Going through WaWithdrawal...

As a devout Philly native, living in the Wawa-less wilderness of North Jersey for the past 12 years has been sheer torture.  I feel guilty entering the local minimart chain, like a traitor, selling my soul to the Wawaless heathen for a cup of what is actually not horrible coffee. Guaranteed, with every trip south of the I-78 corridor, every effort is made to hit the closest Wawa, whether the frontier outpost on Route 202 North in Readington,  the gateway to the Poconos off exit 308 of I-80, or the Rio Grande or Marmora megaWawas; a stop is in order.  Gotta have my Wawa coffee, the kids want the shakes, and whatever else comes to mind.

So, earlier in 2010, Wawa announced the chain's first outlet in the NJ Highlands region(well, sort of), in Parsipanny, NJ off I-280 and New Road.  It is so close, I can almost smell the coffee, that is, once the store is finished.  You know it is bad when the kids are asking when it'll open.

I guess it could be worse, we could still be living in the south of England.  They don't even have Dunkin' Donuts there *GASP*.  For now, my fellow Delaware Valley expats, we can commiserate on Wawa's Facebook page.  Of course, until our local outlet opens, then all bets are off.  Just wish I could open one as a franchise...

Build a better mousetrap...

In the IT world, mice are often useful, so we usually don't try to kill them.  It's bugs we hate (sorry to those budding etymologists and pathologists out there, the term has its roots in the days of early room-sized computers, look it up).  Especially those that cause ID10T errors.  So, we don't build mousetraps.  We make things idiotproof.  However, I like to say, "If you make something idiotproof, they'll build a better idiot."

Case in point; the proliferation of scams on the web.  You can earn $500 dollars a day playing Farmville on Facebook.  You can see who is looking at your profile on Facebook (huge scam).  If you send your banking details to the lawyer/solicitor for a former Nigerian General (deceased), they'll deposit the sum of $2,000,000USD in your bank account.  If you forward this blog, Walt Disney Jr. and Micro$oft will fly you and your family to Dissney World.  This list is annoyingly endless; a relentless assault on our latent desires, greed and gullibility.

Perhaps P.T. Barnum was right; there is a sucker born every minute.

How would you define your generation?

Last year, I had to take a mandatory training regarding diversity, especially pertaining to generational differences.  Being I was born in the twilight of the Boomers, I don't really fit into the strict definition of any of the models.  Am I really a Boomer?  A Gen-Xer?  Given the state of the economy, I realize, I am actually Gen-F'd.  Though, seeing the current state of affairs, maybe that term can apply to all the post-boomer groups.  And no, I will no expand upon what the F stands for, as there are numerous connotations, and the most puerile is probably what the vast majority would suspect; but you must remember, who is throwing this definition out there...