NYC Less Resistant to Change - More Hope for Healthcare Reform

I've decided to emphasize the point about how Americans fear change from my previous post and relate it to my opinion of NYC residents' and their typical behaviors. I think as a whole those residing in NYC are more open to change than those living in the rest of the country. The way I see it, those who experienced 9/11 have witnessed firsthand that following standard procedures and protocols is not always the best option. Stantard procedures and protocols need to constantly be changed to adapt to changes in society and the local environment. Those living in NYC at the time of the chaos can vouch for this need to adapt.

For this reason I think that NYC has a better shot at moving from paper based to electronic based document systems. I am pretty confident that the $105 million awarded in grants for community based health IT projects will not go to waste because of resistance to change. I think that NYC residents crave improvement and healthcare is most definitely an area that needs improvement.

The following graph is from a presentation given at the Improving Health-Care Statistics Through Electronic Medical Records and Health Information Exchange Workshop on May 29-30, 2007:


(Click the image to read the words in each bubble)

Basically, this graph shows that many different entities share the same medical records and thus using electronic based medical records has a big advantage. I think that NYC is likely to adopt to these changes.

IT & Healthcare in NYC

On March 28, $105 million in grants were awarded to 19 leading community-based health IT projects (NY State Gov). New York currently leads the U.S. in their commitment to move from paper based to electronic based systems. Officials would like to see this money used to provide more patient-centered care.

New York, in my own opinion, is by far the leading to state to take advantage of technology and use it to increase efficiency, safety, opportunities, and effectiveness in various applications such as emergency preparedness, public official stationing, and knowledge management. However, health care is an application in which, across the country, cities and states have struggled to incorporate technology and have consistently failed. And New York is not an exception.

One of my family members has worked in various jobs related to health management over the past 5 or 6 years. I have seen him continuously switch jobs, never quite fond of the bureaucratic nature of the the company. Yet this bureaucracy is a major reason why the incorporation of IT continues to fail. People hate change. People love consistency and organization. And someone is always in charge saying,"Why change now?". Well change now, or healthcare will never experience the power that IT has to offer.

I read a crazy statistic: "The U.S. spends twice as much per capita on healthcare as the average of the 10 other richest countries in the world" (Brookings). So what exactly are we spending all of this extra money on then? Wasted IT investments?

And from this same article, I have come across some very interesting points about why IT in healthcare (reform) has consistently failed:

• "Eighty-five percent of Americans are insured and fear change"
• "Large-scale health reform is large-scale income redistribution, and the politics of redistribution is the politics of trench warfare"
• "Healthcare reform involves huge financial stakes" (the $105 million should hopefully make this point obsolete)
• "The U.S. political system is exquisitely structured to frustrate action on large and controversial matters on which there is not overwhelming agreement"
• "Healthcare varies greatly across the United States, making consensus hard to come by"

I now plan to research how IT can actually achieve the healthcare reform, while still taking into consideration the above points. In my next posting, I will provide what I have come up with...

Florida as a Role Model

Florida has successful implemented a tool that could be very useful for public safety in New York City. This tool is called FCIC II System (Florida Crime Information Center). Criminal justice agencies are able to locate and update information electronically about Florida's criminals and criminal activity. For whatever reason, the justice system is a little bit behind on moving from paper-based systems to electronic-based systems. I've come up with a few reasons why this could be true:

• Fear that systems could be hacked and sensitive information compromised
• Lack of funding to implement
• Resistance to change in a bureaucratic environment

I would like to comment on each of these possible reasons I have come up with. First, there is definitely always a chance that electronic systems can be hacked into. However, I would argue that the benefits from moving to an electronically based system far outweighs the chances of data being compromised. This goes back to what I wrote about awhile back. Our country is too reactive. We should implement electronic systems AND put in necessary controls to hopefully eliminate (or at least reduce) the chances of being hacked.

Second, although justice agencies are governmental agencies, private investors are likely willing to invest in implementing electronic based systems. Thus, they can be funded jointly from the government as well as from private investors.

Finally, resistance to change is just something I could argue about for days. Having interned in big corporate environments I've seen how difficult it is to make any changes to solidified practices. This is something that needs to be changed across the board in all large environments, from the government to large public companies. Until resistance is conquered, people will be stuck in their ways eternally. We shouldn't have to wait for the older generation to leave the workforce to implement the tools we already have waiting for us to use at our fingertips. The problem that many of the older generations have with technology is distinguishing the role of technology as a business tool from the role of technology as a form of entertainment. I'm not saying that all businesses should have pages on social networking sites, islands on SecondLife, and replace reports with blogs. I'm simply saying we need to focus on how technology plays a role in business strategy and I think the only way to do this is to emphasize the difference between the two.

So back to the public safety side...if we could only get past these roadblocks (the fear of being hacked and resistance to change), I argue we could have much safer streets in New York City. And if not, well at least we can increase the efficiency of our justice systems and improve the quality of life (and work balance) of those working in the justice system.

Unrelated, but interesting...

This is unrelated to tech in NYC, but its an interesting article and relates to a thesis I am writing for another class...

How Should I.S.P.’s Tell You if They Want to Track Your Surfing?

Thoughts?? (Any thoughts would be helpful for my paper...)

RFID & Taxi Cabs

Lately there has been an increasing popularity for finding new applications for RFID technology. One new application I have found for RFID that is potentially beneficial to safety in NYC is the convergence of RFID and mobile devices to determine the safety of taxi cabs. This technology and application is based on the service that is currently offered in Korea, called "Green Taxi, which enables pasengers to get information on the taxi by scanning an RFID tag embedded within the cab's seats" (MobileMentalism.com).


For additional security, the information received from the scanner can be sent to friends or family, allowing them to track the location of the cab from their own mobile device. Although Korea has been quick to introduce new applications of RFID in convergence with mobile devices, the United States has been slower to pick up on this trend. I think this application would be extremely important in a city like NYC where public transporation systems are a major part of the city's culture. This technology could also be applied to the other types of public transportation in NYC such as buses and subways. As someone who is moving to New York, I would be very interested in this technology!

>>UPDATE: Samsung has actually developed a single chip RFID reader that can be plugged into standard mobile phones. Although it has yet to be released, this new technology could provide the United States with the available tool to implement RFID chips in all of its taxi cabs.

Sometimes Dreams Give Me Good Ideas

I want to quickly tell you about the dream I had a few nights ago and then tell you how I think it is relevant.

Dream: In this dream, I was at Disneyland with my roommate and a few other friends. Instead of walking around the park, everyone had a transportation vehicle that flew. Everyone's vehicle was difficult--mine was shaped like a spaceship. Okay, now here's where the dream gets a little weird. If you didn't hold on to your transportation vehicle it flew up into the sky like a balloon does if you let go of the string. As you probably guessed, I accidentally let go of the spaceship and it flew into the sky. What goes up must come down, right? So after a few minutes the spaceship came plummeting back down and hit Disneyland. An announcement was made over a loud speaker that Disneyland was hit by a nuclear bomb and everyone needed to immediately follow evacuation procedures. No procedures were followed. CHAOS took place.

My Point: In the dream, I tried really hard to explain to security officials what had happened. It was not a nuclear bomb, just my spaceship transportation vehicle! Each security official that I sold slowly began to understand and believe me. However, Disneyland is a very large place with many security officials and the amount of time that simply relaying a message "through the grapevine" to all of the security officials across the park was completely inefficient. I consider Disneyland in my dream to be a microcosm for NYC. The procedures that could have been followed are similar to that of officials in NYC during a citywide disaster such as 9/11.

Handheld devices, as I have been speaking about in many previous posts, could have eliminated the hysteria. A simple officer wide text message via the handheld devices could have easily explained the situation and then calmed down the people. Although at Disneyland, the visitors have not signed up for a text message service, many residents of NYC do. If the first round of text messages went to public officials until they could validate the "all-clear" and then the second round of text messages went to all subscribers, CHAOS could be avoided (or at least limited).

So many dreams really do have meaning...?

Telematics & National 9-1-1 Education Month

Telematics: The integrated use of telecommunications and informatics, also known as ICT (Information and Communications Technology). More specifically it is the science of sending, receiving and storing information via telecommunication devices (Wikipedia.org)

Telematics is the key technology being used in the many of the initiatives I spoke about in my last posting. According to a letter from the National Emergency Number Association and COMCARE Emergency Response Alliance to the Department of Homeland Security, "telematics is the one area of this kind where a longstanding, multi-profession initiative has resulted in a current XML specification which is a de facto standard now being used by OnStar to share emergency data". Within the last couple of months the DHS has been incorporating telematics into its information systems used for security purposes in big cities such as New York City. The letter speaks mainly about the importance of standardizing emergency data so that it can be shared with all 911 emergency response centers. Types of data range from vehicle telematics to personal information including medical information.

911 Education Awareness Month: The COMCARE Emergency Response Alliance announced on March 10, 2008 that the month of April would be deemed as the National 911 Education Month. According to the public announcement: "They are calling upon public safety officials, schools, government officials, and industry leaders to engage in a national effort to educate children, seniors, and the general public about the importance of, and appropriate use of, 9-1-1". I think its really important that the general public be aware of the use of 911 especially in large cities such as NYC. Its important in cities where wireless communications can become congested that everyone know when the appropriate time to use 911 services. The education awareness month is seeking to educate the public of these times and uses.

2008 Technology Initiatives

There are a few noteworthy technology initiatives that Mayor Bloomberg of NYC introduced at the beginning of the year that I failed to recognize earlier:

• Require manufacturers of guns to use a microstamping technology that allows officials to connect crime scenes with the actual gun used.

• Use the latest technology to catch more criminals and exonerate the innocent. This will be achieved through a change in New York State legislature to expand DNA testing to cover all convicted felons and some misdemeanors. Hopefully this year they will begin taking fingerprints from all those arrested.

• Create a standardized information system that allows state agencies to share mental health records with federal officials. This initiative is in response to the tragic incident at Virginia Tech.

• Create an information system database that holds information (partial and complete) about firearms evidence. This database will allow multiple individuals to share the same information and use it to solve multiple crimes.

• Use automated license plat reader technology in officers cars that are paroling NYC

• Put GPS systems in school buses to measure on time performance as well as have an up-to-date location on all buses in case of a city-wide emergency.

I agree with each of these initiatives and hope that Mayor Bloomberg will follow through with all of them. I will post updates on each initiative when I find out more information.

I think the most important initiatives are the ones that involve information systems that allow multiple people to share the same information. This is important not only within an organization (i.e. a police department), but across multiple departments. For example, allowing medical records to be shared with public officials is important in preventing crimes such as the one at Virginia Tech. Further, multiple locations of police departments should have access to the same information to link multiple crimes. Finally, these databases should be able to be accessed remotely (and possibly on the handheld devices I wrote about in an earlier posting).

We have access to so many information system capabilities and yet so many departments are stuck in their old ways...

Just a Thought...

This is a slight digression. Its simply a comment about blogging in general, but was sparked by my last post. Today I was rereading what I wrote about ratemycop.com and decided I wanted to google the site to try to find out more information, as well as more about what other bloggers thought of it. The first blog I came across was this one. First I read through what the blogger had to say and then I came to the comments section. There were about 100 comments in response to this blog posting.

Who cares who this blogger is, who cares what he has to say about this topic, I just want MY opinion published online!

...And that is the mindset of most internet users, especially those who read blogs on a regular basis. Now I'm not trying to be hypocritical...I myself fall into this category. Sometimes I comment on others' blogs to simply state my mind. To make my opinion heard. But the reality is...who reads these comments? I surely didn't make a point to read these comments when I was finished reading the post. The only reason I even looked at them was because I noticed how many there actually were, which consequently made me curious about what they were saying.

We as human beings have an innate desire to be heard. And blogs and commenting on blogs is the "2000 dot com" outlet of our thoughts. So whats next? What will be the next letter to the editor?

Rate Your Police Officer

You're probably familiar with websites that enable you to rate your professors or doctors. However, there is now a website (ratemycop.com) that allows individuals to rate their local police officers. Does this use of technology increase, decrease, or not have an effect on public safety in big cities such as New York City?

Many argue that this is actually a website that puts the police officers (and their families) in harm. Their full names and agencies are listed on the website and are just waiting for unhappy citizens to lash out against them. However, the creators of the website argue that the information listed on the website is not any more than is listed on a traffic ticket (which is likely to be the reason for an individual to rate a cop).

The way I see it, these police officers have no way of defending themselves. Obviously Im against police brutality. Obviously I want police officers to act justly and ethically. However, I also want safe streets and I don't want police officers to not rightly do their jobs because they are worried about their reputations on a website. At what point has technology in this case counteracted its purpose in increasing public safety?

Small Businesses Bring Technical Expertise

On March 13, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it awarded 22 additional small businesses to receive funding through the department's Small Business Innovation Research program to further technology innovation for security purposes. Small businesses can be rewarded up to $100,000 each in Phase I and $750,000 each in Phase II. Research put out by these small businesses include chemical and biological sensors, biological analysis devices, unattended ground sensors, 3-D visualization systems, and simulation-based training systems. This is an example of how using advanced technology to further safety in New York City can further advance the technology used by all industries across the nation.

New York City Bomb

Unfortunately, on March 6th, an explosive device was set off in Times Square. This was an incident in which it would have been helpful to use handheld devices [that I mentioned in my posting about Vantage Point] between the local police department, the fire station, nearby hospitals, and the Joint Terrorism Task Force (the large Police Department and F.B.I. unit that investigates terrorism) to keep all departments in communication and current with the situation. Additionally, this was a good opportunity for them to use Notify NYC for a smaller, but still needed, situation. However, according to the Notify NYC website, no messages were issued on March 6. The following messages are the most recent notifications that the system sent:

10:01 am - TUE, March 11, 2008
Notify NYC - Notification--MN
Notification 2 on 03/11/08 at 10:00.
Due to a watermain break, the following street closures are in effect: Church Street and 6 Ave are both closed from Franklin Street to Walker Street.

1:17 am - TUE, Feb. 26, 2008
Notify NYC - Notification - Manhattan
Notification 2 issued 02/26/08, 0117 hrs.
The FDNY has placed the fire under control, and emergency activity at 47 West St.(at Rector St.) has concluded.

3:29 pm - WED, Feb. 20, 2008
Notify NYC Test
This is a monthly test of Notify NYC, the City of New York's emergency public messaging program. During an emergency, this system may be used to deliver important information. Thank you for your participation.

4:53 pm - SUN, Jan. 13, 2008
Notify NYC - Notification
National Weather Service has issued a heavy snow warning from 9 pm till noon Monday. 5 - 7 inches of snowfall possible.

While these are all very important messages, I think a message should have been sent out about the bomb. Although fortunately in this case it was an isolated instance, it very well could resulted in other implications. According to the NY Times article, "Although the damage today was relatively minor, the prominent location of the blast at a time of heightened concerns about terrorism attracted national attention". It seems to me that this would just as important, if not more important, to inform Notify NYC participants about.

Additionally, the bomb caused over a dozen subways to be temporarily shut down. Shouldn't the Notify NYC participants have been notified of this? What's the point of having advanced technology if we don't utilize its capabilities?

Like I said in an earlier posting about the steam pipe explosion, it is normal for people in NYC to panic and assume the worst. After all, having lived through 9/11 why wouldn't you? One woman in the NYT article solidifies my point: "I thought it was thunder at first, just one single huge bang. So I got up to look out the window, saw nothing, then spent the rest of the night worrying what it was. I thought it couldn’t be a terrorist attack in the middle of the night, right? But I was concerned.” A message from Notify NYC could have better informed NYC residents and quickly alleviated any concerns about terrorism as soon as updated information was available.

Predictive Analytics in Public Safety

There has been a recent movement to apply business techniques to law enforcement and intelligence. According to an article in the July/August 2006 edition of IT Pro, analysts can actually apply specific statistical algorithms to historical data to predict crime in densely populated cities, such as NYC. Unfortunately, predicting low frequency events such as crime often has poor overall accuracy. It can however, be useful in determing the distribution of force deployment. Therefore advanced data mining and predictive analytics are now being used to create statistical models to determine where to deploy enforcement. The following figure illustrates an example of this type of application:



It's amazing to me how accurately we can predict outcomes using data mining. At what point do you think we are just writing algorithms to try to predict the unknown to simply make us feel safer? Do we try to explain the future using a mathematical function so that we can simply say we are cracking down on crime or can we really use statistical models (such as the figure above) to improve public safety in areas such as NYC where location really matters?

Knowledge Management in Public Safety

I just read an article about the use of advanced technology in public safety in Nassau County, NY. Every car that comes into the village has its drivers license scanned. The increased use of technology in its security surveillance is linked to the police department's transition to an entirely paperless system. The article goes on to explain that officers are equipped with handheld devices that can scan license plates and instantly receive information pertaining to warrants. The Nassau County Police Department is eager to share its technology with neighboring departments. It can communicate with any other department that uses the same software. The police in Long Beach and Mamaroneck are the first to adapt to the new software.

So where am I going with this? I think the technology has the potential to provide useful information to police in neighborhoods of NYC that require constant surveillance. In Los Angeles, the police are familiar with the local gangs (so familiar that they know each member's name, date of initiation, and family affiliations). Understanding the community (and trying to relate to the members to gain their trust) helps alleviate problems in the neighborhood. This is particularly important in the neighborhood surrounding my campus (USC). I'm sure this same type of community understanding and awareness exists in NYC and can be improved with the use of handheld high-tech devices. Police can receive up-to-date information about gang members and easily store information about their connections and affiliations. Obviously there is some question of privacy here, but it at least has the potential to explore the idea of using handheld devices as a form of knowledge management in public safety.

Vantage Point

I've learned in my entrepreneurship classes that often times the best inventions come from completely "off the walls" ideas that seem like they are completely impossible to either build or implement. These imaginary products often give way to actually feasible ideas.

Last night I saw the movie "Vantage Point" (although I'm not going to discuss the movie in much detail, if you plan on seeing it, you may not want to continue reading) and an almost completely "off the walls" piece of technology in the movie gave me an idea for an implementation of technology to improve NYC's public safety.

Although used by terrorists, a piece of technology appeared in the movie that could be used on the safety enforcement to improve communication and timely response in the event of an emergency. This piece of technology was similar to a Palm Pilot but was able to carry through actions of other pieces of equipment similar to a remote control. For example, the hand held device was used to turn on a fan hundreds of yards away in addition to its typical text messaging capabilities. I'm thinking that public officials could have devices such as this one that could perform activities that could be necessary in the event of a terrorist attack or natural disaster. The device could manipulate traffic signal lights to clear way for NYPD or NYFD or could be used as a "chat room" for multiple officials from different departments to communicate. It could also have auto-set buttons working together with a GPS chip that could be activated if back up was required. This would enable back up (either police or more fire trucks/ambulances) to be quickly called for without having to stop what they are doing. I think such a hand held device has a lot of potential for use in public safety.

*In case you haven't seen the movie, still read this, and want to see it, yes I recommend it! It got really bad reviews and I would have to say that the acting/writing at the end got really bad, but I think the concept was really cool (just poorly executed) and the use of the technology was pretty cool too. Trailer Link

Notify NYC

Similar to the emergency alert system recently implemented by USC, NYC mayor Bloomberg announced the launch of a program called Notify NYC this past December. The program allows any interested individual to sign up to receive information via email, text messages, and recorded phone calls in the unfortunate event of an emergency. There are two types of alerts: those of a time sensitive nature and those that serve as informational.

I think this technology has great potential and can be used in a greater application to reach a wider group of people in case of an emergency. This program relies on people signing up--and for whatever reason people sometimes are reluctant to sign up for services regardless of the program's potential for safety. Wireless service providers can team up with the New York City government to make the service a program offered directly through the cell phone contract. Ideally, the text messages and voice messages would be offered free of charge. This would definitely increase the number of people who would receive the emergency updates.

I'm going to continue researching this program and write more soon. In the meantime, you can read more about the program here

Why are we always Reactive?

After September 11, NYC rushed to create a wireless public safety network. In 2006, the NYC government finally signed a $500 million contract with Northrop Grumman to provide this service. It is an example of how this country is prone to taking reactive, rather than proactive measures, in response to terrorism and natural disasters. Here are a few other examples of reactive behavior:

• In 2006, TSA banned airline passengers from carrying on board liquids over 3 ounces
• Immediately after 9/11, airline security required the cockpit door to always be secured--did we really need a hijacker to prove that this was necessary?
• The country is just now trying to secure our ports
• Formation of the Department of Homeland Security

Although I think it is extremely important to set up a wireless public safety network that allows the NYPD, NYFD, Transportation Department, and Office of Emergency Management high speed network capabilities to improve communication, why didn't anyone think of this before? All of these departments are interrelated and share common duties. Did the country need a wake up call of this size to implement such a communication system? We can conduct video conferences with ten executives from ten different countries, but we couldn't communicate between a few departments residing in the same city until we realized it might be necessary?

IT Consulting firms are now taking a proactive approach in emergency preparedness. They offer services that leave businesses better prepared in case of an emergency--this means anywhere from remote backups to complete internal architecture blueprint restructuring. NYC needs to follow this lead and take a proactive step towards securing its city. Finish the implementation of the wireless public safety network and then utilize resources to look for creative solutions to problems that have not already happened. The discovery phase of this proactive approach will not only improve the security of the city, but it will further advance technology and lead way to new technology that can be used in other applications.

In my next few blog postings, I will illustrate fictional scenarios and possible solutions that employ advanced technology.

On a side note...

On a side note, I would like to preface this blog with a personal story...

Last summer I lived in New York City while I completed an internship. On July 18, a steam pipe exploded near Grand Central Station shortly before I left my office. I was about to walk to the elevators, when my manager stopped me and said he had just heard that a building next to our firm's office (we were currently at a client site about 13 blocks north and 2 avenues west) had just exploded. With no other information, especially in a city with its unfortunate past, we all assumed the worst: terrorism. I proceeded downstairs unsure of what to do. I walked outside and called my dad, who was on the other side of the country in California. For at least ten minutes, my phone could not call out. Everyone around me appeared to be on their phones. Fortunately I finally reached my dad and he immediately turned on the tv but could not find out any information. Within seconds of walking outside, I overheard hundreds of cell phone conversations each with a different version of the story. Who do you believe?

"A building just collapsed and people are running!"

That was all I had to hear. Typically, I would take the subway home but with the thought of terrorism on my mind I decided I would walk home (about 40 blocks and a few avenues). All around me I could see people in a panic. I decided to walk towards the site of the explosion (although looking back now that was such an idiotic thing to do, given the circumstances. It's funny because I never understood why people just stand around and watch when they could be putting their lives in danger and yet I was one of those bystanders). I passed people covered in soot and even some people who appeared to be bleeding. During this long trek home, I never once got off the phone with my dad, for fear of not being able to call back, as well as hoping he would find out the truth.

It was at least an hour before any news site or tv station on the west coast had any information about what had really happened. In actuality, a building did not explode. A building did not collapse (although people were really running). And most importantly, it was not an act of terrorism. However, for at least an hour, millions of people feared for their lives unsure of the implications. Technology could have eased everyone's pain. First of all, wireless networks could have been improved to allow more people to dial out (especially during a crisis situation). Second, a public announcement distributed through multiple technology enabled channels could have eased everyone's concerns. Public officials knew almost immediately that it was a steam pipe and not a building. And while they could not instantaneously rule out terrorism, it is much easier to justify a steam pip explosion as a natural disaster than as an act of terrorism.

As someone who is moving to NYC and has three siblings who lived in NYC during 9/11, I would very much like to see technology improve in situations such as these. My postings will very likely be influenced by this personal story and will reflect my feelings and emotions that I experienced on July 18, 2007 because it is the closest act of terrorism I have to relate to.

If you walked by THIS and had no idea what was going on, what would you think had happened???

Meet Me!

My name is Ariel Saldin and I am currently a senior at the University of Southern California, majoring in Business Information Systems. Originally from Long Island, NY, I plan to move to New York City upon graduation in May. As a product of an electrical engineer and a computer programmer, I have grown up with a deep interest in technology and its role in various environments. I have witnessed the birth of multiple entrepreneurial startups in my family related to satellite communication devices, database programming consulting, home theater entertainment systems, and most recently a private audiology practice focused on hearing aid screening and sales.


Although I am interested in all of these fields, I myself am most interested in the role of technology in my future city of residency, New York City. Therefore, in this blog in the weeks to come, I plan to discuss the role of technology in public safety (more specifically related to disaster awareness and recovery) in New York City. I will briefly discuss the evolution of technology since 9/11, but will focus on recent developments in technology that have created a safer and more prepared city. Additionally using trade publications and relevant tech sites as secondary sources, I will highlight new technologies that have been created or modified for the purpose of disaster awareness and recovery but are now being used for other functions. I will also pull opinions from other bloggers and people I know who live in NYC and ultimately hope to prove in this blog that technology has not only improved disaster awareness and recovery in New York City, but that the R&D associated with these projects has actually improved the quality of technology.


I am currently writing from New York (I am in town for my nephew's one year birthday party) and plan to discuss this topic with my friends and relatives who currently live in NYC. It is my hope that they share my same opinion on this subject, but if not, I will have an opposing viewpoint to share when I return.

And on a final and non-related note, it just started snowing! :)