Archive for the ‘Ann Arbor’ tag
Morning Full Moon
The nice thing about waking up really, really early to take family to the airport? Well, on some days, you might just catch a nice view of a full moon.
Moon over Ann Arbor, MI
Back from a great, long weekend
To celebrate my youngest cousin’s high school graduation, Yeni and I headed to Albany to join the celebration. Instead of flying, we packed very lightly and took the Harley 650 miles east from Ann Arbor to Albany, mostly following I-90 (we were going to go through Canada, but that’s a different story).
The trip to Albany was amazing and covered parts of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Cities included Toledo, Cleveland, Erie, Buffalo, Syracuse, and Albany. Normally, when traveling on the Interstate, you really don’t get to see much, and with this trip, we set that as our expectation. Gladly, we were wrong. I had never been West of Albany (yes, I’m one of those type of New Yorker’s) and Read the rest of this entry »
A very nice, long day…
Besides celebrating the birth of my sister, June 21st holds additional special meanings… such as the start of Summer, the Summer Solstice, and the longest “day” of the year. This year, it of course was also Father’s day — so all in all, this year, June 21st was a day of family.
The amount of daylight surprised me. This picture was taken at 9:30 pm:
Sunset in Ann Arbor, MI
Still in Florida
I’m still in Florida, but headed back to Michigan on Wednesday. I’ve been enjoying the warm weather, although it was 98 degrees yesterday in North Florida… much, much higher than Ann Arbor.
Anyway, this last weekend I:
- Celebrated mom’s birthday with my family (including my sister and our spouses)
- Had an AMAZING meal at Joe’s Stone Crabs (but, when do you not?)
- Celebrated Mother’s day with the family
- Worked a little in Boca Raton, FL
- Enjoyed a nice afternoon on the beach with my wife.
- Read some hilarious comments on the Gandy Dancer review
I’m looking forward to the drive up on Wednesday… love those Mountains.
Quick and Dirty News
No, it’s not a reference to Cinco de Mayo… but just simply, the quick and dirty news for Fred Posner. Let’s see… recently I:
- Got married (blogged @ yenifred.com)
- Reviewed the Gandy Dancer at Fat Freddy Says.com
- Had an AMAZING cake from Cake Nouveau (review coming)
And those are the biggies I guess. 
A2 Cloud Camp
I attended Ann Arbor’s Cloud Camp yesterday at Google (in… Ann Arbor). Was a great “un-conference” about cloud computing and such. Took a few pictures and enjoyed the afternoon.
April in Ann Arbor means Snow
Hey... I thought it was Spring!
So, last night Michael and I caught up over a few Bourbon’s at a TGI Friday’s down the road. The last time Mike and I visited Friday’s together? 1989. Anyway… as the evening wore on, the window showed us something I thought I wouldn’t be seeing again for a while — snow. And we’re not talking “oh just a little white powder” here, we are talking big, huge, white flakes. Big ones. Coming down like the ground was Macy’s and it was a 90% off sale.
The snow continued throughout the night leaving 4 – 7 inches on the ground (depending on which paper you believe). All I know is that Yeni had to break out the winter boots (She said, “Oh, Winter Boots I thought I would not see you again… but here you are.”) and I got to de-snow the cars yet another time this year.
I will say this though… Looking at snow is nice. Dealing with it, not so much. There’s more pictures below… Read the rest of this entry »
Raise Taxes Michigan, Really? Really?
The smartest thing I have ever done was not leave Florida permanently. After spending 20 plus years living and working in Florida, I’ve certainly seen my share of embarrassment. From Terry Schivo to Elian Gonzalez, the 2000 election to the Anna Nicole Smith Baby Daddy trial, Florida certainly helps give late night talk show hosts a punch line now and then.
But this isn’t a post about Florida. This is a post about two law makers in Michigan that want to raise income tax.
Right now, the State of Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the United States. Right now (March 2009), the Michigan unemployment rate is 12%. And with GM getting ready to lay off thousands more in May, this number will rise quicker than it will fall. Read the rest of this entry »
Ann Arbor News Says Goodbye
Ann Arbor . com website
The Ann Arbor News (in Ann Arbor, MI of course) recently announced it’s closure. After 174 years, the Ann Arbor News could not see a way out of economic difficulties and will be relaunching as an online media company — AnnArbor.com. But this post isn’t about the closure… for information on that check out:
This post is on why I do not grieve the Ann Arbor News closure.
To be in business for 174 years is truly an amazing feat, and congratulations is due. Of course, the business became part of Mlive.com and was more of a conglomerate lately than a truly local paper.
This weekend, Yeni and I went to Meijer’s (the local supermarket) twice (long story). Both times we entered Meijer’s, we were greeted by two salesmen in a booth selling subscriptions to the Ann Arbor News. The approach was that one individual would stand in the entrance way and ask you to talk with him. When you said “No, thank you.” (like I did) he continued his pitch, and his style was effective — many elderly people were signing up for new subscriptions.
Businesses can and will fail. It’s the nature of, well, it’s the nature of business. Surely we can feel sadness for the persons who will lose their jobs and we can also feel sadness for the closure of a local institution, but to me, I feel more of a loss for the new subscribers I saw this weekend.
Traditionally, the elderly do not get their news online. I feel that selling subscriptions “hard” over the weekend for a business announcing it’s closure on Monday is in poor taste. And sadly, sometimes the last taste in your mouth is how you remember the meal.
I asked The Ann Arbor News what would happen to these new subscribers. They said:
“You’ll keep getting the paper as you do through July. We’re still working out what happens after that. You won’t lose what you paid though.”
To me, if they want my support, they’ll issue immediate refunds to anyone that bought a subscription this month. Full and immediate refund.
But, as Dennis Miller would say… That’s just my opinion.
Selected Quotes about Government
Dealing with Ann Arbor’s Downtown Development Authority (the A2DDA) definitely elicits an emotional response. Sadly, the happy emotions did not make the cut. Anyway, the experience finds me recollecting some of my favorite government quotes…
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. — Thomas Jefferson
The point to remember is that what the government gives it must first take away. — John S. Caldwell
We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid. — Benjamin Franklin
The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. — Thomas Jefferson
I am for doing good to the poor, but…I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed…that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer. — Benjamin Franklin
It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority. — Benjamin Franklin
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. — Benjamin Franklin
Never trust a government that doesn’t trust its own citizens with guns. — Benjamin Franklin
Once upon a time, government budgets were balanced, our money was sound, the streets were safe, and taxes imposed by all levels of government took less than 10% of our income. — Harry Browne
Benjamin Franklin, Motorcycles, and Ann Arbor Parking
We’re not playing the Pyramid here, but wouldn’t that be great? Man, I miss good 70’s game shows. Give me the Pyramid and Match Game and I’m happy as can be. Anyway…
Benjamin Franklin
I’ve always liked Mr. Franklin. Some think he’s the only non-president on money… but those people probably think Mr. Hamilton was once a president. Anyway, Benjamin Franklin is perhaps my favorite American in history. I love his quotes and many of his thoughts can guide us still today.
Today’s the following Benjamin Franklin quote comes to mind:
It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.
Which brings us to… Read the rest of this entry »
Ann Arbor Blocks My Parking App
Ann Arbor DDA, you massively fail. If you were a ship, you’d be the titanic…
Can you believe in today’s world that a government agency would conspire and discuss the control of public information? What if that information was a top secret as… parking space availability?
I’ve posted an article on VoIP Tech Chat detailing the Ann Arbor DDA doing just that. My response to them is at the end… Please enjoy.
Fred Posner in the News
Some of the local papers / sites picked up the Parking Space story… check it out:
And we’re back…
GoDaddy had some sort of “issue” that had this site down most of the day… Can you believe it? The nerve of them to mess with fredposner.com. Geesh.
Anyway, we’re back online and I’d love to share a new geeky blog post I wrote: Diff’rent VoIP for Diff’rent Folks. Oh, and I was interviewed by the Ann Arbor Chronicle about the parking lot application. The preliminary video is on YouTube… But I also have a version below
Update — apparently the site was down due to a denial of service attack.
(You should also take a look at Homeless Dave’s site for more interviews)
Geeky Item of the Day
Yeni Weather Script
I have a new phone on my desk (or as Yeni calls it, the mesk). Why mesk? Combines messy and desk… but I digress (as usual).
As I was saying, I recently purchased a Polycom Soundpoint IP 450 phone. The phone is great — small foot print, clean, great speakerphone, and enables HD Voice. HD Voice is going to change the way we think of how phone calls sound. I admit, I was reluctant at first, but then I got to know Michael Graves; and after listening to him praise the benefits of HD Voice for many, many months, I decided it was time to embrace the technology.
Let me say this — HD Voice is amazing. I won’t say too much more, because I’m planning to write about it big time on VoIP Tech Chat and Team Forrest; but bottom line: HD Voice = amazing.
So the other nice thing about the phone? It has a little micro-mini browser. Which means what you ask? It means that know whenever Yeni asks me the weather… I can answer. A nice little Perl script checks the local Ann Arbor weather and gives me the temp (in F and C), current condition, and quick day’s forecast. The phone reads the website every 5 minutes and constantly displays the results. It’s nice.
