Medley logs that LL Bean is opening a new store in Virginia.
But when I checked into it, I noticed it’s only open from 10am-9pm! One of the joys of the flagship store in Freeport, Maine is that it is open 24 hours. In college we always talked about driving up to Maine in the middle of the night just to go to the Bean store. (Instead we would usually go the 24 hour Star Market. Oh sorry, that would be “Stah Mahket”.)

Mike Gunderloy kindly reminded me that the middle gas service I spoke of yesterday is called “mini serve”. Phew. Chuck that little nagging nit out of my head. He also reminded me that self service is illegal in Oregon and New Jersey. “Keep your hands ON the steering wheel sir and DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT step out of the car!”

I am a mosquito magnet. My mom fondly recalls when I was a baby that I often looked like “one big mosquito bite”. Lovely. It is usually just a big nuisance, but right now it is actually somewhat of a fear, because the big news item around the New England and New York area is the deadly viruses the mosquitos are now carrying. I think six people died last summer. Some areas are being sprayed with pesticides, but the rain has delayed much of that. And the rain is great for the skeeters. It is sad to feel so unsafe to be outdoors. Deet products are selling quite well.

I’m pretty sure I do not want the “Simultaneous Ring” service described in this Wired article. “With SimulRing’s technology, a single call can ring on a cell phone, a home phone, an office phone, and up to seven other lines, all at the same time.” I can see the advantages for someone who wants to be always accessible, but I feel like it would cause me to scream something along the lines of “PLEASE — make it STOP!”

Something very depressing happened to me today. Earthlink told their Netcom shell customers that they would be closing their accounts in September. I’ve had my Netcom email address since 1991. I thought I would have it forever. So did a lot of the other 2000 account holders they are shutting out. They are only providing forwarding until December. I am so upset at them that I will probably also cancel my Earthlink PPP service (which I got before the mass of mergers made me have two eggs in one basket).

Today I got gas at a “full serve” station for the first time in, well, I can’t remember when I’ve ever had someone pump my gas for me. The gas was actually cheaper at this place, so I didn’t even notice that I wasn’t supposed to do it myself. And I had to think really hard to remember what I was supposed to say. It went something like this:

[nice man waits patiently in the rain while I try to remember how to roll down the window in my mom’s car]
Me: Uhhh sorry, it’s my mom’s car. uhhhhh, fill it up with … [glances at selection of pumps] 87.
Ever helpful brother: What? You don’t call it ‘regular’?
Me: No. The last time I saw full service the choices were regular and unleaded.

I remember that there used to be three levels of service. “Full” meant that they checked your oil and cleaned your windows. Then there was something in the middle which I can’t remember the name of, where they just pumped gas. And sometimes there would be self service too.

Today is a travel day; I’m off to the east coast (aka “back east”, aka the “right” coast, aka “home”) for my brother’s wedding. I will attempt to maintain daily content additions. (by the way today’s entries refused to “publish” seconds before I had to leave for my flight in the AM, so I’m publishing later in the PM — sorry for the delay)

Newspaper revenues are still strong in the Internet age, confounding some analysts (the same ones who thought TV news would kill newspapers too, I suppose).

I always turn to the New York Times for in-depth coverage and high caliber writing, but some people think it has gone downhill. Smartertimes.com publishes “we beg to differ” counterpoints to NY Times articles they find inaccurate. Their eventual aim seems to be to support an alternative choice (yet to be created). “Smartertimes.com is dedicated to the proposition that New York’s dominant daily has grown complacent, slow and inaccurate.” The problem is, most papers are worse.

I was driving down El Camino Real when I saw a broken down tour bus pulled over on the side of the road, hazard lights flashing. Unhappy riders were disembarking, dragging their carry-on luggage to an empty parking lot. The bus was labeled with the tour company name: Lucky Tours. That’ll teach ’em to tempt fate.