RonVitale.com

Strike!

I'll be leaving for work earlier than normal because there is a transit strike in the Philadelphia area.  This is the second strike in the last 7 or 8 years.  The last time I remember that I had to take my bicycle to my friend's cousin's house so that the three of us could car pool.  It was the summer time, hot, humid, and about 2 or 3 miles away.  At the time, I had an old bike that wasn't good.  But I drove there every morning, we car pooled in (I remember how bad the traffic was) and then I left work early so that I could beat all the traffic to get home.  I worked crazy hours and I believe the strike lasted for 2-3 weeks.

Well, guess what?  The transit union has striked again.  It's no surprise.  What is a surprise is that the transit fees in Philadelphia are one of the highest in the country.  And I'll be the first to say that the service is horrible.  I've used public transportation in Paris, London, Canada, and in Washington, D.C.--Philadelphia's service is extremely limited.  The main subway and above ground El basically go North to South and West to East.  If you want to go Southwest, then you'll have to take a bus or a regional line.  Confused yet?  In Paris, you can just get on the metro and it'll take you almost any where you wish to go.

Not so in Philadelphia.  So not only will 500,000 people have to find an alternative way of getting to work each morning, but they'll have to deal with traffic jams, inability to get to work, and the frustration that the strike might not be resolved for weeks. I wouldn't be surprised if the strike lasts weeks.  I really wouldn't.  I'm not against unions striking, but when there's no more money to be had and the service is horrible, well, let's just say that I'm feeling more empathetic for the riders.

So that's how my Monday morning is going to start.  What a wonderful thing to deal with.  I can't wait.

In other news, not too much to discuss.  I worked on packing this weekend, organizing our stuff, and I did do a little bit of writing.  I'm in desperate need of some downtime but I don't see that coming any time soon.  The way things stand now, I don't see how I'm going to have much time to relax.  Between working longer to avoid traffic (because of the strike--I'll need to leave earlier or face massive traffic jams), coming home to continue organizing and packing, I'm not looking forward to the next few days.

I'm most frustrated because we're in "waiting mode."  We're waiting for some details to be worked out concerning the move.  And we're hoping that all will be well.

Now I know why people explain how frustrating it is to have to move often.  Trying to pack up, or give away, or throw out, all that you have in your house and prepare it for moving, along with trying to do this with a two-year old is a bit hectic.  I'll be happier once this whole process is over.  Unfortunately, it'll be right around the Christmas holidays so that doesn't leave much time to relax and settle in.

Do I sound bitter?  Well, you'd be that too at 5:39 a.m.  It's either I write this now or it doesn't get done.  Tonight is Halloween and when I get home I hope to be able to take my son out for some trick or treating (he's going to be Bob the Builder--he was in his costume yesterday and looked really cute).  Now I'm worried about being able to get home in time to take him out with my wife.  But with traffic going to be a bitch from the transit strike, I might be stuck in a traffic jam. 

I'll end here.  I sound bitter and frustrated and I am.  I have to get ready for work.  Peace.

Tiki Bar TV: Trader Woody

My wife made me the Trader Woody drink that Dr. Tiki made on the Tiki Bar TV video podcast and, man, were they strong. Now I know why Lala, Johnny Johnny, and Dr. Tiki are always dancing around half drunk. Those drinks pack a punch!

My wife and I did a lot of packing and salving of what to keep and what to throw out earlier today. Lots of fun (not). And for those of you who were wondering: I worked on a short story earlier this morning and did do some journal writing. My wife was nice enough to take my son out a good portion of this morning so that I could get some work done. So in between cleaning the bathroom and three batches of wash, I did some writing.

Late in the day I had my Trader Woody drink. And as a side note: I had sent viewer feedback to Tiki Bar TV, complaining that they had maligned the French in a previous episode. I had hoped that they would do a French drink (a French martini). Dr. Tiki wrote back and informed me that a future episode would deal with the French. Sounds interesting!

Well, it's time for my son to get his bath. Have a good night and enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Happy Friday

I mentioned this on yesterday’s blog, but I went to an Apple store and played around with the latest iPod video. I’m impressed. Considering it’s 60 GB for $399 and allows you to carry all the music and video you might want, it’s not a bad deal. I did find it interesting that I saw an article on CNET.com that teaches people how to use their iPod as a data storage device. I’m a bit amazed that people aren’t aware of this, but I guess Apple doesn’t really advertise this fact. But what does that mean? In the example used on CNET, you can work in one location, save the file to your iPod and then connect your iPod to another PC at a different location and copy off the data. I had written about this many moons ago. The implications are pretty impressive: In theory, you could copy your entire MP3 collection onto your iPod, drive over to a friend’s house, hook the iPod up to his PC, and then copy all of your songs to his hard drive. The RIAA must be doing backflips on this one. You can also use the iPod to store movie files, pictures, writing—whatever you want. Often I keep some spyware removal tools on my iPod so that if I’m at a family member’s house and they need help with their computer, I have some tools at my fingertips.

But let me get back to the video iPod itself. The staff person told me that the 30 GB iPod (that sells for $299) has a battery life of 14 hours and the 60 GB has one of 20 hours. I then asked him how long the 60 GB iPod would last in playing video and he responded: 3-4 hours. That’s a huge difference in time. Not the greatest of battery life. But I must admit that playing some video on the iPod looked very cool. Would I be watching lots of video that way? No, I don’t think so. I’m thinking of rather using it for picture storage, longer battery life for the music player, displaying album art, and just have more storage in general. Having an extra portable device that is 60 GB isn’t a bad idea. We’ll see if I pick one up.

In other news, I’m not in the mood to do much more writing today. I don’t have much to comment on in the world. I’m a bit disgusted with the whole Rove/Libby situation and I suspect that the grand jury will make some indictments tomorrow. We shall see. I’ve not been a Bush supporter nor am I supporter of his administration. I do not like the path our country is headed down and I’m also in disagreement with our troops staying in Iraq. I don’t think I mentioned this but I had sent letters to Senator Specter and Santorum. Senator’s form letter at least stated that he would take the opinions of his constituents in mind while Santorum outright said that he supported the War and would continue to support the President. I’ll remember that when his re-election comes up. How frustrating it is to live in a country in which many of us do not believe in our leaders.

But I’m getting too political. I’ve written to my representatives, expressed my opinions at the polls, and continue to hope that the War will end soon. With over 2,001 American soldiers (and how many Iraqi civilians?) have died, I’m not happy. Am I anti-American? No. I do not believe that speaking your mind to disagree with the administration’s public policy is wrong or unpatriotic. I continue to admit that I was wrong in supporting this War from the beginning. I admit to that and wish my government would do the same. Yet there’s no easy cure for the mess we’re in. The damage has been done and now we have to continue to meddle in the affairs of others. I guess we’ll never learn.

I suspect that some interesting news will be made tomorrow concerning Karl Rove. We shall see. Time will tell.

I’m a bit bummed out and have some stuff to get done so I’m going to sign off here. Have a good one.

I know I'm repeating, but I wanted to end a Friday post on a positive note:

I had heard about the Tiki Bar video podcast on the Daily Source Code and decided to check it out by subscribing to it with iTunes 6.0. Well, I have to give them credit for really having a good time with drink recipes. Very creative idea. It's stupid funny humor, but I like it. If you're looking for some drink recipes for your next party or just want a laugh, check it out. Be warned: Explicit language is used. Nite!

Maybe Later

Update

I had heard about the Tiki Bar video podcast on the Daily Source Code and decided to check it out by subscribing to it with iTunes 6.0. Well, I have to give them credit for really having a good time with drink recipes. Very creative idea. It's stupid funny humor, but I like it. If you're looking for some drink recipes for your next party or just want a laugh, check it out. Be warned: Explicit language is used. Nite!

No blog for this morning. Haven't had time. Did check out the iPod video last night at the local Apple store. Very interesting.

Also checked out the latest podcasts of target="_blank">DailySourceCode and target="_blank">ThisWeekinTech. Check out episode 27 of ThisWeekinTech if you're interested in Creative Commons and publishing/music copyrights. Very interesting ideas in that show.

Hope to write more tomorrow if not late today (I have to install a new DVD burner in my PC tonight and my son and I will be hanging out as my wife is headed out tonight on a much need break).

Moving is still all up in the air. Waiting for some work to get done on our house and on the house we're buying.

Got to dash.

eBooks

I did some research and came across Fictionwise.com. I heard of the site a year or two ago, but I’ve never opted to try purchasing an eBook from the site. From looking at the site and reading through the requirements, I was turned off by how complicated it appeared to be.

Here’s an example:

You can purchased the October/November 2005 issue of Asimov’s on Fictionwise.com for $5.99. Since the eBook is a multi-format one, you have the following choices:

“Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat]: Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [1.9 MB], Adobe Acrobat - Large Print
(PDF) [2.0 MB], Palm Doc (PDB) [394 KB], Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [349 KB], Microsoft Reader (LIT) [358 KB] - PocketPC 1.0+ Compatible, Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [386 KB], hiebook (KML) [925 KB], iSilo (PDB) [328 KB], Mobipocket (PRC) [409 KB], OEBFF Format (IMP) [516 KB]
Words: 117592
Reading time: 335-470 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format: Printing ENABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED”

That’s a lot of information to take in! I like to think of myself as an early adopter of new technology, but I’ve found the whole eBook market to be extremely confusing and troublesome. Why? I don’t even know what an OEBFF format is! I understand what Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Reader is, etc., but I found it a bit disconcerting to purchase something without seeing an example of what it’ll look like on my screen or if I print the book out. Since portable readers aren’t readily available (as a popular and well produced device—like the iPod), I would probably be printing the book out. Or at least parts of it. I like to see what I’m buying before I spend the money so I’m not that geared up to spend $5.99 on an electronic item that I might not be able to print out. I think it’s useful to see how many words, but without knowing how many pages are in the book, I’m a bit lost in the dark.

Fictionwise.com is a step in the right direction, but I’ve not found a way to purchase one story from an issue. Basically, you have the choice of buying the whole book/magazine and that’s it. And for $5.99 for an electronic issue, why wouldn’t you just pay the $33 a year to have it shipped to your house? It’s cheaper and the physical copy is easier to carry around.

Can someone help point me to another site that might offer more diverse content? A site that would allow me to pick one story from a magazine instead of having to buy the whole magazine. I think there are major gaps in the online model: Distribution, consumer usage, and ease of use.

If you can only buy a whole magazine from content that is already available in print format, what’s the big deal? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to search a database, find an author you like, and then purchase all of her stories at one time? Maybe you could create your own book, have it made into a pdf format, and then you download it, or opt to use the “print on demand” so you can have your own hard copy (of a real book or magazine) sent to you in the mail.

Obviously I do see financial problems with my business model. I cannot see how costs could remain low for the consumer and profit to still be obtain by the copyright owners. I’ve been listening to episode 27 of ThisWeekinTech and I’m intrigued by Creative Commons copyright. But I’m also trying to figure out how an author, an unknown author, can make some money by selling his/her work online.

If there are only 12 or so stories published each month on a big magazine like Asimov’s, then maybe there needs to be a way for authors to create their own clearing house for online content. Yet the problem remains in that I haven’t seen or heard of an ideal product for a consumer. Carrying around a digest size copy of Asimov’s in your bag isn’t a big deal. But what if you bought the eBook and wanted to print it out? That wouldn’t be convenient and it’d waste paper and toner. I haven’t seen an efficient electronic reader—or at least none have taken off yet. So what is an author to do?

Plan and collaborate with other authors. Just as musicians are working on their own to cut out the music industry, maybe authors can cut out the publisher and work together to great a Website that acts as a clearing house for content. Is this vanity press? No, that’s not what I’m talking about. Just as some musicians are extremely good but can’t obtain a record deal so there are writers out there that cannot find a market to be published in.

Podcasts are exploding through the roof. Now we video podcasts starting to take off, several amateurs will break through and become popular. In the world we currently live in, I don’t see a business model that will provide funds for podcasts, musicians who create their own CDs/mp3s, and writers who try to sell their own work. But that could be changing in the future. What type of funds am I talking about? Let’s be honest here: A fiction writer (unless you a top list author) isn’t making a ton of cash on selling a short story to a magazine like Asimov’s. At $.02 a word and an average story being 4,000 – 6,000 words, you do the math. You can’t live off of that.

We don’t live in an era in which the selling of short fiction can sustain a writer. And obtaining a book deal, isn’t the answer either. A typical first time contract is approximately $5,000 for a new, unpublished author. If I’m wrong on this, please e-mail me. I’d like to be better educated in this matter. Many, many writers work at their day job and then write fiction on the side. Writing is what they love to do. But being a writer isn’t simply about writing, it’s also about understanding the business of writing: Earnings, taxes, agents, editors, submission guidelines, postal fees, copying fees, etc.

Granted, a writer like Stephen King can easily pull in a six-figure deal for a book. Yet how many writers out there (published ones) can pull in such numbers?

I can only hope that there will be further technological advances that will help writers bind together to create online content that is easy for the consumer to purchase and read. Maybe magazines will realize that if they bind together and sell their work in individual formats that they can draw in larger number of sales. I’m not a businessman, but I do think that there needs to be a breakthrough of utilizing digital technology to propel the publishing world into the next phase.