It's Groundhog's day and old Phil saw his shadow (I've heard he is right 48% of the time, it's like money in the bank). I'm still working on coming up with my groundhog's day resolution, but I am sure it will be along the lines of "Do something both useful and interesting this year".
Most people don't make groundhog's day resolutions but I have been doing it for 5 or 10 years. It makes perfect sense. Do you know anyone who is still keeping their New Year's resolution in February? Didn't think so. But my groundhog's day resolution always lasts into February (sometimes even into late February). Plus, it kind of elevates this under appreciated holiday into something almost useful.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Maryland State Highway Administration is (kinda) using twitter.
I read this at the Gazette and was really pleased, it seems like a really good use
for twitter (but better to have one for each county, not one for the whole state).
For the inauguration MDSHA used twitter to give short updates about road closures and traffic. There are dozens of updates on the 19th and 20th, but nothing since. This type of service would have been great during the snow and ice this week, hopefully they will revive it.
There's an interesting privacy twist to this. If you are one of the 187 people following them, then pretty much anyone can figure out you live in Maryland.
[where: Maryland]
for twitter (but better to have one for each county, not one for the whole state).
For the inauguration MDSHA used twitter to give short updates about road closures and traffic. There are dozens of updates on the 19th and 20th, but nothing since. This type of service would have been great during the snow and ice this week, hopefully they will revive it.
There's an interesting privacy twist to this. If you are one of the 187 people following them, then pretty much anyone can figure out you live in Maryland.
[where: Maryland]
Friday, January 30, 2009
The Metrobus Q2 (Veirs Mill Road line) is being studied
The Q2 is one of the most used lines in the Metrobus system with 10,200 passengers a day. They are looking for ways to improve service and will be having a public meeting on Thursday, February 5 at the Holiday Park Senior Center, 3905 Ferrara Drive, Silver Spring, MD. The open house will begin at 6:30 pm, followed by a presentation at 7:00 pm.
They also are conducting a ridership survey. They did it on the bus on Dec 17, but you can fill it out online too. If you ride the Q2 go fill it out.
When I was younger I rode the Q2 every day. It took a long time and traffic was slow, but it was faster (and much cheaper) than taking the red line from Shady Grove to Silver Spring. I looked at the comments people wrote on the survey and it looks like things are worse than when I rode it. Overcrowded to the point that the bus drivers can't always pick up passengers, no buses for a while then two or three right in a row, still only rarely have the extra long buses.
[where: Shady Grove, MD]
[where: Rockville, MD]
[where: Wheaton, MD]
[where: Silver Spring, MD]
(from the gazette)
They also are conducting a ridership survey. They did it on the bus on Dec 17, but you can fill it out online too. If you ride the Q2 go fill it out.
When I was younger I rode the Q2 every day. It took a long time and traffic was slow, but it was faster (and much cheaper) than taking the red line from Shady Grove to Silver Spring. I looked at the comments people wrote on the survey and it looks like things are worse than when I rode it. Overcrowded to the point that the bus drivers can't always pick up passengers, no buses for a while then two or three right in a row, still only rarely have the extra long buses.
[where: Shady Grove, MD]
[where: Rockville, MD]
[where: Wheaton, MD]
[where: Silver Spring, MD]
(from the gazette)
Maryland Offers Child-Care Inspection Data Online
Maryland has joined Virginia in providing a searchable database of inspection reports from daycare and other child-care centers across the state.
According to The Washington Post:
The state's new system was developed at virtually no cost because it was built with software the state already uses to help parents locate child care. I'm really glad it didn't cost much because the site is a usability disaster. I went there to look up a daycare I used in the past. On loading, instead of giving me a search box it gave an error message "Search timed out" Reloading gave me the query form. I did the search and couldn't find the next link, it is small and non-obvious. The search results are in no particular order, not by inspection date, provider, address (I searched on City and type of provider so those were all the same).
When I finally found the daycare I was looking for it was a chore to pull up the full report. the instructions (when was the last time you needed instructions to figure out how to pull up the full record from a search, could you imagine if Google were like that) said: Click on the number to the left of the record, and then click "View this record" at the bottom to see the details of the inspection.
So I clicked on the number, the screen flashed, some text momentarily appeared in the upper left then disappeared. I clicked a number of times to see if the text would stay or if there was a link at the bottom of that bit of text before I realized that at the bottom of the page, nowhere near the record, the link, or the ephemeral text was a "View this Record" link which gives the report.
Looking at the report was more bad news. under "License - General Requirements" my daycare had "No". In fact, it had no for all of them. There is no way they were that bad so it was back up to the top to figure out what No meant. Turns out, Instead of a standard chart where Yes means you pass, in this case, Yes means you fail (Yes means you were "out of compliance"). So, in reality, my daycare had passed everything and got very positive "No" ratings. How about making Yes be positive like everywhere else, or better yet, put the word "Pass" if they pass and "Fail" if they fail. It's only a couple of extra letters and it removes ambiguity.
Maryland's Childcare database
Virginia's childcare database
[where: Maryland]
According to The Washington Post:
Child-care providers in Maryland have mixed opinions about the new system, with some raising questions about accuracy and limitations. Each online report gives yes-or-no indicators of problems in 50 broad areas of regulation. But no details are included, so it can be difficult to assess a problem's severity. Parents seeking more information must phone or write licensing officials.
The state's new system was developed at virtually no cost because it was built with software the state already uses to help parents locate child care. I'm really glad it didn't cost much because the site is a usability disaster. I went there to look up a daycare I used in the past. On loading, instead of giving me a search box it gave an error message "Search timed out" Reloading gave me the query form. I did the search and couldn't find the next link, it is small and non-obvious. The search results are in no particular order, not by inspection date, provider, address (I searched on City and type of provider so those were all the same).
When I finally found the daycare I was looking for it was a chore to pull up the full report. the instructions (when was the last time you needed instructions to figure out how to pull up the full record from a search, could you imagine if Google were like that) said: Click on the number to the left of the record, and then click "View this record" at the bottom to see the details of the inspection.
So I clicked on the number, the screen flashed, some text momentarily appeared in the upper left then disappeared. I clicked a number of times to see if the text would stay or if there was a link at the bottom of that bit of text before I realized that at the bottom of the page, nowhere near the record, the link, or the ephemeral text was a "View this Record" link which gives the report.
Looking at the report was more bad news. under "License - General Requirements" my daycare had "No". In fact, it had no for all of them. There is no way they were that bad so it was back up to the top to figure out what No meant. Turns out, Instead of a standard chart where Yes means you pass, in this case, Yes means you fail (Yes means you were "out of compliance"). So, in reality, my daycare had passed everything and got very positive "No" ratings. How about making Yes be positive like everywhere else, or better yet, put the word "Pass" if they pass and "Fail" if they fail. It's only a couple of extra letters and it removes ambiguity.
Maryland's Childcare database
Virginia's childcare database
[where: Maryland]
Bethesda entertainment venues suffering with the economy
From an article in the Gazette:
Bethesda Theatre may soon cut ticket prices for Wednesday and Thursday shows (but not weekend shows) and has cut some parts of its budget.
Imagination Stage canceled a few productions and although they haven't layed anyone off it is possible they will. Their ticket sales have been stable but have had other funding sources reduced.
Ticket sales have also been steady at Round House Theater but they are trying to cut 15% from their budget and have layed off three people.
I have been curious how Bethesda, MD manages to support three different theaters(Imagination stage is geared towards kids, so really only two), I wonder how much of their viability is dependent on grants/state funding/corporate donations and how much if it is from ticket sales. Have you gone to the theater in the past year?
[where: 4908 Auburn Ave, Bethesda, MD 20814]
[where: 4545 East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814]
[where: 7719 Wisconsin Ave, Bethesda, MD]
Bethesda Theatre may soon cut ticket prices for Wednesday and Thursday shows (but not weekend shows) and has cut some parts of its budget.
Imagination Stage canceled a few productions and although they haven't layed anyone off it is possible they will. Their ticket sales have been stable but have had other funding sources reduced.
Ticket sales have also been steady at Round House Theater but they are trying to cut 15% from their budget and have layed off three people.
I have been curious how Bethesda, MD manages to support three different theaters(Imagination stage is geared towards kids, so really only two), I wonder how much of their viability is dependent on grants/state funding/corporate donations and how much if it is from ticket sales. Have you gone to the theater in the past year?
[where: 4908 Auburn Ave, Bethesda, MD 20814]
[where: 4545 East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814]
[where: 7719 Wisconsin Ave, Bethesda, MD]
Thursday, January 29, 2009
President Obama comes to Bethesda
A day after Obama publicly teased local school officials for canceling classes because of wintry weather, he and his wife visited their younger daughter's school on Thursday. Yup, they drove up here to Bethesda, MD and went to Sidwell Friends. Ironically, they drove this morning, when the roads are clear, not yesterday when they were icy.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Now open: Conte's Bicycles
I was walking through Bethesda on Friday night and saw that Conte's Bicycles and Coaching was having a grand opening celebration. They originally planned to open in December of last year but the were off a month or so. Now they are open for real.
They are located at the corner of Old Georgetown Road and Woodmont Avenue. In the ground level of The Metropolitan apartments where Rosenblum & Associates LLC used to be. The website hasn't been updated with the store hours or phone number yet.
[where: 7626 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda, MD]
Finally a decent snow
This is the first halfway decent snow we have had in Bethesda this year. I was getting tired of the tease-flurries. We've had snow all morning and it is still coming down, here is a picture of Bethesda Place Plaza. Unfortunately, it won't be winter bliss, there is a chance it will mix with sleet this afternoon and we'll get 1 to 2 inches of snow plus another 1 to 2 inches of sleet.
Tomorrow it really goes down hill. Freezing rain and rain then anything on the ground freezing overnight. I'm planning on working from home tomorrow to avoid the inevitable traffic mess. Not sure about Thursday, maybe I'll go in late if conditions warrant.
Check the Bethesda, Maryland forecast.
[where: Bethesda, MD]
[where: Montgomery County, MD]
Monday, January 26, 2009
Even the sign makers don't always get it right.
Here's an easy to miss sign error. I didn't notice it until after I took the photo. This is the corner of Old Georgetown Road (MD-187) and Wisconsin Avenue (MD-355) in Bethesda, Maryland. It is the southern end of Old Georgetown Rd. Old Georgetown gets the big sign which is understandable since you can turn left from Route 355 onto it and East-West Highway (MD-410) is one way the other direction.So what's the screw-up? The block numbering on the Old Georgetown sign. It says that the 7500 block is to the right, but it isn't Old Georgetown Road on the right. Worse yet, the 7500 block is on the left, not the 7600 block. The Clark Construction building is 7500 Old Georgetown Rd and it is to the left.
[where: Bethesda, MD]
It's Restaurant Week in Bethesda, MD
Bethesda is well known for both the quality and quantity of it's restaurants. This week celebrates that. From January 26th thru February 1st you can get a fixed-price two course lunch (either $12 or $15) or three course dinner ($25 or $30) at one of 30 Bethesda-Chevy Chase restaurants. the full list of participating restuarants is available, please call ahead for restrictions and reservations.
[where: Bethesda, MD]
[where: Bethesda, MD]
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