Dot Boston » bicycle http://adamp.com Apple, Bicycles, Boston, Dot and Web Media Mon, 25 Oct 2010 02:57:58 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Why Drivers Shouldn’t Honk at Cyclists http://adamp.com/bike-2/why-drivers-shouldnt-honk-at-cyclists/ http://adamp.com/bike-2/why-drivers-shouldnt-honk-at-cyclists/#comments Wed, 04 Aug 2010 23:32:04 +0000 Adam http://adamp.wp42.com/?p=2781 Honking is to alert other drivers to a potentially dangerous situation. Honking is not for relieving your rush-hour anger or for encouraging cyclists to get out of your way. The road is not yours, it is ours. We must share it. Honking for no reason only serves to minimize the power of the horn.

You Honk, I Slow Down

Besides, it only serves to give you less space when honking at cyclists like me. I’m a big believer in owning the road as a safety precaution. If you think you need more space, take it. Pedaling confidently is much safer for the cyclist, other vehicles and pedestrians.

Does this mean I always take up the whole lane anytime someone honks at me? No, it does mean that when I hear a honk I slow down and look around. If the honking was valid, for example I fell asleep at a green light or was blocking an emergency vehicle, then of course I adjust appropriately. If the honking was to encourage me to move over so you can speed past me, then I usually move further into the lane and block you from passing me.

Why do I do this?

Because 90% of the time if you can’t pass a bicycle you either shouldn’t be passing because the road is too narrow or you suck at driving. Often, it’s the latter. Years of cycling has taught me that moving aside for the aggressive driver is more dangerous than owning the lane and preventing this person who shouldn’t be allowed to drive from barreling past me at unsafe speeds.

I also own the lane if I need to because cars and New England winters have turned the road surface into a scene right out of Wack-A-Mole. If I need to take up the whole lane and slow down a bunch of cars to avoid the potholes created cars, then that’s what I’m going to do. You getting to the next red light is not a priority for me, me getting there safely is.

So next time you see a bicyclist taking up “too much space” or impeding you somehow, look around first and see if there’s a reason for it. Don’t instantly blast your horn because it may simply slow you down even further.

]]> http://adamp.com/bike-2/why-drivers-shouldnt-honk-at-cyclists/feed/ 10 Five Things I Adore about Dorchester http://adamp.com/boston/five-things-i-adore-about-dorchester/ http://adamp.com/boston/five-things-i-adore-about-dorchester/#comments Sun, 04 Oct 2009 18:59:34 +0000 Adam http://adamp.wp42.com/?p=2699 Today is ADORE-Chester! day, a celebration of Dorchester, my home neighborhood where I was born, raised, and live in today. There’s many great things about Dorchester, but for today’s article we’ll talk about five of them. For more great points of Dorchester, check out the other blogs participating in ADORE-Chester! Day.

  1. Dorchester’s History

    2. Dorchester is an old place, founded before the City of Boston, filled with historical nuggets and firsts. For instance, did you know Dorchester once literally sprawled over and beyond Greater Boston, coming within just feet of the Rhode Island border?

    As noted in my Dorchester Day article for The Dorchester Reporter, Dorchester has staken a claim as the

    home of the first free public school in the USA, the first community health center, the first settlement in Suffolk County, and the first government run by town hall meetings

  2. Dorchester’s Architecture

    3. Modern and centuries old structures populate Dorchester’s landscape. The William Clapp house was built in 1806, the James Blake house is even older built in 1650. And modern buildings are being built as we speak, with the most recent in progress development being the the new Carpenters Center on Dorchester Avenue overlooking I-93. A much needed modern building in a location that makes for a much more inviting welcome into Dorchester coming into the neighborhood from the city.

  3. Dorchester’s Diversity

    4. Young and old, rich and poor, people of nearly all nationalities fill the streets of Dorchester. Our diversity is one of our strongest strengths, and creates a populace that learns from and leans on each other, rather than viewing people as different.

  4. The Polish Triangle

    5. Well, I am a Polish-American (born in the U.S.A., by two Polish-born parents), so how could I not list The Polish Triangle, an officially recognized area of Boston that is filled with Polish culture and history. We’ve got great restaurants, friendly neighbors, and a giant pear. A win for all.

  5. Dot Bike

    6. As a Boston bicyclist, I love that the Dorchester bicycle community is strong and big. Walking, biking, or driving around Dorchester you can spot bicyclists all over the place. The simple bicycle is a great example of how Dorchester is an economical, efficient, and self-powered place where independence is valued and pride in oneself and one’s area is strong.

  6. Leonard Nimoy

    7. A bonus point! At the behest of my step-brother, I must add the bonus point that Leonard Nimoy was born in Dorchester. The definitive star trekker began his star tripping in the best neighborhood in Boston, Dot.

    These Blogs Adore Dorchester too:

    ]]> http://adamp.com/boston/five-things-i-adore-about-dorchester/feed/ 12 Boston #BikeUp This Sunday http://adamp.com/boston/boston-bikeup-this-sunday/ http://adamp.com/boston/boston-bikeup-this-sunday/#comments Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:16:09 +0000 Adam http://adamp.wp42.com/?p=2268 Sick of all the rain that’s been falling in Boston lately? Well, this Sunday afternoon, June 28th is being forecast as rain-free or at least rain-lite so it’ll be a perfect time to get on your bike and pedal about!

    To that end, come join Aaron Cohen (@UnlikelyWords), Josh Gans (@SportsFan4), and myself (@AdamPieniazek) at Boston’s first ever #BikeUp! We’ll be meeting in Davis Square at 10:45 AM and heading out for the Minuteman Bike Trail at 11AM. While technically not in Boston, we say close enough. Future city rides are being planned for along the Charles and along the beach and shore in Southie and Dorchester, as well as a few other rides.

    Minuteman Bike Trail

    For this first one, we figured we’d pick one of the easier trails to see how everything goes. For anyone who hasn’t ridden it, the Minuteman Bike trail runs from Cambridge to Bedford, going through Arlington, Lexington, and Concord. It’s relatively flat both ways and a fairly easy trip. We don’t plan on going all the way to Bedford this time out, rather we’ll see how everyone feels at a few rest stops.

    It should be a lot of fun and a great way to meet some of the other bicyclists in the Greater Boston area.

    Sign up for the Boston #BikeUp on the facebook event page or the eventbrite page. See you there!

    ]]>     http://adamp.com/boston/boston-bikeup-this-sunday/feed/ 3     Boston Guest Post Roundup http://adamp.com/blog/boston-guest-post-roundup/ http://adamp.com/blog/boston-guest-post-roundup/#comments Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:51:18 +0000 Adam http://adamp.wp42.com/?p=2219 The past week or two I’ve written a few guest posts for two other Boston blogs that I’ll share with you here.

    Why I Bike

    Shane from Boston Biker approached me about writing a guest post for his awesome blog about bicycling in Boston. I was glad to accept as Boston and bicycling are two of my passions I never get tired of writing about. My guest post for Boston Biker talks about why I choose to ride a bicycle as my main transportation method. Bicycling is economical, environmentally friendlier than driving, and a great form of exercise but that’s not why I bike.

    Social Media Roundup from Boston

    In a guest post for Boston Young Entreprenuers, I linked to five stories from social media bloggers in Boston, with a little personal opinion mixed in from yours truly. Great way to get some quick info about building a web presence, and how to use that presence effectively and sustainably while getting productivity out of social networks.

    Wrap-up of The 42nd Estate’s BYE Presentation

    In May, I presented The 42nd Estate’s business model at a Boston Young Entreprenuers meeting. I received tons of great feedback and wrote a post for BYE on what I learned from presenting.

    Hope you enjoy them!

    ]]>     http://adamp.com/blog/boston-guest-post-roundup/feed/ 0     Web Quotes & Counterpoints XII http://adamp.com/web-quotes/web-quotes-counterpoints-xii/ http://adamp.com/web-quotes/web-quotes-counterpoints-xii/#comments Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:07:55 +0000 Adam http://adamp.wp42.com/?p=913 Lately a ton of great posts and articles were published, setting up a great edition of Web Quotes and Counterpoints. Let’s get right to it!

    • First up, check out my entrepreneurship coach’s latest post about living fearlessly and without regrets. The crux of the post is that we should act more and spend less time worrying about what our proper actions should be. Once we learn to recognize our fears and anxieties as feelings that we produce internally, we move closer to our core, to our competitive advantage. It’s a great motto and the less time we spend fearing the more time we can spend creating genuine, quality content. Lately, I’ve been in a bit of a funk and Tom’s post reminds me to simply be myself and my readers will appreciate my honesty and will be delivered a better product, whether that’s a blog post here, an article at one of The 42nd Estate’s properties or a paid service (more to come on The 42nd Estate’s upcoming services and new design very soon). Make sure to check out Tom’s post, especially if you’ve found yourself contemplating at the expensive of actual action. My on footnote to Tom’s post would be to be careful. Living fearlessly doesn’t necessarily mean exposing your innermost secrets to the world, which could be dangerous depending on your secrets and current career. To me, living fearlessly means acting without worrying about negative consequences, but you should still plan for all situations and realize that the more you expose yourself the higher the reward but also the higher the risk.
    • After you’re done reading and commenting on Tom’s post, bounce on over to fellow The 42nd Estate member, Justin Wright’s blog post about the top ten WordPress plugins you can’t miss. It seems like every blogger and his/her mom publishes a top ten WordPress plugins list, but Justin’s list features several very useful plugins I’ve never heard of before, such as Theme Test Drive, which allows you to load a different theme from your blog’s public theme that will show only to logged in administrators. It’s a great plugin that allows you to tweak or test a new theme and ensure it works without submitting your visitors to a work in progress theme. Another great plugin on Justin’s list is the Automated Excerpts plugin, which automatically creates a post excerpt while keeping intact any formating and tagging on the post. A nice time-saver!

      Two additionals plugins I’ll recommend that are not on Justin’s list are the Flickr Photo Album plugin and the Whydowork Adsense plugin. I use the Flickr Photo Album plugin to generate the photo album section on my blog here. The Whydowork plugin is great as it inserts adsense code into your theme so you don’t have to go mucking about in the code and even better it has a feature that allows you to rotate different ad types into the post based on how old the post is. It’s a great feature as it allows you to show a small ad when the post is first published, and then automatically switches to a larger, more lucrative ad after a set period of time. Make sure you check out Justin’s post for the full list and let us know if you use a plugin you find particularly useful that’s not mentioned.

    • Since we just took a look at a post from a 42nd Estate member, we’ll keep the theme on business as we take a look at ten tax deductions freelancers can make. Freelance Switch, a great resource for freelancers such as myself, posts some common tax deductions that we freelancers can take. The list includes deductions for:

      1. unpaid invoices
      2. paypal fees
      3. job hunting fees (such as fees to access Elance or other job boards)
      4. cellphone and skype bills
      5. home office expenses.

      Head on over to Freelance Switch to check out the full list. Remember to consult a tax professional before utilizing any of these tips.

    • Perhaps you’re not quite a freelancer yet and are considering making the move from a full-time job to freelancing. If so, check out Daniel’s latest post at Daily Blog Tips about the asset value factor of working online. In the post, Daniel explains that we cannot simply look at annual gross income in a full-time job versus freelancing and decide which is more lucrative, as freelancing and working online also develops value in your blog, brand, and skill set. If you consider that your blog and other sites are valuable assets that can generate income via a sale then you’ll see that annual gross income is just one part of an online freelancer’s compensation. Be careful, however, not to overvalue your blog’s worth when making this comparison, which could lead to you making the leap to freelancing before you are ready.
    • One of the reasons I’ve been posting less here the past couple of months is due to the winter weather that forced me off daily bike routine. It may sound odd but riding my bicycle actually gives me energy and helps me generate article ideas (biking around gives you plenty of solitary time to think). Without my daily bike boost, I fell into a slump that I’m now emerging from, thanks to the improved weather and my return to biking the past few weeks. With this in mind, I’d like you to check out the latest post over at Boston Biker, which urges fellow Bostonian bicyclists to smile and say hello to other bikes they see out on the roads. The thought is that we can generate a friendly, happy bicycling community here in Boston and by doing so will encourage more people to leave the confines of their automobiles and hit the streets on two wheels. I like the idea and think it ties in a little bit with Tom Volkar’s post about living fearlessly. Instead of isolating ourselves and acting as if we’re all still in cars, bicyclists should embrace their fellow bikers and create a positive environment for us to travel in.

      To a certain extent, I feel this sort of attitude comes naturally to bicycling, as we experience an adrenaline rush while pedaling that improves our mentality and makes us more susceptible to acting friendly. Now if we combine that with a conscious decision to greet other cyclists we can take on step towards getting even more cyclists out on the roads.

    That seems like a nice note to end this twelfth edition of Web Quotes and Counterpoints. Let me know any thoughts, comments or ideas you have on the above posts in the comments section below!

    ]]>     http://adamp.com/web-quotes/web-quotes-counterpoints-xii/feed/ 3     Check out My Article about Bikes Not Bombs in Momentum Magazine http://adamp.com/boston/check-out-my-article-about-bikes-not-bombs-in-momentum-magazine/ http://adamp.com/boston/check-out-my-article-about-bikes-not-bombs-in-momentum-magazine/#comments Mon, 12 Jan 2009 16:24:09 +0000 Adam http://adamp.wp42.com/?p=904 It’s been a bit too long since I’ve posted here and a few updates will come soon but for today, check out my first published article ever in the latest edition of Momentum Magazine! A while back I posted a review of Bikes Not Bombs on OTIBR.com and was approached by one of the editors at Momentum to submit a shortened version of the article for their magazine. Well, I ended up writing a completely new article and think it came out quite well. Check it out and give it some social love too!

    ]]>     http://adamp.com/boston/check-out-my-article-about-bikes-not-bombs-in-momentum-magazine/feed/ 21     A Few Quick Notes http://adamp.com/blog/a-few-quick-notes/ http://adamp.com/blog/a-few-quick-notes/#comments Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:09:23 +0000 Adam http://adamp.wp42.com/blog/a-few-quick-notes/ A few quick notes to let everyone know about some exciting times ahead for myself and this blog.

    My company

    My readers who’ve been here from the start, known that I started a company a while back with three of my friends. Well, that company never quite took off but in April of this year I started another company, The 42nd Estate, with three different friends and this time we’re getting things done and building momentum towards the launch of our first few web-sites. Over the coming weeks I’ll reveal more and more information about the company with all of you but for now let me tell you that I’m excited!

    Bicycle Film Festival

    As this company works towards launch more and more of my personal time will have to be devoted to making sure everything works. Now, I enjoy working and especially when I’m my own boss so it’s not a source of frustration or disappointment. Having said that, there are some social experiences I’ll miss out on over the next few weeks and months that I would normally love to go to. One such event was this past weekend’s Bicycle Film Festival, which I was scheduled to volunteer valet at but could not make it out on Saturday. Luckily, the people at MassBike had plenty of volunteers on hand and I can always attend next year’s festival.

    My coach

    A few weeks ago I announced a syndication deal with the Brazen Careerist site, where some posts from this blog will also be published on their site. Well, at the start of this month the Brazeen Careerist hooked me up with a few free hours with an entrepreneurship coach, Tom Volkar. Feeling that little bit of guidance was just what the doctor ordered I seized the opportunity. Over the past few weeks Tom and I have discussed a few of my goals and how to get past any obstacles preventing me from succeeding. It’s been a great experience so far and look out for a more detailed post about Tom and his coaching in the next few days.

    My blog

    The final note for today is an analysis of this blog. Though I’ve tried to post every day here, I’m beginning to realize that such a schedule does not really make sense for this blog. Especially over the next few weeks and months as I focus more and more on The 42nd Estate, updates to this blog will not occur so frequently. Tom and I also discussed that it wouldn’t be fair to my readers to simply post randomly though so I’ve decided to announce a minimum of two posts per week, though I’ve yet to decide if these posts will occur on the same day every week or simply two days out of the week. If you have any preferences let me know!

    So to my long-time readers, if there’s a certain post or story that you’d like to see here, let me know! If you subscribed here hoping you’d read a lot more posts about a certain subject, send me an e-mail or leave a comment stating so and I’ll try to focus on such stories!

    Otherwise, I’ll see you all again soon!

    ]]>     http://adamp.com/blog/a-few-quick-notes/feed/ 0     Boston Bicycle Film Festival Tomorrow http://adamp.com/boston/boston-bicycle-film-festival-tomorrow/ http://adamp.com/boston/boston-bicycle-film-festival-tomorrow/#comments Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:20:14 +0000 Adam http://adamp.wp42.com/boston/boston-bicycle-film-festival-tomorrow/ To those of my readers in the Boston area, check out the Bicycle Film Festival tomorrow at the ICA. Films start at 1:00 PM and continue through the afternoon with the last screening at 9:00 PM. If you go to any of the films between 3:00 PM and 6:00 PM be on the look out for your favorite Bostonian Bicycling Blogger valet parking your bicycles for free!

    Check out the poster:

    Boston Bicycle Film Festival Poster
    ]]>     http://adamp.com/boston/boston-bicycle-film-festival-tomorrow/feed/ 5