Heather, On Tech

Sub $30k Electric Cars Within Five Years

I just read on Engadget about Elon Musk's announcement yesterday that Tesla is hoping to put out a sub-$30,000 car within four years or so.  Way cool!

Right now it's all the rage and novelty to have any kind of smarter car - be it hybrid, electric, or flex-fuel (whatever the hell that is).  But they all cost too much, or they're not something I would drive anyway (Prius - ick).  I don't really care about having a sports car, as having two small children, I wouldn't be able to drive it often and I'm sure the law would frown upon me shoving them in the trunk to go shopping (besides, where would I put the groceries?).  I know Tesla is talking about a five-seater sedan, and the announcement of a really affordable all-electric car just tickles me pink.  I would gladly pay more up front to be free of the Saudis, but despite being an early adopter with a whole lot of things, electric vehicles are not something I want to be first in. 

I think I can wait a few years to see what happens on the electric car front.  Who knows, maybe they'll have the solar panels built into the roof by then - and the van will be well and thoroughly trashed!

Travelocity...Never Again!

David and I planned a trip to Defrag in November.  It's a great conference that David got to attend last year, but I couldn't make it due to being unable to find anyone to watch the boys.  So, since he's really the bigger geek, I "let" him go without me.  We were really looking forward to going, and made arrangements with my mother to watch the boys while we were gone.  I booked our flight, or so I thought, immediately (as in, March).

A few weeks ago, I got an email from Travelocity telling me that there was a problem with my flights and that I needed to contact them as soon as possible.  I tried logging into the site to view my trip itinerary, but the trip wouldn't come up - not a good sign.  So, I resigned myself to call the number in the email (I hate talking on the phone to strangers; I always make David call and order pizza!).  So, I called and talked to a very nice Indian national named "Peter".  He was most helpful and got right to business in helping me.  He was very polite, and pulled up the trip based on the trip ID to see what the problem was.  He was quickly able to determine that the last leg of our return trip had to be rescheduled (although he didn't say why).  He asked if he could put me on hold to contact the airline, and did so.  He came back a few minutes later and said that the airline's customer service center was closed on the weekend and I needed to call back on Monday.  I thanked him and hung up.

So, I called on Monday afternoon.  This time I spoke with yet another Indian national named "Sandy".  Sandy's English was not nearly as good as Peter's, and it was obvious very quickly that he didn't understand what the problem was.  I explained as basically as possible that I had received an email from Travelocity stating there was a problem with my trip and that I needed to reschedule one leg of the flight.  Silence....

We finally got it sorted out what I needed when he pulled up the trip ID.  It turned out that Continental no longer had a direct flight from Houston (or Dallas, wherever their hub is in Texas) to Tallahassee.  No big deal, just reroute us, OK?  So, he puts me on hold for...ever.  After about 20 minutes he came back and said he had found a flight that left Denver at 6:05 AM...originally we were to leave around 1:00PM I think.  Since we wouldn't have the boys with us, I said, "Whatever, just schedule it..."  So then he puts me back on hold so he can call the airline to schedule it.

Twenty minutes later he comes back and says he's still on hold...can I keep holding?  Sure.  This happened at least three times.  If you're wondering why I didn't just ask for a refund, it's because the tickets are non-refundable.  I was already pissed at this point but canceling the flight would cost me more than I was willing to toss out.

Finally, after 90 minutes on the phone with them, the flight was confirmed, we had our schedule all changed, and I was just relieved to be able to hang up the phone.  I asked for an email confirmation and Sandy assured me that I would get one.

Two hours later I got an email from Travelocity, stating there was a problem with my trip, and I needed to call them as soon as possible to reschedule the flights.  I assumed that Sandy had just sent the wrong email.  And, since I don't have any quiet time during the day to spend on the phone with them, I decided I would call them back the following Monday.

Yesterday (Thursday), Travelocity called me and said I needed to contact them as soon as possible.

Now I was really pissed.  I called them back.  I spoke with another Indian national, this time a woman and I didn't catch her name.  She read my complete itinerary to me so fast that I couldn't even understand what she was saying.  I said, "Just tell me the part that changed."  So she did.  It seems that Continental doesn't fly from Tallahassee to Texas, either - the first leg of our departure had to be routed through Tampa.  I asked if we still had e-tickets (yes), is there anything else I need to do (just get new tickets issued at the airline counter).  What?  I still have no fucking idea what that means.  Maybe the seat assignments weren't done or something, I don't know.  I asked her to email me the new itinerary.  She confirmed my email address and assured me that I would receive notification (still haven't).  This time the call was completed in under 13 minutes.  Not too bad - at least Continental went ahead and changed the flight for us this time instead of waiting for me to do it (since it's their schedule change that screwed it up to begin with).

Now, my whole life, I've flown Delta, with very few exceptions.  I've almost never had a problem, other than them being late.  I've certainly never had a flight schedule change so drastically.  I also have never used Travelocity or Expedia to book flights; they have never been cheaper and in fact are regularly $5 MORE per person.  I did once use Cheap Tickets but that was right after 9/11 (and we flew American, and paid $133 apiece, round trip, coast to coast - my, how things have changed).  I don't like going through third parties for anything; I much prefer to go right to the source because if there are problems, they can be resolved quickly and easily.  I have no recollection of what made me choose Travelocity this time (they must have had access to a flight we wanted, or been a few dollars cheaper...).

Last week (before all this happened), we made plans to go to Boulder for a week in August with the whole family.  I booked directly through Delta.  I think I'll continue to do that from now on.

I realise that the problem doesn't lie solely with Travelocity.  In fact, it's really Continental's fault.  But, I think the hour and a half on hold was just fucking ridiculous.  And then complicate that with the fact that their representative didn't speak English well enough to understand what I was asking just chapped my ass.  They were polite, too.  And they have a thankless job.  But they (Sandy) also should have been able to tell that there were TWO flights involved when I called the first time.  At least then the hour and a half would have been a little more understandable.

By the way, I charge $125/hour.  I guess I should send them an invoice, no?  To their credit, they didn't up the price on me, so maybe I'll let them slide...but they won't get a repeat customer out of me.

Jason Calacanis is Going Green...Why Can't We All?

If you don't know who Jason Calacanis is, well, shame on you.  But, let's just say he has more money than I do.  A lot more.  He's buying a Tesla (one day I will have the family version of this car...), an all-electric sports-car.  The car alone costs $125,000.

But, he mentions in his blog that he's thinking about installing solar panels at his home and at his workplace, so he can charge the car completely off the grid!  It's so nice to be validated...

Of course, everyone who takes the plunge and purchases an electric car cannot afford to do this.  I still say somebody needs to come out with a roll-up car cloth with the panels on it.  It may be less efficient and may not provide a full charge, but it just might get you home on those days when you forgot to plug your car in.  I wish I had the know-how and gumption to do this; you could sell the things pretty cheaply (say, $200 - $500 per cloth, depending on the size) and still make a killing from the sales.  Of course, one day the solar paint will take over that job...

Seth Godin wrote an interesting article about the Kindle.  I don't have one (and right now don't care to), so this article isn't really about the device.

But he spurred a thought: he mentions "writing for the Kindle".  Wow.  With all the fuss about music and the Internet, before long we are going to have authors doing the same thing.  I know many authors are already publishing books online and have been for some time.  And maybe they are having the same issues as musicians with the whole licensing "problems" - but if so it's a lot less vocal (or maybe it was going on while I was raising babies and didn't have much time to keep up with such things a few years ago).

It's super-easy now to get published (you're reading my blog!  I'm published! LOL).  But what happens with the Stephen Kings and the Seth Godins start only publishing in digital format?  After all, you can always print it out if you need or want to (I hate reading a lot of text on a screen, personally).  Can a fledgling author make "lots" of money this way?  Probably.

Wow...

The End of Police Chases

Back in the 90s police got a lot of flack for chasing people in cars, mostly because it created a danger for anyone else out on the road.  If the bad guy crashes, chances were he was going to hit an innocent bystander and injure them, causing liability for the municipality (not to mention the maiming of the innocent bystander).  So, we had to carefully consider whether to chase people.  In the early 90s, we could chase stolen cars.  By 1995 we could pretty much only chase people who were suspects of violent crimes (murder, robbery, kidnapping, rape, etc).

Too bad this nifty gadget I read about on Coolest Gadgets is just coming out; back then we could have recovered many a stolen car before it was totaled!  Essentially it's a launchable GPS tracker that will attach to a vehicle.  It's called STARCHASE, and it mounts on the bumper of the patrol car.  Rather than chasing a bad guy, the officer launches the dart, which sticks in the bumper of the car being chased, and then the police just hang back and track them.  When the suspects stop, the police jump in and save the day.

While this is much safer for the community, it's sure to take away from the 1% of pure adrenaline rush of law enforcement (it's 99% boredom, you know).

Internet in the Car?

I love technology and I can't wait for WiFi to be ubiquitous - meaning I can access the web from a moving vehicle reliably.  I know that's some time off (like maybe a few years), but until then I'd be happy having it just in the car.  If the cell companies can hook us up with Internet access with a signal, then we should be able to do it from a car, right?  Wouldn't it be awesome if your car had a dial-up 3G (or faster) connection where you could connect wirelessly and stream whatever to the kids while traveling?  Or check your email, or whatever.

One day this will happen; I know several manufacturers are already putting some of this technology into their vehicles (there are too many to list and link to).  I would love to have a car that emails me when there's a problem or when it needs maintenance.  I would really love one that could feed the meter, but hey, that will come in time as well.

I'm hoping it's sooner rather than later...

StarMetro 80x Revisited

I recently wrote a post about riding the city bus to work, using the WiFi and relaxing.  Well, someone shared the news and Mr. Samuel Schreib, who works for StarMetro, corrected me on some things.  I thought the entire fleet of buses was going to have WiFi.  Mr. Scheib was kind enough to point out that I was mistaken - they are only putting WiFi on buses with a higher likelihood of long rides (such as the 80x).  So, if you are just riding to the mall, you are not likely to have the luxury of WiFi.  Mr. Scheib also pointed out that there will be no new routes (meaning the frequency of pickups on our route is not likely to change) for quite some time, which is a bummer.  Budget cuts affect everyone!

I've ridden the bus several times now, and I must say the worst part was getting caught in a torrential downpour and getting on the bus drenched with a very good working air conditioner (but I was dry by the time I got off).  The afternoons are much less crowded, mainly because I leave at 4:00 instead of 4:30 (arrive at 7:30, take a 30-minute lunch, leave at 4:00 and you've got 8 hours).

I have to admit, my idea of riding the bus consisted of less than friendly types and derelicts.  I have to say that at least on the bus I ride, that is nowhere near the case.  The most colourful character I've seen was a high school student (and maybe that qualifies as derelict?).  Pretty much everyone on the bus is heading to their jobs and of course on the southern end of the ride they're all heading to State offices.

I have tried working while riding, and in the mornings it can be a little difficult due to the numbers of people.  But, since I've been riding, I've convinced two other people to ride; one sits in the next cube and the other I hang out with a lot at work.  We also have another coworker who's been riding for awhile (he convinced me to try it).  We all sit in a little group and chit-chat about whatever, or surf the Internet looking at "green" vehicles.

The best part of riding the bus so far has been the relaxing ride to and from work, and the lack of "road rage" I get.  I get very frustrated being stuck behind someone going 35 mph in a 45 mph zone - and why is it that there are always three people, driving side by side, doing that?  It makes me crazy - mostly because I'm perpetually late!  At any rate, if you want to save a few bucks and find some time to read or just decompress after a hard day at work, I highly recommend checking out your local public transit.  Try it once - you never have to do it again if you don't like it!  And who knows, you just might find that you do!