Scott S. Topiol

Off to Norfolk, VA

I'm off to Norfolk, VA on business until Thursday night. Hopefully I'll have an opportunity to take some photos but since it's a pretty short trip with an incredibly tight schedule I probably won't have a chance to get out much. Did I mention I hate business travel?

posted at 07:53

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New Slideshow Feature

I have just completed implementation of a new feature to the photo gallery section of the site. Internet Explorer users can now view any photo collection as either a standard gallery or as an automated slideshow! Simply click on the link on the right-hand side of the photo gallery page the says "View as Slide Show" or "View as Gallery" respectively to change the viewing mode. Sorry, the control I'm using doesn't seem to be FireFox compatible at this time.

posted at 13:58

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CNN Invented FTP

Made the mistake of watching CNN's hurricaine coverage this afternoon when the reporter began to educate me on some of the technology they have been using to get reports from the field during the storm. Actually, in my defense I wasn't really paying attention until I heard them mention the term "FTP" and my ears perked. Nevertheless, I felt the following was worthy of a "quote of the day" status:

"With use of a new technology called FTP, our reporters are able to record video and send it to us via computer."

[report ends]

"That was filmed just a little while ago and sent using our FTP technology."

Ain't technology grand?

posted at 09:24

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Creating an Incapacitated Society

I just came across this article on Yahoo! News: Colleges Try to Deal With Hovering Parents.

What frustrates me is that you see things like this every day on the news. It seems that Baby Boomers, in their infinite quest for moral superiority over all other generations, think that they have found the holy grail of child rearing: to shield their children from the ugly face of reality. Whatever happened to pulling oneself up by their bootstraps? Today, it is every child's right to have their lives handed to them on a platter. While some are "lucky" enough to be served on a silver platter, tin is just as detrimental to the development of a child to a functioning adult.

Think that I'm over-reacting? I'm not so sure.

Just the other day I heard a news report about some school district (whose location I cannot recall at the moment) that was eliminating spelling bees because "you can only have one winner." Prior to that I heard a news report indicating that children are no longer developing vital immunities to simple childhood (and now adulthood) ailments because of the clean-room environments that we as a society have come to expect from our homes, schools, and workplaces. It really isn't that bad for a child to get sick every now and again...do they really need to live in pristine environments? Is that really healthy?

The college article I read today sums it up very nicely. I understand that parents want to give their child the best possible life, that--although I am not a parent--I can appreciate the pain that must be felt to see your child appear to suffer and the overpowering urge to save the day. But are you really saving anyone when you dive into the pool of life with your clothes on in a frantic attempt to rescue your child from a non-lethal threat--nay imaginary threat? No!

By getting angry, filing lawsuits, making threatening phone calls, and demanding that the rules be bent or changed because you don't personally like having to see your child told "no" every now and again you are in fact doing them--and the whole of society--an immeasurable disservice. This country was not founded on the premise that every person will be equal, that every person should not face adversity or that every person should face the same level of such. This country was based on the principle that each person shall be free to--of their own accord and upon their own merits--live an independent life.

Society has been sending a message to children that it is not okay to fail and--if you do--it is because somebody else's standards are unfair. The problem with our society (well, one of the problems at least) is that most of us are unschooled in the fields of psychology, sociology, or medicine and--as a result--we are incapable of intelligently interpreting raw scientific data. When then get a hold of a study that says this or that we immediately jump off the deep end and start rallying to change whatever small factor that someone indicated could potentially cause a person to develop some sort of phobia or neuroses. Unfortunately, the vast majority of us gather our daily helping of hysteria from the nightly news which does a fantastically inept job of condensing a 500-page study into a 6-second sound byte. A sound byte that we--in turn--repeat in the picket line in front of our childrens' schools.

IT IS OKAY TO FAIL. In fact, IT IS OKAY FOR *YOUR* CHILD TO FAIL. Your children aren't as fragile as you want to believe. Yes, they are the world to you but they aren't to us; and that's okay! I remember when I used to fall down and skin my knee playing as a kid (which wasn't that long ago); my mom would give me a bandage and send me along my way. I can't even begin to tell you how many ambulance calls I have responded to where a child has in essence skinned their knee and the parents are literally crying more than the child.

Children will get hurt, children will break bones, skin knees, fail classes, be called names, and play in the mud. Children will eventually grow up, possibly go to college, and leave home. How they adapt to that transition is almost entirely up to their parents. Whether they go to college with the mindset of a child, running to mommy or daddy every time they face something that is new and seemingly unwelcome to them, or whether they embrace challenges, come up with their own solutions, and trudge on, all depends on how they were raised.

Every child will not go to and graduate college. Not every child has the capacity. Not every child will succeed at everything he or she sets out to accomplish. Nobody is good at everything...don't lie to them and tell them that they are. By doing so you are setting them up for true failure. Each one of us is capable of different things and this is okay. Societies are built on individuals serving different roles. There is nothing wrong with your child being praised for different accomplishments than somebody else's. They'll get over it...but only if you can.

Your children won't always be children. How do you want them to function when you are no longer in their lives? After all, you ARE going to die someday.

posted at 05:51

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Traveling Yet Again

So it looks like I'll be off to Norfolk, VA tomorrow afternoon for yet another round of business travel. I realize now that as much as I enjoy traveling, I only enjoy it when it's for pleasure; I could honestly do without this trip. I just hope that hurricaine Katrina won't affect my travel plans or the flight itself. Luckily it's a brief trip and I will be back Thursday evening.

Once I get back it's going to be time to start packing for our big move to Los Angeles. It's amazing how quickly the time passes, before you know it we'll be leaving New York. Nicole is very excited about the move and I am looking forward to it (though I guess I'm a little sad to leave certain things behind). Nevertheles, it will be nice to not have to deal with winter again this year and to be close to my family. I just need to work on the road rage that I will undoubtedly feel once I'm back in real traffic.

That's all for now I guess. I think I'll add one more section to the site that will house my old written works and miscellaneous stuff when I get back.

posted at 05:40

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The Photo Updates Keep Coming

I have added another collection to the photos section of the site. This new gallery is dedicated to miscellaneous photographs of the Rochester area and--just like the EMS page--it is a work in progress.

You can check out the Rochester gallery by clicking here.

2003 Cross-Country (LA to NY) Galleries Are Back

In addition to the new photos that I have added, I finally placed my original 2003 cross-country photo galleries back online. You can find them in the photos section each dated July 17, 2003 and named "Cross Country Day X" respectively. The larger images that appear when you click the thumbnails have not been resized so they will take a while to load at full resolution.

posted at 09:18

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rochester should blow up

posted by Anonymous : 09:29

 

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EMS / Fire Photo Gallery Added

I have added a new gallery to my photos section dedicated to EMS and Fire-related photos that I have taken on the job (mostly EMS though) while in New York state. This is a living gallery and will be added to regularly as I acquire new photographs (or discover old ones that I have taken).

Click here to view the gallery.

posted at 21:37

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"A Subway to the Sea": Californian's Rail Future?

The other night during one of my relatively frequent episodes of insomnia I decided to undertake the task of conducting a whirlwind tour of the web in search of California rail-related news. I was surprised to find some very interesting and somewhat optimistic articles, articles which I think every Californian should read with an open mind and an ounce of positivity. After all, it couldn't hurt for us to not be so cynical once in a while.

First on my stop was a great article in this week's edition of the L.A. Weekly entitled, "The Subway Mayor". This piece discusses in some detail the history of public transit in Los Angeles from the Red Car, to the abandonment of rail, to the failed attempt at building a subway, and beyond. As much as I don't care for Mayor Villaraigosa, perhaps he will be able to demonstrate the inspired leadership necessary to come up with creative--and progressive--solutions to Los Angeles' traffic woes.

Next on my route was an interesting site belonging to the California MAGLEV Alliance. Although many may scoff at the thought of a monorail or MAGLEV, especially in Southern California, it seems that this organization is actually making some serious progress. The California MAGLEV Alliance is a group that is attempting to push for the development of an extremely high-speed magnetic levitation railroad (similar to the one that exists in Shanghai, China) that would connect Orange County through Los Angeles to Palmdale (with stops along the way). Their pet project is the Orangeline, which--according to their site--is supported officially by fourteen Southern Californian cities (all listed at the link I have provided to the project). In June of this year the Orangeline project began moving forward with the awarding of a development contract. Perhaps this is the start of something very good?

Next was a stop at the Federal Railroad Administration's homepage where I ultimately located an interesting report summary relating to a California High-Speed Rail Corridor. It was nice to know that the government has been at least thinking about the prospect of a high speed (or faster) rail corridor connecting San Francisco to San Diego. According to the study, Los Angeles and San Diego are currently linked via rail by technology that dates back to the "mid-20th century". The FRA has been investigating the potential to upgrade these lines--perhaps to MAGLEV--and has in fact provided the State of California with $6.275M (through FY 2004) in order for the state to upgrade existing rail crossings for such a high-speed route!

My rail excursion ended in a manner similar to how it had begun: with a retrospective look back at (arguably) one of the worst transit decisions the city had ever made. It seems that in 1963 the Alweg Monorail Company offered to build the City of Los Angeles a monorail transit system, free of charge. Alweg would operate the system for a period of time before ultimately turning it over to the city. The project had great support until Standard Oil got involved...squashing the project before it even got started and casting the die for the traffic woes that all of us Angelinos face today.

With gas prices soaring toward $3.00 per gallon and rush hour lasting 24 hours a day, Los Angeles (and the state of California) must act swiftly to develop solutions before the city and state slow to a standstill. How much longer can we endure the traffic? the pollution? the hit to our wallets? How much longer will we insist on sitting in our giant SUV's when a terrific solution (albeit a costly one in the short-term) lies smack dab in front of our faces. It is time to get out of our cars and onto a train...if only such a system of rail transit existed.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Please feel free to comment on this post and share your opinion. Better yet, write your local and state politicians and let THEM know what you think!

posted at 09:50

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Wagons West

It's official. After nearly two-and-a-half years of living in the Rochester, NY area (nearly five-and-a-half years for Nicole), we are moving.

While I was in Los Angeles on business last week my father and I found a two-bedroom apartment in West Hollywood, CA that--as of yesterday--Nicole and I were approved for. After beginning our lives together and starting my career in Rochester, Nicole and I will be moving to Los Angeles during the first week of October.

In some ways, the move is bittersweet. I am excited to move forward with our lives, to establish my ultimate career and for Nicole to begin hers--to be closer to family and old friends. Yet, at the same time, the move brings with it a degree of sadness. Despite all of the complaining that I did about life in western New York, I know that a part of me will miss it very much. After nearly two-and-a-half years of living in North Chili it has come to feel like home.

Nonetheless, the absence of career opportunities, family, and the excessively long winters make the move to Los Angeles the best decision. I will miss the many friends that I have made while living in New York. I will also miss being a participant in the EMS system in this region, having to resign from the Chili Fire Department, Spencerport Volunteer Ambulance, and Rural/Metro Medical Services Rochester in the coming weeks.

To all of my friends here in New York, our Los Angeles apartment has a spare room that you are all welcome to use if you ever venture out west. I hope that you will.

Perhaps someday Nicole and I will return to Rochester to pay homage to the place that--although the brunt of many a joke and complaint--marked the beginning of our adult lives.

posted at 07:25

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A Tourist in My Own Home

What an effort getting to Los Angeles was yesterday. I guess it's the curse of the maiden voyage. Apparently yesterday was the very first flight from Rochester, NY to Dallas, TX for American Airlines. When I arrived at the airport a news crew had set up at the gate to film this momentous occassion. It seems that--in Rochester--a new line of service at the airport deserves its own covert story on the nightly news.

So we board the plane, everyone pretending to be happy and energetic at 6:30 in the morning, only to find out on board that there is some problem with the plane's "APU." I love how the crew tries to make the problem sound like something other than what it is by using their internal acronyms and jargon so that everybody else just sits there in confused silence. Well, after an hour or so of sitting at the gate, I come to find out that the APU is the "Auxiliary Power Unit" which is responsible for actually STARTING THE JET ENGINES. The planes engines won't start.

The solution?

Push start it. Yup...that's right. The aeronautical equivilant of the push start had to be employed to get our plane up and running. According to the pilot, the ground crew needed to "blow some air" into the engine using an "air bottle" in order to get the plane up and running. Oh, and sinced we'll be flying without our "APU", we won't be able to go "quite as fast" in the air, so our in-flight time will be longer. mmm...a maiden voyage on a plane that has insufficient electrical power to ensure proper function of its engines at normal operating speeds. Excellent.

Thoughts of another famous maiden voyage come to mind.

So, I finally make it to Dallas...now over an hour late. Of course, I missed my connecting flight to Los Angeles over the air bottle/APU fiasco. Luckily American Airlines automatically bumped me to the next available flight which was only an hour later. Of course, I was expected in L.A. at a specific time on business..but oh well. I stand in line for an eternity hoping that there will be a seat for me on this admittedly oversold second flight.

I get a seat.

The remaining flight experience was uneventful. In fact, we even landed nearly half an hour early. Of course, we landed so early that there were no empty gates available for us to taxi to so by the time we actually got off the plane we were a little bit late. Oh well.

Then the real fun began!

I needed to rent a car as a 22-year-old driver.

Before flying to Los Angeles I had checked the major rental car company websites in an attempt to find one that would rent to me despite not being at least age 25. According to Budget's website, the LAX location would glady rent to me so long as I was over 21 and willing to pay a "young driver's surcharge." Fine.

I grab my bags, hop the complimentary Budget shuttle and head on over to the rental line. I stand in line for about 20 minutes or so and then make my way to the rental counter. I hand the woman on the other side my driver's license and credit card, tell her I'm on business and need to rent a car. Now, my driver's license still says under 21, despite the fact that this is no longer the case. She immediately gives me a dirty look and a smirk and says, "You're under 21, you can't rent a car here." To which I reply that the license is old and if she checks the date of birth she will see that this is not the case. She studies the license for some time, as if it were some sort of ancient script. She tells me I have to be 25 to rent. I explain my website quest and the indication on their corporate website stating otherwise.

She has a pow wow with the manager.
Then the kicker.

Apparently this location will not rent to me unless I am 25...until Wednesday! Lovely. I have a commercial drivers' license, can drive an ambulance for a living, but I can't rent a Cavalier. I'm told to go to Alamo rent-a-car instead.

I hope the shuttle BACK to the airport, go downstairs to baggage claim, exit to the street, hope the Alamo shuttle, go into the Alamo rental office, and stand in line for about 40 minutes.

Finally, I am able to rent a car.

Then the traffic.

I arrive at the office at nearly 4:00...okay, so I was expected there at 1:00....not too bad all things considered I guess. Maybe today will be better.

Once thing's for sure...I have never felt like such a tourist anywhere before. And I grew up here.

posted at 07:44

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