The Inefficiency of Walking

Posted on by Sol Young with 4 Comments

I’m writing this while walking from the Pattison subway stop to the Ingram Philadelphia office. It takes 12-15 minutes to complete this walk and it’s not easy to type on the iPhone while doing so.

It really feels like a waste of time, this “walking” thing. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not lazy, out of shape, or otherwise averse to exercise. I run a 6:30 mile, rock climb a couple times a week, and love the outdoors.

But right now I’m bored. I’m not able to efficiently respond to email, trees continue to jump in front of me, and my mind is racing about while thinking of the code I want to write. I’m an inefficient human right now.

The commute for me starts in Malvern. Most days I get a lift to the train station. A walk from the train to the subway at City Hall takes 5-10 minutes (walking). Then the walk from the subway to office is 12-15. Back from the office to the subway, 12-15 again. A walk through city hall, 5-10. And finally a walk home from Malvern station, 15 minutes.

My walking math is shaky, but I think that’s 49-120 minutes of walk time. I do very little for myself or others during that time.

I mentioned yesterday on Twitter that I need some rocket shoes or a long board. I’ve seen the Roth Motors scooter and Go Motorboards. Might be a good option. I haven’t seen these around Philly though.

There’s my 15 minute rant. I’m at the office and whipping out the laptop.

–written with the iPhone WordPress app.

Posted in Economics, Energy, Philadelphia, Running

Unplug from the news

Posted on by Sol Young with Leave a comment

Dropping off a cornice at Expert\'s Return

I’ve been glued to the news this week and filled up on too much doom and gloom. There are plenty of positive things to focus on. Even if this is the start of a recession, focusing on a tanking stock market doesn’t do any good as a developer. For you stock traders, yeah, you’re boned. But for software developers, there’s much to build.

Focus on what you’re good at. Make yourself better. Enjoy life.

It’s time to switch back to loving this perfect fall weather and looking forward to a killer ski season.

Posted in Economics, Education, Rock Climbing, Skiing, Software Development

Privé – Philly Geek Dinner – The Guest

Posted on by Sol Young with 3 Comments

Privé LobsterPrivé Dessert

The September 3rd, 2008, Geek Dinner at Privé was an interesting and good time. We had a smaller crowd but were treated like kings (I botched the geek dinner invite by sending the venue announcement only a few days in advance, so it was low turnout – that’s what going on vacation and unplugging from geekdom gets me!)

The folks at Privé set us up in our own room. It was unintentional, but to me it was amusingly appropriate – privé translates to private.

The chefs are budding, potential future superstars. Table Talk describes prior Buddakan and Brasserie Perrier experience. While dining we learned of Le Bec-Fin experience as well. The foods here are exotic and fun just to hear described – influenced by countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, with inspiration from chef Peter Karapanagiotis.

Steven Wells of Philadelphia Weekly accompanied us, camera in tow, and geeked right in. While we typically geek out on the latest technology and Internet trends, Steven added new topics everyone ate up. Some of the things I remember Steven bringing up: geneology, HD video, security and anonymity (on the Internet), the value of Twitter, and implants (not those kind) for human enhancement (not that kind)… Honestly, it was us who brought up Twitter – Steven raised the question of it having any value. Good challenge!

Breakdown of what we consumed, mostly on recommendation from Mr. Edwards, our water – everything was fantastic…

  • Karpouzi
  • Shrimp Orzo
  • Lollipop Lamb Chop
  • Rabbit Risotto
  • Exotic Mushrooms
  • Cheese Boureki
  • Lobster Makaronia (pictured)
  • Beet Salata
  • Walnut Puff (pictured)
  • Octopus Duet
  • Potelle (wine) – Kevin selected a couple wines that went along nicely with the menu.
  • Fiano (wine) – same as above.
Mark your calendar and join us October 1st, 7pm. Venue to be announced early ;)
UPDATE: Next Geek Dinner is November 5th, 7pm.
Posted in Geek Dinner, Philadelphia

Chrome after a day of use

Posted on by Sol Young with 11 Comments

Been using Google’s Chrome browser for a day, and so far it’s a great experience.

No. Sorry. That’s an understatement. It’s revolutionary. As the comic describes (yes, Google released a comic to introduce Chrome), this browser takes the web to impossible places. It makes the web more like an operating system, allowing each site (tab) an independent process and memory allocation, improving javascript speed – via a virtual machine – by orders of magnitude, and integrating more cleanly with Gears.

I’ve liked the browser enough to find Windows more useful than OS X this morning. A strange feeling indeed.

I’d mentioned in an email yesterday that the question was whether Chrome would quickly grab users away from Internet Explorer and other browsers or if it would be incremental in its chipping. My expectation is that it will still be chipping, but it’s going to be much faster than expected.

Just as the Google search tool grew wildly popular purely out of speed and relevance, the Chrome browser will gain huge momentum because of speed and relevance. Since there are still massive amounts of IE6 installations out there (proving that not everyone goes out and upgrades) a swing won’t happen over night, but it will gain ground more quickly than Firefox or Safari (Opera not mentioned since Chrome pretty much destroys the reason for Opera’s existance – speed).

A couple questions are begged… Is this where we really see web 2.0 take hold? I think so. And how does this affect Google in terms of monopolizing the web? They now own search and could quickly dominate the browser.

Posted in Architecture, Chrome, Firefox, Google, Internet Explorer, Prediction, Safari