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Posts Tagged ‘Ocean Township’
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
Why is it that the lines at the Oakhurst Post Office in Monmouth County are always jam packed?! I was over at the post office about two days before Christmas (which means that everyone already had their holiday packages sent) and the line was at least 8 people deep in the middle of the day. First of all, why weren’t these people at work?! I wasn’t at work because I took a personal day – what’s their excuse?
Second, why is it that this particular post office is always jam packed with people? I know that the people working there are absolutely amazing (they really are the best postal employees that I’ve ever encountered – kind, courteous, knowledgeable, etc), but I just can’t understand why this post office is always filled up with customers. There aren’t a great abundance of post office boxes and the location of the building is slightly off of a main highway, so I don’t know if that has any impact on the traffic. But I do know that when I go to this particular post office, I usually have to wait about 10 minutes in line before I get to the teller.
Which brings up another point – why isn’t there an express lane at this post office? With the amount of traffic that comes through this place, you’d expect that they would put in a “fast lane” for people who are sending one envelope or who are just buying stamps. Instead, I often get caught behind people with dozens (no exaggeration) of boxes from their personal eBay businesses. I guess Ocean Township in Monmouth County is a hotbed of activity for eBay businesses or something. Weird.
Anyway, I went into this post office a few days before Christmas to send one package to a charity that I support on the West Coast and it took me about 20 minutes to send out a single package (which I had pre-packed before I arrived at the building). It was absolutely amazing and definitely an unnecessary complication for someone trying to complete a bunch of errands before heading away for the Christmas holiday.
Posted in Random Entries, Winter & Christmas Time | 1 Comment »
Thursday, December 17th, 2009
Talk about unnecessary aggravation. On my way home from work yesterday my car started wobbling and shaking a little bit. I was in the fast lane on Route 195 about one mile from exit 16 (right near Six Flags Great Adventure for all of you non-New Jerseyans out there). I pulled into the right lane and since the car’s wobbling was getting a bit unwieldy I pulled onto the shoulder, stepped out of the car, and noticed that my rear driver’s side tire was in shreds. Awesome.
The car I drive is a 2000 Honda Civic which my Mom bought brand new and kept in really good shape. Then, in his last few years, my father started to drive the car and my younger brother started to drive the car around the same time, too. Somehow, the jack system that I would be using to fix this flat tire wasn’t totally intact. This is good news to find out on the side of 195 when it’s pitch black and freezing out and I only have a thin sweatshirt! Damn it!
So, I’m on the side of the road with cars whizzing by at 65 to 80 miles per hour with a jack that doesn’t quite get the job done while freezing my ass off. Like any good man, though, I figured that I can make this work. So I pull a pen out of my glove box and start turning the jack (which I put in the wrong place) to raise the car. As you may imagine, the plastic pen doesn’t last too long before it’s busted. So, I start searching my car for something that might be able to turn the knob on the jack and raise up this car. Lucky for me, I still have some of the tools from my visits to the organic farm in my car. While digging through the equipment, I found some hand tools – specifically a garden cultivator. For those of you that don’t know, a garden cultivator is that three pronged thing that looks like a claw.
At 5:30pm last night I was on the side of 195 with a garden cultivator turning a jack that was in the wrong place freezing my ass off. Wonderful. Did I mention that the tires were also held in place by lugnuts that were put in place via air-compressed hand guns? Yeah – those things weren’t moving for my tire iron…
The story takes a great turn at this point. After about ten minutes of essentially doing nothing on the side of the road, a Department of Transportation worker pulls over behind me and pretty much changes the tire in a matter of 5 minutes with ridiculously high powered tools. His jack has the leverage of a 4 foot pole that picks up the car with no problem at all. Plus, this guy has an air-compression powered hand gun and blows out the lug nuts in seconds. I tossed my tire iron deep into my trunk so I can forget about it.
The Department of Transportation worker placed the donut on my car and had me heading back home in no time. Actually, I wasn’t heading back home because I clearly needed a new tire. My destination from 195 was to the Sears in Ocean Township. The kid at Sears was nice enough and showed me different types of tires. Then he asks, “Do you just want the one tire?” Now, I now that you’re supposed to buy these things in pairs so I said, “No, give me two. Actually, can you see if I need to get four tires?”
To this kid’s great credit, he went out and checked my car and did not take the obvious bait. In other words, you would expect any salesman to say, “Yep! You definitely need four tires!” without thinking twice. This kid told me that I only needed two new tires, but that due to my extended commute (about 100 miles per day) the other two would have to be replaced in about a month or two. The kid was honest enough and he made enough sense, so I bought four brand new tires as well as the Sears roadside assistance or some such stuff. Whatever service I purchased yesterday, it allows me to have my tires replaced by Sears for free. And since I bought a set of Sumitomo tires that have a guaranteed 75,000 mile lifespan, the warranty should come in handy.
At this point, though, the story takes a bit more of an aggravating twist. No, it’s not the fact that it took these guys two hours to change my four tires (because what I really felt like doing from 6:30pm to 8:30pm was walk around the local Target and Sears while my tires were changed). The aggravation comes in the price. I think, overall, I received a good price on the total package – it came to $402. That’s not a really bad price given the product and services that I purchased. However, getting smacked with such a large expense the week before Christmas pretty much ends my Christmas shopping. Luckily, I purchased a few items for the people on my list last weekend so I do have some gifts to give out. Overall, it’s pretty aggravating, though.
And there you have the story of my night last night.
Posted in Random Entries | 2 Comments »
Monday, November 30th, 2009
One of the great things about running a website (or, in this case, a blog) is seeing how your readers get to your site in the first place. I know that I have a lot of family and friends that read my blog (thanks guys!), but the majority of my hits come from search engines (thanks Google, Yahoo!, and the rest!). As a webmaster, I am sometimes baffled by the search terms and phrases that bring my readers to me. In fact, I thought I’d look at the last five search phrases that brought some of you to this website.
Please note that I’m not looking at the top five most popular search terms – that would be a different entry altogether. I’m looking at the last five search phrases that landed someone on JerseySmarts.com. It should also be noted that the last five search phrases brought readers here from a Google search engine.
Searched Phrase: terry weldon new jersey 2009
Ah. Nice one. For those of you that don’t know, Terry Weldon is the former (scumbag) Mayor of Ocean Township in Monmouth County. He was also a public employee of the City of Asbury Park. This man is as corrupt as the day is long. The JerseySmarts.com page that this searcher landed on talked about how Terry Weldon was the epitome of a scumbag.
Searched Phrase: comcast customer care number
Over the summer I had some issues with Comcast’s customer care. Something wasn’t quite right when I was looking for FOX News HD on my cable box. You can read what this particular searcher found on JerseySmarts.com by clicking here.
Searched Phrase: diet books for men
It was only a few days ago that I posted my review of The Eat-Clean Diet for Men. In case you missed it (or in case you can’t scroll down the screen here…), feel free to head on over via this link. I’m probably the happiest about this particular search phrase because it shows that the content that is placed on JerseySmarts.com quickly rises up the ranks in the search engine world. You listening to that, advertisers?
Searched Phrase: guys trip to nashville
Every once in a while one of my entries has something to do with an event that someone else is planning. Clearly, this searcher was looking for ideas for a trip to Nashville for he and his buddies. Well, when he Google’d this phrase he landed on JerseySmarts.com and an entry that I uploaded over the summer reviewing my most recent trip to Nashville.
Searched Phrase: roxbury high school football
Go Gaels! A few days ago I made it very clear that, as a member of the 1998 State Championship football team from Roxbury High School, I am completely behind the current team as they prepare to play against East Orange Campus High School this weekend at Giants Stadium. I know that I speak for the entire 1998 team when I say good luck! Many of the guys will be in the stands and we want to see that state title come back home. The guys on the current team have made all of Roxbury Township proud with their excellent performance this season. We’re all pulling for them to win the big one this weekend and they can definitely do it!
Whoever searched for that term found my congratulatory post to the current team (as well as some pictures of me from when we won the state championship 11 years ago) when they landed on the page linked here.
And there you have it – the last five searched phrases that brought some of YOU to JerseySmarts.com. If you happen to be someone who landed on this page thanks to Google or another search engine, please feel free to leave a comment telling us what you were looking for and if the search engine that you used gave you the right answers.
Posted in Computers, Internet, & Technology, Random Entries | No Comments »
Friday, October 2nd, 2009
Talk about an epic failure. For those of you that don’t know, TD Bank merged the old Commerce Bank and TD Banknorth databases last weekend. In the process, they managed to unleash a variety of glitches in their online system and transaction posting system. What does that mean?
In short, it means that if you had a direct deposit going to your TD Bank checking account at any time from September 27th through, well, today (they’re still having some problems) then there is a strong chance that your account won’t reflect that deposit. You won’t see it when you log-in online nor will you see it when you go to the ATM.
Some of you might be thinking, “Why is this an epic failure if it is a technical glitch?” Ah ha! Good question! Most technical glitches are, in fact, glitches. What TD Bank did was a gigantic bomb. They turned off their customer service hotlines (including their automated 24 hour service). Instead, customers were treated to a recorded message saying that calls could not be completed at this time. Customer friendly? I think not.
When TD bought Commerce Bank, many New Jerseyans were aggravated because Commerce really was a customer friendly bank. Their tagline, “America’s Most Convenient Bank” was true for many of their customers who loved the fact that they could go into the bank on the weekends to complete some transactions. The West Long Branch bank, in particular, was great because they worked with groups out of Monmouth University to create “business” checking accounts that had no fees (something that TD Bank recently announced it was overturning).
Now many Commerce Bank customers (myself included) are wondering what we’re going to do about TD Bank. They crashed their online system and couldn’t fix the problem over the course of a week. Oh, and it wasn’t just ANY week that they decided to do this – they decided to do it during a week that included the end of one month and the beginning of another. When do most people get paid or receive their subsidies from the government? Right…the end and beginning of the month. When those dollars aren’t there, people begin to panic because of automatic debits that may be preset to hit their accounts or because of other bills that need to be paid. And TD Bank just told people that they were working on it. Completely unacceptable.
So, again, what are customers of TD Bank left to do? I’ve decided that I’m going to explore other checking account options at other banks. In particular, I’m going to look at Central Jersey Bank (which was recently acquired by OceanFirst Bank). The Central Jersey Bank/OceanFirst Bank operates in Monmouth, Ocean, and Middlesex counties in New Jersey and – most importantly – is headquartered in this part of the state, too. Unlike TD Bank, which is now headquartered out of Canada, it appears that Central Jersey Bank/OceanFirst Bank understands the people in this region.
Later today, I’m going to head over to the big Central Jersey Bank on Route 35 in Ocean Township and inquire about a checking account. TD Bank has ruined Commerce Bank’s stellar reputation and they aren’t worth the hassle any more.
Posted in Money, Jobs, & Finances | 6 Comments »
Saturday, May 9th, 2009
Today was a landmark day at the gym for me because it marks a milestone in my renewed interest in working out. My workout this afternoon marked six days in a row that I’ve gone to the gym. Sure, it’s no big thing and there are many people reading this who go to the gym religiously everyday and that’s awesome. However, I went back through my Google Calendar and it seems that the last time that I worked out for even five days in a row was May 2007 (and only two of those days were actually spent at a gym). Today I beat my May 2007 numbers.
(more…)
Posted in Gym Stories | 3 Comments »
Monday, August 25th, 2008
Do you know what eminent domain is? I will refer to our friends at Wikipedia to provide a simple definition, though if you want a more detailed one feel free to click on the link. From Wikipedia:
Eminent domain…is the inherent power of the state to seize a citizen’s private property…with due monetary compensation, but without the owner’s consent.
In simpler terms, the process of eminent domain allows the government to take private property so long as they pay you a decent sum for the property. If you dig a little deeper, the property is supposed to taken only to be used for the public good. For example, if you are familiar with Deal Road in Ocean Township, you’ll know that the museum sits towards the end of the road closest to Route 35. You’ll also know that there was some road work performed to widen Deal Road near the entrance and exit areas of the museum. In order to widen the road, the township had to acquire some two or three feet of a homeowner’s lawn. The homeowner cried eminent domain abuse, but no one listened because this is exactly what the law is in place to do!
However, you may have heard the cry of eminent domain abuse in connection with some other developments along the Jersey Shore (or whatever neck of the woods you’re in). In the City of Long Branch, for example, the MTOTSA (Marine Terrace, Ocean Terrace, and Seaview Avenue residents’ association) fought against Long Branch’s designation of their properties as “blighted.” And you know what? They won.
Due to my current and immediately former employment situations, I’ve worked with many organizations that work both for and against the use of eminent domain. The biggest common denominator that I’ve found in every discussion is the lack of understanding of what eminent domain is all about. In fact, I HAVE uncovered many cases of eminent domain abuse…but in the opposite direction – where homeowners have literally extorted development companies who wanted to acquire small parcels of land for developments. It’s gross, really.
Anyway, the people of MTOTSA fought a valiant fight and I’m glad that they won. Their property was NOT blighted and for Long Branch to call it blighted – so it could building another multi-million dollar development on the beachfront – is a bastardization of the eminent domain laws. Some people argue that taking these properties was in the “public’s best interests” because it could generate tax revenues many multiples in excess of what it currently generates. Yet there is no discussion of the increased costs associated with high-density development. The idea is that with higher tax revenues from this one part of town, the rest of the town’s property taxes would be lowered.
One only needs to look at Pier Village (right down the street from the MTOTSA area) to see that you can have all of the tourists in the world coming to your area, but it does not guarantee that the increased revenues will lead to lower taxes. Long Branch’s property taxes went UP this year! And that’s including all of the excess revenue coming from Pier Village. Talk about being sold a bill of goods…
Congratulations to the MTOTSA organization for scoring a well-deserved victory in a very tough fight!
Posted in Local People & Politics, The State of New Jersey | 1 Comment »
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