I actually hadn’t planned on voting. I thought that I wasn’t registered to vote, but then I saw Nelson’s nifty I Voted Foursquare badge and got jealous. So I checked on the interweb and it turned out I was, in fact, registered to vote AND my polling place was less than one block from my apartment. So I got a nifty I Voted Foursquare badge as well.

My rent is too damn high

Also exciting: Jimmy McMillan, candidate for The Rent Is Too Damn High Party, was on my ballot. As high as my New York City rent is, and as much as I love handlebar mustaches, I will admit that I voted for a different gubernatorial candidate.

Hmmm, my rent is actually due today…I might be regretting my vote…

Meh, I’m sure you are who you say you are

I find it pretty crazy that a photo ID is not required. I just had to state my name and address after which they showed me my previously scanned signature (from the DMV) and then all I had to do was copy the signature directly below it. I guess if the two signatures look remotely similar then the trap door doesn’t open below you. My signature looks like two scribbles anyway so if someone wanted to impersonate me two years from now it probably wouldn’t be all that difficult.

Maybe they will be more daring than me and actually vote for The Rent Is Too Damn High Party…

Things are going great

There you go. Updated. Okay seriously, it’s turned out to be better than I ever expected. New York City is so much fun and there’s always stuff going on. Plus, you don’t have drive anywhere and worry about parking. Plus, there’s amazing food on every corner. Plus, the music scene is incredible. Plus, the seasons change.

In summary, I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather live at this stage of my life. But with that said:

New York City is expensive

I had been making steady progress on my student loans, but I feel like I’ve slowed down quite a bit since moving here. I’m not sure if it’s just the allure of a big city, but I find it harder not to splurge on things.

How long will I live here?

I don’t know, but I have no plans to leave anytime soon. I’m having too much fun and there’s a lot that I need to accomplish here. I’m guessing I’ll be a city slicker for at least the next four years. After that it might be time to mellow out in the suburbs somewhere, but then again, maybe not.

P.S. Gogo inflight wifi is pretty sweet.

P.P.S. The “Mile High” Foursquare badge I just earned is pretty sweet as well.

Why is my testimonial featured on this page? And what am I doing squatting in shallow water with ducks? I’m afraid I can’t offer an explanation for the latter but I can for the former: because it was my idea. Well, I actually had proposed the idea for Gmail, but they ended up going in a different direction (which I also had to help out with). So the Reader folks snagged it and modified it slightly.

I’m also responsible for a large portion of the stupid “fine print” at the bottom, which I wrote up very very late at night when I obviously think about Sasquatch more than usual.

Props to the Google Reader team for turning my stupid idea into something fun!

Oh, and don’t forget about that disclaimer link that’s always on the bottom of this site.

But ever since I got my iPhone and Apple integrated Google Transit into the Maps application, I haven’t even had to think anymore.

Let’s say I’m at some random point A. It doesn’t matter where I am. I don’t even have to know where I am. All I need to know is where I want to go, and I don’t even need to know the address of point B. I just search for the point of interest and let Google Maps find it for me:

From there I click the blue arrow from my desired result and then select “Directions To Here” on the following screen. “Current location” should be the default starting position on the following screen:

Now I just click “Route” and let the magic happen:

Bada boom! I don’t even have to think! Google Maps tells me where I need to be  at 7:15pm to catch the closest bus that will get me to my destination, as well as providing me with the trip cost and any transfers necessary. To see the itinerary in list view, click the page flap icon in the lower right corner:

Most cities will offer a two or three day unlimited metro pass, which is usually the best deal if you plan on doing some extreme exploring.

To see a list of global cities where Google Transit directions are available, visit the Google Transit site.

Happy exploring!

* Disclaimer – I work for Google, but I’m still allowed to think this is awesome.

Until now!

Lala.com is now beta testing scrobbling your listens onto your Last.fm account! All I had to do was click on the “Tell us” link on the top left of the site and ask for the feature to be activated in my account. Within an hour, I got a reply and it was activated in my account. I’ve been scrobbling all day from lala.com. It works great so far!

Oh, and I got the tip from a lala.com reply to me on Twitter. They’ve since deleted the tweet, probably to keep the beta testing limited, or because they don’t want to be associated with me. Either way, it’s fine by me.

Update (7/12/09): It looks like the “Tell us” link no longer exists. Try asking in this form: http://www.lala.com/#contactsupport

Update (10/27/09): As Andrew pointed out in the comments below, the location to enable the feature has moved. “My Lala” > “Settings” > “Beta” link/tab at the top right.

Sow now that I have my own childish handwriting in a font, what to do with it? How about view the web as if I drafted it myself! Here are the results:

What you’re looking at

Google

Yahoo

Amazon

NY Times

Digg

My favorite website

Wasn’t that scary/fun?

Would you also like to view the web through the hand(?) of Mike Leotta, or would you like to pass off love letters as if they were written by me? Then download my font! It’s free!

This is the same mom that calls me several times a month with questions about “Foxfire”.

My dad explained to me how to play Wii Fit.

I don’t have a Wii. I’ve never even seen anyone play Wii Fit, let alone play it myself. I also don’t have an iPod touch or an iPhone.

What’s going on??? Am I losing touch???

If my parents starts Twittering then I know the universe is imploding.

Please release new iMacs soon. My Dell is dying a slow and painful death. I would love to spend my year end bonus on one of your sleek, sexy machines.

Also, I <3 your mock turtleneck collection.

Respectfully,
Mike Leotta

So I guess I’m hoping for more failures from NASA so that we have excuses to blow things up.