Why Can't They..... ???

Simple problems require simple solutions.  And when it comes to solving our transportation woes, we consumers always wonder whey “they” can’t fix things quickly by doing what seems obvious and simple.  Take the following, for example…

METRO-NORTH:

Why can’t they make the bathrooms on the trains stink less?

Why can’t we have heat in the winter and AC in the summer, instead of vice versa?

Why can’t conductors announce each stop instead of hiding from passengers?

Why can’t they collect all tickets on the trains?

Why can’t the railroad treat us like valued customers instead of like cattle?

Why can’t we have competition among private carriers on commuter rail?

Why can’t they serve coffee and pastries in the bar cars in the morning?

Why can’t we have WiFi on our trains like Amtrak’s Acela?

Why can’t we get a rebate on our tickets when trains are late, service is cut or we can’t get a seat?

Why can’t they build more parking at the stations to cut the five-year wait for permits?

Why can’t I buy a ten-trip ticket that doesn’t expire in six months before I’ve used all the rides?

Why can’t they put a map at every station showing the local businesses and how to get there without taking a cab?

Why can’t Metro-North offer “quiet cars” like Amtrak, NJ Transit and the MBTA do?

Why can’t I buy a ticket on the train using a credit card?

Why can’t Hartford lawmakers all be required to ride Metro-North at rush hour for a week to know what their constituents endure all year?

Why can’t we do something about replacing the crumbling Stamford rail station garage instead of studying, talking and doing nothing for five years?

Why can’t towns leave station waiting rooms open evenings and weekends, especially in cold weather?

Why can’t they improve security on our trains instead of making us do their job with “If you see something, say something”?

HIGHWAYS:

Why can’t they get disabled vehicles off the road faster, avoiding back-ups?

Why can’t town police direct traffic when back-ups on I-95 send cars pouring onto the Post Road?

Why can’t they fix the overhead lights on I-95 so our highway is illuminated at night?

Why can’t they ticket trucks for using “Jake Brakes”, down-shifting noisily?

Why can’t they keep the truck-inspection stations open 24 x 7?

Why can’t we get reasonably priced gas on highway service areas instead of having to get off the road and into local traffic?

Why can’t they put tolls on I-95, priced by time of day, with proceeds being used to subsidize mass transit?

Why can’t they jail people endangering others by talking on cell phones while driving?

FLYING:

Why can’t they give us a human-sized seat with legroom at a fair price?

Why can’t the FAA improve safety by making sure pilots and air traffic controllers are properly trained, rested and supervised?

Why can’t they be honest with us about delays instead of always saying “it’ll be another 20 minutes” over the course of hours?

Why can’t they seat families with screaming babies in their own section, away from me?

Why can’t I take a car service to the airport for less than the cost of my flight?

What questions would you add to our “Why can’t they” list?  Send them to me and I’ll try to get the answers and share them in future columns.

Tumbling Tummy

It has been a rather frustrating couple of weeks for me since heading of to the united states of america. I just never got on top of my condition after turkey which i have now found out was due to a nasty tummy bug which i picked up from one of the 3 continents i have raced on over the past 4 weeks from food, another rider, water or really i would not have a clue. During california i was really struggling with everything, keeping fuel onboard, tummy cramps, chest pain, and just generally feeling very very average, i tried hard to get myself right but if you are missing a few gears you pay for it at this level. Luckily i identified not being right early on in the race and instead of suffering to race at the front i was able to slip into a domestic role for our superstar spinter peter superman sagan and contribute a bit to the collective effort of the team. You cant feel great all the time and i guess my rowing tendancies of ignoring little warning signals sometime backfire on me. Unless you are on your death bed you seem to be able to atleast perform very close to your top in a 6min rowing race because basically there is not enough time in the race for sickness to effect you too much. I have taken this approach a few to many times in cycling adopting the same principle and while you usually do feel ok for the first 6min of the cycling race unfortunately the next 5-6hrs are very very difficult and you need to exercise all your patience in suffering though the race. So after pretty much a week off post california with the travel and a couple of days off the bike to let the antibiotics and medicine rid this jolly thing from my system, i am super fresh and was great to get back out on the open rd for a couple of easy hrs today in the beautiful sunshine of northern italy and feeling like i am well and truly on the mend.

So from this rather unpleasent eposide i have certainly learnt a couple of valuable lessons. Firstly really take notice of all the food that goes into my system, i think i am pretty good but you can obviously never be to carefull and also when it comes to water. Us cyclists certainly get accused of being a little too precious but after most likely suffering from a food or liquid contracted bug through a rather intense cycling tour it is certainly somthing i will take as much care with what goes into my body as i possibly can to ensure it does not happen to me again. Trying to ignore any illness symptems seems to be a very rowing mentality and i guess it is because you get so few opportunities to race on the highest stage that if sickness or injury strikes at these time you simply do what you can to put it out of your mind and get on with the job. In cycling there is a big race every week and therefore the culture is simply to sit a race out if need be and get back on top of your condition before starting your next race. In this case the worst problems did not start untill a couple of days into the race so i did not have the option of pulling out. If you pull out the team is weaker and if you can contribute oin anyway and survive the race you are much better of to the team to stay in the race and do what you can, its one of the ultimate team sports and no matter how bad you are feeling you always judge your ability to continue on weather you can contribute anything in the race. In this case i knew i was still more than capable of spending time riding on the front of the peleton to help control things for the sprint finishes so i never considered pulling out. It is times like this where you realise hopw lucky you are to be in a team and also how much you must really enjoy racing and being with your team mates in a race situation. Certainly the joy we all shared as team after peter's great win on stage 5 completely overshadowed and outweighed any personal discomfort i was experiencing.

So back in europe and back into my routine, look forward to a few days good training and the criterium dauhpine libere.

cjw

It's survey time

Introduction

The prelude to summer must be survey time in Oracleland as there seems to be a bumper crop of them at the moment.  

Instead of reading my usual caffeine-fueled hallucinatory gibberish, instead spend some of your precious free  time with three worthy surveys that are striving to make the tools we work with better.  How can we not take them?  Unless you like products that don’t get better.  Your choice.

Be quick though, these surveys have expiration dates, some of them are coming up quite soon.

The BI Survey 10:  The Customer Verdict

I hope that BARC (Business Applications Research Center) doesn’t have a problem with me cribbing from their survey launch page – hey guys, I’m trying to drive traffic to you.  <grin>  

What is the purpose of the survey?

BARC's annual survey gathers input from a large number of organizations to better understand their buying decisions, their implementation cycles and the business benefits achieved.

Who is BARC?

BARC (Business Application Research Center) is a leading independent software industry analyst specializing in Data Management and Business Intelligence. For more information on BARC please visit the BARC Homepageand www.BI-Verdict.com.

And they are vendor-neutral

The BI Survey has always adopted a vendor-independent stance. While vendors assist by inviting users to participate in the Survey, Business Application Research Center (BARC) - the publisher - does not accept vendor sponsorship of the Survey, and the results are analyzed and published without any vendor involvement.

Who should take the survey?

Business and technical users, as well as vendors and consultants, are all welcome to participate. If you are answering as a consultant, please answer the questions (including the demographic questions) from your client's perspective; we will ask you separately about your own firm.

Why should you take the survey?

As a participant, you will:

• Receive a summary of the results from the full survey
• Be entered into a draw to win one of ten $50 Amazon vouchers
• Ensure that your experiences are included in the final analyses

Also, I am told that the survey is short on Essbase, BI Enterprise Edition Plus, and BI Standard Edition.  BI?  What’s that?  Essbase?  That I (and we) know.  Go get ‘em.

When does the survey end?

This survey ends 18 June 2011.

Finally, how do you take the survey?

Go right to the ODTUG launch page here or directly to the BARC survey.

Oracle BI User Survey

Again, I will steal in order to drive business.

What is the purpose of the survey?

The Oracle Business Intelligence User Experience (BIUX) Team is committed to using customer feedback to continuously improve our BI products.

We would like to invite you to participate in our first large-scale BI user survey to inform us about your main job responsibilities, technical background, tool usage, and work environment.

Who should take the survey?

Our goal is to reach as many users as possible, so we would also like to ask you to help us spread the word by forwarding the survey link to other BI users in your company/institution. They can range from developers to business end users.

When does the survey end?

Soon, really soon – 31 May 2011.  There’s still time, but not much.
^^^This has been extended till 8 June 2011. 

How do you take the survey?

To access the survey, please click on the unique URL below.

http://www.oraclesurveys.com/se.ashx?s=705E3EFC3D7B563A

Or you can access this OTN post to read the original request.

And one I already talked about

You can read about it right here:  What the heck is the Q?  

I see that they fixed the typo and actually name the survey.  Bummer.  I really enjoyed the mystery but I can appreciate that it’s probably better to list out the name of the survey.  

So get going

This is your chance to have your voice heard.  Unless you are an International Man of Mystery and want everyone to be in the dark as to your true EPM desires and needs, you must participate in the surveys to have your voice heard. 

What the heck is the Q?

Introduction

Well, what is it?

It’s not the name of an avant garde Broadway show.  

It isn’t used for playing snooker.  Or pretending you’re Paul Newman.  Actually, I’ve hung around with a lot of Essbase people – we’re more built like Jackie Gleason.

But I digress, yet again.  The Q in question is at the top of the Essbase forum, pinned to very tippy-top.

So what is it, anyway?

What can be seen

That seems mysterious.   And intriguing.  What do you suppose it does?  Will I ever end with the leading questions?  Yes, indeed, and I just gave you a clue.  


It’s a little different over on the Planning and Budgeting board.
What!?!  Those no-good Planning guys get the whole question!  Hmmph, bunch of second raters, if you ask me.  The cool guys got the puzzle but it had to be spelled out for Planning people.  As is typical.

NB – I have been implementing Planning since 2002.  Or was it 2001?  See, I told you Planning consultants were slow.

Essbase guys are way cooler – we (Did I mention I’ve worked with Essbase since 1993?  Or was it 1994?) just get a single letter and have to fall back on our innate intelligence, good looks, and better breeding to figure this out.  

Alternatively, you could skip all of this drivel and just click on the “Q” link.  I did.

First a tirade of praise

It’s that great big company asking you for help again.  I’m apologizing in advance of my mini-rant to all of the fine people who used to work at Hyperion and now work for Oracle.  Okay, apology over, and so the frothing at the mouth can begin.  Can anyone remember Hyperion Solutions asking us, the users and implementers of their products, for help?  Ever?  Publicly?  

Nope, thought not.

It continues to amaze me that a company Oracle’s size gets it.  But they do, and this is further proof of it.  And no, I don’t work for them nor do I own any stock.  But I do make a living off of their products and their success is my success.  I want, no, I need Oracle to succeed.  If you’re reading this blog, the same is true for you as well.

So what did I find?

Oracle’s asking us for help.  How can we not answer?

Click on the link

And you will find a five minute survey on documentation.  Fill it out, won’t you?  This is one of those moments where your self-interest and Oracle’s coincide.  Unless you like bad documentation.

How to go beyond the survey

Some of you may be familiar with this little conference I have been talking about of late:

Did you know that Oracle Support will have a lounge at KScope?

And that Oracle will be presenting at the conference?

And that this is your opportunity to engage in conversation with Oracle management?  

Yessir, it’s all true.

So what on earth are you waiting for?  

Take the survey and then show up at KScope – for the Geeks Who Matter.

See you there.

Tour of california final stage wrap up

The final day of the tour of california wrapped in a highly expected and anticipated bunch sprint which was won by matty goss. Our liquigas cannondale superman sagen was 2nd which was another huge effort. We helped control the break with matt goss's team and with 5km to go it was all together so was fitting that those 2 faught out the final victory.

My day was as i had hoped, some time on the front of the peleton pulling back the break and the opportunity to get some much needed intensity into my system after my quiet week. It was certainly a great opportunity to work on the front with the htc team to see how they control these bunch sprints, they win so many of the things that alot can be learned from seeing how they launch there missiles such as gossy, leigh howard and cavandich to the line for some many victories.

Following the stage our team headed back into the la hills for a small party with the sponsors of the team which was a great opportunity to give them a little feedback on equipment and the goings on within the team, not to mention so good authentic american ribs fresh of the barbi!!! Functions like this are a real great reminder of the team behind the team and the huge amount of support we have from so many different companies and workers. So it was great to be able to hopefully give a bit back to those who put so much into us.

Will enjoy a good rest on the plane before getting stuck into it tomorrow. It has been a great experience racing in california, excellent course, rd's, teams, hotels and organisation and great way to break up the european season. Infact in the past 4 week i have raced on 3 continents, europe and asia in turkey and now america so certainly getting to litteraly ply my trade in all corners of the globe. I have had a very good dose of espn sport, nba playoffs, ice hockey and baseball but am looking forward to getting back to europe to catch up on some eurosport and in particually the final week of the giro d italia, will be a nice way to unwind and relax a little after the racing, travel, altitude, racing and travel. Also i have missed a nice simple italian cappa and cafe and not to mention some italiana pasta. No offense to the american coffee but a 1l jug of it does not quite satify the palet the way the italian espresso hits the spot.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Stage 7 tour of california

Stage 7 was the premier stage of the 2011 tour of california. It featured 3500m of vertical climbing in just 120km. The race was won in 3hrs 30min so that means 1000m of vertical climbing per hr so was a reasonable demanding course. Today our tactics were to have 1 guy in the break which we had with francesco belloti taking his chance for a day infront of the race and our climber damiano caruso had a great day finishing 8th. I took it very easy and just looked after peter as tomorrow it will most likely end in another sprint so for sure there will be work to be done so when peter put up the white flag with 20km to go i dropped of with him to pace him and protect him and save as much of his energy for tomorrow also. Luckily that meant today was a nice easy day for me which is what my system needs at the moment to get over this chest infection. I should be in perfect health just intime for the 14hr flight back to italy on monday!!!



The course was very nice todaya nd rds more reminisent of the ones we race on in europe. Was crazy to think we were racing just on the out skirts of los angeles only 30km from the city centre. Those mountians behind the city are not only good for big giant white hollywood letters it turns out they are also pretty good scene for a bike race. Last day tomorrow and finishes in the golfing town of thousand oaks so i will be certain to check out the links in amongst my turns working on the front of the bunch.



Big day tomorrow



Cjw

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Stage 6 tour of california

Tt day today and unfortunately was a very quiet easy day for me. With my little chest infection complaint and anti biotics i am on light duties for the remainder of the race so today's 23km tt was pretty much a day off or recovery day for me. For our boys in green again super sagen put another great performance and was 14th behind most of the top time trialists in the world. With tomorrows most difficult stage of the tour on the menu with a mt top finish i thinks it best to expect the un expected from him tomorrow. Certainly on sunday the stage looks very suited to him but getting to know him this week he will no doubt show he can climb with the best like he has shown he can sprint and climb with the best, simply incredible and despite feeling a bit off colour it is so enjoyable having the opportunity to ride for him here. Anyway today was a great opportunity to save some cookies to help him in the final 2 days.



After todays stage we treked 230km down the the pacific coast hwy to spend the night in los angeles at the marriot right in down town opposite the staples centre so a pretty cool race hotel indeed.



Looking forward to another day in the californian sunshine tomorrow



Cjw

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Stage 5 tour of cali

Today was a green day with a dominating victory by our liquigas cannondale sprinting spear head peter superman sagan. Today our team meeting was very clear with on objective, doing all we can to help him do it. Thanks to such a difficult course with roleing hills, wind and a narrow rd, it was a difficult day for the majority of the peleton, specially the sprinters. Yesterday peter showed he was perhaps the strongest climber of all the sprinters so we had plenty of confidence in his ability to pull of the win aslong as we could ensure it arrived in a sprint.

Everything worked out pretty well according to plan, a small move got away and fortunately a couple of riders high on gc were in the break away which meant radio shack had to control for yellow jersey wearer chris horner. This meant we delayed helping with the chase till the second half when our big locomotive and decending and flat land working specialist lended a hand on a flat fast slightly downhill sectio perfectly suiting him. From radio shack were keen to keep the break on a short leach and once ted began working the gap never went north of 3min. Next i subbed in with about 80km to go and when timmy duggan gave me a breather with 50km to the gap was a very manageable 1:45. Here we just kept the group dangling until we got a little to lazy and with 30km to go it was back to 2min 20sec and panic stations occured. Back to the front this time i was going full gas with my team mates damiano caruso, ted and francesco belotti and a couple of radio shack boys. Finally with 5km we had it pretty much back together and when a crash occured at 4km i sat up to ensure peter was safe but quickly realised as i drifed out of the front group that firstly the front group was now only 40riders and secondly and most importantly peter was right up the front and i was pretty confident at seeing this that the win would be his. I roled in with my other workmates in the second group just in time to see the replay of peters win on the big screen and as always when my team mates win, i was very very excited for him and the team. It certainly is a very satisfying team sport on days like today.

After yesterdays bomb out big time it was nice to be back in a role i am familiar with and working for the team leader, unfortunatly i have found out i am suffering from a chest infection which explains my breathing difficulties yesterday and general flattness. Just fortunate i can still assist the team when i am crook and i hope recover in the last few days and be stronger for the daupine.

All in was a seriously great day and one i wont forget in a hurry and perhaps the best part was sharing the 7litre magnum of red win peter got for winning, was an exceptional drop.

Tomorrow is the tt so looking forward to a day off with 2 hard stages to follow and finish things off at the 2011 tour of cali.

Cjw

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Stage 4 california

Stage 4 of cali did not go as i had hoped. I had hoped to have a good day on the climbs but unfortunately my condition was not where i had hoped. The reason or reason's could be many, firstly perhaps my foray in altitude training and coming directly to the race without time to re adjust did not go as planned, i did not eat enough or more to the point could not eat and drink enough due to the ferious tempo set by the radio shack boys, or and basically the most likely reason, i was not good enough today to be where i wanted to be.



Anyway a difficult few days is now behind me so i am very excited to turn my 100 percent attention to helping superman sagan for the remainder of the tour. Today he showed he can not only sprint with the fastest but can also climb with the very best aswell. The future of this man in the sport of cycling is incredibly exciting i assure anyone following the sport. His capabilities and potential appears to be simply endless. The best part he is the nicest level headed young man you would ever meet.



Onto stage 5 and the long hard roleing day looks likely to end in a group finish and i hope we can do a good job in setting peter up for the sprint.



Cjw

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Stage 3 california

California turned on its finest weather again today with wind, rain and plenty of twisty, up and down roads. For the first 3hrs or so it was pouring cats and dogs to soften up the bunch a bit. Fortunately a nice sized breakaway formed pretty early on so was well controlled by the sky team who had the leaders jersey following there stage win yesterday. 5hrs 15min later they would win again and in the interin period we just kept peter up the front, got battered along with rest of the field in a nasty crosswind section briefly splitting the peleton with 20km to go but reformed intime for a techniqual finishing circuit which seemed to have a crash every km of it 9km in duration. At the line peter was 4th thanks to some great work of his sprint baby sitters, mauro da dalto, danial oss and damiano caruso. He is now 3rd on gc and still best young rider and leader the points classification so as per usual peter superman sagan is living up to his reputation.



For me today i was pretty inconspicuos in the bunch all day, tried to help peter where i could and appart from that stayed warm and kept myself entertained by fishing multipower gells and bars out of my jersey pockets with rain soaked long fingered gloves which is always a challange in trying to avoid dropping all that you try and consume.



Tomorrow is the first mountain stage so will be interesting to see what happens



Now for some sleep



Cjw

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Stage 2 tour of california

After the cancellation of yesterdays stage and the shortening of today by half the distance the tour of california finally got underway. It was a great day for our sprinter peter superman sagen as be finished 2nd. The team and particually timmy duggan for all his great work pulling back the early break and danial oss did a great job setting him up for the sprint and he came very close to win. With another sprint finish on the cards tomorrow it will be exciting to see if he what he can deliver there.



For me it was not such a great day, as i felt a little sluggish after the previous weeks extended easy days but certainly blew out the cobwebs for the rest of the race, i am dissapointed in myself for not riding better position in the final circuits and consequently lost 15sec not seeing a split ahead of me but no excuses i just have to be more attentive in such situations, learn the hard way again unfortunately. Anyway long way to go so plenty of time to make up for todays sleepiness.



so onto stage two and hopefully another good day for our super sprinter and i will do what i can to help and pay more attention in final km's.



Facts for the stage

Time 2:47

Speed 45kmph

Av heart rate 135bpm

Av power 213watts

Kcal burnt 2200



Cjw

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Saving Money Going to New York City

Whether you’re a daily commuter, an occasional day-tripper or have friends visiting this summer, everyone can save money when you go into NYC by following this time-tested advice:

TRANSITCHEK:      For commuters, see if your employer subscribes to this fabulous service, which allows workers to buy up to $230 per month in mass transit using pre-tax dollars.  If you’re in the upper tax brackets, that’s a huge savings.  A recent survey shows that 45% of all New York City companies offer TransitChek which can be used on trains, subways and even ferries. 

GO BY TRAIN OFF-PEAK:          If you can arrive at Grand Central on weekdays after 10 am and avoid the 4 pm – 8 pm peak return hours, you can save 15 – 20%.  Off-peak’s also in effect on weekends and holidays.  Your train will be less crowded, too.

BUY TICKETS IN ADVANCE:      If you buy your ticket with cash on the train you’ll pay the conductor a $5.75 - $6.50 “service charge”… a mistake you’ll make only once!  There are ticket machines at most stations, but the cheapest tickets are those bought online.  And go for the ten-trip tickets to save an additional 15%.  They can be shared among passengers, even those traveling together in a group.

LOOK OUT FOR NEW TICKET RULES!:        Watch out!  Metro-North changed its ticket rules last year in what many consider a hidden fare hike.  One way and round-trip tickets which used to be good for months are now valid for only 14 days.  Even ten-trip tickets are now valid for only six months.  And forget about getting a refund on an old ticket, even if it hasn’t expired.  Refunds cost $10.

KIDS, FAMILY & SENIOR FARES:           Buy tickets for your kids (ages 5 – 11) in advance and save 50% over adult fares.  Or pay $1 per kid on board (up to four kids traveling with an adult, but not in morning peak hours).  Seniors, the disabled and those on Medicare get 50% off the one way peak fare.  But you must have proper ID and you can’t ride in the morning rush hours.

FREE STATION PARKING:         Even rail stations that require parking permits usually offer free parking after 5 pm, on nights and weekends.  Check with your local town. 

Once you’re in NYC, you can save even more money.

AVOID CABS:         I have nothing against taxis, but they’re getting mighty expensive:  $2.50 when you enter the cab, $0.40 for each minute or one-fifth of a mile.  Add on a $1 surcharge from 4 – 8 pm weekdays, $0.50 after 8 pm and a state mandated $0.50 per ride anytime, not to mention a tip… and it all adds up.  Instead, take the bus or subway.  Or try walking.

METROCARDS:     Forget about the old subway tokens.  The nifty Metrocard can be bought at most stations (or combined with your Metro-North ticket) and offers some incredible deals compared to the $2.25 cash fare:  put $10 on a card (bought with cash, credit or debit card) and you get a 7% bonus.  Swipe your card to ride the subway and you’ll get a free transfer to a connecting bus, or vice versa.  You can buy unlimited ride MetroCards for a week ($29) or a month ($104).  There’s now even an ExpressPay MetroCard the refills itself like an EZ-Pass.

CHEAPER TO DRIVE?:     Even being a mass transit advocate I’ll be the first to admit that there may be times when it’s truly cheaper to drive to Manhattan than take the train, especially with three or more passengers.  You probably know how to avoid Triboro (RFK) bridge tolls by taking the Major Deegan to the Willis / Third Ave. bridge, but I can’t help you with the traffic you’ll have to endure.  But do check out www.bestparking.com to find a great list of parking lots and their rates close to your destination.   Or drive to Shea Stadium and take the #7 subway from there.

The bottom line is that it ain’t cheap going into “the city”.  But with a little planning and some insider tips, you can still save money.  Enjoy!