“Only in Santa Cruz would you have biker wars over who’s going to control pumpkin spice lattes.”
Category: Crazy
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Oh, the horror…
A 27 year old trader who made $500K last year (last paragraph), bemoaning the fact that this year he’ll work harder and make less.
I’m sure the millions of unemployed are feeling very sorry for him right now.
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Just Watch
Impatient folks should skip to about 1:15 in. But seriously, just watch. In full screen.
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Bikers in Brooklyn
Riding a bicycle in Brooklyn or any of the boroughs can be a challenge. Traffic is crazy, cabs and buses are total hazards and the whole thing feels like a video game, except you only get one life.
Mayor Bloomberg has been a strong bike proponent and bike lanes have sprouted up all over the place. While some have grumbled, I’m definitely a fan.
But bikers overall are the most lawless group from traffic rules perspective. We all do it, roll through the red light when we can, go the wrong way on a one way street to save a few blocks, etc., etc..
While it is a bit challenging for a parent of an 8 year old learning to ride a bike to explain all this (Papi, why didn’t that guy stop at the light? Papi, I thought grown-ups weren’t allowed to ride on the sidewalk…) I totally understand why bikers do this. I do it too.
But bikers in NYC are like the Tea Party. Ideological, militant and if you give them a concession they just ask for more.
The part that drives me crazy is how bikers yell at everyone else if they don’t follow the rules. And I mean literally scream at people. Pot, meet kettle.
Today I think I saw the craziest example.
On my commute to work, I scooter in a bike lane down Jay Street into Dumbo. It’s a popular bike route because it leads to the Manhattan Bridge, which is a good bridge to ride over. On the way you have to cross Tillary. This is a major intersection. Cars are coming one way on Tillary to get to the Brooklyn bridge and going another way to the BQE. Four lanes of traffic each way with a median in the middle.
People who know the traffic pattern (i.e. all of us) know that you can edge halfway across the street safely before the light turns green (due to a left turn arrow). So there’s a few bikers and me crossing half-way on the red light.
There’s a way to try to sneak across the other half just as the main light turns red and before the left turn arrow turns green. Again, for us the light is completely red at this point, we have no business being in the intersection at all. And this move is beyond what I will try, because you are counting on (1) the drivers going straight not pushing to get through before the light turns red and (2) the drivers turning left not jumping the gun on the left turn arrow.
So this morning a guy does it. And sure enough, a car is trying to push it and get through the red light. From the driver’s perspective, you are trying to beat a light to get to the Brooklyn Bridge and a bike comes out of nowhere (let’s recall, we’ve been waiting halfway through the intersection). So the car stops and honks at the bike.
And what does the biker who is in the middle of an intersection, running a red light in a rather dangerous manner do? He screams at the car. He actually stops in the middle of traffic to yell at the guy, while running a red light.
Bikers in NYC, an interesting breed…
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Better Than The Onion?
That is truly high praise, but c’mon, this stuff is gold…
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The Last NY Times
Google has announced it will begin splitting data transmitted via the Real 4G protocol into four “flavors”—Smart, Dumb, Retarded, and Banana-Strawberry Blast.
The whole thing is hilarious…
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Bachelor!
My wife and oldest daughter are in Florida. My other daughter has a two day sleepover (it’s her spring break). So I’m totally by myself.
Party! Craziness! Debauchery!
Or not.
I guess I’m just old. I did go out to dinner both nights (new pizza joint on Monday and my favorite bar on Tuesday). But for the most part I just worked a bit more.
Had the weather been nicer I might have taken advantage and run outside. But we got snow and it got cold, so that didn’t seem like a great idea.
At this point in my life, bachelorhood is way overrated…
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Cologne Guy
Last spring towards the end of the period where I was doing a lot of work my favorite coffee shop, this guy started coming in a lot. Older guy, seemed nice enough, but with one defining characteristic
Waaaay too much cologne.
There were times I had to move to another spot because it was just overpowering. I would later learn that he was a recovering alcoholic who was basically transitioning from spending all day at a bar to spending all day at a coffee shop, and he really was quite friendly, so you have to cut him some slack.
But at the time my reaction was, "oh crap, here comes Cologne Guy".
Well today I got another new neighbor in my office. I’ve mentioned the interesting types of businesses going on. A lot of non profits (helping people in Nepal and yes, the small business in Afghanistan/Rwanda thing), many web start-ups, some freelancers, even a plumbing company.
So today a guy comes into our section to take one of the open spots. Seems friendly, though he’s wearing a suit and sneakers (and not practical walking to work sneakers, there’s a foot of snow on the ground). We introduce ourselves and I ask him what he does.
He has his own business creating infomercials.
Now I made fun of the Afghanistan/Rwanda non-profit (c’mon, how could I not?). But my reaction to it wasn’t "ick", it was, "wow, good luck with that". This guy screams "ick".
And he too, wears waaaay too much cologne.
I’m liking original Cologne Guy more and more…
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New Neighbor
My office has an interesting mix of companies. There are a bunch of small web companies, several non-profits, a plumbing company and a bunch of freelancers. And that’s just on my floor.
I got a new neighbor yesterday for the vacant desk space behind me. A very nice (and very quiet) young woman. So I asked her what she does.
She works for a non-profit that helps start small businesses.
In Afghanistan and Rwanda.
Seriously, I’m not making this up.
How does this happen? I’m thinking a couple of philanthropic types are drinking and/or smoking heavily. The conversation goes:
We should start a non-profit.
Yeah, but not something wimpy. Let’s solve something hard.
Cure for cancer?
Too easy.
Alzheimer’s?
C’mon, I said hard.
Peace in the Middle East?
Seriously, that’s cake.
What are you thinking?
We help people start small businesses.
What? That’s not hard.
In Afghanistan.
(laughs) Oh, dude. Totally. And how about Rwanda?
(more laughter) Perfect.
(maniacal stoned laughter)
Seriously, I can’t come up with any other logical reason you would start that non-profit that doesn’t involve booze or drugs…
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Alcowebizer
If you haven’t seen this site, it bills itself as the "simulator of drunken web design". You get to pick an existing web site and select a blood alcohol level and it "alcoholizes" the site. With much amusement.
I tried it on this blog and was amused that it at 1.5% alcohol level content the font changed to comic sans. For the record, I’d need way more beer than that.
There are several other amusing touches (including this random video of four guys that gets inserted at 2.5%).
But my favorite is what happens if you set the alcohol content to 7%. The page reads:
HTTP Error 2011
A browser for this kind of content hasn’t been invented yet.
Steve Fischer's Random Blog 