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mckeowbc
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Name: Ben
Country: United States
State: Maryland
Metro: Annapolis
Birthday: 4/4/1981
Gender: Male
Interests: Linux, programming, C, C++, Python, Perl, Java, php, SQL, golf, beer, barbecue, Kempo, karate, running
Expertise: I'm fresh out of college, so I guess I wouldn't say I'm an expert in anything. But I am good with computers, but not an expert yet.
Occupation: Engineering
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  Kirtan L
Yahoo:  mckeowbc
Member Since:
4/13/2004
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| So I walk into Wal-Mart yesterday to pick up a few random items. Going to Wal-Mart is usually a miserable experience even when things go well, but for some reason the combination of low prices, everything all in one place and being on my way home from work keeps me coming back. Yesterday however, was a complete and utter failure. I went in to pick up items so I could do an oil change on my truck and get a tarp to cover my patio furniture. All things that should be no problem to find at the brand new Super Wal-Mart. Think again. Mobile synthetic motor oil? Completely sold out, not a drop to be had of any grade, much less 5W-30. Oil filter for my truck? Not a chance. Had every other filter in stock except filters for 2005 Toyota Tacomas. And tarps? I'm not even sure now that they sell them, but it would seem to be a reasonable thing for a Wal-Mart to carry.
So I lost an hour of my life yesterday to Wal-Mart and have absolutely nothing to show for it.
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| I've been doing a lot (probably too much) thinking about our government, our leaders and our economy as of late. The twin forces of a presidential election and a big economic mess have driven me to the point where I'm staying up to all hours reading economic blogs. The whole thing really has just brought me to the point of frustration, anger and even a little despair. I'm really in danger here of loosing a bit of my footing, so I'm trying to step back and remember the big picture of what God is doing. I need to consistently remind myself of two truths. 1) God is sovereign over everything. There is nothing outside of his power, and nothing that surprises him. Whatever is going on in the world is being worked out to his ultimate glory. 2) We are told to act wisely. This is a paradox that I will never come fully to grips with. God is sovereign, and yet we are always talked to in the Bible as if we have free will and choice. How does this ultimately work? I don't know. But here is the comfort in it, I should live as wisely as I can, I should exhort others to live wisely and when the world is still falling down around us be comforted that God is still sovereign and that whatever is happening is being worked out to his purposes.
So now I come to a point. I've found myself looking at our leaders, both the current and the newly elected ones and being disappointed. My list of objections to President Elect Obama's proposed policies and actions could fill several blog posts, and if I got started on the members of congress I could rant from now until the next election. However, in this I've caught myself thinking of these people not as image bearers of God, who ultimately could be justified by Christ and sanctified by the working of his spirit, but as static entities that may act in my timeline, but have static views and opinions. This completely denies the working of the spirit. This completely denies that these people are humans and that God is using them in his will and that he can both justify and sanctify them.
I don't know which members of our government are believers, but to think of them as holding static beliefs that cannot be changed by God's spirit denies my own experience through what God is doing in my life. Just looking back at how God has blessed me with wisdom, fellowship and challenged my beliefs in the last couple of years flies in the face of thinking we are static beings.
So here is my challenge to myself. I am challenging myself to pray regularly for our leaders. To actually sit down and pray for President Elect Obama. Pray that God might bless him with wisdom and discernment. Pray that if he is not actually a believer that God might bless him with faith and sanctify him. Pray that God blesses his family and keeps them safe. And pray for the same for the members of our congress and supreme court.
I still don't fully understand prayer, again God is sovereign, his will will be done. But God has commanded us to pray, and he has said that he answers prayers. I feel that these frustrations are weighting heavily on me, so I'm challenging myself to pray, knowing that God will answer my prayers in some way. I would hope that he would grant what I pray for, but I am at least assured that I will be granted the peace of God.
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| Well it's been called. Barack Obama is going to be the 44th president of the United States of America. I'm not surprised. I really hope I'm wrong about the kinds of change that he will actually bring in the next 4 years. I'd really like to be proven wrong, and have 4 years of peace and economic growth. But I'm really not hopeful. I see us as being in the same position we were in when Carter took office, and even though he was a well intentioned president, the country was still plagued by high inflation, high interest rates, an energy crisis, and stagnant economic growth. Obama's tax policies and ideas on social reforms particularly in the area of equal pay seem to be 70's throw backs. I really have a bad feeling we're in for a very hard road the next few years. But I hope I'm wrong. Even if I am wrong, I have a hard time believing that anyone, no matter how smart or talented, could actually live up to the amount of hope that people have in Obama.
Anyway, across the board this year it seems I was very good at voting for losers. I don't think a single one of the things I voted for went the way I voted. Still, I played the game, I was a part of the process. America will roll on, and the dialog will continue. Maybe in 4 years we all will have learned a few more things about the world and about government and we can make wiser decisions. I'm foolhardy to actually believe that, but then again I'm an idealist at heart.
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| So today I saw gas below $3 / gallon for the first time in months. There's definitely the inclination to feel happy about this but I'm trying to resist that urge. Cheaper gas feels like a good thing. It means I'm spending less money to get to work, less money to get to school, etc. It means a slight rise in my disposable income. I should be happy about that and I am a little. But here's why I'm disappointed.
High gas prices have accomplished more in the last few months to further the causes of alternative fuels, energy independence and reducing CO2 emissions than 10 years of legislation could. Government is inefficient and wasteful. Economic pressures are always faster and more effective. When gas is cheap people may pay lip service to the idea that we need to conserve, investigate alternative technologies, use public transit, bike commute, etc. But if gas is cheap then there is really no incentive to actually do it. Conserving gas is a pain, the cost of entry for hybrid vehicles is still higher than competitive cars, mass transit sorta sucks to use and bike commuting is looked at as being a little weird. If it doesn't hurt to not conserve, then why bother?
But look at what a couple Summers of high gas prices have brought us. Demand for gas dropped during the Summer for the first time in years. Detroit has historically fought all attempts to raise efficiency requirements, but now GM of all companies is bringing out a plugin hybrid electric vehicle. Hummer sales decline over 30% in one month alone. People are moving to smaller vehicles, hybrids and even diesels. If high gas prices continue the progress can only continue. High gas prices encourage development of alternative fuels because it means you don't have to make your process as cheap to still make a profit. High gas prices encourage the development of better mass transit and infrastructure for bike commuters.
I worry that if gas prices drop people will begin to think that this was just a fluke. I really don't believe this was a fluke. Gas prices long term are going to go up. Worldwide there is rising demand for gas, and eventually we will run out. When you have rising demand and a scarce resource prices will rise. I worry that this short term drop will begin to undo the small gains we've made. The longer we wait to transition away from gasoline the worse it will be when prices really do skyrocket. If alternative fuel companies fail in the short term because of temporarily low gas prices then we will be hurt in the long run. If we don't improve our infrastructure now we will have to scramble and do it badly when things really get bad.
This Summer was a taste, I hope we take it as a lesson and really make real efforts to move away from gasoline.
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So I came across this the other day while reading a bike commuting blog that I subscribe to. It's called an xtracycle. I think it's cool. It's sorta the "pickup truck" of bikes. This picture is of one of their "ready-made" xtracycles that you can buy complete. However, they sell a conversion kit that should work for most hard-tail bikes, which includes road bikes. Now, I don't think I could bear to convert my road cycle into a xtracycle. To me that would be like strapping a pickup truck bed on the back of a Corvette. In this case it would work, but it would ruin the bike for doing what I love to do with it, which is going fast for a long period of time. However, I have an old mountain bike that I don't really ride much that would be perfect. It's a hardtail, it's a steel frame, and has no suspension fork. I kinda look at it like a pickup truck. Most pickup trucks really aren't that great off road, although they can usually go there if necessary, it isn't that great on the road either, but they're durable and can carry stuff. If I turned this bike into an xtracycle it would be basically the same. I wouldn't really want to ride it off road, or long distance, but I could carry a ton of stuff (relatively speaking). Now the real question is, is this useful for me?
The short answer is, probably no. I don't think I'd want to do my current commute on it, and I don't do enough errands close to my house for it to really pay off. When I do bike commute I do it on my road bike, because it's 15 miles each way, and the road bike is the fastest and most comfortable way I can get there. I really wish I had a use for this thing, but I just don't see it right now. Unfortunately I'm like most people, so I really don't think there will be a huge market in the states for this thing. I blame American suburban sprawl for most of it. It's one of the major reasons more people don't bike commute. I feel like I have a reasonably short commute by car, compared to most people, and I'm on the edge of where I feel comfortable bike commuting from. 30 miles of riding each day isn't realistic for most people. If I lived in the city, my commute by car might be the same time wise as it is now, but mileage wise it would likely be 1/5 - 1/3 of my current commute. However, I really don't want to live in the city nor work in the city. So I live and work in the burbs, and drive 30 miles a day. For something like the xtracycle to really take off, I'd have to do most of my "trips" within about a 5 mile circle of my house. For me right now the only place I go regularly that is in that circle is the grocery store. Almost every place I go to regularly is over 5 miles from my house (church, work, school, shopping centers, friends houses). I'd love to do my grocery shopping by bike, but to buy a bike just for that, just doesn't seem like it would pay off, especially when I can combine the grocery trip with other trips, which basically saves the same amount of gas.
Anyway, I figured I'd mention the xtracycle, just because I think it is a cool product, and hopefully I'm wrong and there are those out there that would have a real use for it, in the US. In Europe I'm sure they could use it.
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