While sitting at my desk at work (in the United States), I went to CNN’s website to check up on the status of Hurricane Katrina. At the top of the screen a typical, annoying banner advertisement was displayed:

This is a great example of how someone tried to invent some smart marketing technique, which backfired. My company’s IP address block is owned and assigned to a Canadian address. However, a vast number of our users are in the US. Yet, when we go to a site that attempts to use geographic information, it fails miserably. I always get bombarded with Candian advertisements or redirected to sites like google.ca when trying to go to their .com counterparts.

Someone’s getting rich off this marketing scam and selling it as “targeted marketing”. Bastards.

In the Richmond, VA area, toll roads recently converted from only accepting Virginia’s Smart Tag to now also accepting the more popular E-ZPass. While this is all well and good, for some reason they have automatic gates at every toll lane. You have to come to just about a complete stop before the green light comes on and the gate goes up. It saves all of 2 seconds over the exact change lines (the ones where you throw your change into the basket). So what’s the point? Get rid of those gates and let us pass through at a decent 15-20mph.

Actually, states need to get with the times and follow New Jersey’s lead with the full-speed E-ZPass lanes. No stopping, no slowing down… nothing. This will eliminate lines and help keep the idiots who can’t read “E-ZPass Only” signs out of my way.

If there was a compilation CD of the best hold music from major corporations, I’d buy it. Seriously. I’d put it on my answering machine, voice mail, and play it at work when people were buggin’ me. If my cell phone could ring to the tune of hold music, I’d be on cloud 9.

Track 1: Your Call is Important To Us

Our audio conferencing system at work plays some really annoying, yet catchy tunes while waiting to join a meeting. By the time I get sick of the music they play, they change it…. well, they change it 6 months later.

Hmm… maybe I’ll share the pain and record a couple clips of this stuff and post it on here.

The bad thing about living in Silicon Valley was there were very few lightning storms and even fewer thunderstorms. In the almost four years I lived out there, I think I heard thunder once and saw lightning a small handful of times. Thanks to my friend Chris (who called me in the middle of the night to let me know there was cool lightning), I was able to capture one of the few times I saw lightning over Milpitas.

Now that I’m back on the east coast, it’s great! So far this summer we’ve had at least ten good thunderstorms, each with spectacular lightning and some loud thunder. Woohoo, me love a good thunderstorm. Last night was no exception. The lightning was amazing. For a good solid two hours there was more lightning than darkness. Streaks and bolts jumping across the sky, ground contact, scattering flashes… good stuff.

One unreachable goal I have is to create a nice glass dome / observatory on the top of my house, popping out of the attic so I can hop up there and watch lightning. Some day…