What I thought I knew I apparently didn't.
I was walking into the colocation center to switch some backup tapes in preparation for the possibility we wouldn't be able to easily get into the building, physically, with the storm coming, when I got a message from my wife that she was getting nervous about the storm and the likelihood of me getting home when we anticipated later that week and asking me to contact my team at work to see if I could leave early and get back home with them.
The last storm, Irene, had apparently missed NYC but had really devastated our area. Roads gone. Homes gone. Levees are still not properly repaired, and that was a year ago that everything blew away...
I guess it's understandable that there is increased tension back in the homestead.
This was obviously not part of The Plan. The team, however, is awesome. They gave the nod to head home, and I arranged for her to come pick me up as the city was ordering Zone A people to evacuate and public transit to shut down that night.
That gave me enough time to overpack things I wouldn't have ordinarily taken on the bus, coordinate a few last minute items to get done at work, and "shut down" the apartment for the storm. We got back home in PA several hours later, just in time to crash into the bed to get some sleep.
This morning brought news that the storm is heading more northward than predicted originally, but no one knows the full effect or final track yet. Homeside, we still have options involving going to my parents house where they have a generator if necessary, and our home is high enough that there's no way we would need to worry about flooding as long as the house is intact. We'll spend part of today getting some last minute items.
Then it's a waiting game to see what the storm does, and after that it's damage control and evaluating our options.
The hardest part at this point is the uncertainty...
Monday, October 29, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Storm Preparedness in New York City
Unless you're hiding under a rock...which by some accounts you probably should be if you're along the northern US coast...you probably know about the "Frankenstorm" making its way through the Atlantic and predicted to hit somewhere near Delaware/New Jersey early this week.
The effects of the storm are still speculative at this point, but I do know that potential chaos is being repeated in reports on television for both my home in PA and my current location in the city. My family had to cope with one major unfortunate storm that left us without power for several days; we learned from this incident, and because of this I have some consolation that they should be okay. They have high ground for the house itself; my parents during the last major flooding didn't have damage, and there were multiple routes for my family to get to their house where they can find a generator for electricity. They have a car for charging the cellphone for communications. There should be batteries. Multiple coolers. I reminded my wife to get ice prepared ahead of time in case food has to be stored and the power goes out at the house. My father's truck is capable of hauling items. And the temperatures aren't freezing, so pipes in the house should be fine. They should also have enough supplies of food that doesn't require cold storage to be okay.
So while they may have bad weather, my wife should now have enough experience and support to make it through okay.
This is my first time weathering a major storm in New York City. It's occurred to me that there are qualities that make the island of Manhattan less than idea for weathering storms. For one, it's an island. Islands generally don't do well when water rises, such as the case with surges that accompany large storms from the Atlantic. We have things called "floods." It's bad enough when it happens inland, such as the valleys of my home town area, but to actually be in a location near what is known as "sea level" I would think amplifies the prospective danger.
Speaking of sea level, we had this storm not too long ago called "Katrina" that demonstrated why cities located below sea level AND next to an extremely large body of water are not an optimal combination. Manhattan itself is above sea level, but we have a lot of critical services that are underground, like things called "subways" and "tunnels," both of which have incredibly high amounts of people and vehicle traffic. If water levels rise, there is apparently a definite danger of these areas flooding. Tunnel closures will inhibit traffic moving to and from the island, leaving just the bridges, which may temporarily be shut down if there are high sustained winds.
But at least bridge closures would be temporary (barring damage).
Floods are also one of those things that once you realize you're screwed, it's often too late to do anything about it. It's not like the zombie apocalypse where you can hole up somewhere and eventually decide when to venture out; with flooding, you hole up, and once you realize that the water is going to get to you may already be trapped.
I have some things going for me. New York City has flood evacuation zones, labeled A, B, or C. I'm in none of them. I'm kind of anxious to see how this works, since apparently there IS a flood zone across the street from me. Front row seats to the mayhem, if you listen to the news.
I'm also not on the lower floors of my apartment building, so low-level flooding, if it were to occur, shouldn't reach me. The worst of the potential damage from the storm surge looks like it will hit the southern part of the island; ironically, that's the financial district, where every workday hundreds of millions of dollars pass. You'd think they'd have more protections in place to prevent all of that from getting wet, or at least have a plan that doesn't involve "run away quickly."
The storm track being predicted puts the city at the edge of the effects of the storm, hopefully minimizing the expected damage.
After flooding, the second worry I have is electrical outage. I keep in touch with family using the Internet or, if that fails, the cell network. But if there's an extended outage my UPS will fail, as will my phone's battery, eventually. I also have a few foods that I'd like to keep frozen. Additionally I would need some supply of water, for drinking and flushing the toilet.
First, I have trouble thinking the city would be without power for really long lengths of time. A day. Maybe two. There are two and a half million people on this island, and too much of the infrastructure relies on the power grid before chaos breaks out. So I figure I might need to have two days worth of backup supplies if possible.
I picked up four gallons of distilled water in jugs, and to help keep things cold I started filling Ziploc baggies with water and putting them in the freezer. I'm hoping that they should turn into ice balls by the time the storm comes in, although there was apparently one baggie that didn't feel like cooperating because I checked the freezer and there was a thin layer of water covering the bottom. Whoops. (It seemed like a good idea at the time...)
Although I should probably note for future reference that water in baggies, since it wasn't particularly cold water, partially thawed the chicken patties I was trying to keep cold in the first place. I'm hoping that was the problem and not a problem with the freezer to contend with...just have to keep monitoring it, I suppose.
I don't have a tub. My apartment is too small. There goes filling that for a spare supply of water.
For power I have a UPS connected to my monitor and laptop. In the event of an outage I figured I can turn off the monitor and speakers and try running as long as possible off the laptop and cable modem, after dimming the display to increase runtime. The phone is fully charged; I can keep it charged longer by dimming its display, closing extra applications, and hooking it up to the laptop. I also brought my newer work laptop home with me in case I would need to use it for remote work but also it could be used to charge the phone if (or when) my own laptop died.
I have enough canned food and foods that don't require refrigeration to last the week.
A coworker also suggested getting some cash. "If the credit card processors go down, you'll need cash to get water or supplies. Nothing overboard, but you'd want some in your pocket just in case. People here don't usually keep a lot of things on hand since they can get stuff delivered or go out whenever they want."
Getting cash for emergencies and getting water were the two big goals for the day. And I managed to do that.
Overall I should be okay. I might be inconvenienced. I may not enjoy this. But I should survive. Without a doubt the worst part is the potential to lose touch with my wife and son back home. As I said, I'm confident they should be okay, and they have options and support through my extended family in the area. The most horrific flooding in our area in recent times personally affected us through an extended power outage, and if this storm isn't quite as strong as that one, they should be okay.
Me, right now I think I'm going to cope. I went to the supermarket for water, and while it was quite crowded, there was still gallon jugs of water available, and plenty of drinking water (so far.) I don't know if this is a reflection of New Yorkers not freaking out as much as the news reports want them to, or if there's a lot more supermarkets still being raided, or people waiting until the last minute to get their panic supplies. Again...will have to wait and see.
All I know is I'll be focusing on trying to keep in touch with my family for updates. There's time to panic later.
The effects of the storm are still speculative at this point, but I do know that potential chaos is being repeated in reports on television for both my home in PA and my current location in the city. My family had to cope with one major unfortunate storm that left us without power for several days; we learned from this incident, and because of this I have some consolation that they should be okay. They have high ground for the house itself; my parents during the last major flooding didn't have damage, and there were multiple routes for my family to get to their house where they can find a generator for electricity. They have a car for charging the cellphone for communications. There should be batteries. Multiple coolers. I reminded my wife to get ice prepared ahead of time in case food has to be stored and the power goes out at the house. My father's truck is capable of hauling items. And the temperatures aren't freezing, so pipes in the house should be fine. They should also have enough supplies of food that doesn't require cold storage to be okay.
So while they may have bad weather, my wife should now have enough experience and support to make it through okay.
This is my first time weathering a major storm in New York City. It's occurred to me that there are qualities that make the island of Manhattan less than idea for weathering storms. For one, it's an island. Islands generally don't do well when water rises, such as the case with surges that accompany large storms from the Atlantic. We have things called "floods." It's bad enough when it happens inland, such as the valleys of my home town area, but to actually be in a location near what is known as "sea level" I would think amplifies the prospective danger.
Speaking of sea level, we had this storm not too long ago called "Katrina" that demonstrated why cities located below sea level AND next to an extremely large body of water are not an optimal combination. Manhattan itself is above sea level, but we have a lot of critical services that are underground, like things called "subways" and "tunnels," both of which have incredibly high amounts of people and vehicle traffic. If water levels rise, there is apparently a definite danger of these areas flooding. Tunnel closures will inhibit traffic moving to and from the island, leaving just the bridges, which may temporarily be shut down if there are high sustained winds.
But at least bridge closures would be temporary (barring damage).
Floods are also one of those things that once you realize you're screwed, it's often too late to do anything about it. It's not like the zombie apocalypse where you can hole up somewhere and eventually decide when to venture out; with flooding, you hole up, and once you realize that the water is going to get to you may already be trapped.
I have some things going for me. New York City has flood evacuation zones, labeled A, B, or C. I'm in none of them. I'm kind of anxious to see how this works, since apparently there IS a flood zone across the street from me. Front row seats to the mayhem, if you listen to the news.
I'm also not on the lower floors of my apartment building, so low-level flooding, if it were to occur, shouldn't reach me. The worst of the potential damage from the storm surge looks like it will hit the southern part of the island; ironically, that's the financial district, where every workday hundreds of millions of dollars pass. You'd think they'd have more protections in place to prevent all of that from getting wet, or at least have a plan that doesn't involve "run away quickly."
The storm track being predicted puts the city at the edge of the effects of the storm, hopefully minimizing the expected damage.
After flooding, the second worry I have is electrical outage. I keep in touch with family using the Internet or, if that fails, the cell network. But if there's an extended outage my UPS will fail, as will my phone's battery, eventually. I also have a few foods that I'd like to keep frozen. Additionally I would need some supply of water, for drinking and flushing the toilet.
First, I have trouble thinking the city would be without power for really long lengths of time. A day. Maybe two. There are two and a half million people on this island, and too much of the infrastructure relies on the power grid before chaos breaks out. So I figure I might need to have two days worth of backup supplies if possible.
I picked up four gallons of distilled water in jugs, and to help keep things cold I started filling Ziploc baggies with water and putting them in the freezer. I'm hoping that they should turn into ice balls by the time the storm comes in, although there was apparently one baggie that didn't feel like cooperating because I checked the freezer and there was a thin layer of water covering the bottom. Whoops. (It seemed like a good idea at the time...)
Although I should probably note for future reference that water in baggies, since it wasn't particularly cold water, partially thawed the chicken patties I was trying to keep cold in the first place. I'm hoping that was the problem and not a problem with the freezer to contend with...just have to keep monitoring it, I suppose.
I don't have a tub. My apartment is too small. There goes filling that for a spare supply of water.
For power I have a UPS connected to my monitor and laptop. In the event of an outage I figured I can turn off the monitor and speakers and try running as long as possible off the laptop and cable modem, after dimming the display to increase runtime. The phone is fully charged; I can keep it charged longer by dimming its display, closing extra applications, and hooking it up to the laptop. I also brought my newer work laptop home with me in case I would need to use it for remote work but also it could be used to charge the phone if (or when) my own laptop died.
I have enough canned food and foods that don't require refrigeration to last the week.
A coworker also suggested getting some cash. "If the credit card processors go down, you'll need cash to get water or supplies. Nothing overboard, but you'd want some in your pocket just in case. People here don't usually keep a lot of things on hand since they can get stuff delivered or go out whenever they want."
Getting cash for emergencies and getting water were the two big goals for the day. And I managed to do that.
Overall I should be okay. I might be inconvenienced. I may not enjoy this. But I should survive. Without a doubt the worst part is the potential to lose touch with my wife and son back home. As I said, I'm confident they should be okay, and they have options and support through my extended family in the area. The most horrific flooding in our area in recent times personally affected us through an extended power outage, and if this storm isn't quite as strong as that one, they should be okay.
Me, right now I think I'm going to cope. I went to the supermarket for water, and while it was quite crowded, there was still gallon jugs of water available, and plenty of drinking water (so far.) I don't know if this is a reflection of New Yorkers not freaking out as much as the news reports want them to, or if there's a lot more supermarkets still being raided, or people waiting until the last minute to get their panic supplies. Again...will have to wait and see.
All I know is I'll be focusing on trying to keep in touch with my family for updates. There's time to panic later.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
So Microsoft Opened this Store and Released the Surface...
I've not tried Microsoft's new Surface. I've not gone to their new store in person. What I've done is read articles and postings from others, and I've done some testing with Windows 8 and its new interface. Quite frankly after supporting Windows for many years for an audience of users with varying levels of technology skill, it doesn't take much to form some strong impressions.
As someone trying to view this from the view of an end user, Windows 8 is...ugh.
I've had people on the kool-aid say that whenever something is new, people will complain. It's inevitable.
To a degree that's true. For the average user trying to use an office suite for basic tasks, there is very little difference in functionality between products like Microsoft Office and LibreOffice, for example. You can create a basic document in either one with similar functionality.
However, I worked in a place that tried to save some budget dollars by switching users to LibreOffice, and you'd have thought they were being asked to volunteer slicing off a limb with a chainsaw, judging from the grumbling and complaints we received. In the end, we relented and installed the latest version of Office.
Which they still complained about because the ribbon interface looked different. Fortunately they didn't complain as much (perhaps because it was, after all, MS Office, which they were complaining that they wanted back? I didn't pursue this curiosity as at that point.)
Change is disconcerting, especially when it's for users who don't care about your product, they just want to get the core task done. It's not a matter of using Office or LibreOffice, he or she wants to write a memo.
So when you make changes, they should be positive changes. Perhaps most important, they should be discoverable changes. Windows 8's new interface failed in some fairly fundamental functions in this regard. It's good to make changes that increase your productivity; when features for basic functionality are improved, people will generally like the changes. In our previous example of LibreOffice and MS Office, people didn't so much complain at first, they were simply wary. The complaints would roll in as they couldn't find things they were used to using; the discoverability of a feature was lacking. How do I create three columns of text? How do I create pagination so that it doesn't number the first page? What do you mean I have to remember to "save as" if I send this to someone else or else they can't read it? WHY DOESN'T THIS WORK LIKE IT DID BEFORE?!
When confronted with Windows 8, I had some tiles staring back at me. Okay, I can click them to run those things. Even though I wasn't sure why I needed to know, by default, the weather. Or certain news stories from those particular news outlets. The new Windows was offending my personal sense of style in this regard; I don't like cluttering my desktop with things I'm not using. Acknowledge, and move on; I will have to get used to it.
But...how do I shut it off? There's no start button! (Or Windows button, or whatever they wanted to call it at this point.)
No menus. Nothing that told me how to do anything. It was like the computer just expected to always be on, always running, perhaps go to sleep when it decided to (which was another hidden setting, as I was never asked about power consumption or power saving behavior.)
Oh...I'm supposed to move to a corner to get a task menu. Or "swipe" with my mouse.
It was almost like this was some kind of some kind of tablet, or touchscreen-oriented interface.
I heard from one Microsoft employee that this was an intuitive interface; if you want a particular program, you just start typing the name and Windows will search for it. "You use Spotlight on OS X, don't you?"
Actually, I do. There are some programs I will type into the search box to find. It's become habit. I also have often-used programs kept in the dock for easy launching. However, I came to use the spotlight function because it was a little magnifying glass symbol in the corner. You click it, and a search box drops down. If I don't know what I'm looking for, I can open a Finder window and there's an "Applications" folder through which I can peruse contents. I learned how to do these things in part because I was used to similar paradigms of desktop computer use; the search box, application folders, etc. The interface evolved, and I could feel my way around the interface to figure out how to achieve basic tasks.
Windows 8 just dropped me in the middle of a damn city without any kind of map. Swiping with a mouse? Really? With Microsoft's long history of bending over backwards for compatibility, you'd think they'd have more sense than to create an interface that is basically aimed point blank at the touchscreen market. Reading an article on how to use Windows 8's new interface, approached from the perspective of the average desktop computer user, is an exercise in "What the hell were they thinking?"
To be told that the intuitive thing to do is type the name of the program or document I want, after Windows has been evolving for years to abstract the user from the keyboard as much as possible, was a fairly ridiculous assertion. Yet that's exactly the kool-aid they are drinking now.
None of it makes real sense. Apple was approached with the question of touch screen systems, and Steve Jobs dismissed it, saying, "It gives great demo but after a short period of time, you start to fatigue and after an extended period of time, your arm wants to fall off. it doesn't work, it's ergonomically terrible." And he's right! How long could you use an interface requiring you to point at the screen before your arm becomes tired?
Instead, Apple adopted the multitouch touchpad as a stand-in for the touchscreen, confining touchscreens to horizontal handheld devices like the iPhone and iPad.
And Apple was very careful in their approach to this. They created what started as a somewhat kludgy new operating system, OS X. The framework of something good was there, but it took many refinements and updates before it was really usable and elegant. It was well matched to the desktop and notebook market.
When Apple came out with the iPhone/iPod Touch and the iPad, they created an operating system matched just to those devices. The interface felt kind of like a relation to OS X in some ways, but it was targeted for use on a device with limited screen estate and meant to be navigated with your fingers, not a mouse and keyboard. Separate, but complimentary. You can see that Apple developers are taking steps to integrate the operating system cousins with the introduction of features like Launchpad.
Distinct, but related.
Microsoft, with Windows 8, decided to say, "Screw it...we'll create one interface to rule them all!" Windows 8 is definitely a tablet interface and it shows; apologists are already seeking ways to re-enable previous interface features to make Windows 8 more like Windows 7.
"All you have to do is install this application and you get your menus back!," they say.
When you're looking for applications to mimic that previous behaviors, and it's coming from people who are traditionally early adopters of technology, I call that a bad sign.
Let's pretend Microsoft is leading a charge on tablet computing. They now released their latest sensation, the Surface. The buzz was tremendous! I couldn't ignore it if I wanted to. Now tech adopters are getting their hands on the Surface and...well, I can't say it's definitely bad, but there are some that are scratching their heads.
It seems to have some of the sluggishness of a 1.0 release. Quirks, if you will. And I'll dismiss them as being the same pain points that you would expect when a competitor is having to play catch-up. The device will speed up. It will get refined.
But again with the fundamentals in interface...I found one user that is fairly well versed in using technology, especially Microsoft technology, who had trouble configuring his email on the Surface because it dumped him at a blank screen with no visual cues of what to do. He went to Twitter to ask for some guidance!
When it's a basic function that leaves your users scratching their heads, you didn't do your homework. Subtle features can have an excused learning curve. Your users should not be left derpin' around trying to figure out how to use a mail client if they are the kind of user that doesn't cringe when prompted whether they are using an IMAP or POP account in the average mail client configuration wizard.
Worse than that, Microsoft Surface is debuting with Windows RT...a lookalike to Windows 8, but it's not Windows 8. It's not compatible.
Huh?
So it looks like the new Windows, acts in some ways like the new Windows, but it's not entirely compatible with the new Windows...but don't worry, because another version of the Surface is coming out and it will run Windows 8!
If the average consumer wasn't confused before...
I was willing to write off a lot of this as just growing pains. It's hardly rare for Microsoft to get beaten to the punch with a new technology and have to play catch-up by copying a competitor and eventually, over the course of several releases, "get it" and steamroll the competitors. But I wondered to what extent they would go to copy the competitor, in this case, the Apple and their iPad.
Apple is a special thorn for Microsoft. After all, they basically defined the personal digital music player market in the "post walk-man" era. Microsoft tried to copy them by creating the Zune, and finally they cried uncle and killed that product line. Now Microsoft wanted to create their iPad killer. How far would they go to market it?
I saw people buzzing on Twitter about a new Microsoft store in Times Square. All full of people trying to get the surface! Take THAT, Apple hipsters!
I found a blog posting that discussed going to a Microsoft Store pushing the Surface. The author was obviously not impressed, and he included pictures of the store that illustrated how much Microsoft was trying to clone the Apple store design.
Really?
Is this how far Microsoft has sunk? Their formula for success was to nearly CLONE their competitor? And worse, they created a lesser quality clone?
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. I saw a picture of the Surface's box and it looked vaguely familiar...
Maybe I'm imagining things. After all, there's no picture of the Surface on the surface of the Surface box.
EDIT: This blog post by Brent Ozar I think eloquently summed up my issues with the Surface and Windows RT release. He may be looking forward to the release of the Intel-based Surface with full-blown Windows 8, but the description of it makes it sound like a stripped down notebook computer or touchscreen netbook without the keyboard. That doesn't sound like a great tablet experience to me except for particular use cases...I wonder if there will be a lightning connector that will allow him to project presentations along with using his presentation clicker on an iPad Mini? But then again that would only work if he doesn't have to use PowerPoint...
As someone trying to view this from the view of an end user, Windows 8 is...ugh.
I've had people on the kool-aid say that whenever something is new, people will complain. It's inevitable.
To a degree that's true. For the average user trying to use an office suite for basic tasks, there is very little difference in functionality between products like Microsoft Office and LibreOffice, for example. You can create a basic document in either one with similar functionality.
However, I worked in a place that tried to save some budget dollars by switching users to LibreOffice, and you'd have thought they were being asked to volunteer slicing off a limb with a chainsaw, judging from the grumbling and complaints we received. In the end, we relented and installed the latest version of Office.
Which they still complained about because the ribbon interface looked different. Fortunately they didn't complain as much (perhaps because it was, after all, MS Office, which they were complaining that they wanted back? I didn't pursue this curiosity as at that point.)
Change is disconcerting, especially when it's for users who don't care about your product, they just want to get the core task done. It's not a matter of using Office or LibreOffice, he or she wants to write a memo.
So when you make changes, they should be positive changes. Perhaps most important, they should be discoverable changes. Windows 8's new interface failed in some fairly fundamental functions in this regard. It's good to make changes that increase your productivity; when features for basic functionality are improved, people will generally like the changes. In our previous example of LibreOffice and MS Office, people didn't so much complain at first, they were simply wary. The complaints would roll in as they couldn't find things they were used to using; the discoverability of a feature was lacking. How do I create three columns of text? How do I create pagination so that it doesn't number the first page? What do you mean I have to remember to "save as" if I send this to someone else or else they can't read it? WHY DOESN'T THIS WORK LIKE IT DID BEFORE?!
When confronted with Windows 8, I had some tiles staring back at me. Okay, I can click them to run those things. Even though I wasn't sure why I needed to know, by default, the weather. Or certain news stories from those particular news outlets. The new Windows was offending my personal sense of style in this regard; I don't like cluttering my desktop with things I'm not using. Acknowledge, and move on; I will have to get used to it.
But...how do I shut it off? There's no start button! (Or Windows button, or whatever they wanted to call it at this point.)
No menus. Nothing that told me how to do anything. It was like the computer just expected to always be on, always running, perhaps go to sleep when it decided to (which was another hidden setting, as I was never asked about power consumption or power saving behavior.)
Oh...I'm supposed to move to a corner to get a task menu. Or "swipe" with my mouse.
It was almost like this was some kind of some kind of tablet, or touchscreen-oriented interface.
I heard from one Microsoft employee that this was an intuitive interface; if you want a particular program, you just start typing the name and Windows will search for it. "You use Spotlight on OS X, don't you?"
Actually, I do. There are some programs I will type into the search box to find. It's become habit. I also have often-used programs kept in the dock for easy launching. However, I came to use the spotlight function because it was a little magnifying glass symbol in the corner. You click it, and a search box drops down. If I don't know what I'm looking for, I can open a Finder window and there's an "Applications" folder through which I can peruse contents. I learned how to do these things in part because I was used to similar paradigms of desktop computer use; the search box, application folders, etc. The interface evolved, and I could feel my way around the interface to figure out how to achieve basic tasks.
Windows 8 just dropped me in the middle of a damn city without any kind of map. Swiping with a mouse? Really? With Microsoft's long history of bending over backwards for compatibility, you'd think they'd have more sense than to create an interface that is basically aimed point blank at the touchscreen market. Reading an article on how to use Windows 8's new interface, approached from the perspective of the average desktop computer user, is an exercise in "What the hell were they thinking?"
To be told that the intuitive thing to do is type the name of the program or document I want, after Windows has been evolving for years to abstract the user from the keyboard as much as possible, was a fairly ridiculous assertion. Yet that's exactly the kool-aid they are drinking now.
None of it makes real sense. Apple was approached with the question of touch screen systems, and Steve Jobs dismissed it, saying, "It gives great demo but after a short period of time, you start to fatigue and after an extended period of time, your arm wants to fall off. it doesn't work, it's ergonomically terrible." And he's right! How long could you use an interface requiring you to point at the screen before your arm becomes tired?
Instead, Apple adopted the multitouch touchpad as a stand-in for the touchscreen, confining touchscreens to horizontal handheld devices like the iPhone and iPad.
And Apple was very careful in their approach to this. They created what started as a somewhat kludgy new operating system, OS X. The framework of something good was there, but it took many refinements and updates before it was really usable and elegant. It was well matched to the desktop and notebook market.
When Apple came out with the iPhone/iPod Touch and the iPad, they created an operating system matched just to those devices. The interface felt kind of like a relation to OS X in some ways, but it was targeted for use on a device with limited screen estate and meant to be navigated with your fingers, not a mouse and keyboard. Separate, but complimentary. You can see that Apple developers are taking steps to integrate the operating system cousins with the introduction of features like Launchpad.
Distinct, but related.
Microsoft, with Windows 8, decided to say, "Screw it...we'll create one interface to rule them all!" Windows 8 is definitely a tablet interface and it shows; apologists are already seeking ways to re-enable previous interface features to make Windows 8 more like Windows 7.
"All you have to do is install this application and you get your menus back!," they say.
When you're looking for applications to mimic that previous behaviors, and it's coming from people who are traditionally early adopters of technology, I call that a bad sign.
Let's pretend Microsoft is leading a charge on tablet computing. They now released their latest sensation, the Surface. The buzz was tremendous! I couldn't ignore it if I wanted to. Now tech adopters are getting their hands on the Surface and...well, I can't say it's definitely bad, but there are some that are scratching their heads.
It seems to have some of the sluggishness of a 1.0 release. Quirks, if you will. And I'll dismiss them as being the same pain points that you would expect when a competitor is having to play catch-up. The device will speed up. It will get refined.
But again with the fundamentals in interface...I found one user that is fairly well versed in using technology, especially Microsoft technology, who had trouble configuring his email on the Surface because it dumped him at a blank screen with no visual cues of what to do. He went to Twitter to ask for some guidance!
When it's a basic function that leaves your users scratching their heads, you didn't do your homework. Subtle features can have an excused learning curve. Your users should not be left derpin' around trying to figure out how to use a mail client if they are the kind of user that doesn't cringe when prompted whether they are using an IMAP or POP account in the average mail client configuration wizard.
Worse than that, Microsoft Surface is debuting with Windows RT...a lookalike to Windows 8, but it's not Windows 8. It's not compatible.
Huh?
So it looks like the new Windows, acts in some ways like the new Windows, but it's not entirely compatible with the new Windows...but don't worry, because another version of the Surface is coming out and it will run Windows 8!
If the average consumer wasn't confused before...
I was willing to write off a lot of this as just growing pains. It's hardly rare for Microsoft to get beaten to the punch with a new technology and have to play catch-up by copying a competitor and eventually, over the course of several releases, "get it" and steamroll the competitors. But I wondered to what extent they would go to copy the competitor, in this case, the Apple and their iPad.
Apple is a special thorn for Microsoft. After all, they basically defined the personal digital music player market in the "post walk-man" era. Microsoft tried to copy them by creating the Zune, and finally they cried uncle and killed that product line. Now Microsoft wanted to create their iPad killer. How far would they go to market it?
I saw people buzzing on Twitter about a new Microsoft store in Times Square. All full of people trying to get the surface! Take THAT, Apple hipsters!
I found a blog posting that discussed going to a Microsoft Store pushing the Surface. The author was obviously not impressed, and he included pictures of the store that illustrated how much Microsoft was trying to clone the Apple store design.
Really?
Is this how far Microsoft has sunk? Their formula for success was to nearly CLONE their competitor? And worse, they created a lesser quality clone?
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. I saw a picture of the Surface's box and it looked vaguely familiar...
EDIT: This blog post by Brent Ozar I think eloquently summed up my issues with the Surface and Windows RT release. He may be looking forward to the release of the Intel-based Surface with full-blown Windows 8, but the description of it makes it sound like a stripped down notebook computer or touchscreen netbook without the keyboard. That doesn't sound like a great tablet experience to me except for particular use cases...I wonder if there will be a lightning connector that will allow him to project presentations along with using his presentation clicker on an iPad Mini? But then again that would only work if he doesn't have to use PowerPoint...
Friday, October 26, 2012
"The City is Beautiful"
I am a person of habit. I need routine; it offers comfort and a sense of stability.
Rarely does my routine get broken; as long as it only happens once in awhile, though, I'm pretty happy with it. Today was one of those days. It's Friday. A coworker is leaving us for another company, and a number of people decided to linger after hours to bid him a fond farewell.
I happened to be among that number; I'm not overly social, but I wanted to wish him luck and watch (or maybe participate in) some of the socializing that spontaneously broke out. Before I knew it, the clock read eight o'clock as I was shuffling out of the office.
I say this to give some context of what happened next. I was reminded of what my young son said the last time he visited the city. The sun had fallen, yet the streets were still well lit by giant animated signs and the glow of offices and store windows as well as the flow of ever-present traffic. The air was awash in the sound of engines passing and footsteps hurriedly clicking by me and the echos of phone conversations from passersby.
It was much like a night when my son was last in the city visiting, when he said to me, "Dad, the city is beautiful."
Being at an age when his opinions tended to be on the fickle side, I said, "I thought you said the city was dirty and yucky."
He replied, "No, it's beautiful."
"But it's so loud and busy and crowded!," I said.
He just looked around at the buildings and twinkling lights, ignoring my reply as my wife started snickering at me. "Here he's loving this place, and you're trying to convince him otherwise," she said.
It is times like this, when I'm headed back to my apartment alone at night when I'm leaving the office later than I intended when I'm reminded of this conversation. I think of my son's sense of wonder, and I see the city through the eyes of a child instead of the filters of cynicism and old age I've slowly become accustomed to. It's times like this where, for a moment, I revert back to that state of wonder and bewilderment that only a child can possess and I wonder how I managed to get here.
Despite my son's age he managed to remind me of lessons I've forgotten.
Thank you, Little Dude. Daddy loves you.
Rarely does my routine get broken; as long as it only happens once in awhile, though, I'm pretty happy with it. Today was one of those days. It's Friday. A coworker is leaving us for another company, and a number of people decided to linger after hours to bid him a fond farewell.
I happened to be among that number; I'm not overly social, but I wanted to wish him luck and watch (or maybe participate in) some of the socializing that spontaneously broke out. Before I knew it, the clock read eight o'clock as I was shuffling out of the office.
I say this to give some context of what happened next. I was reminded of what my young son said the last time he visited the city. The sun had fallen, yet the streets were still well lit by giant animated signs and the glow of offices and store windows as well as the flow of ever-present traffic. The air was awash in the sound of engines passing and footsteps hurriedly clicking by me and the echos of phone conversations from passersby.
Being at an age when his opinions tended to be on the fickle side, I said, "I thought you said the city was dirty and yucky."
He replied, "No, it's beautiful."
"But it's so loud and busy and crowded!," I said.
He just looked around at the buildings and twinkling lights, ignoring my reply as my wife started snickering at me. "Here he's loving this place, and you're trying to convince him otherwise," she said.
Despite my son's age he managed to remind me of lessons I've forgotten.
Thank you, Little Dude. Daddy loves you.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
How Do You Leave Your Family?
I think I followed a rather odd course to get where I am today.
Some people disapprove of my decision to come here; I question almost every day the justification for coming to the city. They say that I'm not an absent father and not such a great husband because...well, I am physically absent from my family.
Perhaps this requires some clarification.
This job was like a dream come true. I am working with a company whose mission is to make the Internet a better place. One of the founders is a well known speaker and author on the business of software. They have incredibly talented and intelligent people working here, which just makes me question their decision to hire me a little more.
I was hired primarily to handle in-office tasks, a low-level system administrator, while trying to expand my system administration skills by observing and being mentored by my coworkers. What this meant, however, was that I was required to be in New York City. Physically.
I have a mortgage. A son in school. My wife has a job that she hadn't vested her retirement account yet.
Basically taking the job meant I would be in New York and my family would be back in the rural home town. This wasn't a decision that I took lightly. My job at the time was taking a toll; I worked in education, and as a career it wasn't looking too sunny on the horizon for a myriad of reasons. Morale was flagging across the board, budgets were being slashed, and what was once a job with security may very well not have much security in a few years. We also had bills to pay with more on the way, given that we have a daughter in college and the economy has tanked so her job prospects are probably not the brightest. My salary, far under what the commercial sector gives system administrators, was just enough to keep afloat. But at least I had a decent healthcare plan and, at the time, hopes of a decent retirement fund.
I was willing to keep that job. I was resenting it, but I still came home to my smiling young son and my weary wife every night and we occasionally managed to go out to dinner on the weekend. It wasn't easy sometimes, especially when bills were tight or we had another stressful incident at work. But it was a job, and I had a paycheck, and I had my family.
The offer to go to the other company was alluring, and the timing...well, this was something I'd be asked once, and if I didn't take it, it was gone. I knew I'd not be offered this again. And the then-current job was having an administrative transition that also closed a door; a person that helped others with retirement and knew how to navigate the paperwork jungle offered to be my guide, but would be no longer doing it once the management transition was done. It would be the final year that person would do that kind of work.
I was at a crossroads and didn't know which decision was "right."
I happen to have a very selfless wife. And brave. She said, "This job is killing you. You have to take it."
She would have to basically take care of the home in addition to taking my son to school each day. Come Winter, this is not a small chore. I was worried. I still am worried, as we are just starting to get into the Winter season. And my son is young and at times a handful; we've often wondered how we got relatively lucky with him in that he's generally a good boy and not ill-behaved. But like any young child, he can do things to get on your nerves. And now she'd be basically raising him alone.
Well, not entirely true; my parents are still in the area, and they adore my little guy, often asking if he'd like to spend the night and always willing to help out with babysitting or running errands. Dad was willing to help out diagnosing unusual issues around the house when necessary.
She insisted I take the job. "We'll make it work."
So I did. With much trepidation. I can't count the number of times I ran numbers to figure out whether I'd have enough money to live on in the city while paying the mortgage; best case, I had a surplus, and worst case, I would have just enough to scrape by.
Other obstacles included finding a place to live (ever try apartment hunting when you're over a hundred miles away from the place you're trying to move to? It sucks. Really. Especially when you don't have a lot of extra money to outsource the hunt for you) and actually having the money to move; ironically it was, for us, tremendously expensive to make the move in the first place.
But as my wife said: we made it work.
I talk to her every day. Wonders of modern technology. I ask how my son's doing, and we set up his computer so I could Skype in to chat whenever he's in his room (which, thanks to an addiction to Minecraft and YouTube videos, he often is.) I ask how he's doing in school, which he usually gives the dismissive hand-waving answer he gave when I was there in person. But I hear his voice and see him occasionally smile.
And of course I Skype to my wife every night, and we have chats periodically. Things we normally take for granted I now try to ask, usually getting the same answers you'd expect to get in a routine day. Little events of the day become anchors for the interesting.
We also plan visits; it's expensive to visit the city. A round trip bus ticket for an adult pushes close to the $100 mark; add in the children's ticket and it's north of the mark. If she drives into the city and parks the car, taking it nowhere for the time she's here, that's about $40 per night plus the cost of a Metro card for her and the little guy to get around plus whatever food expenditures and a weekend visit can easily hit $200.
The long term is hazy. We have plans to be reunited in a more permanent fashion in coming years, but we will need to see how the economy changes as well as employment prospects.
Until then, we make do with Skype conversations and in-person visits once or twice a month. The visits are hard; we try to make the most of our time together (well, my wife and I do. My son likes to take advantage of a faster Internet connection to play Minecraft) and when the departure time rolls around I'm not embarrassed to say there's a tear or two shed in the process. There are times my wife and son departed from the Port Authority and I opt to walk an hour to the apartment rather than navigate the subways just because it gives me a bit of recovery time in which to collect myself.
So how do you leave your family? I'm not sure I entirely did. In some ways I put more effort into communicating with my wife now than I did when we were in physical proximity. I think of them every day.
My wife did give me something to remind me of her. She bought a pendant of a heart that splits in two, one marked with a symbol for "male" and the other marked with the symbol for "female." She has one; I have the other. And I've worn it every day. That pendant hasn't left my neck for one moment since I came to the city.
For better or worse, we're making it work.
Some people disapprove of my decision to come here; I question almost every day the justification for coming to the city. They say that I'm not an absent father and not such a great husband because...well, I am physically absent from my family.
Perhaps this requires some clarification.
This job was like a dream come true. I am working with a company whose mission is to make the Internet a better place. One of the founders is a well known speaker and author on the business of software. They have incredibly talented and intelligent people working here, which just makes me question their decision to hire me a little more.
I was hired primarily to handle in-office tasks, a low-level system administrator, while trying to expand my system administration skills by observing and being mentored by my coworkers. What this meant, however, was that I was required to be in New York City. Physically.
I have a mortgage. A son in school. My wife has a job that she hadn't vested her retirement account yet.
Basically taking the job meant I would be in New York and my family would be back in the rural home town. This wasn't a decision that I took lightly. My job at the time was taking a toll; I worked in education, and as a career it wasn't looking too sunny on the horizon for a myriad of reasons. Morale was flagging across the board, budgets were being slashed, and what was once a job with security may very well not have much security in a few years. We also had bills to pay with more on the way, given that we have a daughter in college and the economy has tanked so her job prospects are probably not the brightest. My salary, far under what the commercial sector gives system administrators, was just enough to keep afloat. But at least I had a decent healthcare plan and, at the time, hopes of a decent retirement fund.
I was willing to keep that job. I was resenting it, but I still came home to my smiling young son and my weary wife every night and we occasionally managed to go out to dinner on the weekend. It wasn't easy sometimes, especially when bills were tight or we had another stressful incident at work. But it was a job, and I had a paycheck, and I had my family.
The offer to go to the other company was alluring, and the timing...well, this was something I'd be asked once, and if I didn't take it, it was gone. I knew I'd not be offered this again. And the then-current job was having an administrative transition that also closed a door; a person that helped others with retirement and knew how to navigate the paperwork jungle offered to be my guide, but would be no longer doing it once the management transition was done. It would be the final year that person would do that kind of work.
I was at a crossroads and didn't know which decision was "right."
I happen to have a very selfless wife. And brave. She said, "This job is killing you. You have to take it."
She would have to basically take care of the home in addition to taking my son to school each day. Come Winter, this is not a small chore. I was worried. I still am worried, as we are just starting to get into the Winter season. And my son is young and at times a handful; we've often wondered how we got relatively lucky with him in that he's generally a good boy and not ill-behaved. But like any young child, he can do things to get on your nerves. And now she'd be basically raising him alone.
Well, not entirely true; my parents are still in the area, and they adore my little guy, often asking if he'd like to spend the night and always willing to help out with babysitting or running errands. Dad was willing to help out diagnosing unusual issues around the house when necessary.
She insisted I take the job. "We'll make it work."
So I did. With much trepidation. I can't count the number of times I ran numbers to figure out whether I'd have enough money to live on in the city while paying the mortgage; best case, I had a surplus, and worst case, I would have just enough to scrape by.
Other obstacles included finding a place to live (ever try apartment hunting when you're over a hundred miles away from the place you're trying to move to? It sucks. Really. Especially when you don't have a lot of extra money to outsource the hunt for you) and actually having the money to move; ironically it was, for us, tremendously expensive to make the move in the first place.
But as my wife said: we made it work.
I talk to her every day. Wonders of modern technology. I ask how my son's doing, and we set up his computer so I could Skype in to chat whenever he's in his room (which, thanks to an addiction to Minecraft and YouTube videos, he often is.) I ask how he's doing in school, which he usually gives the dismissive hand-waving answer he gave when I was there in person. But I hear his voice and see him occasionally smile.
And of course I Skype to my wife every night, and we have chats periodically. Things we normally take for granted I now try to ask, usually getting the same answers you'd expect to get in a routine day. Little events of the day become anchors for the interesting.
We also plan visits; it's expensive to visit the city. A round trip bus ticket for an adult pushes close to the $100 mark; add in the children's ticket and it's north of the mark. If she drives into the city and parks the car, taking it nowhere for the time she's here, that's about $40 per night plus the cost of a Metro card for her and the little guy to get around plus whatever food expenditures and a weekend visit can easily hit $200.
The long term is hazy. We have plans to be reunited in a more permanent fashion in coming years, but we will need to see how the economy changes as well as employment prospects.
Until then, we make do with Skype conversations and in-person visits once or twice a month. The visits are hard; we try to make the most of our time together (well, my wife and I do. My son likes to take advantage of a faster Internet connection to play Minecraft) and when the departure time rolls around I'm not embarrassed to say there's a tear or two shed in the process. There are times my wife and son departed from the Port Authority and I opt to walk an hour to the apartment rather than navigate the subways just because it gives me a bit of recovery time in which to collect myself.
So how do you leave your family? I'm not sure I entirely did. In some ways I put more effort into communicating with my wife now than I did when we were in physical proximity. I think of them every day.
My wife did give me something to remind me of her. She bought a pendant of a heart that splits in two, one marked with a symbol for "male" and the other marked with the symbol for "female." She has one; I have the other. And I've worn it every day. That pendant hasn't left my neck for one moment since I came to the city.
For better or worse, we're making it work.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Some Tips for Visiting New York City
My parents have mentioned coming to the city sometime. I've been thinking of things they should probably know before arriving.
Now, I'm not one to really give in-depth primers on how to live in the city. I've only been here a few months, and it's not really even my "home," as far as I'm concerned, if for no other reason than my family is not here to share in the fun trials and tribulations that accompany living in the concrete jungle. I've not even left the confines of Manhattan with the exception of a trip to IKEA and another to Coney Island and one company sponsored trip to New Jersey, which I don't count because it's Jersey.
I do think I can give some advice for people coming to the Big Apple from a rural area as to what to expect here, or at least to make the visit more pleasant.
Keep an eye on the sidewalk. If there's liquid, and you don't see a guy with a hose spraying the sidewalk nearby (yes, there's a lot of them in front of stores) assume it isn't something you want to track into your apartment. Avoid it.
There's a lot of neat things to see in the city that you don't see in rural towns. And there's landmarks and movie icons and statues and all sorts of shinies and vendors vending weird stuff. But for the love of $DEITY, don't stop in the middle of the damned sidewalk to stare at them. Step to the side. Let the crush of rushing New Yorkers walk by.
See the guy with the big camera staring at nothing in particular in the distance? That's a tourist. They're also called "targets." Great for people hawking all sorts of weird crap and pickpockets to make a profit. Not looking and acting like a tourist will lower the chances you'll be pegged as an easy target.
Get to know the subway system. It's your friend. And get to know it before going into the subway. Just as staring at landmarks with an expensive camera dangling from your neck can label you an easy mark, standing in the middle of the platform (STEP TO THE SIDE...just not the side with the yellow line on the edge) staring with a perplexed look on your face at a map of the subway system will be noticed by certain people.
Be cognizant of your wallet. Keep a hand on it. Be aware of the pressure of it against your body if it's in your pocket. Keep your purse strapped across your body. Be aware of people being a little too close to you when they don't have to be, or brushing up against you when passing, or being stopped by a stranger for a conversation. You don't need to take paranoid measures to protect yourself, but a little awareness goes a long way to preventing you becoming a statistic.
Things are expensive here. You can find deals and steals (sometimes literally) if you look around, but overall, you're going to find prices higher than average. Be ready for it. You can't do anything about it. Bitching won't help. Sometimes you have to lower your standards, and it's not a necessarily bad thing.
Cabs are a treat. Not the norm. I know you expect cabs to be heavily used, since you see them all the time on TV. Truth is the subway system sucks for filming and cabs are EXPENSIVE; you pay for the convenience of not having to walk farther and travel to your destination immediately, hindered by traffic rather than a crush of people on the platform. Unless your rent is in the upper four figures per month, you probably won't use cabs all the time, although I'm sure there are people who use a large percent of their income to not ride public transportation and live in dumpy apartments.
Don't stare at people. There's a common warning to not look people in the eye in New York City; DON'T MAKE EYE CONTACT! I've heard this a lot regarding the subway. The truth is you can make eye contact for brief periods of time, just don't maintain it. Like predators in the prairies, this is interpreted to be some kind of invitation for discussion at best and a challenge at worst. If they see it as an invitation, you may be regaled with reasons why our President is an alien lizard or the government is covering up CIA agents drugging the populace, or if they see it as a challenge you may end up wondering if you're about to be stabbed. If you commit this faux pas, the best thing to hope for is they'll think you're just creepy and ignore you.
Speaking of which, get a good pair of headphones or earbuds. These things are excellent tools for ignoring people in a socially acceptable manner here. In small towns you're considered "rude" for tuning people out with headphones. Here, it's the best way to walk past people trying to shove newspapers into your hands as you pass by, or pretending you didn't see the homeless person sprawled on the subway platform, or the person loudly begging for change or food as they traverse the moving subway train (pro tip: if the doors between subway cars open and someone, anyone, emerges from the door, look away immediately. It's going to be very uncomfortable if you encourage them in any way. Nothing good has ever come from the intra-car doorway.)
Don't just stop. I mentioned sidewalks earlier. This also applies in other situations, like escalator rides and stairways. If you are going to stop to look at something, or check your phone, or whatever catches your attention, step to the side.
Conversely, you'll get further if you learn appropriate rudeness. I usually try to step to the side when passing someone. But after a few months in New York, I've come to realize that sometimes, in some situations, there's a kind of social animal contest that emerges, a contest for dominance. People will purposely bump you when crossing the street. They'll shove in stores where space is already a premium. They know full well they're doing it, too. While I'm not advocating sending female joggers sprawling across the asphalt, there is a certain amount of respect to be gained by asserting that this space is my space, and I'm not backing down, you punkass self-centered hipster jerk. The occasional grazing of shoulders to drive the point home that you're not going to be bullied into moving out of someone else's way when there's plenty of space for the other person to maneuver brings some additional respect. Or it pisses them off and they stab you. Either way you have some pride left intact.
(To be clear, I'm not talking about intentionally ramming people. That would be stupid and make you an ass. I'm saying that if you're clearly walking in one direction, and someone else is intentionally trying to scare you into side stepping, there's something to be said for just staying your course. You get a sense of this after interacting with strangers for awhile.)
Oh, and try looking into something else to do in the city that doesn't involve Times Square. There are things there I like, to be sure; Chevy's is an indulgence, for example, and my son enjoys the toy store. I also enjoy once in awhile seeing the costumed performers trying to fleece me for cash in exchange for photos. Overall, Times Square is still a huge tourist trap. Huge. As in, crushing amounts of people with rolling suitcases filling the sidewalks, staring at the lights, oblivious to people who are actually trying to get somewhere. I get it, there's lots to see, there's lights, there's the big shiny New Year's ball, it's really neat but please for the love of $DEITY if one more damned suitcase rolls over my foot I'm going to shove it up your Metro pass. This place is rife with street vendors and while the constant police presence has helped with the issue, I'm not entirely convinced it's not a target-rich environment for pickpockets. How can it not be? These people are wandering around staring at the top of skyscrapers and blinky billboards.
Those are the big tips off the top of my head. I'm sure there are other things I've picked up...oh, the surprises of just trying to live here alone could fill a couple blog entries, I'm sure. But for now these simple tips can greatly improve your expectations of visiting the city when you're from a small rural town...
Now, I'm not one to really give in-depth primers on how to live in the city. I've only been here a few months, and it's not really even my "home," as far as I'm concerned, if for no other reason than my family is not here to share in the fun trials and tribulations that accompany living in the concrete jungle. I've not even left the confines of Manhattan with the exception of a trip to IKEA and another to Coney Island and one company sponsored trip to New Jersey, which I don't count because it's Jersey.
I do think I can give some advice for people coming to the Big Apple from a rural area as to what to expect here, or at least to make the visit more pleasant.
Keep an eye on the sidewalk. If there's liquid, and you don't see a guy with a hose spraying the sidewalk nearby (yes, there's a lot of them in front of stores) assume it isn't something you want to track into your apartment. Avoid it.
There's a lot of neat things to see in the city that you don't see in rural towns. And there's landmarks and movie icons and statues and all sorts of shinies and vendors vending weird stuff. But for the love of $DEITY, don't stop in the middle of the damned sidewalk to stare at them. Step to the side. Let the crush of rushing New Yorkers walk by.
See the guy with the big camera staring at nothing in particular in the distance? That's a tourist. They're also called "targets." Great for people hawking all sorts of weird crap and pickpockets to make a profit. Not looking and acting like a tourist will lower the chances you'll be pegged as an easy target.
Get to know the subway system. It's your friend. And get to know it before going into the subway. Just as staring at landmarks with an expensive camera dangling from your neck can label you an easy mark, standing in the middle of the platform (STEP TO THE SIDE...just not the side with the yellow line on the edge) staring with a perplexed look on your face at a map of the subway system will be noticed by certain people.
Be cognizant of your wallet. Keep a hand on it. Be aware of the pressure of it against your body if it's in your pocket. Keep your purse strapped across your body. Be aware of people being a little too close to you when they don't have to be, or brushing up against you when passing, or being stopped by a stranger for a conversation. You don't need to take paranoid measures to protect yourself, but a little awareness goes a long way to preventing you becoming a statistic.
Things are expensive here. You can find deals and steals (sometimes literally) if you look around, but overall, you're going to find prices higher than average. Be ready for it. You can't do anything about it. Bitching won't help. Sometimes you have to lower your standards, and it's not a necessarily bad thing.
Cabs are a treat. Not the norm. I know you expect cabs to be heavily used, since you see them all the time on TV. Truth is the subway system sucks for filming and cabs are EXPENSIVE; you pay for the convenience of not having to walk farther and travel to your destination immediately, hindered by traffic rather than a crush of people on the platform. Unless your rent is in the upper four figures per month, you probably won't use cabs all the time, although I'm sure there are people who use a large percent of their income to not ride public transportation and live in dumpy apartments.
Don't stare at people. There's a common warning to not look people in the eye in New York City; DON'T MAKE EYE CONTACT! I've heard this a lot regarding the subway. The truth is you can make eye contact for brief periods of time, just don't maintain it. Like predators in the prairies, this is interpreted to be some kind of invitation for discussion at best and a challenge at worst. If they see it as an invitation, you may be regaled with reasons why our President is an alien lizard or the government is covering up CIA agents drugging the populace, or if they see it as a challenge you may end up wondering if you're about to be stabbed. If you commit this faux pas, the best thing to hope for is they'll think you're just creepy and ignore you.
Speaking of which, get a good pair of headphones or earbuds. These things are excellent tools for ignoring people in a socially acceptable manner here. In small towns you're considered "rude" for tuning people out with headphones. Here, it's the best way to walk past people trying to shove newspapers into your hands as you pass by, or pretending you didn't see the homeless person sprawled on the subway platform, or the person loudly begging for change or food as they traverse the moving subway train (pro tip: if the doors between subway cars open and someone, anyone, emerges from the door, look away immediately. It's going to be very uncomfortable if you encourage them in any way. Nothing good has ever come from the intra-car doorway.)
Don't just stop. I mentioned sidewalks earlier. This also applies in other situations, like escalator rides and stairways. If you are going to stop to look at something, or check your phone, or whatever catches your attention, step to the side.
Conversely, you'll get further if you learn appropriate rudeness. I usually try to step to the side when passing someone. But after a few months in New York, I've come to realize that sometimes, in some situations, there's a kind of social animal contest that emerges, a contest for dominance. People will purposely bump you when crossing the street. They'll shove in stores where space is already a premium. They know full well they're doing it, too. While I'm not advocating sending female joggers sprawling across the asphalt, there is a certain amount of respect to be gained by asserting that this space is my space, and I'm not backing down, you punkass self-centered hipster jerk. The occasional grazing of shoulders to drive the point home that you're not going to be bullied into moving out of someone else's way when there's plenty of space for the other person to maneuver brings some additional respect. Or it pisses them off and they stab you. Either way you have some pride left intact.
(To be clear, I'm not talking about intentionally ramming people. That would be stupid and make you an ass. I'm saying that if you're clearly walking in one direction, and someone else is intentionally trying to scare you into side stepping, there's something to be said for just staying your course. You get a sense of this after interacting with strangers for awhile.)
Oh, and try looking into something else to do in the city that doesn't involve Times Square. There are things there I like, to be sure; Chevy's is an indulgence, for example, and my son enjoys the toy store. I also enjoy once in awhile seeing the costumed performers trying to fleece me for cash in exchange for photos. Overall, Times Square is still a huge tourist trap. Huge. As in, crushing amounts of people with rolling suitcases filling the sidewalks, staring at the lights, oblivious to people who are actually trying to get somewhere. I get it, there's lots to see, there's lights, there's the big shiny New Year's ball, it's really neat but please for the love of $DEITY if one more damned suitcase rolls over my foot I'm going to shove it up your Metro pass. This place is rife with street vendors and while the constant police presence has helped with the issue, I'm not entirely convinced it's not a target-rich environment for pickpockets. How can it not be? These people are wandering around staring at the top of skyscrapers and blinky billboards.
Those are the big tips off the top of my head. I'm sure there are other things I've picked up...oh, the surprises of just trying to live here alone could fill a couple blog entries, I'm sure. But for now these simple tips can greatly improve your expectations of visiting the city when you're from a small rural town...
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Using Gmail as a Mailto: Client
I had an interesting request come in; "When I click on a link to mail someone, Outlook pops up. Can it go to Gmail instead?"
My very first thought was to wonder if it's possible, given that normally when you click on a mailto: link Windows will launch your default mail application. Gmail is a website...not an application.
My second thought was, "Of course it can open another web page."
And it really is quite simple. Here's how to do it using Chrome as the web browser.
Open Regedit.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\mailto\shell\open\command\ and be sure you look for "mailto", not ".mailto". That period makes a difference when you can't find it in the list alphabetically.
Change the (default) entry to:
If you want the message composition page to open in a new tab, or use:
...if you want the message composition page to open in a new window
Notice that the path to the Chrome executable may have to be changed depending on where it's installed. Chrome can be installed in a user's profile or in the system for everyone to use. Test it out on a webpage with a mailto: link, and it should work right away, no reboot or re-login necessary (which is great because if you typo it, you can edit the alteration immediately right from Regedit before closing it out.)
My very first thought was to wonder if it's possible, given that normally when you click on a mailto: link Windows will launch your default mail application. Gmail is a website...not an application.
My second thought was, "Of course it can open another web page."
And it really is quite simple. Here's how to do it using Chrome as the web browser.
Open Regedit.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\mailto\shell\open\command\ and be sure you look for "mailto", not ".mailto". That period makes a difference when you can't find it in the list alphabetically.
Change the (default) entry to:
“C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe” https://mail.google.com/mail?extsrc=mailto&url=%1If you want the message composition page to open in a new tab, or use:
“C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe” –app=“https://mail.google.com/mail?extsrc=mailto&url=%1”...if you want the message composition page to open in a new window
Notice that the path to the Chrome executable may have to be changed depending on where it's installed. Chrome can be installed in a user's profile or in the system for everyone to use. Test it out on a webpage with a mailto: link, and it should work right away, no reboot or re-login necessary (which is great because if you typo it, you can edit the alteration immediately right from Regedit before closing it out.)
Monday, October 22, 2012
Small Town to Big City NYC
I grew up in a small town. What do I mean by a "small town?"
I can only speak for our own local flavor, but in our small town, we only had 2 "major" grocery stores and a K-Mart to shop for food and department store items. We use to have an Ames, but they closed up shop awhile ago. We had about as many churches as we had bars, and on a cloudless night we could see the stars twinkle bright.
You generally avoided driving late at night, if you could. If you were outside town limits you were likely to hit a deer or an escaped cow.
Folks were struck with the inspiration to work with their hands back home; you didn't buy your non-prescription drugs, you assembled your own meth lab, or concocted some new brew of bath salts just in time to make the late night police blotter in the local paper after being picked up for licking the road in the nude.
That's what I mean by a small town. You knew many of the people you walked past in the store, if not by name then by memory of the same face being passed in the same stores. Maybe it was only because you saw them in the store around the same time each time you were out, maybe it was because they went to school with you. It wasn't until the big gas drilling clusterfrack that we had an influx of "out of towners," whose arrival signaled a great opportunity for local slumlords to jack up rent as high as possible.
That was my small town.
Now I'm in the city. It's a curious place; the five boroughs, during the height of the workday, have more people in them than my entire home state. The psychological implications of this many people in one relatively small space, so crowded, so cramped, is quite fascinating.
People back home seem to think the city is enormously dangerous. It's true that I knew people back home who didn't lock their doors at night; something that in the city you'd have to be a fool to not do. The relatively low population, spaces between neighbors, and general apathy of the average American tended to protect your home through sheer luck of statistics. Here, I have three other apartments on my floor alone. Fortunately I live on a fifth floor of a building without an elevator. Most people would rather find easier apartments to rob rather than scale my stairwell for my meager belongings.
My mother still gets concerned when she sees that I'm out and about when the sky is dimming. "Be careful! I just wanted to make sure you got home safe!"
"Mom, I'm fine," I say again. The truth is that the city isn't as dangerous as we were always lead to believe. As long as you have an ounce of common sense, you should be fine.
Don't flash your money. Stay mindful of your surroundings. And stay in areas that have other people.
If you keep all those things in mind, you shouldn't have a problem when it comes to crime. Statistically speaking, with so many people around here, someone else will get robbed before you. There's never a guarantee you won't be mugged but if you keep the previous tips in mind chances are someone else will be a better target than you.
The point is that criminals aren't hiding in every shadow and alleyway as people in my hometown have been conditioned to think.
After awhile I came to believe the city is actually relatively safe. I don't have to drive. It turns out that driving a car is the number one cause of car accidents. Not a problem for me here. Back home you couldn't drive more than 15 minutes without finding a deer carcass spattered against a guardrail.
I can actually walk to most places I want to get to, or walk to a subway that will take me close to where I want to go. It's a mixed blessing. Back home we thought people in the city usually took taxi's everywhere. Not so. Only wealthy people and tourists take taxis. You learn that really quickly when a simple jaunt across the island costs you forty bucks and change, and Manhattan isn't exactly a wide island.
There are so many things that are simply "different" than the preconceived notions I had when I first came to the city. Some things drastically different. The city has its own personality, its own rhythm. And the people...well, that's a topic unto itself.
In the end I still like going back home. But after being in the city for a few weeks, back home just feels...different. It's difficult to describe. Maybe as time goes on I can better describe what these differences are like, and how they affected me.
I can only speak for our own local flavor, but in our small town, we only had 2 "major" grocery stores and a K-Mart to shop for food and department store items. We use to have an Ames, but they closed up shop awhile ago. We had about as many churches as we had bars, and on a cloudless night we could see the stars twinkle bright.
You generally avoided driving late at night, if you could. If you were outside town limits you were likely to hit a deer or an escaped cow.
Folks were struck with the inspiration to work with their hands back home; you didn't buy your non-prescription drugs, you assembled your own meth lab, or concocted some new brew of bath salts just in time to make the late night police blotter in the local paper after being picked up for licking the road in the nude.
That's what I mean by a small town. You knew many of the people you walked past in the store, if not by name then by memory of the same face being passed in the same stores. Maybe it was only because you saw them in the store around the same time each time you were out, maybe it was because they went to school with you. It wasn't until the big gas drilling clusterfrack that we had an influx of "out of towners," whose arrival signaled a great opportunity for local slumlords to jack up rent as high as possible.
That was my small town.
Now I'm in the city. It's a curious place; the five boroughs, during the height of the workday, have more people in them than my entire home state. The psychological implications of this many people in one relatively small space, so crowded, so cramped, is quite fascinating.
People back home seem to think the city is enormously dangerous. It's true that I knew people back home who didn't lock their doors at night; something that in the city you'd have to be a fool to not do. The relatively low population, spaces between neighbors, and general apathy of the average American tended to protect your home through sheer luck of statistics. Here, I have three other apartments on my floor alone. Fortunately I live on a fifth floor of a building without an elevator. Most people would rather find easier apartments to rob rather than scale my stairwell for my meager belongings.
My mother still gets concerned when she sees that I'm out and about when the sky is dimming. "Be careful! I just wanted to make sure you got home safe!"
"Mom, I'm fine," I say again. The truth is that the city isn't as dangerous as we were always lead to believe. As long as you have an ounce of common sense, you should be fine.
Don't flash your money. Stay mindful of your surroundings. And stay in areas that have other people.
If you keep all those things in mind, you shouldn't have a problem when it comes to crime. Statistically speaking, with so many people around here, someone else will get robbed before you. There's never a guarantee you won't be mugged but if you keep the previous tips in mind chances are someone else will be a better target than you.
The point is that criminals aren't hiding in every shadow and alleyway as people in my hometown have been conditioned to think.
After awhile I came to believe the city is actually relatively safe. I don't have to drive. It turns out that driving a car is the number one cause of car accidents. Not a problem for me here. Back home you couldn't drive more than 15 minutes without finding a deer carcass spattered against a guardrail.
I can actually walk to most places I want to get to, or walk to a subway that will take me close to where I want to go. It's a mixed blessing. Back home we thought people in the city usually took taxi's everywhere. Not so. Only wealthy people and tourists take taxis. You learn that really quickly when a simple jaunt across the island costs you forty bucks and change, and Manhattan isn't exactly a wide island.
There are so many things that are simply "different" than the preconceived notions I had when I first came to the city. Some things drastically different. The city has its own personality, its own rhythm. And the people...well, that's a topic unto itself.
In the end I still like going back home. But after being in the city for a few weeks, back home just feels...different. It's difficult to describe. Maybe as time goes on I can better describe what these differences are like, and how they affected me.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
A Quick Introduction
Greetings.
I have these periodic urges to write things. Not because I'm really fascinating, or I think there is anything most people will find especially helpful. Because really, who cares what I think?
Well, aside from me.
I find that when I'm walking back to my apartment after work I sometimes think, "Hey, that was an especially insightful thought. I wish I could write that down for later reference."
Other times I think, "My family might be interested in knowing that. I should make note of it to tell them later." I then promptly forget to tell them about it later.
Sometimes I think it would simply be handy to have a kind of diary available online. Not with all the more sordid details of the more controversial things that go on in my head...no, I think the private journal will be the most best place for those thoughts (bwahaha!)
However, there are the things I wouldn't mind being more public about. It's an interesting line to dance; I used to work for a public school district, and while nothing was exactly completely banned as topics for public consumption, there was always this "cloud" hanging over employees. A cloud in which little knives flew around, humming, waiting for an opportunity to stab at you for revealing anything in a manner that wasn't professional, or whose content was deemed potentially offensive or controversial.
I hated that.
And those knives, for the most part, stayed whirling about in their little cloud. But when they sliced, they sliced hard and deep. I watched other people bear scars because they dared to utter something offhand on FaceBook that offended some parent or student, or had pictures appear online that had them in a less than professional light. Privacy settings changed, yet again, to cover new features or some configuration that was altered without knowledge...you know the drill. And in the end it always boiled down to, "Anything you put online, you should assume everyone can and will see it at some point."
In my view, this makes you less than human. After awhile, it seemed as though the school system turns every employee into dolls. They can't be human. Not a normal human, with an average life. They had to always portray themselves as representatives of the school; extensions of the school. You could never acknowledge that you have an opinion on anything. You can't acknowledge that you have actual preferences. You can't take a date to a bar or you risk having a student get a picture of you holding a glass of Bacardi in your hand. You can't give in to the urge to tell someone when they're a dumbass, even when you're out of the building. You had to constantly act as though the spotlight is on you, that you're constantly under scrutiny.
You can imagine this does wonders for your mental health.
I did have previous blogs online. I used another name; an attempt to separate myself from the content. I don't think I ever said anything that was actually controversial; I was simply afraid that when I shared a story of something not working right or a user doing something silly, even when I wasn't posting details, someone could possibly see it and assume I was talking about them and flip out. I simply didn't want to deal with that.
But like so many other people, I had an urge to share these stories, even if it was to an echo chamber. People are social beings. Even Aspergian minds like my own have the occasional desire to reach out and connect with other people at some level.
I stopped doing those semi-anonymous blogs awhile back. My life started changing, and they became less of a priority. After awhile, I lost all urge to keep them updated. So they sort of hang around out there, as if in virtual amber, a snapshot of a not to distant past version of me.
At this point, things have really changed.
My job has changed. My life routines have changed. Things in general have changed. A lot.
The urge to leave my brain droppings has been pecking away at my brain periodically.
That's when I decided to try my hand at this again. With my own profile this time; I feel that my current job isn't keeping me under a microscope so much as to require constant and pervasive self-censorship. To my knowledge I haven't offended my coworkers yet. Or if I have, they've not said anything.
"Silly brain," I thought. "What would this new blog be about?"
"Whatever you want to ramble about," it said.
"Then what would I call it? I don't feel like creating thirty blogs on thirty topics again."
"Then don't," my brain said. "Just make one about yourself and use those 'tag' thingies to separate your topics."
"But what would I call it? What would best encompass what I am now?"
The brain seemed to hesitate at that one for a bit. I never thought about how to best pigeonhole myself. "Since it's just about you...use your name as the blogger address," it said. "The name of the blog can always be changed later."
I decided to go for the alliterative title of "Sysadmin Surviving in the City." Because right now, that's largely what I am. I'd like to be a world famous author. I'd like to be a clever entrepreneur and programmer. I really want to be the world's best father and husband. But the thing that pays my bills and occupies the bulk of my thoughts is my job as a systems administrator while finding my way around the big city.
You have to understand I come from a very small town, so the city is very big and scary. I figure that title covers the major portion of my average day; my day job and my attempts to make sense of a place that has more people bustling around during the workday than the population of my home state.
The blog may even make a nice primer for people making the move from a sleepy rural town to a place where you're more likely to be hit by a car than accidentally shot by a hunter.
There it is. My intro to why I'm doing this. Bits and pieces of my life story will follow, I hope. If I'm lucky there will be the occasional brain dropping for you to step in, and hopefully they won't all stink. There's even a slight possibility that once in awhile I'll gain a follower or two. If not then I'll just have to make due with speaking to an echo chamber.
And that's okay too.
I have these periodic urges to write things. Not because I'm really fascinating, or I think there is anything most people will find especially helpful. Because really, who cares what I think?
Well, aside from me.
I find that when I'm walking back to my apartment after work I sometimes think, "Hey, that was an especially insightful thought. I wish I could write that down for later reference."
Other times I think, "My family might be interested in knowing that. I should make note of it to tell them later." I then promptly forget to tell them about it later.
Sometimes I think it would simply be handy to have a kind of diary available online. Not with all the more sordid details of the more controversial things that go on in my head...no, I think the private journal will be the most best place for those thoughts (bwahaha!)
However, there are the things I wouldn't mind being more public about. It's an interesting line to dance; I used to work for a public school district, and while nothing was exactly completely banned as topics for public consumption, there was always this "cloud" hanging over employees. A cloud in which little knives flew around, humming, waiting for an opportunity to stab at you for revealing anything in a manner that wasn't professional, or whose content was deemed potentially offensive or controversial.
I hated that.
And those knives, for the most part, stayed whirling about in their little cloud. But when they sliced, they sliced hard and deep. I watched other people bear scars because they dared to utter something offhand on FaceBook that offended some parent or student, or had pictures appear online that had them in a less than professional light. Privacy settings changed, yet again, to cover new features or some configuration that was altered without knowledge...you know the drill. And in the end it always boiled down to, "Anything you put online, you should assume everyone can and will see it at some point."
In my view, this makes you less than human. After awhile, it seemed as though the school system turns every employee into dolls. They can't be human. Not a normal human, with an average life. They had to always portray themselves as representatives of the school; extensions of the school. You could never acknowledge that you have an opinion on anything. You can't acknowledge that you have actual preferences. You can't take a date to a bar or you risk having a student get a picture of you holding a glass of Bacardi in your hand. You can't give in to the urge to tell someone when they're a dumbass, even when you're out of the building. You had to constantly act as though the spotlight is on you, that you're constantly under scrutiny.
You can imagine this does wonders for your mental health.
I did have previous blogs online. I used another name; an attempt to separate myself from the content. I don't think I ever said anything that was actually controversial; I was simply afraid that when I shared a story of something not working right or a user doing something silly, even when I wasn't posting details, someone could possibly see it and assume I was talking about them and flip out. I simply didn't want to deal with that.
But like so many other people, I had an urge to share these stories, even if it was to an echo chamber. People are social beings. Even Aspergian minds like my own have the occasional desire to reach out and connect with other people at some level.
I stopped doing those semi-anonymous blogs awhile back. My life started changing, and they became less of a priority. After awhile, I lost all urge to keep them updated. So they sort of hang around out there, as if in virtual amber, a snapshot of a not to distant past version of me.
At this point, things have really changed.
My job has changed. My life routines have changed. Things in general have changed. A lot.
The urge to leave my brain droppings has been pecking away at my brain periodically.
That's when I decided to try my hand at this again. With my own profile this time; I feel that my current job isn't keeping me under a microscope so much as to require constant and pervasive self-censorship. To my knowledge I haven't offended my coworkers yet. Or if I have, they've not said anything.
"Silly brain," I thought. "What would this new blog be about?"
"Whatever you want to ramble about," it said.
"Then what would I call it? I don't feel like creating thirty blogs on thirty topics again."
"Then don't," my brain said. "Just make one about yourself and use those 'tag' thingies to separate your topics."
"But what would I call it? What would best encompass what I am now?"
The brain seemed to hesitate at that one for a bit. I never thought about how to best pigeonhole myself. "Since it's just about you...use your name as the blogger address," it said. "The name of the blog can always be changed later."
I decided to go for the alliterative title of "Sysadmin Surviving in the City." Because right now, that's largely what I am. I'd like to be a world famous author. I'd like to be a clever entrepreneur and programmer. I really want to be the world's best father and husband. But the thing that pays my bills and occupies the bulk of my thoughts is my job as a systems administrator while finding my way around the big city.
You have to understand I come from a very small town, so the city is very big and scary. I figure that title covers the major portion of my average day; my day job and my attempts to make sense of a place that has more people bustling around during the workday than the population of my home state.
The blog may even make a nice primer for people making the move from a sleepy rural town to a place where you're more likely to be hit by a car than accidentally shot by a hunter.
There it is. My intro to why I'm doing this. Bits and pieces of my life story will follow, I hope. If I'm lucky there will be the occasional brain dropping for you to step in, and hopefully they won't all stink. There's even a slight possibility that once in awhile I'll gain a follower or two. If not then I'll just have to make due with speaking to an echo chamber.
And that's okay too.
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