In support of the Boston Public Schools relocation plan

May 16th, 2012

Dear Mayor Menino,

A small, vocal group of parents with children at the Mission Hill School have been waging a campaign to derail the BPS administration’s plan to relocate the school to Jamaica Plain.

I am writing in opposition to their campaign and in support of the relocation plan as proposed by Dr. Johnson.

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iTunes won’t play through USB headset (songs stay at 0:00)? Here’s my fix.

April 24th, 2012

My Windows 7 laptop’s hard drive recently died, and after replacing it (with an SSD! yeah!), reinstalling all of my software including iTunes, and restoring my iTunes library, iTunes refused to play any music through my Logitech USBĀ  headset. The speakers plugged into my audio port worked just fine, but when I tried to play a song with the headset configured as my default playback device, the playback diamond would sit at 0:00 and no sound would come out. Furthermore, if I switched my playback device from the speakers to the headset in the middle of a song, iTunes would immediately stop playing.

I searched all over the web for a fix and tried lots of different things. Here’s what finally worked: Read the rest of this entry »

Massachusetts Solar Renewal Energy Credit (SREC) self-serve selling how-to

April 16th, 2012

The solar photovoltaic (PV) electrical generation system on our house, i.e., our solar panels, “went live” on December 29, 2011. We are now happily generating solar electricity. This is great for the environment now, and in a few years when the system breaks even, it’ll be great for our finances as well. Our electric bill last month was $1.27. Our system has generated 117% of the electricity we’ve consumed so far in April and 76% of our usage for all of 2012.

The savings on our electricity bill is significant, but just as important to our finances is the Massachusetts Solar Renewal Energy Credit (SREC) market. State law requires electric utilities to produce a certain percentage of their power from renewable energy. If they don’t produce enough renewable energy, they have to pay the state what is essentially a fine, proportional to their renewable energy shortfall.

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Always good to know the local nutcases so you can avoid them

April 15th, 2012

I’m on a community mailing list which, by and large, maintains an even keel, carries useful announcements about going-on, and sometimes even has useful discussions.

Occasionally, however, the nutcases crawl out of the woodwork. Most recently, one PJ Szufnarowski sent an email message to the list warning us all that “Boston is being sprayed with a myriad of substances, on a regular basis, from the air.”

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Gadgets and Gizmos: Rude Internet retailer of the day

March 29th, 2012

I ordered something from Gadgets and Gizmos early on the morning of March 27. By late the next night, two full business days later, I’d received no shipping notification. I sent them the following email. I’ll let it and the subsequent exchange I had with them speak for itself:

To: support@shopgadgetsandgizmos.com

My order was placed two full business days ago.
This is the first time I’ve purchased something from you.
You are not exactly a major Internet retailer.
I’ve received no shipping notification.
Your order tracking page (http://www.shopgadgetsandgizmos.com/track.php) can’t find my order.
Your order tracking page has a typo in the header (“Tack” instead of “Track”), a pretty reliable sign of a fly-by-night operation.
I’m beginning to be a little nervous about you.
What’s the scoop?

Thank you,
Jonathan Kamens


Read the rest of this entry »

The Legal Satyricon: Marc Randazza’s blog is well worth reading

March 15th, 2012

I’ve recently stumbled upon The Legal Satyricon, the blog of lawyer and first-amendment defender Marc Randazza, and I heartily recommend it to anyone looking to be schooled in what it means to defend the first amendment, interspersed with videos of Finnish street bands performing “Bohemian Rhapsody” while sitting in an old Volkswagen.

Randazza is quite an interesting character. He’s made a successful career out of fighting SLAPP lawsuits, stopping many of them before they get off the ground, and successfully defending his clients against others. He adamantly defends the free-speech of people whose speech he finds personally repugnant. His defenses are not only scholarly and successful, but also eminently entertaining. In short, he’s a Good Guy, and you should go read his blog.

 

Boston Teachers Union: STFU and do your jobs

March 15th, 2012

I was handed this flyer today in front of Boston City Hall:

(click for larger image)

It’s a spoof mocking the Mayor’s demand for teachers to work a longer school day.

Hey, BPS teachers… The teachers at my children’s private school work longer hours than you, with worse benefits than you, for less money than you. They do a wonderful job of educating every single student, unlike the BPS, which deprives many (most?) of its students of a quality education. You’re being paid a salary, which means you’re supposed to work the job, not the hours. So do me a favor: STFU and do the job you’re being paid to do. Thank you.

 

How to complain to US Airways

March 14th, 2012

Apparently, enough people have linked to my complaint about the abuse my family received at the hands of US Airways that it is now the first match that comes up when someone googles for “CEO of USAir”.

Many people are doing that because they want to complaint to US Airways themselves but don’t know how to do it. A reader of my blog suggested that I post the details to make it easier for others to send complaints to the airline. That seems like a good idea, so here you go…

The specific steps needed to find out this information vary slightly from corporation to corporation, but overall they are the same. The basic idea is to use the company’s own web site to find out who is senior officers are, and then to use its SEC filings to find out the address to which you should send letters to those officers.

For example, for US Airways, which is fairly typical, here is what you would do:

  1. Go to www.usairways.com.
  2. Click on “Company info” at the bottom of the page.
  3. Click on “Investor relations”.
  4. Click on “Corporate governance”.
  5. Click on “Management”. This will bring you to a page which lists the following officers of the corporation (as of March 14, 2012; you may want to check to see if they have changed), from whom you can choose to whom to send your complaint:
    Doug Parker, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
    Scott Kirby, President
    Elise Eberwein, Executive Vice President, People, Communications and Public Affairs
    Robert Isom, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer
    Steve Johnson, Executive Vice President, Corporate and Government Affairs
    Derek Kerr, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
    Suzanne Boda, Senior Vice President, Airport Customer Service, International and Cargo
    Ed Bular, Senior Vice President, Flight Operations/Inflight
    Keith Bush, Senior Vice President – Finance
    Kerry Hester, Senior Vice President, Operations Planning and Support
    Brad Jensen, Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer
    Andrew Nocella, Senior Vice President, Marketing and Planning
    David Seymour, Senior Vice President, Technical Operations
    Hector Adler, Vice President, InFlight Services
    Kevin Brickner, Vice President, Technical Services
    Mike Carreon, Vice President, Controller
    Tom Chapman, Vice President, Government Affairs
    Todd Christy, Vice President, Business Technology
    Robert Ciminelli, Vice President, Philadelphia Operations
    David Endicott, Vice President, IT Infrastructure
    Dion Flannery, Vice President/President, Express Operations
    Paul Galleberg, Vice President, Legal Affairs
    Madeleine Gray, Vice President, Business Technology Delivery
    Al Hemenway, Vice President, Labor Relations
    Lyle Hogg, Vice President – Flight Operations
    Paul Jones, Vice President, Legal Affairs
    Howard Kass, Vice President, Legal Affairs
    Tim Lindeman, Vice President, Reservations
    Bob Maloney, Vice President, Operations Control Center and Air Traffic Control
    John McDonald, Vice President, Corporate Communications
    Mike Minerva, Vice President, Corporate Real Estate
    Paul Morell, Vice President, Safety and Regulatory Compliance
    Donna Paladini, Vice President, Customer Service and Operations Support
    Terri Pope, Vice President, Charlotte Operations
    Ryan Price, Vice President, Human Resources
    Tom Trenga, Vice President, Revenue Management
    Tom Weir, Vice President, Treasurer
    Stephen R. Farrow, President and CEO, Piedmont Airlines, Inc.
    Keith D. Houk, President and CEO, PSA Airlines, Inc.
    Caroline Ray, Corporate Secretary
  6. Go back to the “Investor relations” page and click on “SEC filings”.
  7. View the most recent “10-K” form.
  8. You will find the corporation’s current “official” address on the first page of the form. As of March 14, 2012, it’s “1111 West Rio Salado Parkway, Tempe, Arizona 85281“. You can write to all of the corporate officers at that address; your letter will be forwarded if they don’t actually work in that office.

 

DougĀ Parker
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Scott Ā Kirby
President
EliseĀ Eberwein
Executive Vice President, People, Communications and Public Affairs
RobertĀ Isom
Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer
SteveĀ Johnson
Executive Vice President, Corporate and Government Affairs
Derek Ā Kerr
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
SuzanneĀ Boda
Senior Vice President, Airport Customer Service, International and Cargo
Ed Ā Bular
Senior Vice President, Flight Operations/Inflight
KeithĀ Bush
Senior Vice President – Finance
KerryĀ Hester
Senior Vice President, Operations Planning and Support
BradĀ Jensen
Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer
Andrew Ā Nocella
Senior Vice President, Marketing and Planning
David Ā Seymour
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations
HectorĀ Adler
Vice President, InFlight Services
KevinĀ Brickner
Vice President, Technical Services
Mike Ā Carreon
Vice President, Controller
Tom Ā Chapman
Vice President, Government Affairs
ToddĀ Christy
Vice President, Business Technology
RobertĀ Ciminelli
Vice President, Philadelphia Operations
DavidĀ Endicott
Vice President, IT Infrastructure
Dion Ā Flannery
Vice President/President, Express Operations
PaulĀ Galleberg
Vice President, Legal Affairs
MadeleineĀ Gray
Vice President, Business Technology Delivery
Al Ā Hemenway
Vice President, Labor Relations
LyleĀ Hogg
Vice President – Flight Operations
PaulĀ Jones
Vice President, Legal Affairs
HowardĀ Kass
Vice President, Legal Affairs
TimĀ Lindeman
Vice President, Reservations
BobĀ Maloney
Vice President, Operations Control Center and Air Traffic Control
JohnĀ  McDonald
Vice President, Corporate Communications
MikeĀ Minerva
Vice President, Corporate Real Estate
Paul Ā Morell
Vice President, Safety and Regulatory Compliance
Donna Ā Paladini
Vice President, Customer Service and Operations Support
TerriĀ Pope
Vice President, Charlotte Operations
RyanĀ Price
Vice President, Human Resources
TomĀ Trenga
Vice President, Revenue Management
Tom Ā Weir
Vice President, Treasurer
StephenĀ R. Ā Farrow
President and CEO, Piedmont Airlines, Inc.
KeithĀ D.Ā Houk
President and CEO, PSA Airlines, Inc.
CarolineĀ Ray
Corporate Secretary

Gregory’s Fine Tailoring: buyer beware!

February 15th, 2012

I can’t speak to the quality of the custom tailoring work at Gregory’s Fine Tailoring, located at Boston’s downtown crossing. What I can do is report the facts of what Gregory did to me, and then you can decide for yourself whether to patronize his business.

Executive summary: Work on my jacket, which I was told would be finished in two weeks, was not done over three months later, and in fact was never fully done. I was never called about the status of the work. I was lied to several times about when the work would be finished. I demanded the return of my jacket twice in person and was refused each time. In the end, I was able to get my jacket back only by threatening to sue for triple damages, at which point Gregory finally returned my jacket; to his credit, he refunded my deposit in full and actually did some of the requested work, albeit with mediocre quality.

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Bad UX example of the day

February 13th, 2012

My employer uses Oracle Financials to manage its books.

The user experience of Oracle Financials is truly awful. We’re in the process of upgrading to a new version of the application, after using the old version for several years. One would think in the interim Oracle would have hired a decent UX designer and some UX developers, but I’m afraid not. Although a few things are slightly improved in the new version, other things are worse, and there has clearly been no overarching effort to overhaul the UX, which absolutely, positively, needs to be thrown away and redesigned from scratch.

Today’s example of bad UX, taken from the new version of Oracle Financials to which we’re in the process of upgrading, comes from the very first screen you encounter, i.e., the login screen:

How is this bad UX? Let me count the ways: Read the rest of this entry »