Chad Files

Lately I have been on a quest to minimize: buy less, consume less, own less, eat less, think less. Basically I want to simplify my life and just be. A big part of minimizing is getting rid of the old things that tie one down: debt, stuff, stress, work, etc. I took a long look at all of the things, and they all basically boiled down to one common denominator — money. Typical Americans work long and hard hours to make money to buy things — even if the things are not necessary — and if we cannot buy things outright we take on debt to get them. I am guilty, you are guilty, we are all guilty. I want to brake that cycle in my life.

The key component of minimizing my lifestyle, and ultimately being where I want to be in life, involves minimizing my need for money. This can be accomplished in multiple ways, and I am deploying many different strategies. However, there is one that stands out above the others because it solves many problems at the same time — selling my stuff.

Over time I have amassed things I do not need and no longer want. My thought is I can sell five of these items every week for the next year. By selling the stuff I get rid of the clutter in my life, and raise funds without having to work more. I can use those funds to pay off debts, or invest them — allowing them make more money.

I picked five because that is all I can manage to sell/ship at one time. The thought is if I sell five things a week and make an average of $100 a week, at the end of the year I will have over $5000. That is a nice little chunk of change that I can use to pay off student loans, invest, store in a college fund, start a business, etc. To track things, I wrote a little application to track the progress. Follow along, I will be writing more about this initiative as it progresses.

It has been a big year for my family; my wife and I celebrated our 7th anniversary, and our children became a year older. We all went on our first camping trip together and took a small vacation up to Jonesboro to see friends. My oldest and I went to Missouri and visited route 66; we also went on our first overnight backpacking trip together. The kids and I also did part of the Big Dam Bridge 100 bicycle ride. We even started a successful organic garden at our house. As a family the biggest change we undertook this year was becoming a one car family. A few months ago we sold my truck and became truly committed to scaling back our lifestyle — and our carbon footprint. The next biggest adjustment has been dealing with the severe peanut allergy we found out our youngest has.

Personally it has been a big year too. I ran my first marathon, starting riding a bicycle religiously, and managed to loose 40 pounds in the process. I also managed to get to Seattle and see friends and experience life on the west coast for a few days. A few months ago I also became a League Certified Bicycle Instructor. And a group of local cyclists, myself included, started an advocacy group, and pulled off several worthwhile projects.

At this time of year I always look back and think how much has changed in the last year and wonder where the next will take me. I also set some goals for myself and do everything I can to achieve them. I did alright this year, I completed about 75% of them. The other 25% is split among things that just did not work out and goals I am still trying to reach. Whether it be success or failure on the horizon, I am looking forward to 2009.

If you have been under a rock or out in the backcountry you may not be aware that today is election day in the United States of America. Today is not an ordinary election though; at least not like the others I remember. This election actually has two very different candidates that think they have a plan to get us out of the mess the last guy put us in. Of course, time will be the true measure of that.

In local politics we have two very import amendments this cycle. One that wants to see Arkansas finally get a lottery; I am all for this one. The other seeks to ban cohabiting and homosexual couples from adopting children; I am adamantly opposed to this one. In my little area we also have a heated state senate race between an out-of-touch old guy and a lying, two-faced, fundy bureaucrat. I voted for the old guy because I cannot stand people without backbones. There are other lesser races and amendments on the list but those are the big ones.

The poles were a little busier than I expected this morning. It took me about 50 minutes to vote. An unscientific test showed the line to be moving at about one voter per 30 seconds. I almost early voted this year but opted not to. Why? Because I love being part of the election day fervor. To a geek this is almost like Super Bowl Sunday. I will also be awake and watching the TV until a winner is announced this evening.

And yes, I did ride my bicycle to the polling station.

About a year ago the thought of selling my truck entered my head. At the time I had no real idea how my family would get along without a second vehicle, but thought it would be nice not to be burdened with a second vehicle. The idea soon faded and life went on as normal.

This past June a series of events occurred that put the idea back in my head… The day before I left for a vacation in Seattle my truck was in a minor accident. When I got back we had to take it to the shop and leave it there for a week. During that week we did not really notice the truck was missing. For transportation I started to rely on my bicycle.

When we got the truck back we decided to stick with bicycle travel and see how it went. To my surprise it went really well. Shortly after we decided to put the truck up for sale.

For the last four months I have been unable to sell the truck. We had tons of interest, but nobody could secure financing, or sell their other vehicle. It was a real downer not being able to get rid of the burden and move on with life.

Then suddenly everything changed this past Wednesday. I decided to take the truck back to the dealership, where we bought it, and see what I could get for it. To my dismay I could not negotiate the amount that I wanted, but decided to part with the vehicle for what I could bargain out of the sales manager.

End the end  the truck is gone after three good years of service, and I have a little money in my pocket to boot. Of course, now I do not have the payment, CO2 emissions, taxes, gas, or insurance for it either; which is a huge relief.

Now a new adventure begins, truly becoming a one car family in a rural suburban Arkansas city.

The last several weeks I have had a series of random thoughts and observations. Nothing earth shattering, but interesting nonetheless.

Students and the Mobile Era

It appears that every third college student is now surgically attached to their mobile phone. Riding through campus the other day I noticed that roughly one third of the students were either talking on a mobile or texting their little fingers off. To most people this may be no big deal; to me, it is a definite sign that I am now firmly planted in middle age.

Election 2008

I am throughly fed up with the election talk and coverage. Now that all of the announcements have been made and the platforms defined, the media has nothing to talk about except all of the he said, she saids. I really wish we could streamline the election process in years to come. There are millions of dollars and countless man hours wasted in order to allow the politicians to beat up on each other. I really think we could save ourselves some grief and misery by having a two month election season. In month one do the primaries, skip the conventions, announce running mates, and in month two have the election. There is no need in having this thing so drawn out when information can be obtained in an instance.

Spreading an Idea

If you have an idea about something it is easy to spread at first. The first people you tell are your friends; most of which will probably have a similar mindset, so it is easy. Then you try to spread the idea to people that kind of think like you; they are not as responsive but get the message. Then comes the task of spreading the idea to people that do not care; that is the hardest, and often when an idea fails.

The more the idea questions the status quo, the harder it is to spread. The harder it is to spread, the more work one has to do. If the amount of work is greater than the passion of the believers, the idea dies; else, the idea pushes though and changes the status quo.

Cars and the Oblivious

It is no secret that people completely shut themselves off from the world when they are in their cars. That is why car manufactures produce commercials about how quiet their cars are. That is also why places that do window tinting, and install car audio systems have very profitable businesses. My question is why does it have to be this way? Are we all too good or in too big of a hurry to roll the windows down, drive slow, and enjoy the ride?

Over the last several months I have come to really appreciate riding in a car. I am on my bike most days — which is a choice, and something I enjoy doing — but it has made me notice how much of a privilege a car really is. Riding in a modern vehicle is effortless and comfortable, the ride should be treated like something special not just a means to an end.

It is not everyday that I get to think about Arkansas and punctuation in the same thought. It seems that some of the “smart people” in our state got together and passed a law in defiance of the English language. They voted to change the proper possessive form of the word Arkansas from Arkansas’ to Arkansas’s. Fine, whatever, I am going to continue to use the correct form (Arkansas’) because those are the true rules. The last thing I want to remember is yet another esoteric rule dealing with a special case in the English language.

The problem I have with “the law” is that it fails to fix the true issue; which is a reoccurring trend when it comes to legislation in this state. The true fix would be to completely drop the silent “s” from the end of the word, or change it’s pronunciation to include the silent letter. There, see, the root cause of the issue is fixed and we won’t have to rehash this issue for at least 16 years. Of course, that line of thinking hardly ever works around here.

For the second time in less than a month I have been told a part is no longer available for my truck. Normally I would expect this however, my truck is a 2005 Nissan — it is only three years old. I have a hard time understanding why parts for a three year mainstream vehicle are no longer available.

The problem here deals directly with the parts in question — they are both unnecessary to the operation of the vehicle. The first one was a light that shines on the license plate, the other is a cover that goes over the holes in the front bumper for fog lights.

This phenomenon is not confined to just motor vehicles, it is everywhere: houses, computers, even toasters. I want to reverse this trend. Why can’t we go back to tools and products that do one thing and do it well? Why can’t we focus that excess engineering fluff at improving the core of the product?

When it comes to vehicles here is what I want: I want a car/truck that is as simple as a late 70s, early 80s model Chevrolet with the comfort and drive train engineering of today — oh and make it run on a renewable resource not gasoline. That is a simple request, a metal chassis, an engine, wheels, a comfortable seat, and a cockpit that has just enough leavers and buttons to operate the vehicle. That is it, no iPod ports, no power plugs, solid steel bumpers, no consoles, no power windows…you get the picture.

This is my plea for the world to simplify everything. Get rid of all that unnecessary stuff, I promise life will be better without them.

By they way, my truck is for sale. I am simplifying by riding a bicycle. Email me if you know somebody that may want to buy it. Oh and the parts have been found and replaced, got to love scrap yards and the Internet.

I stumbled on this article by Joel Stein earlier today and it provided some interesting numbers…

With public transit use nationally at a 50-year high, traffic dropped
2.1% in the first four months of this year across the country. That
mileage reduction — along with people driving smaller cars, and more
slowly, to save gas — could mean that 12,000 fewer people will die in
traffic accidents this year, according to a study by professors Michael
Morrisey at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and David C.
Grabowski at Harvard Medical School. Air pollution has been reduced
enough, according to UC Davis economics professor J. Paul Leigh, to
prevent 2,200 respiratory-related deaths over the last year. Less
eating out and more walking and biking could mean a 10% reduction in
obesity, according to Charles Courtemanche, an assistant economics
professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

This makes perfect sense, people have finally started to hit a wall. I am one of those strange people that actually want to see gas hit $10 a gallon; if it does there will be absolute change across the board.

This effect has happened to me personally. In my household we went from spending roughly $250 a month on gas between two cars to spending about $150 a month on one car; that also includes the price of gas going from $3 to $4 a gallon.

We did this by cutting back and by replacing trips in a car with bicycle rides. This has also caused me to drop 2 inches on my waist and feel better. These kinds of changes are not possible for everybody, but I can safely assume there are changes everybody could make that would benefit their pocketbooks, their health, and the environment.

I am usually not one to speak about politics in a public forum; however, given the state of things I feel the need to get my thoughts out. I believe The United States of America is in utter shambles right now, and unfortunately it is going to get vastly worse before it gets better.

Over the last eight years King George the First and his cronies have wrecked the ideas and spirit of an entire nation. Many Americans now believe in the boogie man because the government and the media have told them he exits; we even have a war going on to fight him. There are people falsely imprisoned and tortured on a daily basis because they might know bad people. The American working class is slipping into poverty because everything costs more and jobs pay less. Worst of all, citizens are no longer free to think, believe, and act without fear of being spied on and ostracized because of their beliefs.

I for one believe George W Bush, Dick Cheney and the lot of them are criminals and should be held accountable for their actions in a court of law; unfortunately that will never happen. They lied to the people of this country under oath. They are responsible for the deaths of thousands of American soldiers. At the absolute least, they are guilty of profiteering and espionage.

This is not all the executive branch’s fault; Congress is somewhat responsible too. The people of this country elect our Senators and Representatives to be our voices and stand up against tyranny. Congress has failed us. When the 2006 election results came back I was optimistic that the newly elected officials would rectify the situation; my how I was disappointed. They have done very little to stop or change anything. It seems the only person in there that is set on really changing things is Dennis Kucinich.

Now here we are in a presidential election year. On the GOP side we have John McCain who is out of touch with most of today’s issues. I also believe that if elected he will continue on to have George Bush’s third term. For the Democrats we have Barack Obama who is quickly getting saddle sores from riding the fence. His recent decisions on the FISA issue assured me that he is just like most other politicians: more willing to do what it is easy instead of what is right.

I want somebody who is going to make a stand and return the country to the people. Unfortunately, I am not going to get that in this election. All things considered, I have made my 2008 presidential decision: I am a registered independent voting for “None of the Above”. In the past two elections I was on the loosing end, but the two men that I voted for earned my vote. This year there is not a candidate in the race that has earned my vote, and being so close to the election it is unlikely that one of the candidates will change or a new one emerge.

I do think the country will eventually recover. I think either of the candidates will do a marginally better job than Bush, but the ball he started rolling is not going to stop soon. We are going to see hard times over the next few years, much harder than what we are seeing now. However, I believe in the people and the principals on which the nation was founded, and that is why we will get through this.

The man who would choose security over freedom deserves neither.

– Thomas Jefferson

In my never ending quest to try new things and do them without much help from the outside world I decided to make some jam. The results were amazing, the work was hard, and I am glad I did it.

To figure out what in the world I was doing I consulted the indispensable Alton Brown. During season two of Good Eats Alton did an episode named Urban Preservation I: Jam Session; the entire episode was devoted to making Blueberry Jam. He covered what you needed, how to do it, and provided several life saving tips, literally.

The only thing I did different than Alton was use Blackberries. They are in season right now and can be purchased cheaply; I got mine at the local farmers market. So armed with a little more than a quart of Blackberries and some brand new canning supplies, purchased from my local Ace Hardware (like Alton), I started the process.

Everything went smoothly at first; wash everything, sterilize everything, cook and mash the berries. Then things got interesting; I had to add 7 cups of sugar, yes 7 CUPS. Not realizing how much boiling liquid this process was going to produce I used a pot that was too small. Needless to say, the jam boiled over the sides of the pot and made a huge mess on the stove. No worries though, I was almost finished, all I had to do was fill and seal the jars…yeah…almost finished.

While I was filling the jars the spring in my tongs sprung and caused me to knock a boiling hot jar of blackberry jam all over the kitchen floor, and I was barefooted. Fortunately my cat like reflexes kicked in and I bound out of the way as the jar crashed. The mess was one of the best I have ever created. There was jam on the oven, refrigerator, cabinets, floor and me. After 30 minutes of frantic cleaning I finally got back to the matter at hand and finished the jam.

All of my jars sealed properly and the jam tastes amazing. Now that I have it down I am anxious to make more.