Changing Gears

Posted by on May 10, 2009 No comments

I’ve taken up the hobby of motorcycling in the last couple of months.  My nature is to resist acceptance of anything that seems cliché, so when a lot of oft-heard sayings suddenly became applicable to me, it was annoying.  I tried very hard to find a personal reason for feeling like I did, but for the most part had to accept that I was just like everyone else.

The first observation of my new hobby is that it slows my life down dramatically.  Before, I would hop in the car and go.  Now I have to pull the bike out of the shed, push it over to the driveway (exhausting, at times), safety check the bike, warm the bike up, get the gear on, then go.  This can be a 15-20 minute delay.  Then once arriving at the destination, park the bike safely, de-gear, lock up helmet, then continue.  Another 5 minutes.  Then more when leaving again.  The closest parallel I can come up with is that it’s like travelling with an infant.  And that is something I never was and never will be envious of.  But, it forces me to slow down, which I think has some benefits.

Next observation, my appetite is diminished.  By about half, I’m figuring.  This one I’m still trying to figure out.  Either the stress from the ride (because it’s pretty much high-alert most of the time), the dehydration from the heat and gear, or the natural workout from battling wind forces – another observation – is cutting my food intake.  This doesn’t happen on weekdays when I’m driving the car.

Third observation, riding is kind of a workout.  This is something that reminds me of a previous experience, indoor skydiving.  In both cases, your body is trying to maintain a form against wind forces causing lots of muscle micro-motions that eventually tire you out.  To a lesser degree, you are also shifting your weight fairly often when riding, which could work some muscle groups that don’t see activity otherwise.  It makes me think of someone who had ridden a horse for the first time and said that muscles he’d never known about were sore for days.  I sure don’t expect to get ripped from riding motorcycle, but I did lose almost 5 pounds after a couple of weekends.  It’s probably lost water from dehydration, but I can hope.

Final personal observation, everything is new at first, then it becomes normal.  Wearing gear seemed odd at first, but now feels normal.  I felt weird putting on this and that and the other.  Eventually you become less conscious (or self-conscious) when gearing up.  When I’m in a car, I feel very unsafe without wearing a seat belt.  I wear my seat belt even if I’m the only one in the car that does.  I am sure I would feel so much more unsafe without my gear and I don’t think any peer pressure could keep me from wearing it.  Start good habits from the beginning.  Going over 45 mph was scary at first, now 55 is normal.  You need to get used to the feeling of wind, vibration, and engine noise.  Then it becomes “normal” sound and sensation.

Lastly, all the “I told you so” things that I felt. 

  • You have much greater control with a manual transmission – check.  I’d never driven anything but an automatic.  I’m not convinced I want a stick-shift car, though.
  • You have much greater control on a motorcycle – check.  The braking, acceleration, and cornering are much better than a car.  You give up a lot of safety being on a bike, but it’s mitigated by the ability to get away or get around a dangerous situation.
  • You feel more in touch with nature on a motorcycle – that’s a little over-romanticized for me, but I have to agree that being in the open air is a much greater experience than being in a car. 
  • When you’re riding, you don’t want the trip to end – I guess so.  I have ridden past my planned destination often and purposely missed my turns nearly as much.

Last Saturday and Sunday, I didn’t drive the car at all.  This weekend, I didn’t drive Friday, Saturday or Sunday until dinner.  When I got in the car to get dinner, it felt odd.  I guess that is the first sign that being a rider is what I really want to do.  If I didn’t have such a long and dangerous commute to work, I probably would ride very day.  I regret I did not take up this hobby years earlier.

This Place Sucks, So Let Me Help

Posted by on February 27, 2009 No comments

I’m nearing the end of watching a George Carlin DVD box set and I have to say I’m pretty pessimistic on our culture.  The whole idea of "gotta have it now" is becoming pretty offensive to me.  TVs, cell phones, computers, iPods… the behavior of Zune users during the 24 hours the Zune was inoperable was outrageous.  People can’t live without a music player for 24 hours, or more realistically 12 hours, since you can’t be awake listening to a MP3 player for 24 hours.

Carlin will do that to you after a while.  So you have a couple of choices: accept it or battle it.  I’m going to make the most of it.

To that end, I’m going to convert this to my “eating out” blog.  They say you should blog about something you’re passionate about and I do enjoy fast food (see previous post on state of food).  I had planned on developing a web site that would allow anyone to rate fast food places, but I just don’t have the energy for that right now, so this will have to do.

Yellow Pages Are Anything But Green

Posted by on February 14, 2009 No comments

It’s a new year and part of the new years ritual is receiving multiple 10-pound books dropped off at the house for telephone listings.  Growing up in a small town, I remember the white pages and yellow pages being a book about a quarter-inch think.  Now living in a larger city, the yellow pages alone is…2 inches thick (I had to check).  Then on top of that, you get a second book from a competing directory.  and this one has a “smaller, convenient” version, so you can take it with you.

Ok.  Here’s the problem.  There’s something called the Internet, which is available in our house.  This Internet thing allows us to search for information, including phone numbers.  Usually, it’s faster to type in the name of what you want instead of the traditional alternative: trying to figure out what category it’s listed in, flipping through pages, and scanning the tiny type while being distracted by large ads.  Then there is issue of storage.  The directories take up…4.5 inches of vertical space (I had to check again).  That’s valuable real estate on counters or drawers.

So, in summary, the Internet is far superior to a printed list.  This is probably universally accepted.  So, I thought it was time to stop the waste of time and space… and paper.  This year is also the year I discontinued all paper statements for bills.  But back to the point, I called the directory’s service number.

The first person I spoke to was pleasant and upon hearing my request, wasted no time collecting my information and completing the request.  After I hung up, I thought, “That wasn’t so bad.  She was really nice.  Too bad I’m putting her out of a job.”  after all, these directory services are contracted by the phone company or are completely independent.

The second person I spoke to handled my request promptly also, but then asked an odd question: “Do you travel much?”  Hmmm.  I responded that I don’t travel too much.  Then the pitch came.  They also print atlases.  They had a new atlas of the United States that she could sell me for a great price.

Ok.  Here’s the problem.  There’s something called a GPS, which has recently become available in our cars.  A few years ago, I might have bought it.  I used to have a very large collection of maps from the areas I’d visited.  I was pretty proud of the collection also.  But now, my 25-pound pile of maps (I had to estimate, since they’re now disposed) has been replaced by a tiny touchscreen device.

So in summary, GPS devices have replaced atlases in much the same way as the Internet has replaced phone books.  Now, if these directory services were smart, they would partner with a GPS vendor and preload POI’s (Points of Interest) into a GPS based on their directory.  Then they would sell the GPS device.  Or they could sell a flash card with the POIs on it.

If I was cancelling my phone book delivery and the agent asked me “Do you have a GPS?” that would be a totally different conversation.  If I didn’t, I might be intrigued at buying a GPS preloaded with millions of POIs (if the price was reasonable).  If I did own one and they offered a POI card or subscription service compatible with my GPS brand, it might be attractive.

Vultures

Posted by on January 18, 2009 No comments

So now Circuit City is going under and the vultures have arrived.  I dropped in on day two of our local store’s liquidation and it was a madhouse.  People were all over the place picking at the carcass of the former leader of electronics sales.

One of the first thoughts I had was "Where were all you damn people only a few weeks ago?"  This company needed you then, but you’re here now after the pulse has stopped.  But judging by the people crowding the store today, they weren’t there for the company; they just wanted the plunder.  Maybe a "Yeah! We killed the dragon, now let’s rob the treasure room!" kind of sentiment.

The other thought I had was that some people scrambling for purchases took their local store for granted.  They just always assumed it would be there to provide an alternate shopping location when Best Buy pissed them off.  Now, Circuit City is going away and these people need to grab what they can before it’s gone.  Because when it’s gone, so is their option of buying somewhere else.

It has been reported that the liquidation company marks up the prices to mark them down over time.  These first few days of the sale would be the most profitable Circuit City would experience in a long time, if only it were them that got the revenue.

The shopping atmosphere in the store was pretty harsh.  The liquidator had obviously taken over.  They blocked off one entrance so you had one door to enter and exit through – inconveniencing incoming and outgoing customers at the same time.  But what do they care?  The liquidator is operating under another company’s name and has no obligation to please anyone.  The customer has no power and no rights.  A threat like "I’m never shopping here again!" would be met with "You’re correct." 

So when the company selling off another company’s inventory purposely deceives customers into thinking they are getting good deals and purposely disposes of customer service because there is no value in it, who are the real vultures?

Financial Voyeur

Posted by on December 30, 2008 No comments

I am developing a strange addiction to watching financial news.  It’s sadly like other people’s obsession with celebrities.  I say that because financial news is generally crap.

It just seems that the headlines take the current headline and use that to explain the days movement of the market.  Like yesterday it was "Oil rises above $40 on Mideast tensions" and today it’s "Oil drops below $40 over world economic concerns".   I don’t think they have any clue.

I know it’s unhealthy to watch the markets daily, but like a voyeur, I never take action on what I see, it’s just filler, junk, vapid nonsense.

So anyway, that’s my confession.

Auto Bubble

Posted by on November 4, 2008 No comments

Detroit makes me imagine a crazy person locked in a room somewhere making and churning out dozens of ugly teddy bears a day.  Each day people come to him and say "All the kids already have teddy bears and  even if they do want a new one, kids don’t want ugly teddy bears." 

But the crazy bear maker won’t stop.  He makes bigger, uglier teddy bears and pushes pile after pile of bears out the door.  The people carry heaps of grotesquery off to showrooms where the bears sit unwanted and unsold.

The bear maker is proud of himself.  His whole life has been making teddy bears and he feels he is vital to the well-being of children everywhere.  Whenever it is argued that his bears are unwanted, his response is "Look how busy I am!"  He never stops, he must be afraid to.

And sadly, after all these years of building bears in isolation, he discovers he has neither the skill nor the tools to build better bears.  He will need to be retrained or replaced.  We’ve already committed to pay for retraining and retooling.  Time will show whether he has no choice but to be replaced.

The State of Food

Posted by on August 9, 2008 No comments

It’s actually kind of pathetic, really.  My life has primarily become about food.  There was on old stand-up routine where a comic was pointing out how different people gave directions.  The religious guy would say things like "Go past the Catholic church until you get to the Methodist church.  Then turn left one block past the bible store."  The fat guy would say "Go down Main street and you’ll see a gym on your left.  You want to keep going right past that.  Don’t even slow down.  You’ll drive past a Pizza Hut, Burger King, and when you get to the Wendy’s, which has great food, slow down.  You’ll see the place on your left."  Well, that has become me.  All my reference points are restaurants.  I know where to find the food I like in every location I frequent.  I know where most Longhorns are in about a 100 mile radius.  Geez.

So, how did this happen to me?  Simple.  That’s my hobby.  If you ask, I also know where most pawn shops are in a hundred mile radius.  When eating alone, it’s usually easier and arguably cheaper to eat out.  So, I visit the same places many times, in many different places.  Like my white-collar/blue-collar post, I look for these landmarks when I am in a new locale.

I take a bit of flack for eating the same things over and over.  I can count the number of entrees I eat on my fingers; it’s pretty limited.  But my viewpoint is that it’s not the same meal.  Eating a burger at Chili’s for lunch and a burger at McD’s for dinner are different.  They taste different.  That’s my variety.  And I can identify the differences between all burgers that I eat, the fries I eat (including the texture of the salt), and the syrup/water/CO2 mixture of the Coke per location.  I’ve been on the fence for a very long time as to whether it’s a good or bad thing to have the server ask "the usual?"  It depends on my mood whether I get annoyed or not.  Also, I’m not sure about getting personal with the staff.  That makes me feel like I’m paying for attention.  Whenever money is involved, I don’t believe in sincerity.

Lately, our area has seen a compression of eating locations.  Within the last few months we lost: Roadhouse, Sam Seltzers, Lone Star, Bennigan’s, Don Pablo’s, Steak and Ale and Ruby Tuesday.  I guess the economy has hit the casual dining market hard, but then again, I never visited these places often (except Roadhouse), so maybe it’s my fault too.  I guess I can’t save the world, one restaurant at a time.

My Bedtime Prayer as of Late

Posted by on July 21, 2008 No comments

Now I lay me down to sleep

Whatever happens is fine with me

If I should die before I wake

Whatever.  Fuck it.  I don’t give a shit.

Important Information Enclosed

Posted by on July 18, 2008 No comments

Got one of the common letters in the mail, "Important Information Enclosed: Privacy Notification".  Now why is it when I see one of these, the first thing I think of is "Important Information Enclosed: We are reducing your level of privacy".  Would I ever see a privacy policy change that is actually more restrictive?  Here’s a quick summary of the privacy policy I got:

  • Is my information shared within your family of companies?  YES.
  • Is my information shared with financial companies outside your family of companies? YES.
  • Is my information shared with non-financial companies outside your family of companies?  YES.

Well, that covers just about everyone.  I guess there’s no privileged information anymore.  Wait, there’s one more.

  • Is my information shared in any other ways?  YES.

Oh, ok.  The notice provides some examples of some ways they would share info, but the only thing that limits this is the phrase "as required or permitted by law".  Well, that covers just about everything.  In fact, this phrase is in the notice: "even if you tell us not to share, we may do so as required or permitted by law."  So technically, if law permits it, we’ll share your info regardless of what you tell us.  Another little twist is that your choice of what to exclude is limiting. Think "You are being attacked by three monsters and you have one bullet.  Which one do you want to shoot?  Remember, even if you kill one, it may reanimate and attack you again, as required or permitted by law."  That’s what you get.

I haven’t ever been a big privacy nut.  I don’t really do anything that I think anyone cares about.  And if I do things and am included in an aggregate, I care even less.  But this is about garbage.  Garbage sent to my home, garbage in my email (that’s a hopeless cause anyway), and uninvited phone calls.  My use of a company’s services makes my personal information their property that they can sell at will.  I wonder when this happened.

This kind of crap extends to virtual businesses.  How is an Internet site valued when it provides a free service?  By the number of users it has.  With a quick sale, a change of ownership and a flip of a switch, all those users can be bombarded with advertising.  The thought that we are being farmed, bred, or fed for eventual sale and slaughter is pretty sickening.

One last note.  The formal letter introducing the privacy policy has the incredulous statement: "Your privacy concerns are important to us, and protecting your personal information is one of our top priorities."  An absolute lie if I’ve ever seen one.

The American Dream

Posted by on June 22, 2008 No comments

Part of The American Dream is supposed to be owning your own home.  I am a homeowner and was a long-time renter.  Recently, I noticed a chart in MS Money that made me take notice.  It was the "Net Worth Over Time" chart.

NetWorth

Can you tell when I became a homeowner?  It was February 2007.  The beginning of a steady climb in my net worth.  Prior to this, I was a renter, and the chart shows, my net worth growth was pretty stagnant.  Sure it went up as I put more in my retirement accounts and paid down debt, but not like the climb after becoming a homeowner.

Some argue that the expenses of owning a home outweigh the benefits, since rent covers all housing expenses.  As the chart shows, even with the expenses of a house, the value still grows.  This is equity.  When you buy a house, you have a property worth $x.xx, but you have a loan worth $x.xx, too.  It’s net zero.  Current housing conditions aside, as you pay down the loan, one side of the equation goes down, and one remains constant.  Whereas when you rent, you have property of $0.00 and a loan of $0.00.  As you pay your rent, neither side changes (for you.  It does for the rental property owner). You remain at zero.

I just thought I’d make a small post to say that this small visual reminder showed the value of home ownership to me.