TED Conference - Statistics

Highly informative video that's probably more about statistics than world health, though I find both elements equally interesting. Is it bad though, that at the end of the clip my first thought was "I wonder how I can use this to help me out in my fantasy baseball draft?"

Travel Technology

It's been nearly three years now since I've spent a significant amount of time behind the wheel of a car. Even if I have to leave the city I'm normally on a train or catching a ride to the airport. It's only when I'm out of town that I sometimes need to rent a car. I'd say that I've maybe driven a car fifteen or twenty times, give or take, since 2005. But some things have changed at work and I find myself needing to get to places that are relatively local, but aren't served by public transportation, so I've taken to renting cars.

In the last few weeks I've noticed that some of the technologies that weren't mainstream three years ago are completely accessible at this point, so I've started buying all sorts of travel accessories even though I don't have a car. For some reason, I feel like I need this stuff even though I'll probably never spend more than 5 or 6 hours a week in a car.

It started with the GPS. I realized that if I was in a car, there was a 100% chance that I was lost. By virtue of the fact that I was driving, I was either in another state or driving somewhere that I couldn't get to by train. I was constantly reading directions or looking at a map. So I bought a cheap GPS, which changes everything about traveling to places unknown. I'm still printing out directions 'just in case', but there really is a sense of relief, especially driving at night when you have no idea where you are.

Next I realized that I could listen to my iPod in the car, rather than taking a handful of CDs with me. People have probably been doing this for years now, but the last time I owned a car, I hadn't even contemplated buying an iPod. So I bought one of those iTrip type devices that allow you to broadcast audio at an unused frequency. Problem: there are no unused frequencies in New York. Other problem: if you're traveling long distances the stations come in and out so you end up tuning your iPod every twenty minutes or so. I'm assuming this is unsafe. My solution, however, was even more unsafe - just listen to the iPod with the earbuds in. Yeah, I know, but I figured that at night at least nobody could witness my careless ways.

Anyway, this week when I rented a car I noticed that there was an auxiliary port for plugging in an MP3 player. This was news to me. So on my way home from the last trip I punched 'Best Buy' into the trusty GPS, drove two miles off the highway and grabbed an audio cable. Now I can drive around in my rental car, juggling my GPS and my iPod, content that I probably won't get lost or bored.

Anything else I'm missing? What should my next travel purchase be?

Annapolis

I heard someone refer to Annapolis as 'Georgetown on the water' and it made me think of the big sister-little sister rivalry that Savannah and Charleston seem to have. In this case, Georgetown gets the headlines, but Annapolis certainly rivals it in charm and probably has it beat in architecture. Bonus points for being on the water.

I was told that Annapolis has the oldest capital building in the US and it did look glorious from the rear window as we drove by it. Didn't get to do too much sightseeing this time around. Hopefully next time, when the weather's nicer and I have more time.

I was tempted to drive through Baltimore on my way back to help satisfy my curiousity surrounding The Wire, but I thought better of it. If it's depicted inaccurately, I wasted my time, if it's accurate I don't make it home alive.

New York Real Estate

It continues to get me down.

Ithaca is Gorges

Of all the phrases coined for the indie t-shirt market, I think this one might be the absolute best. Ithaca is Gorges. Truly, it is.

So the travel for work has been cranking up a bit lately and I found myself driving four and a half hours to Ithaca last week, from a beautiful 60 degree New York afternoon into my first snow storm of the year. I watched the skid lights flicker on and off as I realized that I can't really drive in snow or ice. The fact that I drive once every six months, rain or shine, probably doesn't help out at all. Actually, I anticipate quite a few more trips via car in the upcoming weeks/months, so I went ahead and bought the cheapest GPS I could find. After using it I think I might have made a mistake by buying on the cheap end. I saved myself $100 or $150 and in return I hear:

"Prepare to turn right in 1.2 miles"

When what I could be hearing is:

"Prepare to turn right in 1.2 miles on to McDougall Street"

I didn't think it was that big of a deal when I was researching it, but in retrospect, it would probably have been money well spent.

Anyhow, Ithaca. Gorges. Very cool college town, albeit with a bit of a hippy vibe. It was too cold for me to see much of anything besides, well, the inside of a bunch of buildings, but I hear there are some amazing summertime outdoor options as well as the arts/bars/downtown shops required of any self respecting college town.

More travel soon.

Atlantic City

After almost three years of living in New York, I finally found my way to Atlantic City this weekend. Traveling by Greyhound isn't the way the high-rollers do it I suspect, but it seems like the best way to make that trip for a non-car owner like myself. I guess the casinos subsidize bus tickets, because $36 for a round trip is an absolute steal.

And we aren't high rollers, anyhow. Sticking to the cheapest tables available, we mostly played $10 and $15 hands of blackjack along with some of the more creative poker games, including 3 and 4 card poker, as well as VS. the dealer Texas Hold em. I have to admit that I thought that those games would be lame, but they we definitely interesting enough to keep me occupied for hours (and hours) on end. Three-card poker is actually on the boring side, though the dealer I spoke with claimed that it provided the best odds, but four card poker seems like a decent way to spend some time.

Atlantic City, from what I saw, wasn't much to look at, though there seemed to be quite a few nice casinos scattered throughout. The surrounding areas looked run down and uninviting, so I could definitely see skipping the sight seeing on my next trip, but if the weather were nicer I'd be up for checking out the boardwalk area next time.

One of the highlights was watching the Super Bowl with a bunch of insane Giants fans. Apparently betting on sports is illegal in New Jersey, which is just ridiculous. I mean, if you're going to have a full blown casino where everyone is sinning all day and night, what's the point of keeping sports gambling out? Anyway, it didnt seem to dampen the spirits of the Giants fans, though I think my mom and I would have been more into it if we had bets going. Better off as it was, we probably would both have lost.