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January 25, 2005

Meme: Your browsing history

I pulled this from KC Lemson's blog (see prev post). The idea is, delete what's in the address bar of your browser, and type { www\.[a-z]. }, or for those of you not into regular expressions, www.a, www.b, etc. and see what comes up as the first link. Post the result. It's all about you in 26 links or less!
Me:
A: Amazon.com
B: babynames.com - I needed ideas to names my Sims characters. As a note, some parents are really cruel.
C: Citizen Wumpus - specifically, the page to post to my blog
D: Disneyworld - only 16 more days! Yay!
E: Ebay - I want a digital camera
F: For Better or For Worse comic strip - see, I really am a girl.
G: Google, of course.
H: Penn's Human Resources - benefits are good.
I: IBM Support - Thinkpad's Rock!
J: Joann's Fabric & Crafts - more exibition of my girlyness
K: KYW News - when you have to know what's closed for snow or how traffic is
L: Logitech - they're running a remote sweepstakes right now, and I was taken in by the cool commercial on my TiVo.
M: Merriam Webster's dictionary - what's a good synonym for boring?
N: Netbank.com - great online bank
O: Orbitz - did I mention that I'm going to Disney in two weeks? Yay!
P: Peanuts.com - Probably my all-time favorite cartoon
Q: QBOutlet.com - my backup source for shoes when Zappos is out of my size
R: Recipezaar - I was looking for a pierogie recipie to bribe my boss with. Google sent me here.
S: Spamcop.net. I hate them. Spamcop is bad.
T: The Sims!
U: Userfriendly.org
V: Verizon.net - I helped my mom with her DSL
W: Weather.com - damn snow
X: nothin
Y: nothin - I rebuilt my computer recently, so my cache is only two weeks old
Z: Zappos.com - the very best online shoe store in the universe

Posted by Janice Ryan at 4:38 PM | Comments (3)

New addtion to my RSS reader

I was having a problem in Word today, and when I searched for it, the first hit (which fixed my problem) was the blog of KC Lemson, formerly the release manager for Microsoft Exchange. The name stuck out in my memory, because she once solved another problem for me.
She's working part time now, so she might not post as much, but I've decided to add her to my RSS feed. I like her. She knows how to fix stuff.
Besides, I can only keep up with the slow blogs...

Posted by Janice Ryan at 4:30 PM | Comments (0)

January 20, 2005

Synchro Video

I skated in an exhibition with my Synchro team this past weekend. In the full version of this entry is a video of my team skating. Terry followed me pretty closely, but if at any point you lose me, I'm the one next to Tom, the only guy on our team, ie, the only one wearing pants.

Posted by Janice Ryan at 4:44 PM | Comments (0)

January 7, 2005

I'm not a girl?

Dan's blog pointed me to the Gender Genie and gave me the idea to input all the text of my blog (which was less than 2000 words total) to see if my writing style was feminine or masculine. It worked for Dan. Apparently though, I'm not very girly when I write. I got a score of 2878:3877 (Female:Male), which, if I did the math right, only labels me as 26% female. Sorry, Ter.
Maybe that's proof that working with way more men than women really affects one's personality...

Posted by Janice Ryan at 8:43 PM | Comments (1)

Light Rails

One of the best things about living in Portland, OR for the five months I was there 4 years ago was the light rail system.
On the way back from lunch today, Joe, Terry, and I were talking about light rails. Joe has a friend on a community board of Septa, and he said his friend told him that there had been a light rail project in Philly, but that funding wasn't available. We realized during the conversation that none of us really knew what the definition of a light rail is. So I looked it up.
Turns out, that basically, a light rail system is really just a newfangled name for trolley, tram, or streetcar.
Some would argue that a light rail system is a more modern form of the trolley or streetcar - that as trolley systems get upgraded, they evolve into light rails. I think this makes sense, as I don't think of Philadelphia Trolleys as really being light rail, though they are similar. According to the Light Rail Transit Association, a light rail is, among other things, a smooth and comfortable ride - that's definitely not a Green Line trolley - they shimmy so much, I get seasick, and the small, hard plastic seats really only qualify as "adaquate."
I guess in Philly terms, it would be the speed and comfort of the Blue line, but with the frequency more like a green line in Center City. Light Rails are frequent enough that it's reasonable to use them instead of cars with a capacity of up to 250 people (including standing) per train.
Septa operates the Norristown High Speed Line, which has the look of a light rail, operating on old regional railroad tracks. Septa is also renovating the old #15 Girard Street Trolley as a light rail, with retro styled PCC cars. It was scheduled to start service this fall, but due to a standoff about parking and traffic at 59th Street, the project hasn't completed. Apparently, Septa failed to consult the community residents or city council before making their plans for the 15 line and the city is unwilling to deal, even though they pushed Septa to restore the Rte 15 trolley.

None of this really helps me, as all I want right now is a service that'll get me home faster than walking those 3 miles. Nonetheless, I hope this Girard St stuff gets worked out, so that Septa can hemorrage money somewhere else for a while.

Posted by Janice Ryan at 7:47 PM | Comments (0)