Monday, July 31, 2006

Gas station show down

So let me start off by apologizing to the lady who I apparently cut off getting gas yesterday. I am afraid we are going to have to agree to disagree on the specifics of who was wrong, but I am sure we both seemed like a$$holes to each other.

The problem centers around a poor design to the gas stations along the mass pike. M, I and the Fishers spent a wonderful weekend in Boston doing touristy things. On the way home we stopped in Sturbridge to get gas before entering the never ending state of Connecticut. After discharging some personal liquids and restocking for the next 4 hours, we stopped to get some gas and encountered the design flaw. In order to get the maximum number of pumps into the already existing space the designers decided to create a long 2 pump deep gas station that runs parallel to the highway. It sort of looks like a starting gate at a horse race. At the end (entrance) they have a sign pointing all travelers to the left. Of course the problem is each pump has 2 sides and most cars (at least most American cars) have the gas tank opening on the left. So there are huge lines for all of the lefties waiting for gas.

Now the design of the station clearly displays to me that the designers intended people to enter at one end (the Front) and exit at the rear. It doesn't seem as if the designers thought about the gas opening bias and they didn't make the hoses long enough to reach around to the other side of the car. So there are vacancies (or at least no lines) at all of the righty pumps. Impatient lefties see no line for the other pump and start doing crazy things like backing into spaces and going against the flow of traffic. This just messes everything up. All of a sudden you have people facing each other at the pumps and backing up into traffic (some of which is trying to bypass fuel altogether) and general confiscate as to who was where and when.

So I travel past all of these middle pumps and spy an opening at the end I pull up and it turns out that the first pump is out of order. The second pump has someone at it but she is clearly almost done. And I happen to be right behind her. After waiting a few minutes I notice someone sitting out to my left on the phone, and she seems to be waiting for something (her location makes it a bit hard to tell if she is waiting for gas or just for one to exit the plaza so she could lead/follow. Besides her gas opening is on the wrong side to be using this pump (at least facing the right direction).

The person in front of me finishes and I start to pull up and at the same time the other lady starts to pull around as well. It is now obvious that she was waiting to get gas and was trying to use "my" pump in the reverse direction. Now I am pretty much at the pump before she tries to move and there is a car behind me so it would be hard to back up as well.

So she gets out as has some words with me. They were fairly civil (she didn't ever take her phone away from her ear), and she ended by calling me rude. I may admit to secretly knowing that she was waiting for gas and that she was there before me, but I can't feel too bad about it because I still believe this could all be avoided by simply putting in longer gas hoses.

I experience this same problem in NJ on the turnpike, except that their gas hoses are long enough to reach both sides of the car. They have to put signs up letting people know it is okay to use both sides. I'm not quite sure why Sunocco can get longer hoses and Exxon can't. Especially since they are making so much money these days. It couldn't cost more than a few hundred thousand dollars to put longer hoses in. And we would all be much better off for it.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

No Power since tuesday

So I think I mentioned Tuesday that I didn't have any power.... Well here it is Saturday and we still don't have power.

Now I know the human race survived a pretty long time with out electricity, so it isn't like a few days with out electricity is going to kill me or anything. But it is interesting how much we rely on electricity.

fortunatly T&C have been great friends this week (not to imply there are weeks when they aren't) and they have fed us and hung out with us, keeping us entertained..... It is great to have friends close by to help out.

Of course we have been sleeping here which hasn't been too bad but man do I miss fans an A/C!

Well the PECO truck is doing another lap around the neighborhood. Hopefully we will have power in and hour or so.... It will be interesting to have electric lights lighting up the living room again.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

After Dinner Entertainment

And people say TV causes volence... See what happens when after dinner you have no TV to watch.....

Great Grandmother's House

This is my great grandmother's house! It has been vacant for a number of years now, but it is still in surprisingly good condition for being over 100 years old!

Blackout

Well we had a large storm tonight and lost power. It is amazing how much we rely on electricity for entertainment... And also amazing how less important power right now is.

A great example is this message.... Since I am blogging from my Treo I can compose and send this even in a blackout. Pretty cool!

So I have attached a picture to see if blogger will include it. If not it is the painted buffalo (Bison) which I sent a few seconds ago via picture mail.

The bison are pretty cool. They follow the same idea of the cows in NY. Artists psint them in all sorts of different ways they get displayed in the city amd then they are bid on to raise money for charity. A pretty cool idea and it is fun to look at these different bison in a number of different locations throughout the city.

Well it is late (I think M and I are still on mountain time). Besides since there is no power there is nothing else to do :-)

Monday, July 17, 2006

Great Falls. MT

I should be posting pictures soon. But Mary and I spent the weekend in Great Falls, MT. This is where my mom grew up and where I spent many of my summers as a young child. We had a great time, but it was obviously too short.

The reason for the trip was my grandfathers 80th birthday party. My mom, dad, M and I surprised hime by comming out. It was the the first time we had been out to MT in about 18 years.

It was great to get reaquainted with a few of my cousins, and extended family. This was also the first time M had been to MT and was the first time she had met most of my family. I am sure she was surprised.

On Sunday we just toured aorund. We went to Great Falls giant spring, and the Lewis & Clark interperative center. Both places were very interesting. It is hard to believe that the Great Falls area was "discovered" only 200 years ago!

On our way to dinner we stopped by my great grandmothers old house. It is the place my grandfather was raised and where my family had farmed for years when the first arrived to Great Falls.

The place has been abandoned for a few years now, but it was great to see it. Especially since I'm not sure when we will get out there again.

For dinner we went to one of my mom's cousins place. We ate ribs, corn, and water mellon on the banks of the Sun River. After dinner we went up to the Pishkun (I probably spelled that wrong) Buffalo Jump. Aside from the historical interest it has an amazing view of the misouri and Sun river valleys. We walked around the clifs and ended up catching the sun set. It was an amazing evening.

I'm glad M and I could make it out. It was great to re meet my family, and it was great to introduce them to M.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Finishing up the House.... Sort of.

So I got the front 2 windows in. Not too bad it only took me 1 day per window. Now I could have done it faster, but I have found that working slow and methodical is much better, I tend to loose focus and make mistakes if I start working too fast. Now don't get me wrong, I still have lots of interior work to finish, but I spent my "vacation" finishing the porch, and finishing up the last little bit of siding that needed to be completed. So think are moving along. Mary also repainted the kitchen cabinets, I know paint and cabinets?. But this is what the previous owner left us with and a fresh coat of paint on poorly painted cabinets is better than poorly painted cabinets...... We may do the bathroom too... it could really use a coat of paint and there isn't much to paint. We will see if it gets accomplished soon.

Monday, July 03, 2006

4th of July weekend

Well we have had a whirl wind 4th of July weekend. It started with very quick drive from Philly to Boston.... Door to door was on 5 hours, but that included a 30 minute snack and gas stop. So 4.5 hours of driving for what normally take 5.5 to 6 hours. We were very lucky not to hit any 4th of July traffic.

We spent the night in Needham and got up early the next morning to pick up Paul and Megan and drop the ladies off at Rachel's pre wedding brunch.

The boys had to fend for themselves. It was great to have a few hours to our selves..... This makes 2 weekend in as many months, which is more than we have seen each each other in 10 years.

After picking up the ladies we went our separate ways to get ready for the wedding.

Of course the wedding its self was amazing. Rachel was beautiful and Sudir glowing. It was a perfect day for an outdoor wedding! The reception afterward was great and we all had a great time.

Mary and I headed back to the hotel for the evening and got up early for wedding #2. Slightly different setting. Kevin's wedding was more of a celebration since they were actually married in March. It was great to see some old friends from RPI and meet some of Kevin & Amanda's work friends.

After another wonderful day Mary & I headed back to the Parents house where we have been since. Obviously based on the pictures you can see we caught the Needham fire works... Which was a great show!

We head home early tomorrow morning. Let's hope the traffic god are with us.

Mary & Mom at the 4th of July Fireworks

Mom and Mary @ Needham 4th of July Fireworks

Ohhhh... ahhhhhh... ooooooo

The Fireworks were actuallky pretty good despite my treo's lack of a real camera......