Category: Personal

I’m Not Dead Yet!

So…yeah…hi. Just letting you know that I am still alive and haven’t forgotten about this blog. I know it isn’t much of an excuse but I have been neglecting this blog mainly because I haven’t had much time. Work has consumed my life in more ways than I care to talk about.

So what has been going on since the last time I posted? A whole lot! I am still working my ass off at the company that will remain anonymous. I am generally bored in my job so I will have to correct that soon. Work consumes ninety-five percent of my life, with the rest going to sleeping and eating.

I have managed to sneek away from work to go on a few vacations this year. In April I went to Washington D.C. with my family. We met up with our cousins and toured around the city for a week. That trip confirmed my opinion that Washington D.C. is a much cooler city than New York. In July, some friends and I took a road trip to Sandusky, Ohio to the Cedar Point Amusement Park. It was my pilgrimage to the Mecca of roller coasters. Needless to say I had a blast. Finally, not too long ago in November, I went to Florida with my family to celebrate Thanksgiving with my grandma, and other extended family. Any time I get to have nice warm weather in the winter months is a welcomed treat and I had a good time to boot.

There is lots of other boring stuff that has happened over the year, some good, some bad but I won’t bore you with the details. If I were to sum up 2009 I would say that it was a year I would largely like to forget. I am hoping to make 2010 a better year and I am thinking that making a better effort to post on this blog will help me achieve this. If I ever get over my designers block, I am also hoping to finish my custom design for this blog. So we will see how I do with these goals. Until then, you can always find me on Twitter, complaining about the world in 140 characters or less. And with that I say good night Internet.

Why I shouldn’t Buy Train Tickets – Final Part

Happy 2009 everyone! It is the new year and that means my little experiment is done. I have December’s train ticket results and they are identical to November’s. My ticket was checked a total of 9 times which at $2.25 USD a ticket comes to $20.25 USD total. This means I could have saved $39.75 USD if I did not buy the $60.00 USD monthly pass.

Totals

I did this little experiment for 5 months. That means I bought 5 monthly passes at $60.00 USD. That adds up to $300.00 USD that I paid for travel on the NJ Transit rail system. If I only bought tickets for the times that I was checked I would have only needed 46 tickets and my total would have been $103.50 USD. That is a difference of $197.50 USD. I could have saved almost two hundred dollars by not buying monthly passes. That is a pretty staggering number if you ask me.

Conclusion

My only explanation for these results is that NJ transit just doesn’t care about checking tickets between Secaucus Junction and Hoboken. It’s a ten minute ride and I guess they just think they have better things to do than to worry about who boarded the train for the short journey. That annoys me slightly since I am following the rules for no real reason. I hope you have enjoyed reading about my little experiement as much as I enjoyed performing it.

Why I shouldn’t Buy Train Tickets – Part 4

December is here and so is November’s results. Of the 36 possible times my train ticket could be checked, it was only checked 9 times. One way tickets are still $2.25 USD so if I only bought one way tickets, it would have cost me $20.25 USD. This means I could have saved $39.75 USD by not buying a monthly pass.

I have decided to run the experiement through the end of the year. I figure 5 months is more than enough data to reasonably conclude whether or not I should buy train tickets. Stay tuned!

Why I shouldn’t Buy Train Tickets – Part 3

I have October’s results for my train ticket experiement and the . Of the 45 times I rode the train this past month, my ticket was only checked three times! At $2.25 USD a one way ticket, my three tickets would have costed me $6.75 USD. That means I could have saved $53.25 USD if I did not buy a monthly pass.

I am beginning to wonder if I am somehow a factor in all of this. I don’t take my ticket out unless I am asked to display it. I am thinking that because I am not waving my pass around at the first sight of a conductor, that the train staff thinks my ticket has been checked already. That is not acceptable to me since it is not my responsibility to make sure my ticket is checked. That is the train staff’s responsibility and I am not going to do their job. I will see if next month continues the streak of no checks.

Why I shouldn’t Buy Train Tickets – Part 2

October has begun and I have the September’s results for my train travels. Make sure to read part 1 of this story to learn why I am keeping track of the number of times my train ticket is checked.

For the month of September I traveled on the train a total of 42 times and had my ticket checked only 15 times. Remember that a one way ticket is $2.25 USD and a monthly pass is $60.00 USD. If I only bought one way passes for the times I was checked I would have saved $26.25 USD.

So it seems that buying a monthly pass is turning out to be a bad idea.

Why I shouldn’t Buy Train Tickets – Part 1

I am a regular working stiff now and that means that I am also a commuter. To get to work I have to take two trains: New Jersey Transit and PATH. Every month I have to buy a monthly pass to ride NJ Transit but as I settled into my commute I quickly noticed a disturbing trend; my ticket was not being checked.

Since I payed $60 USD for my monthly pass I was kind of annoyed that my ticket wasn’t being checked. Every time I rode the train without a check, I was wasting money. Because of this, I decided to do a little experiment. I started keeping track of when my ticket was checked to see how much money I could be saving by not buying a monthly pass. My backup plan would be a standard one way ticket. Since a one way ticket does not expire, I would keep one in my wallet for a time when my ticket was checked.

The first month I conducted this test was August. In this month I rode the train a total of 40 times. Of those 40 times, my ticket was checked only 10 times. A one way ticket for my trip costs $2.25 USD. So for the month of august, if I just bought one way tickets, my travel costs would be $22.50 USD. That is $37.50 cheaper than a monthy pass. That’s quite a savings.

Because of my findings in August, I decided to continue my experiment through September. I wanted to gather more data to see if it August was just a fluke or if NJ Transit really doesn’t care. I will post my September results in part 2 of this story. Stay tuned.

Trip to Walt Disney World – Part 4

If you haven’t done so already, make sure to read part 1, part 2, and part 3 of my my trip to Walt Disney World.

My last full day at Disney World was mainly a catch-up day for the family. We decided that we wanted to go back and ride some of our favorite rides but mainly we just wanted to have a fun relaxing last day. The day started at the Magic Kingdom.

Continue reading Trip to Walt Disney World – Part 4

Where Have You Been?!?!

As you are all definitely aware, my fourth and last post on my trip to Walt Disney World never came when it was supposed to. Well, it is going to come eventually. I have had a draft of the posts written for a long time. The reason why the post never came was because the real world finally caught up to me. I have started my working life and it has officially taken 98% of my life.

I can’t really give you specifics about where I work or what I do but I do work at a large company in New York and I am a computer programmer; that’s all your gonna get. While my career has started my job hasn’t really started yet. I am currently in training and will join my team in a few weeks.

Another big life event happened after I started my job. I finally moved into my first apartment. I was supposed to move in before I started work but unfortunately my apartment was delayed since it was new construction. Because of the delay, I was unable to sign up for internet access until after I moved in. My installation date was also pushed back because I could only get an installation on the weekends (employees in training don’t get days off). So today is my first day with internet access; a full two weeks after I moved in.

Now that I am working full time, I forsee my blogging habits to morph into weekly posts made on the weekends. The first post after this one should hopefully be the conclusion to my Disney World trip. Now all I have to do is remember what happened on that vacation. Stay tuned to see if I can remember.

Trip to Walt Disney World – Part 3

If you haven’t done so already, make sure to read part 1 and part 2 of my my trip to Walt Disney World.

Day five began just like day four. We headed to the pool for several hours of needed relaxation. These days were some of the hottest days of the week so it was a very good idea to hit the pool during some of the hotter hours so we didn’t get grumpy while at the parks. I think we spent more times in the pool than out. Continue reading Trip to Walt Disney World – Part 3

Trip to Walt Disney World – Part 2

If you haven’t already done so, make sure to read part one of my trip here.

Day three of our vacation started much like the day before. We woke up, went to breakfast, and immediately went off to a park. On this day we decided to go to the Magic Kingdom. There were a few new attractions that the family had not done and of course the classics that we all love to do. Continue reading Trip to Walt Disney World – Part 2