My Web 2.0 vs. Del.icio.us

I have been using del.icio.us for quite some time now and it has made my life so much easier for quickly adding bookmarks that I can easily find without having to worry about a lot of bookmark management. It has some nice bookmarklets you can add to your toolbar so that any Web page you are on, you can quickly add. My adoption of del.icio.us was pretty fast. I tried it out and became an avid user right away.

Yahoo’s beta release of My Web 2.0 directly competes with del.icio.us as well as having added features, like searching the pages you’ve bookmarked — which is definitely an added bonus. Also, you can specify the level of access to a bookmark, a step above del.icio.us’s current offerings. For job-related bookmarks, this is key as it allows you to keep some bookmarks private. To me, some of the features are still in question, like My Community. Where would I build my supposed community from? Also, based on the direction of the feature set, My Web 2.0 will only be as good as the number of people who adopt it.

I want to try it out and see if it is more compelling than del.icio.us, but I am left in a conundrum. Now when I want to bookmark a page, do I bookmark it to del.icio.us, My Web or both? Any suggestions?

One thing that rubs me the wrong way is that Yahoo tries to get you to install the Yahoo bar to be able to add bookmarks to My Web. This is a tricky ploy in my opinion as I don’t want to have that huge honking bar taking up valuable screen real estate. You can add a bookmarklet to your toolbar, but they’ve certainly hidden this in their FAQ, of course.

Anyways, the jury is still out. But My Web could be a major setback for del.icio.us, unless it moves faster to add new features. Too bad Google didn’t buy up del.icio.us. For me, that would be the perfect synergy since I use both constantly.

Annoucement: The Bonnaroo Photos have landed. Enjoy. Relive the glory of our trip to Tennessee.

Ok, I promise that unless I end up in Brooklyn, Coney Island or some other unlikely place this will be my last commuting gripe, I hope. But at least this is a positive one. Let me rephrase. At least everything that went awry today in my commute had nothing to do with me.

Yup that’s right, I beat the system today. But don’t get overly excited for me, alas in the end the system also beat me.

Today on the way in, I noticed a low balance (50 cents) on my Metro card. Rather than having a repeat embarassment of swiping the Metro card only to have it read insufficient funds (causing a traffic jam at the turnstile and having to back out of a crammed line), tonight I immediately went to the Metro card machine. This time I didn’t want to lose out on my 50 cents, so I decided to try the “recharge” your card feature. Everything appeared successful, but the machine screamed out at me that it had an error in writing to my card. Please call 201-555-5555. And ps. thanks for your $10.

Screw that. I immediately marched over to the Info Booth. Let’s just say that the woman behind the booth looked put out by the fact that I wanted to chat. How dare I ask a question!?! I tried to explain my dilemma through the small microphone and 12-inch thick bullet-proof glass. And she’s like please swipe your card. Well, apparently the card has the amount its supposed to on it. So the machine lied to me. There was no error. Ugh. By this time, I have caused another traffic jam, further propelling the domino effect of exasperated commuters. Lucky me.

But no, it’s not over yet. Mind you, this is just Grand Central Station; I haven’t even gotten to Port Authority yet.

I’m sure most people have walked up an escalator when it’s not running. It always gives me the most peculiar feeling, like my center of balance is off with a yummy nagging, nauseous feeling and dizziness.

The entrance to the #126 is an escalator that goes right out to the bus. When I got there the escalator wasn’t moving and there was a line of people half way up it. So now, I’m standing on the not moving escalator and I’ve got that queasy, seasick sort of feeling, when they announce that there is major traffic inbound and outbound and all buses are delayed. Did I mention that this tiny escalator tunnel feels like 110 degrees — the muggy, gasping for air type of heat? Finally, the bus came and I made it home in one piece.

But I have to say, just when you think you’ve got the system licked — know the way to go, the fastest steps to take, including stairs and escalators and turns and all — it comes back and bites you in the arse.

You try to figure this out!

So after my last post on commuting mishaps, you probably thought I would ship up. That I’d finally find my way around the labyrinth subway system of the NYC Metro area. I’d get some sense in my head and realize that when walking on an Avenue, say 6th, if the Street numbers are going up, like 34th, 35th, 36th, the East side of the city is on your Right and West Side, Left. When the Street numbers are going down, then the East side is on your Left and West Side, Right. Oh and did I leave out that the lower Avenues, like 2nd and 3rd, are on the East Side? Simple enough, right? Certainly not rocket science. I mean that’s all you need to know, for the most part, to navigate NYC. Well, when you come up out of the subway, disorientation sets in and all bets are off…

What if you find yourself needing to transfer from the V train to Penn Station for the PATH to New Jersey and you come out at 34th and 6th Ave, and the sign says one block west for Penn Station at 32nd and 7th?

Now, I don’t know about you, but I immediately think someone’s math is off, because how can 32nd and 7th be one block away? And never mind, which direction is West. To make matters worse, Broadway crosses 6th Ave right at this point, so there isn’t a 7th to be seen and I still haven’t unravelled the mysteries of what Broadway crossing an Avenue means. Basically, Broadway just throws me off completely.

I walk toward the numbers going down to 32nd and enter a station that claims to have the PATH, but get down there and see no signs for the PATH, but see signs pointing toward an exit for Penn Station at 32nd and 7th (I’m getting that point, at least). So up I go and golly gee, I’m back at 32nd and 6th. So I walk to the left, toward what I hope (pray) is 7th Ave… (this is where, if i hadn’t already been thrown off, I would have realized my mistake, as #s down, Left is East) but alas, I get down the block, and mind you going crosstown (ie. between avenues) is not short, only to find that what I am approaching is 5th ave! Finally, back at 32nd and 6th, I go underground again (through a different entrance this time) and suddenly wahla! the signs are in my favor and point to the PATH. Coming from my original direction, you can’t see the signs. Ugh.

Now, you’re probably thinking this has to be the worst of it right? But no. I’m so wicked super smart that on Friday evening I pulled off an even greater feat. After drinking with co-workers for a few hours, I wait for the 7 train at Grand Central station and somehow end up in Queens. Is Queens where I wanted to be? No. Is it where I ended up? Yes.

Yup, that’s right. I got on the wrong train. Fortunately, I realized it almost immediately. So I got off at the first stop in Queens and then had to go above ground (let me just say I’m glad I live in Hoboken and not that part of Queens) to switch to the other side to pay ANOTHER $2.00 to take the train my usual 2 stops to Times Square to then walk underground to Port Authority to then take the #126 bus back to Hoboken. And all in a day’s work…

Let’s just say that on the Queens front, I think I’ve learned my lesson. But who knows what else tomorrow will bring… I’m just hoping it isn’t a trip to Brooklyn.

As part of my new job role, I’m evaluating current processes and I’ve been looking for steps/workflow graphing tools and I googled for “tool visualize people flow”. I got back some reasonable results, things like “A Prototype Notebook-Based Environment for Computational Tools,” “Graph Drawing Tools,” and “FORMAL MODELING FOR WORK SYSTEM DESIGN”.

Down the list, this one really stood out at me:

Ascension Love Spirituality – The Nature of Evil
The universal flow passes through people, empowering them as it passes. …
the only tool to which people responded well. Or, it may …

So I just *had* to click to the site. It’s all about meditation, auras, the nature of energy levels. Ha. I del.icio.us-ed it for future exploration into the Nature of Good and Evil. For now, I’m still looking for a good open source visualization tool, not the Infinite Being meditation, though maybe it would help me visualize process…

On a completely unrelated note, now that I have a home — my own place where I have groceries, all my clothes, a reasonable bed time, am actually home at night to make dinners and in the morning to make a smoothie — it has been (refreshing) making me feel like a real person again.

Last night, I met Brandon down by NYU around 8th St and Broadway to run an errand. We walked through the streets and it was nice to be together in the city. The bustle in the Village is a more eclectic, hipper crowd than say where I work in mid-town, where you see lots of suits, women in stiletto heels who could be, should be or probably are models, and some average working joes. In the Village, you’ll pass by people who look like they are going to go create something, whether it is art or anarchy or just something new and different.

Every day of my commute, I have some minor debacle. Generally, it is that I’m not quite sure where to go to get somewhere. I haven’t gone any one way enough yet or entered through quite the same entrance as before, that I’m pretty much always looking around for signs in the stations — and there’s generally a lack of adequate ones. Today, I got into Grand Central and began with looking for the damn Subway sign, instead of all the train platforms that were around me. Finally, closing in on the #7 train, I hop on and when it stops at 42nd and Bryant Park, the conductor is mumbling something about this stop, last, 42nd and Times Sq, Flushing, blah. Well, I don’t want to end up where ever the hell Flushing is, so to be safe I hop off. Walk outside, am at 42nd and 6th Ave, and I can see Times Sq and start walking toward it on 42nd. Then I think wait am I heading in the direction of 7th Ave or of 5th, since I want to be going to Port Authority at 42nd and 8th? Well, I can see Broadway up ahead, but is Broadway toward 7th? Ugh. I turn around get back to the other corner, struggle to get a bearing or see the sign way up ahead. Realize that to my right is 41st street which means the numbers are going up when means that 7th is the way I was originally walking. Fuck me. Finally, at Port Authority I buy my bus ticket, but then can’t remember which gate number is for Hoboken. And I’ve been to Port Authority a number of times and as far as I can tell there is NO way to find out which gate is what without asking someone at an Information Booth. There is a mob of gates and levels and people. I finally find out gate 204 is for the NJ #126 to Hoboken, which is in Zone 2 mind you, just in case you thought of purchasing a ticket without knowing. As memere would say, Heavens to Murgatroid! And in case you were wondering what the hell that means, I give thanks to the further wonders of google with Snagglepuss.

I’m too tired to post — practically too tired to move. This week has been crazy. My brain is a gooie mush. I’m not used to getting up so early and being so perky in the morning. Generally the wheels start cranking in high gear after 2 p.m., so getting up at ~7 a.m. has been hampering my late night prowess.

The first half week on the job has been amazing. Everything is fresh and new. I think I have used the word refreshing in conversations with people at the company at least 100 times. It’s so refreshing that there is a process here. It is so refreshing to see documentation. It is so refreshing that people are so happy for me to be here. It is so refreshing to have an orientation schedule that is jam packed with real training sessions. It is so refreshing… refreshing. refreshing. refreshing.

The bottom line is this is everything that my last job was not. I absolutely adore my boss. He knows his shit, is cool, personable, laid back… just an awesome guy. The company has process, project management procedures, *real* software development lifecycle with true requirements, design and analysis, documentation, a management team that leaves the implementation details up to the people they’ve hired to be experts in implementing those things… basically, everything that I disliked about my last company and wished they did (or didn’t do) my new company does (or doesn’t do). I’m sure they’ll be new issues, but at least I am leaving all that other baggage behind! Hallelujah! And lastly, my opinion counts. They listen to it. They care to hear my input. They like me. They want me there and they respect me. Wowee. Who woulda thunk it?

I instant messaged LTJ today and told him that I think we’ll end up having more friends in NYC than we did in Boston. This seems like a paradox, but everyone here is so friendly and nice, especially at our jobs. It is amazing, but I think people are actually colder in Boston than NY… That’s just my experience so far.

LTJ and I are really happy, loving our apartment and jobs. I think this is the best decision we could have made for us, for our careers, for our lives and happiness. Everything just feels right, like this is where we should be at this time in our lives.

And then they lived happily ever after…

Somebody asked me, where you going this weekend?

I said I’m going to Bonnaroo.

They said, where’s Bonnaroo?

I said, that’s where it is. It is where it is. Shit, I don’t know where the fuck it is. It’s Bonnaroo.

Everybody’s gonna be there. Yeah. — Dave Matthews, Bonnaroo 2004

Road Trip Time!

After days of beautifying our new place in Hobokistan, it’s time to head off to Bonnaroo for some fun in the Tennessee sun.

We’re pretty excited. Today, we’re picking up the rental car at 3, then driving as far as we can toward Tennessee. We’ll be camping at Fall Creek Falls State Park for Tuesday and Wednesday nights, hopefully doing some hiking, canoeing and checking out the water falls, then early, early Thursday morning we’ll head over to Manchester and get in line for Bonnaroo. Fingers are crossed that our plan to head in from the east side on backroads will pay off and we won’t be stuck in 5+ hours of traffic this year.

Our music schedule this year includes Jurassic 5, Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters, Dave Matthews Band, Galactic, Sound Tribe Sector Nine, Yonder Mountain String Band, Particle, Jack Johnson, Widespread Panic, Trey, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, The Perceptionists, De La Soul, Umphrey’s McGee, The Word, Modest Mouse, and some SuperJam. Should be good times.

Then we drive back to NJ on Monday and hopefully get back early on Tuesday as we start our new jobs on Wednesday.

Wooie. What a week. What a month. It’s a whirlwind. But that’s the best way to live life. On our toes. Taking it all in. Like a butterfly fluttering in the wind.

This weekend, just keep us in mind dancing and laughing and sweating under the hot as hell Tennessee sun.

Well time to run… No time to say “Hello”, “Goodbye” I’m late, I’m late, I’m late, for a very important date.

Here it is Saturday and I have no idea where Friday and Thursday went . . . I mean I know I spent them schelping boxes and unpacking boxes and breaking boxes down and moving around boxes from one place to another. I have become one with the cardboard box. I also know I am grimy and slimy and smell like an unshowered cleaning machine. It’s time to test out our shower, assuming I can rinse my hair out under the mist of water it offers.

We didn’t have the same movers as in Boston which was unfortunate, because I liked the young kids from Boston a hell of a lot better than the grumbling guys who came to unload our stuff. The guys in Boston didn’t bang into anything, but these ones weren’t as careful. Oh well. Whatever.

We were left in a sea of boxes at about noon on Thursday. All was going according to plan, except Brandon was like “I don’t remember the apartment being this small.” Personally, I was thinking we were lucky it was the size that it was. But I understood his trepidation… I mean, where in the hell were all these things going to go?

Biggest Highlight: Bay Windows in the living room

Least Favorite: Low water pressure in the shower (time to get a new shower head and yank off the energy-saving device)

Bottom Line: This is a great apartment and with the HDTV and surround system we are in heaven. I couldn’t ask for anything better!

My behemoth bed presented the greatest challenge as the size of the bedroom is small and is a walk-through to the kitchen and bathroom. In the end, there was only one way to position it and we’ll get by.

Slowly but surely, we have been finding a home for everything and putting everything in its place. We started with the living room and of course our HDTV and surround stereo system were the first items to be placed and set up and fully functioning. Brandon even got the AirPort Express streaming music to our stereo system and I gotta tell you that is SWEET . . . even if it took 2 hours to get working.

The bedroom is still a bit in shambles but at least we were able to clear the bed off last night and sleep in it.

Today, we have been working on the kitchen a bit so we are almost approaching the point of decorating and hanging stuff… almost.

I feel like I am taking after my mom and her twin, Auntie Karen, who always manage to have a completely new home set up and decorated in a matter of days. But really, my historical track record is usually the complete opposite. Most of the time I have boxes in my room for at least 3 months after I move in somewhere… But somehow, this place is different. Plus, we have the time right now to get it done. We are just cranking away and getting as much done as possible before we have to leave for Bonnaroo.

I’ll post pictures before we leave for Bonnaroo.