Mark's Journal

Stop following me, Paul Marcarelli!

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:23:24 GMT

This guy just wouldn't stop following me around, him and his hordes from "The Network," so I finally had to shout "NO MORE!" As of yesterday afternoon, I'm now an AT&T customer instead of a Verizon Wireless customer.

If you've already got my cell phone number, you're all set -- it hasn't changed. (If you don't have it, and need to, let me know.) But I figured I should mention the change for the benefit of those who could previously call me for free from their Verizon Wireless phones... or those who can now call me for free from their AT&T phones!

"Who Exactly Is Protected by 'Travel Protection'?"

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:52:02 GMT

Q. In February 2008, my parents purchased a dream cruise around Europe through a company called Vantage Deluxe World Trave. The Vantage agent encouraged them to buy the company’s “Passenger Protection Plan,” suggesting that if they bought the insurance and had to cancel their trip, they would receive a refund.

One month before the planned departure, my father suffered a heart attack. My mother canceled the trip and requested a refund. However, Vantage Travel responded by sending my parents vouchers for credit for future travel with Vantage. Apparently, in one of the many mailings there was fine print indicating that the “refund” would be in the form of credit.

Full letter and Haggler's response: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/your-money/28haggler.html

Here's my reply:

This seems like a good case of "caveat emptor," and a good reason to ask questions before you buy. Not all "protection" is a scam. My friends and I who've rented a beach house on the Outer Banks a couple of times have done well with the travel insurance we've been offered. Evacuated inland due to approaching hurricanes both times, we were able to get reimbursed for our inland hotel rooms, and received a prorated portion of our week's rent back. Not only wouldn't I visit a hurricane zone without such coverage in future, I'd consider offering my own "travel protection" services. "Hey, North Carolina? For a fee, I'll stay away!"

"40 Years Later, Still Second-Class Americans"

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:15:44 GMT

Impressive Op-Ed piece in the Paper of Record yesterday by Frank Rich.

Like all students caught up in the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s, I was riveted by the violent confrontations between the police and protestors in Selma, 1965, and Chicago, 1968. But I never heard about the several days of riots that rocked Greenwich Village after the police raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn in the wee hours of June 28, 1969 — 40 years ago today.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/opinion/28rich.html

Sapsucker Woods

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:42:38 GMT

This is one of the pictures I'm happiest about from Wednesday night's visit to Cornell's Lab of Ornithology for the CAAIA annual meeting and an improbably engaging talk by Dr. Andrew Farnsworth. (Who knew birders could be so interesting?)

Click the pic and poke around my Flickr to see the mama heron nesting her babies!

Rolling hills

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:16:52 GMT

I think I posted a picture taken from the site of my boss's house a while back, last time I was up there and before the house was actually built. At the time, the house was a chalk outline in the cleared spot where they were going to build, next to the barn they were living in for the time being. :-) The other day, I got to see the house in nearly finished state, and while I didn't take pictures of the house itself, I got a few of the spectacular, almost unspoiled, view. It's really amazing how much of a different feel you get when your living space is simply on the other side of the same hill that my house is on. (Of course, he also doesn't get much cellular signal and he can't get cable unless he wants to pay the cable company's estimated $15,000 cost to run underground cabling up his hill.)

I love the Internet...

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:03:17 GMT

Vote!

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:12:07 GMT

Did you know there's a LiveJournal election going on? You can vote for our representation on the LiveJournal Advisory Board here. I'm heartily endorsing kylecassidy, a longtime user whose posts I've often enjoyed reading. (He's vegan, but manages to photograph stunning food anyway. And he's owned by adorable cats.)

Here's more info about Kyle's candidacy.

On the radio...

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:14:10 GMT

The voicemail from Phil early this afternoon sounded awful, so I wasn't surprised when the message eventually got around to telling me that he felt like crap and he might need to ask me to fill in for him hosting tonight's BFG. I called him right back and told him I was already planning to come, so I was happy to fill in, or at least be on hand just in case.

He made it in, and he's up to doing an intro and then handing the show off to me. Tonight's act, Anne Hills playing with Jay Ansill, are wrapping up a sound check, and there won't be much else to worry about until the show starts at 8. We've got most of the prep done. I may try to grab a snack, since I don't think I'll make it until 11:30 without more food.

Thus endeth the relaxing portion of the weekend. :-)

Well, fuck

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:13:52 GMT

Gary Papa, long-ago WVBR alum and Philadelphia media legend, died today almost six years after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was both news director and sports director at WVBR in the late '70s, and was Action News sports director at WPVI-TV, a Philadelphia station he joined as a weekend sportscaster in 1981. He was 54.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/48626237.html

God Bless America

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:47:16 GMT

At 3 p.m. today, a plane carrying 28,000 deep-dish pizzas for the troops is scheduled to take off from John F. Kennedy airport. It won’t get delivered until July 4, when troops in Iraq and Afghanistan will have what organizers of Pizzas 4 Patriots say will be the biggest pizza party ever held. (The Guinness World Book of Records has been notified).

NYT: http://bit.ly/7MTVk

Short Skirt and a Long Jacket

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:37:10 GMT

To be honest, I was much more impressed with Barenaked Ladies last year, but I did enjoy last Thursday night's Cake concert at the WWDC Bash in downtown San Francisco. (One of many nice things about them doing the party at Yerba Buena Gardens now, instead of busing people down to Cupertino, is that countless random passersby get to enjoy the show from outside the park.)

One of the rumoured acts was Dave Matthews Band, and that I would've really loved! The show two years ago, with Oso Matli, was also amazing even though I'd never heard of them.

After the show, Umung (a fellow Cornell alum I haven't seen in seven or so years) popped into downtown to have a drink, and we ended up all over town seeking food and beverages until almost 2am. What a treat to see him! He hasn't changed much, though now he's a lawyer instead of just a fellow Cornellian and science fiction fan. :-) (Oh, and a fellow Audi driver. We zipped around town in the '99 A4 he'd just picked up a couple hours earlier.)

( More concert pics... )

Willow closing next Thursday

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 23:32:01 GMT

As disappointed as I was personally at shoddy treatment by Willow's management, I'm sad to see they're closing as of June 18th. I spent many happy hours there with family and friends, including many of you, enjoying some truly outstanding food as well as good drinks and fun times.

I can't help but wonder whether the property owner, faced with Fall Creek Pictures pulling out (as they open their new downtown combined Cinemapolis), decided not to renew Willow's lease and instead do something completely new with that lot. It's really prime real estate, so it could be very valuable as a single space.

Night shot

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:20:03 GMT

I took this long-exposure night-time shot of Beebe Lake on the Cornell campus on the walk back to my car Saturday night. I held the camera still against one of the concrete pillars of the footbridge.

Reunion was terrific, and I'll have more to say about it at some point! (I also created a Cornell Reunion 2009 Flickr group.)

Zonked

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:53:23 GMT

I changed hotels this afternoon, since the Union Square Marriott (formerly the Hotel 480) is a much farther walk than I was figuring on, and arriving in SF with blisters after walking all weekend, my feet are already pissed at me. Even the resulting 10-15 extra minutes of sleep in the morning will help!

Apple's really not managing to scale up WWDC very well to deal with the much larger crowds. This morning, I got into the overflow room to watch the keynote address fully half an hour after they started the keynote, and there were still lots of people in line behind me. It's ridiculous to make people line up around the block, wait until nearly keynote time to start letting people in, and thus make thousands of paying customers miss a large chunk of the most-anticipated Apple event all year. Since the food, what there was of it, was also on the second floor, this meant only the first few hundred people in line (who probably got here between 6 and 7am) got to grab pastry and coffee before the keynote. Herding people in line builds excitement and intrigue, but the result was very rude to attendees.

Anyone in the Bay Area care to comment on how the Mission Steak restaurant in the Marriott on 4th Street is? I have fond memories of the J.W. Steakhouse in the Springfield Marriott, but the Yelp reviews on this one are spotty. I may just find something in one of the two nearby mall food courts, or even the indoor farmers market (!) on the first floor of the Metreon. This is great use of dead retail space, due largely to the new Westfield Mall around the corner taking a lot of high-end stores.

Yes, I'm probably going to get the new iPhone to replace my personal Motorola on Verizon Wireless. That also means I can give Cornell back its first-gen iPhone, which I'm sure will be routed to someone else involved in supporting them. Also eyeing the new 13-inch MacBook Pro; disappointed that the MacBook Air didn't get a bigger hard drive this week, just slight processor bumps.

Battery's nearly dead. More later!

Pleasant surprise...

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:15:16 GMT

Neither the US Airways ticket agent nor the TSA security screener objected to my using my paper interim driver license (with no picture) alongside my expired driver license (with my photo) as ID. I have my passport with me just in case, but was curious what would happen, so kept it in my pocket.

I admit I consider an expired photo ID and a laser-printed piece of paper to be iffy as identification, but I guess an authentic but expired license that's obviously just expired, along with matching interim license, is a sufficiently short-lived phenomenon as to be worth taking the chance.

Of course, I should have gotten my license renewal accomplished soon enough that I'd have my permanent replacement before this trip (or before the Atlanta trip, where everyone noticed my license was going to expire in two weeks and warned me). I'm sure it'll show up in tomorrow's mail.

Interestingly, the US Airways plane that just arrived from LaGuardia and is heading back there soon has Colgan Air livery instead of US Airways Express. Wonder if they had to substitute, or if they added extra flights this weekend with Cornell Reunion. Obviously some folks heading home from Reunion here -- there are several of the bright red cased Cornell camping chairs that were given out by a few classes, making everyone scratch their heads as to how they were going to get them home.

The ultimate birthday cake of Life, the Universe, and Everything...

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:35:29 GMT

Between Cornell Reunion and my trip to San Francisco and my impending job change and move onto campus, I'd pretty much decided I didn't have time for a birthday! So, it was a nice surprise when in the middle of yesterday afternoon's Cornell Alumni Association of the Ithaca Area happy hour at Collegetown Bagels, Alexi and Staci produced this awesome cake and started everyone singing. Thanks also to Marie for the birthday cupcakes I found on my desk chair yesterday.

Hope you're all having a great weekend!

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 13:13:50 GMT

Alan Rose and the Greenspans

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:13:49 GMT

My video of Alan Rose and the Greenspans performing at the Ithaca Festival is now online despite repeated annoying iMovie errors. I started the camcorder mid-song and have left that partial song, and for some reason the video stops in the middle of their last song. I hadn't stopped the camcorder until they were done, and there was plenty of disk space and battery left to record a few Nate & Kate songs afterward, so I have no idea where the rest went. :-(

http://gallery.me.com/mha/100072

LOOK BOTH WAYS!

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:06:40 GMT

I do not care to witness a pedestrian vs beer delivery truck collision. (Death by Coors would also have to be one of the most ignominious ends possible.) The driver managed to slow down enough, but the pedestrian (not even a student, which is more common for these situations) didn't even look.

Fairfax says "Stop making our sewers smell like donuts, dammit!" and sues Krispy Kreme

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:12:09 GMT

Fairfax County, Virginia has sued Krispy Kreme after the company declined to pay a 1.9 million dollar bill for the cost of repairing the county sewer system, which Fairfax says resulted from years of discharging "excessive quantities of highly corrosive wastes, doughnut grease and other pollutants" into the sewer.

I love the complaints that the sewer facility was "permeated by the smell of doughnuts."

http://tinyurl.com/mpupkq

Welcome back, Dave!

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:06:32 GMT

Nice to see zikzak5 back in town. He joined me for what's probably my final brunch at the ABC Cafe before they close in three weeks. Today seemed like a perfect chance to go, since I guessed (correctly) that it wouldn't be mobbed because lots of their core audience would be at the Ithaca Festival instead. No wait for a table at noon is almost unheard of!

Dave's in town without a car (and even without his own plane for a change), so asked if I'd be willing to swing down to Wegmans so he could stock up the apartment he's subletting. I figured Wegmans would be as dead as the ABC was, but I was wrong. I suppose it's often more of a zoo, but there were certainly plenty of people there.

Dave commented while we were shopping that he wanted to get some wine, but not the sort that would be found at the grocery store, so we popped up to Sheldrake Point Winer. In theory there was a "tweetup" (gathering of Twitter users) going on, and I was hoping to say hi to some folks after their vertical tasting was done, but I think it was just a register-in-advance event off in a non-public area of the winery, and we didn't find any of the folks I expected. We did get to taste some of the new wine releases, though, and I'm very impressed with the Cabernet Franc and Gewurztraminer, and the latest Gamay is also great.

I've always meant to stop into O'Malley's, a restaurant/pub down the road from Sheldrake, and since we really had nowhere to be, it seemed like a good opportunity. We each had a pint of beer and chatted with the bartender and a couple of waitresses about the place. The menu looks fun, and apparently some of the food is great, so I'll hope to get up there sometime this season to try a meal.

Today was much less hectic than yesterday, which included a great breakfast at Lincoln Street Diner with queenmabwords, meeting a found dog who I think I've identified thanks to Twitter and Facebook sleuthing, acappellasinger's band's performance on the Commons at the Ithaca Festival, and snazzy BBQ'd pork ribs courtesy of roosterhillfarm smoked by guinness_duck, followed by "Life After Death," the "Dead Like Me" movie that came out this winter. (Am I missing anything?)

Tonight? Relaxing.

Slick...

Wed, 27 May 2009 15:30:17 GMT

Listen to the entire new Dave Matthews Band album, "Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King," online, free, now.

http://www.pandora.com/davematthewsband

Hey, USDA!

Wed, 27 May 2009 14:49:55 GMT

Back off and let Philadelphia keep feeding its children.

http://mnn.com/food/markets-groceries/blogs/usda-messes-with-phillys-free-lunches

Wedding photos are up!

Tue, 26 May 2009 23:36:03 GMT

( The album on Facebook... )

Memorial Day

Mon, 25 May 2009 03:38:50 GMT

Remembering those who didn't make it home, in all the wars.