Blog Master G

If there were an award for the best pair of back-to-back front-page headlines, these two would take the cake:

Thursday, February 16, 2006 Saratogian front-page story

Stillwater police eye driver with suspicion: STILLWATER — Police are looking for a man who alarmed a Stillwater High School freshman Wednesday morning by repeatedly driving past as she waited for her bus.

Friday, February 17, 2006 Saratogian front-page story

False alarm: STILLWATER — A van driver who frightened a Stillwater High School girl Wednesday morning turned out to be a newspaper delivery person.

Reminds me of the front-page mailbox saga from last summer when Jane and Sarah were here.

I’ve used Quicken to manage my finances since as early as 1995 when I started college (though my current QDF file only dates back to late 2002 when I apparently started using it again). According to what I can find online, that must’ve been Quicken 3.0. Countless versions later, Quicken 2006 Deluxe is now the current version and the one I purchased on September 30, 2005, after having used Quicken 2003 Deluxe since July 1, 2003. How do I know these exact dates? I use Quicken.

The upgrade to Quicken 2006 was a very welcome upgrade from the earlier version — an actual search feature, improved user interface that makes viewing account listing much easier on the eyes, better reporting, smarter category management, the ability to schedule a paycheck to appear automatically in your register at a specified date, and more. The biggest pain, however, is the fact that as of Quicken 2005, Intuit no longer supports the QIF data format; they’ve moved to the more robust OFX format, which most financial institutions do support by now.

But what if your financial institution doesn’t?

That’s the case with our local bank, The Adirondack Trust, and they have no plans to support OFX. That’s also the case with PayPal, a giant company now owned by eBay; they, too, only support QIF download. So the problem with that is that I originally set up both these accounts as checking accounts.

The answer? Make it a cash account. QIF still supports import into cash accounts, so it just occurred to me this morning that I could create new cash accounts for Adirondack Trust and PayPal, export all the data from the existing checking accounts, then import the QIF file into the new cash accounts. In Quicken, go to File -> Import or File -> Export while viewing the accounts in question, and that’s all there is to it.

For all intents and purposes, checking accounts and cash accounts in Quicken are the same — both support categories or split categories, and “Spend” and “Receive” transactions (vs. “Payment” and “Deposit” in checking accounts). The only drawbacks in cash accounts are that there’s no column for check number (but you can leverage the “Ref” column in the cash account), and that you can’t generate checks from a cash account (which we don’t do via Quicken anyway; can you say online bill pay?).

So there you go. If your bank is stuck in the pre-2005 land of the QIFs, or if you have a PayPal account you want to synch with Quicken 2005 or later, just use the cash account type instead of checking. After doing the import into the new cash account, you may have to do some balance adjusting to make the totals match up, since any account-to-account transfers will not be reflected in the new cash account, but that’s a small price to pay for the beauty of getting the QIF import back in action.

There are tools out there that will supposedly convert your QIF file to OFX — something I did look into — but the free one (MT2OFX) never worked for me, despite the developer’s best effort to help me out, and I didn’t want to pay $49 for the other one (QIF to Excel to OFX Converter), simply because that’s more than I paid for my upgrade to Quicken 2006, so it seems silly to fork out another 50 bucks for something that should just work.

To celebrate Valentine’s Day last night — something we haven’t always done — Jen and I hit Dine, one of the nicest restaurants in Saratoga Springs. Our first time there was last June and we were really blown away. The service was impeccable, the food out of this world; it was a rare and welcome find here in Upstate New York.

So last night our expectations were high.

That’s the problem with high expectations: They’re hard to beat. The place was packed and the decor was charming — little red hearts, fake rose petals, and Hershey’s Kisses were sprinkled across our table. We ordered a bottle of a Sonoma Fume Blanc that seemed to be having an identity crisis since it was also labeled as a Sauvignon Blanc. There was no mention of its being a blend, but maybe it was. Either way, it was excellent.

We ordered blackened scallops for appetizers, and they were the food highlight of the evening. Perfectly spiced, the scallops melted like butter in the mouth after each bite. It was going to be a tough act to follow. Jen ordered a crusted salmon, which we thought would be a pastry-like layer outside the fish, and I ordered the escolar with lobster butter. Both fish portions were way too big and way too fishy. The flavors and sauces weren’t all that bad, but we both preferred the veggie medley and mashed sweet potato-esque dish that came with both fish dinners.

High-end restaurants typically don’t serve large portions, and I never thought I’d say it, but I would have preferred smaller portions of fish. Both dishes were suspiciously close to being undercooked, too.

Although not quite as refined as our last visit — I had to ask for bread (which turned out to be pretty tasty peppered bread sticks) — the service was excellent last night. If nothing else, the Dine staff knows good service, from bringing silverware for each course to the table on a tray to the all-important two-minute check-back to monitoring our wine levels througout the evening and topping it off. I was impressed yet again.

Despite the fishy fish — my stomach even felt a bit off this morning — it was a great evening and a wonderful Valentine’s Day with my wife.

Happy 7th Birthday to Stella Brie! Happy Valentine’s Day to you and yours! And Happy Dingo… ’cause why not? (Note two different links for H.D.)

Friday afternoon I met with Saratoga Springs Mayor Valerie Keehn to talk about her involvement in the upcoming fundraiser auction for Universal Preservation Hall, the organization for which I’ve been volunteering since late summer 2005. We have a really exciting event planned for mid-March, so stay tuned for more details. While meeting with the Mayor, it was also a good chance to speak directly with her about the High Rock Redevelopment meeting from earlier in the week; I flipped through the plans, which she had in her office, for one of the massive proposed developments.

Later Friday night we hit a party at Ken and Rachel’s pad where the theme was to bring a weird drink. Jen and I took home bragging honors with the undisputed weirdest drink of the evening: Cynar, an Italian artichoke-infused liquer. Yes, artichoke. It was pretty potent, but I didn’t mind it so much, especially on the rocks and with a splash of H2O.

Saturday was mostly a chill day around the house, cleaning up a bit, completing our taxes, which weren’t too painful this year (hallelujah!), then hanging out at Justin’s place for dinner, drinks, and cage fighting (on the TV, that is, not a Gabe vs. Justin death match).

Sunday morning Justin came over for screwdrivers and a big breakfast, which Jen and I whipped together. I made a ton of pancakes, so I’m enjoying some leftovers as I write this morning. I then interviewed a potential Vassar student as part of the AAVC Alumni Interview Program, which Jen and I have been doing for 7 years now (has it been that long?). After that, we enjoyed a lazy Sunday afternoon with Bloody Mary aplenty and Resident Evil 4, one of the most realistic, scary, and stressful video games I’ve ever witnessed.

Lastly, I wish to congratulate Dick Cheney for his nice work in demonstrating such superb gun safety by capping his friend in the ass! But let’s give the old guy a break. Maybe he thought his friend was a quail.

Queue Gabe’s favorite joke about the King of Sweden going moose hunting.

Every year Jen’s company puts on a black-tie affair in the Hall of Springs. As like last year, we rocked the house again this year. I just posted a few photos from the Saturday, February 4, 2006 event:

View more Work Prom Photos

We’ve got tonight, who needs tomorrow?

Even if you haven’t seen Brokeback Mountain, you’ll no doubt appreciate this most excellent parody of it:

Brokeback to the Future

(Thanks, Sarah.)

Yesterday afternoon I met with County Supervisor Joanne Dittes Yepsen and Shane Williams-Ness to talk about accessibility and openness in government, and how we can leverage technology to help make Supervisor Yepsen more accessible to her constituents here in Saratoga Springs. We cooked up some pretty exciting ideas, and I’m looking forward to helping her implement them. Stay tuned… it’s technological Democracy action!

Three years ago today I was frustrated with my then-landlord Al, who called me Dave and never bothered fixing anything when it broke in our lovely basement apartment. I’m glad the days of renting are over.

How to turn the City of Saratoga Springs-owned parking lot behind City Hall and the police station — bordered by Lake Avenue on the south, Maple Avenue on the west, High Rock Avenue on the east, and the City Center on the north — was open for discussion last night in the music hall on the third floor of City Hall. I attended the public hearing, hosted by the special committee formed and appointed by Public Works Commissioner Tom McTygue to develop an RFP and solicit and review proposals for how to develop the lot. The RFP was drafted in July 2005 and three developers had submitted plans by September 2005. The hearing last night was the second public hearing of its kind. The first was held sometime last month.

The meeting was attended by what looked like close to 100 people, including most members of City Council — Mayor Valerie Keehn, Finance Commissioner Matt McCabe, McTygue, and Public Safety Commissioner Ron Kim. Although City Council will ultimately decide the fate of the lot, based on a recommendation from the redevelopment committee, the council members sat quietly in the audience and around the table just like the rest of us, speaking only at the end of the two-hour meeting when invited to do so by the committee.

The project is a huge undertaking with widespread impact. All three proposals are massive in scale and more than $100 million investments — likely the largest single project ever for Saratoga Springs. The resounding feedback from business owners and community members at the meeting last night was clear: Whatever happens (nothing is set in stone yet), the development must meet the following goals:

• Support the City Center, which is the economic engine of the city for 12 months a year
• Complement and do not compete with Broadway businesses
• Provide plenty of parking for downtown and City Center (also close to undertaking its own $17 million expansion in its existing footprint)
• Keep it unique and keep chain stores out

Along with parking, complementing City Center, and providing a walkway to Broadway, another primary goal set forth by the committee in the RFP is to offer housing, including affordable, below market-rate housing. My take is that whatever happens in the lot, only two things are for sure at this point: Condos and parking. It’s also likely that there will be ground-floor retail space, or possibly office space for high-tech businesses (someone pointed out last night that Wurld Media, thriving here in Saratoga Springs with its legal file-sharing service, Peer Impact, is resisting urges from investors to move to California, proving that a company can succeed here in Tech Valley at a much lower operating cost).

I’m in full support of condos and parking, especially if some of those condos are offered below market rate. As someone pointed out last night, a downtown needs people living in it in order to thrive. The people who live in a downtown are those who are most often shopping there and supporting the local businesses. And although I wish we didn’t depend so much on cars in this country, the reality is that we do, so we need a place to put them if we want people to come to Saratoga to conventions and downtown businesses. We need a place for people to park in order to compete with the mall and box stores at Exit 15.

I’m very excited about this project and believe that now is the time that we, the citizens of Saratoga Springs, can have an impact on the direction of the project. The lot is still owned by the city, which means we taxpayers still have a say in how it’s developed. If we don’t want another Starbucks or a TGIF’s, then now is the time to make that clear. I think we did a very good of that last night. But let’s continue to voice our opinions to the committee and to City Council.

My idea, which I think would meet all the goals and would even provide a destination where people would come from far and wide, is to have a high-end grocery store and independent movie theater on the ground floor. There’s only one grocery store in downtown Saratoga, fondly known as the Ghetto (Price) Chopper because, let’s face it, it sucks. When Jen and I go there, it’s more out of convenience than to do our actual shopping. To do our grocery shopping now, we turn our backs to downtown and head to Hannaford, which is right by the mall at Exit 15.

And to see independent or alternative films, we only have the Spectrum in Albany, 45 minutes away. Yes, we have Reel Meals, the movie and dinner place, but the films that show there are delayed releases, not necessarily independent movies.

Both these ideas would complement, not compete with, downtown businesses. These are services not currently available downtown and would be added benefits for convention-goers who are in town for the weekend — after the convention, have dinner at a downtown restaurant like Brindisi’s, pick up some snacks for the next day at the grocery store, then see a movie before heading back to your hotel (the sentiment last night was also clear that we do not need yet another hotel, especially in light of the Hampton Inn soon to be built right across High Rock from the parking lot). So not only would a grocery store and movie theater benefit convention-goers, but we residents would benefit regularly.

Although most chains would be a detriment to downtown businesses and go against the philosophy of a unique downtown, there are three specialty grocery chains that I would love to see in Saratoga (or something like them), and think the High Rock Redevelopment would be an ideal place to put one: Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s (coming soon to NYC), or Mollie Stones (sadly, only in SF). All those stores are different kind of chains that treat their employees well, offer unique, high-end food, and would only help downtown thrive. If not one of these specific stores, then something like it.

It was incredibly interesting to see business and government in action last night, and I look forward to watching the High Rock Redevelopment project come to fruition, and maybe, just maybe, having some influence on what’s built in my little town.

Tell City Council what you think, or send a letter to the Saratogian. This is our city; let’s help decide its future.

I learned via a comment on my blog yesterday from Kim Berry that she referenced me in a story she wrote for Albany.com:

Welcome to Tech Valley, NY:

Have you heard about Tech Valley? Chances are you’ve heard the name, but you may not know where – or what – it is.

Stretching more than 250 miles along the Hudson River, Tech Valley encompasses 18 counties along the eastern edge of New York State. Collectively, government and business leaders have joined together to build a tech-oriented economy in the region.

The epicenter of Tech Valley is the Albany – Schenectady – Troy metropolitan area f NY. Ideally located just three hours from Boston, New York City, and Montreal, this area offers urban, suburban and rural communities as well as easy access to a wide variety of cultural and educational opportunities.

…

If you build it, will they come? The migration has already begun.

Gabe is just one person who relocated from San Francisco (not too far from another tech-related valley) to Saratoga Springs. According to numerous entries in his blog, Tech Valley really is a great place to live, work and play.

You can say that again.

The face of New Orleans is changing from black to white, and the city is still not OK, nearly 6 months after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city.

Who will New Orleans be rebuilt for?

Before Katrina struck the Gulf Coast last August and exposed compromised levees, 70 percent of the close to 487,000 residents of New Orleans were Black. The Jan. 26 study projects that the population could permanently lose 140,000, mainly Black, residents.

Katrina and the Built Environment: Spatial and Social Impacts

The below first-hand account of the state of New Orleans today comes from my friend Dan Rosan on February 3, 2006:

Friends:

Last night I sat in seat 1F, watching New Orleans fade away below me,
on my way back to New York. Sweeping expanses of the city below were
dark, and only a sliver of light lined the Mississippi River. It was
hard to tell where the city began and the lake ended.

As many of you know, I went down to New Orleans to explore the role my
organization, the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, could
play in the rebuilding, and I saw Liza and Ingrid, whom many of you
also know.

I wanted to put out some personal reflections on the trip. I’m sending
them to kind of a small group but forward as you like if the spirit
moves you.

First, the obvious: New Orleans in not a strip mall, an amusement
park, all Starbucks and Olive Gardens. It is the anti-Vegas: never
seen before and, once lost, impossible to recover. And make no mistake
– New Orleans is dying, not with a bang but with a whimper.

Life in New Orleans is hard. The phones and electricity aren’t back in
most places, it is hard to find groceries, traffic is horrid (because
stops signs have replaced most traffic lights) and trolleys don’t run.
You live in a trailer, or on a cruise ship, or in one of three active
neighborhoods. Other neighborhoods have an eery, ghost town feel. They
look almost normal, if you don’t look closely. But nobody is there.

There is an island of life in the Garden District, French Quarter, and
Central Business District, all areas which saw little or no water. You
can almost forget there is not a whole city. Then you walk a block the
wrong way, and it is just dark. No lights, no sounds.

Where is the rebuilding? It is buried itself, under the weight of
sssllooooww insurance payouts, toxic sludge, the enormity of the task,
and simple fear – what if I rebuild and nobody else does?

Society in New Orleans is fighting atomization. With their friends
scattered, family stuck in Houston or Baton Rouge while the
breadwinner works in New Orleans, colleagues laid off, faculty gone,
and racism and racial tension going strong, people are struggling just
to stay connected in meaningful ways.

Civil society and especially faith and self-organized low-income folks
have really stepped into this breach. And they can hold things
together – but not indefinitely. Without forward progress, the city
will die. It will be slow and hard to see, but it will happen.

New Orleans could live – given the depth of the destruction and the
indifference of the federal government (the only entity on the planet
capable of rebuilding a completely destroyed major city is probably
the U.S. Government), it is amazing how much has been done. Hospitals
and colleges (but not other schools) are open. Small businesses in
some areas are back. There are prophets in New Orleans – especially
the local paper (nola.com), which uses its editorial page to bear
witness to the injustice heaped on it.

Living, though, is a choice. And we have not collectively chosen life
for New Orleans.

So what to do? I know you’re expecting a laundry list of political
action. And I could give you some stuff to do. But really, just show
up. Flights are $79. Go and see New Orleans now. You might not get
another chance.

Dan