Pay Phone Search

So yesterday, I rushed out the door to work, leaving my cell phone sitting on the counter.

At the end of the day, I found myself in my car, on the road, needing to make a phone call.
I was supposed to meet my kids for dinner and we hadn't solidified plans.

We had tentatively talked about meeting at the 99 (a favorite dining spot for the Kudla Klan).

No problem, I figured. I'll just make a quick call from a pay phone.

Well, finding a pay phone is harder than one might think in this year of our Lord, 2007.
After several fruitless stops at a Rite Aid, gas stations and convenience stores, I stopped in at the restaurant figuring I would sit at the bar and see if I could bum somebody's cell phone (great plan, huh?).

Well, there was a pay phone right there in the upstairs lobby. I got change from the hostess, contacted my daughter and within the half-hour was enjoying a nice relaxing dinner with her and her brother. Believe it or not, it cost $.90 for a 1-minute call!

So the moral of the story is, don't forget your cell phone. But, if your ever stuck in North Nashua, and need to make a call, the 99 right off Exit 7 of Rt3 has a pay phone in the lobby!

Common Courtesy

I just had my first experience with CraigsList.
It was a positive experience.

I posted an item that I wanted to get rid of, and which generated much more interest than I expected. The first person who looked at it, bought it, for the price I asked. The whole thing was done, from soup to nuts, in a little over 24 hours.

There were about half a dozen pending inquiries at the time of the sale. I took the time to reply to each, either via e-mail or by phone to let them know that the item was no longer available.

Without fail, I received a heartfelt thank you from the prospective buyer for taking the time to respond to their inquiry.

It took me all of five minutes. It made me feel pretty good.

Red Sox Nation

One of the things I enjoy about living in New England as a transplanted (upstate) New Yorker and die-hard Yankees fan is the passion of Red Sox nation.

The latest saga involves the role of closer in the Sox bullpen.

Jonathan Papelbon, who was lights out, for the first half of last season, as the BoSox closer, was slated to return to the starting rotation this year.

However, after a fruitless search for a replacement to close games, Mr. Papelbon is returned to his aforementioned role. He even admitted to a curious sleep disorder, as a result

Depending on who you listen to, in this crazy mixed-up nation, this is great, this is perplexing or this is the end of the world....

I love you crazy, whacky Red Sox fans.

Enjoy finishing behind the NY Yankees in the AL East for (what is it) the 84th year in a row???

The Whole is not always greater than the Sum of its Parts

Big congrats to the gang over at Tabblo.
It was announced this week that HP is acquiring the Cambridge-based startup.

I know two of the starting nine at Tabblo, Ned and David.

They are two of the good guys in this crazy industry.
I have had the good fortune of working with both Ned and David a couple of times in my career.
This led me to the following rumination...

Ned and I worked together at Lotus/Iris and we were successfully acquired by IBM.
David and I worked together at Glassbook and we were successfully acquired by Adobe Systems.
Ned and David are working together at Tabblo and are about to be sucessfully acquired by HP.

Ned, David and I all worked together at Kubi Software and we umm.....
never mind.

Congrats to Ned, David and the whole Tabblo Team!

Opening Day...

..is a week from tomorrow.

Despite the forecasts of 2-4" of snow tonight, the boys of spring/summer will be plying their trade in very short order.

Is there anything better than the first day of baseball season?

Hang in there kids.