Monthly Archives: July 2008

The Commute

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Today is my first foray into Manhattan from our new home and first time in over a month and a half since I was here last. I suppose it has been made easier, having lost my job in February as so many others have as well.

The one thing I now realize is how much I do not miss the commute. I will say that the trip now is not as painful as it used to be from West Orange; taking a bus then the PATH train.

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Now, it is a decent ride on NJ Transit from Ridgesiod to Hoboken then a brief PATH ride under the Hudson river into the World Trade Center station.

No matter how “easy” the physical commute is, there is still the psychological effect of commuting. Being crowded by strangers goes without saying for almost any metropolitan commute.

I am more speaking of the basic physical surroundings. It’s no wonder more people are not going postal. These trains, stations and subways are just depressing. I never really noticed it before as another hamster on the wheel, but now I see it with fresh eyes.

One could easily write it off to being in the NJ/NY grind, but that can’t be the reason. Tokyo pushes more commuters around the country and some how the train system still seems brighter, cleaner.

I suppose I am saying that just because the commute is what it is, doesn’t mean the commute has to suck!

Where the heart lives

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Kids are amazing. No matter what they do to annoy the he’ll out of you, there is always that moment, right around the corner that restores that smile on your face.

Case in point is my daughter. Cut little thing, but the “Terrible Three’s” are not doing her any justice. Now I know I am fortunate to not have one of those “bad-assed” kids, I have one of those “Independent Spirits.”

I could also say that she inherited that from me, but then I would be hit with the whole “what goes around” comments. Truth is, I realized last night that I am dealing with a personality very much like my own.

That is what scares me the most. I know I can be very stubborn, self centered and down right indignant at times and I am facing that amplified in her. At the same time I also know that there are also strengths; leadership, creativity, determination, will, basically many things that will serve her well in life.

I struggle at times in trying to figure out how to deal with what is essentially a mini-female version of me. In the end it is always the love that overpowers everything as I catch the occasional glimpse of that tiny souls that I cupped on my palms just moments after her entrance into this world. Her smile calms me and she knows it; even while pushing those buttons she has learned, quickly grab my attention.

Oh, have to run now, she’s peeking around the corner, obviously into something she knows I would not be happy about.

Plurk Goes Customized

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plurklogo.pngA few posts back I did a review of the new Social Micro-Blogging Phenom known as PLURK. I can honestly say that I have been completely consumed by this thing. My Karma is up; I have met some great people; discovered some great information and resources, all in my wonderful little time-line. It is as addictive as anything you might find on the web these days.

I also want to add that the development & engineering team for Plurk a.k.a. “A-Team” as they are know to the Plurk-verse, due to their Maintenance image that is displayed when they need to do work, are an awesome bunch. Why? Because they care about their users.

I’m not just talking about the occasional email or account you can subscribe to in order to get a glimpse of what is being cooked up. I’m referring to the fact that whenever there is a serious glitch and the Plurk-verse is affected, these guys/gals actually take the time to post a full blown explanation to the masses with a clear cut run down explaining what occurred and what they are going to do to try and not let it happen again. In a recent unexpected outage that took a maintenance window way past its original 1 hour ETA, each and every Plurker was escalated up one Karma point for pain and suffering.

Just when we were pleased with the amount Plurk-caine we were being fed, the A-team took it up another notch by opening up Plurk to allow customization of the profiles via Cascading Style Sheets. AWESOME!!! In one night, which began with me playing around a bit with colors, I found myself knee-deep in CSS fully customizing my profile. I had created the “Chocolate” theme.
Since sharing is caring I announced it to all of my Plurk friends & fans and they were pleased. I had even received one request for a custom theme based on the H.R. Giger art. I thought that since I had already created one CSS template, it wouldn’t be that difficult to modify it for spits & giggles. 10 minutes later I had my second theme called “Giger.”

When I thought that Plurk could not get any more addictive, the A-Team goes and throws this new functionality in my face. I have decided to set aside a small slice of this blog (new plurk tab) to the themes I create for the Plurk-verse.

If you want to get in on the action, head on over to Plurk and sign up for the fun!