Swampscott

Swampscott?  No, that’s not the name of a new monster creature that lives in swamps.  It’s the name of the town where I grew up.  That’s right, Swampscott.  It is a tiny town in northern Massachusetts.  It is 3.58 square miles and located about 15 miles northeast from Boston with a population of about 14,600 according to its website.

I never fully appreciated my town until I moved away.  Going back to visit always makes me realize how beautiful it is!  Especially during the summer months.  The beaches are so close by and the size of the town makes everything convenient.  It is always inevitable that I bump into a few old friends or neighbors when I go back to visit which is always fun.  Although, on the flip side, there’s nowhere to hide…maybe not so convenient for some.

I do admit that I tend to cut my visits short or not visit at all during those awful months of November through April — living with snow in large doses and freezing temps is never a good thing unless you’re on a ski trip.  Since moving south, I think my tolerance for the cold has decreased significantly.  Encountering snow more than 3 times a year is just too much for me now!  And to think, I used to spend the majority of my year scraping the frost off my car’s windshield.  Miserable!

I love living in D.C.  It’s a great city with a great climate, vibrant nightlife, fantastic job opportunities, and free cultural offerings like museums and performances at the Kennedy Center.  With so much to offer, it’s hard to find yourself in the city with nothing to do.  There is one thing missing though.  It’s something that you don’t notice until May or sometimes even June, but by July you’ll definitely know your missing out.  It’s the BEACH.

In Swampscott, getting to the beach was never an issue.  We practically lived on it!

You can probably tell I have beach on the mind right now. I will be heading out there very soon for my usual summer visit.  Can you blame me?  I miss my beach!  I’ve heard all about the “local” beaches that all the D.C. cool cats head to during these hot summer months like Ocean City, Bethany Beach, Dewey Beach, etc.  But, those are over 2 hours away!  They all sound like lots of fun, and I’m sure I’ll get the chance to check them out sometime soon.  But, nothing can beat waking up in the morning, at your own home, having some coffee (did I mention that I’m addicted?), putting on a bathing suit, grabbing a towel and sunscreen, and walking over to the beach to meet up with friends.  Oh, how I miss the lazy summer days I’ve had!  Here’s a short video that shows more of Swampscott:

I Love Coffee, I Love Tea…

In reading Rafael’s blog, I found his mention of the Murky Coffee incident hilarious!  It is amazing how Web 2.0 allowed one person to create such a fuss over a single event that ended up to be an article in the Washington Post.

I am a HUGE coffee lover.  Be it coffee, latte, espresso shot, tea…you name it, I love it.  Call me addicted to caffeine, but hey, Dolly sang it right when she said in 9 to 5, “Tumble outta bed and stumbled to the kitchen, pour myself a cup of ambition, yawnin, stretchin, try to come to life…”  (Did I mention this is going to be a musical?!  It opens on April 23, 2009 on Broadway, and I can’t wait!)

Back to coffee, I am so disappointed to hear about the 600 Starbucks closings throughout the country.  How sad!  I’m not that surprised though, with our failing economy and soaring gas prices, people are forced to spend less where ever they can.  In the listing of store closures, I was happy to hear that only 1 in Washington, DC will be affected (sorry, 21st and L Starbucks!), which does not include the two Starbucks stores that I frequent on a daily basis.  PHEW!

I Love Spinning!

I teach Spinning at Gold’s Gym on the weekends, and I love it!  I’ve been a certified cycle instructor since December 2006, and received an additional Spinning certification this past May.

What’s the difference between indoor cycle and Spinning, you ask?  Good question.  They are very similar, but have differences.  I like to compare it to Kleenex.  All Kleenex are tissues, but not all tissues are Kleenex.  Spinning is a branded name, and is actually the original indoor cycle fitness program (created by Johnny G).   It is one of the most recognized names in indoor cycling.  According to my manual, it is taught by over 130,000 certified instructors and thousands of facilities in 80 countries worldwide.  Similar to the other certifications out there, Spinning instructors have a specific format and method to follow.  Other certifications in indoor cycle include:  AFAA, M3 Trainer, Cycle Reebok with Robert Sherman, and Les Mills’ RPM, and more.

I keep a cycle listserv for my class so that I am able to keep students posted on my personal cycle schedule, as well as any updates in the cycle world.  I find that “Ride On” (a monthly email Spinning resource) provides me with great articles that I can send out to my students.  It is very interesting and informative from teaching proper bike setup to explaining how to beat the heat.

I highly recommend giving indoor cycle a try!  You never know, you might get hooked.  I fell upon it during my sophomore year at Boston College.  As much as I love BC, I do have to say that their fitness facility (nicknamed The Plex) was extremely lacking.  With no sign-up system in place and few cardio machines (something every girl needs!), it was nearly impossible to get a good workout in within a decent amount of time.  With so much homework, studying, and extra-curricular activities, I didn’t have time to watch others work out while I stand and wait for a machine.  I discovered that The Plex offered indoor cycle classes, in which you could sign up ahead of time and be guarenteed a bike.  I thought this would be perfect…1 hour of cardio, and I’m done.  It was so much more than that!  My first cycle class was so challenging.  I was covered in sweat.  But I loved it!  The one hour class flew by, and I realized this is something I want to get really involved in.

In case you are still wondering what indoor cycling is really about, here is a good video clip to give you an idea.  As you can see, the combination of music, atmosphere (usually black lights or a fairly dark room), and instructor really contribute to the mood and the overall experience for the cyclist.

Cancel your Netflix! Rally Together!

I’m leaving Netflix. Not only am I upset with the fact that they are getting rid of their profile option, but the way in which they are handling it is just plain rude.

It all started when I received an email telling me that on September 1, 2008 this option will be taken away.  Upon hearing this, I was pretty upset.  I became a member of Netflix in May 2007 and created a joint account with my roommate so that we could subscribe to Netflix while saving some money – we receive “2 at a time unlimited” for $12.99, thus we each pay only $6.50 to receive a “1 at a time unlimited” movie every month.  Considering that renting a DVD from Blockbuster averages about $4, and if you plan to see more than 1 a month, this makes sense.  If I were to subscribe to the “1 at a time unlimited” on my own it would cost $8.99.  With rising gas prices and a failing economy, I don’t want to spend an additional $2.50/month on movies.  So, it pays to have a roommate!  With the profile feature we can each log-in on our own, create our own playlists, and receive Netflix movies in the mail with our own name on it – no confusion, no hassle, no need to coordinate with each other.

This will all change when the Netflix profiles feature goes away.  They have announced this on their blog, and almost all of the 1,182 people that have commented (as of 11am on 6/27/08 ) say that this is a VERY BAD IDEA.  And I agree. SO WHY ARE THEY GETTING RID OF THE PROFILES FEATURE?  This is what they say:  “Please know that the motivation is solely driven by keeping our service as simple and as easy to use as possible. Too many members found the feature difficult to understand and cumbersome, having to consistently log in and out of the website.”

This feature was “difficult” ??  On the contrary, by NOT having this feature, my Netflix account will be VERY difficult.   And besides, this feature is an OPTION – it didn’t have to be used.  My roommate and I will no longer have the option to have separate log-ins or separate queues.  What does this mean?  A lot more hassle for the both of us.  We now have to strategically place each movie selection in our queue, and take turns as to who gets the next pick.  We will have to waste time talking about it and then waste more time online making sure that it our selections are equally distributed between us.  NOT HAPPENING.  I’d rather cancel and others feel the same way.

So, who’s with me?  Let’s band together and CANCEL Netflix. Or at least replace it with a different service.  Does any one have any suggestions as to a replacement?  Please comment below.  We are paying them for a service.  A service that is not listening to us and our needs.  We should really show them who is boss.

UPDATE…

Netflix has decided to NOT cancel its profile option.  Thanks, A.Tee.Dub, for letting me know.  Keep your Netflix, they do listen to what we have to say!

Here Comes Everybody!

Clay Shirky’s book, Here Comes Everybody:  The Power of Organizing Without Organizations,  eloquently describes how the Internet revolution’s social tools have given us the ability to form groups with ease we’ve never experienced before, causing major changes in social interactions, politics, and the economy. He compares this change with the invention of the printing press – scribes were put out of business, but the  society as a whole was able to benefit greatly (the increase in supply of books, increased literacy and knowledge, and therefore, increased employment).  With social tools available to us today, many-to-many communications are made easy and allow for a “shared awareness” to spread among people and groups.  Having a shared awareness among people in a group is key for action to take place.

Having lived in Boston during the devastating and shocking news of the abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, it was eye opening to read in Mr. Shirky’s book that it was the formation of the group VOTF (Voice of the Faithful) which led to Bernard Law’s resignation.  VOTF grew from just 30 people to 25,000 in half a year including international members, says Shirky.  VOTF used the Internet to get the word around.  Shirky writes:

What we are witnessing today is a difference in the degree of sharing so large it becomes a difference in kind…What technology did do was alter the spread, force, and especially duration of the reaction, by removing two old obstacles — locality of information and barriers to group reaction…No significant challenge to the hierarchy has ever come directly from the laity — until now.

Additionally, Shirky describes how the power law distribution also applies to social interactions.  I found this particularly interesting because a few weeks ago we read Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail in which he uses the same pattern to describe how online stores like Amazon, Netflix, and iTunes sell a large amount of popular items while the unique and less popular items are sold in small quantities individually, but as a whole, prove to be a large percentage of revenue.  Anderson’s power law distribution looks like this.  When looking at the power law for blogs, Shirky shows us that it looks like this.

Interesting stuff.