Stop here

In the morning today, I noticed that one of the signs at a fairly busy red light on the drive to the park’n’ride had been changed from “Stop here on red” to “Stop here on red to activate sensor.” I’m sure most people have seen both versions of this sign, but today I was running late, and I noticed that my reaction to the revised wording was different than to the original.

My initial reaction to “Stop here on red” is that it is a forceful command, with no indication of either what the consequences to me will be if I do not (although crashing into another vehicle is certainly one fairly obvious consequence), or the benefit to me if I do stop there. I think my tendency is to ignore, or even question the authority of the sign.

On the other hand, my reaction to “Stop here on red to activate sensor” was that I wanted to stop right here because I perceived that doing so may cause the light to turn green a little more quickly, and so I might not miss the bus.

It may seem like a fairly trivial moment in the day, but I’ve found that drawing on all the little day-to-day experiences like this one helps me to think about, design, and implement a better user experience.

Awake?

While standing at the bus stop today, I was looking up the hill, the opposite way from which the bus approaches, at the line of cars (now a regular morning thing due to construction on Rt. 28) turning into the school. I must have zoned out because suddenly the bus was there, door open, and the driver was looking at me over his glasses.

Speaking of the driver, I had never seen him before. He was not one of our three regulars. The bus was empty when I got on, which, if memory serves, has never been the case before. I walked to my regular seat wondering if my alarm would go off any second now, and I would wake up in bed.

The bus went several stops before anyone else got on. Another regular walked back to her seat. I managed a “Good morning”, but she didn’t respond, which only added to the feeling that I was actually still asleep.

Must have been the long weekend.

Wind generator

It’s really amazing how much wind there is downtown. Before I started commuting, I thought the street level would be shielded from the wind, but it seems to be nearly the opposite. The wind is actually funneled into the streets. Since that restricts the available air space, the wind is more intense. Remember that old gradeschool question about in which pipe the water flows faster, the one with the larger or smaller diameter?

There’s something else going on, though. As I walk from one of my various morning bus stops, the wind gets more intense. Standing 20 feet from USX, you get blasted by wind that somehow seems to come directly from the building. Sometimes, even while standing in the revolving door opening, the wind can be impossibly intense, hitting you right in the face.

I think there’s some sort of top secret wind generating machine somewhere in the basement. Maybe the Smoking Man knows …

Elevator

For several minutes yesterday, I thought I would be spending the evening in a USX elevator. Several minutes may not sound like a long time, but when you're locked inside a 4x4x8 metal box, the minutes certainly feel longer.

I and another person from my floor got on the elevator after work, and, as usual, the elevator started its quitting-time-stop-on-every-floor descent. At the next floor down, it slowed, but didn’t quite stop. It continued to move down at an almost imperceptibly slow pace for about 20 seconds, until it finally stopped, and the doors opened. Whew, that was weird … dodged a bullet there, I thought.

A few more people got on, and we started again for the next floor down, where it happened again. Slow … 20 seconds later, stop. At this point I was just waiting for the lights to go off or for sirens to sound—some signal of the impending elevator break down, or the thing somehow locking in place for a few hours.

My guess is that things like this happen more often than you might think, as I’ve seen some other bizarre elevator quirks at USX. I’ve gotten on elevators whose doors would never close, and thus would never go anywhere. There are regularly elevators in the lobby that beep incessantly, doors open, “ooh, ooh, pick me! pick me!” The Venus Flytrap of elevators?

Anyway, it happened at two more floors, but thankfully each time the elevator did its thing, albeit very slowly, and we all eventually made it to the ground floor.

Age perception

On the morning bus today I saw a middle-aged woman, probably in her 50s, watching a movie on her smartphone. On my walk from the bus stop to USX I saw a young man, probably in his early 20s, walking with a cane.

Avoid bus burn

Here is my little contribution to daily bus commute survival. Don’t sit in the seats all the way in the back on the right (the bus’s right, i.e. “passenger side” of the vehicle). These seats must be directly over the engine or the exhaust because they are extremely hot. That’s hot as in burning through my jeans right now, hot. While I can imagine this might feel toasty for about 5 minutes on a cold day, it is making for an exceptionally unpleasant ride home today.

CO geyser

As I walked to the bus stop, which is the parking lot of a local mechanic, I saw this. I couldn’t figure out what it was until I got fairly close and realized that it was a geyser of carbon monoxide. It was coming from a fairly ingenious setup that allows the mechanics to keep a vehicle running inside while they work on it without them suffocating from the exhaust.

Unfortunately, the fumes are directed out of the garage bay and right into the area of the parking lot where people wait for the bus. So, we were at the mercy of the wind as we waited for the bus today. My life span is probably shorter by a few milliseconds a few seconds …

It was bound to happen

I missed the morning bus today. The 1B passes my street and gets to my stop, which is about a 1 minute walk from the end of my street, around 8:10am. Some mornings it gets there at 8:11, others at 8:15, or 8:09, or even 8:08 once or twice. Today it passed my street at 8:05, when I was about halfway there. The way our road slopes, the bus driver couldn’t see me, and all I could see was the top of the bus as it cruised by. So, I turned around and hopped in the car, my wallet already feeling $14 lighter. Oh well, I guess Id rather just get that out of the way now, so I don’t have to worry about missing it for a while.

Ironically, today turned out to be a great day. Downtown was bright and sunny, rather than cold and shadowy, had some good chinese food for lunch, and I plowed through some serious code.

MBP Waterfield sleevecase

Here’s what I ordered:

• Horizontal Sleevecase, size 15-2
• flap (see below for the bonus)
• d-rings and suspension strap
• horizontal piggyback

The short version is that this thing is bullet-proof, carries just enough beyond the MBP itself to be useful as my sole commuting bag 90% of the time, and the attention to detail is impressive.

The first thing I can say that I liked about my new Waterfield sleevecase is that I ordered it on Monday and it arrived on Wednesday, and I didn’t have to pay for extravagant shipping. That was just USPS Priority, which was one of the lesser expensive shipping options (USPS Priority is underrated, IMHO, but that’s another blog post).

The overall design, and as far as I can tell, the materials, have not changed, and that is a good thing, as it should be as bullet-proof as my tibook sleevecase. The case fits my MBP like an Assos jersey. That’d probably be “like an Armani suit”, but since I’ve never actually worn one, I figured I’d go with the cycling reference. Once again, the interior neoprene suspension design is genius.

D-Rings

The d-rings, shoulder strap clips, and piggyback clips are all metal. The ones on the shoulder strap and sleevecase are quite beefy. The piggyback clips are less so. I’d bet money that they sturdier than equivalently sized plastic clips, though. They also have nice release levers to help you open them since they are so small—very nice attention to detail.

Shoulder Strap

The suspension strap is a very interesting design. I couldn’t find many pictures or a detailed description of it on the site before buying, but I decided to give it a go anyway, betting that if I wasn’t happy with it, I could try to exchange it for a regular strap.

The strap has 3 sections that are sewn together. The two ends where the clips are attached are standard heavy duty shoulder strap stuff. The key is the center section. The underside is made of a very soft and grippy rubber that really does keep it from sliding around. Second, the pad is stretchy, but has another strap sewn onto it that acts like a damper. That’s probably impossible to visualize, so think of the springs and shocks on your car. The first is for absorbing impact, the second for keeping the springs under control. It’s a clever design. I can’t really say how much it changes the dynamic of carrying the bag, but I can say that overall the shoulder strap is very comfortable.

It is also adjustable in two places, instead of just one, which allows you to position the pad correctly no matter how long or short you make the strap. Attention to detail.

Piggyback

The piggyback is my favorite part of the package. It lets me carry the extra bits that I need, which makes the sleevecase usable as my daily commuter. It clips to the same d-rings as the shoulder strap, and it holds more than I thought it would. I’ve carried the following without having to cram: MBP power brick, ipod and headphones, small moleskine and pen, cell phone charger, and a Balance Bar. The inside is lined with some super-soft alien material, and has one large main compartment and two smaller pockets. The zipper is metal (a good thing, imho) and has a zipper pull tab that I can easily grab while wearing gloves. The piggyback also has a small rain flap (details, I say!). It’s a lot of usefulness wrapped up into a svelte little package.

The shoulder strap can be attached to the piggyback, so you can carry just the piggyback by itself if you’re so inclined.

In my experience so far, the case and piggyback work together very well. I was afraid that the piggyback would bounce around while carrying the bag, but it doesn’t. The on problem I’ve found with using them together is that the piggyback actually covers the flap on the sleevecase in a way that makes it difficult to open the flap. This hasn’t been a big annoyance so far, and it might be possible to work around it by attaching the piggyback on the back side of the sleevecase and carrying the case with the flap facing toward your body. I may give that a try if the interference becomes annoying.

My only other gripe so far is that I wish the sleevecase had some sort of small carry handle (also one of my complaints about my Timbuk2 messenger), but I knew that before I bought it, so I can’t complain too much.

Bonus

One bonus that my previous sleevecase did not have is the slash pocket on the back. I’m guessing that you get this when you order the flap. Regardless, I’ve found it to be extremely useful so far. It is the perfect size for my aluminum clipboard, or any of several music books.

Conclusion

All in all, I am very happy with my purchase, and I think it’s gonna just right for my daily commute. It’s more streamlined than my Timbuk2, and still holds the few extra things I need.

Accidental bus wardriving

Yesterday on the bus ride home, I popped open the MBP to watch the latest BSG (sorry, couldn’t resist the acronym alliteration). As I typically do, I started to crank down the screen brightness and to turn off Airport in order to conserve power.

When I pulled down the Airport menu, I was surprised at the the huge list of wireless networks. Some are obvious, like “Brueggers_Free_Wifi”, “WifiPittsburgh”. Others are interesting because they are obviously wireless routers being used in their default configuration, probably without WEP or WPA. I don't approve of stealing wireless, but it would be interesting to see which ones are open. I didn’t try, though, since the bus was moving and I’d probably be out of range in a few seconds.

A good morning

I was listening to my new copy of The Archangel Voices’ Resurrection! for the first time on the bus ride in today. My iPod was set to random, and “Angels in Heaven” started to play. About halfway through the song, Russian bell ringing faded in behind the singing just as I approached St. Nicholas Church. It’s going to be a good day.

Commuter karma

I must have a decent supply of good commuter karma built up now. I'm sure it's due in part to the fact that the 3:40 1B never showed up yesterday, so I had to wait for the 4:40 instead. Today, though, I the karma has been in full effect.

Normally, I walk to the end of our street, turn right onto the main road and walk about 200 yards to the bus stop. Today, no sooner did I reach the end of the street, than the bus pulled up, stopped, and opened its door so that I almost didn't even have to break stride to board. There were only two other people on the bus, so I had my choice of seats.

The bus arrived downtown about 5 minutes earlier than usual. I got off the bus and started on my usual route to USX, and my good karma field remained in full swing. The stoplights and crossing signals at every intersection along the way switched at exactly the right time. There was even an elevator waiting for me, and at USX, that is a minor miracle at 5 to 9 in the morning.

Just a while ago, I decided to head out for a veggie burrito at Qdoba. On the way to and from, the crossing signals synchronized along the route I walked. No breaks in stride yet again. I hope it lasts for the commute home.

Of course, now that I've used up so much good commuter karma and blogged about it, I've probably doomed myself to at least a week of bad commutes ...

Timbuk2 messenger bag

Since I mentioned them when I blogged about Waterfield, I figured it’s only right to give props to Timbuk2. I’ve had my Timbuk2 messenger for at least 10 years now, and aside from having a few spots of ground-in dirt and grime, the thing is still in great condition. I’ve biked with it in torrential downpours, snow, and hail. I’ve crashed with it. It’s been beaten up in many airport checkpoints and smashed into airplane overhead bins and car trunks. It’s even survived an alien attack. Ok, maybe not that last one, but I’ve beaten the thing up in nearly every other way you can imagine, and not a single stitch has come loose.

Amazingly, the velcro still works after 10 years, too.

Like just about everything, there are a few minor things about the bag that could be improved. In fact, Timbuk2 has made several improvements over the past 10 years that solve my main gripes. My biggest ones are the lack of a carry handle, which you can now get in a custom build, and the layout of the interior pockets, which has also been revised.

If I ever need to retire mine, a custom Timbuk2 messenger will certainly be at the top of my list of replacement candidates.

Waterfield

I've had a Waterfield sleevecase for my aging tibook for nearly six years now. The case still looks like it did the day I received it, even though it's been all over the US, and in and out of my Timbukt2 messenger (another product that I'll probably buy again when the time comes) more times that I can count. The thing is darn near indestructible. I have no doubt that my tibook is still in working order without major dents and gauges because of that sleevecase. The outside “shell” is ballistic nylon, and the inside is a magically suspended neoprene pouch that holds the laptop and acts like a shock absorber. Subtle, but ingenious and effective.

Now that I have a brand new MacBook Pro for work, I needed to get a case for it. The tibook sized sleevecase doesn't quite fit. After looking around at a few others and comparing features and prices, I decided to go with another Waterfield sleevecase. I wanted to be able to carry it as my sole commuting bag this time, so I went with the full deal: flap, strap, and piggyback.

After I ordered it, I was reminded of another reason that I like Waterfield so much: customer service. I got a personal email from Gary. In the email he asked how I found out about Waterfield, so I responded telling him about my experience with the tibook sleeve, and he responded with another personal email. It's pretty clear that not only do they make great stuff, they actually care about it. I feel very confident that if I have a problem with the new case, they'll make it right. That goes a long way to making me want to be a repeat customer in the future.

The case should be here this week, so I'll probably post a bit more about the it then.

Today's interesting commute

I probably jinxed myself in the morning today by changing my routine around, but whatever the reason, today’s commute was a bit more interesting than usual. I usually shower right when I get out of bed, but today, I decided that I would wait and shower just before leaving the house. The only reason that’s relevant is that my hair was still wet when I got to the bus stop, and it was so cold today that part of it froze. It was actually crunchy when I got on the bus. Luckily it all still seems to be attached to my head.

There were some very interesting characters to watch on the bus. There was the girl who twirled her hair from the time I got on the bus until she got off about 30 minutes later. There was the woman putting on various kinds and layers of makeup while the bus bounced around … it was like watching someone play some strange video game. There was the grandfather letting his granddaughter brush his hair in various crazy directions, none of which came close to his intended hairstyle, I’m sure. That’s what grandfathers do, and it was very sweet to watch. There was lady dressed in fur from head to toe: hat, coat, gloves, pants (not technically fur, but leopard print), and fur tufts on the tops of her boots. Finally, there was the fellow who was very animated at the bus stop, waving vigorously for the bus as if it would pass him by for sure.

After I got off the bus, I walked my usual route across Liberty, in front of the Culinary Institute, where I can usually see the chefs-in-training either preparing breakfast for one another, or all sitting together to eat whatever breakfast one of them had made. When I turned onto Strawberry Way, there was a huge crane in the alley, and I had to walk under the enormous counterweight that keeps the crane from tipping when it’s boom is extended. If walking under a ladder is bad luck, I’m surely in for it.

I never know what manner of interesting smell will be coming from Wiener World. Today, as I approached, it was immediately apparent that the aroma-du-jour was ammonia.

I decided on the way up the USX entry escalator to treat myself to a scone from Starbucks (say all the bad things you want about their coffee, but I do like the scones). The line was quite long, so I got to people watch for a while, which is one of the things I enjoy about being downtown (couldn’t you tell?). Ironically, there wasn’t much out of the ordinary, just the usual bluetooth headset people having their conversations into thin air (slightly hypocritical, as I do this at the grocery store on occasion), and the suits flirting with the female Starbucks baristas. I guess I used up my interestingness karma on the bus ride.

My life on timers

Another big adjustment in my transition from working at home to commuting to an office has been that my schedule is now largely dictated by outside forces. My morning and evening commute schedule is tied completely to the bus schedule, for example. Over the past week, though, I’ve discovered a couple more slightly amusing ways in which outside schedules affect my day.

The office lights in USX are on timers. There are no light switches. Want to go into the kitchen and find a fork with which to eat your breakfast at 7am? You’ll be fumbling in the dark … luckily you’ll have the Joust machine to provide a bit of light (but not much, since it’s screen is 90% black most of the time anyway!).

Luckily, the bathroom lights seem to be on by 7am, so I don’t have to aim in the dark. The automatic flush systems, however, are not. No flushing before 7:30am, and presumably no flushing after a certain time in the evening. I’m not sure whether I find this funny, or just plain freaky. A bit of each, I suppose.

The smoking man

The smoking man rides my bus. I first encountered him late last week, waiting at the bus stop downtown. He was, of course, smoking, and got on the D. Not paying much attention, I sat down in the same end of the bus. As the cigarette smell began to make me ill, I looked up and realized it was the smoking man.

Yesterday, he was at the bus stop again, smoking. In the course of the eight minutes I waited for the bus, he smoked two cigarettes (as a non-smoker that seems impressive). I looked around, but no Mulder anywhere. Rats.

Even if he wasn’t on his way to a date with extraterrestrial espionage, I made sure to keep my distance this time so as not to tempt my cigarette smoke gag reflex again.

I don’t have anything against smokers, per se, except that they smoke, and I do not like smoking. It kills people, and smoking residuals inevitably make their way into non-smoking areas … like the bus.

Tube 2.0

I just ran across this post about a guy using Twitter to broadcast real-time London Tube delays. Now that’s a very useful thing to do with Twitter, and is definitely headed in the direction I had in mind for using Twitter as a message delivery API.

I’d sure love to have this for the 1B and D buses that I now take to and from work every day. PAT are you listening? No? I thought not.

Adjusting to downtown

While I don’t like commuting to and from downtown, I actually do like being downtown. However, a few things that I didn’t expect have bothered me a bit over the past week as I’ve walked around downtown.

First, it’s incredibly noisy. We live out in the sticks, and it’s very quiet in our back yard. I’m pretty shocked at the ambient noise level while just walking around downtown. All the cars, buses, people talking, huge HVAC systems, etc. generate a lot of noise. Add to that all the hard surfaces that are reflecting the sound and creating echos, and you’ve got one loud environment. My ears have adjusted, but I still notice it on occasion, especially when trying to make a phone call. I notice myself practically yelling into my phone, and saying “what?” a lot. Of course, by doing so, I’m adding to the ambient noise level.

Second, it’s dark. Ok, not dark like night, but darker than at our house. It bothered me a lot yesterday, because it was a very bright and sunny day. At least, it was at our house. The buildings are so huge and so close together that no sunlight seems to penetrate the city. We don’t have that out in the sticks. Our closest neighbors are a good fifty feet away, and certainly aren’t fifty stories tall. Sunlight was streaming in our windows at home yesterday shortly after 7am, and I’m sure it stayed that way for most of the day. It always looks like dawn or dusk to me downtown, and never like the daytime I've grown accustomed to at home.

Third, it’s cold. It’s been really cold in Pittsburgh lately, but I’d swear there is a 10 degree temperature difference between our front yard and the streets of downtown. The fact that there’s no sunlight makes a big difference, and I can practically feel the cold concrete and steel buildings sucking the heat out of me.

That sounded a bit like a rant, and I suppose it is, but I really do like downtown. I just have to adjust.

The next morning bus commute

In the back of my mind, I just knew I’d shouldn’t have blogged about how smoothly that first morning bus ride was.

I needed to get into work a bit earlier today, so I took a different bus, the D Flyer, from a nearby park and ride. On the bus, I popped open my laptop to do some reading, and shortly after, I heard:

“D Flyer, mechanical emergency”

It took a sec to register, but then I realized that there was no sound coming from the bus—no engine noise, no whiny electrical noises. Uh oh. So much for getting into work early. The bus driver called in to the mother ship, and then quickly herded us out to a nearby bus stop. After only a few minutes, another bus stopped to pick us up, and we were on our way again. The first driver got us back on another bus within minutes on one of the coldest days of the year. I’m sure the he’ll never read this, but …

Thank you, Mr. D Flyer driver from Feb. 16.

This new bus, the 1D, only got within about 6-8 blocks of where I needed to go, so I figured I’d just have a brisk morning walk through the city … if I could figure out which way to walk. It’s probably good that I looked a little confused, because a woman that had boarded the D Flyer with me earlier asked if I knew where I was going. “Uh, well, I know I need to get to the USX building.” She told me to walk to the nearby T stop and take the T to USX. So I did. It’s free to ride in town, and it was about a thirty second ride right into the base of USX. I consider myself a fairly savvy city traveler, although not so much in Pittsburgh, as I’ve never really had to, but I’d have never thought to take the T five blocks. I’m sure she’ll never read this, but …

Thank you, Ms. D Flyer rider who recommended the T.

In the end, I only lost about 10-15 minutes, met some nice people, and learned a few things along the way, so I’ll consider it a good morning, especially when it had the potential to be a very bad one.