By Chris Schiffner
As work consumes more of life and the mere act of aging increases stress levels, I’ve been exploring ways to make my life away from the office more enjoyable. Activities free of stressors. Free of negative personalities. Sometimes a physical activity such as cycling, kayaking, or hiking fits the bill. Other times I just feel like sitting around. Not necessarily watching TV or looking at the familiar walls of home. One of my escapes has always been this website. Something I chose to work on, thus enjoyable. The biggest detractor
By Chris Schiffner
Update May 10, 2013: I’ve received a response to one of my emails to Toyota Corporate. It states that my complaints have been assigned to a case manager and that I should hear back from them by Monday 5-13-2013. It also outlines the fact that they are not responsible for, nor will they cover the damage to my car. Apparently they won’t stand behind their dealer’s work. Very disappointing.
Update May 9, 2013: My 2012 Toyota Camry reminded me why I wrote this blog post yesterday. The radio
By Chris Schiffner
I don’t know what to expect from this storm but I figured what the hell — throw up a live feed. Want to view the feed full screen?
Click here. Otherwise check it out below.
Update Feb. 9, 1:25am: The storm (Nemo) hasn’t been anywhere as bad as predicted. A huge amount of hype here in NYC that Nemo’s definitely not living up to. I’d say we have about 6″ of snow so far. It looks like New England is getting hit hard. Maybe we’ll see some good
By Chris Schiffner
On my drive into work today I passed by Hallets Cove in Astoria, Queens. As I approached the public access beach area I noticed a couple of parks department officials closing off the beach entrance. Since this is a popular kayaking destination and I take advantage of the beach access during summer months, I pulled over to see what was going on. It turns out the beach suffered a fair amount of erosion from Hurricane Sandy. The erosion extended up to the stair case just inside the gated entrance. The
By Chris Schiffner
You can’t find a more heated or emotionally charged subject these days. Foreshadowing the ongoing debate about marriage equality. Knocking the United States’ looming financial issues from the headlines. Gun control has become THE topic to debate. Defend. Lobby for or against. Following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings I followed the lead of the many before me. I took to Facebook and Twitter and let my opinions on the subject be known. I posted my own updates. I commented on others. My stance? Our country already has enough laws
By Chris Schiffner
A crane collapsed in Long Island City today at approximately 2:20pm. The crane, which was erected along Center Blvd. just behind LIC’s iconic Pepsi Sign, fell into an active construction site. Luckily the crane avoided the neighboring buildings and park land. At least 4 people were injured in the collapse and rescue operations successfully extracted workers injured in the incident. The impact of the collapse could be felt for several blocks. Local residents flooded the streets concerned over what had just happened. The response from the FDNY and NYPD was
By Chris Schiffner
When it comes to desktop Twitter clients there aren’t many options. If you’re looking for a freebie there are even fewer choices.
TweetDeck is far from perfect but it’s one of the better desktop clients available and it’s the one I’ve come to rely on when I’m not using my iPhone or iPad. Back in October I upgraded my pc’s to Windows 8. After reinstalling TweetDeck I was confronted with a fatal error; TweetDeck failed to login to my account and displayed the error message “Unable to connect. Please check
By Chris Schiffner
My girlfriend knew it was a bad idea. My family knew it was a bad idea. Deep down inside I knew it was a bad idea too. For some strange reason I thought it would be fun to grow a stache. Now I’ve got what I’m referring to as a French Painter goatee and I have no idea what to do with it. I have no stache grooming skills. It looks terrible. Even at this early stage I might be losing friends. Let’s make sure that my mistake is someone’s
By Chris Schiffner
I had a feeling Frankenstorm was
being over-hyped. Open mouth, insert foot. Hurricane Sandy turned out to be the real deal. I woke up this morning and headed out for a short walk to survey the damage. I didn’t have to walk more than half a block to find a tree down. Then another even larger tree down around the corner. Both took out power lines. This was the typical scene throughout Floral Park. Since I reside on the Nassau/Queens border my house has split utilities. Nassau electric (LIPA)
By Chris Schiffner
Frankenstorm (Hurricane Sandy) is bearing down on the north east. I’m here in NYC hoping for the best. Local media has been discussing the impending doom about to strike the New York Tri-state area, but after
hurricane Irene’s loud bark and relatively small bite I’m skeptical as to whether or not this storm will be serious. Based on
the latest projection the eye of the storm is going to be a long ways from here — passing through southern New Jersey. That’s good news for NYC but terrible news for
