Friday, June 27, 2003

eLink - Great Easy Read Well, I was lurking around other blogs on the net and found a link to a story in the New Yorker you might like. This story is by David Sedaris, a NY Times best selling fiction writer. I read his book "Me Talk Pretty Someday" and really enjoyed it. It is a collection of humorous essays often with bittersweet endings. The story on the New Yorker web site is one of those bittersweet endings stories (but not in the book). So be warned. If you have never read anything by Sedaris, I think his writing style is best described as "NPRish" - as in National Public Radio. But don't take that as good, bad, or political. It just seems that it is the type of essay you might hear while listening to NPR. Click Here to read the story by David Sedaris. This link takes you off the iSwitched web log. 4:15:37 PM    comment []

NYC Subways eLink IRT, BMT or IND If you know what these are - or- want to know, read on. Did you know that the NYC Subway is still, to this day, technically divided into the IRT and BMT/IND divisions. They are called Division A and B now, but there is a good reason for the two separate divisions. While all track on the subway system is standard to US railroad standard track, the tubes on the IRT lines are narrower than on the BMT/IND. Therefore, cars (aka rolling stock) used on the BMT/IND are too wide for the IRT tubes and IRT rolling stock leaves too big of a gap at the station platforms to be used on the BMT/IND lines. One of my favorite web sites is nycsubway.org. If you have ever wanted to know anything about the history of the New York City Subway System, this is the site. Relive the days of the IRT, BMT and IND. This site even has a station by station description of every stop on the subway line and if it was a part of the IRT or BMT/IND. 4:06:58 PM    comment []

eLink MeetUp.com Whenever I find something on the net I think is worthy of passing on I'll create an eLink from this page. MeetUp.com is just such a site. This is really a great idea. Here is how it works. You sign up according to you area of interest(s)and, of course, where you live. For me, I signed up for NASCAR, Democrats, and Howard Dean for Prez. Now, people are doing this all over the country. So, every so often, monthly or quarterly, MeetUp.com declares a day to be for certain groups to meet. So, Monday, August 3 could be NASCAR, People Who Like to Knit, and Witches for Campbell Soup day (there are 1000+ categories, there will be something there that interests you). In advance of that meeting day, you get an email and vote to agree on a meeting location. If at least 5 people agree to meet that live near your zip code, then the meeting is scheduled and you get to go have fun. I think this is all pretty new and a great use of the net. Completely free, and something new to do. My experience, so far is that meetings get cancelled because fewer than 5 agree to meet. However, the more that try it out, the bigger it will get. Click Here to go to the MeetUp.com web site. Go ahead, give it a try!!! 3:52:29 PM    comment []