Bay Bridge Closure

I’m sure everyone knows about this already but in case you’re like me and don’t pay attention… here’s the latest from the official website.

I assumed it would be closed only for 3 days because it was supposed to be “over labor day weekend”, but it’s actually going to be closed from Thursday, Sept 3 to Tuesday, Sept 8, almost 5 days.

Judging from last time, I’d assume that to be an overestimate and for them to be done before the 8th.

(Ironically, I can’t remember what “last time” is, but I remember them finishing way earlier than the estimate)

228 Memorial Park

As an addendum to my last post, I’m including some pictures I took for the 228 memorial park in Chiayi. I have pictures of the one in Taipei as well, but I know there are plenty of those out there! =)

I liked the park, even though it felt pretty run-down.  First thing was the museum:

With it’s nifty sign (it’s directly across from the entrance shown in the first photo).

EZ-Rider Parking Validation

I just found this video on the “new” EZ-Rider parking validation.  The video says registration is free before Feb, and $7 after Feb. 1st.

Wish you found out earlier, and wondering why a little hangtag costs so much?  Me too.

Until I found the official Bart source.  Ok it’s only $7 if you don’t already have EZ-Rider because you pay $5 for the card, and $2 for the hangtag.

Yes it’s not as good as free and it would have been nice to not miss it by ONE day…. but $2 is reasonable.  I assume the hangtag has some electronic coding on it as well.

$5 for the card isn’t horrible either, considering you get a pretty sturdy case and a strap (? correct me if I’m wrong, it’s been a while and I don’t use a strap) in addition to the card and paying less for fare.

Side note: Hope this doesn’t increase car volume in the parking lots..  It’s already crowded enough as it is in some locations..!

Schmap

I just found out that one of my photos were included in some sort of map/guide publication (?) called Schmap.  I think this is the direct link to it.

While it’s pretty exciting, I think it’s less the quality of the picture and more the availability of pictures for People’s Cafe (since there were no other pictures for that spot).  Speaking of which, they have great mexican hot cocoa and turkey wraps.. go try it sometime!

To be honest, I feel like they picked the worst picture I took from that location :p  At least two other pictures showed more of the cafe and would be more representative of how the cafe looks…

Well, getting picked for being the only one with a picture from a location is better than not getting picked at all, right?

Regarding driving and saving gas

I might have given the wrong impression so here’s a more in-depth entry on the subject.

There are really three issues here: saving gas/money, and driving slower:

Saving Gas

The idea of driving to save gas amuses me. If you want to save gas, don’t drive. Take bart, bus, caltrain, muni, bike, walk, whatever. Or carpool.

Slow down to save gas?

I found this article in the SF Chronicle which talked about saving gas by slowing down to 55mph on freeways. It’s an interesting read… gotta love the rude/emotional comments from both sides.

My take:

First of all, why are we looking at values for cars made starting 1988? I think it’s common knowledge that older cars are very gas inefficient. I’d like to see a more recent study on the cars out on the road today.

Second, the article assumes that driving slower is better, which is hardly conclusive. I think it really depends on the type of car you’re driving, how you drive, and what actual speed you’re driving at.

United Airlines’ new baggage policy

I wasn’t aware of this until my dad told me, so in case you’re as out of it as I am: Starting in May, economy flyers can only check one bag when you fly on UA (used to be two).

I looked on their website, but it has not updated new/future policies. However, seatguru.com had a very detailed outline of their new rules. Not long ago, they lowered the maximum weight of checked packages, and now this. I guess rising gas prices are taking a toll.

Quick Summary:

If you purchased your ticket before 2/4/08 or is flying before 5/5/08, you get a break and you can still check two pieces of baggage. Otherwise, you can only check one package weighting 50 lb/23 kg.

One exception for economy flyers is if you have refundable/standard award tickets, or are Premier/Premier Associate Mileage Plus/Star Alliance Silver members on any fare or award ticket.

You can pay for excess bags, but apparently that’s only if there’s available space.

Personal Thoughts

Free Half-Day Tour in Taipei

I was looking up some tourism stuff and found this page. Unfortunately, I can’t take advantage of it because it’s for transit or transfer passengers (at Taoyuan Airport) only.

Anyway, thought I’d put it up in case anyone has some time to spare between flights and want a free half day tour through parts of Taipei.

Looks like a pretty good deal, although the morning tour seems to go to less places. I assume it’s because the temples and pottery center are further/more spread out, while the other tour is focused on spots inside the city (which you could probably get to with MRT).