Category Archives: Personal

Troubled Luck on the Long Island Expressway

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I don’t know why the events of last night cancel each other out and just not occur at all. I was heading into Queens to meet up with a few friends for Vince’s birthday. I gave myself some extra time to get there, but used that time to detour to my bank. While cruising down the Long Island Expressway, I felt a shuddering. My wheels made that sound they make when you drive over the grooves on the side of the road that were intended to wake up sleepy drivers. I was in the left lane though. I immediately pulled over and inspected my vehicle. The front passenger side tire, one of the newer tires I had put on just a few months earlier, was completely flat.

In a slight panic, and realizing that I was just a few hundred feet from the next exit, I grabbed a can of Fix-A-Flat and emptied it into my tire. I knew the can had enough air to slightly inflate a slightly deflated tire, but it wasn’t enough to make a difference this time. I pulled out the air compressor I keep in my trunk, but it would not engage. It was a cheap plastic one, and has helped in other situations, but it wasn’t going to do me any good anymore. I realized that I would have to change the tire.

I’m no mechanic, but I can cover some of the basics… I emptied my trunk onto the side of the roadway and began unscrewing the components of my spare. It would have taken me at least another thirty minutes to get the car up on the pathetic scissor jack included with the stock spare tire of my Scion tC. I was dreading having to cancel on my plans when a vehicle pulled up behind my car. The yellow spinning lights on top indicated that this was a rescue vehicle. I was hoping for one of the H.E.L.P. trucks which provide free assistance to roadside travelers, but it turned out to be a tow truck driver between jobs looking for a quick dollar.

Realizing that I had the situation under control, he gave me his card and offered assistance if I wanted it. I didn’t need it but I knew he could change a tire in a fraction of the time it would have taken me. I took him up on his offer and let him do the dirty work. In seconds he had the car up on the air-jack and changed the tire for me. Despite the trouble of the flat, I was fortunate he pulled up when he did. He made a quick twenty bucks and I made a quick getaway from the situation. I arrived in Queens just in time to park and hitch a ride with my friends as they were heading out.

Is it good luck that I got a flat but recovered, delayed only fifteen minutes? or was it bad luck still, as I now have to deal with a flat tire? I guess my luck was split somewhere down the middle.

The Fate of the Bookstore

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My wanderings tonight brought me to consider the fate of bookstores. I ended up at a local Barnes and Nobles and managed to find quite a few books I was interested in. Particularly, three books on varying aspects of computer programming. The books ranged from $35 to $45 and no doubt would have tax added to them costing me over $120 had I bought them at the store.

When I returned home, I searched on Amazon.com for the same three books. Sure enough, one was $18. one was $4.00 and one was actually $0.01. Each one was coming from a different Amazon affiliate so they each cost $3.99 for shipping. The total of my order was $33.98 which was less than the cost of the cheaper book alone at the bookstore.

With deals like this, there’s few arguments I can make for patronizing local shops. If they don’t conform their pricing structures, I don’t see how it’s beneficial for them to remain open which brings up a personal conflict. I love bookstores!

I enjoy having the ability to pick up new books and peruse them. When purchasing books (with the exception of fiction) it’s critical that the book contain the information I’m looking for and be written in a manner that I can understand and follow. When introducing myself to a new language or technology, It’s good to know if the book is geared towards the beginner or an expert. Sometimes I’ll even read a chapter or two to see if I like the way the author(s) presents the materials. While there’s some provisions to accomplish this online, nothing beats the real thing.

Could bookstores such as Barnes and Noble survive if they cut their in-store prices? Perhaps one solution would be for publishers to send out more new books to public libraries so that people can sample them prior to making any purchases, but would this help sales or hinder them as the book would be “rented” for free.

I’m a big fan of technology, but in addition to the great privileges we get from innovation, there is also a cost associated with advancement.

Enough Wasting Trees.

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How can I get the past hour of my life back? Can I write on all my junk mail, “RETURN TO SENDER. PLEASE RE-SEND VIA EMAIL”? I’ll make a rubber stamp and mark everything this way as I place it back in the outgoing mailbox. I can go through 20-30 peices of junk mail in about 5 seconds on the computer, but it just took me an hour to go through my past month’s mail.

I pay all my bills online, with the exception of a few that still charge additional fees for paying this way. Despite not bothering to open the few that I could identify as bills, it still took me an hour to go through credit card offers, checks with low or promotional rates, subscriptions to magazines I don’t want, thousands of pages of advertisements and coupons, and even a few local pennysaver-type magazines that I can do without. After all was said and done, I kept 5 envelopes I opened, and ripped or shredded and threw away the rest. In fact, I filled a 13 gallon kitchen bag half-full with my unwanted junk mail!

I don’t know if there’s a solution for this, but if anybody has one, I’m all ears. I like my return to sender idea. Or perhaps I could fill out an address change form at the post office and write my email address on the line that reads “Street”. It’s really not worth my effort to go through my mail daily, but likewise, it’s a horror to have to do it all at once.

CPAP Night 1

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Having recently being diagnosed with sleep apnea, I just received my CPAP machine. CPAP stands for Continuous Positive Air Pressure. Basically, It’s a machine that ensures that I am continually able to breathe throughout the night by maintaining continuous air pressure.

My first night on the CPAP machine went much better than I expected. During my sleep-study, I was put on a machine so they could calculate the required pressure required for my machine. The machine was uncomfortable to the point that the mask actually hurt my nose. I was quite annoyed believing that was a typical “CPAP” night.

With my own machine, I slept throughout the night with no discomfort at all. The mask on the unit is much softer and fits properly. The unit has a humidifier module too which seems quite effective (unlike my standalone humidifier I bought a few months back).

I’ve already taken the initiative to learn what I can about the machine. I don’t recommend that anybody with a machine change any settings, especially when your health is at risk by doing so, but I’ve already learned how to re-program the machine, and am in the process of setting up software to read the data recorded by the machine. I am curious exactly what it records and what information is being given to the doctors. It’s amazing how simple it is to unlock. I thought that I would need special software

unlock the unit (not that I would mess with it’s settings as I’m not a doctor/sleep specialist), and found Aromatherapy options that are compatible (as well as found ones I would have thought okay to use that can actually damage the filters.)

Post-apocalyptic Zombie Experience

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I satisfied my craving for brains last night at Red Line Studios in New York when a group of creative living and undead gathered to film scenes for the pilot of an upcoming TV series. The zombie crew was headed by Vince Collura of ZombieNYC.com and featured 10 of us with full zombie face makeup and enough blood to satisfy the likes of Dracula! I’m no stranger to zombying around. Being friends with Vince, I have been to multiple Zombie-Crawls in New York including the recent Zombie Christmas Caroling event.

Heading into the city for these events is always amusing. I Wasn’t wearing any of the costume on my way in, but you could see the bottom of the suit sticking out of the bad that covered it and you get some interesting looks from people as you’re walking around with blood-stained and ripped clothing sticking out. Some people see the humor and are brave enough to approach you, while others just stare and keep their distance. I’m kind of surpised no police questioned me. Then again, I was running a bit late because of train closings, so better off.

Despite the trains I did get to the site on time, and helped flag down other zombies before sitting in the makeup chair. The shoot was only a few hours, and they only needed us for a handful of scenes. I don’t know too much about the show itself. I know that it takes place in the future after zombies have taken over. The main characters are survivors who have managed to find a secure location with the ability to reach the outside world. The zombie parts were filmed against a green screen, and while there were a few specific scenes shot, most of what we took part in were just scenes of zombies waffling around and eating flesh. what else would you have a zombie do?

After the shoot, we went out to dinner, and in the true ZombieNYC fashion, we decided to stay in costume. It’s always a blast seeing the range of people’s reactions. Some people fear you, others want to take pictures with you. I have no problem taking pictures with people, but I wish that I would find my pics sometime. The people you meet are generally very cool or interesting. For instance, sleeping on the train I was awoken by some loud and obnoxious kids who entered at Oceanside. Upon seeing me, still wearing my bloody dress shirt and makeup decided that they were going to sit with me on the train. I told them my story, and they explained to me how they were rappers and were nearly signed earlier. Two of them started rapping there for me. It’s not my thing, but they were pretty good. Better at their practiced stuff than free styling, but they were trying, and they were pretty entertaining so I went with it and it certainly helped the train ride go by. After all, the battery in my Zune was dead.

Every time I zombify myself and head into the city, it’s an adventure. When you’re willing to do something outside of the norm and outside of people’s comfort zones, they react differently and you just never know who you’ll meet or what you’ll experience when you stick yourself out there.

Check out my video-blog-short of the day.: