Rants

I started thinking about this a lot over a year ago. The economy had gone south and I, like most people, lost upwards of 40% of my retirement funds. While I’m a long way from retirement, I don’t like handing back 40% of my money. I started thinking about in whom and in what am I investing.

I couldn’t answer my own question. The nature of mutual funds blinds us from where our money is going. The investment gurus tell us that it’s a blended fund to minimize losses and optimize gains — lower risk. So why is it I lost 40%? The most recent market downturn was obviously a result of improper lending. Lending to people who had no business borrowing what they were borrowing. The execs making the decisions on who to lend to don’t care — they’re millionaires who receive millions when they get fired for poor company performance. I wish I could do shitty, careless work, get fired and, as a result, win the lottery.

I quickly realized I was part of the problem. These companies survive on investments like the ones I make through my 401k and Roth IRAs. Unwittingly, I was, and still am, investing in many of the corporations I despise like the automobile industry, the oil industry and shady financial institutions.

Not long after realizing my mistakes, I talked to my financial advisor and long-time friend. Of course, he was a little hesitant about moving my money to socially-responsible mutual funds — funds that choose companies based on their track records for making socially- and environmentally-responsible decisions in their business activities. Apparently, this is a fairly new area for my old friend because it was clear from our conversation that he didn’t have anything readily available from which I could choose to re-invest. Apparently, he still doesn’t have anything over a year later because my money is still sitting in the same places more than a year after telling him I would like to pursue these types of investments. This also makes clear that no one else is asking about these sorts of mutual funds.

As a bike commuter, one of the main reasons I ride is because I’m eternally sick of the automobile and oil companies feeding us lies about how they are working in our best interests. Remember the Saturn commercials which said, “I get tired of these pundits telling us that we don’t make cars that Americans want. Saturn makes cars Americans want.” They went out of business shortly thereafter.

Many of the companies we are investing in do not have mine, yours or our country’s best interest at heart. They are simply trying to make a buck whatever the cost to our health, livelihood and future.

Please, talk to your financial advisors, human resource personell and legislators. Let’s start demanding a higher standard and better visibility to what we are spending our money. Only by making large corporations accountable can we ensure that we maintain and grow the ideals we hold personally.

I’ve been watching a lot of NFL football lately. Yeah, I know. It’s the bane of my existence. I just can’t pull myself away completely.

During my guilty pleasure, I’m forced to endure at least 45 minutes of automobile (undesirable vehicle) commercials. I’ve tried to DVR the games with no success. Thus, I sit through endless, mindless commercials about undesirable vehicles (UDVs).

I work in the medical device industry. We are ISO 13485 compliant — for the most part. No company is fully compliant. Anyway, the premise of ISO 13485 is that you must maintain a quality management system. Following its guidance leads an organization to better quality products. What most people don’t realize is that it is a customer focused standard. That’s right, you base your quality system on the needs of the customer. Sounds a bit strange but if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. The customer wants a device that alleviates their pain, has no side effects, has little chance of complication, lasts a long time, etc.

Among other many other things, the UDV industry has lost sight of their customer….let me rephrase that, they’ve brain-washed their customer. Almost every UDV commercial you see has some claim about how technologically advanced, safe or how full efficient their UDV is. You’re constantly bombarded by these messages wherever you go. The ads are everywhere. They’re pervasive.

The UDV companies have no idea what you want. Have you ever been asked? I haven’t. They spend so much time telling you what you need, what you need becomes what they want you to need.

Case in point: Toyota Prius, version 3, 50 miles to the gallon. Great gas mileage? Wrong. Cars 50 years ago got better gas mileage — check the records. VWs were getting better gas mileage 50 years ago. So in 50 years of UDV development you’ve come full circle. Congratulations! You’ve done nothing. It’s like walking into an othopaedic surgeon’s office because you have advanced arthritis of the knee and them giving you pain pills and some crutches and saying, ‘You’re really going to enjoy this.’ You’d probably choose another Orthopod. Why are you not choosing another form of transportation? Because you do what your told. Toyota claims that their car is even the perfect meld between earth, man and machine. Really? Really? American public, are you at all evaluating any of these claims?! They’re comical. It’s like watching a cartoon.

Why am I saying anything. You’re not listening to reason. You’re not using reason. Neither are the UDV companies. Go to the tele and buy their lies hook, line and sinker. Don’t do anything positive in your community. Sit in front of the tele. Do nothing. Feel nothing. Experience nothing for yourself. You’re missing the life experience. So long. You’ve wasted your life buying someone’s lies.

A lot, I think. Following is a list of the repairs/maintenance I performed during 30 days in July and August:

Monday 7/20: Repaired tube. 15 minutes.
Tuesday: Cleaned both brake cables and replaced cable housing on front brake – 45 minutes.
Saturday 7/25: Repaired three tubes – 40 minutes.
Sunday: Repaired tube with two punctures – 30 minutes.
Tuesday: Puncture. 5 minute road repair, 15 min. patching work
Sunday: Trip to bike store, Replaced brake calipers, mounted new light, tightened bottom bracket on the fixie – 2.5 hours $25
Tuesday: New seatpost – the old one was almost 12 years old – 45 minutes $19
Saturday: Rebuilt front wheel – rim was almost 12 years old and out-of-round. $70 rim and spokes. – 2 hours
Sunday: Switched out rear tube to a Slime tube – other tube had six patches: 15 minutes
Friday 8/14: Fixed cable and adjusted internal hub shifter cable that was completely not functional: 20 minutes (still need to zip tie the cable to the frame and I noticed the cable is frayed at the shifter – will need to replace.)
Saturday 8/15: Biffed it on the fixie. Lots of time doctoring wounds. Have a nicely bent rear wheel. Will need 45 minutes to true. (Not included in the calculation)

For July/August 30 days: 8.25 hours of repairs.

This seems like a lot of time to be spending maintained a fleet of bikes as my primary form of transportation. I don’t wonder long about whether many of our current population would be interested in spending this much time repairing their primary form of transportation. We need more dependable bikes with more durable components!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here’s an interesting paper on it: http://dieoff.org/page137.htm

There’s likely some truth in every extremist’s thoughts.

I was on my bike train with my two children. A gentleman in a brand-spanking-new hybrid crossover leaned over and said, “I really appreciate what you’re doing.” “Riding in Memphis is so dangerous with so much traffic.” I wanted to say, “Have you ever ridden a bike around Memphis?!!!!!” “What the hell do you know about riding in Memphis?!!!!” But I’ve been tempered by age, experience and I gave the guy a break ’cause he actually shut his vehicle off while at the bank, unlike most of the bank patrons. So I said, “Memphis is a great place to ride. Of course, I don’t take Poplar or Union. I take to the backstreets. In Midtown, there’s very little traffic.” He said, “Well, I appreciate what you’re doing. Be safe.” To which I responded, “Always.”

I wish people like him and his family would get out and actually check out the scene. They may realize it’s not so bad and the more we’re out there the more comfortable the undesirable vehicle drivers would be. Again though, a few things temper my feelings here: 1. Bikes are high maintenance. (see my blog later this month). 2. Fellow bike advocates think we have to have bike lanes for people to start riding (I think more expensive gasoline — around $10 — would be more helpful and warranted as far as sustainability is concerned). 3. This is the south. It ain’t cool to ride a bike unless it’s a Harley Davidson. 4. Most people make their decisions based on fear. Many times this fear is groundless. If people didn’t have airlines and automobile companies telling them it was safe to travel in their vehicles, few would. Think about how much money the auto companies spend to advertise safety features. Despite that, if you die prematurely, chances are you’ll be in a car.

Cheers,

Mason