weill aspects

originally posted february 22, 2004

to california and back home

Last weekend I headed to Los Angeles for my second cousin Max's Bar Mitzvah. I returned with a new toy in hand and a renewed desire to improve myself.

the weills' california adventure

The last time I was in Los Angeles, it was the summer of 1990. The Bar Mitzvah boy hadn't even been born yet. I got to meet a lot of relatives who I hadn't seen in many years, including my second cousin Lauren who's just a few weeks younger than I am. She's virtually the opposite of myself: she is not very computer-savvy, lives with her brother, and designs fashions in the "slums of Beverly Hills." We spent a lot of time with the extended family, but also got to see the sights around town.

Our first destination was Venice Beach, recommended by a co-worker of mine. We arrived at 10 in the morning, so most of the freaks were still sleeping in, but there was still a lot to see. From the many shops on the boardwalk, I picked up some framed photographs and an obligatory "Governator" t-shirt. On the way back, I thought to myself that L.A. isn't the dysfunctional city I've seen and heard so much about.

Given the choice, I would almost want to live in L.A. We found sunny, warm weather every day during our stay. The conspicuous consumption is no worse than I've seen on Long Island. The traffic, on the other hand, is far worse than any other city I've visited. This wouldn't bother me so much if not for the pathetically underdeveloped subway system. Everyone must have a car and drive all over the place. We spent a fair amount of time stuck stopped at the 101-405, the most congested traffic area in the nation according to a new study. It's mind-boggling when you're on a six-lane highway that frequently comes to a full stop for no reason. I walk to work in Pittsburgh and would commute by train in New York City; both options are completely absent in L.A.

The rest of the trip, in brief: Sushi, even kosher sushi, is better in California. Universal Studios Hollywood is overrated and overpriced -- and it closes at 7:00 PM on a Saturday night! Diner culture is present in L.A., sort of; there are a few 24-hour '50s-style restaurants that remind me of the omnipresent diners in New York and New Jersey. The Farmer's Market is a nice market next to the Grove, a mall so luxurious that valet parking is offered and the men's rooms have attendants. Next time I'm in town, I need to reserve "Price is Right" tickets further in advance.

tune-o-tron 15

Last week, my folks bought me an iPod as a birthday gift. It's the first Apple product I've ever owned; just a few years ago, I was staunchly anti-Apple altogether. I had my laptop with me, so I christened the iPod as "Tune-o-tron 15" and filled it with all 4.5 GB of music that I have. The battery lasted for my entire flight home, and the device is so convenient that I never noticed that I'd left my CD case back at the hotel.

There's already a huge amount of accessories for the iPod including fancy leather cases (Christian Dior's case costs more than the iPod it holds) and cupholder converters to cradle the device in a car. I've only bought one accessory so far, a connector cable that lets me connect the iPod to the CD changer input port on my car stereo. Once I have the cable mounted in my car somehow, I can simply plug the iPod's audio output into the stereo's input port. In retrospect, I regret not buying a stereo that has a front-mounted AUX in port.

The iTunes Pepsi promotion has earned me two free songs so far, but it also forced me to create an account. Apple has received only 99¢ of my money so far, but the instant-gratification element is very tempting. The only downside is the quality. No matter what Apple zealots would have you believe, the 128 kbps tracks that Apple sells sound considerably worse than CD quality. Even on my non-audiophile-grade hardware, I can hear how high-range sounds like cymbals get distorted. When delivery time is not a factor, I would still prefer to have a real CD that I can rip at the quality level of my choice.

the road to self-improvement

After finishing The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, I continued down my reading list with How to Win Friends & Influence People. The book is still periodically updated but retains a lot of charm in its 19th-century references to Abraham Lincoln and early oil companies. It's also more earnest than The Seven Habits, foregoing diagrams and management-speak in favor of down-to-earth principles that people should take to heart. Even at a small company like where I work, good business communication skills mean a lot. Mass-market business books are usually fast reads, and I plan to read some more self-improvement books as the year continues.

Back to February 2004, or to the year 2004.

Where am I?

This is Weill Aspects, the official news archive of Jason Weill Web Productions. All articles posted to the front page end up here. This page was generated automatically by a series of Perl scripts.

Articles in Weill Aspects are organized solely by date. You may find the Google search in the left column to be useful if you are looking for an article but do not know the date on which it was posted.

Weill Aspects is composed of static web pages generated as appropriate when a new article is posted. It was developed in May 2001 as a way of managing the content on this site. I also used it extensively while in Japan, during which time I did not have continuous access to the Internet. I was able to write daily updates during July and August 2002, pack the files onto a CD-R or memory device, and upload them from the Internet-connected computers at school.

These scripts are all hacked together in less than elegant fashion, and I don't plan to release them. Some of the design that went into Aspects also was used to develop Livestat, a suite of Perl scripts to process statistics for academic competition tournaments. Livestat is available freely.