Enlightenment in Bean Town

Enlightenment in Bean Town, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

I was in Boston in June of 2012 for the HOW Design Conference. One evening I was walking around looking for things to shoot when I saw this closed Apple Store. It looked different and interesting to me, probably because the lighting was subdued and the glass spiral staircase was illuminated so beautifully. I decided to take a few images but I was getting a lot of reflection shooting thru the glass doors. To partially solve this issue, I pressed my lens right up against the glass which prompted the guard standing outside to walk over and inquire what the hell I was doing. I slowly explained the issue while I took 10 bracketed shots. I’ve found that when dealing with security or the police, it’s a good idea to stall. You might buy enough time to get the shots you want. It worked in this case.
While I buy most of my electronics and computer equipment online, I've learned to appreciate the excellent customer service I've experienced at Apple retail stores. The items I buy there tend to be fairly expensive Apple hardware that I can’t get elsewhere for a significant discount. When I buy, I’ve already done my research. I know exactly what I want. I might have a few technical questions I want answered before I purchase, so going to the Apple store makes sense to me. Apple retail store employees seem to be very well trained. They listen carefully to my questions, restate them to me to confirm they understand what I am asking for, and then usually ask a few good questions themselves, apparently to better understand my needs and enhance their ability provide a comprehensive answer. The first time I encountered this I was stunned and very pleased. I discussed it with my family and friends and frankly I wondered if I had just been fortunate and had met a particularly effective employee. But this was not the case. Every time I visited an Apple store and engaged the sales staff, my initial impression was reinforced. Apple has managed to inculcate a culture of retail excellence. With retailers struggling to survive in highly competitive markets, it makes me wonder why this is so rare. Why do most sales people not know their products? Why to retailers try to push unsuitable products on ill-informed customers, alienating them in the process? Why not provide solutions and earn customer loyalty?
It's sad and reflects poorly on other brick and mortar retailers that I find sales people who are helpful and knowledgeable about their products to be exceptional. I’ve never had an Apple employee try to hard sell me on something I didn't come into the store for, nor have they ever tried to jam an extended warranty down my throat. I have to go to Best Buy for that type of treatment which is one reason I avoid shopping there.
I heard recently that both Best Buy and Fry’s have implemented policies to match internet pricing if the customer provides proof that the item is in stock and if the online vendor is an authorized reseller. Given that both stores seem to sell everything at list price, this is a big change but probably won’t be enough to save them from extinction.

1075 to the Castro

1075 to the Castro, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

Historic PCC streetcar number 1075 pauses for a portrait in front of San Francisco's equally historic ferry building. This car was built in 1946 and is painted in the colors of the Cleveland Transit System which apparently are similar to the colors used by the Cleveland Browns football team. Kathy had business in San Francisco early in the week and I joined her after her meetings concluded on Friday. We stayed in town until Sunday and had a pretty nice time as we usually do when visiting San Francisco. We both wanted to take more photos of the Market Street Railway streetcars. It's been at least 2 years since I've done so. The challenge is that they don't actually pose for portraits. They have a schedule to keep, so I have to shoot quickly and efficiently if I expect to finish my HDR sequences before they take off for the next stop down the line. Kathy initially didn't take her tripod, preferring the lighter gorilla pod. I brought her carbon fiber tripod to use and she gladly availed herself of it as well.

Rust in Peace

Rust in Peace, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

“Well hello old friend.” I thought when I walked around a corner and saw this 1938 Chevrolet at the Greater Whittier Area Car Show held last weekend.
I had previously seen this truck sitting in a far corner of the 2012 Uptown Whittier car show and once again a couple of years earlier, parked forlornly, unnoticed in the shade of an old oak tree at the Whittier founder’s day celebration. As you can see, it’s not your typical glamour ride. But its classic design is all the more visually compelling to me when I survey its blighted and distressed curving surfaces, its faded and chipped paint still resisting the elements - defiantly hanging on, and its rust pitted grill proudly jutting forward – all of which seem to say “just a few more miles before we rest”.
For all I know this might have been the 75th time this truck visited the founders day celebration. I can imagine it quietly slipping into the same parking spot back in 1938, Its 6 cylinder engine now silent, its factory fresh two-tone paint has never known a scratch or a dent. I can almost hear its radio reporting that Howard Hughes has set another aviation record – this time for a flight around the world, and that changing weather patterns are responsible for floods and landslides in Los Angeles where 200 have already perished. But here in Whittier’s Central Park – The Quaker people are happy, celebrating with their neighbors. The musicians on the bandstand certainly aren’t playing the latest Fats Waller tune but more likely a Sousa march. The watermelon eating contest is nearly over and the town librarian has walked to the park’s edge and stands near a small oak tree, one of many planted around the perimeter, rehearsing for his reading of a John Greenleaf Whittier poem.
By 1942 the United States had entered World War II and The Chevy was displaying its type “B” gasoline rationing sticker on the windshield, indicating that the driver was a business owner and needed to travel more than some others and therefore was accorded a larger allocation of fuel. Tires and anything made of rubber are now hard to come by. Everyone needs to make things last. The owner needed this truck to keep working just a little longer.

The decades come and go, owners too I’ll bet. Maybe it will outlast us all.