Sorcinelli.net

So, I'm back in Charlotte, NC again. Uneventful flight, a quick bus ride to the Hertz #1 Club Gold area, and a short walk to my rental car...

No, really. NO - seriously. The YELLOWIST CAR EVER. But wait - there's more! What "Daisy Yellow" Chevy Cobalt 2-door would be complete without...

A TAILFIN! Because you KNOW that this baby needs down force with all of the horsepower it's packing ;-)

Well, at least it is a 2-door. If it was a 4-door, I'd have to deal with the people flagging me down for a cab ride.

I was sitting on my JetBlue flight at the gate this past Thursday awaiting pushback and taxi. I look out to my left at the next gate over and what you I see? -

Yep - US Airways is painting some of their jets with NFL logos. My guess is that it is tied in to their hub airport cities. While taxiing, I spotted an Arizona Cardinals-themed jet. I could snap a picture of that one for you Cards fans, though - I was taxiing, and "portable electronic devices are not approved at this time" ;-)

Of course, this suddenly reminded that the coming weekend included the NFL Hall of Fame inductions and... THE FIRST PRESEASON GAME! Ah - life is good again. While I am a sorts addict in general, football has been and always will be my #1 sports passion. From mid-June until mid-July, the presence of only one major sport (baseball) makes me feel as though I am stuck in the middle of desert desperately searching for an oasis. NFL training camps and the preseason remind me that pro and college football are only a few weeks away. Time to fire up the ol' Replay TV recorders and schedule NFL Network recordings. I need my scouting information :-D

I'm currently writing from Charlotte, NC. I planned to be home this morning, but the 2 days of bad weather in the Northeast caused the cancellation of my flight yesterday and the earliest available flight this afternoon.

When I left from Logan Airport in Boston on Monday, I noticed a new initiative regarding parking. Logan is now reserving parking spaces for eco-friendly vehicles.

I think this is a great idea, but (there's always a but)... There has been a lot of long-term effort at Logan to expand the Central Parking Garage. The construction has been a real headache over the past couple of years. The goal - more available parking. In terms of the sheer number of spaces, this goal has been accomplished. However, the total number of available spaces for "Average Joe's" like myself; that feels like a different story.

First, it seems (only my speculation) that the number of reserved spaces for handicapped access has increased. I expect some of that from a percentages perspective, but it seems more than just that amount. Of course, I totally support this type of space reservation. I also totally condemn the number of people who still park in these spaces and the number of people who abuse the handicapped access programs, getting passes when they shouldn't or borrowing others passes just for the "better spot".

Next came Logan's Parking Passport Gold program. For an annual fee, you get preferential parking privileges. Of course there are whole sections of the parking garages dedicated to this program. So, there goes some more of the new spaces.

Now, the "Clean Vehicle" Program pictured above appears. I really do think this is great. I know that I (like much of the population) would buy a hybrid vehicle if afforded the opportunity. Unfortunately, this purchase is nowhere on my radar for the foreseeable future. So I end up watching more parking spaces disappear.

I can't help but feeling like a victim of a twisted form of "New Math". Add a bunch of new parking spaces to a garage, resulting in fewer available spaces. The good news on Monday - I was there early and there were still "normal" spaces available. I can tell you this, though - the first time I drive around the garage looking for a single space at a busy time and see all these unused spaces out of my reach, my blood pressure's probably going to go up a few points.

This time (and the next several times, for that matter), it's off to Charlotte, NC. It's been quite a long time since I was there last. I will be working with a client on a project that will have me there a few times over the next month, so maybe I'll get to experience the town a bit more than in the past.

If I come across anything interesting in my travels, I'm bound and determined moving forward to capture the images using my phone. Let's see what transpires...

When I am not traveling on business around the country, I am usually traveling to and from my office and wishing I were only having to travel around the country. You see, I have the distinct honor of living in the Greater Boston area, which proudly boasts some of the worst commuter traffic in the nation. To understand the true nature of my daily journey, I provide to you the following information...

To start, I actually commute into the Greater Boston area (Watertown, MA, to be more precise) from lovely and scenic Salem, NH (no - not the "witch town"; the other Salem in the area).


Map courtesy Live Search Maps

35 miles total. 35 freakin' scenic miles. I use the word "scenic" because you can often take in every detail of a given location when you are sitting in the exact same place for an extended period of time. Now, regular traffic congestion is an unfortunate nuisance during rush hour in any large metropolitan area, but my route takes me through several areas where we see "Boston Traffic Control" at its finest -

• Mistimed stoplights. Apparently someone many years ago decided that the best way to control traffic is by sequencing stop lights in such a way as to prevent you from ever making it through more than two consecutive intersections in a row. This does a wonderful job of reducing the risk of high-speed accidents. Of course, building a brick wall across the road would have about the same effect.
  
  Fortunately, all of this gridlock does afford me some wonderful views, like...
  
  
  
  ...the backs of other vehicles. While this may not seem so hot, it at least blocks the view of the rest of the half-mile backup, which is usually too depressing to face. Ironically, when I snapped the picture above, I realized that a quick glance to the right provided me with a great photo opportunity that summed up my feelings at the moment...
  
   
  
  
• Traffic Circles/Rotaries. Anyone who has driven in Boston probably has a great story about traversing one of our traffic circles (also referred to as "rotaries"). You see, someone decided that, in an attempt to counteract the gridlock caused by poorly sequenced lights, they would have intersections with no lights at all. Instead, people would use their better judgement and driver courtesy to enter the rotary at the appropriate time and yield when necessary. Of course, this utopian vision of commuting only exists in science fiction and is replaced with anarchy and chaos, resulting in... more traffic.
  
  Witness as I approach one of the four rotaries I endure on my morning commute....
  
  
  
  Still a good half mile away. I am shielded from the oncoming terror by a wall of traffic;
  
  
  
  I am now less than a quarter mile away and can see the evil rotary off in the distance. My heart begins to race;
  
  
  
  I am upon the cursed rotary. What you do not see in this picture is the car to my left that, like every day, blocks my view of oncoming traffic, bolts into the traffic circle at the last second and cuts into my lane. Oops - forgot to mentioning the subsequent locking up of the brakes.

All in all, my 35 mile commute lately averages 90 minutes to complete. If not for my XM radio and the comedy channels to try to break the tension, I likely would have snapped a while back.

By the way - did I mention that I reverse this process each evening?

Sorry for the very old musical reference; I couldn't resist ;-)

I am in St. Louis, MO today for client meetings. Fortunately for me, a minimal amount of grief with the travel. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for all as I met a number of people trying to make it to Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC yesterday with far less success. As someone who has (knocking on wood) been fairly fortunate the last few years with travel, my heart always goes out to those just trying to get home to be with their families.

I did see (but could not grab a photo of) the new HTC America commercial. It was running during TNT coverage of the Boston/Cleveland NBA playoff game which happened to be on the TVs in Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta. Nice ad placement, HTC!

I'll be heading back home tomorrow afternoon (weather permitting). Glad I am not traveling today. As we speak, CNN is reporting that the Severe Weather Prediction Center is giving our area a "moderate risk" rating for tornado activity. Just what this area does not need...

The next couple of weeks are very exciting and very busy. Among the items on the agenda -

• The 31 Days of the Dragon contest over at BostonPocketPC continues to move right along. The first phase of the contests ends tomorow (May 10th, 2008) at 11:59 PM EDT, so if you haven't entered yet, you should! We've received a tremendous amount of interest and entries thus far, and I am looking forward to announcing the finalists this coming Sunday and the Grand Prize Winner next week.
• I will be traveling to Saint Louis, MO early next week for a couple of days of client meetings. I look forward to visiting Saint Louis (even if only for business), as this city has previously only been a "plane change" stopover in my travels.
• The following week leads to the next Windows Mobile User and Developer Group meeting on May 21st. I will be doing two presentations / demonstrations. One is on Windows Mobile 6.1, and the other is an introduction to System Center Mobile Device Manager. If you are in the area and interested, be sure to visit BostonPocketPC.com for all of the details.