A trip to the Amazon fulfillment center

 

Recently, I went on a tour of an Amazon Fulfillment Center in Edison, NJ. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take photos.  But I will use similar photos from Business Insider to illustrate some of the things we saw today.

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This was a day I was glad to be traveling as Mario.  No, I wasn't concerned about having to expose myself as a non-op TG who hasn't had her ID updated.  Instead, I was more concerned about the heat inside the fulfillment center building - and I was right

RQS and I left the Croton area at 11:30, and started off towards Edison after a quick pit stop for a breakfast sandwich. Google Maps originally directed us to take the George Washington Bridge to get to New Jersey, but we took the Tappan Zee Bridge, cruising down the Garden State Parkway to Edison. We arrived at the fulfillment center around 1:30, and killed some time before entering the building.

After our legal IDs were checked against Amazon's list, we were given visitor passes and brough to a room where we were given headsets to protect our ears against the loudness of Amazon's operations area. The tour guide showed us the steps which a product takes from the point it enters the building, and then brought us to the floor where these processes take pace.

Amazon operates 24x7, 363 days each year, only being closed for Christmas and New Year. Our guide had never seen a day where the fulfillment center was closed, although there was a time that the center was temporarily out of operation due to a water main break. First, we went to the station where product is placed into inventory.  The 4-sided storage shelves above each weigh up to 1,500 pounds, and are moved around by robots each of which weigh 300 pounds.  As one can easily surmise, it can be very dangerous for a human to be on the other side of the area where these robots operate.

Humans load prod product into inventory in a special area where robots move these storage shelves into a neutral (safe) zone where people can reach into these shelves and store products.  Each product is registered one item at a time, and when no more items can be loaded, the human sends the robot on its way and a new storage shelf is moved into position.  One should note that items are stored at random, and tracked in its associated bin on the storage shelves until it is picked for customer delivery.

Occasionally, there are problems in the robots-only area, and they must be fixed by humans.  Amazon has a special procedure for this, where a special person wearing a "anti-robot" vest is able to resolve the problem without risk of injury from the robots and storage shelves.  (Who wants to get hit by 1,800 pounds of merchandise and equipment while on the job?)  I can only imagine what it took to design the safety process that separates human areas from robot areas.

Eventually, a human picks items from the storage shelves and sends them along to packing areas.  Robots move storage shelves to the interface area, and computers tell the human from which bin to pick an item for shipping, which item to be picked, and which bin to be sent for packing and shipping. This is also done under computer control, as items are routed to packing stations.  From these stations, packed boxes are routed to labeling stations, then to carts which then get loaded on trucks for delivery to Amazon delivery centers, or other delivery services.

It was over a mile of walking with a few pauses to tell us what was being done in each place.  Compared to what we used to do to process checks inside our bank, this was at least an order of magnitude more complex.  

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On our way home, we got stuck in traffic jams, and I made it worse by taking side roads.  In the end this was a blessing,  I didn't plan this, but I would pass by one of the Jackson Hole diners and stop in for a good burger with RQS.  So, I made a quick turn onto a side street and parked in their lot.  When one enters the place, one sees an ancient pay phone, along with the memorabilia on the Northern side of the building. Both of us ordered burgers, and we had a hard time eating them - there was too much tasty meat on each burger without making a mess of ourselves.  RQS saved half of her burger, while I ate it with a knife and fork.  Yum!

At this time, it was close to 7, and I wanted to make it across the bridge while it was still light.  Taking side roads North, we made it to the bridge and then home with a stop along the way.... 

I have a problem with a website that I can't solve - so I'm cloning it

 

For the life of me, I can't fix what went wrong with the Blogger Website I set up for the co-op.  I bought a domain name and successfully connected it to the Co-Op site.  Unfortunately, I flipped a switch and everything stopped working.  Even after I reset things to the default settings and repeating the process to connect this site and the domain that once worked, I couldn't get things to work.  So I tried a second domain, and had the same result. At this point, I knew I was going to need to clone the site and try again with the two domains the co-op owned.   Today, I started the process of cloning the original site.

As much as I am the technical expert for our co-op, I am far from up to date with today's technology.  I figure that I will learn as much as possible doing things for the co-op, and then build my own site for the Cruise Blog/Vlog I have been working on for a while. Luckily, I have no time constraints for either of these projects.  And I care more that I get my personal project done correctly, as I will have more at stake once I set it up.

Eventually, I will purchase a domain for this site as well, and make it easy to find via search engines.  Who knows, I might even get a wider readership than I have now. 

The Late Show Must Go - Oh No!

 

Steven Colbert and the Late Show.  It's a sad thing when the "Tiffany Network" cancels a great show because of the Orange Snowflake.  Yet, the economics behind this makes sense: Paramount/CBS needs to merge with Skydance to deal with financial losses from its movie and streaming businesses, and they can't do this unless they curry favor with the snowflake.  It's cheaper to kill a profit making show and keep the business alive, than to stand on principle and tell the snowflake to F-off!  I'm not worried about Colbert.  He'll likely use the remaining months he has left on his contract to hammer away at our president, and make him rue the day that he took on a comedian. 

What I am worried about is big business's capitulation to fascist power.  In the past, we had a lot of small businesses who could (and would) stand up for principle, as they had no fiduciary duties to others.  They could run their businesses to the ground on principle, and as such, had great power.  Now, with the consolidation of corporate identities, CEOs must look out for the health of their businesses, and not worry about the principles that they as individuals may hold.  This is a shame.  But we did it to ourselves by accepting corporate consolidation as a norm.

No one has to say much about the snowflake's flaws:  He is vindictive to a San Andreas Fault.  He could teach Satan cruelty lessons.  And an Amoeba has more brain cells than he has.  I could go on and on about this, but I'd bore the readers of this blog. The other day, he posted a series of insults involving all of the late night TV show hosts, showing how much he hates what they saying about him.  Instead of taking their zingers from these court jesters with grace, he wants to shut them down - as if he's afraid they are right and he is wrong. 

There is a saying that whatever this man touches, dies.  For God's sake, I hope he stops touching America soon.  There is a joke about a man who went to the newsstand every day and looked at every newspaper's front page.  

Eventually, the newsstand owner asks:

"Why do you look at every newspaper's front page and put it back on the rack?" 

The customer replies:

"I am looking for an obituary."

The owner responds:

"Obituaries are usually inside the back of the newspapers."

The customer replies:

"This one will be on the front page."

No one needs to ask whose obituary we are talking about here.

Sadly, even a broken clock can be right twice each day, and there are some points on which I will agree with the snowflake, but not his methods for correcting things, such as we have let too much manufacturing move to China.  In case of a conflict between the US and China, we might only be able to win a short war.  But they will win a long war, as we no longer manufacture the goods we need to keep an economy running. One can't shift manufacturing back to the US overnight.  It will take decades to do so.  Supply chains must be rebuilt, and American labor must be willing to get its hands dirty again.  We no longer have the project management skills in the USA needed to manage the supply chains, the way China does.  So, why start a trade war that we can not win?

 
Recently, one Democratic congressperson was asked why GOP congresspeople hate what the snowflake is calling for them to do, and still doing it?  She answered: Fear!  Given what happened to Nancy Pelosi's husband in her own house, why should they risk their families to the actions of unruly members of his mob?

We saw this 90 years ago, and I'd hate the same thing happen to America.  If we don't stand up now, we will see history repeat itself - with the same ending.

 

Lunch with TCL

 

I was semiconscious for part of the morning, and I didn't start getting ready to see TCL until 11 am.  My original plans were to get some paperwork taken care of, get passport photos taken, go to the bank to notarize a form, and then send it in for my second passport - all before driving to TCL's place.  None of these things took place - all I could do was to shave, shower, and dress as Mario before driving to New Jersey.

The usual trip to TCL's place has been getting longer over the past few years, as more traffic than ever is on Route 287. Making note of the Eastbound traffic on the bridge, I made plans to return home via the Bear Mountain Bridge.  Just before my intended exit, there was some road construction that backed up the highway for 1 1/2 miles.  So I was glad to have built in some extra time to get to TCL's place, as I barely got there on time at 1 pm.

TCL took a few minutes to get ready, and we first drove to the mechanic's shop to pick up her car.  And then, we went to lunch in town.  TCL treated me to lunch, as my birthday was earlier in the month, so I was a little bit ahead of the game today. However, my mind wasn't in sync with our conversation, as I was still a bit out of things until lunch was halfway over. This was just as well, as she has some of the same judgemental habits that she doesn't like in others.  After lunch, we went back to her place, and I took care of hanging some pictures for her. 

Around 3 pm, I left TCL's place and drove home via the Bear Mountain Bridge, arriving home at 4 pm.  At this point, I needed a nap, and didn't regain a form of consciousness until 7 pm.  At least some paperwork I requested for our family homestead was ready and I'm now ready to submit the next set of paperwork, so that we can rent out the house.... 

At least, after taking care of some more paperwork, I will be able to switch back into Marian Mode tomorrow. 

A day trip to Olana

 

RQS and I planned to visit Olana for a long time, but couldn't get out of bed early enough to make the drive to Hudson, NY.  Today was the day we finally made it.

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The first thing on my docket for the day was a Zoom meeting that took up the better part of an hour.  I had gotten dresses in a red floral dress I bought from Target a year or two ago.   When I had come out of my bedroom (this is where I usually work on the computer), I found that RQS had decided to wear the exact same dress in her size!  Today, we would look like the Bobsey Twins whether we planned to or not. This would be my first time at Olana since I was there with XGFJ several years ago.  My visit with RQS would be different - we'd be able to see the second floor of the house as well as the main floor. 

Instead of driving straight up Route 9, I decided to cross over the Hudson at Newburgh, and then speed up to Catskill on the Thruway, instead of getting caught in slower traffic on the East side of the river. This was a wise choice, as we were able to make it to Olana by 2 pm.  Given that the house tours end at 3:45 pm, I figured that we needed the extra time on site if things were busy.

For those unfamiliar with Olana, it is a 250+ acre site that was landscaped and developed by one of the leaders of the Hudson River School of painting.  Frederic Church was extremely successful at his craft, and had the money to make this site both a work of art, and a masterpiece of site location - it is impossible to get a scenic view that isn't fantastic from this property.

With Olana's setting in mind, Church's house is priceless.  .For the most part, it looks exactly like when it was lived in by the Church family, and New York State was lucky to acquire it when it did.  (Could you imagine Church's artistic studies and his own art collection being sold off at auction?  I can't.)  

However, the house was very warm when we visited, and I needed to cool down within an hour of starting the tour.  (Don't worry, I saw everything, missed nothing, and chatted with the docents quite a bit.) So RQS and I got in the car, and started our drive home through scenic rural landscapes.  Eventually, we reached Poughkeepsie, where we stopped to eat (too much), then drove home.

All in all, it was a good summer day, and we had a great time together.... 

A chat with my niece

 

It's been a while since I've been able to chat with my niece.  So it was a refreshing opportunity to talk with her again.  

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One of the things we always seem to be talking about is how the Orange Snowflake is F'ing up America.  Now that she's living overseas, she's relatively immune from the insanity that's hit this country.  This chat was no different.  One of the things I mentioned was how a former Fundamentalist Christian, Benjamin Covey, could argue that the Orange Snowflake is the Antichrist. Her dad still accepts the rhetoric that the snowflake has successfully closed off the borders to illegal immigration, when statistics showed that things were slowing down before he took power.  We talked about the random sweeps of immigrant communities, where any person of color is rounded up - not just those who are here illegally.  Foreign citizen legal residents are being rounded up, detained, and illegally sent to foreign prisons without justification.  In short, America has become a police state.

We talked about family issues as well.   Luckily, my brother was away from home, as this was a video call and I was already dressed as Marian, as we were going out for the day and I wanted to wear a nice, comfortable dress in the warm weather.  All too soon, the call had to end, and we scheduled something for next month.

 

Game Night - and I won a game for a change!

 

If anyone decided to organize a 43 Man Squamish league, I'd be first to buy season tickets.  Mind you, with the history of this fictitious sport, the league would have to pay me to attend its games - if they were ever played. 

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Tonight was Game Night in Yonkers.  Our host and his family took June off to have a nice vacation.  I was surprised to find them scheduling 2 nights for this month.  So, I marked myself as going, and made sure to keep my schedule up to date.

My niece called me up at the last minute and asked if I wanted to drive down to Long Island for dinner with her and her dad.  I'd normally have done so, as she's in town for only a couple of days before she flies home.  But, I made commitments with others, and apologized profusely.  So we'll do a zoom meeting in the AM.  

There was supposed to be two meetups going on tonight, and I planned to only attend the dinner one, as I had already seen the movie people would go to afterwards.  Well, the meetup was cancelled, and DS suggested we meet for dinner before game night.  I said yes, and we split a pizza at Frank Pepe's in Yonkers.  Being that this was a Thursday night, we had our choice of tables, and we caught up on what was going on in each other's lives.

When we were done with our pizza, I drove to Stew Leonard's to pick up a cheesecake for Game Night.  And then, I was off to play games.  Arriving there at 7:30, the host and hostess brought out some games, and I won the first game, and then was on the winning team for the second.  This was a pleasant change for me.  But what I was most interested in was the conversation.  The host's family had gone to Europe, and we talked about cruising for a bit before the games started.  After the games ended, I chatted with the hostess about how her family was affected by what's going on in DC.  (She's more afraid than I am, and has an equally good reason to be this way.)  I said that if things go really sour, I'd be glad to help take care of things I won't mention here.

The gathering ended up early, and I was chatting with RQS on the way home.  It's nice to know that she'll be here tomorrow.  But it will be a short weekend for us for the next 2 weeks.  Such is life.