1. Go to wmata.nextbus.com.
2. Select your route, destination and bus stop and then a blue box at at the bottom of the page shows when the next buses will arrive. This is the piece we want to take with us to our iGoogle page.
   
3. Click “Update page address so that it can be bookmarked.”
4. Using your mouse, Right Click and  choose View Page Source in Firefox or Chrome or View Source in Internet Explorer or Safari. This opens up a new window with the source code of the web page.
5. The address needed is at the bottom of the page in an iframe tag.  The quickest way to find it is to press Ctrl + f to access the search function. Search for iframe.  The iframe looks like this:
   

   <iframe id="mainFrame"
   src="http://wmata.nextbus.com/customStopSelector/fancyNewPredictionLayer.jsp?a=wmata&r=42&d=42_42_0&s=7018&ts=6905&cssFile=http://www.wmata.com/css/nextbus.css&bookmarkableURL=http://www.wmata.com/rider_tools/nextbus/arrivals.cfm#"
   width="80%" height="700" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto">
   </iframe>

6. Copy the web site address from the beginning through to the last part before “&css” because this is the direct link to the NextBus page for this route.   In the example below the part to copy is marked in red text:

   http://wmata.nextbus.com/customStopSelector/fancyNewPredictionLayer.jsp?a=wmata&r=42&d=42_42_0&s=7018&ts=6905&cssFile=http://www.wmata.com/css/nextbus.css&bookmarkableURL=http://www.wmata.com/rider_tools/nextbus/arrivals.cfm#

7. Login to your iGoogle page and click on Add Stuff on the top right part of the page.  Use the gadget named “iFrame” and then add it to your iGoogle page.
8. Return to your iGoogle page, click the drop down menu for the new iFrame Gadget and finally choose Edit Settings.  Use the settings in this example below.  Most of the gadget’s default settings work but a few need to be changed:
   src: Paste the source link from step 6 here.
   Title: Give this gadget a name so it is easy to find on your iGoogle page.
   Height: The default height is unnecessarily tall.  Try a shorter gadget — 225 pixels worked well on my page.When you’re done click on Save.
   
9. If everything worked your iGoogle page will now include a gadget showing your favorite bus route showing when the bus will actually arrive.  Here is a screen shot of my iGoogle page with the new gadget showing NextBus for the 42:
   
10. Here is this same bus route embedded on this web page to give you a live example:

11. And if that isn’t cool enough — try going to your new iGoogle page on your iPhone or Android phone.  There you’ll find your new gadget in all of its mobile glory:
    

Let me know if you have any issues with this or know of an easier way to access your favorite routes quickly.

Thanks to heryandotus for sharing his custom NextBus page since it inspired me to figure out how to do the same thing for those who aren’t web monkeys [via].

This is what happens after dinner.  It’s a race to clean the sink and floors before bed time.

Writing a weblog today isn’t the bright idea it was four years ago. The blogosphere, once a freshwater oasis of folksy self-expression and clever thought, has been flooded by a tsunami of paid bilge. Cut-rate journalists and underground marketing campaigns now drown out the authentic voices of amateur wordsmiths. It’s almost impossible to get noticed, except by hecklers. And why bother? The time it takes to craft sharp, witty blog prose is better spent expressing yourself on Flickr, Facebook, or Twitter.   

 His ideas about why blogging is wasting time struck me and it felt freeing to allow myself to imagine ending the blog project and pull that plug.  Had I not been reading the story in bed I may have gotten up and sent the pixels that make up this web site off into oblivion.  The next morning it was time for breakfast and going to work so there wasn’t time to kill the blog.  Rather than acting on my impulse, I waited long enough that I finally came across Andrew Sullivan’s essay Why I Blog in The Atlantic and I may get back into it.   I re-read the essay tonight and his description of what blogging is and how it is so different for writers to be so exposed and honest is what stands out:

You have to express yourself now, while your emotions roil, while your temper flares, while your humor lasts. You can try to hide yourself from real scrutiny, and the exposure it demands, but it’s hard. And that’s what makes blogging as a form stand out: it is rich in personality. The faux intimacy of the Web experience, the closeness of the e-mail and the instant message, seeps through. You feel as if you know bloggers as they go through their lives, experience the same things you are experiencing, and share the moment.      

   It is this intimacy and immediate expression that is so fun to read and also to create.  I want to show you about how exciting it is to be out on the street the night of the presidental election.   I want to show you pictures of the mountains of dishes that I get to wash in our tiny kitchen.  I want to explore how to live in a city studio apartment as a newly married couple.  I want to show you interesting photographs of friends in the neighborhood.  I want to talk about interesting ideas raised in some of my favorite publications.  And I want to do it all freely and happily.Even if I enjoy reading blogs immensely I’m going to make an effort to share a little more.  Hopefully it’ll be fun for all of us.

We’re looking forward to seeing family and friends in December! 

I learned in December that I still love playing the piano.   I hadn’t played in years but the many feet of snow outside inspired me to sit in the warm basement and remember how to play.  Since then I’ve been thinking more about it and recently a few piano playing friends pointed me in this direction for buying a digital piano:

• Pianos need all 88 keys.
• Pianos need to make beautiful music and must handle 32 notes polyphony.
• Pianos need weighted keys.

I’ve started to narrow my search for the brands and models that I want to try.  If you have any extra digital pianos around the house you no longer play or if you have recommendations (and I know family members and friends who play are reading this) please let me know.

• You know I love eating at Chipotle but I didn’t know that the restaurant purchased food from local growers when possible.  That makes the burrito bowls that much more delicious.
  Local Growers Help Companies Cut Costs [Marketplace]

I compiled the requested info and called back at 7:20 PM Eastern Time (4:20 PM Pacific time) only to hear an automated message saying that the office is closed for the day.  What?!  While it was after 7 on the east coast it was not 7 PM yet on the west coast.

Not to be deterred, I tried to beat the system.  My wife Amanda has a phone number from Colorado so I dialed with her phone and got right into the phone system and through to a representative.  Apparently the office wasn’t closed if you live in Colorado but it is closed if you live in DC.

Next time you need to reach an office with a fancy automated system shielding you from real people, keep this trick in mind.

The song that Last.fm was playing at the time was Chopin’s Étude No. 5 in G-Flat Major “Black Keys. All I knew about the ring tone was that it was the only pleasing music that would suit a call from Amanda and that it was named melody07.mid.

Think I am going crazy and hearing things? You be the judge.

Here is the ringtone:

And here is the piece composed by Chopin and performed by Murray Perahia:

Too similar to be a coincidence? Call in your vote in the comments. Whether it is the same song or not, I’m just amazed my cell phone has such good taste in music.I’m off now to shop for a digital piano so I can start playing again…

Here’s last night’s Daily Show.

[via]

Wired magazine wrote about Wakerupper back in November and I immediately tried it but it was not fully available then except for beta testers. Without an account all you can do is schedule a single call. My single reminder calls worked well but the real beauty of a service to call a phone number is to schedule multiple calls on a schedule.

Wakerupper is basically a service that calls a telephone exactly when you want with the message of your choosing. According to the company:

“Wakerupper is an experimental service that aims to make telephone alerting as easy and inexpensive as possible. In one easy step, on one simple web page, Wakerupper enables users in the United States and Canada to schedule telephone reminder calls.”

Today I got an email inviting me to be a beta tester for the servce (yay, right on time!) and it is working great. Details on how it works are below.

So far I have used this to wake up on a typical morning and wake up for an early morning trip. Since I know I can’t reliably remember to do something without adding it to my schedule, one time I scheduled for Wakerupper to call Amanda when she needed a reminder call from me. The call to her not only rings her phone but also includes a recorded voice message or a text-to-speech message. Here is a sample entry for a new call:

Besides entering your various telephone numbers there is nothing else to it. It’s easy, simple and free. Give it a spin yourself at wakerupper.com. Try calling yourself to remind yourself to have a great weekend and get out and enjoy the late winter weather.  Wait, you don’t need a reminder for that.  Just go!

[Wakerupper via Wired]