Metropolitan Rural

Yes, that’s right.  The end is finally near.  At least, for my express bus.  You can see the complete list of Metro system changes that will be effective March 30, 2009.  It seems they are eliminating every express bus route.  I didn’t look much further than that, because the rest of the schedule has little effect on me.  That means, if I continue to take public transportation, my commute each way to work just went from 19 minutes to 46 minutes.

I understand, somewhat, the elimination of the express routes.  Even though they are generally pretty full, they are mainly occupied with monthly pass holders and thus their revenue per rider would be less on these routes.  Still, they are losing many loyal rider and some significant revenue.  I feel for them trying to balance their budget.  I know this is a terrible time for them to go through this with ridership being up and they are trying to keep the service that gives them the most revenue per rider.  Hopefully there will be a day when the tax revenue to the system will increase and we will get better bus service back in the city.  The changes aren’t just effecting the county, they are effecting the city quite a bit as well.

Personally, I have half a mind to buy a second car and take I-44 downtown to work just to add 1 more car to clog up traffic for those St. Louis county people who didn’t see the need to support our public transit system.

On a side note, I met Mayor Slay for the first time last night (he’s pretty much guaranteed to show up during an election cycle).  He was at our neighborhood association general meeting.  He made the rounds shaking hands and saying hello.  His first stop when he walked in the room was to my son and one other kid playing over in the corner.  My son didn’t know who he was until we told him later.  He made a few brief remarks at the start of our meeting.  It was really a brief stump speech about some of his accomplishments.  He’s a rather good public speaker and you can tell that he really does genuinely care about the future of the city.  The fact that he was out in 10 degree weather at a neighborhood meeting with 20 people is also a sign that (like he said) he’s not taking his re-election for granted.  It’s a very short election cycle for Mayor, so I’ll have to start looking over the other candidates to see who is worth voting for this time around.

Monday Morning 7:00 AM

I step out the door to work, it’s 12 degrees.

There is snow and ice on the ground.

The first day of winter was still 6 days away.

What ever happened to that global warming I hear so much about?  I could use a bit of that about now!

I heard the news this morning. I guess there really is a Santa Clause:

Auto Bailout Talks Collapse as Senate Deadlocks Over Wages

I guess there really area a few people left in Washington willing to stand up for what’s right. What was the big sticking point that brought down the $14 billion dollar bailout? There had already been agreement in the bill to reduce executive compensation and dividends over a period of time, but one more item requested by the most junior member of the Senate Banking Committee just couldn’t get supported:

The negotiations were based on a plan advanced by Corker, the most junior member of the Banking Committee. His proposal sought to reduce the wages and benefits of union workers by requiring the automakers’ total labor costs to be “on par” with Honda and Toyota.

…

He and other Republicans had revolted against the earlier plan because they thought it did not go far enough in forcing contracts on the UAW. GM officials have told Congress, for instance, that under the most recent contract, labor costs would be about $62 per hour in 2010 — $30 per hour in wages and slightly more than that in benefits to current workers and retirees. That’s about $14 per hour more than at Toyota’s U.S. plants.

To me, that’s just amazing. In more detail, Corker was asking that this happen sometime in 2009, but no one was willing to budge on union wages and benefits until their contracts come up in 2011. I guess having no job at all is better than taking a pay cut huh? Seriously? So, it’s okay for the executives and shareholders to agree to reduced/no compensation, but not for the working Joe? I mean, really, $30 per hour plus more than that in benefits? You can’t give up some of that to keep your job? In economics we call that “sticky prices.” That simply means price (or in this case wages) are quick to go up and slow to go down.

Also, part of this bill was to give money to Chrysler to prevent them from going under later this month (according to them). If you remember, Chrysler is actually owned 80% by Cerberus Capital Management, a private investment group. Below are a handful of quotes from the Cerberus website:

We work patiently and constructively with management teams and we have a deep respect for operational excellence. We succeed when our companies succeed, to the benefit of our portfolio companies’ employees, customers, suppliers and the communities in which they operate.

…

Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. is one of the world’s leading private investment firms. Cerberus specializes in providing both financial resources and operational expertise to help transform undervalued companies into industry leaders for long-term success and value creation.

…

At Cerberus, we have a long-term investment horizon and focus on value creation. We invest in undervalued companies and their people, and help them to realize their potential.

We partner with our portfolio companies to help them become industry leaders. We believe competition makes the global economy more productive and more efficient, which enables companies to succeed long-term in the globally competitive marketplace.

We encourage our companies to focus on the future through prudent capital investment, R&D, new product marketing, talent development, improved operations and appropriate strategic acquisitions.

These statements from a company that prides itself on turning around companies to make themselves a lot of money. Here they are now, failing with one of their investments and they want someone else to make up for it.  The reason buying “undervalued” companies and turning them around is such a lucrative business is that it is also inherently risky.  It might have been easier in a strong economy, but with a weak economy you have to be much better.  Either way, you are bound to lose a few.

Senator Corker, thank you for standing up and reminding us that we are still required to be responsible.

Times are going to be hard folks.  It’s time to make good decisions again.  It’s time to be responsible with your money for a change.  It’s time to hold our politicians accountable for the money we allot to them.  From all accounts, the great depression was a terrible thing to live through, but it also taught people the values of responsibility and  resourcefulness.  Those skills learned led to a new society when we broke from the depression.  Maybe it’s time for a new generation of us to learn those values for ourselves anew.  The road is not always easy; the path is not always straight.

A couple of weeks ago I was finally inspired by a friend I had met at the unschooling conference we attended back in September. Rob and his family live in northern Illinois. I was impressed that he had taken the time to learn Yu-Gi-Oh to play with his youngest son. He spent several hours of the conference in the game room with the kids playing.

The kid and the wife had both bought decks of the World of Warcraft trading card game a while back and they had played on occasion. The boy was asking more and more to play of late. So, before he left for his Dad’s for Thanksgiving, I told him that when he got back he could teach me how to play and I even volunteered to take him to a weekly game night at a mall store in south county.

So, this past weekend I sat down and started learning. If you haven’t read one, the instruction manual that comes with these starter decks, isn’t worth didley squat. The thing is horribly ambiguous and expects you to know all about the rules of these games before you sit down to play. We fumbled our way through a couple of games over the weekend with minimal arguments over our interpretations of the rules.

Last night was the big night of playing out at the store. Due to the holiday and lack of space, a lot of people didn’t show up, so there was only 1 other person there. He was a pretty nice guy who helped us out a lot learning the rules better, giving us pointers on “building a deck”, and some etiquette along the way. We had a lot of fun being out together and learning. I’m glad I got the nerve to just do it and spend some more time with him. Thanks Rob.

So, I’ve been thinking more and more lately about the idea of an electric car or NEV.  I posted some details a few posts back on Proposition M.  I’m seriously thinking about taking a trip down to Farmington sometime in January just to try and test drive a model or two to see how they are.  For me, it will require some planning as I would need to get some electric run to my garage again so I would have a place to store and charge the vehicle.  That would also likely need a new garage door as our current one is not in the shape to handle going up and down much more.

I was even thinking it might be a fun road trip for a handful of people to make.  Plus, that could really show some support of the idea to whoever it is that runs this business down there.  I feel like there is truly a pent up demand for an affordable commuting vehicle for those of us who don’t drive a lot.  I did the math on my daily commute, and came up with less than 3,000 miles per year.  It is so NOT worth my money to buy some $20k to $30k car to drive that few of miles every year.

With all this being in my head, a headline last night on Slashdot caught my attention (Bay Area to Install Electric Vehicle Grid).  Readig that story, a thought hit me.  Wouldn’t it be cool if there were outlets available in your everyday parking meter?  A quick Google search turned up several links to patents on various aspects of the idea.  But the reality of the situation is surely on the verge.  If an area the size of the SF Bay area has a billion dollar infrastructure in place that allows for you to pay for charging your car, then you extend the range of usefulness immensely.  In my little bit of travels I’ve seen parking meters that take credit cards and even a single unit for 2 spots.  These are so much more complex than your grandfathers parking meter.  There is obviously some circuitry and electronics going on in the industry.  How much more effort is it to attach a retractable power cord and apply some software that only turns it on if you pay extra for the service.  Heck, if you are paying with a credit card, then you only charge based on the actual electric usage as well.

Running in for a 30 minute meeting?  Top off your batteries while you’re there!

Of course, there will be vandalism and people cutting and taking cords and what not, but that’s no reason to let a few bad apples spoil it for the rest of us.

Now, next step, let’s make that electricity more renewable as well.  No since in cutting back on gas for electric if we have to burn coal or natural gas to get the electricity.  And heck, don’t forget to come up with some better batteries.  If we’re going to use batteries to store our electricity we don’t need to be relying on third world countries in a constant state of war for the materials for those batteries either (check out this NPR report for more on that issue).

So… who wants to make a road trip?

Two weeks ago I was standing in a conference center in Scottsdale, AZ.  I was with a good friend and business partner trying to hock our new business service to potential clients.  Things went really well and we’ve had a lot of follow-up and planning going on since.  Between that and trying to catch up with the new class I’m teaching, these past 2 weeks have been extremely busy.   I finally feel like I’m caught up at this point and wanted to share a few thoughts that have gone on with me the last several days.

1. I was really impressed on Friday night when we stopped by our local PetSmart to pick up some bedding for our guinnea pig.  Parked right next to us was a shiny, black Ford Escape Hybrid.  This was a car my wife and I had considered last year when we bought our new one.  It gets an EPA estimated 34 MPG in the CITY!  That’s right, 34 MPG In the city for a small SUV, that’s very impressive.  Still, we don’t drive enough to really justify the 10 grand extra that would have cost us.  What impressed me most was the license plate.  It read, “City of St. Louis, Director of Public Safety.”  Yep, a city vehicle.  And for an office that’s undoubtedly putting a lot of city miles on it.  Very smart decision and good use of my tax dollars.
2. Over the weekend I heard that Metro had finally announced their rate increases for next year.  My monthly pass will be going from $60 to $68.   Still not bad I guess.  My only problem still is the possibility that my express route could get canceled come spring.  That would mean my 35 minute trip to and from work would now become nearly an hour (if everything is on time).  That extra 25 minutes each way everyday makes me not want to use Metro.  I mean, I live about 5 miles from work, it shouldn’t take me an hour to get there, I could nearly walk that far in that amount of time!  So, I’m still thinking of options for me and waiting for the official announcement, but look for an extra car on the road for morning commutes come spring.
3. On Saturday I read a note on Mayor Slay’s website (he calls it a blog, but it hardly is considering there are no comments allowed) encouraging Metro to work out a deal to allow their system to be integrated with Google Maps.  I too would agree this is a great thing.  With my business I’ve started, I’ve got a cell phone with a data plan and built in GPS.  Google Maps has been great to have on my cell phone to look up directions.  To have easy access through there to bus routes and times would be awesome.

So, things have been busy, the holidays are upon us, and the boy is at the airport now on his way to visit his father for 10 days over Thanksgiving.  I’ve got lots of cleaning and organizing to do around the house so we can set up a Christmas tree in a couple of weeks and so I can turn our front “junk” room into a home office over the holiday.

With the failure of the county to pass Proposition M last night (to increase sales tax revenue for transit service), it seems more likely than ever that my bus line with either be drastically reduced in service or completely eliminated come spring.  Guess I’ll need to start looking at some alternatives.

Out of curiosity I started looking up electric cars.  There is a class of electrics called NEV (Neighborhood Electric Vehicle).  These are lower speed vehicles that aren’t typically licensed for highway driving.  They are often a fancy golf cart from what I saw.   There are a few models however, that look a bit more like a conventional car with actual doors and radios and such.  A couple of the interesting models I found were the ZENN and the Miles ZX40.  These both look like a typical sub-compact, hatchback car and retail for typically $15,000 - $20,000 depending on options.

I then hopped on over to Ebay Motors and did a quick search for electric fueled cars.  I found some listings from a company that has a few older model Miles ZX40.  They are very low mileage and were showroom models they are getting rid of.  This particular listing is for a 2006 model with 39 miles for only $9,995 buy it now price.   I thought that was a pretty good bargain.  Not to mention it has some impressive cargo space for such a small vehicle.  The listing says it has a top speed of 40 mph and a range of 40-50 miles.  I have 5.5 miles to get to work, so that would easily take care of my needs with a nightly recharging.  What really struck me about the listing was the company that is selling the vehicle.  It’s a place called Electric Car Company… in Farmington, MO!

Now, I have no idea why there is a dealership in Farmington that specializes in electric cars, but at least it would be close enough to go take a test drive before buying.  Honestly, if I were them, I’d try and find a way to work with a dealership up here in the city to get some more sales.  Even with gas prices down now close to $2 a gallon, with economic uncertainty and the looming likelihood of drastically reduced transit service there should be a rising market for an affordable alternative.

It’s over for me officially.  I arrived at my polling place about 5:55 and left at precisely 7:09.  All in all, not too bad.  It was rather uneventful except for the incidence when they tried to split the line into 2 precincts by starting at the back and not telling any of us in the front.  All we saw was a large group of people from the back walking straight past the rest of the line up to the front.  Although, considering the narrowness of the hallway they had us squeezed through, they would have been better off to route the other precinct through the door at the end of the building where they were checking in.

Regardless, I’m done and can sit back and wait for the results to come in tonight and tomorrow.  It was good to see so many people there and taking an interest in our government for a change.  It’s about time Americans step up and start electing leaders who are going to look out for the country as a whole instead of lots of special interests.

Last Thursday evening we were out and about in the county and swung into a Barnes & Noble bookstore. On the way out, I noticed a pile of books titled Weird Missouri: Your Travel Guide to Missouri’s Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets (Weird). I had a sneaking suspicion that my home town would be listed in there somewhere.

I picked up a copy and flipped to the table of contents. There was a special section on cemeteries. Flipping to the page, I found the short 2 paragraphs about my home town of 632 people.

The little cometary at the edge of town is known locally for it’s glowing tombstones. You drive by on a clear night and see a few of the tombstones sort of flash as you pass them. Of course, if you get out and stand still they actually stay on and appear to glow. It’s that way on a clear moonless night as well. That’s about as far as the book goes. The whole story, of course, always comes with a legend. As ours goes, the original glowing tombstone was that of a woman who had lost her husband in the Civil War. She was not convinced her husband had died and waited up every night on the porch with a lantern, hoping for him to come home. She still stays up at nights with her lantern even now waiting for him.

Aren’t legends fun? While I’m not aware of any detailed investigation into the cause of the glowing tombstones, I’ve always assumed there is some sort of phosphorescent material in the rock that picks up sunlight during the day and shines it back out at night. Regardless, it was still fun to see a blurb about my tiny little hometown in a book at a major book store.

It’s that time of year again.  Yes, it’s time to traumatize the little kids by forcing them to dress up in ridiculous clothes, walk down the street, ring your doorbell and tell you a joke.  All for a measly five cent piece of candy.  I honestly don’t get the whole joke thing that goes on around here.  I’ve never heard of any other cities that are so adamant about it (or do it at all to be more exact).

If you are new to the area, be sure your kids have a  joke down pat before they leave the house, otherwise they will be stammering and embarrassed  before long.  Here’s one I heard on KWMU the other day that I got a kick out of.

Two atoms walk out of a bar.  One atom turns to the other and says, “I think I left an electron back there.”

“Are you sure?” the other replied.

“Yes, I’m Positive!

If you get that one then I’m impressed!  Happy Halloween.