It came from Black Background: Matt Shobe's Blog

As I suspect you already know if you’re anything close to a regular reader of this blog, Google bought our company, FeedBurner, on June 1. It’s been exciting ever since, as we took about exactly one weekend to reflect on this momentous event and then got nearly the entire company on planes and headed to New York and/or Mountaπin View, CA to get started as “Googlers.” (We'll still be based in Chicago.) My team, the designers, has worked from Google’s expansive New York office alongside the engineering team during the past two weeks. All of the hubbub around our time in New York is probably worth a post by itself, but that’s been there, done that material I don’t need to re-hash. (I do have some of my own photos, at least.)

But this post is about JetBlue. I’ve not flown them before, but because they have several convenient times to get you from Chicago to JFK in New York, I thought I’d give them a try for the second week of this travel stint. The short summary: in ideal conditions it’s a great way to fly domestically. As I write this, I’m watching Tiger Woods sink a birdie on 16 at Oakmont live, courtesy of the DirecTV link. Plenty of people have talked about this feature before, but to actually experience is to realize that this is such a no-brainer for air travel. Why shouldn’t I have satellite TV when I’m flying above the clouds, free from interference? Plus you get the option of 36 channels of TV or XM satellite radio, so if you forgot your iPod, you can still find some talk or music to drown out the jet drone. The seats are leather-trimmed and although they’re a little thin on padding they’re not a bother for a two-hour flight. (We’re in one of JetBlue’s new Embraer 190s, pictured above.) I think the legroom is about the same as United’s Economy Plus; it’s more than enough for me and my standard-issue 6’ frame. Oh, and they have blue Terra potato chips, made from those actual blue potatoes. Nice touch.

Service? It’s not Southwest, but it’s also not American, whose motto might as well be “working hard to hate our customers a little more each day.” They’re friendly but not over-the-top, eschewing any jokey manner or self-deprecation. (Frankly, the whole Southwest comedy-troupe-of-the-sky bit has become a bit wearing; I get it. You guys are irreverent. Now please start the APU and get to taxiing so I can breathe again.) The gate agents didn’t register any impression on me other than ‘out of the way,’ so that’s probably good. Again, I’m flying during threat-free conditions. Both of my flights are dead on-time, and fair weather and air traffic control hassles aren’t a factor, and my luggage is all carry-on. JetBlue’s meltdown earlier this year was widely publicized and their new Passenger’s Bill of Rights is an attempt to re-seal the trust gap that opened up between it and its customers. I’d like to know what happens with them now if all hell breaks loose in the middle of rush hour, but I’d rather it be from a very safe distance from air travel while learning the outcome.

I suppose the miraculous part of all this really is getting in and out of NYC on time. Perhaps this is the whole “avoid LaGuardia at all costs” philosophy in action. JFK is straightforward to get to via the MTA and the “AirTrain”; it takes just under an hour from 15th and 8th Ave in Manhattan. JetBlue’s terminal (T6) at JFK is expanding as rapidly as the airline itself, so it’s a bit of a pardon-our-dust mess as a result. A remote shuttle that drives maybe 200 yards, tops, is required to get to a remote set of gates (the ones Chicago flights go into, sadly), so it takes some time to get to the gate. Still, security at 3pm on a Friday was a no-wait, walk-up affair. That must’ve been a hallucination due to lack of sleep on my part. In the other direction, JetBlue’s single gate at O’Hare is in Terminal 2, which is nothing special.

Bottom line: if you’re normally a United or American loyalist and Chicago » NYC is a frequent trip, try JetBlue. They take some angst out of travel and try to keep you pretty happy while the wheels are up, and that defines the “A” standard for most American air carriers today.

Posted by Matt Shobe at 07:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I decided to join John and Chris, my esteemed FeedBurner colleagues, for the April 2006 Critical Mass ride here in Chicago. If you've never heard of it, Critical Mass is a multi-city activist movement to encourage bicycle use as a primary transportation form and demonstrate for cyclists' rights to the road. It's also a great excuse to ogle bike porn. A large group starts out from Daley Center in the heart of the Loop and follows a more-or-less spontaneously chosen route. Largely with police cooperation, the pack (peloton?) overtakes the avenue(s) it chooses, generally jamming up car traffic and "taking back the streets" for an hour or two during the height of the Friday night downtown rush hour.

Needless to say, some people become unpleasant when they can't get where they want to go in their cars.

I shot some roughly-edited video of the event, and our ride within it, in order to give you a sense of what Critical Mass is like in Chicago.

Also, like John and Chris, I plan to build up my own fixed-gear ride based on a Soma Rush track frame and a few dozen parts from one of my all-time favorite bike shops, Rapid Transit in ye olde Bucktown. With Chris' expert help (he helped John get his IRO put together in a snap) I expect to be spinning my way through a few more Critical Masses this summer (if I can make the 14.5 mile ride in to work without becoming throughly disgusting in the process, that is.)

Posted by Matt Shobe at 11:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I put my cranberries on the line early today, joining three or four thousand other Chicagoans for the annual Turkey Trot 8K through Lincoln Park. Entering this race is always a gambler's move, weather-wise, because you just never know what the Midwest is going to serve up in late November. (The handicapper's safe pick? "Something not good.") Dawn broke clear and ridiculously crisp here today, with my in-car thermometer informing me that only 19 degrees had shown up for roll call this morning. With a blustery wind crabbing the morning cargo flights sideways overhead as I drove in, I had a feeling this would be a frigid test.

..And a test it was. My feet never warmed up properly once we left the car. A good crowd of fearless runners who all made the same commitment were all ready for action. Lots of hopping and bouncing around in the start area to reboot circulation to the extremities, even during the playing of the National Anthem (which looked hilariously out of place). I just couldn't get the blood going, and around mile 1 I mentally checked off that right toe, finally allowing myself to let go all hope of a proper, measured stride.

If you haven't run this race before and can place yourself in Chicago on Thanksgiving, you should definitely put it down for some future year. The lakefront, tree-lined course is scenic (if a little barren once the leaves have come down), the layout is very flat and fair, and there are only a few corners that become traffic pinch-points due to thin parkway paving or ill-placed cones. Like many other Thanksgiving athletic events, this one benefits a good local cause and hopefully fills lots of hungry bellies beyond those in the field of registered runners.

I see now the Tribune is calling this the coldest Thanksgiving since 1956. Damn straight.

I finished with a time of 37:10, for a 7:28 pace. Since I've been fiddling recently with the idea of qualifying for Boston in 2006, the thing that pains me is that this speed, if somehow sustained for an entire 26.2, will miss by one minute the 3h:15m qualification time for my age group. I mean, holy crap. I was going flat out in the last two miles and I think my final split was 7' even or close to it, and I didn't have much left at the line. That's great, Shobe — now get out there and run 5 more of those, and you'll punch your ticket for Heartbreak Hill. Oy. Double-oy.

That Boston issue is for some other day's aggravation, however; I'm just happy to have gotten in a good, brisk run before lots of leisurely, wanton feedbagging. Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted by Matt Shobe at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This is something I've been meaning to post since I returned from Hong Kong, but I simply haven't had the time to do so.

I flew United to and from Hong Kong with their nonstop service from Chicago. It's about 14 hours in the air, and it's the sort of flight plan that pushes up against the comfortable limits of modern commercial air travel -- even if you're in upgraded business class. I was sitting in the upper deck section (highly recommended for this trip if you can score the upgrade with miles) and before our noon takeoff I managed to get a few minutes with the pilots and flight engineer in the cockpit. (Paradoxically, the everyday security paranoia that permeates domestic commercial service is a bit restrained overseas; at the gate they kept the cockpit door open and seemed happy to chat for a couple of minutes right up until they got word that everyone was on board and the flight was ready for an early push-back.) After showing me the obligatory cockpit copy of "Flying for Dummies" with all the expected yuk-yuks, I asked them a few questions about their flight planning approach and why there was no air traffic control on Channel 9 when the flight neared the arctic circle.

I got a few interesting tidbits out of them:

1. The maximum takeoff weight of the fully-loaded 747-400 we flew is 875,000 pounds. Our aircraft took off at just over 874,000. (The pilot had me run the fuel weight calculation on my palm for him "just to be sure." I have a feeling they already knew the number by heart, but it was fun to play along.)
2. They don't know, at takeoff, exactly how much runway they're going to need to get off the ground. They have some idea of the minimum, but everything depends on air density, how much fuel they've burned at idle, and some other factors they didn't go into. I found this extremely odd, since you have all sorts of performance charts to tell you how even a lowly Cessna will perform at a wide range of temperatures, altitudes, and weights. Something about jets makes all the easy math hard. I think Hong Kong's runways are 13,000' or better, so it's really not an issue, but I still would've thought they'd have more certainty.
3. Channel 9 goes mute near the arctic because the pilots actually do position reporting using UHF radio (vs. VHF, which is in use at all the 'normal' latitudes). UHF is required to reach the nearest reporting stations somewhere in the icebox Yukon. Apparently, their UHF band is full of static and they'd just as soon spare the six of us listening to Channel 9 all that worthless noise. Thanks, guys.

When takeoff actually happened, I think we got off the ground at about the 9,000 foot mark. Knowing at that moment exactly how much mass that aircraft was hoisting into the low seaside overcast gave me some added appreciation for just how well designed (and piloted) commercial aircraft are today.

Once enroute, I decided to record some of the air traffic control communications near mainland China. I figured they would be different enough from the usual general aviation chatter I hear over Chicagoland that they'd be worth sharing. How did I record it? That was a fun hack to cook up:

1. I own a pair of Bose Series II Noise Canceling headphones. A modified-but-mostly-standard 1/4" audio plug connects the headphones to the standard stereo outlet found on most modern aircraft seats. The key is that the headphone end is removable, so the headphone cable can also act as a general purpose cable with two plug ends. I tuned Channel 9, plugged into the jack, and then plugged the other end into my Powerbook's Line In jack instead of the headphones.
2. I fired up Audacity, an excellent open source audio recording/remixing client. I probably could've used GarageBand, but Audacity was simply my choice at the moment.
3. With a new sound file open, I hit record, selecting "22k Hz mono" as my recording format -- ATC transmissions are over VHF frequencies similar to those you use to listen to AM radio, so recording in stereo is a waste of bandwidth.
4. I put Audacity into the background and let it record a few minutes of audio. I returned to the file later to double check the input level and found that it was surprisingly good -- I didn't have to tweak anything to get a smooth, normalized audio stream. Got my recording in one take!

I later edited the following file down from ten minutes to just under two minutes, saving the three most interesting exchanges (which are admittedly pretty hum-drum, but you pays your money and takes your seat for this show). Here's the audio:

(MP3, 1.6MB)

Posted by Matt Shobe at 07:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yeah, I admit it: I'd rather build a new PC than buy one ready-made because I can perpetuate the illusion that I have some Old World craftsman thing for assembling off-the-shelf parts into a functioning rig. Millions of otherwise ordinary PC hobbyists take matters into their own hands with Intel and Athlon-powered machines every day just by replacing a video card, expanding system memory, or upgrading a hard drive. But relatively few realize that to take it a step further and build a machine completely from a parts list and a usage spec (e.g., "gaming rig," "tivo clone," "cheap web server") requires just a little bit of planning and some Saturday-in-the-garage spirit.

If you want to get a taste of what's possible, check out ExtremeTech's Build It article series. Given a variety of needs and budgets, the editors provide a great array of approaches to building a system for peanuts or princely sums.

The bottom line? You're not building a machine to save money. Dell and Gateway rarely lose on pure cost/capability. It's best to build when you want to completely control the parts spec, have very specific performance goals, or simply want to learn about how a PC becomes whole from a bag full of parts. I say if you ever disassembled a four stroke engine -- lawn mower, edger, whatever -- and you haven't yet looked into building a PC, you're too curious to be missing out on this highly accessible pastime. That, and Half Life 2 just came out and your current rig totally can't deal.

Posted by Matt Shobe at 08:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I recently joined the ranks of suburban rail commuters here in Chicago, for better or worse. I actually have an easy time of it, needing only ~25 minutes of rail time to get from home to work (a little bit of walking on either end is fine as long as temperatures are what they are now; ask me again in January.) The train has spaciou seats, smooth rails (by US standards), and acceptable schedules. So far, so good.

However, I definitely don't understand Metra's Ticket-by-Internet policy. It's basically no different than signing up for bank draft withdrawal authorization with a major utility or mortgage lender. Mail you a voided check, wait several days for a PIN, and then you mail me my purchases? Puh-leeze. I live in a slap-the-skinner-box-paddle-for-reward-now world. The whole point of net-enabling fulfillment is to hire the customer wherever possible, not create ancilliary processes for your back office. I can't understand why they don't allow you to purchase and print your own 'boarding pass,' a la United or American. I'm sure their key concern with this approach would be fakery/forgery. Me? I figure you print a validating barcode on the pass and equip conductors with the simplest Symbol handheld scanner available for validation. Some sort of validation algorithm that updates the set of valid barcodes from time to time.

This seems like a win-win:

-increased customer convenience
-reduced railroad consumables expense
-reduced back office and customer service overhead
-little to no conductor retraining required with sustained ROI outpacing the cost of new handheld equipment

...or so I think. Yes, they sell single ride, 10-ride, and monthly passes, but I think there are ways to validate all three types of self-print tickets using barcodes.

Another angle: "print" the boarding pass as a barcode that can be sent as a picture message to your mobile phone. This was a general fulfillment idea colleagues of mine dreamt up at our former employer. Sure could apply here, too.

Posted by Matt Shobe at 04:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've bought enough coffee at Starbucks to know that they run just about every aspect of their operation at peak efficiency and with just about every customer satisfaction gauge needle in the green. It's an impressive outfit, and at least at the franchise level, they get precious few of the important answers wrong. However, one irksome interaction that intensifies from non-event to conscious, maddening annoyance is forced by the design of the cream-and-sugar console. They've got it consistently mis-organized, at least at every Starbucks here in Chicago (and I've been to dozens of them, for shame) -- especially the ones in the Loop that offer self-service coffee. Not one to talk out of school, at least not without pictures, I put my P800 to use a few mornings ago to illustrate the problem (and my suggested solution).

At the Lasalle/Lake location, patrons get their self-serve brew here:

They then shuffle somnambulently to the right to get their sugar/Equal/vanilla powder fix, plus half-and-half or milk.

HOWEVER, it's inevitably when they decide to cap their coffee that they realize the plastic Solo lids are back over where the insulated canisters are placed.

This leads to customers who'd thought they'd achieved sublime greatness instead having to tuck tail and go the back of the line just to get a damn lid, or cut someone off who's on his way from coffee to creamer. I've been on both the giving and receiving ends. it's a dog-eat-dog existence, I tell you.

Memo to Starbucks Chicago HQ: Stack the lids with the finisher ingredients. It's a time-and-motion study you won't have to pay for; customer satisfaction improvements guaranteed!

The other problem with the console: it's designed with room for two people, but its accessory arrangement means crossing arms and fumbling through someone else's personal space first thing in the morning. A special hell for pre-caffeine American white collar types, I can assure you. Why is this so? Simply because sugars are in the center and an uncertain distribution of whole, skim, and half-and-half caps either end. Whole milk not on your side? Of course not. It's cause the other bozo is using it. Gotta wait. Then when he's done, you bump knuckles reaching for the milk on his side while he dives into Sugar in the Raw. Agony! Not to be outfoxed, the elevator repair guy waiting behind both of you nincompoops tries to "lemme just sneak the skim from ya there" behind your left shoulder. No dice, as you expertly set a moving pick on that rookie gambit.

...Too much gamesmanship. Instead, if you want to allow both meticulous and casual users maximum exposure to coffee fixings, consider the two place station redesign below:

milk/cream centered in the middle, two of each (as it is now). Up to three people could get at it, conceivably. Plus, sugar/powder trays are specific to each station. No more rapped knuckles!

To summarize:

1) Arrange lids with creamer station, not dispensers. People put a lid on finished coffee. Heck, leave some lids with the dispensers so the "I take it black" crowd can totally save face.

2) Redesign the station to accomodate two patrons from a single central pedestal. No more whole milk horror stories.

Posted by Matt Shobe at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)