The

Undeniable

Ruth

®

…and the Ruth shall set you free!

  • Traveling without Tech

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    Ruth Carter

    London from the top of St. Paul's Cathedral!
    Hello from London!

    I spent last weekend at an SEO conference in London called Ungagged. (Yes, poor me, I had to accept a trip to London to talk about social media law.) Initially, I thought the trip would give me another opportunity to practice minimalist packing, but it gave me a much richer experience of traveling without a cell phone.

    Before I left for this trip, I contacted my wireless provider and added a small global package to my phone. Unbeknownst to the clerk or me, they gave me a plan that doesn’t work in the UK, so when I arrived I had a cell phone that was worthless as a phone. I could still connect to the hotel’s Wi-Fi, but otherwise, my phone was an oversized pocket watch that was set to Arizona time with a built-in camera.

    Whenever I wasn’t in the hotel, I felt like I was back in the late 1990’s when I had to go back to the computer in my college dorm room to check my email. Actually, it was better than that because I had a pager in college so there was always a chance my hip would start vibrating. I bopped around London virtually tech-free. Many times I left the hotel without taking my phone with me and when I did take it, it was only to be able to take photos.

    St. Paul's Cathedral
    St. Paul’s Cathedral

    I loved walking along the Thames River, looking at the various shops. I navigated only with the recommendation from the concierge – not even a map or a guidebook to direct me. I figured if I got lost, I’d stop at a shop and ask directions. It was quite freeing to travel untethered to my phone – nothing to distract or direct me. I simply followed the streets and whatever whims moved me. As I walked along I thought, “This is what being a tourist used to be like.”

    My hotel was located near St. Paul’s Cathedral which has a dome that towers above much of the surrounding skyline. When I wanted to return from whence I came, all I had to do was turn around and head in the opposite direction. If I moved in the general direction of cathedral, I knew I’d get back to my hotel eventually. I was never afraid of being “lost” in the city.

    It was so wonderful and relaxing to leave my phone behind and enjoy London. I suspect I got to see and experience more of the city merely because I wasn’t distracted by notification chimes or tempted to bury my head in my phone. It’s definitely a practice I want to adopt more often.

  • Return to Costco

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    Ruth Carter

    Photo by Leslie Easton (Creative Commons License)
    Photo by Leslie Easton (Creative Commons License)

    Last weekend I went to Costco with my white board sign to pick up a prescription for Rosie the basset hound. The staff was obviously alarmed by the fact that I was carrying my white board sign. (My behavior otherwise was completely innocuous, quiet, and polite.) The clerk escorted me out of the store after I had completed my transaction. Non-members of Costco are allowed to use their pharmacy and to purchase alcohol; however, the staff member told me that next time I needed to inform the clerk working the door of my non-member status so they could escort me in and out of the store.

    That made sense. I can understand why Costco only wants people who have paid for memberships in the store, eating the samples, and making purchases.

    Fast-forward to this weekend. Rosie needed a refill for one of her other prescriptions (it’s hard to predict when you’ll run out of doggy eye drops) so I returned to the same Costco as before – this time sans white board sign. I presented myself to the greeter and told her (with my best British accent) that I was not a Costco member and that I wished to use their pharmacy. Without hesitation, she pointed toward the pharmacy and let me proceed unaccompanied.

    Photo by Mike Mozart (Creative Commons License)
    Photo by Mike Mozart (Creative Commons License)

    The pharmacist said it would take approximately 15 minutes to fill Rosie’s prescription and he handed me a larger Costco pager device that would ring, vibrate, and light up when it was ready. I was allowed to walk through the store to observe the other patrons and their carts piled high with large quantities of goods. The idea of buying such large quantities of one thing in a single transaction baffles me.

    When the pager went off, I returned to the pharmacy, completed the transaction, and walked out without incident.

    Costco Lessons to Date:

    • They don’t want you to be in the store with your whiteboard sign.
    • They will allow you to be in the store unaccompanied when you don’t carry a whiteboard sign.
    • They will allow you to be in the store unaccompanied if you use a fake British accent.

    Hmm…do you think they’ll let me use the pharmacy if I walk into the store wearing fairy wings?

  • I Wish I had a more Walkable City

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    Ruth Carter

     

    One of the things I love doing during The Undeniable Tour was taking walks. I often spent my first evening in a new city getting my bearings by walking around the neighborhood. In many cities (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle) I could easily find a grocery store, drug store, coffee shops, things to do, and plenty of people watching within a mile of my hostel. I loved it. I barely drove when I was in the cities because it was more convenient and more fun to walk. My friend to relocated to Seattle from Gilbert, AZ said they gave up their car because they could walk to most of the places they needed to go. For everything else, there’s public transportation, taxis, Uber, and rental cars.

    Phoenix Arizona Downtown Night Aerial Photo from Helicopter by Jerry Ferguson from Flickr (Creative Commons License)
    Phoenix Arizona Downtown Night Aerial Photo from Helicopter by Jerry Ferguson from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

    I didn’t have any plans last Friday night and I decided I wanted to get out and take a walk around 7 p.m. And then I thought about what’s in my neighborhood within walking distance and there really isn’t much, so I loaded up Rosie the basset hound and we drove a few miles to Tempe to walk along Mill Ave. She loved all the new smells and letting everyone love on her. (My apologies to the staff at The Handlebar. I let her walk into the bar when a group of patrons near the door was excited to see her.) I enjoyed getting out to relax in the warm night air.

    It’s ironic that Phoenix, a desert city, is so spread out. You would think that the hot weather would inspire builders and people to want to stay close to work and day-to-day conveniences. With a walkability score of 38 (out of 100), that is definitely not the case. (Phoenix’s bikeability score is 52.) The walk scores for my home and work zip codes aren’t that much better, at 49 and 54 respectively. I looked up Tempe since I lived near the Phoenix/Tempe border and they fared better with a walk score of 50 and a bike score of 75.

    I think there is hope for Phoenix. It appears that more people are moving closer to the city and there seems to be a higher demand for conveniences within walking distance and effective public transportation. I’m lucky than I’m not as dependent on my car as others since I lived right next to a bus stop and I’m close to two light rail stations, one of which that has a park and ride. I’m starting to consider what I would have to do to be able to bike to work, especially on the days when I don’t see clients and I’m just working in my office. I friends gave me some recommendations about the best way to transport my laptop with me.

    One of the things that’s missing from many neighborhoods is having grocery stores, drug stores, and similar conveniences close to home. Even downtown Phoenix and many places along the light rail lack these essential businesses. Our transit system is doing a great job at getting us to major venues and town, but they’re not necessarily getting us to where we need to go on an everyday basis.

    For now, I will have to drive most of the times that I need to go somewhere but I hope that will shift and Phoenix will become a place where transit lines and bike-friendly routes will become the most desirable locations for day-to-day conveniences.