what about the plastic animals?

Sittin' at the Station, Goin' on Vacation

Grand Central is a terminal not a station but I couldn't think of a rhyme for terminal.  I also didn't sit while I was there.  The vacation part is true!  I'll be back in 2-3 weeks.  As an experiment I'm going to turn the comments off while I'm gone so I don't have to deal with the spammers.

Last Stand of the News Stand

Semi-detached news stands like the one above were once found every few blocks along the avenues of Harlem and many other neighborhoods in New York.  This one is on 112th Street just off Frederick Douglass Blvd.  I don't remember ever seeing it open but it is allegedly under renovation.

My Columbia

Sometimes you come across things that just boggle the mind.  I went to check some benefits stuff this evening and saw that the university has added a second box to the benefits page because people can't find the link at the top of the page. 

What are the odds that the university will add a third box directing everyone to search for the hard-to-find link, which doesn't even look like a link, at the top of the page instead of MOVING THE HIDDEN LINK TO THE MIDDLE OF THE PAGE AND MAKING IT LOOK LIKE A LINK?  No, I do not need more help using myColumbia.  The problem is not with us employees using the site.  The problem is that the page is poorly designed.  Fix the design and you will fix the problem.

It is not difficult to see why people have trouble finding the link.  The link is hidden because it is placed between the page title and the (totally unnecessary) graphic, making it, the link, look like it belongs to the page header rather than being the most important element on the page.  JEEPERS CREEPERS JUST MOVE THE 'FACULTY AND STAFF' LINK TO THE CENTER OF THE PAGE AND GET RID OF THE TWO BLUE BOXES.

I offer this advice to the university at no charge, even though they will eventually shell out big bucks to get a consultant to tell them the same exact thing.

Hell Awaits You!

How many categories apply to you?

Berries In The Park

There are blackberries growing in Morningside Park.  I hadn't noticed them before.  There's raspberries and elderberries too. All look to be doing well this year.

Happy Flag Day!

It's Flag Day! Time to fly your flag or eat a delicious gluten-free Union Jack.  Or do both.  You can fly your flag and eat it too.

Let's Try This Again

It works!  That was a strange interlude.  Over the weekend my Internet connection, especially the upload speed, slowed to a crawl. 

Let's bore everyone with details.

I've got a wireless connection between my computer and the router.  The wireless connection between the router and my phone was just as slow, so the computer wasn't the problem.  Plugging the ethernet cable directly into the computer didn't speed things up, but it did eliminate the router as the problem.  That was good news because the two expensive items weren't the cause of the problem.  The modem lights were blinking properly and resetting the modem didn't improve the situation.

Hmmm.  What to do next?  The only thing I could think of was to look at my ISP's web site.  Muddling around there for a while wasn't very helpful but I eventually stumbled upon a page where I could test my connection speed.  Downloading was fast but not only did my connection fail the upload test, it actually caused that test to crash.  I reloaded the page and started the test again.  This time both download and upload speeds were normal.  Four more tests resulted in four more normal speeds.

I don't know if the test fixed the problem or if the service improvement coincided with the test, but the problem has been fixed for the time being.

Modem Difficulties

There will be a (hopefully) brief interruption in posting while I wrestle with a cable modem that no longer wants to send information.

Last Night's Dinner

Fresh pasta with broccoli rabe, asparagus and garlic.

In case you always wondered, but were afraid to ask, here is all the information you need to know about asparagus and smelly urine.

Tile Thing, I Think I Love You

Does anybody know what the story is with this tile thing?  Why does the tile cornice shoot straight up at one end of the building?  The building is on Clinton Street behind the Schenectady County Library in downtown Schenectady.  I didn't snoop around too much because I was behind schedule but the building was unmarked and had an expensive wrought iron fence and gate with fancy security surrounding it.