I’m blown away when a person is able to spend more than $20k a year on living expenses. But then I realize that they have little appreciation of the value of money [relative to what the money is spent on]. It’s treated like water and it slips through their fingers. Turn on a pressurized faucet and it just comes out without any consideration as to where it comes from as long as the utility bill is paid. Though clean water is a finite resource limited by irreplaceable aquifers or the energy needed to drive purification system, it is spent like there is no tomorrow. Why we use potable water to flush toilets and keep desert golf courses green!

It’s the same thing with money, I think. People go to work the same way they pay their utility bills. It’s just unimaginable not to do so. But when they do it, they can simply slide the card in a slot and money comes out the wall. And this money is wasted in the same way we waste water. Sure some people try to limit their water use by turning off the faucet while brushing their teeth or by getting low flow heads. This is similar to saving a little bit of money here and there. Yet few people go as far as to believe that it is possible save enough to turn off the job just like it is impossible to live on 1-2 gallons of water instead of the standard 60-100 gallons per person per day. Well, it is.

Originally posted 2008-04-07 07:17:36.

This post was written in 2008 which was the first time in my adult life that the economy (I lived in) came up against resource constraints. What happens then is a bull market in commodities. This in turn quenches economic growth, and the prices drop again. Commodity volatility is a sign that the system is stretched to its limit. Below I suggest some diet changes which will make it easier to deal with the volatility (which is still there).

Food rationing has returned to the US for the first time since World War II. Along with the ongoing bet of which will reach $5/gallon first — gas or milk (I say gas)– this is one of an emerging list of symptoms that the idea of exponential growth of the economy and people on a finite planet is fundamentally flawed.

Exponential growth with its cute euphemism of the magic of compound interest, procreation, consumption, etc. can be incredibly destructive of whatever the system is growing into e.g. cancer into the human body. For instance, the cancer is likely doing fine until the host dies.

Now I have been expecting this but I was not expecting it this soon in the US. Lack of food is a fact of life for two billion people on the planet. Incidentally, for those who stopped counting world population numbers when they left school, there are now 6.7 billion people on the planet or 700 million more than 8 years ago, 2200 million more than when I was born, and twice as many as when my parents were born. Getting crowded yet?

It is possibly just a temporal fluke (currently) and eventually prices will adjust. Also the story may have been blown out of proportion. In my opinion now is not the time to go out and hoard bags of rice, but feel free to do whatever you like.

There are some things to keep in mind though. The government is actively subsidizing the in my opinion inane idea of putting food in the gas tank (ethanol). This is causing a food shortage in its own (the tortilla crisis). Furthermore it takes 15-20g of plant protein (and ungodly amounts of water) to make 1g of meat protein. This means that the price is meat is highly leveraged. However, just like oil is not the main limiting factor on the economy yet, fodder might not be the limiting factor yet on beef price. There’s also labor, land, taxes, etc. Nevertheless, this is a good time to start thinking about the kinds of foods it will be economically possible to eat when the population count hits 9 billion within the next 40 years especially given the increased competition with 2+ increasingly affluent people from Chindia.

I suggest doing what we do. Instead of making meat the main part of the meal, turn it into a condiment or perhaps leave it out altogether. Similarly, drop the milk. Finally, learn what grows locally and when it is in season and cook with those ingredients. This way one can adapt one’s current diet to something which is probably more healthy but more importantly corresponds to the future food situation. In addition learning to cook is a process that takes time, so if your diet is hopelessly American, start easy by perhaps learning how to bake a cookie without using premixed store bought powder. Try making your own sauce. Then go on and try meat free days and then meat free weeks. After that start learning about what is grown locally and cook more with those ingredients and less with imported ingredients. Finally, cook more with what’s locally in season rather than ingredients that have to be flown in. At this point food rationing should not incur major hardships.

Originally posted 2008-04-25 07:34:51.

The past year I have been commuting by bike on most work days. The distance is about 6.2 miles and my odomoter shows 1736 miles for the year. Granted, I have done some recreational riding as well including a half-century, that is 50 miles, on some particularly crazy Saturday, but I doubt that totals more than 150-200 miles. I have ridden in cold weather and frozen my legs off (note to self: get some longer bike shorts) and I have ridden in temperatures in excess of 100F. Given that our car’s gas milage is maybe 20mpg in city traffic and the price of gas around here is $3.5/gallon, I figure I have saved around 75 gallons of gas, over two thousand pounds of carbon dioxide or $262.5 dollars. In addition, I have saved maybe 1% in car depreciation which comes to another $150. Maybe I should ask DW for a reimbursement (DW handles the gas). Given that I biked 8 months out of 12 (didn’t move here until April), this comes out to $600 a year in annual “savings”. Not bad! With oil prices touching $100 for the first time yesterday, I expect “savings” to keep improving of course.

When I moved to CA, my new boss lent me his old racing bike. I had never owned a racing bike before, but I was hooked on speed almost immediately. After a couple of months and having not found anything on craigslist, I forked over $1500 to the local bike shop (LBS) and got a Trek2100ZR. With the above figures, this bike should have paid itself off in 2.5 years.

The “problem” with racing bikes is that they are somewhat special in that they should be fitted especially for you. Almost anything can be adjusted, the height and position of the saddle, the size, position and orientation of the head set, the lenght of the crank arms, the gearing, etc. The point is to obtain the best fit which will transfer the maximum amount of power to the pedals while still being comfortable. When your feet are going at 90RPM and you’re outputting 200 Watts of power, even being a few milimeters off in the saddle position feels less comfortable. So for my first racing bike, I preferred to rely on an expert and since I don’t know any roadies, I had to pay. Now knowing what the right fit feels like, I plan to get my next bike on my own though.

There are some interesting thing to note about racing bikes. First, the saddle looks too narrow to sit on comfortably. The important thing to note here is that on a bike your bodyweight is supported by your hands, your butt and your feet. The faster you go, the more force will go into your feet to support your weight. My bike feels quite uncomfortable at anything below 15mph because most of my weight is suddenly supported by my hands, wrists, elbows, and butt. Going faster (20mph) the force on the arms and saddle becomes almost zero though. Riding in 100F is another potential source of discomfort. One may think that this is too hot. However, at high speeds evaporating sweat easily cools you down. I can even feel the coolness of my breath as it hits my face where the humidity evaporates right off. In conclusion, 100F will feel very hot and the bike will feel uncomfortable and cause aches and pains unless you go fast! It sounds counter-intuitive but it’s much more comfortable riding a fast bike in 100F than it is to walk.

It would seem that there is a barrier of entry to road bikes, which are pretty much the most efficient way of travelling on land. It is more efficient than walking and a lot more efficient than driving. If you can’t go at 17mph+ they don’t feel as nice as when you can. On the other hand, if you get a “lesser” bike, you probably wont build your power and riding style up to 17mph+. Riding a mountain bike or one of those fashion forward cruisers at 17mph or more requires serious effort. It reminds me of credit cards. If you have them already, it’s easy to get a new one although you probably don’t need one. However, if you don’t have credit, it’s very very hard to get even though you need it more. Barriers of entry.

The only way to get around this is to keep pushing with what you already have. If you already have a bike, ride it daily to build up miles or work on strength and endurance in other ways. With credit, realize that you won’t get far without savings. There is no reason in either case to look into fancy methods until the fundamentals are correct. For instance, there’s a difference in technology between my new bike and the beater I used to borrow. Gears shift more smoothly, brakes are more efficient, the frame is stiffer and lighter. Despite all this my average speed on this bike is only maybe 1-2mph higher which I attribute mostly to using clipless pedals instead of toeclips. The law of diminishing returns thus suggest that I should work on getting stronger and fitter rather than upgrading my equipment. It just pains me to see some skinny legged weekend warrior on a $4000 bike all decked out in spandex and goretex doing 17mph. Of course wooshing past him in office attire feels kinda good :p .

Now for commuting purposes, which incidentally are also one of the better ways to train for long distance marathon-like riding, I recommend getting a spare tube and some tire levers. While flats are rare (at least in dry weather) you don’t want to be caught having to carry (never drag a flat tire on the rim!) your bike 3 miles because of a blowout or a rimcut or worse, get caught 15 miles out on a recreational ride! You also need a light weight pump. Don’t make the same mistake as I did. Avoid the palm sized micropumps. It takes 15 minutes to pump up a tire that way. Get a slightly larger one. You can get a spiffy saddle bag to keep it in or you can just keep it in your backpack. Just don’t forget them. I generally get my “accessories” at biketiresdirect.com. I’m not associated with them, but I do like having paid a flat $5 in shipping every time I have bought something there so far.

If you are going for a racing bike I would recommend is to get “clipless” pedals i.e the kind where you get a special shoe with cleats that clip into the pedal. This allows one to power the crank all 360 degrees around, forward, down, backward and up. In comparison, toeclips, in which you put your normal shoe into a strap only allows for about 180 degrees or forward and down. Strapless only allows power on the down stroke and is far inferior. If you can have only one upgrade, clipless would be it. If you pay more than $1000 for your bike it will most likely come with clipless.

Here are some more blogs to get you going.

Alright, this settles the equipment issue. Next time I will discuss various tips and tricks for commuting and growing beyond commuting e.g. making cycling part of one’s overall exercise routine.

Originally posted 2008-01-04 07:32:51.

A better way of “growing” in a limited world is to increase quality. Make things better fitting, smaller, and more efficient instead of just making them bigger and more powerful. With that in mind, here are the best posts of April 2008.

• Making changes
• Row, row, row your boat — On the law of comparative advantage
• Why I won’t join the middle class
• The major risks of buy and hold index investing
• Quo vadis?

• Going in: 17(+25) lbs
• Going out: 18 lbs

The outbound stuff comprises some bicycle stuff I bought (ARGH!), 9 books and 8 DVDs/CDs that I swapped (shipping only), and 4 books I bartered for a 25lbs bicycle. Yes, you read that right! Still, the budget is negative although I am clearing some shelf space in the process which is great! DWs stuff budget was very positive. She gave a bunch of things (yarn, baseball cards, books, …) up for freecycling, yay! This also means that I can seriously begin claim one of our excess bedrooms as an office, that is, a tax deductible business expense (I got my business license for my freelance job back from the city). Incidentally, freelance earnings for March covered all living expenses for the second time.

I’m off to another training session for my new job. I’m fairly excited about it because it’s a job that gives an immediate feeling of accomplishment and because of the time-control it offers. Now I discovered that it also offers significant control over our taxes. Woohoo!

In other news, check out this new supposedly green dream home. It’s green so it must be good for the environment, right? Wrong! I could write an essay to explain why this is another sign that some people just won’t ever get it, but seeing that I’m busy, I leave this as an exercise for the reader (I did learn something about life from reading textbooks! ).

Friendly reminder: Due to increased workload future weekend posts will be irregular or nonexistent.

• Carnival of Money, Growth and Happiness #34
• Festival Of Frugality #114

It is interesting how valuation is sometimes determined by things other than value. For instance, if a reader agrees with an author the reader will say that the post is well written and vice-a-versa (*). So with that in mind (given that I like myself), here are my favorite posts for February 2008, hmmm

• What people ought to know about the different kinds of personal finance blogs
• The secret of education
• No need to save millions – here’s a quicker way to financial independence
• Ecological capitalism and consumer capitalism
• Precision, accuracy and the importance of using the right model

(*) See reviews on amazon.com for countless examples.

• Outgoing: 15 pounds
• Incoming: 2 pounds

Overall I got lighter and minimized my footprint by 13 pounds by donating some things to charity and selling a couple of books on amazon. The incoming 2 pounds. Well, that’s some bike apparel I bought even though I said I did not need any. Oh, the shame! But after wearing out the seat of yet another pair of slacks (the third within a year), I figured that a pair of bike shorts (actually it’s a long legged bib) would be a more economical solution. I also got some socks since my regular socks have been dying left and right for the same reasons.