I'll say that during the height of the pandemic my commute (I was in office the majority of it) was a peaceful 25 minutes door to door from LIC to downtown and it was great to get out and kept me active. Now that same commute runs 40-60 minutes and is anything but peaceful and now I would like to be remote more often again. We really need to figure out how to make commutes peaceful and reliable as it's good to get out and contribute to society, even if it is only a few days/week.

I was going to say Dr. Miranda on 26st/7av is great except he usually has an hour wait. Good luck finding one that's a bit faster and still good.

I live in Astoria and personally know a few workers at local restaurants that commute from the Bronx. I know a few workers here who work down near Bay Ridge. Right now all of them drive, and thinking about it, this is probably part of the reason why the Triboro / BQE are always jam packed. Amtrak/NYS should figure out how to work together to get a project like this done... it could alleviate some of the traffic problems.

Surprisingly in 2011 my agency hired some MIT grads to design a system internally and become the integrators... mind you this system failed 6 times before. That model was so successful and cheap that it was transferred to 10 other projects, but most of the engineers left and weren't replaced with equally intelligent people. I'm the last of that wave and I'm simply too overwhelmed and overworked to keep up with the contract demands, so stuff naturally slips through the cracks. I care, but there isn't enough of me to keep up. As a result, many contracts are going up in cost and COs are happening, simply because I don't have time (nor resources) to create proper requirements to meet the deadlines imposed on me. It's purely become reactive. I agree

I see time and time again that the agency doesn't have adequate staff (both in numbers and competency) to create clear requirements and contracts. This leads to vendors bidding for that set of requirements and a markup (to deal with the agency's incompetency), then when the project fails, change orders ensure further revenue streams. Then the agency does soul searching to figure out where it went wrong. It's a vicious cycle that costs all of us in the end.

It's only a matter of time. City employees are paid very low wages, usually are way understaffed and overworked, and the benefits aren't guaranteed as well anymore. The benefits are the only thing keeping workers and even those are eroding, why would anybody capable stick around? The mayor is going to have to give in somewhat otherwise functions will simply grind to a halt which will affect his reelect-ability.

I work for the state, I'm paid roughly 33% of what I could make in the private sector. I exchange the low pay with a stable job, union protection, healthcare (including if I retire directly from this job with 10+ years of service I'll get my healthcare for life), and a pension (for me its 2% of my final salary * years of service after 20 years or more). I still have to pay for my healthcare and pension in payroll deductions but it's less than if I was in private. The newer hires pay more overall but get similar benefits. If it wasn't for the long-term benefits, I'd probably hop for the private sector as many of my smarter colleagues already have. For me, state government has very interesting problems to solve and they impact the greater good, as where most of the private sector work I've seen impacts the company's profits and does little beyond that.

Being from that area, I agree. If you look at Buffalo-proper, it's right on the lake and typically only sees snow from general snowfall events. A few miles inland, you'll see lake-effect snow bands set up that dump an enormous amount of snow in a narrow area. That's why most of us up there say that Buffalo doesn't see that much snow, because only a few miles south, you'll see a lot more in comparison. When I grew up the bands set up about 40 miles south of the city, but now they're closer to 20 miles south of the city it seems.

I'm from the NY/PA border roughly 50 miles south of Buffalo. Compared to when I was a young kid in the 90s to now, there simply isn't as much snow up there anymore it seems (when I visit).

To be fair though, the lake snow bands would set up further south when I was young, now they seem to set up further north so the snow is the same, it just goes to a different narrow area now.

This could have been a great idea since the tunnel was built in the 70's under the F train; but the MTA is actually just the agency that can borrow money with 6 companies under it, including MNR / LIRR. As I understand it, the railroads get federal funding separately and if LIRR joined the MNR tracks into GCT, they would have been forced to split federal funding (and lose money). So LIRR was forced to build a whole new station under GCT, hence the walk. Such a shame and wasted opportunity for petty politics :/

With things like ChatGPT coming along, I'd consider beefing up my knowledge if I was you and wanted to be remote. The only thing AI can't do is be in the office looking busy haha

Nice article. I built my own a few years ago but the cost of materials alone made it completely unsustainable to sell. Today it sits half broken because unfortunately software rots and I have to focus on the rotting software at my full time job.

Depends on where you're going from. If you're anywhere near the parade in midtown, find an underground way to Penn and take NJT to the airtrain station one stop beyond Newark, leave with plenty of time. Downtown or Brooklyn/Queens, I'd try to cross lower manhattan or Staten Island to stay clear of the parade. I need to be in Princeton by 1 from Astoria, my plan is Woodside LIRR to Penn, then NE Corridor to Princeton to avoid all the parade stuff that will be wrapping up then.

I tend to be avoidant also, but that's because I learned from young childhood that I can't depend on others consistently so I went to great lengths to be independent. When I meet new people, I default to expecting them to be flaky, inconsistent, and undependable, but I also will elevate certain people over time when they prove they're not all of this (thanks to lots of therapy). I think I do this because I'm so afraid of being let down by others that I protect myself from being hurt. It doesn't mean that I won't go out of my way to help others selflessly though, I do this quite often, and that's how I tend to get hurt, because only a few people I do this with ever show an appreciation for what I do, and as a result, I've had to learn boundaries the hard way. It's a give and take as with many things in life.

You need something called a wall anchor. I tend to use the heavy duty types, first using a drill bit to drill a large hole in the wall, then poking the anchor through, then securing it. They work really well. I've had a lot of success with these ones: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Driller-Toggle-1-8-in-x-2-in-DrillerToggle-Plus-Bolt-25-Pieces-360E/310377840

I pinged someone high up in bus management about this (a few bosses up), this is quite a serious allegation and it's not how the bus drivers should act. You'll likely hear from someone higher up tomorrow. If not, DM me.

I also relate heavily, I didn't really start talking until I was 5 and it was really bad, resulting in years of speech therapy to be barely understandable. Finally my senior year of high school, I got on an instant messenger with new internet friends who annoyed me into learning English (they'd correct everything I wrote). Thankfully my IQ was high enough to learn, otherwise I probably still wouldn't be able to communicate effectively.