Mortgage crisis - Part One

So I owned this lovely home,

well me and the bank.

. . .

OK, mostly just the bank.

It's pretty, don't you think?

It had nice views too.I just got to pay the mortgage
Which was a nice deal...

For them.

They appraised it
(for the divorce you see)
at 50% over actual value

For them

To be
Able to lend me more money.
See all that interest was good

For them.

I was raised to take responsibility.
I was taught that others would too.
And
That makes for a lovely world.
(what a great place for a lovely house!)

I am now single
(Yea!)
I sold this lovely house
(Yea/Bummer)
I kept the mortgage...
(Bummer)

It's a problem

And it makes me wonder.

Why do
My ethics
Trump
Corporate ethics?

Who really is the
Responsible Party
Here?

I made good on the
Promise
I was mis-lead into making
(I'm not an appraiser, how would I know what it's worth?)

I still have the mortgage,
I was (un)fortunate enough to
Avoid foreclosure
So that I could carry the burden of

Their mistake

Far into my future...
...er I meant to say,
So that I could
Do the Right Thing
(and keep my credit clean.)

But I still wonder sometimes,
How it is that
I am
Making good on

Their Promise?

Broke brake

So I my commuter is a Surly Karate Monkey, one of the most versatile frames out there.

I stole parts off my old (13 years old) Ice Bike after a convoluted series of events designed to get me a 29er Mountain Bike. That's another story that did end in 29er but not the Monkey which, as I said, is my commuter (though I have snuck the Monkey onto some single track a time or two...). The goal with the Monkey was to just get it working and then shop for parts to upgrade it as I found the right deals.

I came out after work the other day to where my current employer has the corporate bike rack. I'm lobbying for an upgrade but not holding my breath, contractors rarely get much of a voice in such things but I still figure it's worth trying. I would guess there are several thousand folks in the building and the security dude said lots of folks ride in the summer. Of course six (count the spots in the rack) might seem like lots to him. At my last job there were more than that when it was below zero and closer to a hundred in the summer but that was downtown, not in the suburban setting I am now in.

Then I notice something's missing...

Damn, I think, it's gonna be a long ride home at slow speed since I am down to one brake. Fortunately, the remaining brake is the rear; if it had only been the front, I may have opted for another way home since it was a very snowy, icy day and I had already gone down that morning in the snow. So it turns out the brake had popped off right there and was laying on the ground. I figure it must have happened as I jury-rigged the bike into locking position (how the hell are you supposed to lock both wheels and the frame on THAT bike rack anyway?!)

Well, sometimes the bike gets to decide when it's time for an upgrade and since disc brakes were on the list of upgrades to be done, I followed it's lead and now the Monkey is sporting these. What a cool deal to have a frame that can support both rim and disc brakes!

Now it's time to think about a drive train upgrade. That 29er Mountain Bike I referred to has a nine speed cassette and it would be sweet to have the option of swapping wheels so I could choose studs or not without a tire change.

Did you see this?

This should be required viewing as part of driver's training. Shamelessly lifted from this dude who has way more time than me to find interesting things on the net.

We're spending WHAT?

Here's something to think about:

New Job, New Commute, New Hope

I just started a new job which gives me a new commute. It's another short one, only about 6 and half miles each way. I thought my gig in downtown Mpls. was good with the trail that took me right into downtown so I only had the last mile fighting traffic and then with clearly marked bike lanes and lots of riders so the cars were pretty used to seeing riders. My new gig has a trail that actually starts on the property and hooks into the Greenway trail so I can ride to work with only three blocks on city streets and those are sleepy residential streets. Turns out the roads near the office are pretty wide and traffic is minimal so I am choosing the more direct on-road option but what a great deal that I have the option. I read a lot of blogs about commuting and it seems that here in the Twin Cities we have it pretty darn good and gives me hope that commuting by bike can catch on pretty easily since there is quite a bit of infrastructure in place. Now it's just the inertia of the suburban setting to overcome but when $4.00 gas hits this summer, more folks might just think about riding since they all have to drive past my front row parking spot on their way to the far end of the ramp. Sometimes advocacy is just being there.

How to ride below zero and stay warm

Ride this bike from the comfort of your keyboard!

© Akiyoshi Kitaoka

Um, it's a static image...

Found at this site along with some other interesting things...

Lake Winter Boots; Failure to Perfect

This year I swore would be the year I would complete my conversion to full time bike commuter. I had put Nokian Mount & Ground studded tires on Ice Bike last year but only rode to work a few times when it was below freezing though I did get a fair amount of pleasure riding in on them. In preparation for this year's commute, I built up a Surly Karate Monkey with two tire options. Schwalbe Big Apples for pre-freezing temps and Schwalbe Snow Studs for the black ice potential season. I actually liked the Nokian Mount & Ground studded tires a little better as they are a bit wider and give a more steady ride but they don't make this tire for 29er's. However, that's not the point of this post.

The Monkey has been a great ride but I needed one more thing to really be ready. I don't have any circulation in my feet as far as I can tell since they can go numb futzing around the house if it's below 70 degrees. I have drooled over the Lake Winter Boots for quite a while and decided to take the plunge last fall. They have been one of the best investments I have ever made. I still need heater packs when it's below 10 degrees but have been out well below zero and not even had chilly toes.



I got about 15 miles in last evening, a nearly perfect ride with the sweetie, also sporting Lake Winter Boots (Santa wanted to make it as easy as possible for her to join me for chilly rides...). It's funny how a cold weather ride can feel like three times the mileage and we left before dinner so when we got home, we were HUNGRY and started grazing almost before we got the back door closed. So, left over pancake smeared with peanut butter in hand, I popped off my wonderful Lake Winter Boots since now that I was back inside, my feet were starting to cook.

Then I saw it...

One of the heels had come unstitched! But then on closer inspection, they both had come undone. Damn, these are only two months old I'm thinking, two months and I paid full price (that doesn't happen very often...) and as whole boots, they are worth every penny. Heck, even falling apart they kept my feet perfectly warm for a couple hours riding at around 12 degrees. But it was like finding out there's no Santa Claus, these boots failing on me.

So I'm still willing to give them a chance but am a little pissed off and call Lake and start to say "Hi, I have these Lake Cycling shoes that the stitching has come out of, ..." and when I take a breath the guy on the other end of the phone says "Sounds like you have the 2008 Winter Boot right?" My first thought is, yup they are crap and the run around starts here but quite the opposite happens. He first tells me they will take care of it either by me sending them the boots for repair or I can take them to my local cobbler and have them fixed and send them the bill which they will happily pay and with many apologies as well.

He then explains that they had been using nylon thread for the heel but were having about a 1% failure rate which they weren't happy with and wanted to fix. So they changed to Kevlar thread, you know the bullet-proof material, in hopes of reducing the failure rate. Unfortunately, this change resulted in around a 25% failure rate that seems to occur after a month or two of use. They don't yet understand why this is happening but are properly aghast and ready to make it right. Too bad that their attempt to make the boot perfect resulted in such a failure.

My advice, if you happen to have the 2008 model, check the stitching around the heel very carefully and get ready to have them fixed before something bad happens. Also get ready for some great customer service, quite refreshing these days!

Flutter bys

Flurries flutter by Sun dancing, dodging between Bright, chilly day

The Challenge of Choices

Its uncharted territory this. More than twenty years without a break in my employment and now here I sit without work. It was my choice to head down this path. I could have taken the new contract starting the day after the one that was ending. There is certain comfort in taking that next predictable step but there too lies boredom and the hollow silence of a challenge not faced. I chose instead a less certain but potentially more rewarding option.

Sometimes, however, the silence of the challenge is sweet, a rare peacefulness across the landscape. Facing a challenge and deciding against it can have its own satisfaction. As a younger man I faced a challenge that would have put my career in a higher gear than I had ever imagined possible but the conditions were perfect and I sat across the desk from vast opportunity. I was younger then but still old enough to understand that life has balance and steps down a given path preclude those of another.

It was a rare glimpse into my future that I didn’t understand at that time but through the corrected vision of nearly 20 years I see now that the message was written in 72 point bold that I can now read clearly across the years. Of course now I have become accustomed to holding things at a distance to read them, further proof that the eyes with which I view the world today are not the same as I had back then but that’s not really the point here.

I made the right choice back then and never looked back to question but it was the context of the challenge that I missed completely at the time. It is the context that is now so stark to me. That bold a move was unacceptable in my micro culture, the group of folks I chose to surround me. An “All Our Kin” type of servitude where individual success is perceived as a threat to the larger group. Failure would have been acceptable to the group, expected even, but it wasn’t an option for me and I knew I could meet the challenge of the career but not likely the obstacles placed by the group.

So here today I sit having faced the challenge and made the bold move but the funding fell through so the work didn’t materialize. I prepared for this option, age does provide at least some wisdom, but the fact is that I have much more to lose this time around. I should say materially I have more to lose but the micro culture in which I have successfully landed doesn’t define my value by my career success or failure. While my recent choice has left me thinner of wallet, my ongoing decision to more effectively manage my life has made me richer in friendship and more confident in my ability to make the right choices.

I’m less inclined to make decisions based on my fears of the outcome and more inclined to decide apodictically. Just this morning I consulted with a potential employer, dissected the issue they were proposing I resolve and helped them decide on a solution that didn’t include me. They had the funding and the will to proceed. I could have given them what they were asking for. It just wouldn’t have been the right solution to meet their business intention. Had my fear of unemployment directed my participation, I may well have won the contract. As it is I won their respect, kept my self-respect and likely won a place in the front of their Rolodex the next time a problem in my domain presents itself.

And then I will get to face the challenge of another choice...

Finally, a decent night for a ride!

Fair -6°F (-21°C)

Humidity: 61 % Wind Speed: W 8 MPH Barometer: 30.32" (1029.5 mb) Dewpoint: -16°F (-27°C) Wind Chill: -21°F (-29°C) Visibility: 10.00 mi.

I haven't been riding much. It's a side effect of becoming a full-time commuter since I am between assignments. No work, no commute, no riding. I have the gear and know-how to ride in almost anything so when cabin fever hit me this afternoon, I knew I would have to ride. I had an errand to run and took the bus/train and watched all kinds of folks out enjoying the sunny (high of -3F) day on two wheels. Including the fixie who couldn't get his bike on the bus rack, apparently frozen in place, so the driver had him just bring it in. I rode the loop this evening and was as comfortable as any spring evening ride, well except for the mummy effect resulting from many layers. Maybe I am becoming a Bike Punk...