PATH Commute

I’ve been used to carrying around both a PATH card as well as a Metrocard for Manhattan, but I figured it was time to run the numbers to see if it makes sense to use only a Metrocard for my PATH commute. Most of the PATH stations now take either card.

A $40 Metrocard with $8 bonus gives 32 trips ($1.50/trip), so $.80/trip.
Two $24 PATH cards give 40 trips ($1.20/trip), so $.83/trip.

So the Metrocard bonus beats the PATH bonus, easy decision.

Hoboken Real Estate

Not sure if I would buy a place in Hoboken again, given I don’t think I can afford a decent sized placed with parking included. But Hoboken411 has an update on the market. This seems consistent with what I have seen, tons of places for sale. It is encouraging though for buyers hoping for some price softening.

SNL

Saw my first live tapping of Saturday Night Live last night, and it was a great show to see. It was hosted by Alec Baldwin with musically guest Christina Aguilera. There were tons of walk-ons, including Steve Martin, Martin Short, Paul McCartney and Tony Bennett. Video of the skit.

There is some good irony also, since the first and only other SNL I have seen was a rehearsal last season, in which Steve Martin hosting his 14th show, and Alec Baldwin doing a walk-on to threaten a tie of Steve’s hosting record.

Overall it was a great show and Aguilera has an amazing voice but really seemed to have an attitude and had little affection with Bennett, even after a duet. Alec did a great job, especially playing Tony Bennett interviewing Anthony Bennetto (the real Tony Bennett).

Another bonus was a backstage tour by cameraman and friend Phil. Excellent special treatment and an opportunity to see some of the other stages at NBC. Now I just need to get to Letterman and the Daily Show.

Rutgers Football

I’m still in shock that Rutgers beat Louisville 28-25 last night to be 9-0. It will be interesting to see how the last three games end up. But at least I can be happy with Rutgers, given that my undergrad Colorado Buffalo’s are 1-9 so far.

But espn did have some nice details of Rutgers (and reminds me of CU of years before and after my time there).

Between then and now, history had essentially ceased when it came to Rutgers football. The Scarlet Knights have played in two bowl games and were largely considered one of the worst teams in the country. For longer than anyone in the New York metropolitan area can remember, Rutgers set the standard for football futility, going 0-11 in 1997, 1-10 in 1999 and 1-11 as recently as 2002.

I also find it interesting that Rutgers had the first college football game played, which Hoboken had the first professional baseball game. Lots of sports history in these parts.

Painting 2m

So spent this weekend helping some friends at Second Melody paint their office.

Firefox 2

Just upgraded to Firefox 2. I was going to wait for the first bugfix after a major release, but figured the few days was enough. Also figured it was a good time to update the add-ons I use.

The new built-in additions to Firefox include:

1. Spell check
2. Session saver
3. Tab scrolling
4. Slicker look

My crucial add-ons:

1. Ad-Block
2. All-in-one Gestures
3. Del.icio.us
4. FlashBlock
5. Google Browser Sync
6. IE Tab
7. Minimize to Tray
8. Stop-or-Reload Button