I Think, Therefore I Blog » Myself

Absurd–and I’m not talking about politics

fsherman — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:22:45 +0000

It’s mid-October. I got out of my car this morning and my glasses misted over.
That’s just not right.

Ranking pathways.

fsherman — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 23:33:25 +0000

Factors for prioritizing from 44 possible improvements to the network.
•Does ti connect two separate pathways?
•Does it make it easier to reach a particluar destination?
•Does the public request it?
•Does it reduce trip length?
•Does it make pedestrians safer?
And several more.
Scores ranged from 0 to 15 for the different 44. RPG then organized them by the total point score, from the top down to the bottom 44. Even though some of them are (of course) below average, that doesn’t mean they’re unnecessary or bad.
No specific improvements listed, but I’ll get that for my story.
And Scott turns it to the council for questions.
Seevers: Any public comment?
None.
Council’s turn.
Jim Wood: You took public input at one meeting: How many people?
Scott: We had 18 people fill out surveys, maybe two dozen people actually attending.
Wood: So your priorities are based on what they told you. Scott: No, they were a part–not all of it. Wood: How much weight did you give them?
Swearengen: We looked at what would most help the system: Gaps in the system are a big problem so we gave fixing it a high point score. Destination links are important so it can be used for more than recreation.
Wood suggests there’s a lot of subjectivity. Greg Kisela (City Manager): You can’t really avoid that, but they’ve done it best to set it to a clear, understandable grid.
Wood: How do schools fit in?
Swearengen: DES is included as one of the destinations in that category. We debated how to look at DMS; we finally decided that since it’s in the county and not a multi-modal destination—”It’s accessible pretty much by bus.”—and wasn’t listed by the public as an important multi-modal destination–we decided not to use it.
Wood: What about Commons Drive? That’s rated high, but it’s a county street. “I’d sure like to see Destin tax dollars go to things in Destin.”
Scott: “That’s a great point. We had a lot of discussion about that … Commons Drive, while it is part of the county jurisdiction, is a very important roadway for multimodal transportation. Identifying it in the plan is a good thing, it allows the city to hold that plan up” if there’s a problem because of something the county’s doing.
Kisela: It does help a lot to have documents like this in these discussions.
Wood: It might help at Transportation Planning Organizations too.
Councilor Sandy Trammell: In the 2000 plan, getting an east-west corridor for bikers was a top priority. Have we addressed that or even identified a site? She can’t make out the details of the maps to tell.
“I see red line, I see blue lines, I don’t see anything that says proposed east-west corridor for bikers.”
Bagby finds it on Map C. Much discussion of what it shows follows as they try to figure it out. And it’s Map F if you’re looking at bicycles.

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Something I hate

fsherman — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:29:12 +0000

These new expanding advertising images on Web sites that block your view until you click to turn them off. They’re annoying, even knowing Web advertising is what greases the wheels for so much good stuff.

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Astonishing!

fsherman — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:52:20 +0000

I went out for a morning walk this weekend and actually discovered a set of sprinklers that focused their spray entirely on the grass and not on the sidewalk I was going across! I was beginning some unknown defect in sprinkler design made that impossible.

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Thank you Battery Plus

fsherman — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:48:39 +0000

I went in there yesterday with a dying phone and they had the right battery in within a couple of minutes, no problems. I can’t speak for the entire chain, but the Jonquil Avenue franchise does great work.

Sigh. At times like this, I wish I had a larger readership.

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“We know the flight crew is somewhere in the airport, but we’re not sure where.”

fsherman — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:56:08 +0000

I have good, healthy teeth. It wasn’t until I had my wisdom teeth pulled in my late teens that I understood why so many people dread going to the dentist.

In the same fashion, this past weekend’s flight to my mother in Virginia reminded me why so many people curse the thought of having to fly.

Thursday: My roommate takes me to the airport, where I have an 8:30 a.m. flight to maximize the time I spend with my mother, siblings and niece. We board the plane. Then they tell us there’s a “ground hold” in Atlanta because of the weather, and if they’d only known a few minutes sooner, they could have let us sit in the airport instead of keeping us on the plane for the next hour.

Despite the delay, I made it into Atlanta with just time enough to make my next flight, especially since it’s postponed from 12:10 to 12:40 p.m. Only when I reach the gate, it’s canceled and I’m on a 2:40 flight.

A little after two, when the preceding backed-up flight gets off the ground, the attendant (who was holding up well given the circumstances) tells me that yes, I’m confirmed for the flight. Only it’s now 30 minutes away and we’re not starting to board … Sometime after 2:30 p.m., they inform us they’re having trouble locating the flight crew … And about 3:30 p.m., we finally board.

Flight home Sunday: I arrive in plenty of time for the still-on-time 5:15 p.m. flight back to Atlanta. Only about 4:45 they inform us that yes, there’s bad weather in Atlanta and we’re postponed until 7 p.m. Once more, I sit and wait (fortunately, I always have a book with me).
8:30 p.m., we arrive in what’s now a sunny Atlanta — and my 8:47 flight has been pushed back to 9:30 p.m. (so long, early bedtime!). And then, once again, we have a flight crew absent, so it was about 10:15 p.m. when they showed up and we could start boarding.

To make matters more annoying, the gate crew announced they would offer meal vouchers while we were waiting. I didn’t move at first since I wasn’t that hungry, then I reflected I could pick up a sandwich, take it in to work Monday, and got in line.

I waited in line.

I reached the desk.

The attendant began to check that I was a real passenger — and after two minutes of that, the flight crew showed up. Oops, sorry, no meal voucher for me!

The final annoyance — which I can’t actually blame on Delta — came when I got home. My roommate had been out of town over the weekend, so when I arrived I found the fire alarm beeping it’s dread Battery Dying, Battery Dying shriek. Even when I pulled it out, it wouldn’t stop, and I knew I couldn’t sleep through it, so off to Food World I went to grab a replacement.

Fortunately the trip in between was fabulous, but that’s a post for another time.

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Clarifying something about Ron Hart

fsherman — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:42:58 +0000

One of the recurring complaints by his fans is that they’re shocked, shocked and appalled that I would turn my acidic, venomous writing (as they perceive it) on someone who’s not only a great writer but a colleague. As witness “Scottie’s” recent post that “I am surprised the Log lets one columist rip (slander) the other better one each week. Never seen this back in Birmingham.”
So let’s clear it up: Ron Hart is a syndicated columnist. We aren’t colleagues, we don’t work together, I’ve seen him exactly once when he stopped by the office (I think he has a place in the area). So I can’t see any reason pointing out his errors should be any more objectionable than criticizing syndicated pundits Walter Williams or Kathleen Parker, whom I’ve also written about.
Even if he was a Log columnist, I’ve argued with other columnists too: Dale, who used to work here, had diametrically opposite views from mine and neither of us had any problem arguing when we found each other’s columns wrong. Amazingly, neither of us felt any need to whine in comments about how mean and unfair we were.
Heck, in the 30 years I’ve been writing columns, and letters to various editors, I’ve been told I’m going to Hell, that I’m anti-god, that I’m treasonous, that my parentage is—well, I won’t repeat that one—and that it would benefit the world if I killed myself. That’s the price of putting my opinions out there. So frankly I don’t see there’s anything terribly offensive in saying “Ron Hart is wrong, illogical and spouts Republican talking points,” especially when I can back it up.
So sorry, Scottie and Pat, whine as much as you like but Hart’s views are fair game for my criticism as mine are for yours.
Of course, I’m assuming you really believe that I’m being unfair to Hart. I’ve never noticed you complain when I rip into other syndicated columnists or letters to the editor, so possibly you’re just hoping if you complain loudly enough, I’ll shut up.
If so, dream on.

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Jon and Kate Gosselin

fsherman — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:40:20 +0000

Do people really care what happened to their marriage?
Is there any need for the micro-observation of their relationship?
I know this kind of public scrutiny of celebrities is pretty much the norm these days, but in this case it’s really annoying me to see all the blather about them—maybe because I had no idea who they were, so the pointlessness really hits home.

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Three cheers

fsherman — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:37:27 +0000

I landed a new laptop on eBay yesterday. May not reach me until next week (PayPal has to get the money from my account first) but it’s on the way.

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iBook update

fsherman — Mon, 18 May 2009 22:40:31 +0000

Still blogging from the office PC laptop.

I’ve crunched numbers, though, and have an idea what I can afford, so I’ve begun bidding on eBay on pre-owned iBooks(from reliable, well-rated dealers). Two attempts so far, no luck, but I’ll keep at it. And I’m getting the hang of the bidding thing, though given how much I want my laptop, I’d gladly pay a premium (to a point) for a Buy It Now purchase.

And yes, I’m perfectly aware there are cheaper Windows laptops available. I’m shooting for a Mac for the same reason I’m willing to pay more for real cheese than Kraft slices.

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