady turns and punches her husband in the arm really hard. "Ow!" he says, rubbing his arm, "What was that for?"

"That's for 30 years of lousy sex," she says.

They continue watching tv in silence.  The man turns and punches his wife in the arm.  "What was that for?" she asks.

"That's for knowing the difference."

Technorati tags: joke

What Should This Blog Be About?

I've got a question for the folks that are reading this blog.  What should I blog about?  I started it after spending too many 90 minute commutes (each way!) trying to get myself into a place mentally where I wasn't getting so frustrated that I took it out on everyone around me.  Life's too short to call 3 hours a day "wasted", when it's just plain not true.  I get plenty done during that time, and I wanted to share some ideas for how to make other people's commutes better as well.  And I'll continue to do that.  I consider things like "how do save money on gas" to be part of that, since saving money goes along way toward being a happier person :).

But then I started thinking, maybe people would like something to read on their actual commute.  Hence the Daily Sudoku link over there in the sidebar, and the newsfeed.  Gives you something to click on, if you're bored.

Then I figured that commuter stories can be funny, too.  I used to send my stories in to Andrew over at the Working Podcast, and greatly enjoyed listening to other people's.  I don't have a podcast, but I can still write them down.  (Speaking of which, if anybody's got funny commuter stories, feel free to comment on this post.)

What else should we write about?    I don't want to go too far down the path of filler content, because there's a million places where you can get that stuff.  I don't want this to be a "joke of the day" site, although I don't mind posting the occasional joke.

So, you folks tell me.  What are you hoping to read? Are there subjects I can track down that you'd like to hear more about?  Should it be more about saving time, or saving money? Or making better use of the time you do have?  Work / family life?  I'm all ears.  Thanks!

Update: Sorry about the typo in the email address over in the sidebar!  Fixed now.

Man, Do I Hate That Elevator Close Button

So this morning I have to wait to get on an elevator because there's just that many people filing into the lobby.  One opens up right next to me, so I'm the first one on and I press 9 (of the 14 floors in our building).  Nine more people get on, someone presses 6, someone presses 13, and so on.

Then a lady gets on, presses 3, and then presses the Close button.  Like, "Ok, I'm on now, nobody else.  Let's go.  I've got places to get to, people, let's move it!"

I do hate that.

Sorry, had to be blogged.  I feel better now.

 

:)

Cheapest Gas? New Hampshire and New Jersey

http://consumerist.com/consumer/my-that.s-expensive/only-two-states-have-average-gas-prices-under-3-262347.php

Via the Consumerist we have the news that only two states are still averaging less than $3/gal gasoline - NH and NJ. 

The summer's only gonna get worse.  Time to start working up some gas saving strategies.  I'm thinking about proposing a "one day per week work from home" telecommuting plan.

 

Technorati tags: gas, prices

Check Her Out....Oh, Never Mind

Saw something funny in the park yesterday.  An attractive young lady was out for a stroll in, shall we say, a short skirt.  Certainly short enough that she knew perfectly well she was being ogled.  With her headphones on she strolled down the sidewalk in a way that seemed to make that quite clear.  She was holding something in one hand (which I assumed was her iPod), so with her hands out to her sides in an unnatural position it almost made her look like she was walking down the fashion runway, half pose, half walk.  Not saying that she was being slutty about it, just that she didn't seem to mind the attention. 

She walks past this group of four construction-worker types: jeans, dirty t-shirts, work boots.  You know what I mean.  Anyway, she walks by and you could see all four heads turn in unison to watch her.  As I approached (since I was walking that same way) I could see but not hear them discussing what they'd just seen.  Suddenly, one of them pointed.  "Ah, see?"  he said to his friends as I was getting within earshot.  "Smoker."  Apparently the thing in her hand was a pack of cigarettes.

So there you go, kids.  Don't smoke. :)

Find Cheap Gas

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/save-money/how-to-find-cheap-gas-with-your-cellphone-261789.php

I blinked this weekend and almost missed Gizmodo's reference to cell phone app GetMobio, who have just added a Gas application that helps you find the cheapest gas in your area.

I've often wondered how much convenience people will give up for gas prices.  There's a typical Texaco between my house and work, where I can stop as needed.  About 10 minutes in the wrong direction is some sort of generic gas place with no big name attached to it, that has their gas something like 10-15 cents cheaper.  I never go to that one. 

Don't Hoard The Thank-Yous

I try very hard to say thank you to people.  When someone holds a door.  When I buy my wife a coffee in the morning.  When a car stops to let me cross the street.  But there's always been this interesting rule in the back of my head about who I don't say thank you to.  I specifically don't bother with the "thank you wave" for people like "drivers who choose not to go through the crosswalk while I'm in it."  It's always seemed to be like I shouldn't thank you for not killing me.  Know what I mean?  If a driver's approaching a green light and clearly has the right of way, and I was expecting to wait my turn but he stops and offers to let me go, that's a thank you moment.  If he's approaching red and I'm about to step in the street but I have no idea if he's going to stop or blow through it, not so much.  Same with driving.  Is there anything quite so annoying as someone who cuts in front of you when you didn't want them to, and then waves thank you at you?  You just want to wave back "Screw you, I didn't plan to let you in!"

Breathe.  Then, take the high road and acknowledge the other person.  Great, he stopped at the crosswalk and didn't kill you.  Optionally, he could have just blown right through it.  Instead, acknowledge that guy.  Let him go away from that moment thinking, "Hey, there are people trying to cross the street there, maybe I should give them a break."  Maybe that's overly optimistic, but really, what's it hurting me?  When I don't wave, you think anybody notices?  Nah.  So kill em with kindness.  Smile and wave at everybody.  And not in that gritted teeth sarcastic "Thanks for nothing, a-hole" way.  Mean it. 

Eye For An Eye Driving

This is that little voice in your head that says, "Hey, that guy just came into your lane without using his directional...so by all means speed up and get in front of him, and don't use your directional.  That'll show him." 

No, it won't.  He probably doesn't even realize he did anything that pissed you off.  And it probably doesn't make you feel all that much better.  But it did make you a worse driver who put your safety at risk.

So next time somebody cuts you off on the exit, or runs a red light or anything else that bugs you silly, just breathe and let it go.  You doing the same thing is not going to fix the problem.  Who know -- sometimes you'll even see karma in action, and there is a police car watching the whole thing. There's nothing quite so pleasing in the morning as watching somebody run through a red light only to have the flashing blues turn on right behind him.

What's Faster: Car, Train or Bike?

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/18/america/NA-GEN-US-Commuter-Race.php#

Bicycle, at least in New York.  Then train, then car.  Not so fast, though, if you're looking for an actual scientific result.  The race is sponsored by Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit that advocates biking and walking.  The starting line, for instance, had bicycles able to start pedaling immediately -- but other racers had to walk to the train station, or wait for a cab.

I wonder how that would work in Boston?

Ditch the Umbrella. Get A Raincoat.

It's cold and rainy here in Boston.  That sucks when your commute involves a walk, whether it's a walk from car to train or even all the way to the office.  You know what dawned on me today, watching everybody deal with the same problem in different ways?  Umbrellas might well be more trouble than they're worth.  Let's look for a minute at all the ways that an umbrella can fail to do the job for you:

1. You forget to carry it.  The biggest and most obvious problem with an umbrella is that you have to actually have it with you.  Since you don't plan on carrying it with you wherever you go, you have to know whether it's going to rain or not.  Not always possible.  Sometimes you forget even though you knew it was going to rain.  Sometimes the rain is a surprise.  Sometimes you left your umbrella at work yesterday and the next morning you're stuck without it for the commute in to the office.
2. Rain doesn't come straight down.  If the rain is so light that it's nicely coming directly down on you, then fine, an umbrella is nice.  I don't know about the weather where you come from, but in my neck of the woods the rain tends to come at you sideways.  In situations like those you have to lean in to the umbrella and basically put it in front of your face, which in turn makes it harder to pay attention to where you're going.  And it still doesn't end up doing much of a job for you as the wind whips the cold spray into your face around the edges anyway.
3. It's too small.  As someone who doesn't carry an umbrella I think it's funny when the wind pulls those tiny little collapsible ones inside out.  I remember watching Regis once upon a time (I think it was Regis) where they did a person on the street experiment, handing this woman larger and larger umbrellas to see how big you could get and still have it turn inside out.  They ended up giving her a beach umbrella and then stopped the experiment when it began dragging her down the street.  Speaking of which...
4. It's too #$%^&*( big.  Forget about the fact that you're poking your fellow commuters in the eye left and right, but you're also probably banging it on street signs and doorways because it's just that much bigger than your shoulderwidth.  It's a freakin beach umbrella for pete's sake.  If you could huddle your entire project team under one of the things, it's too big.
5. It gets stolen.  Carrying an umbrella someplace means you have to put it down someplace when you're not carrying it.  That means you can lose it, or it can be stolen out from under you (the classic "Oh, I just helped myself to one of those umbrellas by the door" argument). 

#5 is the problem that finally turned me off umbrellas.  I had a nice one.  Big enough that it never flipped over on me, and I don't think I was ever poking anybody in the face (although I did often bang it into streetsigns).  But, alas, it was stolen, so I've had to make due without.  Which leads me to my next argument...

Get a raincoat!  Seriously.  When was this concept lost, like seatbelts on Star Trek?  What's wrong with a raincoat?  You have to wear a coat anyway, for the most part.  So it's not like you have to carry it around extra.  You don't really lose your coat now, and although I suppose that someone could steal it, I can't say I've had that happen to me.  Get a nice raincoat with a hood.  When it's raining, put up your hood.  Done.  Now shove your way past the crowd of people at the door who are all trying to get their umbrella open without getting a drop of rain on themselves and trudge out into mother nature.

 

Technorati tags: commuter, tips, advice, umbrellas, rain coats

Segway Sighting

Today on the walk to work, someone rolled by me on a Segway.  Small universe, as just yesterday I was speaking with my boss about Segway (having watched a Dean Kamen lecture on my ipod).  For those that nave never seen one, the Segway is called a "human transporter" but has often been described as an electric scooter.  With two big wheels and a platform to stand on in the middle, the gimmick was that the steering mechanism was a subconscious thing, so literally you just sort of thought which direction you wanted to go, and then the sensors in the device would pick up subtle movements in your shifting weight and drive itself accordingly.  It was billed as something that would change the world, which was ultimately its downfall because people for the most part laughed it off.  Dean Kamen (the inventor, in case that wasn't obvious) was going around the lecture circuit talking about how we should design cities around this thing.  Ummm....New York City wasn't rebuilt in a day?  Then he tells stories about little old ladies getting on it and revolutionizing the way they get around -- but before you can buy one, you have to take a safety course.  It just never really clicked on all cylinders.

Anyway, you do still see them every now and then on the streets, especially here in Boston, home of MIT.  And this morning somebody zipped by me on one.  It's very quiet, although you can hear the electric motor.  The rider was going down a hill, at a good 3x walking speed, and banked a nice corner without any real shift in momentum from what I could see.  I continued walking and then noticed that he was coming back my way across the park.  Then it dawned on me -- stairs.  To get into the park using my route I had to walk down a dozen stairs.  He'd gone down the hill to a place where he could get in via a ramp, and then circled back around.   There is a hill to climb in the middle of the park, and he took it without slowing down.

Seems like a pretty neat way of getting around.  He was driving it in the street like he's supposed to, but since the intersection had stopped for a redlight I didn't get to see how it handled with oncoming traffic.  Seems like there wouldn't be much room for him, and unlike a pedestrian he can't really stop and squeeze himself in between parked cars.

 

Technorati tags: segway, boston

Argentina Commuters Riot Over Train Delay

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4399362.stm

Yikes.  Saw this on the news this morning.  In Argentina there was a riot that left 20 people injured (they set fire to the train!)  The train was already 50 minutes late and they'd just been told it would not be leaving at all due to technical problems.

The passengers then joined "masked demonstrators" in throwing rocks at the train and generally all hell broke loose.

Masked demonstrators?  It's believed that the entire thing was actually orchestrated by "members of the railway unions and leftist groups."

 

Technorati tags: news, argentina, riot

Make Way For Goslings

Yes I said "goslings".  Boston may be the home of the children's classic Make Way For Ducklings, but every morning lately I have to watch for the family of geese that is roaming around down by the swan boats.  It's actually pretty fun to watch the two big geese wandering around while 7 little yellow ones follow them excitedly.  Typically they are poking around the grass for food, which really makes you want to feed them despite the "Don't Feed The Birds" signs that are distributed all around the park (complete with an iconic representation of how, if you do, the world will come to an end).

But, still, it's a fun and different way to start the morning.  Feeling all grumpy and roadragey?  Hang out and watch some baby geese. They're cute.  Now take a deep breath, and continue on to work.

Ok, stay in your seat, but not too long.

Yesterday I wrote about how nice it was to stay in your seat on the train for a little while longer to let the mad crush of people go by.  So I decided to try that again today.  As the train pulled into the station I kept working as the line formed to get off.  Now that I was conscious of it, however, I had no idea how long to really wait.

Apparently about 30 seconds shorter than I did, because I was quite surprised to hear the conductor yelling at me from the end of the train car to move it.  I had already started to shut down the laptop at that point, and he was walking toward me, so I said to him, "I just like the peace and quiet of having the platform to myself, ya know?"

"I hear ya," he said, "But they flip this train around quick, it's heading back out in 10 minutes."

Before I'd even gotten out the door there was another conductor yelling to the first one "Are you clear yet?"

Sheesh!

HopStop : Do we really need this?

http://www.hopstop.com/

As a web developer who runs a blog about commuting, I'm intrigued by this site HopStop which helps you map your way from place to place using public transportation.  It's neat that they've got Boston, and I did a quick test for a few addresses and it works well.  But really, am I likely to go to a web site for it to tell me to take the green line to park, then switch to red and out to south station?  Couldn't I just print a map and follow the route with my finger?

I suppose it's good for tourists.  If I was heading to Chicago or something and wanted to try their subway, I'd be more in the audience for this service.  But who am I kidding, when I go to strange cities the last thing I'm gonna do is get on their subway!

HopStop has an API available.  Anybody got any ideas on what you'd do with such a thing?  I am a coder, after all :).

Worst Road Rage? Miami.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070515/ap_on_re_us/road_rage

When I started reading that article I was thinking, "Hey, cool, maybe Boston isn't so bad after all."  We tend to have a reputation as lousy drivers, although I think people that say that need to drive in the DC area a little more frequently.

I spoke too soon - Boston is #3.

Stress Tip : Stay In Your Seat

Every morning as my train pulls into the station, people begin to get up from their seats and stand in the aisles waiting for their turn to get out.  Before the train has even stopped.  Before it's even in the station.  I'm not sure I follow this.  Are they really in that much of a hurry?  Or are they just bored?  Typically I wait until I see the crush start moving, and then I'll stand up and try to merge in with the flow. Every morning there's that interesting awkward pause where you wonder if the person standing in the aisle behind your seat is going to let you get out and into the traffic, or if they're in such a hurry that they just want to get off and etiquette be damned.  It's doubly bad when a woman is the one waiting, because then my chivalrous side ponders if I'm supposed to let her go first by default.

Today  I was busy enough with my laptop that I didn't even bother.  I just sat there until I was done.  The entire train emptied out around me.  And then I took my time packing up and heading out the door.

Do you have any idea how relaxing that was?  No herding down the walkway like cattle, wondering if you'll accidentally step on somebody's feet or they'll step on yours.  No weaving around slow people, or getting bumped and shoved as somebody weaves around you.  I had the platform to myself.  It was quiet, and it was nice.

All that for a grand total of maybe 2 extra minutes on the train.

Try it some time.   You might enjoy it.

I Feel Safer Now

Last night on the train I noticed a sticker on my seat that read, "Remember, George Bush is Watching You.  It's For Your Own Good." 

The graphic showed someone in a Nazi stormtrooper helmet peeking over some sort of wall so you could only see the beady little eyes, no face.

Allrighty then.  Kind of reminds me of my honeymoon, where we crossed over from Switzerland into Italy.  One of the first things I remember seeing in Italy was swastika graffiti.

Free Gas Help?

http://www.freegashelp.com/index.htm

Ok, who's willing to give this a shot and tell me if it works?  I think I saw this idea last year as well.  The gimmick is simple - if you're going to be driving for a few hours every day  in heavy traffic, why not slap some advertisements on your car?  This place will pay you back in gas.  And given that gas is already at $3/gallon (in the US) and climbing, that might not be such a bad deal.

Personally I'm driving a lease and I wouldn't put any stickers on it to begin with, so it's not really the deal for me.  But I'm curious if anybody out there would try such a thing?  The web site says that you have to go to a "promotional event" which I definitely don't like the sound of.

 

Technorati tags: free, gas

Speaking of rubbernecking....Fire!

So this morning I'm trying to catch the early train to work and sure enough there's a slowdown again.  Only this time I can see why for quite a distance, as the smoke is very black and very plentiful.  A truck was on fire.  A commercial pickup truck, with some sort of cab in the back.  And I'm not talking about an "engine caught on fire" sort of fire, I'm talking about a front to back engulfed in flames movie special effect sort of fire.  This thing was going up in a big way.

And yes, it was on the opposite side of the highway, going in the other direction.  So everybody on my side who stopped to look?  Keep moving!  Especially the guy in front of me who was too busy with his cameraphone to pay attention to the road.  Dude, you're 100 yards away in a moving vehicle in bright sunlight, you're not going to get a clear shot.  Pay attention.

Buy Some More Fence! (My park is closed until *when*?)

They finally put a sign up on the fence that surrounds the park I walk through to get to my train.  The one that says they are "constructing improvements."  It appears now that they are doing "turf restoration" and that it will take from April - December.  DECEMBER?!  My park is going to be closed for 8 months?

What's lame is that you're talking about an area that is basically a rectangle with a diagonal path through it.  Buy getting a bit more fence they could actually let us walk from one corner to the other without touching the grass.  Instead we all have to walk the long way around.  I appreciate the extra exercise, but it is a bit of an annoyance.

Optimize Your Ipod

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/50-free-tools-to-make-your-ipod-better-and/

I'm not the only commuter who lives by his ipod.  If I'm out of podcasts, I'm screwed.  Makeuseof.com has compiled a list of 50 ipod related things, including every tool in the known universe for getting content onto it.  News and weather, anyone?  Driving directions? Games?

In general I'm all set with my podcasts, I'm not in a rush to go experimenting.  But the idea of having the weather on my ipod is pretty neat.  After all, I make sure to sync it every day at work, right?  That's more than I can say for my PDA.

Boost Your Productivity

Steve Pavlina, productivity guru, has an article up on 33 Rules to Boost Your Productivity.  Great article as always.  I thought my readers might be interested in a couple of the points in particular:

9. Early bird.  Get up early in the morning, like at 5am, and go straight to work on your most important task.  You can often get more done before 8am than most people do in a day.

Couldn't agree more.  With three kids, getting up and out the door at 5am for me would basically be leaving my wife hanging, so I don't do that.  But!  I can get up early, get breakfast and lunch made, get a shower, check the email....  You get the idea.

24.Continuum.  At the end of your workday, identify the first task you’ll work on the next day, and set out the materials in advance.  The next day begin working on that task immediately.

This one I can see being important for the folks that have trouble leaving work at work.  I have trouble with it because part of my deal at my own job is a semi telecommute sort of thing where I only work about a 7hr day and am expected to get in some work each evening. So I have to take my work home with me, instead of leaving it on the desk for first thing tomorrow.  But not always.  Particularly on a Friday night I'll happily close up the computer and deal with it on a Monday.

He also has up a Volume 2 containing another gem for commuters:
10. Recapture.  Reclaim other people’s poor time usage for yourself.  Visualize your goals during dull speeches.  Write out your grocery list during pointless meetings.

Your commute is your time, not other people's, but I can't think of a better block of time for you to "recapture".

I actually disagree with this one:

Inspiration.  Read inspiring books and articles, listen to audio programs, and attend seminars to keep absorbing inspiring new ideas (as well as to refresh yourself on the old ones).

This is supposed to be about productivity, right?  The more time you spent getting inspired by other people's success, the less time you're spending on your own.  Stop listening to motivational tapes about how people started a business with no money and instead, go out and actually start a business.

Please, Stop With the Rubbernecking, Huh?

That may not be the term you know for it, but I'm sure you've seen it.  There's been an accident.  Or maybe it's just somebody pulled over for speeding.  Either way, there's pretty flashing lights.  And chances are it's on the opposite side of the highway that you're on.  So what do you do?  Dear God man, SLOW DOWN AND SEE IF YOU CAN SEE WHAT'S GOING ON!

Now you know what I'm talking about? Knock it off.  Unless you are literally the first person on the scene because the accident has just occurred, keep it moving.  If it's on the other side of a divided highway, you don't even need to slow down.  Just keep it moving.

True story : Years ago when I was driving to my parents for Thanksgiving, I noticed a bunch of people getting out of the middle highway lane.  I, too, noticed something big and massive in the road.  As I got closer I realized that it was a human body.  Once that clicked I noticed the smashed up car at the side of the road.  Then I noticed, about 50 yards away, a line of about 3-4 cars that had stopped and pulled over.  People were getting out and you could tell by the ways hands were going to faces that whatever happened had quite literally just happened.

Know what I did?  I kept moving.  I even beeped and yelled at a bunch of other cars to do the same thing.  It's not like by stopping our cars in the middle of the road that we were helping anybody.  The guy was beyond helping.  People had already stopped and pulled over.  The most we were going to do by stopping in the middle of the street would be to cause another accident.

Big Protest in Boston Today

So walking home from work today we passed by multiple police officers, some on foot, some on motor cycle, and many on horseback.  Since there was lots of traffic control we wondered is somebody was doing a motorcade.  We asked an officer and were told what sounded like, "The anarchists were planning a march, but they didn't show up" or something very weird like that.  We just had time to make a few jokes about anarchists not being organized enough to remember when the march was supposed to be, when we stumbled into the rally.  Apparently something about immigrant workers all deserving full immunity, rather than guest visas.  Does "BASTA" mean anything to anybody?  I saw some signs with that written on them, and the lady on the podium was mentioning it.  "Did she just call George Bush a bastard?" my friend asked.

It's weird when there's something like that in the middle of your path, you wonder how close you want to walk.  Do you want to see what's going on, or stay far away?  Can you get away with making jokes, or is somebody going to get pissed off and cause you trouble?

Nobody caused trouble.  I was glad to see the showing of police force.

What Did You See Today?

On the walk to work today I saw a lady carrying a bottle of Hershey's Chocolate Syrup.  Not something you see every day.  She did have a purse slung over the other arm, so perhaps she was carrying some milk that I couldn't see and was just waiting for the most opportune time to mix them.  Maybe she was heading for the Ben and Jerry's store by my office and she'd taken "make your own sundae" a little too literally.  Or maybe she was going to meet a hot date, I dunno.  But at 9am, I'm gonna go with my first assumption.

I also saw three people in the park doing their martial arts practice.  One, by himself, was definitely doing Tai Chi.  The other two weren't, though. They seemed to be together - they were performing the same moves, even though they were standing about 30 yards from each other - and I'm guessing that the style was actually some variant of kung fu. 

There's currently a fence around the entire park I usually walk through, which is annoying.  We've been guessing that they've treated the grass and are trying to keep people off of it.  Today, walking around it to the left instead of the right I finally saw a sign that says to pardon their appearance while they "construct improvements to your park."  I thought it a particularly odd grammatical construct (pun not intended).  I suppose you can "construct improvements", I just never thought of putting those two words together.  Nor do I see any construction. 

What did you see today?