yet another taxpayer shakedown

from the boston globe on february 27th:

Despite new taxes, an improving economy, and staffing cuts, Boston is still facing a $42 million shortfall in the next budget year that could require more pink slips at City Hall, city officials said yesterday.

To close the gap, major city agencies have been asked to trim budgets by 1 percent, cuts that “may require layoffs,’’ said Lisa Calise Signori, the city’s director of administration and finance.

“Everything has to be on the table,’’ Signori said.

which logically leads to a story from the boston globe today:

A labor arbitration panel has ruled that Boston firefighters must submit to random drug and alcohol testing in exchange for a 19 percent raise over four years, a significant bump that will dwarf the pay increases for other city unions.

The decision, released yesterday after a bitter four-year standoff, is largely a victory for the firefighters, who the city says will receive a wage boost that is 5 percent higher than what police unions received. The size of the award puts Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s administration in a precarious position as negotiations begin this spring with the city’s 44 collective bargaining units, heightening expectations for raises.

im at the point where i want to just give up.

how can such a huge raise be justified in this economy?

why does adding a drug test equal a bump in pay? god forbid we have firefighters that arent high on the job.

why did it take so long to have a drug testing policy?

why are government employees unionized with the very politicians they elect negotiating their contracts?

where will all this extra money come from?

if a firefighter fails a drug test, will he be fired or "put into rehab" while being paid?


EVERYONE needs to go this november! if youre an incumbent, you automatically do not have my vote.

primary care shortage

the passing of the health care reform bill will put a greater emphasis on the need for primary care physicians. the trends dont look positive in supporting those needs.

** the US health care system has about 100,000 family physicians and will need 139,531 in 10 years.

** the number of US medical school students going into primary care has dropped 51.8% since 1997.

** it is predicted that there will be a shortage of 40,000 family physicians in 2020, when the demand is expected to spike due to the aging baby boomers.

** it takes 10-11 years to train a physician which means many more medical students need to begin opting for primary care now in order to meet these rising needs.

dunkin donuts math

im a big fan of dunkin donut iced coffees. just look at the name of this blog; i drink a lot of them. i typically order a medium iced coffee, cream, one sugar. since ive been seeing their billboards recently advertising the new dark roast blend i thought i would give it a try. but since it made me stray from rotely ordering how i normally do, i happened to look up at the menu board.

medium hot coffee $1.79
medium iced coffee $2.25

hmmm, is there really $0.46 worth more coffee in an iced coffee? i know the cups are larger but its mostly filled with ice.

so, naturally, i bought one of each to measure.

the hot coffee measured out to 15oz. once you remove the ice, the iced coffee measured out to 13oz.

why am i paying more for less coffee? shouldnt i just get a hot coffee and pay a nickel for a cup of ice instead?

i contacted dunkin donuts to ask the same question. ill let you know what they say.


**UPDATE: i heard back from customer service via email but also contacted a friend of mine that works for dunkin donuts marketing and both responded the same way.

"it is a little difficult to compare hot and iced coffee as they are totally different products. our iced coffee is double brewed so in fact you are getting twice the coffee in that product."

the idea being your coffee will get watered down with the ice so it needs to be doubly strong. shouldnt i get a jolt of caffeine with that first sip then? im not sure that i believe their response.

thank you comcast!

most of the time when im commenting on a companys customer service its because of how awful they performed. but not comcast in this case. and if im going to complain about bad service then i should also praise great service.

my internet went out last friday. the customer service agent on the phone did her best to solve the problem but couldnt do resolve the issue remotely, so she scheduled a tech to come to the house. i was blown away that they were available to come on easter sunday in the middle of the afternoon! even though he had to be away from his family and missing out on easter dinner, pierre the technician, was courteous, friendly and quickly diagnosed and fixed the problem.

i dont know if comcast has changed internally somehow or they if they just recognize the growing competition for cable service. but whatever the reason, its a welcome change and i thank them for it. keep up the great work!

april fool

so by now you may have heard the statements from representative hank johnson and his concerns about the stability of guam as an island. but i just cant listen to this clip enough. im not sure if mr johnsons statements or the admirals deadpan response are funnier.

if you havent seen it:



i have seen at least one response in defense of mr johnson.

if the statements in the defense are true, that they are just old friends essentially doing a comedy routine, then im perturbed that time and money is being wasted during a congressional hearing for this nonsense.

if this wasnt some sort of rehashed routine, im more than a little nervous that we have individuals like mr johnson writing the laws of the land.

what do you think? whos the fool?