Mark Mischke's Weblog

The death of e-mail? I think not.

I read an interesting article on the decline of e-mail as a preferred communications mechanism among the sub-25 crowd. While I can appreciate the appeal of instantaneous, synchronous communication, I don't see e-mail's status as being threatened in any way. When I was younger, I probably would have lived and breathed via IM, SMS, Facebook, etc. The concept of a planless Friday night was unthinkable. Funny how that changes with time.

These days I tend to avoid synchronous communication. I've never been much of a phone person, I run an IM client only when required to do so for work and pretty much the only person I text with is my wife. I prefer to manage my general availability and synchronous communication feels too much like an electronic leash. For me, e-mail is the ideal medium. I can reply quickly if I need to or I can take whatever time I need to compose my thoughts.

There will always be a contingent, regardless of age, which places emphasis on synchronous communication and high availability. These people are often seen tapping away at their surgically-attached Crackberries. Sometimes it's because of a job-related need and sometimes it's just because a person likes being connected. No problem there. Some folks enjoy always being 'on'. For those of us who don't, there will always be e-mail.

Back to altitude

This past summer, Ali and I spent a week in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was a good time and we did the typical things that a vacation in Flag might entail. We stayed in the center of town, at the historic (and supposedly haunted) Hotel Monte Vista. We hiked in the Grand Canyon, but not too far down because of the heat. We spent a day biking and shopping in Sedona. We saw a herd of wild elk while hiking on Flag's urban trail network. We explored many of the local restaurants. And we climbed Humphreys Peak.

Humphreys was our main goal, although I was quietly skeptical about our chances for success. It rises to 12,600' over a gentle 9.6 mile trail which begins at just over 9,000'. I'd previously been to 14,000', but not for many years, and Ali had never hiked above 10,000'. Neither of us was in the best physical condition (fortunately we've both since turned that around), and going from sea level to 12,000' with only a few days to get used to half that height (Flag is at 7,000') is no mean feat. After steaming up the Grand with surprising stamina earlier in the week, our confidence grew.

We started out early in the day, feeling a bit woozy even at the trailhead. My thought was to take it slowly and steadily. I was concerned that if we pushed too hard, we'd become altitude-sick and be unable to recover. The trail was stunning and it didn't feel at all like the Arizona we'd come to know. We picked up a lone hiker from Canada along the way. He'd been hiking in Colorado, so he had an edge on us, but he apparently wanted company so he kept our pace. We both got on-and-off headaches and Ali had a short bout of nausea. We kept guzzling water and managed to push those effects back. This was my first time at altitude without taking Diamox, which prevents altitude sickness. I wanted to see what it'd be like, but I think I'll have it with me next time.

Before we knew it, we were standing on the summit. It was quite an accomplishment (esp. given that I was 25 lbs. heavier than I am today!). We met some cool folks up top and hung out for awhile before dashing back down to tree-line when we saw the afternoon thunderheads rolling in. The trail itself wasn't too challenging; it was the altitude. I'd rate the trail as moderate if it were in NH's White Mountains; maybe similar to the Garfield Trail. The altitude adds a lot to the mix. All in all, it was a great hike and I highly recommend it.

Customer service?

My wife bought a Mini Cooper last year and she's very dedicated to its upkeep. During the warmer months she typically washes it every weekend. Needless to say, the lack of an available garden hose during the winter months has left the car looking rather salty. She won't use traditional car washes for fear of scratching the paint, but we've found a touchless wash at a Mobil station in Wellesley, the next town over. It doesn't do a great job, but it removes the road salt and most of the grime. We stopped there last night on the way home from dropping a friend off at the airport.

It's an automated wash. You feed it a credit card, select your wash preferences, drive in and let it do its thing. We got the green light to go in, the door raised and we entered. And nothing happened. There was a very strange, toxic-smelling odor inside the washing station and after about a minute I suggested that we back out (the door hadn't yet closed behind us). Having spent eight years on the bench as an organic chemist, I have a good nose for things which are best not inhaled.

We reported the problem to the attendant and requested a refund. We didn't have a receipt because the wash usually 'just works' and we didn't request one from the machine. We're talking about seven dollars here. But screw the seven bucks. We didn't want to read about someone becoming injured from whatever fumes were in that building. Something was clearly wrong and who knows what would have happened if the door had closed and someone became trapped in there.

The attendant didn't seem to care about any of this - including the safety issue. He insisted that the washer had been running all day. I'm sure it had been, but things break, sieze up, whatever - especially in this recent cold spell we've had here. We got the distinct impression that he thought we were trying to con him in some way. For those unfamiliar with Wellesley, MA, it's a town where crime just isn't that noteworthy. Plus, we didn't exactly look like hooligans. The right thing for the attendant to have done would have been to walk over to the washing station, take a whiff of the toxic/nasty/whatever air, recognize that there was a problem and shut it down. A refund or a future free wash would have been nice, too (they can generate codes which the machine will accept), but that just wasn't going to happen. After all, we were obviously just trying to scam him out of a free wash.

We left, shaking our heads in disbelief. I've never seen such a blatant disregard for concern about safety. The guy didn't even acknowledge what we told him about the fumes. Plus, he totally alienated us over what would surely cost the Mobil franchise a lot less than seven bucks. There was most definitely something being emitted inside that washing station. It took me several minutes in the fresh air to eliminate the irritating feeling in my lungs and Ali was still feeling it when we got home. Fortunately, whatever it was had no lingering effects.

Alas, the Mini is still caked with salt. The forecast for the coming week predicts temperatures in the 40s, so maybe I'll be able to break out the garden hose.

Old sci-fi TV shows on DVD

I recently bought season one of Wild Wild West and seasons one and two of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea on DVD. These series ran during the mid-1960s and I remember watching them as recent reruns on our black-and-white TV.

I'm a huge fan of the Wild Wild West movie (Will Smith). Everyone involved did a great job of modernizing the original without disrespecting it. As I watched a few original episodes from the DVD it became apparent just how faithfully they adhered to the details. Kudos!

Voyage has been a lot of fun to revisit, too. I must have built the Flying Sub model kit half a dozen times when I was a kid. Nowadays, those old Aurora model kits sell for several hundred dollars on eBay - when you can find them. The DVD brought back a lot of memories. While the Seaview (the submarine which was the focus of the show) was really cool, I always liked the Flying Sub best. It was a 2 - 4-person mini-sub that could fly (as the name suggests).

Now I've gotta see if Land of the Giants is available yet. :-)

Updated Feb. 04, 2007: GOOD GOD, MAN! What have I done?!!? As the self-anointed worldwide protector of correct apostrophe usage, I have myself committed the very sin I so loathe. I've dutifully removed the offending symbol which, until now, followed the word series in the first paragraph. I humbly thank my lovely wife for pointing out this most unforgivable act of punctuary oversight. And no. 'Punctuary' probably isn't a word, but I'm sure you know what I mean. :-)

Vegetarian for a month

Just after Thanksgiving I decided to go vegetarian for the rest of 2006. I fell off the wagon on Christmas Eve. My motivation was simple. I wanted to see how easy it would be to do, how I'd feel and how much energy I'd have. I was pretty sure that I wouldn't go hungry. I eat a lot of veggie-compatible foods to begin with, and I generally like 'meatless meat' soy products. Being married to a vegetarian ensures that I get to try many of them.

I didn't really miss meat all that much and I didn't feel any different than usual. I stacked the deck in my favor by keeping the 'fridge full of fake meat products.

I fell off the wagon because I let myself get overly hungry. I'd had too much coffee and not enough breakfast. I'd gone out to do a few errands and was trapped by the gravitational pull of McDonald's as I drove by, stomach rumbling. One McChicken sandwich opened the floodgates and I began craving meat. I overdid it for a few days, but that's what the holidays are for, right? Now I'm finding some balance. I'm eating more soy and less red meat than before. When I do eat meat, it's frequently of the lean variety.

I accept that I'm omniverous by nature. I wish I didn't like meat so much, since it's less environmentally friendly than soy products. I can't say that I condone the factory farming techniques which produce much of our meat. I may eliminate non-kosher meats from my diet, since kosher meats must comply with strict humane-treatment standards. I'm not Jewish, so I may not have all my facts straight. My wife is Jewish, but she's a veggie, so she probably can't help me out much here, either. Either way, my goal is to eat better for me and better for the environment.

Silent plane would cut airport noise

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/11/06/silent.aircraft.ap/index.html

Uhhh... yeah, I expect that it would. Who comes up with these headlines?? :-)

Whatever happened to tune-ups?

I recently decided that I was no longer going to pay someone to tune up my Jeep.  The cost is always pretty high and I used to do my own tune-ups in college.

My first tune-ups were done in the days of points and condensors.  In addition to changing the spark plugs (and possibly the ignition wires), the distributor cap and rotor, the air filter, PCV valve and fuel filter, you also had to swap out the points and condensor, set the point gap and adjust the ignition timing.  Sounds scary at first, but it can be mastered in a few hours.  There's no diagnosis involved.  Just swapping parts and doing a few adjustments which were well-documented in many self-service guidebooks.

When cars with electronic ignition systems became common, the points and condensor disappeared.  Not much of a change, but at least you didn't have to gap the points.

Nearly twenty years later I'm about to tune up my '01 Jeep Wrangler.  I discover that it has distributorless ignition (which I just learned about yesterday), no ignition wires and no PCV system.  It's also got a long-life fuel filter which supposedly never needs replacing.  Distributorless ignition systems don't require mechanical timing adjustments, which is a good thing, since I sold my timing light last year and it wouldn't have worked with this kind of setup anyway.  My 'tune-up' involves changing the spark plugs and replacing the air filter.  I'll also inspect the hoses, battery clamps, etc., but there's really nothing to it these days.

Everything is now microprocessor-controlled.  Makes me wonder whether I can tool up some code to pimp things up a bit.  I don't think I'll go that far, though.  Just getting ready for winter and having to buy only a fraction of the parts I expected to need makes me quite happy.  Plus, I won't miss the need for a timing light.

Since my parts list was so short, I opted for higher-end components. I got the K&N 100,000-mile, high-flow air filter and Bosch platinum plugs. The old plugs were kinda hard to get out, which means that the kind folks who did my last formal tune-up didn't use anti-sieze compound on the threads (thanks, guys!). The whole mess took me about 45 minutes and the results are impressive. While my old air filter didn't look very dirty and my old plugs didn't seem very worn, the Jeep has newfound pep.

Cleaning up the ride

My '01 Jeep Wrangler has never seen the inside of a garage.  I was an apartment dweller for the first three years of its life.  During that time the only washing/polishing it saw was from automated car washes or coin-operated do-it-yourself wash bays.  I've always tried to keep it fairly clean, but continuous exposure to the weather and suboptimal cleaning and protection was beginning to take its toll.  Or at least I thought it was.

My wife just bought a Mini Cooper S and has immediately become a car detailing junkie.  Since graduating from bachelor apartment life to married suburban house life, the Jeep has received much better care.  By this I mean hand washings every month or so during the warmer months and two coats of polish per year.  Still, three years' worth of not-so-great care remained easy to spot.

Ali wants to keep her Mini looking showroom-new and paying attention to details right from the start is the way to go.  I was curious about how good a thorough going-over could make my Jeep look.  Ali did some research and learned that Zaino products are popular among show car enthusiasts and have a reputation for delivering a deep, wet-looking gloss and for providing excellent protection.  We ordered an array of thier products (which are only available from thier site) and gave them a try.

The first step was to wash the Jeep with a light Dawn (the regular bule stuff) dishwashing detergent solution to remove the residual polish. Then I washed with Zaino's Z-7, followed up with a Z-18 Clay Bar treatment to remove surface crud and then gave it another wash with the Z-7.  At this point, we're down to the factory clear coat.  The surface is about as clean as it's going to get.

Next I used Z-5 to fill in the lighter scratches in the clear coat.  It did a decent job with the minor abrasions, but next time I'll use something a little more heavy-duty to fill in the deeper scratches which have accumulated over the years.

Two coats of Z-2 polish came next, followed by a coat of Z-6 for deeper gloss.  My alloy wheels really came back to life through the use of Eagle One cleaner, a bottle brush and a lot of elbow grease.  I used a product called Invisible Glass to clean my windows and they really look like they're not there.  I also opted to pimp my tires out with some off-the-shelf 'wet-look' spray.  After all that, the Jeep really looked great.  The whole procedure took about five hours and my arms were pretty burned out by then (wax-on, wax-off).

Needless to say, Ali's Mini looks fabulous.  Being brand new, it's pretty easy to keep it looking that way.  Plus, she gets the garage.  :-) Now we wash the vehicles every week or two.  I'll Z-2 at least once more before the snow flies and that should be good until spring.  I'm blown away by how great the Jeep looks.  It's certainly not showroom-new, but from 20' it almost looks like it is.  Its deep gloss is stunning and it really stands out in a parking lot.  Next spring I'll Clay Bar again, a little more thoroughly, Z-5 two or three times, followed something designed to fill in deeper scratches and then reapply Z-2 and Z-6.

Why I stopped listening to music

I was always an avid music fan.  Music was a constant backdrop to my work and play.  I've never been into the music scene, lore, live performances or anything like that.  I just liked having tunes playing while I was doing things.  This faded away over the past few years.  Now, I almost never listen to music.

The heavyhanded tactics of the Recording Insustry Association of America (RIAA) have resulted in my passively distancing myself from the recording industry.  This has the unintended side effect of also distancing myself from the artists, who often have little say in RIAA policymaking.  Even indie bands and labels have gotten caught up in the receeding tide of my interest.

Barely a week goes by without news of some RIAA tactic that just seems... evil.  Suing young children or grandmothers who don't use computers for alleged online file sharing, attempts at (apparent) manipulation of due process of law, blanket lawsuits and the like.  Yuk!  Who are these creeps?

Even when music is purchased legally, it's locked down so tightly through encryption (a.k.a. Digital Rights Management, or DRM) that's it's too much of a pain in the butt to bother owning.  Perhaps I'm old-fashioned, but when I bought a record, I could play it on any turntable, lend it to my friends, whatever.  It was like a book.  Once purchased, one person could use it at a time.  I fully understand the perceived threat of lost sales due to online file sharing, given the simplicity of digital duplication.  I don't believe it's real, though.  The RIAA talks about steadily declining sales, but they rarely mention the corresponding decline of music quality.  Perhaps consumers are fed up with spending $17.99 for a CD which only contains one or two decent tracks.  That's why I stopped buying CDs years ago.  I also believe that many file sharers wouldn't shell out for music if they couldn't get it for free.  In these cases, shared music seems more like free advertising than loss of sales.

As a consumer, I don't feel that it's my job to worry about the RIAA's real or perceived loss in sales due to music sharing.  I just want free and unhindered access to the music I paid for.  It's up to the RIAA to come up with some mechanism (realistic pricing, education, ad campaigns, etc.) to solve their business problems.  I don't advocate theft of copyrighted material.  Personally, I don't care one way or another if a person does 'steal' music.  I just don't advocate it.

I still occasionally buy the odd song from iTunes, but barely a few days pass before the apathy sets in once again.  Perhaps a revamping of the industry's business model could rekindle my interest in music, but I don't expect that to happen anytime soon.

Garmin c330 vehicle navigator

Ali got a Garmin StreetPilot c330 vehicle navigator for her birthday to complement her new Mini Cooper S.  We took it out for a trial run (the Garmin) yesterday on a trip up to the White Mountains.  We absolutely love the thing.  It's compact, stylish and mounts to the windshield via a very strong suction cup device.  I was amazed by how quickly the unit acquired a satellite lock and calculated/recalculated routes.  It's menu system is extremely easy to use and offers a wider array of configuration options than most of us will ever care about.  The voice prompts are clear and provide plenty of advance warning of upcoming turns.  The display is bright and easy to read.  If I were in the market for a nav system, I'd buy another c330 in a second.

I'm still using the nav system that I cobbled together from my iPaq, my Garmin Geko GPS and iNav iGuidance software.  Aside from the dangling wires that connect everything up and the limited volume, which can be an issue in a noisy Jeep, I remain very happy with the setup.  The c330 has, however, caused me to appreciate the benefits of a self-contained solution.