Bradley's Old Fashioned Weblog

Recent updates

  • A few thoughts on the new season of Andor

    It was intresting to me that Disney released three episodes up front, but I think it might have been symbolic of the three storylines that were being told, and it seemed like Cassian’s storyline was unnecessarly drawn out to fit into the 3×3 structure they created. His whole ‘adventure’ on the planet was sort of amusing, but mostly annoying, and doesn’t seem to have added anything to the overall storyline. Maybe I’m wrong and those guys will show up again later on and do something meaningful, but from the way they were portrayed, I really doubt it.

    What was more interesting was the three layers of the rebellion they portrayed. First, you have Cassian and Bix, representing the foot soldiers and common people. Second, you have Mon and Luthen, representing the wealthy patrons of the rebellion. Third, you get Dedra and Syril, though that story seems to be mostly about Dedra at this point, representing the complexities of working for the government. There also seems to be an emphasis on class/economic differences, contrasting the struggle on the ground with the ‘struggle’ represented by Tay’s threat at the rave/wedding celebration.

    The first three episodes jumped back and forth between Cassian’s, Mon’s, and Dedra’s storylines so you walk away not having seen as much as you think you might have. There were a few things that jumped out at me though. Bix’s encounter with the Imperial inspector was intense. I wonder if this storyline was inserted as a way of alluding to current politics in the US. I don’t recall any previous references to people being on other planets in the Federation/Empire ‘illegally’, or any mention of work visas. It’s been a while since I saw the movies, so maybe I’m wrong, but there seemed to be an effort to equate Bix’s situation with that of illegals in the United States, but it seems like a reach to suggest that illegals are being sexually assaulted prior to deportation. Maybe I’m reading too much into this, though. Another thing I wondered was, is Syril’s mother supposed to be the Jewish mother caricature? And finally, that floating party ball was really banging.

    Overall, the show seems to be off to a really good start. I’m enjoying it more than The Last of Us season 2 so far, though I was glad to see the final scene of season 2 episode 2. That dude is getting annoying.

  • The new toilet paper

    2020 was toilet paper; now it’s the same again but with eggs.

    Right before the prices shot up, I bought a dozen free range organic eggs for $8 on sale, I think at H-Mart in Little Ferry, NJ. A week ago, I went to the commissary on Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn and all they had left was the generic store brand, not organic, not free range, for $6.94 a dozen. Three days ago, I went to the commissary, and they had no eggs at all, just a sign telling customers that by order of the base commander they could only buy two dozen per person.

    I get that lots of chickens have been killed because of bird flu, but given how much the government lied to us over the last four years, I wonder if the bird flu is even real and the chickens were killed in some weird push to get people to eat vegetarian. More Green New Scam nonsense. The beef prices have shot up to double what they were before 2020. Now they’re going for the chickens and eggs. Next they’ll be after our pork. Then we’ll just be eating beans and bugs, I guess. Isn’t that the conspiracy theory that’s been floating around for a few years? Instead of croutons, we’ll have toasted roaches.

    Anyway, it’s Valentine’s Day, and Moet & Chandon champagne is a lot stronger than I expected.

  • Actual experience with NYC’s congestion relief zone tolls, a pro and a major con

    Actual experience with NYC’s congestion relief zone tolls, a pro and a major con

    If anyone is wondering how it’s going now that it’s implemented, I thought I’d leave a few thoughts here.

    I drive to work daily. I live in the central Bronx and work in south Brooklyn by the Verrazzano Bridge. My commute takes me down the Westside Highway into the HLC Tunnel or down the FDR and across the Brooklyn Bridge, then down 278. So, I don’t go into the CRZ daily, but the change in traffic patterns affects me because I use the same roads for a leg of my trip as people who do.

    The implementation of the toll has been both good and bad for me, but more good than bad, if I can get a billing issue fixed.

    Pro:

    Improved Commute Times

    Initially, traffic was heavily reduced to the point that I was getting from the central Bronx to the Verrazzano in about 45 minutes. After about a week, traffic evened back out as people figured out new commutes and/or decided what they could no longer afford in order to get to work every day.

    My commute time to work is about the same as it was before. I leave my residence in the Bronx around 7:20 AM and it takes me about an hour to get to my place of employment in south Brooklyn. Some days it’s 50 minutes and some days it’s 70 minutes, bust it’s usually about 57 minutes. That is consistent. The return trip is where I’m seeing massive gains. It used to take me an hour and a half to two hours to get home most days. Now, my trip home is about 50 minutes to 70 minutes.

    I’m saving time on my way home mostly because of reduced traffic going into the Hugh L Carey tunnel that connects Brooklyn to the southern tip of Manhattan. Without traffic backing up onto 278, I can either roll through the tunnel quite rapidly or continue up to 278 to the Brooklyn Bridge, continuing my trip north on either the West Side Highway or the FDR.

    Basically, I’m saving about three and a half to four hours a week on my commute times. That’s a huge bonus for me because it gives me more time in the evenings to relax by myself or with my wife before jumping into the regular routine of getting ready for the next day.

    Con:

    False positives on toll cameras

    The biggest issue I’m facing right now is being incorrectly billed for trips into the CRZ that I didn’t make.

    Despite my staying outside of he CRZ on my daily commutes, I noticed on my EZPass billing that I was being charged the CRZ $9.00 toll every single day. Why? I followed the rules. I didn’t want to be tolled so I didn’t go into the toll zone. Not that I have any reason to leave the highways on my daily commute anyway. Was someone spoofing my plate?

    Nope. Turns out that EZPass is incorrectly billing anyone who uses the HLC the CRZ Zone Toll automatically, no matter if you turn onto the West Side Highway and continue out of the congestion zone or not. As soon as you exit the tunnel, they’re tolling you for both the tunnel and the CRZ.

    This isn’t supposed to happen. The West Side Highway and the HLC Tunnel are excluded roadways. The only time you should encounter the CRZ toll in relation to the HLC Tunnel is if you exit the tunnel and turn onto Trinity Place, which is a local road with a right exit just before you hit the West Side Highway.

    I had a long conversation about this with an EZPass employee who at first was trying to tell me, based on information from her supervisor, that using the HLC makes you subject to the CRZ Toll. I had to point out that the plan as presented by the city and on the 311 website says otherwise. She wound up putting in a ticket for me to have the charges removed from my account, but it could take up to 21 business days for me to see whether or not that happens.

    EZPass is illegally tolling people who are following the rules and they don’t even seem to be aware in general that moving from the excluded HLC to the excluded West Side Highway is supposed to be congestion relief zone toll-free.

    How was this flaw overlooked during their supposed testing phase? And why would EZPass employees not have an understanding of how tolls are supposed to be applied in relation to the Congestion Relief Plan? Do I have to call back every month to dispute charges? Or will this get fixed? We’re only 21 days into this new program, but these seem like pretty big flaws.

    Summary

    I was very opposed to the CRZ toll when I first heard about it. It wasn’t until about a month before it was implemented that I realized that it would probably make my commute faster since I have to travel past Lower Manhattan. If I had to pay $9 when I occasionally visited my mother or went shopping in Lower Manhattan, I was ok with that. And I’m still ok with that, as long as EZPass stops billing me for not going into the CRZ.

  • Why I voted for Trump

    I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a political ad this uplifting before. Or that I’ve ever seen an uplifting political ad. This ad makes you feel good. It promotes the idea of leaving behind the fringe lunacy of online political discourse and coming back to a middle ground that advocates for something better, something normal, something genuine. And something that makes sense for the country as a whole.

    Thinking about Kamala’s campaign and how she constantly lied, from outright lies like working at McDonald’s to how she changed her accent depending on her audience, to her non-answers about any question other than if she came from a middle-class family, the difference between Kamala and Trump is crystal clear. I couldn’t even tell you what Kamala stood for because she didn’t know what she stood for, and she wasted over $1bn USD letting us know it. The only things that stood out about her campaign to me is her horrible irritating cackle, how Beyonce snubbed her, and her saying she wouldn’t change a thing regarding Biden’s presidency, which tells me that four years of Kamala would be another four years of Biden’s disastrous policies.

    Trump is what you see is what you get and, despite the lunatic ravings of the far left, what you get is a guy that wants to get the US back on track by securing our border, improving the economy, and by no longer pandering to far-left ideologies when it flies in the face of common sense. He can carry a conversation, make decisive decisions, isn’t afraid to tell it like it is, respects American traditions, and has charisma.

    We need the return to normalcy that Biden promised but never delivered. We need the government to work for the majority of Americans and to create a narrative that unites people, instead of promoting the divisiveness of identity politics. We need a President that recognizes all Americans as people united by common ideals and goals, instead of one that would promote the interests of one group over another based-on race, sex, or ambiguous gender identity politics. And we need a President that will govern based on the will of the majority instead of the crazed rantings of the very loud minority.

    I voted for Donald Trump because I believe that the United States is a country that can and should be proud of itself, despite its flaws. I believe that the United States is a country that should work on behalf of its citizens, instead of crushing citizens to take care of the rest of the world. I believe the United States is a place of opportunity and could be a place of prosperity again, if we refuse to let the Democratic establishment tear it down.

    I want a secure border instead of an open border so my family will be safer. I want prices to go back down so I can afford to put away money for the future. I want housing to be affordable. I want a strong military that doesn’t have to be used because we’re respected in the world. I want common sense laws, rules, and regulations where criminals aren’t hailed as heroes and victims are helped instead of being prosecuted. I want the rights of women to be respected and to not have their accomplishments taken away by men in cosplay. I want children to be allowed to be children without having their parents manipulate them into making life altering and debilitating medical choices.

    Trump was the obvious choice. I voted for Donald Trump, and I’m glad he won.

  • A view of the Verrazzano Bridge and Staten Island at sunset

    This is a really nice spot to sit and relax on Fort Hamilton, despite the cars going by on the highway below. There’s fresh air and you can actually smell trees, the grass, and the soil. That alone is a nice change from most of New York. If I lived anywhere nearby, I’d spend more time there just to relax. Another bonus is that because it’s in a controlled access area, you don’t have to worry about the regular parade of New York City lunatics walking up on you when you’re just trying to unwind.

    The body of water shown in the image above and video below is The Narrows on the right and Lower New York Bay on the left. The bridge is the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge and is the only crossing between Staten Island and the rest of New York City. There are other bridges that go to the island, but they leave you in New Jersey. Alternatively, there’s a ferry service that takes you to the Financial District in Manhattan, but it’s time consuming. The lack of fast access is one of the reasons Staten Island is so underpopulated compared to the other four boroughs of New York City and, as a result, the island’s culture more closely resembles that of rural New York and New Jersey.

    View this on YouTube and set the quality to 4K:

    iPhone 16 Pro Max 4k 60 FPS Apple ProRes Sample. Video captured Friday, October 25th. The video was recorded directly to an SSK 1 TB external drive and uploaded with no post processing.

    I decided to create this video using a new TODI 63″ Phone Tripod (Amazon affiliate link) that I picked up. I like how compact and portable the tripod is. The way it folds up, I can keep it in my backpack, meaning I can take it with me on walks around the city and pull it out when I see something interesting. My only concern about it was that it was a little wobbly in the strong, constant breezes coming off the ocean on The Bluff, but it didn’t tip over. It just made me a little nervous. I kind of wish there were flat, protruding feet on the bottom that I could stand on to anchor it better. For what it is and costs, though, it worked very well and the iPhone’s software was able to compensate for the slight wobbling so I wound up with a great video.

  • Personal reminder to live in the present

  • Enjoying the sun and warmth while it’s still here

    Hopefully this isn’t the last warm weekend we’ll see, but everyone was out enjoying the sun like it was. It was pretty warm if you stayed out of the shade. It was a great day for walking, cycling, and seeing the sites.

    We took a ride around the park, avoiding the top bit of the loop with that ridiculously steep hill, and took a few minutes to appreciate the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir before heading home. It was a nice, relaxing afternoon.

    I picked up a tripod for my iPhone to record with, but I haven’t found the right time or place to use it yet. Maybe next weekend.

  • JD Vance Interview

    The man is articulate, respectable, well-spoken, and knows how to carry and handle himself during a friendly interview and a hostile debate. I almost wish he was running for President now, and I’m pretty sure he’ll be the nominee in 2028.

    Do yourself a favor and listen to the actual debates and speeches. Put the TikTok down.

  • Tour de Bronx 2024

    I think the last time we took part in this event was in 2019. Or 2018. Probably 2018, because we did the Bronx 10 Mile Run in 2019 so we probably trained for that instead. Last time, we chose the 25 mile route and wound up out by Pelham Bay Park, but we haven’t been doing as much riding so we went with the 10 mile route this time instead. We’re forever trying to find time to get back into the shape we were in before COVID lock-downs happened.

    The Tour de Bronx was very good for a free event. There were a lot of conflicts between the emails they sent out and the event website, like whether people could use Citibikes, how many free event t-shirts were available, and even what time the event was starting. Start times for the three routes weren’t announced until around 2 AM the day of the event. That’s poor planning. Plus, the roads were open to vehicle traffic. Weirdest of all, the 10 mile route was only 7.5 miles.

    However, there were trailing vehicles, including a pickup truck and an ambulance. There were route marshals at key junctions, the route was marked on the road with spray paint, and the route was available to follow in the Ride With GPS app. There were also free refreshments at the end of the course. Plus, the weather was perfect for riding and the other riders were friendly and helpful. We even made two new friends that we’re looking forward to seeing at next year’s Tour de Bronx.

    Hopefully next year we’ll be back to doing the 25 mile route.

  • Washington Square Park, September 21, 2024

    4K available in the settings if your device can support it.

    I rode into Washington Square Park and decided to loop around just to see what was going on. Early evening late afternoon around 4 PM or so. I can’t remember the last time I saw the park so full of people. I guess everyone was out trying to enjoy the last Summer Saturday of 2024. The camera angle is a little high because I was on a bicycle. I’m still trying to get the angle right.