Monday, October 6th, 2008
2:33 am - Jones Beach Autism Walk
Today, I did a mascot gig with![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
jbadger, rukario71, foxwell, rapidtrabbit, and skyfirefox for Walk Now for Autism at Jones Beach on Long Island. It was a rainy morning but the rain cleared up by 10am so the event wasn't delayed by too much and we were able to put in a decent amount of costumed appearance time.
I must say that the charity event organizers really gave us a lot. Last year, there were tents for us but this year, the tents were in the parking lot right in the volunteer parking section. The upshot is we were able to park mere steps away from our tents and that made unloading/loading our fursuit stuff easy. Also this year, they assigned charity volunteers to be our spotters/assistants, which was a great help and something that no other event has done for us yet. Aside from that, we had the usual volunteer perks. I got a t-shirt and a bagel.
What I did was roughly as follows: I was the last one in the group to get suited up because I needed the chairs and table space. First, I headed out to the field area behind registration to interact with the crowd. Took a break. Headed out to the starting line near the stage area to wave the walkers on. Took another break. Then went to the boardwalk to interact with the returning walkers and after that, the gig ended. Post-gig lunch was at East Bay Diner in Seaford. I had the big platter with 3 kinds of fish.
Did a bit of geocaching afterwards withjbadger and foxwell. Then I went off on my own, grabbed another geocache in Long Beach at sunset and went home.
( The caches... )
Today, I did a mascot gig with
jbadger, rukario71, foxwell, rapidtrabbit, and skyfirefox for Walk Now for Autism at Jones Beach on Long Island. It was a rainy morning but the rain cleared up by 10am so the event wasn't delayed by too much and we were able to put in a decent amount of costumed appearance time.I must say that the charity event organizers really gave us a lot. Last year, there were tents for us but this year, the tents were in the parking lot right in the volunteer parking section. The upshot is we were able to park mere steps away from our tents and that made unloading/loading our fursuit stuff easy. Also this year, they assigned charity volunteers to be our spotters/assistants, which was a great help and something that no other event has done for us yet. Aside from that, we had the usual volunteer perks. I got a t-shirt and a bagel.
What I did was roughly as follows: I was the last one in the group to get suited up because I needed the chairs and table space. First, I headed out to the field area behind registration to interact with the crowd. Took a break. Headed out to the starting line near the stage area to wave the walkers on. Took another break. Then went to the boardwalk to interact with the returning walkers and after that, the gig ended. Post-gig lunch was at East Bay Diner in Seaford. I had the big platter with 3 kinds of fish.
Did a bit of geocaching afterwards with
jbadger and foxwell. Then I went off on my own, grabbed another geocache in Long Beach at sunset and went home.( The caches... )
Sunday, October 5th, 2008
12:44 am - Orange County and NW NJ
Sunny, 60°F, and autumnal, which is perfect weather to me. It was a good day to head out to Orange County, where the leaves were just starting to change color. I'm sure I'll be back later in the year. Overall, it was a fantastic trip. I'm familiar with the area and had no problem finding my way around the country roads. In addition, most of the geocaches were classic hides: just walk in and look for the straightforward hide. For a change, it's good to not have to figure out trickery.
I finished my list a bit early so I headed into Sussex County, NJ, for a bunch more. Used my cell phone to get coordinates for those since I'd only preloaded Orange County geocache info. Only the last one was after dusk but that was an easy grab at a picnic area behind a strip mall. Then I had dinner at Burger King in Franklin. I could've chosen a little better but it was right on the main road on my way home.
( The caches... )
Sunny, 60°F, and autumnal, which is perfect weather to me. It was a good day to head out to Orange County, where the leaves were just starting to change color. I'm sure I'll be back later in the year. Overall, it was a fantastic trip. I'm familiar with the area and had no problem finding my way around the country roads. In addition, most of the geocaches were classic hides: just walk in and look for the straightforward hide. For a change, it's good to not have to figure out trickery.
I finished my list a bit early so I headed into Sussex County, NJ, for a bunch more. Used my cell phone to get coordinates for those since I'd only preloaded Orange County geocache info. Only the last one was after dusk but that was an easy grab at a picnic area behind a strip mall. Then I had dinner at Burger King in Franklin. I could've chosen a little better but it was right on the main road on my way home.
( The caches... )
Saturday, October 4th, 2008
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008
11:16 pm - Indian Rock
This afternoon, I went to Indian Rock Shopping Center in Suffern for the Indian Rock geocache. The strip mall is built around Indian Rock, a large glacial erratic that got its name because local tribes used to hold tribal meetings there. There used to be a cache right at the rock but that one didn't even last a day; the cache owner archived and removed it as soon as he found out that the spot had historic significance. This new cache is somewhat different. The first part now involves using a number at the cache site to calculate the final coordinates and the actual cache container is on the other side of the parking area, which in my opinion is a much better cache location.
( TwitVim update )
This afternoon, I went to Indian Rock Shopping Center in Suffern for the Indian Rock geocache. The strip mall is built around Indian Rock, a large glacial erratic that got its name because local tribes used to hold tribal meetings there. There used to be a cache right at the rock but that one didn't even last a day; the cache owner archived and removed it as soon as he found out that the spot had historic significance. This new cache is somewhat different. The first part now involves using a number at the cache site to calculate the final coordinates and the actual cache container is on the other side of the parking area, which in my opinion is a much better cache location.
( TwitVim update )
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008
9:29 pm - Russian Roulette and Red Robin
This afternoon, I went to Park Ridge to do some errands. Had lunch at Burger King in Park Ridge to use one of the coupons from the coupon book they send out every few months or so. At this Burger King, the manager was working the cash register. As I was counting out dollar bills to pay for the meal, he asked "Did you win these in Russian roulette?" Uhhh...
( About those Red Robin eClub coupons... )
This afternoon, I went to Park Ridge to do some errands. Had lunch at Burger King in Park Ridge to use one of the coupons from the coupon book they send out every few months or so. At this Burger King, the manager was working the cash register. As I was counting out dollar bills to pay for the meal, he asked "Did you win these in Russian roulette?" Uhhh...
( About those Red Robin eClub coupons... )
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
2:40 am - One Headlight
Yesterday evening, I was near a cache site waiting for everyone to leave so that I could go look for the cache. That wasn't going to happen that evening so I gave up and I was about to leave when a nice fellow, one of the locals, told me that my left headlight bulb was out. This afternoon, I went to Autozone in Spring Valley to get a replacement bulb. Then I changed bulbs right in the parking lot before leaving Autozone. It was actually a pretty easy toolfree installation. The hardest part was figuring out how to remove and reinstall the engine cover clips because that's where the manual was somewhat unclear. Anyway, with just 10 minutes of my time and a couple of greasy fingers, I did this myself and saved a $25 labor charge. Not a bad deal.
Something else I saw yesterday night that I forgot to mention was a boat crash. Apparently, the boat fell off someone's trailer so it was just sitting there on I-287. No traffic delay because it was late at night on a weekend. State police had already set up road flares around the boat.
My uncle, back in the old country, hasn't been doing too well healthwise recently. He had two heart attacks a few weeks ago and now a couple of diabetic sores. It was pretty scary for a while but he's recovering and I do hope he gets well again. This is also a reminder to not be complacent about health issues. A few people in my extended family have had diabetes and heart disease, so I could be at risk too.
Yesterday evening, I was near a cache site waiting for everyone to leave so that I could go look for the cache. That wasn't going to happen that evening so I gave up and I was about to leave when a nice fellow, one of the locals, told me that my left headlight bulb was out. This afternoon, I went to Autozone in Spring Valley to get a replacement bulb. Then I changed bulbs right in the parking lot before leaving Autozone. It was actually a pretty easy toolfree installation. The hardest part was figuring out how to remove and reinstall the engine cover clips because that's where the manual was somewhat unclear. Anyway, with just 10 minutes of my time and a couple of greasy fingers, I did this myself and saved a $25 labor charge. Not a bad deal.
Something else I saw yesterday night that I forgot to mention was a boat crash. Apparently, the boat fell off someone's trailer so it was just sitting there on I-287. No traffic delay because it was late at night on a weekend. State police had already set up road flares around the boat.
My uncle, back in the old country, hasn't been doing too well healthwise recently. He had two heart attacks a few weeks ago and now a couple of diabetic sores. It was pretty scary for a while but he's recovering and I do hope he gets well again. This is also a reminder to not be complacent about health issues. A few people in my extended family have had diabetes and heart disease, so I could be at risk too.
Monday, September 29th, 2008
3:27 am - Lehigh Valley Fall Picnic
On Sunday, I went to the Lehigh Valley Fall Picnic at Covered Bridge Park in Whitehall. It rained the whole time so we were all under the picnic pavillion the whole time but there weren't any new geocaches in that park to go out and do group hunts, so that's just as well. After the picnic, I headed out to do a few easy geocaches in the rain. A few became more than a few and soon, I was all the way out by Fogelsville. Turned around and picked up one more geocache in Bethlehem before dinner at Arby's near Nazareth.
Apparently, some Lehigh Valley locals know about the geocaches. While I was at "Soccer Rocks", a lady who was walking a dog in the park asked me if I had found the "clue". I thought that was an amusing term for a geocache. :) She also told me that there was another "clue" not far away in that park.
I knew from my last visit to be extra careful on US-22, especially near on-ramps. Sure enough, something unsafe happened again. It was the exact opposite problem this time. On my last trip, someone merged too slowly from a ramp onto the highway with very little room to spare and nearly caused an accident. This time, someone was too timid to merge onto the highway. The problem was when he became too timid, he was already halfway out onto the highway and he should've just gone ahead. Luckily, I wasn't going very fast so I could slow down safely (on a wet road even) and stop. Tapped the high beams to try to get that fellow to go. The next motorist also slowed down and stopped off to the right a bit. And then he joined in the tapping of the high beams. After an agonizing half a minute, the timid fellow finally went.
( The caches... )
On Sunday, I went to the Lehigh Valley Fall Picnic at Covered Bridge Park in Whitehall. It rained the whole time so we were all under the picnic pavillion the whole time but there weren't any new geocaches in that park to go out and do group hunts, so that's just as well. After the picnic, I headed out to do a few easy geocaches in the rain. A few became more than a few and soon, I was all the way out by Fogelsville. Turned around and picked up one more geocache in Bethlehem before dinner at Arby's near Nazareth.
Apparently, some Lehigh Valley locals know about the geocaches. While I was at "Soccer Rocks", a lady who was walking a dog in the park asked me if I had found the "clue". I thought that was an amusing term for a geocache. :) She also told me that there was another "clue" not far away in that park.
I knew from my last visit to be extra careful on US-22, especially near on-ramps. Sure enough, something unsafe happened again. It was the exact opposite problem this time. On my last trip, someone merged too slowly from a ramp onto the highway with very little room to spare and nearly caused an accident. This time, someone was too timid to merge onto the highway. The problem was when he became too timid, he was already halfway out onto the highway and he should've just gone ahead. Luckily, I wasn't going very fast so I could slow down safely (on a wet road even) and stop. Tapped the high beams to try to get that fellow to go. The next motorist also slowed down and stopped off to the right a bit. And then he joined in the tapping of the high beams. After an agonizing half a minute, the timid fellow finally went.
( The caches... )
Sunday, September 28th, 2008
2:23 am - Long Island
Rainy day, although it actually wasn't so bad. I brought an umbrella but I didn't need it most of the time. Went to Long Island. There actually weren't too many geocaches on my list but I didn't think I would do too many given the weather anyway.
Got questioned by a suspicious neighbor as soon as I parked on the side of a road for "RPA-4K Milestone Kings Park" in Kings Park. I hadn't even gone into the wooded area yet. He thought that anyone who's not from around there was going to break into his house. Unbelievable! I just told him that I was going to take a walk up that big obvious trail just across the road from his house. If he was nicer about it, I'd probably think nothing of it but his tone was accusatory and that was not nice. This does make me wonder about the crime rate in those Suffolk County neighborhoods. It seems I have to deal with the neighbors every other trip out to LI or so. If they're so paranoid about break-ins, maybe those neighborhoods aren't as safe as they seem on first glance.
Dinner was fried fish at LJS in Hicksville. I didn't think it was worth going to Flushing Chinatown because I'd have to pay for parking on Saturday.
( The caches... )
Rainy day, although it actually wasn't so bad. I brought an umbrella but I didn't need it most of the time. Went to Long Island. There actually weren't too many geocaches on my list but I didn't think I would do too many given the weather anyway.
Got questioned by a suspicious neighbor as soon as I parked on the side of a road for "RPA-4K Milestone Kings Park" in Kings Park. I hadn't even gone into the wooded area yet. He thought that anyone who's not from around there was going to break into his house. Unbelievable! I just told him that I was going to take a walk up that big obvious trail just across the road from his house. If he was nicer about it, I'd probably think nothing of it but his tone was accusatory and that was not nice. This does make me wonder about the crime rate in those Suffolk County neighborhoods. It seems I have to deal with the neighbors every other trip out to LI or so. If they're so paranoid about break-ins, maybe those neighborhoods aren't as safe as they seem on first glance.
Dinner was fried fish at LJS in Hicksville. I didn't think it was worth going to Flushing Chinatown because I'd have to pay for parking on Saturday.
( The caches... )
Friday, September 26th, 2008
2:30 am - Campy Rifles
This afternoon, I went to Rifle Camp Park in West Paterson to seek the Just Another Cache With A View geocache. There was another new one in the park but this was the only one I had time for today. As for the view, well, the location overlooks a quarry and a housing development. However, this is one of the nicer wooded areas around. I wasn't the only one in the park at lunchtime but it appeared that everyone else was stationed at strategic locations to look at deer.
In the evening, I went to Garden State Plaza for a free Cold Stone ice cream. They were having a promotion to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation, giving out free 3oz servings of ice cream and collecting donations. This promotion was so popular that they actually ran out of the two kinds of ice cream that they were giving out, so the sundae that I got actually used a substitute ice cream flavor. (peanut butter ice cream instead of nutter butter, not that I could tell the difference. :) )
Of course, it would be a waste to go to the mall just for the ice cream, so I also added more cash to my Sprint account and had food court Thai food.
This afternoon, I went to Rifle Camp Park in West Paterson to seek the Just Another Cache With A View geocache. There was another new one in the park but this was the only one I had time for today. As for the view, well, the location overlooks a quarry and a housing development. However, this is one of the nicer wooded areas around. I wasn't the only one in the park at lunchtime but it appeared that everyone else was stationed at strategic locations to look at deer.
In the evening, I went to Garden State Plaza for a free Cold Stone ice cream. They were having a promotion to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation, giving out free 3oz servings of ice cream and collecting donations. This promotion was so popular that they actually ran out of the two kinds of ice cream that they were giving out, so the sundae that I got actually used a substitute ice cream flavor. (peanut butter ice cream instead of nutter butter, not that I could tell the difference. :) )
Of course, it would be a waste to go to the mall just for the ice cream, so I also added more cash to my Sprint account and had food court Thai food.
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
11:44 pm - Notescraps Review
I was asked by NoteScraps to review their notetaking software, which is odd because I rarely review software here and even when I do, my endorsement is lukewarm at best. One caveat: They offered a free copy of this $20 software for a review so I can't claim to be unbiased. Then again, I'm not too likely to continue using it afterwards so maybe that won't matter too much.
So here's a walk-through:
( Read more... )
Notetaking software is a very crowded field with low barriers to entry. There are so many open source and freeware notetakers that I'm not sure too many people would pony up the $20 registration fee for this program after taking a look at the alternatives. I used TiddlyWiki myself before switching to Google Notebook. In a pinch, even Vim, whether plain or augmented with plugins such as potwiki.vim, is good enough for managing notes. In any case, best of luck to the NoteScraps folks in developing their product.
I was asked by NoteScraps to review their notetaking software, which is odd because I rarely review software here and even when I do, my endorsement is lukewarm at best. One caveat: They offered a free copy of this $20 software for a review so I can't claim to be unbiased. Then again, I'm not too likely to continue using it afterwards so maybe that won't matter too much.
So here's a walk-through:
( Read more... )
Notetaking software is a very crowded field with low barriers to entry. There are so many open source and freeware notetakers that I'm not sure too many people would pony up the $20 registration fee for this program after taking a look at the alternatives. I used TiddlyWiki myself before switching to Google Notebook. In a pinch, even Vim, whether plain or augmented with plugins such as potwiki.vim, is good enough for managing notes. In any case, best of luck to the NoteScraps folks in developing their product.
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008
10:03 pm - Failout
Demonstrator holds up "Fail" sign behind Paulson and Bernanke
Haha! That totally made my day. Thanks to Jesse Baer for the link.
I've been hearing a lot about the $700 billion bailout today and I'm glad people are waking up to the enormity of the cost, which is about $8,000 per taxpayer. For a very long time, I've lamented that Americans appeared to be sleepwalking into oblivion as bad credit and economic distortions piled up and that the few who did talk about it were dismissed as kooks. Now I have hope that even though we'll still be on the hook for potentially $trillions in toxic mortgage paper, we'll let our legislators know how mad we are every step of the way!
People are Asking the Wrong Question (Got this link from![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif)
the_recession)
That blog article explains why bailouts are ineffective and throw good money after bad by examining two periods in history, Hoover's 1931-1932 bailout and Japan's lost decade. It's hard to tell what will happen at the moment, but I'll go along with the Daily Reckoning folks in guessing that we're in for a Japan-style prolonged soft depression. However, there is a small chance we'll enter a hyperinflationary period if Paulson and Bernanke don't come to their senses and continue pushing for more and more monetary juice.
Demonstrator holds up "Fail" sign behind Paulson and Bernanke
Haha! That totally made my day. Thanks to Jesse Baer for the link.
I've been hearing a lot about the $700 billion bailout today and I'm glad people are waking up to the enormity of the cost, which is about $8,000 per taxpayer. For a very long time, I've lamented that Americans appeared to be sleepwalking into oblivion as bad credit and economic distortions piled up and that the few who did talk about it were dismissed as kooks. Now I have hope that even though we'll still be on the hook for potentially $trillions in toxic mortgage paper, we'll let our legislators know how mad we are every step of the way!
People are Asking the Wrong Question (Got this link from
the_recession)That blog article explains why bailouts are ineffective and throw good money after bad by examining two periods in history, Hoover's 1931-1932 bailout and Japan's lost decade. It's hard to tell what will happen at the moment, but I'll go along with the Daily Reckoning folks in guessing that we're in for a Japan-style prolonged soft depression. However, there is a small chance we'll enter a hyperinflationary period if Paulson and Bernanke don't come to their senses and continue pushing for more and more monetary juice.
Monday, September 22nd, 2008
2:06 am - Central Jersey
Sunny day again. Temperatures topped out in the upper 70s. I had a choice of several different travel directions today but I chose Central Jersey so that I could use my Rainforest Cafe birthday coupon at the end of the day. Sadly, that was not to be but I still did a lot today.
Most of today's geocaches were pretty easy. The two "Do-You-Dare..." geocaches were easy too, once I read the online logs and realized what it was that I was looking for. The sad part is every other park I visited today was a dump. I picked up litter and filled up two bags just walking a few hundred feet into wooded areas at those locations. Central Jersey has issues. On the flip side, Rutgers Gardens, where I found "Bam! Boo!" and "geokuch", was surprisingly clean for an area open to the public.
At sundown, I called Rainforest Cafe in Edison to ask about restaurant hours on Sunday. It was only open until 7:30pm, which wouldn't do because it was already 7pm when I called. So instead, I had a meatball hot-to-go bowl at Wawa in Dayton and then returned home.
( The caches... )
Sunny day again. Temperatures topped out in the upper 70s. I had a choice of several different travel directions today but I chose Central Jersey so that I could use my Rainforest Cafe birthday coupon at the end of the day. Sadly, that was not to be but I still did a lot today.
Most of today's geocaches were pretty easy. The two "Do-You-Dare..." geocaches were easy too, once I read the online logs and realized what it was that I was looking for. The sad part is every other park I visited today was a dump. I picked up litter and filled up two bags just walking a few hundred feet into wooded areas at those locations. Central Jersey has issues. On the flip side, Rutgers Gardens, where I found "Bam! Boo!" and "geokuch", was surprisingly clean for an area open to the public.
At sundown, I called Rainforest Cafe in Edison to ask about restaurant hours on Sunday. It was only open until 7:30pm, which wouldn't do because it was already 7pm when I called. So instead, I had a meatball hot-to-go bowl at Wawa in Dayton and then returned home.
( The caches... )
Sunday, September 21st, 2008
3:05 am - Westchester
Sunny. 63°F-72°F. I started geocaching in Northern Westchester, went south through Southern Westchester (I use I-287 as the dividing line between north and south), and finished up in the Bronx. The first two locations were easily the best of the day. Totally litter-free. It went downhill from there. The last cache site was such a dump that I decided it wasn't worth poking around to find the cache among the discarded takeout containers. I also came across human poop at a Home Depot parking lot in New Rochelle. Unfortunately, I found it the usual way I find such things. Ugh. Of course, it's not the first time I've come across something so disgusting in an urban area but all illusions of that area being better than NE Philly are now shattered.
I encountered a crazy gas station pump attendant this evening. He talked to himself the whole time and he topped off more than $2 past the first click until I told him to stop pumping gas or it'll spill out! State of New Jersey, could you please let me pump gas myself? Even with no formal gas pump training under my belt, I don't think I'd be any more dangerous than him.
Finally, I had Chicken McNuggets at McDonald's in Ramsey with five kinds of dipping sauces. That was great, and even better after I mixed the ranch sauce with the Buffalo hot sauce.
( The caches... )
Sunny. 63°F-72°F. I started geocaching in Northern Westchester, went south through Southern Westchester (I use I-287 as the dividing line between north and south), and finished up in the Bronx. The first two locations were easily the best of the day. Totally litter-free. It went downhill from there. The last cache site was such a dump that I decided it wasn't worth poking around to find the cache among the discarded takeout containers. I also came across human poop at a Home Depot parking lot in New Rochelle. Unfortunately, I found it the usual way I find such things. Ugh. Of course, it's not the first time I've come across something so disgusting in an urban area but all illusions of that area being better than NE Philly are now shattered.
I encountered a crazy gas station pump attendant this evening. He talked to himself the whole time and he topped off more than $2 past the first click until I told him to stop pumping gas or it'll spill out! State of New Jersey, could you please let me pump gas myself? Even with no formal gas pump training under my belt, I don't think I'd be any more dangerous than him.
Finally, I had Chicken McNuggets at McDonald's in Ramsey with five kinds of dipping sauces. That was great, and even better after I mixed the ranch sauce with the Buffalo hot sauce.
( The caches... )
Saturday, September 20th, 2008
2:21 am - Central Jersey and the Robin that is Red
Day 2 of my 4-day birthday weekend. :) My goal for the day was to make it out to Red Robin to use my "birthday burger" coupon, but why not do some geocaching along the way? So I did 12 of those in Central Jersey at a diverse set of locations, ranging from parks and rivers to a garbage-strewn backlot. (I'm looking at you, "The One".) It was a nice day to be outside. Sunny but temperatures were only from 65 to 75°F.
Finally, I went to Red Robin in Clifton and got a BBQ pork burger. I've been to Red Robin before a long time ago, but I never noticed that their steak fries were seasoned with garlic. Those were good enough that I got a steak fry refill.
( The caches... )
Day 2 of my 4-day birthday weekend. :) My goal for the day was to make it out to Red Robin to use my "birthday burger" coupon, but why not do some geocaching along the way? So I did 12 of those in Central Jersey at a diverse set of locations, ranging from parks and rivers to a garbage-strewn backlot. (I'm looking at you, "The One".) It was a nice day to be outside. Sunny but temperatures were only from 65 to 75°F.
Finally, I went to Red Robin in Clifton and got a BBQ pork burger. I've been to Red Robin before a long time ago, but I never noticed that their steak fries were seasoned with garlic. Those were good enough that I got a steak fry refill.
( The caches... )