Uber Fun

Courtesy of Uber

Earlier this week, I was surprised with the opportunity of using an Uber car to get from a business meeting back to my office.  It was so pleasant and so efficient compared to my usual crazy experience in a Washington, DC taxicab or using the Metro that I wish Uber could be my permanent way of getting around town!

Sometimes part of the healing experience can be when someone does something unexpected and nice for you and you just back and enjoy it.  Besides, I have to share with you how cool Uber is!

If you haven't heard of Uber (www.uber.com), it's a transportation company that dispatches private drivers and cars and you can request an Uber car and driver anywhere at anytime on your iPhone or Android.  No cash changes hands because once you download your app and set up your account, everything, including tips, are charged to your credit card. 

Uber may be more practical for business purposes, but I also could see it being convenient for trips to Dulles Airport or other city trips when you may want to treat yourself.  I'm thinking birthdays, anniversaries or holiday celebrations.

Besides Washington, DC, Uber has been launched and is doing business in Boston, Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Toronto, Paris, and Los Angeles, and the company is working on adding many more cities.

My experience with Uber was particularly nice because it was raining.  I could have walked the block to M Street, NW to hail a cab but the generous person I was meeting with told me that I didn't need to go outside and hail a cab.  She could order me an Uber from where she was sitting.  After she made the request for the Uber she showed me the map on her phone and said that the Uber car would arrive in four minutes -- which it did.

A beautiful black Town car pulled up and the driver, who was dressed in a crisp shirt and tie, jumped out of the driver's seat and opened the passenger car door for me.  The inside of the Uber was immaculate and small bottles of water sat there just for the taking.

The driver was quiet, not talking or yelling on his phone like most DC taxidrivers.  He wasn't eating and the radio wasn't blasting music or a talk news station.  He took me right to my address, not somewhere near my address, and again, in the rain, got out of the driver's seat and opened the car door to help me with my papers and bags.

I have a feeling Uber is going to do very well in Washington, DC.  According to a post on Uber's website from Travis (no last name), Uber's Co-founder & CEO, "In DC, we've seen more app opens pre-launch, what we call "eyeballs", than any other city we've gone to."

Electronic Meltdown

Yesterday was a day from electronic hell.  Every time I turned around some piece of equipment in the office needed attention.

Don't you just hate it when computers, cell phones, blackberries and xerox machines misbehave? 

I don't consider myself a tekkie kind of person at all.  I don't feel any desire to stand in line when I know Apple is going to be selling a new iPhone or a new iPad.  I am open to learning new things about electronic devices but I'm not very happy about it.  I'm of the mind that if it's working and it's doing everything that you want why does it have to change?

It just doesn't make sense to me how a computer can be working fine -- receiving and sending emails, printing out documents and all the other things that computers do -- and then the next day you walk in, log on and your toolbars are missing.  I usually know how to figure some of this out myself but not always.

My computer wasn't monopolizing all of the mischief.  The charger to the Blackberry wouldn't work so I went to Radio Shack to see if they had another one.  Thank goodness Radio Shack had them in stock but I also need a converter so I could charge a cellphone we sometimes use overseas.  Of course, Radio Shack was out of those and wouldn't get them in again for weeks.  Try CVS, the Radio Shack guy said.  So I did.  Wouldn't you know it?  CVS had the converters and they only cost $3.99.  Yeah!!!!

I'm the kind of person who turns something off because I think it needs to "rest."  I don't think that's such a crazy idea.  When I've been using the xerox machine and copying reams of documents, I can feel the machine starting to warm up.  Don't you think it's the machine's way of telling me it needs to take a break?  I do and I talk to the xerox machine as in, "Please don't jam.  This is a really important job!"

It's the little things in life that can make you happy.  I like to think that my computer and cell phone and I are all part of the same team, working together to get things done, not falling apart and needing attention.  So listen up all you electronics -- behave yourselves and do what you are supposed to do.  PLEASE?????!!!!!!

Steve Jobs

I didn't always initially understand the impact of the products Steve Jobs enthusiastically developed for his cutting edge company, Apple, but what I admired about Steve Jobs was his tenacity.

He just never quit. 

He never quit battling cancer and he kept on inventing new teckky products that always showed us how far ahead of everyone he was.  I can't exercise without my Ipod and I know lots of people who can't live without their Macs!  The way his mind worked was fascinating.  Talk about using your life to do it's best and never wasting your talents!

Steve Jobs you showed us how to forge ahead.  May you rest in peace.  You certainly outdid yourself in life!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/05/ap/tech/main20116461.shtml