Mass transit day,
originally uploaded by MisterBlue.

The car is in the shop and I am on the train. Portland spent a billion on this train and we would have had better transit if the money was spent on the bus system, but it is still fun to ride the train.

First blog of May,
originally uploaded by MisterBlue.

I wanted to blog every day this month but i have already failed at that. Now i will need to catch up.

Sometimes customer service actually works. I bought a new Samsung LCD monitor. Saddly, the screen glows red and it’s WAY TOO BRIGHT. So, I phone 1-800-SAMSUNG, go through the several levels of automated selections (“press ‘1’ if you’re calling about a consumer product”…) and, within one (!!) minute, a fellow answered. I told him my problem. He had me unplug cables and describe the problem. Then he said, “Sounds like it needs to be replaced”. A few minutes of reading the model and serial numbers and, viola!, a new monitor is on it’s way to me. Amazing. There are horror stories, but sometimes it just works.

This last Sunday, we went down to Beulahland pub and listened to the live music. The cool part was that it was simulcast to SecondLife to the dance floor at Pannies & Rosedrop Media’s Circus. A screen in the pub allowed us to watch the avatars dance while we all listened to the same music. What a connected world.

Last Friday I took my son to the airport at 5am. Now, here in Portland, we have a section of Interstate 5 (I5) that runs through the center of town and the speed limit is 55. Since it was 5 in the morning, I decided to move with the prevailing traffic. This meant zipping along at 70 to 75. Whoa!!!! I must say things move quickly in the morning before the cops get out of bed.