Commuter Daddy

Southwest to rig entire fleet for wi-fi

2010-02-08T07:23:00.003-05:00

I've written a bit about Southwest Airlines, and written some more about in-flight wi-fi. This morning we offer a two-fer: Southwest is on its way to having wi-fi on every flight.

Gratification will not be instantaneous, however. Even at a pace of between 15 and 25 installations per month, it will be 2012 before each of Southwest's more than 540 jets are outfitted. Nevertheless, it is another reason to put Southwest near the top of a business traveler's preferred airline list.

As The Cranky Flier points out, wifi fits Southwest's business model and passenger culture. Seat yourself, and be in charge of your own entertainment or productivity.

For Southwest, this is the perfect technology. They’ve long avoided inflight entertainment because it adds cost. Airlines haven’t been able to charge for overhead movies for a long time, and in-seat video is costly. It’s not just the content but also the weight and the extra pieces that can break in each seat. It’s just not a Southwest way of doing things. But wifi is different. It does add a little weight, but it only gets installed in one place so you don’t run the risk of having a problem at every seat.

More importantly from a business standpoint, Southwest's testing on a limited number of flights has shown customers are willing to pay for a wi-fi perk. There's been no announcement yet for what the pricing will be, though. Southwest promises an answer to that question in Q2 2010.

Mileage tax for highway funds? What's the real motivation?

2010-02-07T18:28:00.000-05:00

Introduce a mileage tax to make up for lost revenue caused by fuel-efficient drivers paying less in gas taxes? Your tax dollars are hard at work as state and federal officials ponder that very issue, according to today's Washington Post.

The article outlines a few of the debates that will rage at our -- quite literal -- expense:

Invasion of privacy (not that any of us with E-Z Pay or similar transponders have paid much attention to that until now)
More taxes in general (do we really think the gas tax will be supplanted?)
Should more efficient vehicles get a tax break (or the reverse, i.e. The Hummer Tax)?

My personal objection, though, is rooted in the double-speak regarding the motivation. What is guiding our transportation policy these days? Are we striving to reduce greenhouse gases, or are we motivated merely by the shortfall in federal highway system's maintenance budget?

One of the points made in the article is fewer people are driving these days, and the drivers that remain drive more fuel efficient cars. Car makers, albeit influenced by government regulation, are in turn striving to build and sell more fuel efficient cars -- some that could reach 100- and 200-miles per gallon efficiency.

So we will have the ability to drive farther and more efficiently, but will get penalized for that distance with a mileage tax?

Here's an idea. Want to keep us off the road? Let the highway system go to seed.

Don't use proceeds from a mileage tax for highway upkeep. Use the money to fund more mass transit projects, like the Urban Ring or connecting North and South stations. Extend commuter rail to more destinations. Build more bikeways. Motivate people to stay off the roads.

Granted, I'm the last one to heed in this debate. I commute 600 miles round trip twice a month, and there's very little that could be done in the near future to provide an alternative or prevent the trip altogether. But if there's going to be a mileage tax, I'd feel a lot better supporting it if I knew it was improving long-term transportation options.

Pandemonium is in the eye of the beholder

2010-01-31T12:01:00.000-05:00

Benjamin descended the stairs and asked his brother, "Where's Mom and Dad?"

"I don't know," Mason answered, his head buried in a video game.

I called out from an adjacent room, letting both boys know where I was, and also replied that Mom was outside, walking Ruby.

"Oooooohhhhhhh," Benjamin said, in a resonant fashion."So that's why it is so quiet down here."

(This was from the boy who minutes earlier was providing our Sunday-morning, newspaper-reading soundtrack by singing a medley of "We Will Rock You" and "Pants on the Ground.")

Power outage haiku

2010-01-28T21:36:00.000-05:00

Snuck out for bike ride
Returned. N-Star across street.
Power out. Longer break.

Commuter Daddy? Make that Commuter Dud.

2010-01-28T07:00:00.006-05:00

My oldest son, Sam, recently placed second in his school's geography bee, among several other accomplishments in the month of January. One of the stepping stones to his geographic success was knowing which state's residents have an average commute longer than 28 minutes:

I'd never have guessed that one corrrectly. Commuter Son #1 knows more than Commuter Daddy! To be fair to my commuter knowledge, this question came during a map-aided, visual-clue portion of the program. Still, you have to like that the apple is not falling that far from the commuter tree.

I know all this thanks to Brandy capturing some of the key moments on video. I completely missed out on attending the geography bee in person. I was smack dab in the middle of a training session that I could not reschedule, given some pressing deadlines at the time. The irony was I was 20 minutes down the road, and not the usual 300 miles away on one of my regular excursions. My proximity made the miss all the more excruciating.

One of the benefits of my half-home-office, half-on-the-road work situation is a predominant ability to arrange my schedule so I can attend these sorts of events in person. Sometimes, when work is at its most stressful, being able to attend the kids' special moments in school and elsewhere keeps me motivated -- and frankly working harder. An hour missed during the normal business hours usually translates to two hours or more worked after the kids go to bed.

Missing the geography bee made me 0-for-3 over the course of a few weeks, though. Just before Christmas, I had also arrived late to both Mason's and Benjamin's holiday performances on separate days.

Thankfully, with a major launch out of the way at work, I've rejoined the family. Over the last few weeks, I've attended two band concerts, taken Mason to a previously unscheduled basketball game, and even found time to walk with Mason and our dog, Ruby, to school on a couple of mornings.

Hopefully, I'll continue to keep my inner Dud at bay for a while.

Breakfast variety does not spice our children's lives

2010-01-17T12:06:00.000-05:00

During the work week, breakfasts are simple affairs and fairly routine.

Sam, our oldest, is usually the first one up and fends for himself. The decision tree is very rigid. He looks first for sugary treats, especially on Monday. Leftover cinnamon buns or donuts don't stand a chance. If there's nothing in that category, he checks out the cereal selection. If nothing meets with approval there, he toasts a bagel. He will usually skip an accompanying drink.
Mason, the middle child, looks first for sugary treats. If none, he grabs a Pop Tart. If there are none left, he moans until he is convinced to have cereal, an English muffin or a granola bar. He will be three bites into whatever he is eating before he asks for someone to get him an apple juice.
The first words out of youngest Benjamin's mouth almost every morning are, "Juice please!" Armed with orange juice in his drink bottle, he toddles off to sit with his brothers. Some mornings he's hungrier than others, but upon being asked what he wants for breakfast, he always replies, "What do we have?" His tastes run less sweet than the other two boys. While he will eat a Pop Tart or a sugary cereal, he usually prefers two slices of bacon, an occasional egg or a half of a bagel. Because of the juice, though, he's usually not hungry until after the two older boys go to school.

Weekends, though, are another matter. Without a bus to catch or work to check on, we all have a little more time to be deliberate in our breakfast preparations. Yet, there is a ritual to the weekend breakfast routine too.

Mason: "Dad, can you buy us some donuts?"

Or...

Benjamin: "Dad, can you make us some pancakes?"

I'm a softy for making pancakes. I love to make them, love to serve them and love to eat them. It always brings back memories of my grandfather firing up the griddle for my sister and I when we would be visiting the Cape. So hardly a weekend passes without me making pancakes on one of the mornings.

The other weekend morning is up for grabs, however. Sometimes, Brandy will make a coffee cake. Other times, Pillsbury rescues us with cinnamon rolls or Flaky Twists (a variety of Pillsbury's breakfast roll products). And every few weeks or so I will make a Dunkin' Donuts run.

Fruit salad? Not so yummy, yummy for our boys.

Yesterday, when Mason asked for donuts, I initially said no, but only because I had an alternate plan. Why give Dunkin' Donuts our money when I am perfectly capable of making donut holes at home. While it had likely been 20 years or more since I last made them during a high school home economics class, I am a seasoned and wiser cook now. Mix the though, stick them in hot oil, and a new entry in our breakfast menu would be born.

When I announced my plan, there was excitement in the air. "Daddy is making donuts!" Mason exclaimed to everyone in the house. There was dancing on the stairs. There were angels voices in the air. Chickadees joined in song from the trees beyond.

A few minutes later, though, the euphoria was tempered.

"I can smell the donuts," Mason said, this time with less vim in his voice. "They don't smell very good."

"Trust me," I replied. "They'll be great. And I'll sprinkle your cinnamon sugar on them."

Mason asks for cinnamon sugar almost every chance he thinks it will match what he is eating. I had him back in the fold. Soon the donut holes were all draining on a paper towel on the counter. The sugar was applied. Four were added to each child's plate. They ran for the kitchen.

Then they took a bite.

"Dad, these don't taste like donuts," Mason said.

Benjamin tried to cushion the blow to my cooking ego. "Dad, is it OK if I just eat this much?" he asked, motioning to two that he had taken a single bite from. "I'm full."

So am I, now that I ate theirs yesterday and and consumed a large portion of leftovers today. The silver lining is Brandy and I liked them. They were a perfect coffee accompaniment.

For the kids, though, it will be back to the breakfast rut for a while. They won't be easily convinced to try a tweaked recipe. Once you have emblazoned in their taste buds that they don't like something you've made, it will take some time -- and probably a lot more sugar -- for them to give the dish second chance.

Commuter Daddy's 2009 Readers' Choice Awards

2010-01-01T19:47:00.004-05:00

Photo by Optical Illusion

Hello, 2010. We'll get to you soon enough. First, we have some 2009 Commuter Daddy business to handle.

Welcome, dear readers, to the second annual post dedicated to you. It's the Commuter Daddy 2009 Readers' Choice Awards! You thought I forgot? Nay! Nothing is more important to a blogger than interacting with the audience. It's only fair to let you choose the content when the opportunity arises.

So below, please find the list of 2009 posts that you read the most, and the New Year's resolutions they inspire (which is sure to also inspire future content):

Jelly Belly cycling team... who knew!?
I have not yet acquired the jersey, nor have I tried Sport Beans. They're still on the wish list. It's neither the jersey nor the jelly beans that make the man, though. It's the cycling, and I've done nearly a ton this past year. Despite a 2-month layoff at the end of the year because of illness and minor surgery, I still managed to travel 1,748 miles on two wheels in 2009. That included completing my first organized group ride, plus completing my first metric century. It also included taking the bike with me on business trips, something I intend to resume when the weather warms. Meanwhile, though, I'm back in the saddle on the Cape when ice and snow are not covering the route, thanks to Santa bringing me a balaclava. I resolve to tally 2,500 miles in 2010, and complete a century ride.
Cooking in the cubicle
I still haven't tried this, but I do have a new source of similar inspiration: George Egg's Hotel Survival. I resolve in 2010 to try cooking more than Lean Pockets in my hotel room, and turn the experience into a Commuter Daddy blog post.
Cooking in the car
I haven't tried this either, and am less likely to do so this year -- at least until I have mastered hotel cooking. However, I do need to lose weight, so I do resolve to forego candy on my commutes. To know me is to know I have an acute weakness for Skittles and Jelly Bellies. They helped me quit smoking four years ago, becoming my substitute for the half pack a day I would smoke on my Cape-to-Providence commute. I quit smoking cold turkey once I put my mind to it, so I think I can do the same with candy. Once that is tackled, we'll see what can be done about my midnight ice cream weakness.
25 Things about CommuterDaddy
See item 13. I still may not tackle the sump pump project this year, but I will resolve to install drainage at our side door to prevent water from running down the basement stairs.
Podcasts for the musical commuter
I never did get around to sharing the marketing, history, comedy and other miscellaneous podcasts to which I subscribe. That will be coming soon to a blog post near you. I'll aslo update my music, sports and food lists.
On the road with Hulu
Still loving Hulu at home; not so much on the road. This reminds me that I resolve to read more books in the coming year. One a month would be great. That was my goal last year, too, but I fell well short, which means I am either working too hard or watching too much television. Probably both.
Airports improving water options
I did leave the water bottle at home when making a day trip last week. I wasn't sure how well it would be received in the wake of the Christmas terrorism attempt in Detroit. I will get back to toting the empty coffee mug and water bottle through security on the next trip.
Join Commuter Daddy at Detours and Onramps on Wednesday, March 25
This was my favorite event as a panelist in 2009. I resolve to continue to eschew journalism-specific events in the coming year, except those for which I'm invited to speak or am helping organize for NENMA. I don't intend this as a slight to any of my friends, colleagues and peers. There simply is more to be learned from those outside our industry than insiders. The mobile-specific events I attended in 2009 affirmed that. There will be more of those on my docket in 2010.
Germs trump green at Connecticut Lavazza
I ran into this again when ordering coffee at the Starbucks inside the T.F. Green Airport in Providence twice in the last three weeks. The barista said she was under strict orders not to refill mugs directly, and had to pour coffee into my mug by using a paper cup. Give me a break. Let me come behind the counter and fill it myself, or put out some urns for those of us who want a plain ole coffee. Why sell the mugs if you can't refill them directly? Contrast that with the Dunkin' Donuts at the same airport, which had no problem refilling my mug without a paper-cup middle man last week. Guess who is getting my business from now on? Thanks, Dunks.
Dear, Coffee Shop Owners: Wi-Fi Influences Purchase Decisions
I saw some signs outlining wifi time limits at Coffee Obsession while stopping in there with the boys a few weeks back. Sigh. It won't stop me from going there, though. I'm usually in Falmouth to shop, or else have arrived there by bike, so I rarely have my laptop in tow. Plus, I could never give up Coffee Obesssion's Mexican Mocha Latte (make mine a double, please).

This list ignores the fact that the two most read posts in 2009 were actually published in 2008: Check Engine Haiku and Commuter rail linking Scranton, Poconos with NYC receives fed money. I get the message. You, dear readers, want more haikus and items about commuter rail, or maybe what you're really saying is you want commuter rail haikus. Either way, we'll see what we can do.

Meanwhile, I've also resolved to write more this year. That, plus the goals set above, are more resolutions than I've ever set for myself. Wish me luck!

Will work from anywhere

2009-12-30T23:10:00.000-05:00

The Commuter Daddy Vehicle (CDV) failed inspection earlier this week. Tire treads were not up to snuff. So I spent my lunch "hour" (more like two hours) waiting for new tires to get installed at Sears.

(Tires are on sale at Sears through Saturday, by the way. My Consumer Reports research led me to buy a set of Michelin Primacy MXV4s: Great fuel efficiency rating, and good marks across the board for other characteristics too. Sears had the best price of all the tire retailers in the area.)

While I waited, I grabbed a sandwich from The Casual Gourmet Express, and hunkered down to be productive while the CDV was brought back up to code.

The experience served to illustrate not only am I getting too old for prolonged exposure to malls, especially during a school vacation week, but I also can work from just about anywhere.

The scene:

In front of me, a carousel, was pumping out the music one would expect.
To my right, music videos were playing throughout the food court from overhead monitors and the public address system.
Behind me, shoppers negotiated the narrow pathway between me, a repositioned table and chair, and a Nissan 370Z that folks were trying to submit entries to win.
Somewhere to the left, a baby was crying.
Can't connect to the wifi? No problem. I used my Blackberry as a modem via its Bluetooth connection.
Why was the table repositioned, you ask? Needed power for the Blackberry's low battery.

Of course, making a phone call was too challenging. As a conference call start time approached, I packed my gear, and headed for Barnes and Noble. No tables were available at the Starbucks there, plus the speakers were piping in some music. You never really notice a store's P.A. system until you're trying to join a conference call from beneath a speaker.

Luckily, there was a nice speaker-free spot between two bookshelves that were directly beneath the escalator. The wall I leaned against was vibrating a bit from the escalator motor, but it wasn't audible, so I set up camp.

I spent an hour there, mostly on the phone. At one point a family walked by, and the mother tried to shoo the children past me. Either I looked really busy, or really scary... or perhaps both.

Seating selections abound on Southwest

2009-12-30T08:23:00.005-05:00

Photo by Brave Heart

I flew Southwest yesterday for the first time in a while, and was immediately presented with a dilemma. When selecting your seats on the fly, is it better to be nearer the front of the plane, or try to have a row to yourself near the back of the plane?

With other airlines, when I am presented with seat selections while purchasing the ticket, I usually try to find something as close to the front of the plane as possible. That's usually because I'm banking on the flight being oversold, and have blocked out of my mind the possibility of having a row to myself.

Not that Southwest flights aren't oversold. But yesterday's trip was a single-day roundtrip excursion -- early flight to Philadelphia, late flight back to Providence -- on a day that was not very busy for business or holiday travel. So I was hopeful there would be seats to spare both ways. All of the crowded flights were headed further south.

On the flight out, I had a high number on my boarding pass, so was in the second wave of Southwest's open seating. As luck would have it though, there was a completely open row near the front of the plane when I arrived. Score! Window seat near the front and a row to myself?! Surely I was going to pay for this good fortune on the way home.

My meetings finished up earlier than I anticipated, so I got back to the airport just after 3:30 p.m., four hours in advance of my scheduled flight. I started harboring dreams of switching to the earlier flight, especially after a speedy rental car return, but a lengthy wait in the security line made me less hopeful.

I got to the gate just as the 4:45 flight to Providence was finishing up its boarding. In between catching breaths, I explained to the gate agent that I was on the subsequent flight, and was there a chance they could squeeze me into the one that was about to leave?

"You'll have to pay the difference in the fare," she said, as she took my boarding pass for my scheduled flight and started typing.

"How much?" I asked.

Pause amid furious typing. No eye contact. I'm getting less hopeful by the second.

"$30," she finally said.

"Sold!" I exclaimed.

"Cash or credit?" she asked.

"What's easier for you?"

"Credit."

"Done!"

She then made the final boarding call, paged two passengers in the process, all while running my credit card. Amazing.

The gate agent handed me the receipt to sign, but I was so giddy at the prospect of getting home before the family was asleep that I grabbed it and started heading to the gate.

"No, wait, you need to sign that." she said.

"Oh, of course," I replied, taking the pen from her.

Now with receipt and new boarding pass in hand, I make my way to the gangway and plane. I'm figuring I'll be squeezing into a middle seat, but balancing that against the early arrival and short flight. It will be OK, I chanted to myself.

As I walk onto the plane, I scan the playing field. Any exit row seats? No. Any aisle or window seats near the front? No. Any aisle or window seats at all?

Cue the orchestra in my head, and fire up the heavenly glow. There's two empty rows. The back rows, but they're empty. This truly has been a blessed travel day!

Neither flight really settled the seating debate, though. Turns out I am happy with either a seat at the front of the plane, or with a row to myself. If that row to myself is near the front, all the better. Least desirable? Middle seat, no matter where it is on the plane.

The punctuation mark to yesterday was the plane landed at 6 p.m., and after a quick family coordination phone call I was sitting in a Plymouth restaurant at 7:15, meeting Brandy and the kids there after they had completed some errands. Brandy had even ordered my food, the kids were eating, and it was if I had not traveled at all.

Commuter Daddy Blogapalooza commences

2009-12-27T21:29:00.003-05:00

Photo by KellyKorv

Back when I was performing in bands, I would approach each gig as if it were an audition. It didn't matter whether we were playing to a packed house at Whisky A Go Go or to seven people in a basement coffeehouse in Northampton, Mass. I would make sure to engage as many people as possible with eye contact or a smile, and sing and play to the best of my ability.

Before and after the gigs, especially sparsely attended ones, I'd repeat a mantra that my bandmates no doubt grew quite sick of hearing: "You never know who is in the audience."

Flash forward to last week, when I lamented with tongue in cheek that I had not cracked the Top 125 Dad bloggers list. Keeper of the list, Keith Wilcox of Almightydad.com, commented on the post, and followed up with an invitation: While he would check if Commuter Daddy measured up via his algorithm, would I like to write a guest post for his blog?

You never know who is in the audience.

I took Keith up on his offer, finishing off and submitting a post I already had been baking for Commuter Daddy. "Home-Office Productivity Foiled by Parenthood" was published on Almightydad.com earlier today.

A couple of addendums:

The post is written about a couple of hours on the home front this past Monday. One detail I left out was that Monday was a snow day, and Brandy, also facing numerous deadlines with her home-office work, had spent the previous 8 hours conducting the same switcheroos I wrote about. This was all while keeping the urchins out of my office. The scene in the blog post is while Brandy had taken a well deserved break and gone to the gym.
It should be explicitly stated that Brandy and I are grateful that we have reached the point in our careers that we can work from home. It's taken a lot of hard work to get to this point, and the timing is perfect given the ages of our children. We continue to work hard -- perhaps too hard at times -- to preserve this way of life. The point of the post is not to whine about the challenges we face. It is intended simply as an illustration. There are many parents that can relate, I am sure, regardless of their profession or place of business.

I still may not be in the Top 125 of Daddy bloggers. While I have a decent page rank for a part-time blog, I've not done well with inbound links. That underscores the fact that Commuter Daddy has remained in the sandbox from which it was born. This all started in 2007 when in my day job I was charged with developing an employment vertical and my co-worker and I kicked around the idea of an employment blog network. I learn best by doing, so Commuter Daddy was born -- part laboratory, part playground.

The vertical launched successfully, but the network was shelved for other priorities and circumstances. The blog persisted as an as-time-permits endeavor. A glance back through the archives would illuminate gaps in the blogging timeline when I have devoted time and extra attention to specific professional and personal projects.

So consider 2010 to be Commuter Daddy's Blogapalooza. This will become a combined personal and professional project. Let's see how far we take this thing. Making the Top 125 upon the next refresh of the Daddy bloggers list is not the goal, per se, but that will be a nice barometer as to whether I've succeeded with increasing the blog's visibility and authority.

After all, you never know who is in the audience.

In case you were wondering, I'm not one of the Top 125 Dad bloggers

2009-12-21T19:34:00.002-05:00

I'm sorry to report I did not make the cut. Commuter Daddy is not among the Top 125 Dad Blogs listed here:
Top Dad Blogs — 2010

Honestly, I'm not sure how I could commute much harder. And I'm certainly giving everything I've got to be a top dad. However, I've clearly been falling short on the blogging.

I sense a New Year's Resolution coming on.

I'm pleased to report that I fulfilled this year's goal of cycling 1,000 miles. Perhaps I should change the blog name to Cycling Daddy, except that I've logged about 30,000 miles commuting so that wouldn't be the right focus for now.

So Commuter Daddy props to Always Home and Uncool, DadThing.com, Digital Dads and Geekdad, all of whom I follow regularly. They all made the list.

Perhaps the issue is not my blogging. Some of my fellow Facebookers (become a fan of Commuter Daddy!) and Twitter followers would say I'm too prolific with my sharing. Maybe the judges responsible for the Top 125 Dad Bloggers simply have an anti-commuter bias. CommuterDad, my Canadian commuting and blogging comrade, also didn't crack the Top 125.

In protest, we should start our own Top 125 list of commuter bloggers -- though I'm not certain we could find 125. It is a fairly niche blogging topic. Guess we'll just have to try to crack the top 125 next year.

Sushi irony

2009-12-02T13:11:00.003-05:00

The cafeteria at the offices where I am working today often has an ethnic food offering. Some days it is Indian food. Today it's sushi. My stomach is doing a little happy dance.

Here's the irony, though: While I'm eating sushi, two Asian women next to me are eating pizza. Hope that's not because of their opinion of the sushi!

--
Sent from my mobile device

Germs trump green at Connecticut Lavazza

2009-11-21T10:18:00.007-05:00

While driving home last night, I stopped at the rest area in Fairfield, CT, to grab some coffee and stretch my legs. I approached the Lavazza counter, and asked the woman to refill my travel mug. She gave me a strange look, which usually means they are trying to figure out how to ring it in. So I offered that I usually get charged for a medium.

She paused another moment, and said, "I'll give you a cup."

Now I was the one giving her a strange look.

She filled the paper cup, put on a protective sleeve and a lid, and handed me the coffee.

I showed her my travel mug again, and asked, "So you gave me a coffee in that cup, just so I could pour it in this cup, and throw that cup away?"

In halting English, she said she was sorry, and motioned over to the McDonalds, where I presume the manager was, and said they would not let her handle the travel mug.

I thanked her, and didn't stick around to argue. I just wanted to get home. But as I walked over to the trash bin, poured the coffee from the disposable cup into my travel mug, and disposed of the former, I was shaking my head at the absurdity of the exercise.

My motivation for the travel mug is equal parts of trying to be friendly to the environment while also keeping my coffee warmer for longer. There's few things worse in my book than tepid coffee.

Near as I can figure, the Lavazza manager was being extra cautious with germ prevention, except when I realized later that the woman who waited on me did not have any plastic gloves on, so they couldn't have been THAT concerned about the germs.

Even more curious, though, was I had no trouble getting a refill at a different I-95 Lavazza the night before. Granted, that woman was wearing gloves.

I guess I should be grateful for the combined germ prevention and hot cup of coffee in that instance, and will now be on the lookout for plastic gloves at future coffee stops. I'll know my chances for getting a travel mug refill will be greater.

Note: Photo courtesy of Bridge and Tunnel Club Big Map

Tide To Go pen saves the day -- and the pants

2009-11-15T12:54:00.004-05:00

Note: I've not been paid by either Mars or Procter & Gamble for the product mentions that follow, though I'd gladly accept their endorsement of my commuter musings.

Drinking accidents are nothing new on my commute. Food accidents are less frequent, but do occur. Luckily, I now have leather seats to minimize the lingering impact on the car.

The impact on my clothing is another matter.

On the drive to New York earlier this week, I was nearing the end of a package of Dark Chocolate M&Ms when suddenly one disappeared. It was still dark out, so I fumbled around for it. When I didn't find it by feel, I figured it must have reached the floor.

I later stopped for a coffee refill, and looked on the floor for the wayward M&M. No luck. Figuring it was under the seat, I decided to leave the search for later. I refilled my coffee mug, chatted with the clerk about her neighbor with six daughters (God bless that neighbor!), and headed back to the car. Just before entering, I spied the M&M's fate: Melted, on my seat.

I tried to execute a quick check of my pants, looking over my shoulder and doing an unorthodox twist to see if the M&M had left a mark behind me. Not finding one, I wiped the mess off the seat, and thanked my lucky stars as I headed back to the highway.

After two coffees, the next stop was naturally oriented toward a biological break. After washing my hands, I tried a mirror-aided check of my pants and discovered my stars had not beeen so lucky. The M&M had indeed left a mark.

Luckily, this was an overnight trip, so I fetched the pants that had been packed for the next day, changed in the bathroom, and headed for a pharmacy or grocery store to buy a Tide To Go pen. I figured if the pen could work its magic on the stain, I'd be all set to wear the revived pants the next day. If not, I'd go clothes shopping that evening.

As I was dabbing and swabbing the stain with the pen, though, I was a bit discouraged. Though the stain was fading, I could still see where the chocolate smear had left its mark. I dabbed and swabbed some more and hoped for the best, but was nearly certain I'd be heading for the store after my meetings that day.

Cut to arriving at the hotel later that night. I grabbed the previously stained pants from the back, and voila! No more stain! I could detect the slightest trace of it, but only because I was looking for it and knew where to look. Chances were, no one was getting close enough the next day to notice. The shopping trip was averted, making the Tide To Go pen a great $4 investment. It will now be an omnipresent tool in my commuting arsenal.

As for Dark Chocolate M&Ms, I'll be crossing them off my commuter dining list.

Cycling my way to good business travel habits

2009-10-19T21:07:00.003-04:00

I've recently been packing my bike in the trunk, along with my omnipresent golf clubs, so that I can sneak in a ride during travel to the corporate office in New York. Turns out I am part of a business-traveler cycling trend, according to the New York Times.

Andy Clarke, president of the League of American Bicyclists, said health, being green and, more recently, economics were among the reasons more people are cycling to work. Many riders are continuing the habit on business trips. “They don’t want to miss a day in the saddle if they can help it,” he said.

(Of course, reading that, I now feel guilty. I'm taking the week off from riding until I can get a stitch removed from my leg. No worries. Nothing major. Just applying an abundance of caution.)

Why bother with packing the bike? Well, the fact that the Heritage Trail is minutes from my hotel makes an outdoor ride infinitely more preferable to the statioanry bike in the exercise room. And the quote above is absolutely true. I love keeping up with my every-other-day ride schedule. Hitting the road two weeks each month can challenge that exercise pattern. Bringing the bike eliminates travel as an anti-fitness excuse.

The mere presence of the bike on the business trip also provides motivation. Bring the bike 300 miles, only to leave it in the trunk? No way. I don't dare sleep in when the bike is with me.

I used to excuse my poor diet and infrequent excerise on business travel. "I am always healthier when I am home," I used to say. Now, I just bring my home habits with me. Voila! No more excuses.

New Office Mate

2009-09-21T10:55:00.001-04:00

New Office Mate
Originally uploaded by spolay

Our new Cairn Terrier puppy, Ruby, has been home barely 24 hours, and already she's taken a liking to the home office.

We tried putting her in her crate this morning so that I could work without worrying about what she was up to, but the background wimpering was not going to fly in either the personal concentration department or as background noise to upcoming conference calls.

At this very moment, she is asleep at my feet, after a prolonged attack on one of my plastic file boxes. Attacking file boxes is exhausting work, after all.

Baseball psychology of a 4-year-old fan mystifies

2009-09-18T19:59:00.009-04:00

Recently, Benjamin, our youngest, has been walking a very fine, diplomatic line with his baseball allegiance.

It started a few weeks ago. At lunch in Albany, a friend asked him which baseball team was his favorite.

"I like the Red Sox... (pause) and I like the Yankees."

I nearly choked on my calamari. Clearly, I was failing as Red Sox father.

It's not been for lack of trying. I recently included Benjamin in a trip to Fenway Park with his two older brothers. We weren't sure he'd have the patience for a 9-inning stint, much less for a typical marathon tilt against the Yankees. Yes, his first Red Sox game was against the Yankees! Surely I was starting him off on the right foot.

It didn't take long for him to get into the spirit of things. When the bleacher creatures took up the usual "Yankees suck!" chant, Benjamin joined right in.

I was conflicted, and quickly convinced him to switch to "Yankees stink!" He proclaimed just that at the top of his lungs several times throughout the rest of the game, to the delight of those around us. Secretly, I was more proud than ashamed. He was starting out his Red Sox fandom just fine.

A mere two weeks later, and that fandom morphed into political correctness in Albany. Worse? It has persisted, with Benjamin announcing periodically when the Red Sox are on TV that he likes them and several other teams, including the Yankees.

Cut to tonight's conversation on the couch during the Red Sox-Orioles game:

"Dad, you know I cheer for the Yankees, too."

I'd had enough. It was time for a heart-to-heart. "Benjamin, I would really like it if you cheered just for the Red Sox."

"Dad, you're family," he replied. "But I can cheer for whoever I want."

I might be failing as a Red Sox father, but how can I fault that sentiment from a 4-year-old?

The good news? A few moments later, his allegiance changed again.

"Here we go, Umpire, here we go!"

Commuter's Breakfast

2009-09-11T09:29:00.001-04:00

commuters breakfast
Originally uploaded by jøhn ƒaher†y phø†øgraphy

I can't take credit for the photo, but I can relate. Many a morning has a toasted and buttered bagel ridden shotgun on a bed of napkins for the first few minutes of my commute.

Bellies bounce

2009-09-06T12:49:00.004-04:00

One in a continuing series of fitness motivations: "Daddy, your belly is bouncy!" Mason said this afternoon, as he was playfully using me as a punching bag.

Next stop, the bicycle. I was going to pass on a ride today. I have parked a tissue box under my nose , thanks to allergies, and I have some projects that need attention.

Clearly, though, the boys have other ideas. It's as if my fitness life has morphed into a Cheerios commercial....

More ammo for my pro-wifi arguments

2009-09-01T21:49:00.006-04:00

Randall Blinn is making my point. In a USA Today story today about wifi charges irking hotel guests, Blinn, a computer consultant in Louisville, says wifi is a primary factor in his hotel booking decisions.

Amen, Mr. Blinn!

According to a USA Today survey of hotel brands, 40 percent of hotels charge for wifi access. I'm flummoxed. Perhaps I simply misunderstand the economics of offering wifi to customers. Is it really a cost that hotels must recapture via daily fees? Doesn't it break down to a virtually cost-free service for the hotels when amortized over the number of guests that would use it if it were offered for free?

(Can you tell I recently finished listening to Chris Anderson's Free: The Future of a Radical Price via audiobook?)

As I've written previously, wifi availability has a direct influence on my commercial decisions, be it coffee shops, airport shuttles, hotels and soon airlines. I've always believed I am not alone among my fellow Commuter Daddies, presumably an attractive demographic among enterprises that cater to business people, traveling or otherwise. Now the USA Today story lends credence to that belief.

I continue to be mystified by how businesses risk customer acquisition and retention opportunities when the chance to do so has such a low up-front cost.

Kids are always trying to grow up too fast

2009-08-19T08:59:00.001-04:00

August 19, 2009 - Photo of the day
Originally uploaded by Times Herald-Record

How can a Commuter Daddy not love this photo?

Kids these days, I tell you....

Airports improving water options

2009-08-17T21:35:00.003-04:00

Hooray for Portland and San Francisco -- and now perhaps Chicago -- airports for going green, balancing reduction in plastic waste and cost of its disposal with TSA's concern about liquids from outside the airport getting into secure areas.

Instead of making travelers dispose of water bottles entirely at the security checkpoints, the Portland International Airport has set up "pouring stations" into which liquid may be dumped so the empty water bottle can be added to carry-on bags and refilled later -- or simply be recycled.

San Francisco's new terminal will have "hydration stations" just past security, and will ponder eliminating availability of full water bottles, instead encouraging concessionaires to sell re-usable cups or bottles.

These are not a new ideas, per se. Since reading an item on Athletic-Minded Traveler in January, I've been toting my empty water bottle -- and an empty travel coffee mug -- through security on my airport-based trips. Plenty of other sites, such as SmarterTravel.com and Business Hacks, had advised similar tactics before that.

These are the first few airports I have seen taking steps to acknowledge the practice, though. The challenge until now, especially for travelers making tight connections, has been locating water fountains at which a traveler can refill a bottle. More visibility in the form of signs -- or even a few more fountains -- will be the third leg of the stool: Convenience for the traveler.

Another pearl of inspriation from the mini trainers

2009-08-14T20:42:00.002-04:00

Was lying on the floor tonight, stretching my back and waiting for Benjamin to return to our game of "I Spy Bingo."

Mason came over to lie down perpendicular to me, using my stomach as a pillow.

"Dad, why is your belly so puffy?"

Good thing I've resumed trips to the gym this week on my off-cycling days.

Entertaining the troops in the home office

2009-08-12T17:28:00.001-04:00

Multitasking
Originally uploaded by spolay

Mason watches USA vs. Mexico on one screen in the big chair while I use a bar stool and the alternate screen to work (and snap a couple of quick pics). You can see Ben's curly hair, too, just behind my shoulder.

This is the epitome of multitasking, eh?

Dear, Coffee Shop Owners: Wi-Fi Influences Purchase Decisions

2009-08-06T09:25:00.003-04:00

Commuter Daddy and my alternate personas are on vacation this week, so if you read this today or tomorrow, you didn't see me type this and can't prove a thing.

While reading the Wall Street Journal this morning over coffee, however, the headline alone lured me from the easy chair to the blogging chair: No More Perks: Coffee Shops Pull the Plug on Laptop Users.

The gist of the story is the growing trend, particularly among independently owned and operated coffee shops, to free up seats by enforcing laptop bans during certain hours.

Amid the economic downturn, there are fewer places in New York to plug in computers. As idle workers fill coffee-shop tables -- nursing a single cup, if that, and surfing the Web for hours -- and as shop owners struggle to stay in business, a decade-old love affair between coffee shops and laptop-wielding customers is fading. In some places, customers just get cold looks, but in a growing number of small coffee shops, firm restrictions on laptop use have been imposed and electric outlets have been locked.

Dear, Coffee Shop Owners, There is no more decisive way to chase away my long-term business than to completely cut off Wi-Fi access. Sincerely, Commuter Daddy.

Three places I frequent most while on the road are Hampton Inn, Panera and Starbucks. All are Wi-Fi-based choices.

Obviously, to avail yourself of the Hampton's Wi-Fi, you have to be staying there and get the secret login code from the front desk. Still, that plus the free breakfast are the linchpin in my purchase decision. Hampton Inn is usually the first and only hotel choice for any overnight trip I am making.

Panera's open Wi-Fi availability not only makes it my first choice for working coffee, lunch and dinner breaks while I am on the road, but it is also my first choice for off-site meetings with both vendors and staff. Panera has received a lot of my business primarily because of their Wi-Fi, and I have become a business connector for Panera, drawing in additional paying customers as a result of my Wi-Fi-based loyalty.

Starbucks is my backup plan, especially now that my Starbucks card affords me 2 hours of free AT&T Wi-Fi access at most of their locations. Hardly a trip goes by that doesn't include at least one Starbucks visit.

The WSJ story notes that so far New York City seems to be the one place where Wi-Fi scheduling or rationing is happening on a large scale. From a Commuter Daddy perspective, that's fine. While I prefer the environs of quirky and comfy independent coffee shops, there's more than 150 Starbucks locations in New York City. I have plenty of alternatives.

Yes, there might be times I linger too long over a single cup of coffee at Wi-Fi-enabled coffee shop. But there are many other times I have returned sans laptop -- sometimes with family, friends or co-workers -- because of the brand loyalty that the Wi-Fi access has nurtured.

Perhaps the city laptop culture is different than the road warrior set, and as such different rules must apply. I have a hard time seeing, though, how restricting a perk that attracts crowds can be a wise long-term business decision.