Traffic Alerts

As the snow starts to fall in many part of the country, many of us will end up with longer than normal commute times. That's bad. Especially with the price of gas still so high. Wouldn't it be nice to be alerted to traffic slowdowns before you leave work? With that knowledge you could 1) leave early to account for the extra time needed, 2) leave later once things are clear, or 3) mentally prepare yourself for the long ride home. Traffic.com to the rescue!

On Traffic.com you can set up customized routes that will be monitored for traffic snares. You build your route by identifying the metro area, then the major road, then the entry point and exit point for that road, then rinse and repeat adding more roads to the trip. Save your route and then set up your alerts -- daily, regardless of delays, only if delays exist beyond a threshold, only on certain days, certain times, etc! The alerts can be sent to your phone, or an email address. You can click through to see the specific portion of your trip that's going to be slow, but the email itself will identify a delay in minutes, travel time and average speed.

I have my alerts set to notify me at work an hour before I normally leave when the Jam Factor (their custom 1-10 rating) is a 5 or greater during the week. I'm not in a position to be able to leave early, but I can at least psych my self up for the trip.

If you have a local blog or personal site, you can add a sticker (read: widget/gadget) that will show the jam Factor for your route, or metro area real time for all to see.

I can't keep up... and I LIKE it!

When Google released it's GMail application with 1G of space, it was exponentially more than anyone at the time. Who would ever need 1G of space? For mail?! It was one of those claims some thought they'd never have to honor for everyone -- kinda like fitness center memberships. They continued to incrementally up the ante and storage with a little counter on the home page that showed the storage available to each GMail account.

As of right now, they're telling me... "You are currently using 352 MB (6%) of your 5328 MB." I had hit a max of about 10% several weeks ago, but then they kicked the allocation into HIGH gear and are rapidly outpacing my inflow of mail. But that's OK. How often do you get something you want, before you need it, for FREE!

Other services like Hotmail (5G), Yahoo (unlimited), etc are adding storage feverishly, but people will still remember that it was Google that offered it first. Some people took it as a personal challenge to fill up their GMail account when they first got it and some actually achieved that goal, but now that there is so much space available that's just not fun anymore.

Google has started offering a paid storage option for their Picasa accounts, but I've not seen anything about requiring payment for even larger GMail boxes.

Almost Smart has a chart that shows the growth of GMail storage allocation. Guess I won't be running out of space for my mail anytime soon.

Life's a puzzle...

The guys over at Big Huge Labs have been putting the final pieces together on a new image enhancer recently. They jsut released a jigsaw-ing tool into their popular Flickr Toys site. You upload an image (or point to one on the web or your Flickr account) and it makes it look like your picture is an incomplete jigsaw puzzle. It provides enough of the image that it's recognizable (roughly 85% in my estimation), and leaves a few pieces "on the board." Pretty cool!

SPAM!

I happened to use Mailinator for a form today (see previous Mailinator post) and when I went to the site to check for the message, I was reminded that there are other domains besides mailinator.com that function the exact same way that you can use as companies get wise to the mailinator.com domain...

Email sent to an alternate domain goes to Mailinator too!

mailinator2.com
sogetthis.com
mailin8r.com
mailinator.net
spamherelots.com
thisisnotmyrealemail.com

Just thought I'd share!

Fancy yourself a Realestate Agent?

OK, so the housing market sucks for most of us right now. I estimate that I've lost almost a quarter of the value of my house in the last few years. Not because of developing a sinkhole in the backyard, or of an infestation of termites, nor a fire that destroyed the whole top floor (none of those happened by the way) -- but because there are too many houses out there for people to buy and not enough people to buy them. Pure economics. I wish I hadn't dragged my feet when my wife first suggested moving about 3 years ago. If we'd moved then, we'd be better off. As it stands right now, we'll have to wait another 3-5 years for the market to pick back up in the area -- if we're lucky. We need a massive influx of people looking to buy the houses that everyone leaving the state is leaving behind. The foreclosure list in the newspaper this past weekend was literally thicker than the newspaper itself!

There is a good side to the market, if that's possible. NEW GAMES TO PLAY! The people at Red Oak Realty in California ( in connection with Realius) are offering a cool "Guess the price" game. You see an ad (full MLS-style, recent sales, plus Google Maps, etc.) for a house on the market and then offer up your guess for the sales price. Compare that against the actual list price and you start gaining points. You can see others' guesses as well after posting yours.

Red Oak's entry to the Realius site is for housing in California mostly (unless my bad geography is catching up), but it's fun to use regardless of where you live.

Play the Fantasy Real Estate game.

Google Search

A cool and entertaining lecture given by a Googler about search...

There's still time to give your money away!

"The Official Black Friday Ads Site"

Google beat me!

I'll still look for some of the shopping and coupon sites when I get a moment or two, but I just noticed that the Google Ads on the right are already reflecting the Black Friday advertising. I "tell" them each time I create a new post here. Their ads are not placed real time, but are updated pretty quickly obviously to keep the ads relevant to the content on the site. Feel free to use those links until (and after) I get my set of links up. Time's running out for the Black Friday links, but my links will help the whole holiday season -- and beyond... And don't forget the jump off point for you Amazon shoppers over there too!

Happy Shopping!

Now THAT is COOL!

I've posted here about the voyeur photos that people started collecting when Google StreetView hit the streets (sorry, pun intended). Immersive Media is one of the companies that is collecting these images for Google. On their site, they have a demo that allows you to rotate the field of view -- get this -- while the video is playing! Take a look at their demo, then head on over to Popular Mechanic's Ridealong for more information on the company, and their cool technology.

Black Friday is coming

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in the US, is the busiest shopping day of the year. A lot of stores depend on the Christmas season to make or break their business for the year. Cyber-Monday is the following Monday when people return to work and take advantage of the their company's high speed Internet access to do their shopping online. With analysts predicting a flat or only modest gain in sales this year over last, a lot of stores, online and off, are offering some great deals to move merchandise. A lot of online stores are offering free shipping again.

I don't do a lot of shopping online, but if you're heading out to Amazon to grab your share of the deals, I've included a couple of jumping off points for you on the right side of this blog. A Deals widget will showcase some of Amazon's current deals, and a search widget will help you find anything else.

I'll try to locate a few coupon codes and sites that you can use to save even more and post them here as well for you. Got a site of coupon code t share? Pot a comment here and share the savings!

Happy Consumerism!

Coupon sites: <-- Got more to add? Add a comment!
FlamingoWorld
RetailMeNot

Those annoying relatives

As the holiday season kicks into full gear, the cameras will undoubtedly come out in full force. Sometimes I long for the old days when everyone used film cameras so they were more particular about the shots that they took, and they limited themselves to a few mostly posed pictures. Nowadays, digital shots cost nothing to take, so statistics rule -- take as many shots as you can and surely one or two will turn out good and then you delete the rest.

I found a new site the other day that showed a rather unique digital image editor. It's got a lot of other features as well, but the one that really stuck out was their ability to literally strip people (or objects) out of a picture -- almost imperceptibly! The demo that they show at their site removes one of two kids jumping in the grass. When it's done, it's very hard to see where the missing kid once was. They call it their smart resizer... It'll be interesting to see who gets stripped out of their family pictures this year. Hope it's not me!

Are you smarter than a 4th grader?

I'm not... Well that's not entirely true thankfully, but I feel like it sometimes. Trying to help my daughter with her homework the other night was bringing back some old memories. Not all of the memories came back though as I struggled to remember the definition of mode (versus median and mean). I know that we talked about it in school -- 30 some odd years ago! -- but I just couldn't remember. Things will only get worse as she gets older, I'm afraid.

On the other hand, she likes teaching others what she knows, and her brothers are close behind her in school, so if I can just make sure that she continues to do well in school, and keep her interested in sharing that knowledge, maybe the boys will have someone to help with their homework... I can hope. If not, there's always the Internet :-)

You have to believe it to see it

A co-worker of mine has this as his tag line on his IM client. He's had it there for a couple of months now. I remember then I first saw it I thought he had mistyped the more popular quote "You have to see it to believe it." After seeing it a couple of times, it clicked and I thought it was a cool quote.

I didn't give it more thought until tonight. Last time Radio Disney held one of their D-Tours, my daughter, as is the norm of late, won a bunch of Disney stuff -- a DVD, CD, folder, long sleeved T-shirt -- and tickets to see Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. We took the kids to see it tonight in a preview showing before tomorrow's release. I thought it was pretty good. The kids liked it too. My youngest son said it was "really, really, really funny Dad."

The movie is about a magical toy store that is passed down from Mr. Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) to his Store Manager. Without giving too much away, the Store Manager (played by Natalie Portman of Star Wars fame and more) isn't sure that she's ready to handle the magical store all by herself. Somewhere in the middle of her soul searching, I saw that phrase flashed again..."You have to believe it to see it." When I saw it this time, in the context of the movie, it really hit home more quickly.

You have to believe it to see it. It reminds me of a lot of other success-building phrases like "Picture what you want and then grab it," and all of the "other visualize success" sayings. "If you think you're a winner you will be." "If you think that you can't, then you can't."

In this movie, the magic was right there all the time, but the Store Manager didn't believe that she had the magic too. She thought that the magic was all Mr. Magorium's. It wasn't until a block of wood (with a little help from a friend) showed her that she really did believe and suddenly she could see the magic herself -- from herself!

So often we forget that we're in charge of our destiny. We see someone else succeeding, in business, in life, in love, and just stare. I'll never be like that. I'm not capable of attaining that level of success. They're so lucky. But, by believing, by visualizing, by acting like we are in charge, we will be in charge. You have to believe it to see it.

What are you waiting to believe in?

Political Donations

Ever wonder which way your neighbors lean? Do they care enough about a particular candidate to financially contribute to their hopefully successful campaign? The folks over at Political Base have a handy Google Maps mashup that lets you visualize the political contributions to the 2008 US Presidential race. See the money from from each state all the way down to your local neighborhood. You might be surprised.

They also have a section that allows you to see contributions by "famous people." See who your favorite star is supporting. It might make you view them in a whole new light.

Holiday time hustle

I received this from a friend today. I've seen this several times before, but this time of year, with all the chaos of the holidays, the commercialism, the running between family and work get-togethers, school and church functions, etc it's a perfect time to re-read it. Take it to heart and have a cup with a friend...

The Mayonnaise Jar

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things--- your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else---the small stuff. 'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

'Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.' The coffee just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.'

My son the Songmeister

OK, so maybe we watch and listen to a little too much Disney Channel. After getting my 4-year-old son a cup of juice this morning I apparently put things back in the fridge in the wrong order. He was quick to correct me saying that the orange juice should go in back and the apple sauce in front. I apologized for this lack of discipline and he said, "That's OK Dad. Everyone makes mistakes." Then almost in the same rhythm, realized that he had started something and continued in song with "Everybody has those days. Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody has those days."

He's often thrown Hannah Montana, Mylie Cyrus, High School Musical (1 and 2), Backyardigans, Go, Diego, Go and other lyrics back at the rest of the family -- in context. It's great to know that he's paying attention (see: Life Lessons...), has s good memory, likes to sing and in general is having fun with it. He often gets the rest of us laughing so he gets a positive response from it. We usually lose it completely when he adds dance moves :-)

Cool headed, er, um, Luke

This past Wednesday morning at about 2:30am my youngest son woke up coughing and crying. We still have a monitor in his room so I heard him and went down expecting to cover him back up and return to my warm blanket. This is what I was expecting ...

When I got to his room, he was sitting on his bed gasping for breath. He couldn't get a good breath! I started to panic a little. As I assessed the situation looking for some cause that I could remove, I called my wife down as well. She suggested that we try the steam from the shower in the bathroom. That didn't seem to work so we tried a hot bath and some Tylenol. He was still gasping, his breathing labored by severe congestion. As we got him in the bath, my wife commented that based on what we were witnessing, he likely already had bronchitis and, if left untreated, it could turn into pneumonia. Still in a state of panic, I went up stair to get my pants on, ready to take him to the emergency room.

Realizing that maybe I was getting a little ahead of the game, I went back down to the bathroom. He had calmed down a little and, though still laboring quite a bit, there were signs of change -- of improvement. Other than his breathing, he seemed to be doing OK. No fever. Nothing else abnormal. About an hour later, he was doing well enough that I had calmed down and my initial shock and fear were almost gone. A few unproductive coughs confirmed that he was still severely congested, but he could at least breath well again.

We decided to prop his pillows and see if he could go back to sleep. My wife, the maternalistic martyr, decided to sleep on the floor next to his bed as a comfort to him and so that we could react more quickly should the need arise again before morning. I went back to bed to try to catch a few more winks before getting up to head to work. I tried, but it didn't work. It took another 45 mins or so before I could finally get back to sleep, convincing myself that over her own snor..., I mean guttural breathing, my wife would hear him quickly and react as needed. I woke up every 1/2 hour or so, straining to hear his breaths over the monitor for some assurance that he was still OK.

I must have finally given in to the need for sleep, because the next thing I remember, I awoke to the second alarm, having hit the snooze button without even knowing it. I went into my son's room to check on him and as I cracked the door, I saw his huge smile greeting me across the room. He was OK, at least for now.

Although my wife and I are back to sharing our bed at night, every night since then, I wake up on a schedule about every two hours to make sure that I can hear him on the monitor. I've gone to his room a few times just as an added precaution a few times (and checked on the other two while was up). If you're having trouble breathing, it's not like you can yell -- "Help! I can't breathe." Like my wife recalls from her childhood... When her brothers were pestering her and had her in a headlock or were tickling her too hard, she would say "Stop! I can't breathe." They would retort, "You can't talk if you can't breathe."

We still haven't gotten him in to the doctor, afraid of feeling foolish when they sent us home with a note to give decongestant 3-4 times a day and continue on. He's feeling much better now and all that gunk in his chest is finally making it out via his nose (sorry for the visual).

This whole experience has taught me a few things. First, that being a parent, loving your child, you really do feel helpless when there's not a quick fix that you can apply to make all the pain and the bad go away. I was really scared and started thinking about what would happen if we couldn't get things under control. "There's a fire station at the end of our street, 1/2 mile away, that's the closest 'medical' facility...the Emergency room is on what road? No that's too far..." I would tell myself. I'm still trying to let go of the whole situation.

Second, I was reminded of how my wife and I morph to take whatever role the other needs. She's usually the one who freaks out and overreacts (if only in my eyes, and only slightly) with things. That night it was I who took on that role while she shifted and took control of the situation. She calmed him down, deciding that was the first thing to do. Then she went for the remedies we had at hand - Tylenol to reduce the swelling (I hadn't even thought about that part of it), and the steam to loosen the phlegm. Though we were both awoken from sleep, she's the one that was able to keep it together. Thanks Hon!

That's what being a partner, part of a pair, is all about. Looking out for each other and being the better half as the need arises. Parenting is a LOT of work. There is no instruction manual. There are no do-evers. There is only doing the best you can. Learning from each other, from mistakes and moving on. I'm glad I've got my wife along on that journey.

Wanna know what people think?

How do you ask a question of all the world? Unless you're working for a large website like CNN or Google or a site with similar global audience and a lot of traffic, your best bet may be a site I discovered yesterday -- Ask500People. The premise of the site is that you can create an account, ask a quick question, that question is voted on by visitors, and if enough people are interested in the answer, your question will be the asked of 100 people (I know. I know -- a little false advertising by the domain name, but maybe that's 'cuz they're still in beta. Don't know). The results of votes (taken on their homepage and via widgets placed on websites of "different sizes and audiences, to reach a cross-section of the general population") are graphed and on the homepage, you can see the near-real time voting results on a Google Maps mashup.

Questions cover a broad spectrum of about the world we live in. An interesting idea I think...