After a good year-plus away from its main site, I have become addicted to Ask Metafilter. The one-stop, no-parameters Q&A is terrific; I have contributed already to discussions on cell phones, minivans and room partitions. The questions are generally thought-provoking or useful. And, of course, once in a while someone posts a real humdinger.
Page 96 of 129
“[New York Yankees owner George] Steinbrenner so despises the Red Sox, whose president, Larry Lucchino, called the Yankees ‘the evil empire’ last winter, that he groused loudly last season when New England clam chowder was on the menu in the Yankee Stadium club restaurant.”
Almost missed this one: New York City’s water is as healthy and safe as bottled water. It also tastes pretty good.
“There really is no reason to go out and buy bottled water in New York City,” said Jim Tierney, the state inspector general for the city’s water supply. “It doesn’t make economic sense. It’s 1,000 times the cost of tap water, and tap water is clean and healthful.”
Me, I keep a jug in the fridge only because it’s cold.
I started 9-to-5 freelancing on Monday (well, 9:30 to 6:30, really, but who’s counting?). As a result, I’m getting back in the habit of buying breakfast on the way to work.
When it comes to the morning meal, I’m something of a spendthrift. At lunchtime, where one can find differences in quantity and quality, I’m not as miserly. But breakfast—a buttered roll and a 16-oz. carton of Tropicana orange juice—is basically commoditized. I know how little each item can cost, and I refuse to overpay. Why spend two bucks on OJ when I can pay $1.50?
Nickel-and-diming myself at 9 a.m. has direct results. Compare the cost of my basic breakfast at Speedy’s, a handsome takeout place on the south side of Herald Square, with a breakfast cart and a bagel shop a block down Sixth Avenue.
Speedy's OJ $1.90 OJ, corner deli $1.50
" Buttered roll .75 Roll, 15th St cart .50
" Tax .17 No tax
----- -----
Total/morning 2.82 2.00
Over one week x 5 x 5
----- -----
Grand total 14.10 10.00
By going the inexpensive route, I save enough money in four days ($8.00 vs $11.28) that the fifth day pays for itself, with a dollar to spare. Do this over a 47-week work year and I save—ready?—$192.70. For two hundred bucks, I’ll walk 50 feet for that Tropicana.
Now, if only I could find a good deli around here with $3.99 turkey sandwiches.
I began work as a freelancer at FCB yesterday. The welcoming folks at FCBi treat my joining as they would any full-time staff member, giving me a cubicle, computer, and corporate email.
Most FCB employees’ addresses are first initial, last name, at fcb.com. I, however, am dawertheimer instead. The dwertheimer address apparently belongs to Davina Wertheimer, a True North employee in South Africa. Small world.
User Savvy is now publishing articles. My first piece, The true use of usability expertise, is now available. Look for more throughout the month and in 2004.
Got some email today about my In Sweet Harmony music show that I did for dack.com a few years back. Been a while since I’ve discovered much new music—and by the way, after the “oh goody” aspect wore off, wasn’t that new Fountains of Wayne album disappointing?—but I’m proud to note that the In Sweet Harmony mix holds up nicely. A good hook is timeless.
Sadly, the link to the audio file of the show doesn’t seem to work anymore. Feel free to email me if you want to hear, say, Thin Lizard Dawn for yourself. Always good to find new tunes. I have to get back into the business of finding more Beatles-influenced artists, and soon.
Dack, meanwhile, has moved onto angrier things.
I love when good ideas are executed almost as soon as constituents think of them.
Matt Haughey, November 6: Fly the WiFi skies. “Picture this: one airline being known for having free wireless near their gates at every major airport across the country. An airline that was wifi-friendly would be known by business people overnight as the airline to take (or at least the terminal to hang out nearby when you fly).”
Press notice, November 12: JetBlue Introduces Free High-Speed Wireless Service At JFK. “With this new service, JetBlue customers can now take advantage of free high-speed wireless access on both coasts, as complimentary wireless access is also available at JetBlue’s west coast base at LA/Long Beach Airport by the City of Long Beach.”
See you at the terminal.
Addendum: While you’re on Matt’s site and learning about good customer orientation, check out his latest discovery—that customers can’t call Best Buy stores anymore.
I now have an official Web site up and running for my new business, User Savvy. We specialize in Web strategy, covering usability, branding, design and related issues.
User Savvy is going to be a weblog and publishing center for articles on the industry, but I’m still getting Movable Type configured, so expect the blog launch sometime next week. Once it goes live, the Ideapad will refocus on expository writing and non-Internet observations.
I am actively seeking new business, so drop a line if you’d like to chat.
wertheimerdavid: So I just switched my paper from Times New Roman (Windows font) to Times (Mac font)
wertheimerdavid: And it jumped from 4 pages and 7 lines to 5 pages and 2 lines
wertheimerdavid: And now my paper is done!
jeffwertheimer: a lot of the great works in literature finished up that way