[Guest post by my CEO and best friend, Mark Harrison]

I have been searching literally for years for a voice-isolation, noise-canceling headset that can handle the noisy environments I have to make calls from on a daily basis. As CEO of a globally-distributed online social media company, I spend 2-8 hours a day on calls. More often than not, I am making these calls from an airport, train, restaurant, or car – or while walking from one of these to another. Wind and ambient noise has been such a part of my telephone world that my team had become convinced that I actually live in a cardboard box under an overpass somewhere.

Over the past few years, I have spent a small fortune on headsets, searching for something that would filter out the background noise and transmit only my voice. I tried countless bluetooth headsets (which did middling jobs, and gave me headaches to boot), and a pile of wired headsets (many of which blocked outside noise for me, but transmitted most all my background noise to the suffering people on the other end of the line.)

Then, about two months ago, I discovered theboom.com googling “voice-isolation headset”. I bought the V4, and it solved my problems immediately. I can be in the noisiest of environments, and the only thing anyone hears is my voice. Here is a recording I made the other day while on the autobahn on the way from Berlin to Munich, in an open convertible at 140kph while passing a deafening construction site. I was having a hard time hearing myself speak, but theBoom headset really only transmits my voice.

The Boom headset is not cheap – the V4 consumer model I use is nearly $200 with tax and shipping, but it’s absolutely worth it to me. The only problem that I’ve had is that the plastics in the V4 have not held up well to my heavy use. The plastic around the earpiece and the ear wrap has cracked and I’ve had to re-glue the foam windscreen. I am thinking for my travel-heavy usage, I am going to have to buy the hopefully more robust “E” model.

In the meantime, I’ve bought a backup v4 for myself (which I am using now what with the first one having fallen apart), one for my girlfriend so we can talk on her morning commutes on the insanely loud BART train, and one for Chris Abraham, my business partner the lord of this site, for his similarly mobile work life. The headsets do work acoustic miracles, I could hardly recommend them more strongly.

No longer do you need to buy expensive converters when you travel to Europe with your phone and your computer, just European plug adapters.

I moved to Berlin from the US in 2007 through 2008 and all I needed to do when I arrived was one of two things: a European plug-converter or a replacement charger.

No need for an elaborate amperage and watt converter or transducer or any of that. The included chargers and power cords for my Nokia phone, my Android phone, my iPod Touch, my iPad, and my Lenovo ThinkPad x61 and ThinkPad x201 worked just fine with only the plug converter, being able to handle 110 volt and 220 volt with their internal converters.

No worries.

When I was there a while, in Berlin, I went to Saturn, their version of Fry’s or Radio Shack or Best Buy, etc, and picked up local category type C and type F-based plugs.  Just match your model or plug or USB-variant and bang, you’re off.

Even modern world-band transistor  radios and other devices are pretty sophisticated these days, however, when it comes to moving your home, don’t move all of your household electronics — just sell them and get new stuff.  Stuff like that doesn’t generally have the same sort of sophisticated internal converter.

So, please, don’t waste a load of time buying expensive universal power adapters before you head off, just make sure you get some plug cheap plug adapters for the country or countries you’ll be visiting and keep them in your gear bag.

In the last ten days I have lost a solid 15 pounds as part of the Attack phase of the Dukan diet but I also thought that going above and beyond the required 25-35 minutes of walking per-day to a good couple hours. Got some vitamin D and also am getting to know my new city better and better.

I don’t share this much but I am a design freak.  One of my favorite parts of being in Berlin was being so close to the Bauhaus school of design.  I am also amazed by mid-century modern design, especially industrial design in the form of furniture and architecture. Well, according to Swiss Miss, there are new Designy New Forever Stamps:

New Forever Stamps from the USPS are dedicated to 12 pioneers of American industrial design. I am seriously excited about these. Here’s where you can buy them. (via design-milk)

While this video is trying to be a scold it is actually exciting bike messenger porn:

Why? Because even if there were proper bike lanes and bike intersections and even German bike crossing lights, it wouldn’t change what is happening here.  It is in the culture.

Back in the late 80s and early 90s when I was a bike courier in Washington, DC, I rode like a bike messenger.

I always took the quickest route between my pick up and my drop off point. It was all about the the traveling vector and predicted point of impact.

I became very good at predicting someone committed to their vector, someone who might betray they vector, or someone who was vectoring shyly. And I could anticipate someone who would probably freeze (bad) or change their tack (worse), or stop short (worst).

So, the video actually tends to be, to me, daily bread. Not anymore, though, because biking in Berlin has beat it out of me (bikes laws are tough) and Portland literally pisses and moans about people who don’t follow lanes, signs, right-of-way, and lights.

Anyway, this video ends up being a master class in how it is — and often should be — done.

I spend this morning over at the Portland Farmers Market here in SW downtown Portland, Oregon, on the campus of Portland State University in the south Director Park.

I brought my Freitag bag in order to collect my booty and started wandering around.  Since I am only a couple-few blocks away from the park, I thought I would save my appetite for some market food — such as a breakfast burrito from this kiosk, Enchanted Sun.

Then, more walking around, looking and looking, taking each kiosk in.

After picking up some greens in the form of different types of kale and mustard greens.  How should I cook them?

Then I got over the fact that I am not in Berlin for die Spargelsaison and picked up a few bunches of asparagus tips, a bag of what are called German Butterball potatoes, some radishes, and some Baby Bok Choy Kimchi and some Wild Mountain Flower raw honey.

Then it got a little cool and so I stopped at Café Vélo for a bespoke drip coffee, something called, if I recall, some sort of Indonesian Peabody.

So, then, after my coffee, I decided to call it a day and head back to the apartment to grab my bike for a ride since it isn’t raining.

Anyway, here’s my take for the entire morning out.  Please share any recipe you’d like to share to help figure out what to do with all off this green stuff:

[Guest post by Mark Harrison who just got back from a trip to Zanzibar that he can't stop going on about so I gave him a platform -- also, this article is adapted from a Trip Advisor review]

Teddy’s Place offers very reasonable prices, friendly & caring staff, great food, lovely accommodations… it’s the perfect backpacker place. I stayed at Teddy’s Place for 10 days over the 2010 Christmas holidays and had the most relaxed and pleasant stay.

The hostel is set on a spacious, shady, sandy parcel fronting via a beautiful palm grove onto the sugary sand beach of Zanzibar’s gorgeous east coast. It’s some of the best swimming in the world – warm, turquoise water and gentle waves behind a protecting reef. The hostel is located in Paje, walking distance along the beach to many other restaurants, clubs, hotel, kite-surfing schools, etc.

The hostel grounds are surrounded by a high natural stone wall with a guarded gate, so it’s quite secure – I left my laptop/smartphone/wallet/passport in my banda the whole time, no one goes in, even the cleaning staff enter only upon your specific request. The accommodations are simple but very clean and airy woven thatch bandas with sand floors and two mozzie-net covered beds, a fan, lights, and electric outlets for your phone/laptop/whatever.

The bathrooms and showers are in a separate banda and are simple, but are very clean and pleasant. There are shaded, breezy common areas with Zanzibar couches everywhere – perfect for warm, lazy days of reading, sipping tropical drinks and chatting with the very friendly fellow travelers this place seems to attract.

The food is DELICIOUS. Breakfast is included and is fresh juices, tropical fruits, omlettes, pancakes with Zanzibar honey, fresh coffee or Tanzanian highland teas… yum. During the day you can order fresh seafood, pizza, pasta, salads, fresh coconuts brought down from the surrounding trees, plus very nicely done cocktails and longdrinks. For Christmas dinner, the chef prepared lobster and a variety of seafood, grilled goat, beef, chicken, and a variety of Zanzibari specialties…

There are weekly movie nights with the guests and locals, and every Wednesday night they have their famous Hakuna Kulala BBQ/dance party that it seems the entire east coast shows up to. A great opportunity to meet Zanzibaris, local ex-pats, and fellow travelers.

Teddy’s Place is currently being managed by a very sweet, charming, fun, and extremely professional young couple from Berlin. They make everyone feel very much at home and will do everything they can to make it a pleasant stay – including taking the guests along to parties up and down the beach and connecting you with trustworthy, dependable people for snorkeling trips, spice tours, taxis to Stonetown, etc.

A wonderful and very affordable place to relax and recharge from travels around Africa, work on the mainland, or from the chaos and stress of Dar. I would definitely recommend it to any traveler looking for a bit of Zanzibar paradise on a budget!

(Disclosure: I know Lasse & Jo, the current managers, from Berlin – that said, this review is 100% straight… I had a GREAT time, and they are running an amazing establishment!)

I never really fell in love with the Hair song, Let the Sunshine In until I had an experience in Berlin very similar to this one (yes, Berlin is totally awesome no matter what you think):

Orchestre Miniature in the Park AKA OMP only plays music that mentions either the sun or summer. My friend Elisabeth King gigs with them.  They only play children’s and toy instruments. One day a couple-few years ago with Phoebe Kreutz (she loves Berlin too) popped in an joined OMP in singing Let the Sunshine In, from Hair, in Berlin, and it was so awesome I was done. Mind you, the video I linked to is not the right one, it is from an ad hoc outdoor gig at Ostkreutz in Berlin, but you get the idea — I know I have it recorded somewhere on YouTube myself, but I am still looking for that.

Sigh.

Before that, I already knew Ms. Kreutz because OMP loves to play her song All Summer Long (but be sure to also check out Phoebe Kreutz’s version of All Summer Long as well)

And here’s All Summer Long by Phoebe Kreutz

And here’s a really gorgeous version of Let the Sunshine In that I think takes place in Washington Square Park:

And here’s OMP playing All Summer Long:

And here’s the version of Let the Sunshine In from the movie Hair:

Since studying German at the Goethe-Institut in Berlin last Spring I have been remiss in my German-learning. I spent the last 2 weeks in Berlin and realize that my German is falling apart.

As you know, I am a proud member of Rosetta Stone’s TOTALe language-learning solution — and also a former Rosetta Stone blogger.  Last night I wanted to refresh my German since I had an hour.

I didn’t feel like getting my laptop out and was on my Apple iPad so I searched the Apple iTunes App store for maybe a flashcard app or something that has recently come out.  Well, on a lark, I searched for “Rosetta” and up popped the TOTALe Companion for iPhone.  Though not ideal, I downloaded it.

I dusted off my TOTALe login and password and before I knew it not only was I refreshing and practicing the vocabulary I learned at Goethe-Institut Berlin, Hartnackschule Sprachschule, and on Rosetta Stone TOTALe but the TOTALe Companion is even better than that!  Why?

Well, it tests your pronunciation!  Yes, the language drills on TOTALe Companion are as sophisticated as they are on the proper website.  After they read you each work or phrase and show you a relevant supporting photo, there’s a “ping” and the application awaits your voice.

If you’re on an iPod Touch, you’ll need a headset but on the Apple iPad or the iPhone, you can just talk.  Just say the German word or phrase and you’ll either nail it, part of it, or you’ll fail to pass.  If you fail to pass a few times, it just pops you to the next one.  And you can do this all the way through all of the vocab in the entire course.

What’s even better is that you can download each lesson to your device so you can probably download lots and lots of vocab to your local device well in advance of studying, which means you don’t even need to be online to practice, do your drills, memorize, and also practice your speech and pronunciation.

Mind you, I have been reading the comments and reviews in the Apple Store and some have been pretty bad and here’s why: people want everything for free and the full TOTALe course costs about a thousand dollars a year and the TOTALe Companion requires, ultimately, that you become a member of the Rosetta Stone TOTALe system — become a subscriber.

If you’re not a subscriber, I think you’ll be able to get three months free; however, this isn’t a stand alone app — you need to login with the credentials you’re given when you join the Rosetta Stone TOTALe language-learning system.

I do own an Apple iPod Touch so it’ll be perfect on there, though I have been using it on the iPad.  Since this app is a native iPhone and iPod Touch app, when you install it onto the iPad, it’s not built for the iPad.

So, you’ll have to deal with app being a small little emulated iPhone app in the middle of the iPad screen or you can click the “2x” and have a passable iPad experience.

The gorgeous photography that Rosetta Stone is known for looks great on the iPad so once you get going, you won’t even care that you’re using an iPhone and iPod Touch-only app because it just looks great.  But I can’t wait to use it on my iPod Touch — honestly, I really need to just get myself an iPhone.

I have not tried it out yet, but I believe the app has also has a hand-free mode so maybe you can use the app just passively to be able to just listen to the words while you’re doing something else, like at the gym.

The TOTALe Companion is what I have been waiting for.  It is a little bit of a pain needing to do everything on my laptop with a headset.

Rosetta Stone TOTALe Companion on iTunes App Store

This exclusive application is for Rosetta Stone Version 4 TOTALe™ customers only. To purchase Version 4 TOTALe™ or upgrade from Rosetta Stone Version 3 visit RosettaStone.com.

Continue your Rosetta Stone TOTALe™ experience away from your computer with Rosetta Stone TOTALe Mobile Companion™, exclusively for Rosetta Stone TOTALe customers. This unique application enhances language learning with Rosetta Stone TOTALe by incorporating our innovative speech-recognition technology, so you can practice your speaking skills wherever you take your iPhone® or iPod Touch® mobile device.

About Rosetta Stone TOTALe

Start discovering a new language with Rosetta Stone Version 4 TOTALe. TOTALe pairs everything that’s made Rosetta Stone the language-learning leader worldwide with an entirely new experience online. With TOTALe, you learn using our award-winning software, practice online with native-speaking tutors, and connect with others in our exclusive online community filled with games and other activities.

When you are away from your computer, you can continue your exploration of language with Mobile Companion™. Mobile Companion works seamlessly with the other Rosetta Stone TOTALe features to help you progress in your language-learning journey.

With Rosetta Stone TOTALe Mobile Companion, you’ll be able to:

- Practice your speaking, pronunciation, and vocabulary skills anytime, anywhere.
- Refine your skills with material from Rosetta Course™.
- Learn using either the touchscreen or hands-free mode.

Everything works together in Rosetta Stone TOTALe to move you towards real-world conversational ability.

This application is only usable by TOTALe customers. Speech-recognition technology requires a headset microphone on iPod Touch devices. Find out more at RosettaStone.com.

Start learning a new language today with solutions from Rosetta Stone.

According to Gizmodo, Man Officially Cured of HIV,  NAM Aidsmap und “The Berlin Patient”: Der Mann, der HIV besiegte in Stern.de

For the first time, a man has been declared officially cured of HIV. The remedy may nearly have killed him, but it opens a door—just a crack—to hope that we may someday kill off the scourge for good.

[...]

The treatment Brown underwent was aggressive: chemotherapy that destroyed the majority of his immune cells. Total body irradiation. Finally, a risky stem-cell transplant that nearly a third of patients don’t survive—but that appears to have completely cured Brown of HIV.

After over 4 years there are still people who believe that Abraham Harrison is a one-man band.  Just me. Some even doubt the existence of Mark.  That’s why I came up with an Abraham Harrison new years cars that collected the faces of just about the entire team — all except some of the shy ones.  So, thanks to the tireless work of Sara Wilson, Dan Krueger, Mark Harrison, Phillip Rhoades, Rodrigo Martucci for collecting all the pretty faces of Team Abraham Harrison.  Also, endless thanks to the mad design skills of Berlin-based and recently-married Richard Veenstra for not only designing our New Years card but also for designing our new logo (upper right) and for also designing every single one of our business cards as well.  You really need to check out Richard and his company, The Lime Machine.  Together with Frank Merfort, they do amazing music, sound design, video production and design work.

Mein gespräch, meine lieder,
Mein haß und mein glück,
Mein tag, meine nacht, mein vor, mein zurück,
Meine sonne und schatten, zweifel, die ich hab,
An dir und in mir bis zum letzten tag.
Deine straßen, wo ich fliehe, stolper und fall,
Deine wärme, die ich brauch, die ich spüre überall.

Verkauf dich nicht,
Berlin,
Jung bist du nicht,
Du alterst so schnell,
Buckelst zu sehr,
Trägst an den geldern der freier so schwer.
Die werden gehn,
Dich sterben sehn,
Berlin,
Geliebte berlin.

Deine ecken und winkel, deine höfe ungezählt,
Wo der dreck und die armut nach veränderung bellt,
Dein rausch am morgen
Riecht nach haschisch und bier,
Und rotz fällt gelassen auf gassen von dir.
Deine märkte, die weiber, ihre ruhe, ihre list
Und manchmal ein witz, der mich in den magen trifft.
Verkauf dich nicht,
Berlin,
Jung bist du nicht,
Du alterst so schnell,
Buckelst zu sehr,
Trägst an den geldern der freier so schwer.
Die werden gehn,
Dich sterben sehn,
Berlin,
Geliebte berlin.

Deine häuser mit fluren,
Wo man prügelt, wo man lacht,
Wo man, wenns dunkel wird,
Neue mitbewohner macht.

Deine räume, in denen der schlaf ungern kommt,
Weil die luft zum atmen fehlt,
Wo der sensemann wohnt,
Doch wo du freisein erfährst in dieser großen stadt,
Obwohl sie einengt und preßt und viele mauern hat.

Verkauf dich nicht,
Berlin,
Jung bist du nicht,
Du alterst so schnell,
Buckelst zu sehr,
Trägst an den geldern der freier so schwer.
Die werden gehn,
Dich sterben sehn,
Berlin,
Geliebte berlin.

Mein gespräch, meine lieder,
Mein haß und mein glück,
Mein tag, meine nacht, mein vor, mein zurück.
Dein halbtotet bahnhof, wo ich unter denen steh,
Die morgen, schon morgen in bessre städte gehn.
Wo ich dich verlassen will,
Immer wieder, immer noch,
Ich schaff den sprung auch,
Ich schaff den sprung doch.

The day after Returning to My Second Life in Berlin, there was a lot of amazing snow and Berlin was under a cozy white blanket. Little did I know that Berlin was completely caught unawares and while I was walking gently hither and thither while taking this video, my colleagues from around the world, en route to a conference, were stuck out.  Well, let’s not go there, let us just enjoy a walk in the snow in Berlin and then a massive number of black ravens in the white snow (and everywhere else): A Snowing Snowy Day in Berlin on 9 December 2010 and A Murder of Crows on the Snowy Snow of Berlin in December:

Took a walk from my Berlin apartment to Berlin-Hauptbahnhof across lots and lots of snow and beneath a snowy snowfall. It is quite beautiful even in the middle of the city. Even the snow couldn’t muffle the ubiquitous sound of city construction and pile-drivers. From snow to crows to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof to one stalled Porsche 944 getting ready to tow another broken 944 through the snow. A very cool little Berlin snow-covered vignette.

When I was walking back from grocery shopping at the Berlin-Hauptbahnhof Kaiser’s and Rossmann, I came upon this murderous land war of Berlin ravens or crows or whatever they are — very ominous and very foreboding and also maybe a terrible omen. Is this a good omen or is it an open at all?

Some people go online to experience their second life. I, on the other hand, have a second life in Berlin. Maybe my third life is online and my avatar flies around right above the ground in Third Life.

This is Frank Merfort of The Lime Machine. He is a sound designer and a recovering rock star and a father of two boys and quite an amazing chef, host, and interior designer as well.

He made salmon for Joya, Travis, Claudia, and me and we drank a red, a white, a red, and then grappa. The salmon was drizzled in a cream sauce with baby shrimp and.

We started with a salad with roasted pine nuts. We ended with vanilla ice cream with a dark chocolate drizzle.

All this on just a Wednesday night. I don’t know if Berlin is amazing or whether Mark and Frank’s friends are stellar.

I just think I am a lucky sod because all of my friends in Washington, DC, and also New York, NY, and in Boston, MA, and in San Francisco, CA, are pretty stellar, too.

I think I am just simply a lucky git and that’s all there is to it. Thank you, Travis for texting the invite; thank you Frank for making the meal and offering up your new hip Motzstraße apartment in Nollendorfplatz, Schöneberg, Berlin.

Thanks to Joya for coming with and bringing wine, and thanks to Claudia for adding much charm to the festivities.

Yes, this blog post was written right after getting home from a dinner party after a red and a white and a red and some grappa.

I spent the day with my buddy Andrew at Prince George’s County Trap & Skeet Center in Glen Dale, Maryland, and had a blast.

On the down side, my new Remington 870P pump shotgun didn’t have a long enough barrel to be acceptable at the center.

On the up side, rentals are cheap and really good. A couple light and foxy Beretta semi-auto shotguns.

The weather today was cold and windy at 30 miles per hour. Bitter but after a first round (1 out of 25 clays demolished with shot) we did a second round of trap and I scored another 1/25 success rate.

I will not allow myself to be either frustrated or discouraged.

The Prince George’s County Trap & Skeet Center is a state park and is run in a very friendly sort of way. There was a skeet and a trap competition going on and it was amazing to watch these men pop pop pop orange birds out of the sky in such a wild assortment of shooting and sporting garb and the most exotic and exquisite over-under custom and ergonomic Brownings and Berettas.

Anyway, I sucked and I would love any advice you have. I couldn’t quite sort out the tracking, the aiming, where the put the bead and how far ahead to lead the shot. Andrew told me that my biggest problem was that I thought about it too much.

His game got much better when I passed on what the fellow at the desk told me: don’t aim it like a rifle, aligning three dots, but keep your eyes on the clay and keep both eyes open.

After finishing off a box of 100 rounds, we headed to Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World in Arundel Mills located in Hanover, MD. Partly to see if I could find a 28″ barrel for my 870P (no, but I ordered one online for $160) and partly just to continue our day of sport.

I thought that the Chantilly gun show was a mad holy land for the manly arts but oh my God!

Bass Pro Shop is such an amazing wonderland. From fishing to hunting to climbing and athletics and everything — even archery and paint guns and BBs and pellets.

Since this is hunting season, the store was picked clean. I was tempted by a Ruger 10/22 Deluxe .22LR but passed.

I will spend more time mastering the MKIII and the 870P before expanding my collection in any way.

I just discovered that Miriam’s Kitchen is always happy to receive game meat as a donation to help feed Washington’s homeless. Sounds like a very noble reason to give hunting a go.

Maybe next year after I master everything a little better I might give that a go. I have never hunted before but what the hell. Try everything once, eh?

What a smashing day. I highly recommend heading over to Prince George’s County Trap & Skeet Center. They don’t care if you’re brand new. They’re always happy to introduce you to trap and skeet.

A round of trap was $5.50 for 25 clays. Renting the Berettas was cheap, considering how nice the shotguns were. I brought the ammo with me for around $29 for 100 12 gauge target shells at Dick’s Sporting Goods on Columbia Pike in Arlington.

I will be in Berlin from 6-22 December but when I return I should have the barrel and I plan to pop back over to 10400 Good Luck Road to have a go with my very own shotgun.

No gunplay in Berlin. Germany doesn’t roll like that.

Prince George’s County Trap and Skeet Center

10400 Good Luck Road
Glenn Dale, MD 20769
301-577-7178; TTY 301-249-4252

Hours of Operation

Friday-Monday: 10 am-5 pm,
Tuesday-Thursday: 10 am-8:30 pm

This premier clay target, recreational shooting facility is open to the public on a year-round basis, providing all the popular clay target sports.

Whether enjoyed as a personal hobby or competitive sport, clay target shooting can become a lifetime activity involving leagues, outings and tournaments, year-round.  There are many events available for adult and youth from novice to experienced shooters.

Competitive, instructional and safety programs, run by certified instructors, are available.  Youth programs and a teen target shooting camp provide a safe introduction to clay target shooting.

Shotgun rental is available for on-site use and a retail store offers a comprehensive selection of related supplies and accessories.

Facility rental is available for corporate events and group outings.

Amenities

Up-to-date facilities provide challenging games for beginner to experienced shooters.

Trap (9 fields)
Skeet (13 fields)
Sporting Clays Course (winds its way through the surrounding woods)
Five Stand
Wobble Trap
International Bunker (Olympic Trap)
International Skeet (Olympic Skeet)

Shotgun shooting only – no indoor ranges.  Lighted trap & skeet fields Tues. – Thurs.

Fees

Customers may purchase individual tickets, or books of 10 tickets for a discounted price in the clubhouse.  League shooters may purchase tickets at a discounted rate. Please call for current fees.

Rentals & Outings

Facility rentals are available for Corporate or Group Outings.  Arrangements can be made for meeting rooms, catering, indoor dining (clubhouse room with fireplace), outdoor dining (under the large pavilion) and shooting facilities including instruction with Certified Instructors.  Adequate parking is available for large groups.

From small meetings to large outings, Prince George’s Trap & Skeet is an excellent venue to make your event unique.  Please call 301-577-7178 for fees and scheduling.

Retail Store/Clubhouse

The Retail Store sells most everything needed to participate in shotgun shooting sports.  This includes a variety of equipment, clothing and accessories.  Rental equipment is available for use at the facility.

The Clubhouse also offers a lodge-style trophy room with a fireplace and seating.  Vending machines available.

Location/Directions

Located in Glenn Dale, adjacent to Goddard Space Flight Center and the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center.

From the Capital Beltway (I-495), take Exit 22A to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. Proceed 400 yards and take Greenbelt Road exit (Route 193) east. Continue through eight traffic lights and make a left onto Good Luck Road, then turn right at the next traffic light to continue on Good Luck Road. The facility is located .07 miles on the left.

I tried to order a couple blazers from Eddie Bauer on Cyber Monday via their website. I tried four times. The site allowed me to get all the way to pay and they then threw me an error.

After the 4th try I called their 800 number to order and the call dropped. By night, I tried again. I got through and all appeared well. I even paid extra to secure 3-day shipping.

Today is 4 December and the blazers have not arrived yet. They still may come today or maybe on Monday before I ship out to Berlin for three weeks.

I called up today to see if they’re en route. I was doing it between things and didn’t have the order number on me, though a smart mail order retailer really should work harder to put the stress and suffering — the hoop-jumping — onto the shoulders of the vendor rather than the customer.

She couldn’t sort me out on the phone, asking me to run down all of my contact info, address, city, state, zip, and phone.

She then told me there was a wait, asked me if I would like to wait or be called back. I asked for a call back.

She confirmed my number and she had it down wrong. I corrected the number and she confirmed that a customer service rep would be back to me with no wait.

That was over two hours ago. Was there indeed a two-hour plus wait? Did she take down my number wrong again? Did she hit “delete” instead of “save?”

Did the bridge between her and her customer service rep burn? Break? Collapse?

The only solution now that I consider appropriate is expediting the blazers to me, gratis, to Berlin — assuming they don’t arrive today or Monday.

I have been discussing this on Twitter for the last couple hours, @replying to @eddiebauer every time.

Why don’t companies like Eddie Bauer cover their social media properties like Facebook and Twitter with the same 24/7 full-coverage that they do their hotlines and order numbers? I have been monitoring the @eddiebauer feed on Twitter and the coverage seems to me only during the work-week, Monday through Friday, and only a few spotty hours over the course of the day.

Social media is obviously someone’s second job or secondary task. Just in terms of crisis management and crisis mitigation, this sort of laissez faire attention to social media engagement and responsiveness is counter-productive and actually quite dangerous.

As we all know in social media, if you want to start a negative campaign against most companies, start it Friday night or Saturday morning because most companies take their PR and customer service eyes off the ball from quitting time Friday until they’re surprised and start freaking out at around 10AM Monday morning.

We’ll see what happens now!

UPDATE: After another call to a very clueless call center employee, I was able to get a customer service specialist who quickly and deftly found my order and told me it’ll arrive on Monday before 7PM — still too late for Berlin but at least I am have the order confirmed.

Now, I have a FedEx tracking number and the works.  I guess I should have expedited the order to over-night — the three day was a wash — I ordered on Monday and it is Saturday and there was Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday — and I should have received it on Friday, right?

So, why is it arriving on Monday — to me, though at least I am validated that I am not crazy and the order does, indeed, exist, I don’t believe they were able to get me the blazers in the three days promised.

FURTHER UPDATE: I checked up on my tracking number over at FedEx and the blazers were delivered on 3 December at 3:02 PM; however, the address on the package was wrong — the label had the apartment as 13 instead of 131 so it couldn’t not have been delivered.

So, the operator on the phone took down the wrong address.  Apartment One-Three-One doesn’t sound anything like Thirteen, does it?

A future prediction of mine: because of the distributing nature of the future of work because of the Internet and telecommuting, more and more people will move to cities and towns where their friends live, where the quality of life is, or where there are good schools and services — instead of moving to cities to work for companies or industries.

It is already happening with Berlin and Brooklyn and Portland and Buenos Aires — people are choosing these cities to be with their posse or community of interest.

Cities will need to improve services to draw people and communities instead of just offering tax incentives to attract the companies that draw the residents tax base.

Last March, I spent 8-weeks learning German at the Goethe-Institut in Berlin. This December, I will be spending as much time as my guitar teacher and German best friend Frank Merfort has to sell me learning completely beginners guitar.  Though I will not start on an electric guitar, choosing to learn on a 6-string acoustic guitar, which I guess is standard fare (though probably not on this one):

At the end of the day, though, I have always wanted to learn to play the iconic Fender Stratocaster, so while doing the hard work and earning the hard fingers and the thick callouses is what I will be doing in Berlin — the very basics — I ultimately want to learn the electric guitar.  And there’s hope, too, because it looks like I will never need to carry around an amp with me.  As long as I have my Apple iPad, I can always rock out on AmpliTube for iPad.  Here’s my dream Strat in Abraham Harrison orange:

I am watching people in a white panel van restock DC Capital Bikeshare bikes to the vending rack.

My friend Celina reminded me that it is essential to avoid these little red bikes like the plague. Why? They don’t ride their bike to work, they may not own a bike, they almost for sure won’t have a helmet on. They may be drinking-and-cycling drunks, post party.

Capital Bikeshare bikes (one pictures here) are basically worse than Flexcar and Zipcar. Except for one terrible thing: if you hit a Capital Bikeshare bike you’re at fault, either in jail legally or in crisis when it comes to your reputation.

You will always be vilified if you hit a biker, even if it is a dormant rider who hasn’t been on the road in years or decades, doesn’t know the rules of the road, or the laws of cycling engagement.

Mind you, in Berlin, there is a culture of the bike, like there is in Germany, Holland, and in much of Europe. The US, and Washington, doesn’t have this culture ingrained.

That said, I completely endorse the DC Capiaol Bikeshare program. And I endorse the makeover of Washington, DC, to encourage biking and bicycle commuting.

Just expect that there are no omelettes made without breaking a few eggs and I am terribly afraid that these eggs are going to actually be heads and those heads will be under cars right next to Capital Bikeshare bikes.

When I arrived at the Fort Wayne Airport, the Hilton shuttle driver told me to check out “the pawn shop down Calhoun, take a left from the front and walk 4 blocks.”  That would be B&B Loan.  Well, I desperately wanted to buy something from B&B but I didn’t find bupkiss that I wanted to own. Except this:

A bright green Vito clarinet that used to be owned by some school or another, some kid or another. A student clarinet.

I love the licorice stick and I am a huge fan of Klezmer, believe it or not. My friends in DC and Berlin all play guitar. Maybe they’ll accept me in as their token clarinet-player.

Maybe I’ll start a Kelzmer band. Maybe I will join a big band from the 30s-50s when clarinet players were rock gods!

Maybe I will just simply display it lovingly. As a gorgeous design piece. A piece d’art, objet d’art!