The Road to Happiness

I thought Gov. Palin’s speech was very good (much better than Giuliani’s insulting, mocker-filled heap of crap). But again, too much time spent grinding away at the “Obama doesn’t have experience” stone. The GOP brainwashing engine is in full gas.

So I read tech blogs every day.  I like gadgets.  I like practical multipurpose gadgets.  Anyone that has (possibly unfortunately) gotten into a conversation about cell phones with me knows this.  Mostly I’m a little frustrated because I know these technologies exist and are possible, but companies just seem to drag their feet to put them out.  Anyways, I thought I’d share a few cool things I’ve read about recently.

The Sony Ericsson C905 is a camera phone.  It has 8MP.  That’s 4x the iPhone for anyone counting.  Sony phones are known for their slick interfaces, great music players, and the best battery life by far.  This thing also features the other must-haves for a sick phone: GPS, Wifi, Xenon Flash and 3G data.  People (mostly people that own iPhones) argue that you don’t need so many megapixels because the pictures are just so big.  But the problem is the lenses in cameras are so small that you have to make up for the optics with the shear pixel count.

The Dell 910 is the next in the newest trend of computers called “netbooks.” These are minimalist computers that use less power, solid state drives, and have small (less than 10 inch) screens.  The Dell 910 is attractive because, being a Dell, will be highly affordable and backed by a warranty that will allow you to be a little rough with it… which I think is a requirement for any truly portable device.

You all know I’m into cycling as well.  Well cycling is getting pretty high tech these days too.  The Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 component group will feature the first mass produced electronic drivetrain.  This will elminate the need to adjust cables, will elminate missed shifts, and will actually reduce the weight.  I believe that the electronic gorup will revolutionize the bicycle component industry, as there will really be no compare after it arrives.

The Plug-In Prius.  Kind of a big deal.  Obviously, it will get even better gas mileage.  It will probably cost more, but still a lot less than buying a Prius and then some kind of conversion kit.  I want to stress that this is NOT the answer to all of our problems, because it still uses gas and is likely going to add even more strain on our aging electric grid.  But it is still pretty cool and nice to see companies putting out such technology in mass production.

I just watched this movie, The Last Winter.  I’d call it a cross between the man-made environmental apocalypse of The Day After Tomorrow and the unexplained supernatural horror of The Mist.  It’s about a team out to study the impact of drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge.  Of course this is a hot topic these days.  In the movie, there are two dialogs worth sharing:

Hoffman: “We work for the American people.  To make sure that North [the oil company] keeps its end of the bargain up here, being on this land”
Pollack (Ron Perlman): “What the the American people want is energy independence, that’s what the American people want”
Hoffman: “Well with the amount of oil they’re going to get out of here they could save by inflating their tires and popping the windows”

There are some interesting things about their comments.  1) I completely agree that a majority of Americans would say they want energy independence, but what they really mean by that and what they really want is cheaper gas.  2) We’ll look to any easy solution that requires the least amount of personal sacrifice, like drilling in ANWR.  And Hoffman is correct, what is the point, it’s not going to solve anything.

Then things get a little more spooky.  Hoffman, the environmentalist, has a journal that he’s been keeping during his stay.  During the movie, there is a scene where excerpts from the journal are read aloud:

“Empathy with the land.  Is this learned in childhood?

The land has changed.  The biosphere turned, became unfamiliar and eratic. I would say vengeful, but nature is indifferent to us.  We fight for our survival, not nature’s.  There’s a fierceness in the wind I’ve never felt before.  Something is being unleashed from the softening permafrost.

Why do we despise the world that gave us life?  Why so alienated?  Why wouldn’t the wilderness fight us?  Like any organism would fend off a virus. The world we grew up in is changed forever.

There is no way home.

Is there something besides us that is happening out here?  What if the very thing we are here to pull out of the ground were to rise willingly and confront us?  What would that look like?

This is the last winter.

Total collapse.  Hope dies.”

Now I haven’t given away any of the movie, but this resulting “collapse” is the central theme of the movie.  But I like the environmental sub-theme.  I think it’s stubborn for us to think there can be no consequences to our actions.  Whether there’s some catastrophic weather event like in The Day After Tomorrow or some supernatural onslaught like in this movie, there are always trade-offs.

Yesterday, Obama and McCain were questioned on what they thought were their own and the countries worst moral failures.  They both basically said that America’s biggest moral failure is its self-centered thinking.  When Obama was asked what he would say given no repercussions, he said “solving big problems are not going to be easy. We are all going to think about how we using things [energy-wise]. If we pretend like everything is free, we are betraying the tradition of America.”

I am positive the times are changing.  These issues used to be completely ignored, but now they are being forced to the headlines.  Whether it is selfishness (i.e. we just want cheaper gas) or not, at least it’s becoming a conversation.

I’ve never been good at long distance cycling.  I think that’s strange because I always loved long distance running.  Today I rode another “metric century” (100 kilometers).  The weather was just amazing, even a little chilly in the morning.  I set out at 10am and made it back a little over 4 hours later.  I stopped a few times, to stretch and refill water in North Park, to stretch and get water and eat a pb&j sandwich in Deer Lakes Park, and to chat on my phone for a bit in Harmarville.  The route I took was just one giant loop.  Wasn’t extremely hilly, though I threw in a nice climb at the end to make sure I wasn’t quitting early.  Thompson Run Rd is a great road to take up to North Park, the Red Belt is always awesome, and Rich Hill Rd was surprisingly nice. Check out the map below.

There’s a stage race near Erie, PA next weekend.  I’m trying to get guys from the club to go.  I should be in even better form than I was at the WV races last weekend.

I’m determined to find the best way to manage what little money I have.  Sure I need to buy excessive bike supplies and parts, but I should do it intelligently right?

For one, I found another website, Mint.com, which does the same thing as Quicken Online.  While its synchronization wasn’t as smooth, it does a better job at everything else.  It is also better for managing a monthly budget.  For example, I can plug in my expected or goal expenses each month and the first thing it shows me when I log in is a progress bar for each of those.

Another thing I’m looking at is my savings account.  I used to have something like 5% interest with my Citi Ultimate Savings account, but it has since dropped to 2.26%.  What’s with that?  Maybe it was just an introductory interest level.  Eithr way, I know that there are savings accounts out there with >3% interest.  Check out Nationwide Money Market (3.52%), HSBC Online Savings (3.50%), and WaMu Online Savings (3.75%).  I don’t know if it is worth the hassle to transfer the account over though…

That’s when I found another unique service, called PNC Virtual Wallet.  They are trying to take the difficulty out of this by combining several accounts into one service.  The “Virtual Wallet” includes a checking (”Spend”) account, a short term savings (”Reserve”) account, and a high-interest (3.00%) savings (”Growth”) account.  It has some cool features, like a calendar view of when and how much money you spend, a “wish list” that you can start putting money into your reserve account for, and automated savings type stuff.  I already have a PNC checking account, so I just called them up the other night and they switched it over.