Conversations Happen, With Or Without You

Just a reminder to McDonald's that online conversation will happen with or without your participation, and that includes not only customers who might be talking about their experiences with McDonald's, but also employees. Earlier, an employee had posted some humorous "rules" for eating at her McDonald's. If you want to check it out, go here and click "earlier" until the post comes up. Alternately, Fast Food News covered it and has listed some of the rules here.

One of my favorites:

# Don't come into the lobby two minutes before we close. Chances are I've already cleaned, and it will only cause me to do unspeakable things to your (already stale) food.

Another classic example of how hyperlinks subvert heirarchy.

Joined American Mensa

Just got the packet in the mail that let me know I was accepted into American Mensa. It seems like a pretty cool group, and there's an online community on the site where members can interact. I plan on finding out where the Greater New York chapter plans on meeting, so I can meet up with some Mensans IRL and see what they're all about. We get some nice travel discounts, too. Interesting stuff.

Go Satellite Only

Doc takes a look at Air America's decision to move its flagship station from WLIB 1190 to WWRL 1600. I bought XM for my truck because I couldn't get a consistent signal from WLIB out here on the East End of Long Island. And now the signal strength will be attenuated further. If the new signal barely makes it to the boroughs, what can Long Island listeners expect? Probably an XM subscription...

Why not go satellite entirely at this point? At least this way, the Air America enthusiasts can help XM build momentum against Sirius. Maybe that's worth something.

Maine War Story #3 - Resuscitating a Blackberry

We were using a 12' aluminum dinghy to shuttle ourselves from the public boat ramp on Gardner's Lake to Craig's new boat, which was moored a few dozen feet out. On the second day of the trip, I tried getting in the dinghy, which I thought was firmly braced against a rock. It wasn't. Next thing you know, the boat upended and capsized, sending me into the water and thoroughly soaking everything in my pockets, which included my Blackberry. As soon as I righted myself, I checked the phone and it was, of course, dead. And now, in the spirit of saving soaked mobile devices everywhere, I hereby submit unto you the step-by-step directions for resuscitation...

1. Remove the battery.
2. Start up your car or truck
3. Crank the heat through the defroster and wait for it to warm up.
4. Place your soaked mobile device directly over the vent on the dash, with the battery compartment facing the vent.
5. Wait 15 minutes, or until the condensation disappears from the device's screen (whichever comes first).
6. Re-insert battery and pray.

Thankfully, this worked, although my Blackberry now has a sticky # key, which I suppose I'll live with until it's time to upgrade.