UtiliGEE

The Barefooted Lie?

2012-01-26T07:33:00.005-07:00

It has been nearly ten years since I first started running barefoot around BYU's indoor track. Back then I ran with a very heavy foot, you could hear my shoes pounding against the ground all the way around the track. Running barefoot, as my friend Ryan Daniels suggested, would force me to change my running style and run a lighter on my feet. It worked fabulously, suddenly instead of hearing the loud THUD, THUD, THUD you would hear a soft pitter patter as I ran by.
Unfortunately, barefoot running is not as easy once you leave the indoor track. So for several years I went back to running in my old running sneakers, until Denny gave me a pair of Vibrams.
The journal of Science had just published an article showing the benefits of running barefoot and I was excited to start cashing in on those benefits. However, after running with my Vibrams I started having people come up and ask me "Have you read Born to Run?" Finally, I read the book and that is when the doubt started. The books arguments were so poorly articulated and lousy with lacunae that I started to wonder if there really was anything to the barefoot argument. Then one day while standing barefoot in my kitchen I noticed that my hip and joints were really aching. I decided to go put on some sandals, and the pain went away almost instantly. Over the next few weeks I noticed that if I am wearing shoes or sandals in the kitchen it takes over an hour of walking around while chopping, cooking, or cleaning before my joints start to get achy. However, when I am barefoot it only takes about 15 minutes. In interviews I have heard from Chris McDougall (the author of Born to Run) he "going barefoot" is always better, if you are running, walking, or just standing around. The argument is that your body knows how to adjust to avoid pain far better than whoever is making the shoe.
Obviously I don't really have much of a case against his point, but over the past two years while back at BYU running barefoot almost exclusively and I haven't felt it help my joints at all. In the past if I ran over 3 miles I would start to ache all over. Well, now when I run barefoot the same thing happens. I haven't been able to notice any health benefit from tossing my shoes. I really want to say that there are benefits because in a crazy way I feel that would add proof to Hayek and Taleb's arguements made in The Fatal Conceit and The Black Swan, by essentially showing that our bodies are so complicated that we can't understand the consequences of our own intervention and hence our "improvements" well only cause more damage. But, so far the only benefit I have seen has been that I haven't had to buy new running shoes for 4 years.

Dad Vindicated

2012-01-20T07:23:00.003-07:00

Several years ago Donald Boudreaux wrote an article in the Freeman titled "I will not vote." The article was based on studies done by economist and statisticians showing that an individual vote in an election never has any value. My dad wrote an article saying that although Mr. Boudreaux was correct about national elections his theory did not apply to local elections. Mr. Bourdreaux's rebuttal was that even in very small local communities a single vote had no statistical significance. My dad wrote his own rebuttal on his blog but it is unlikely that it would have swayed Mr. Bourdreaux's position.
Then on election day my sister, Rebecca, called me to ask if she could borrow my car for the afternoon so that she, Austen, and Andrew could drive up to South Salt Lake to vote against the new bond to be issued to the city. Mr. Bourdreaux's article instantly came to mind and I couldn't believe that my siblings were willing to waist over 2 hours just to go vote, something I thought was a completely pointless exercise.
Well you can imagine my surprise when the next morning on my way to the swimming pool I heard over the radio that "the bond in South Salt Lake failed by 3 votes."

When the Fatal Conceit is Fatal

2011-08-07T17:12:00.003-07:00

Last night I went to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes and although the movie is a little far off from what Hayek envisioned, I felt it followed the book nearly perfectly. A scientist seeks out to solve a problem. His solution addresses the immediate problem, but little is understood about what other ripples it might create until it is too late. The only difference between the book and the movie was that the book is directed toward economic policies. However, had they made the movie end in financial apocalypse it would have been a little boring. Not that financial policy is boring, but because it would be too much like watching the daily news.

Eating Chocolate and Getting...

2011-08-05T16:47:00.004-07:00

Several years ago at a family reunion my uncle Gavin jokingly said he was working on a book called, Eating Chocolate and Getting Smarter: a summary of the startling research funded by the Hersey corporation. Sadly, the book has yet to be published, although I am convinced it would give the Twilight series a run for its money on the all time best selling list.
However, after the years of waiting it looks there may be enough research to write my own book, Eating Chocolate and Getting Stronger: a misinterpritation of research by someone eating a Hersey bar.
Finally, there is research being circulated in the scientific community worth getting excited about! Clearly, this research is inchoate, it may be a few more years before they realize the correct daily dose is not a sixth of an ounce, but rather a sixth of a pound. But one expects those types of mistakes at these early stages. This still represents giant leaps forward in the long fought battle of getting chocolate its proper place on the food pyramid. (For those neophytes who are new to this battle, the proper place is at the bottom as it is the base for all the other important food groups such as cookies, cakes, etc.)
So to all my fellow chocolatiers, I say raise your mug of hot coco high and solute those hard working scientist who may soon find the evidence to support my next book: Eating Chocolate and Getting Skinnier: the portentous report on how the Hersey corporation can save America from obesity!

Marfa

2011-07-30T15:33:00.011-07:00

Last summer Denny and I visited Marfa, Tx as part of a west Texas adventure with my cousin, Ryan. For those of you who haven't had the privilege of visiting Marfa, just imagine the town you are living in without the tall buildings, short buildings, apartment buildings, houses, parks, stores, factories, roads, trees, flowers, grass, and anything else that may be in your town. You are now imagining Marfa.
Since leaving Marfa I occasionally get this itch to go back. It could spurred on by the prospect of living in cities like Houston, New York, or San Francisco after graduation. Or it could just be that going back to school and reliving the "what am I going to be when I grow up" phase of life has brought with it some introspection. Or it could just be that I read about a guy, John Wells, who decided to do just that. Reading his story reminds me a little bit of a letter written by Chris McCandles (taken from Into the Wild).

So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism. All of which may appear to give one peace of mind but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventure spirit within a man than a secure feature. The very basic of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon. For each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose you're inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter sketer type of life. That will first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life, you will see it's full meaning and it's incredible beauty. And so, Ron, in short, get out of sulton city and hit the road.

John is clearly not as care free (or possibly care-less) as Chris was. But, he definitely was able to throw the security blanket away and carve out his own adventure. However, before I follow John and head out to the middle of no where, I am going to try to see if I can ever find a way to live with just 100 items. But, of course if I wait for that, I can also put off my purchase of How to survive in the desert for a few more years...

Bike Safety

2011-07-25T17:34:00.005-07:00

At work we have morning safety meetings and we just had one on bike safety. The presenter shared 5 tips for staying safe on your bike.

Never ride a bike without mirrors. You wouldn't drive a car without mirrors so why would you go on a bike that didn't have them?

I didn't catch any of the others. I was too busy remembering how I drove my car without mirrors for two weeks before finally reattaching them.

Church Quotes - Pioneer day edition

2011-07-24T12:45:00.003-07:00

After informing the congregation that her family were pioneers she invited us to think back to what life was like for them.

Think of what traveling was like back in 1900. Coming across the plains without A/C in your car and no iPhones or DVD players to keep you entertained...and then think about how much harder it would have been having Laman and Lemuel as brothers.

Bittman

2011-07-23T16:05:00.003-07:00

This is the fourth time I have begun writing a counter argument to Mark Bittman's latest opinion piece, just to toss it aside thinking it wasn't worth the time or energy. Today I seem to have an excess of both.
For those unfamiliar with Mark Bittman, he is a New York Times food critic turned opinion writer. He focuses on national health issues, such as giving the poor better access to healthy food options, reducing obesity, and improving the overall health of the country.
Those are things everyone wants and, not surprisingly, most people love his articles. I, however, do not.
M wife, Denny, always thinks it is funny that we have such animosity towards each other yet in other ways are very similar. Mark is a bit of a health nut, he goes on short stints where he will be a Vegan. Most of his recipes focus on being simple combinations of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. So although our recipe books may look very similar we are bitter enemies.
Without boring you too much with our former disagreements (the list is long) I will just focus on his most recent article. This week, Mark, attempts to enlighten us with an idea that has been floating around for the past few years, a soda tax. I'll spare you the three page diatribe and summarize here. Mark believes a soda tax (he suggest 1 or 2 cents per ounce) would result in a 20% increase in soda prices, a 20% decrease in soda consumption, $13 Billion of federal revenue, 1.5 million fewer people with obesity, 400,000 cases of diabetes, and health care savings of over $30 Billion.
Sounds great, you can almost see Mark dancing in a field of sunflowers at the end of a rainbow while he explains his master plan. Sadly, it is time for me to dispel it.
First, let's look at what he wants to do with all that cash he wants to save the government. Initially, he mentions the cash "could be used to subsidize the purchase of staple foods like seasonal greens, vegetables, whole grains, dried legumes and fruit."

We could sell those staples cheap — let’s say for 50 cents a pound — and almost everywhere: drugstores, street corners, convenience stores, bodegas, supermarkets, liquor stores, even schools, libraries and other community centers.

Now, I stand to gain a lot from this plan. Let's just look at my grocery receipt from earlier today.

Banana's ($.44/pound)
3 Mangoes ($0.88 each)
2 Onions ($0.79/pound)
Strawberries ($1.99/pound)
blueberries ($2.59/ 16 ounces)
crushed peanuts ($2.19/pound)
Soy milk ($1.50 - I had a coupon:-)
Canned Beans ($0.66)
Spinach ($1.59/pound)
Dark Chocolate Chips ($2.79)
Greek yogurt ($2.50)

With the exception of the Greek yogurt, the Chocolate Chips, and the Soy milk everything on my list would be subsidized, and heavily. Which brings me to my first point. How are we going to subsidize all of these things to be 50 cents a pound from charging 2 cents an ounce on soda? We would have to subsidize spinach (probably the healthiest thing I buy) with $1.09/pound! Difficult. Especially if we are going to implement all of the other things Mark has in mind.

Money could be returned to communities for local spending on gyms, pools, jogging and bike trails; and for other activities at food distribution centers; for Meals on Wheels in those towns with a large elderly population, or for Head Start for those with more children; for supermarkets and farmers’ markets where needed. And more.

Mark was doing the dancing when he got to this part of the article. I was shaking my head. Honestly, no one would appreciate putting in pools and bike trails more than myself. However, I don't think we should do it by robbing the poor, which is what this tax would do. Go to any grocery store, stand in the soda isle and take a look at the first 20 people who buy soda. Then stand in the produce isle look who is buying there. You will quickly see this is a nice way to take money from the poor and give it straight to the wealthy.
For the moment though, lets ignore that this is regressive tax and try to determine if it would really cut soda consumption. The claim is raising the price 20% will reduce consumption 20%. The proof against that argument is displayed daily at any restaurant in the US. It has boggled my mind for decades that people are willing to pay as much as a 300% premium for soda when they eat out. People like to have soda and they are more than willing to pay for it, a price increase will lead to falling consumption, but not nearly as much as he thinks.
Next, Mark's plan only taxes sugary drinks, it does not tax diet drinks (which are just as bad). If Coke suddenly cost $1.20 and Diet Coke is $1.00 people will not be moving to healthier alternatives, they will be reaching for the diet drinks. Also, as Mark mentions, soda companies will quickly find ways of altering their drinks slightly to avoid the tax (if it does have a substantial impact on sales). Ensuring poor people still have a plentiful supply of calorie rich nutrient deprived sugary drinks.
Penultimately, can depriving Americans their 44.7 gallons of soda they drink each year really actually reduce obesity and diabetes at such high rates? As with all things, I am not an expert on this, but first the obese people I know already drink diet soda so this tax would have very little effect on them. Second, there is plenty of blame to go around when it comes to obesity in America, just as there are plenty of ways for people to become obese. My weight has fluctuated substantially the past few years as my activity level has decreased and my motabolism has slowed to a crawl. Although I haven't had soda in 5 years and gave up french fries over 2 years ago, I still occasionally slip up to the "over weight" side of the BMI scale. And I exercise far more than "the average American". My point, it will take a lot more than cutting back on soda to have a meaningful change in the obesity problem.
Finally, Mark shares impressive numbers for the amount of money we could save in health related expenses with this tax. A few years ago Greg Mankiw pointed out one reason why these numbers are flawed. A co-worker of mine made the same point after getting a health exam. "Good news and bad news. The good news is my health is still in great shape. The bad news is I need to keep contributing to my 401k." To avoid being too morbid, I will just say, dead people have very few expenses.
Mark does have very good goals, however his plan of attack is completely misguided. I am sure if he had his way he would skip the soda tax and just go straight to creating a modern version of the 18th amendment and become another victim of the "Fatal Conceit".

Sulfur or Greenbacks?

2011-07-23T14:40:00.006-07:00

Yesterday, as I stepped out of the bus at the Baytown refinery, I was greeted by an unpleasant odor. When I asked what it was, the HR representative who was giving me a tour said, "it's the smell of money." That must also be why my wallet smells so bad...

100 Items

2011-07-20T17:57:00.006-07:00

If you could only have 100 of your possessions, what would you keep?

Bike
Pump
Tevas

For the past few days I have been trying to decide what I can live without and getting down to 100 items is much harder than I thought. The idea to pair things down to 100 came to me after reading about a couple who did just that. I have always considered myself somewhat of a minimalist, however I am also a pack rat. So although I purchase very few things, I also throw
out far fewer. Keeping me well out of 100 mark.

55. Pizza Cutter
56. 11 t-shirts
67. 5 framed pictures

Well a year has past since I first read the article about the strobel's and their 100 possessions and I had all but forgotten about it until last week when a friend of mine brought it up and told me how much further he had moved from that goal after having a baby. Then I realized this short period of my life may be the only time I can live with just 100 items to my name.

134. Cell Phone
135. Car
136. Car sun shield

I started by counting up everything I owned, thinking I might already be down to close to 100. After all, the majority of my things are still in Utah. Before I knew it though, I was passing 200.

215. Dust Pan
216. bug spray
217. Alarm Clock

227 is what the total came to. Of the top of my head I thought of about 30 things I would never miss, but getting rid of over half of my stuff does seem to be a bit difficult. So although the Strobels found happiness with just 100 items, I still have a long way before I reach that kind of nirvana.

The Splash and The Dash come back

2011-03-26T14:11:00.003-07:00

For 5 years the masses have been asking, "Will Gavin Gee ever come out of retirement and return to regain his 3rd place crown at BYU's Splash and Dash?" After celebrating his 30th birthday most critics had written him off. "He's old and washed out, he couldn't compete in the 6th graders field day races, let alone the Splash and Dash" commented a reporter who has been covering the event for over 15 years. "He had a good run. I mean 7 third place finishes, that is quite a streak. If he came back it would just be a big disappointment to see him finish out of the medals."
However, despite the warnings of the critics he signed up, not for the standard event like some expected, but the Elite. A 1 mile swim and a 10K run would have been tough for Gavin in his prime, but the last 5 years had put him well beyond that.
It was clear after the first lap that this was not the Gavin we are used to seeing in the Richards building. After a mere 300 yards he was being passed by not one, not two, but three of the Otto brothers. In years past Gavin had relied heavily on his lead in the pool to give him an edge, clearly this year he would not have that luxury.
Surprisingly, Gavin was able to pick up his pace and keep the competition within reach. He got out of the pool just over 23 minutes into the race. "I knew it wasn't going to be an amazing swim, but I was just hoping to keep it under 30 minutes" Gavin told a reporter after the race. It ended up being a good thing he finished when he did just moments after he got out of the pool another competitor jumped out, narrowly putting him in 4th place. The first 5K was a bit ugly, but near the 2 mile mark Gavin seemed to get his second wind and was able to surpass one of the Otto's to move into 3rd place. After a strong 5K finish it looked feasible that Gavin would catch the competition, however his steam seemed to putter out at the 4.5 mile mark and Gavin had to watch the others add more distance to their lead. However, the little energy Gavin had left was enough to keep him going to reclaim his 3rd place title.
"It was the most amazing feat of athleticism I have ever seen--well the third most I guess" said Denny Gee, Gavin's wife and trusty lap counter.
When asked what he was going to do next Gavin replied, "I'm going to read a case about Disney Land!"

Opportunity Cost

2009-07-24T13:45:00.005-07:00

As you by now have noticed, there has been a steep decline in the quantity and quality of blogging here at UtiliGEE. Being greatly troubled by this, I took it upon myself to get to the bottom of what caused such a dearth in the blogosphere. After many interviews and much research this is my report.

In Q1 the cost of blogging rose 68% over the previous quarter (92% YOY). This was coming just as 401K accounts were plummeting to 10 year lows. Readers were optimistic the second quarter would bring a decline in blogging cost as home prices continued to slump. However, blogging cost skyrocketed in Q2, rising 763% in just three months, 938% from the previous year. Q3 also appeared to be promising as oil prices decreased back to their May levels. Sadly, this decline still hasn't effected the UtiliGEE blogging cost.
"Previously you could use the oil and housing markets as indicators of what the blogging market would do. That theory seems to be out the window."
Analyst have tried to pinpoint what event would have triggered such a drastic change in blogging market trends without success. All indicators predicted a drop in blogging cost after finals in December. Yet, just as investors were ready for blogging to reach an all time high we reached a 2 year low.
Tommy Tom, a well respected blogging analyst, is beginning to fear what kind of damage this will do to his profession. "We are going back and rewriting our entire cost-of-blog model. It has people questioning the entire industry."
Of all the people interviewed it seems there was only one economist who has an answer to what could have caused this spike. "It appears that even with the rest of the economy in a deep recession the value of time-spent-with-Denny continues to rise at unprecedented rates. Occasional we find occurrences of people thriving during a down turn. That is what happened with McDonald's and Microsoft. Time-spent-with-Denny is the only market that is seeing the same boom as blogging cost. I am beginning to think there is a correlation between these two markets. And if my predictions are correct it could be 2010 before we see another post from UtiliGEE."
When asked if he felt that time-spent-with-Denny would soon be valued higher than Microsoft he responded, "With the decreased demand for PC's, and the limited supply of time-spent-with-Denny, I would say the question is not if it will be valued higher, but when."

Complainers

2009-03-04T16:27:00.004-07:00

Two months ago Mark Perry posted this video on his blog. Originally, I thought it was clever thinking, "Yeah, we don't realize how nice we have it". However, that was before the video was emailed to me 4 times, shown in 2 meetings, posted on facebook, and finally played to me by my roommate. I am sick and tired of hearing this guy complain about the complainers. And so I feel it is time for me to complain about the people complaining about complainers.
Complainers always get a bad wrap. They are an easy target because, let's face it, everyone hates a complainer. That being the case, I would ask you to put aside your grudges and consider for just a moment everything we owe to the complainers. For instance, the reason we don't have those annoying rotary phones is because, someone said, "Hm, I really hate having to go all the way to a phone booth to make a call, wouldn't it be nice to call while I am in my car or as I walk through the park?" Now, there were probably nay sayers at the time who said "You spoiled brat, don't you realize how amazing the phone is!" The same person probably would have said "Why are you complaining that it takes 3 days to take a train across the country. It took the pioneers three months! You complainer." I would personally like to thank the guy on the plane complaining about not having wireless access. And the girl who had to wait a few seconds for her phone signal to reach space.
So to all of the other complainers out there...Keep on complaining!

Anomaly?

2008-12-29T10:28:00.004-07:00

I just finished reading Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. One thing struck me as odd. Mr. Krakauer called it an anomaly that Chris McCandless would lampoon Joe Biden and praise Regan. However, Chris was clearly someone who wanted to prove he could live on his own, he didn't want all of the safety nets our society provides. He wanted to prove he could live without Social Security, unemployment insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, Public Schools, FEMA, and all other forms of welfare we entrap ourselves in. Few people can really say that they "made it on their own". And now that we are surrounded by government bailouts it is even less likely that they ever will. It seems we all have become paralyzed about what might happen if we have to step out side of our comfort blanket. Perhaps we could all learn something from the letter McCandless wrote to his friend Ron:

So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism. All of which may appear to give one peace of mind but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventure spirit within a man than a secure feature. The very basic of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon. For each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose you're inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter sketer type of life. That will first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life, you will see it's full meaning and it's incredible beauty. And so, Ron, in short, get out of sulton city and hit the road.

So with 2009 approaching and all the looming talk of layoffs and depression maybe we can pause before crying for help and leaping into the nearest safety net, and take a page out of Chris's book to let our adventurous spirit escape...Just make sure you don't starve to death.

Gee vs. Shurtz

2008-12-19T10:08:00.011-07:00

Yes I know, I am very late posting these. But as promised here they are. Photographic evidence of the Gee/Shurtz show down in SLC.

This photo was taken for Where's Waldo's 2009 Calendar

Haven, in just another attempt to get away with murder...or putting his finger in cake
A reception wouldn't be complete without BYU football updates.

Rebecca getting swept off her feet

Final Final

2008-12-12T11:13:00.004-07:00

As many of you already know, just before thanksgiving break I decided that a doctorate degree in Mechanical Engineering would not help me attain any goal that seemed even remotely desirable (at least that is what I'm still trying to convince myself of). As such I have put an end to my days as a University of Texas graduate student. I quickly realized it would have been wise to come to that conclusion after taking my last final as my motivation to study approached zero faster than a fourier series heading to infinity at light speed. However I still had the desire to exit at the top of my game. So I put my final cramming abilities to test one more time. And I must say I surprised myself. I think this is how Micheal Jordon must have felt when he retired from the NBA the first time. Well at least now I know if things don't work out for me in minor league baseball then I can take another stab incompressible flow.

I'll get up at 4AM tomorrow

2008-12-03T17:00:00.006-07:00

If the Big 3 had a nickle for every time I've said that they wouldn't need a bailout. But apparently I'm not the only one making promises to themselves that they can't keep. In my last post I mentioned an article saying 77% of consumers would spend less this Christmas. That same article said 20% would spend the same amount and 3% would spend more. Here is what is actually happening.I guess those $2 DVD's were just too good to pass up.

Thanksgiving Depression

2008-12-01T16:55:00.007-07:00

I woke up thanksgiving morning to three stories in the paper describing the dire straights our economy is in. The Johnstons aren't going to grandpas for thanksgiving this year. Gas prices are just too high. 77% of consumers are going to spend less this Christmas. And the Patersons are eating at the soup kitchen for the first time. "Prices for everything are just too high. Gas, Food, everything is going through the roof."
Then we drove to Chuck A Rama, passing by several gas stations posting prices of $1.69 the lowest I have seen in over 4 years. Upon arrival I was immediately bombarded by mounds of every type of food I could think of. Once I was sufficiently satiated I rolled out to go home and read the rest of my paper. $29.99 for an mp3 player, $79.99 for a new GPS, $2 DVD's...Seriously $2 for spider man II, I don't even like spider man II and I suddenly I need to get to Walmart to buy 3.
Now I really did intend to get up at 4, and hit all of the stores before 6 as I had mapped out on my macbook, but since I stayed up all night watching Monk and other TV shows, that are available at any time of night, I wasn't able to wake up to my alarm. Of course it didn't help that I was fell asleep listening to my ipod.
Yes, these are going to be troubling economic times...Now I'll probably have to pay $5 for that copy of Spider Man II I didn't want. No wonder people keep comparing this to the great depression.

Year Vacation

2008-11-25T13:01:00.003-07:00

Today I read that the FED is pledging up to 7.7 trillion dollars to help ease the frozen credit market. Which amounts to approximately $69,268.11 per household. The average household income in 2007 was only $50,233. So if all that money is going to Americans who can't pay their mortgages and investors who, quite frankly, have preformed awfully. We could just skip all of these complicated processes of deciding who gets what and instead just give everyone 51 grand. Then all of those hard working Americans I keep hearing so much about could all take the year off. It would be a Nation wide holiday....all year! There would even be 2 trillion left over (we would give it to Barack Obama to use for his next campaign). I'm really looking forward to this year of plenty. Now I just need to find someone to make me lemonade while we are all on vacation.

congratulations Ta!

2008-11-25T07:56:00.007-07:00

My Sister Natasha got married Saturday. Pictures are still forthcoming, but for now I just have a reminder that you should think twice before decorating the honeymooners vehicle. At least that is what my sister Rebecca and my dad realized when they found out, after dropping Ta off at the airport, that they would have to use the "Just married" vehicle for the rest of the week. I'm sure there were more than a few surprised people when they saw my dad driving Becca to school with a big heart around each window.

Obama's School Choice

2008-11-24T09:47:00.003-07:00

John Stossell is speaking about school choice here in Salt Lake next week. It comes at an interesting time considering the Obama's have just made their school choice .

Mr. Obama says he opposes such vouchers, because "although it might benefit some kids at the top, what you're going to do is leave a lot of kids at the bottom." The example of his own children refutes that: The current system offers plenty of choice to kids "at the top" while abandoning those at the bottom.

Mark Perry points out that the Obama's aren't the only ones who prefer private schools, public school teachers do as well.

Doing what they are best at

2008-11-20T06:09:00.000-07:00

Secretary of Green Technology

2008-11-19T15:46:00.002-07:00

Everyone has been trying to figure out where Tim Dehne is going to be moving on to. There has been speculation that he will take over at GM or perhaps follow in Michael Jordon's shoes and take up minor league baseball. All of these rumors are, of course false.
To set the rumors straight; on behalf of the Obama administration I am pleased to announce that Tim Dehne (former VP of R&D at National Instruments) will be the new Secretary of Green Technology.

I know, you would think they would have chosen a publication with an actual reader base for this announcement, but hey, this is the administration of change. I'ts all about giving an opportunity to the little guy.

The next bailout

2008-11-19T07:48:00.002-07:00

My Dad just alerted me of the next threat to our economy.

Unless we get an immediate, gargantuan, government bailout of our oil companies our whole free enterprise system may be in peril!

Tax Time

2008-11-17T07:49:00.002-07:00

To be clear I am always one of the first to chastise any tax increase. After all, what you tax you decrease, you are essentially saying that thing you are taxing is in someway evil. So things like Capital gains or income taxes I have been quick to criticize. However, there are a few things I support taxing. I support taxes on cigarettes, Alcohol, and things with a negative externality.
Believe me, I loved being able to fill up my car this morning for $28.34, just over half of what I was paying earlier this year. Every politician this summer was saying "We need to end our dependence on foreign fuel". I heard constant whining about souring gas prices and how the government needed to step in. Although since the price is plummeted congress doesn't have people breathing down there necks to do something about it anymore, and like many things, now that congress could do something, they probably won't.
But, perhaps this new administration will show some real change and before everyone decides to pull their SUV's back out of storage they will step in and raise the gas tax.

Depression Economics

2008-11-14T08:00:00.005-07:00

Today, Paul Krugman tried to give some encouragement to Obama and the Lame ducks in congress on their bailout plan.

Under current conditions, however, it’s much better to err on the side of doing too much than on the side of doing too little.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that what made the great depression, Great?

Under the Mattress Bank

2008-11-13T10:02:00.004-07:00

Yesterday I missed our company meeting so my boss gave me a recap. Apparently we are well positioned to make it through the economic downturn thanks to a wise investment we made.

We proved to use our cash wisely, in this case we didn't use it at all.

New stragegy: Be Big

2008-11-12T17:47:00.003-07:00

A co-worker of mine who, on first inspection, is clueless to everything going on in the news said,

I guess the new strategy for companies is just to convince congress your too big to fail and so the government has to bail you out.

The big 3 is banking on that strategy, today they came out and said that 1 in 10 jobs is dependent on the auto industry. So they are arguing if the big three go under that unemployment will rise 10%. In a country that has been talking a lot about giving the little guy a chance, taxing the rich guys so the underprivlaged guy gets his shot at glory, you would think we would be happy to hear about the big company failing. This would be the best way for letting someone new climb to the top. Someone who will have better ideas, better technolgies, and even better prices. But I guess we just aren't ready for that type of change.

*The economist highlighted the largest companies today. Funny thing is that these are all the companies that are constantly demonized, yet they (unlike GM, AIG, Ford, and other failing companies) haven't been stealing money from american tax payers.

*UPDATE: Catherine Rampell questions how legit the 1 in 10 argument is.

Teachers salary(subject they teach)=Better schools

2008-11-07T06:41:00.004-07:00

Ed Glaeser wrote today the key to better schools is hiring better teachers. Because, as evidence by my last post, the education field is not getting the best and the brightest. Since Dr. Glaeser has already begun giving advice to President-Elect Obama, I decided to throw in my two cents.
The problem is so simple to solve, yet I know it never will be. It became apparent to me when my cousin's wife said,

You know there is a problem with our system when I had to fight to get a job paying $27,000 a year, when Matt (my cousin) had no trouble finding a job paying $60,000 right after graduation.

Lisa was right. There is a problem. The problem is not that her husband was making so much more than her, but that she expected to be paid the same. Matt studied Economics, one of the highest paying majors right out of college, and took a job in DC, one of the most expensive cities in the country. She on the other hand took a job in Utah teaching English. It was no secret she would be getting paid less. Starting salaries for teachers is public information, there is no reason her salary should have been a surprise. Had she wanted more money, she should have switched majors.
But, she gives us the root of the problem when she said she had to "fight to get a job". Fact is in Utah anytime there is a teaching position in English, History, Physical Ed., or Art there are hundreds of applicants. However when my sister, Natasha, applied for a position teaching math she had several schools knocking on her door. This same problem occurs with science teachers. School districts in Utah are constantly pleading for teachers. The solution is so simple, it has already been applied at all of the universities, yet somehow it has eluded public schools: Pay math teachers more, and PE teachers less. If the math and physics majors really are the best and brightest students coming out of our universities, then you are going to have to offer them something better than an History teachers salary to get them in front of a bunch of whining 10th graders.

Who is the smart one on campus?

2008-11-05T17:57:00.003-07:00

That being said, could all the teachers stop complaining that they should be getting paid as much as other fields in the "private" sector.

The Rat is DEAD

2008-11-05T17:52:00.002-07:00

Finally after being tormented and robbed of our bread three nights in a row, our house will have one fewer mouth to feed.

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T06:32:00.001-07:00

3 days and counting

2008-10-30T06:29:00.002-07:00

Greg Mankiw posted an invitation for any economist to defend Barak Obama's position on "ethanol subsidies, tariffs on Chinese goods, the Byrd amendment, etc." three days ago. Considering over 17,000 people visit his site daily (not counting all of the economist who have it in their RSS feeds) it is strange no one has jumped at the opportunity. Which begs the question: Why are so many Economist supporting Barack when they can't defend his positions?

Nov 4th...a little early.

2008-10-27T06:48:00.004-07:00

Once a year we all participate in what is the most heavily contested, corrupted, and costly event of the year. No, not the Superbowl. I am of course referring to our yearly elections, and with the president on the ballot this year it is shaping up to be the most expensive event of the century. In the past year I have seen approximately 25 debates, read over 500 articles, and watched millions of dollars in commercials all aimed at influencing my decision once inside the voting booth November 4th. But it will all be in vain because what Barack Obama doesn't know is I decided to vote early.
It was a mater of a seconds after stepping into my local library before I was staring at the screen reading my four options for the office of President of United States of America. Briefly I thought about Barack Obama and the National Bank/Hospital/Auto Manufacturer he would shortly be creating. I thought about John McCain and the insurance I had that, although he didn't understand the economy during a time when banks around the world are failing, I could count on him to set preconditions before having lunch with anyone. I briefly hovered over the name of Bob Barr, the libertarian, who, surprisingly, left me disappointed. Then I saw something that really caught my eye "write in". The possibilities were suddenly endless as to who I could chose. Ron Paul, Thomas Sowell, Bobby Jindal, even Greg Mankiw began battling for my vote inside my mind. The highfalutin speeches ceased their insidious plans to obfuscate past mistakes or intimations of future ones. Leaving behind the lucid and concise arguments of the venerable candidates who now presented themselves. This was my opportunity to determine the future of our country. This was the root from which democracy has flourished, the right to vote. And with the world entering into what appears to be one of the largest financial crisis in history I knew this decision was not to be taken lightly. The radio announcers voice I had heard only moments early rang back through my ears proclaiming "This is the most important decision Americans have faced in their life time". My decision was clear, there was only one person I could count on in such dire circumstances. As usual the rest of the country will not see the wisdom of my vote for years to come. In time, I am hopeful, they will understand why during 'the most important decision of my life" I decided to vote for, Merrill K. Gee.

And the Winner is...

2008-10-23T16:36:00.003-07:00

Not only did Dr. Mankiw's brilliant text book create a penchant for economics in my soul. His blog has become a main staple of my diet. Each article he has written for the NY Times has been a breath of fresh air and a source of true enlightenment. And although I don't always agree with his intimations, he has given me the vast majority of what I know about economics.
Congratulations Greg, you are this years winner of the UtiliGEE Prize in Economics!

Will the real tax payers step forward.

2008-10-21T19:25:00.002-07:00

Today, Catherine Rampell pointed out most American's don't need to worry about paying for the bailouts since they aren't even paying their taxes. However after promising Obama, in my concession speach, to keep him posted on his flaws and weaknesses it is my duty to poinnt out this one. Although it may appear McCain and Obama are going to give more tax breaks to the poor to than anyone in history. This, is nothing more than a rouse. Sure, it looks great on paper. A modern day robin hood helping the poor and taxing the rich. But just like tax brakes "trickle down" so do taxes. Every property tax hike pinches the renters pocket just like it does the land loards. The luxury tax on that yacht effects "Joe-the-yacht-salesman" more than it does "Phillpe-the-yacht-owner". So to all of you who will be lining up for your free lunch when Obama gets sworn in, just remember the sandwich is not included.

UtiliGEE prize in Economics

2008-10-15T16:18:00.003-07:00

Every Monday and Friday I grit my teeth, go to nytimes.com, and read Paul Krugman's acerbic Op-ed piece. The first time I read his column I asked myself "Who hired this loony?". I nearly lost faith in the Economic profession once I found out he was once a professor at Princeton (how could an economist writings be so visceral and his speeches so vapid). Having come directly out of BYU I was still under the impression all Economist were brilliant Libertarians striving pick up where Milton Friedman left off. Since reading Krugman's articles I have come to realize there are all sorts of highfalutin nut jobs studying Economics with crazy names like Austan who think every right thinking economist will support Keynesian models during financial turmoil. So hearing Paul had just become the second youngest person to take home the Nobel prize in Economics was a bit more than I could stomach. I mean seriously, I just gave my concession speech to Barack, why do you have to kick me while I'm down. In an effort to keep myself out of the fetal position I have decided to give out my own Economic Award--The UtiliGEE Prize in Economics--given yearly to an individual whose contributions in Economics have developed and improved my understanding of how people, business, and governments maximize Utility.
This year the nominees are:

Greg Mankiw
Thomas Sowell
Martin Feldstein
Walter Williams
Gary Becker
David Leonhardt
Tyler Cowen
Russell Roberts

Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner on October 23rd.

David's been reading my blog

2008-10-14T05:29:00.002-07:00

David Brooks agrees with me that the pendulum is about to start swinging the other direction.

First, there will be the bailouts. Once upon a time, there were concerns about moral hazard. But resistance to corporate bailouts is gone. If Bear Stearns and A.I.G. can get bailouts, then so can car companies, airlines and other corporations with direct links to Main Street.

Like David, and I, said, we are about to see how big Big Government can be. But, on the bright side, by the time we get to 2016 everyone will be ready for Bobby Jindal to cut it back to size.

Uncle!

2008-10-08T20:01:00.004-07:00

I said it. I give up. You win already. While we still have several weeks before election day, I have decided to spare you the anticipation and write my concession speech today. (No, I wasn't actually running for president, but I am doing this in behalf of John McCain, Bob Barr, Chuck Baldwin, Ralph Nader, and anyone else who may wake up Nov. 4th to find their name on the ballot).

I realize this campaign has been long hard and often ugly. I would like congratulate you, Barack Obama, on running a great campaign and beating the odds. You have brought together the masses. The world who has been harboring animosity against us the past 8 years, seems to be willing to let that sail, as they are already to welcome you with open arms. Your wife has said for the first time she is proud to be an American. I hope in the coming years many more people will add their voices to hers and become "proud Americans". Now many of us have been proud of this country since we were old enough to light a sparkler on the 4th of July. Hopefully we will, in time all learn to, be proud to call you our President.

Your going to step into office during the greatest financial crisis since the great depression. I am fully confident that you will be able to lead us out and on to better times. However I am also not completely naive, and realize you are fully capable of going Herbert Hoover on us. The day you set foot into office there will be knocks on your door trying to Nationalize all banks, then it will be the automobile industry, followed by the airlines. I will fill more comfortable if you are reading Free to Choose those days. You don't have it...come on over and borrow mine, believe me it will help.

Because honestly I don't expect much from you. I don't want your health care plan. I don't want a penny of social security. I won't need medicare, medicaid, or food stamps. You don't need to protect me from greedy CEO's on wall street. I don't need you to provide low interest rates for me to buy a house. I've been poor before and I'm sure I'll be poor again, don't worry about me, I'll be fine. The only thing I'm afraid of is losing my freedom. You and John have been arguing a lot about the possibility of going to war with Iran or Russia. I'm not as worried about Vladamir Putin or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as I am about the enemies inside the gates. Remember the words of Mormon, at least I think it was Mormon (it doesn't really matter since you haven't read it anyways), to clean the inner vessel first. So I am here to wish you luck and success in what is shaping to be one of the most critical times in our history. I will be here supporting you and criticizing you the whole time. Just remember to watch out for the Kingsmen.

Adam Smith

2008-10-01T06:44:00.003-07:00

As an Application Engineer I was often asked questions about subjects I didn't understand. When I told my co-workers I really had no idea what I was doing, they would always reply "you know a lot more than you think you do." And after realizing the people asking the questions had no clue either, I decided I would simply answer their questions the best I could. As long as I seemed confident in my answer they were happy--even if the answer was completely wrong. Sadly, I seemed to have extended this habit into my personal life. As my roommates will attest, I will answer any question, regardless if I know the answer or not. So although I am correct 99.9% of the time, they are always weary of anything I tell them. It wasn't until recently that I found someone as good at making up ridiculous and erroneous comments as I was. Fortunately I haven't made any of my blunders are national TV with the whole country watching. He is probably hoping that he just won't get any hard questions.

Regulators Mount Up

2008-09-30T06:38:00.006-07:00

I was a bit upset after hearing Obama claim the economic crisis was caused by failed policies of this administration. This administration has made plenty of blunders, but giving them credit for the entire economy is a bit much. So when Mankiw posted a reply to Barack I decided to share it with a friend on Facebook. Another friend read the blog and said

See, the problem I have with this is that Mankiw accuses Barack Obama of saying something he didn't say. Nowhere in his comment did he say anything about the Republicans, or call out any Republicans by name. The deregulations began under Clinton and reached a fever pitch under Bush, but Obama never placed blame on either administration in particular.

The problem, is not Mankiw accusing Barack of saying something he didn't (he never says it was republican's but it is still clear, he has since said it was the republicans...repeatedly) but the problem is putting words in Mankiw's mouth. The article had nothing to do with regulation. It was about government, as Sowell pointed out, "createing an incentive for a company to take on risk and enjoy the associated increase in return." I don't know if the problem is due to a lack of understanding or a lack of reading the article. But, it seems most of the country is suffering from the same symptoms. So, as another friend on Facebook said. "Help us Obama-Wan-Kenobi, you're our only hope!"...of having ridiculous regulations that will undoubtably lead to another financial crisis bigger than this one.

Need a Appendectomy?

2008-09-26T06:38:00.003-07:00

Milton Friedman often asserted the Government was largely responsible for the Great Depression and that the Federal Reserve should be replaced with a computer. Ben Bernanke responded by saying.

Regarding the Great Depression. You're right, we did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again.

Well just 6 years later we are witnessing the largest bank failure in history. And many money market accounts are frozen due to a run on the banks. So Bernanke and Paulson are trying to work with congress to get a rescue package to save us from another great depression. Some say to follow Paulson, others say congress has the answers, or that we should listen to dirt farmers. But I think my brother Gardners facebook status summed it up best.

Having the government fix the financial crisis is like having an auto mechanic preform your appendectomy.

Splash and Dash

2008-09-25T14:55:00.002-07:00

Last month I began my first semester of graduate school, and it felt like something was missing. Perhaps it was the full load of classes, the pressure of getting home work done, or even late nights in the Clyde. Regardless of what was causing this emptiness I knew there was only one cure. While at BYU the highlight of each semester was the splash and dash. Regardless of how miserable things got in school the Splash and Dash would put me back on top--not really the top, I took 3rd every time except once, but whose counting. So once again I am hoping it will temporarily fill the hole where a heart should be. For those of you who are aching to be aching come out saturday for your chance to be the one who insures I take home another bronze medal.

Feeling Altruistic

2008-09-16T19:36:00.001-07:00

Years ago the Red cross wanted to increase the amount of blood being donated. Using basic economics they determined offering a small payment would provide an insensitive to entice new donors. Had the Red cross being dealing with another service their plan would have succeeded. However, it failed, dismally. Fewer people donated blood because they viewed the action as being less altruistic. Previously the "payment" for a few pints of blood was the feeling you had served your fellow man. If paid it wasn't really service. Causing a dilemma, blood was needed more than before, but now it was looked down on (Currently this can be seen with Plasma, were the only people who donate plasma are typically underprivileged or young. Even though donating plasma is just as great of service as donating blood). I viewed this firsthand during an activity put on for the Relief Society in the ward. After hearing the bishop remorse how several women in the ward never have the opportunity be courted by esteemed gentlemen. I decided we would at least give them the opportunity to dine and converse with a few cabelleros. After pitching the idea of making a dinner for the sisters, the Bishopric, who loved the idea, wanted to make the dinner themselves. Considering how most of our guest would prefer chicken cord on bleu to spaghetti, I let the bishopric cook. Reducing the elders assignment to serving dinner and providing delightful dinner conversation. My former ward calling was in Activities, where I had a string of horrendous activities that were hated by the masses. This was the first time I received compliments on an activity. Not only was the quantity of compliments high, but also the quality. Almost every girl I spoke with the following Sunday LOVED it. Yet, I keep hearing complaints from Elders saying "we didn't really serve them", or "we should have made the dinner". These comments made me decide it is time for a little analysis. Are we looking for ways to fill needs or are we looking for ways to feel needed? Are we trying to solve problems or are we just trying to get a warm fuzzy inside?

Monster in the closet.

2008-09-16T15:07:00.001-07:00

Buddy is going to have a tough time sleeping again.

Penurious?

2008-09-15T09:43:00.005-07:00

I am often considered by my co-workers and friends as "the cheapest person in America". Although in many respects they may be correct, I did however find one person who is even cheaper than I am when it comes to charitable giving.

*For the other candidates tax info go here.

* Update: Palin releases her info.

LabVIEW runs the world.

2008-09-10T06:23:00.004-07:00

So those of you who used google today may have seen Cern's Large Hadron Collider, which has just fired up. Turns out the head of Cern has been receiving death threats from people who think it will cause a black hole. Now, we appear to be black hole free, so I just want to make sure credit is given where credit is due. Since Cern is using LabVIEW, and had this thing blown up and caused a blackhole we would all be doomed, we really all have LabVIEW to thank. So I feel it is my duty, as a former LabVIEW instructor, to take credit for saving all your lives.
Your Welcome.

Mr. Burns has a new ipod.

2008-09-09T10:35:00.003-07:00

My friend Kenn and I noticed this today, and have been wondering if Steve Jobs is Mr. Burns, who is Smithers?

Haunted by the ghost of calculus past

2008-09-08T20:12:00.003-07:00

I spent four years, 10 semester as a math tutor. Many of those years I spent helping out all the engineers with Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, or Multi-Variable Calculus. But, even during those years I inevitably had to go and help all of the young saps taking their first year of calculus. Helping them was never much of a problem, unless it was during the first week. That was the raspberry seed in my tooth for all 10 of those semesters. Inevitably every one of said saps would ask how to do each and every proof. These proofs were so simple, yet they would stump me every semester. I would spend hours trying to remember how I solved it just 4 months earlier.
One can imagine my discouragement and unmitigated rage when in my first class, after taking a 2 year hiatus, the entire assignment was made up of those very same problems! I guess it just goes to show if you don't learn how to do something right at first, you will be doomed to do it 11 more times.

Why I'm not a democrat

2008-08-29T07:07:00.002-07:00

Reason 487: I don't consider begging for money "pulling myself up by my own boot straps".

I think I made a huge mistake...

2008-08-21T10:55:00.002-07:00

Today I registered for my first class as a UT longhorn. While trying to do so I realized a few things. One, how horrible their web site is. It didn't take long before I had a list of about 20 ways they could be categorizing their content to make it more user friendly. As I did this I realized a second thing, how much I like my current job. But, after 20 frustrating minutes I was finally able to add my first class...Compressible Flow. I don't think I realized how ridiculous this was until at lunch today when I told my co worker. "Compressible Flow? You're taking a class in Compressible Flow? What exactly were you doing this morning that possessed you to do that?" I still haven't come up with an answer for him.

the Austin Zoo

2008-08-13T18:35:00.004-07:00

This week a friend and I started matching all of my friends with characters from Winnie the Poo. Then I realized I am basically living in a Zoo. All of my friends could be matched with some sort of animal. That is when I began writing the story of the Austin Zoo. There is a Tiger who is always up for a challenge, but he can't be out smarted by the friendly fox. If you have anything that is broken just go see Beaver. And if you need advice you will have to make the journey to the ocean to ask the Blue Whale, the all knowing oracle, what you should do. So stayed tuned to find out what happens when a Swan and a Lemur compete for the attention of a Llama who is in love with a Killer Whale. And yes, if you have ever lived in Austin you will be in the story.

Color quiz

2008-08-11T16:58:00.003-07:00

My friend Stephanie showed me a fun personality quiz today. My results scared me a little bit. To see mine go here, to see yours go here.

Lone Racer

2008-08-10T15:29:00.002-07:00

Looking out to open road can be a great feeling, knowing all of your competitors are behind eating your dust is a huge ego boost. Of course it can also mean you missed a turn and you are now falling behind all of your competitors. Sadly the latter was the case yesterday when I was unknowingly sliding into second place on the biking portion of the triathlon. Besides that I was pleased with my showing in my return to the tri world. I think I'm starting to realize what Conor Oberst meant when he said "there is nothing the road cannot heal".

Had enough green?

2008-08-08T08:43:00.007-07:00

Yesterday marked the end of another NI week here in Austin. And it ended on the best note I could have hoped for. Gradually everything here at NI has become all about being Green. The past 2 Company meetings have been the same old rhetoric about how we need to be good corporate citizens and do our part for the environment. They have at least 3 jokes about our green pond (there is a small pond in front of our office, that due to the abundance of algae in it, has turned green). Our corporate newsletter is always filled with stories about how you can reduce your carbon footprint singing the praises of recycling. To embrace this on a company level this month we removed all paper and Styrofoam from our cafeteria. Which may sound great to some hippie in Oregon, but it has just turned into a pain in the neck for the rest of us who have to balance plates of food that we carry up to our desk and then have to return back to the cafeteria.
Sick of hearing this broken record I wasn't eager to hear our final keynote speaker who had chosen the topic of "Green Entrepreneurship". But, I found myself thoroughly enjoying it. I didn't even realize why until half way through his speech he said "the only reason they let me come is I said, I would talk about green engineering...and I'll get to that later". He never really did, which is why I loved it. He talked about innovation and not just Green mumble jumble, he talked about getting good ideas out to market. So refreshing to hear a speech where they didn't spend half of it talking about global warming, social responsibility, and other ambiguous problems. And instead talked about what we actually do. Let's just hope the VP's and CEO of NI were talking notes.

Addendum: Apparently, I'm not the only one who is sick of hearing about green.

The Stars have aligned...and the Chariot is back

2008-08-07T14:18:00.002-07:00

At BYU I made it a tradition to always watch Chariots of Fire before a race. I had forgotten this, as I mentioned in my last post, it has been 4 years since my last race. But this week the NYTimes reminded me of it. Then yesterday when my roommate announced he had just received the film from netficks, I new it must be destiny. I am so not going to run on sunday (thankfully the race is Saturday).

Time to Tri

2008-08-04T11:19:00.003-07:00

4 years ago I was hit while riding my bike. It was the week before the Jordan Triathlon. Do to the unforeseen injuries I incurred, I had to miss that race. And so began my sabbatical. But this weekend it will finally come to an end when I participate in my cousin Tiffany's ward triathlon. It should be a tortoise and the hare race, so as long as everyone decides to take periodic brakes during the race I should do great. Anyone who thinks they can beat me while I'm still getting back into my groove, meet me down at Barton Springs Saturday morning.

Atlas returns

2008-08-01T05:29:00.002-07:00

In Ayn Rand's classic, Atlas Shrugged, Wesley Mouch runs the government organization in charge of determining what companies and institutions are part of the public need. In the book he is somewhat of a village idiot, attempting to save one company while unknowingly destroying countless others until he and his cronies have completely destroyed the whole economy. Apparently, Nancy Pelosi has taken a liking to Mouch's ideas and has found another company that america needs. But, Pelosi isn't the only one. Obama has also taken a page out of that same book.

Ryan is Married!

2008-07-29T15:34:00.003-07:00

The cousin I have been looking up to for years finally tied the knot!

No Proof Required Part I

2008-07-23T13:53:00.005-07:00

Over the past year or so I have made a habit of listening to NPR on my way to work. Every now and then I hear story that is either bogus or biased. I decided to start a tradition of highlighting a few of these.
Yesterday NPR reported on the current debate on the senate floor. They interviewed several Senators and also one "expert". Absent from the report were the numerous economist from both parties saying what they think about the speculation. In case your wondering what they have to say look here here here here here and yes, even here.

Occam's Razor

2008-07-21T14:55:00.003-07:00

Simplify. One thing I am constantly trying to do is to simplify my life. Part of the reasons I hate getting new stuff is it means that I am going to have more things to do, more things to store, more things to take care of. This is one (there are other...many others) reason I hate pets. Suddenly you have to make sure there is food for it, you need to walk it, clean up it's hair, it's poop, take it to the vet, until finally you reach that glorious day when a car runs it over. When I buy something I don't want to have to take care of it to. I don't understand why people would buy more problems. Less is more...more freedom. there is one downside to this philosophy however, it can get lonely, but at least your not cleaning up other peoples poop.

Money or Love...I just can't win

2008-07-18T06:12:00.007-07:00

As usual my dating life has hit a rough patch. And again I find myself confused. Fortunately, Ben Stein explained this thing called love earlier this week in terms I can understand. But, reading Steins article made me realize my dating problems are the same as my money problems. Namely, I am afraid of taking any risk. I want all my investments to come with a 8% return guaranteed, oh, and if you could give me a sucker when I come to check on my account I like that too, thanks. I like looking at my bank account to see all my money carefully stowed away where it is making next to nothing in interest, but hey, at least I'm not losing my shirt on Exon stock. Oh, wait...I'm doing that too, but that is beside the point. Everyday I look at my favorite stocks, and I think about what might have been (if only I would have bought a few shares last month!). Meanwhile Mrs. Perfect (ie. Mrs. Gee) just slipped through my fingers. I guess if I keep up this trend my love life will end up very similar to my bank account...empty.

$55.82

2008-07-16T05:55:00.004-07:00

Yesterday I filled my car up, but unlike most Americans I was quite cheerful about doing it. No, it wasn't for the same reasons that Joel Stein mentioned earlier this week. It was because I was filling up for the first time in 30 days. Now had I not changed my old driving habits I would have spent around $150 dollars on gas last month. So with everyone trying to get that gas to last for an extra mile I thought I would share a few of my tips.

1. Bike--now this came at a steep price for me. I bike to work three times a week which means I lose an hour of sleep and about 30 to 45 minutes of leisure time in the afternoon, but on the bright side I no longer look like a beached whale.

2. Drive slow--everyone already made fun of me for driving too slow, but since driving 55 on mopac is still way faster than biking I decided to do it occasionally. The result was instead of getting the usual 27 mpg I got 29.

3. Go on Dates....and have them come to you--sadly, even though this was a huge success for me, all good things have to end. But, last month I had 4 dates where the girl came to my appartment. This not only saved money on eating out (the combined cost of all 4 dates is in the ball park of $6), but I didn't have to use any gas! The sad part is I am already feeling the retailiation, it could be a long time before I get to do that again.

4. Go to your friends family reunion--Once you get over the awkwardness of not knowing anyone you realize how much free food your getting, and since you are in Mississippi you can't use your car all weekend.

But the biggest thing is to have a lot of friends who give you rides all over town. And although I realize once they read this post they won't be offering to give me rides anymore, I would like to thank: Andrew, Abinadi, Stephanie, Denny, Julie, Vivian, and anyone else who has given a lift to this vagabond.

Bell Curve

2008-07-14T06:44:00.003-07:00

Coolest swimming photo I have ever seen...Can't wait for the games to start!

100 mile club

2008-07-11T05:52:00.002-07:00

Today as riders complete their 100 mile ride for the day, I will be finishing my 100 mile ride for the week! Yes, I will be accepting cookies to celebrate the accomplishment. thank you for offering.

Bringing back the yellow jersey

2008-07-10T06:02:00.003-07:00

5 years ago in homage to Lance Armstrong winning the Yellow Jersey I crocheted a yellow sweater vest. Now when you crochet something like a yellow jersey (or sweater vest) it symbolizes more then the fact that you want to be able to stay warm through the cold texas summers, but it shows that you are constantly on the lookout for greatness. In the past I have given each of my roommates the opportunity to wear the vest if they had obtained a significant level of said greatness. Sadly in the past few years the vest has been religated to ugly sweater contest, not for lack of greatness on the part of my roommates, but for lack of taking the effor to recognize the greatness of the office employees. This year however, the Tour de France is really speaking to me. And it is time to honor one of the office employees. So keep on the lookout to see if it will be Abinadi for his amazing web 2.0 skills, Andrew for his lady killing skills, Russell for getting sweet deals on furniture skills, or me for being, well, plain amazing.

Lake Michigan is going to disappear!

2008-07-08T12:05:00.005-07:00

NPR pulled out their Paul R. Ehrlich techniques on Morning Edition by mentioning the water in Lake Michigan was a "non-renewable" resource. And if action wasn't taken it, and all of the other great lakes, would soon be dry. And they have a point, I mean if water is non-renewable it is just a short matter of time before all the water is gone. Fortunately the only thing at risk of drying out is NPR's credibility.

Jetzt gehts los!

2008-06-25T14:00:00.004-07:00

Deutschland 3 Turkei 2.

Becoming one of the nerds

2008-06-24T06:47:00.004-07:00

Last week I read my friend Jesse's blog to find out he had something in common with Dwight Schreut...He loves Battlestar Galactica. It made me chuckle, "oh, Jesse falling for another bad TV show". Then later in the week my roommate Abinadi was watching it too! Now Abinadi is a sucker for all sorts of TV shows (Scrubs, Bones, House, Grey's Anatomy...well ok, I don't think he actually watches Grey's, but you get the idea). But on Saturday while I was sitting down in an attempt to read some more of Ayn Rand, I found myself catching a little peak of the show every now and then, but before I knew what happened it was 2AM and we were half way through season 3. I realize this is not what one would consider great television, but wow...I'm hooked.
And Dwight isn't the only nerd who I have a common interest with, I cracked up this morning when I found out Greg Mankiw also likes Vampire Weekend!

Speaking of things I'm addicted to here are a few songs I have listened to about 3,785 times in the past week.
Flobots
Paul Simon (I think I've watched the whole Central park concert about 47 times...it's just sooo good)
Pretenders (The original was good...but this is even better)
Okkervil River (My favorite songs aren't on youtube, but I'm obsessed with all of their music)
New Pornographers (My new favorite band ...I can't stop listening)

Boom, Blam and Blanton

2008-06-23T18:11:00.002-07:00

the Blanton is free every thursday. So if you want to be cool like this guy check it out.

The World has a new ruler

2008-06-20T16:24:00.003-07:00

After nearly 2 months of a long (and often stagnant) Risk game. I can say I finally came out the victor. My victory was mostly due to people giving up, and feeling sorry for me when I only had one country...which is exactly what I expect to happen tonight when I get together with some friends to take over the world.

Bye Big Tim

2008-06-16T10:43:00.004-07:00

Like every one else I was shocked when I heard that Tim Russert had passed away Friday. Really there aren't any journalist like him. My roommate Abinadi summed it up best when I asked him, after watching one of the democratic debates, who he thought had won. "Tim Russert" he replied, which I think was typically the case of any debate were he was the mediator.
Now had you asked me last week who my favorite journalist was, I would have said "John Stossel" without a moments hesitation. I grew up watching stossel on 20/20...It came on right after TGIF. His bits were always the highlight of the show (takes a lot to compete with Urkel and boy meets world). When I read his book Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity I told all of my friends about it. I loved it. But, when it comes down to it I have to admit Stossel really can't hold a candle to Russert. Now Stossel has found frauds and crooksters all over the country (typically the crook ends up being uncle Sam). But, when it comes to being an unbiased interviewer he is no Russert, he proved that last year when he interviewed Ron Paul. Stossel's interview actually wasn't aired on TV. Although you could find it posted all over the internet by angry Ron Paul supporters, using it as proof that the "main stream media" wanted to keep Ron Paul out of the race. At first I thought the interview was great, but the more I watched the more painful it became. It was like watching a father pitch baseballs to his son who he is afraid won't be able to hit...he starts off throwing slow underhand pitches, and if he can't hit those out of the park he just holds the ball and lets his son hit it right out of his hand. It became almost sickening to see Stossel try to come up with easier and easier questions for Paul to knock out of the park.
When Ron Paul went on Meet the Press, Tee-ball was over, this was the big league. Russert threw everything he had at him. It was by far the hardest interview I saw with Ron Paul. Tim knew all of the facts, he knew all of the hard questions, and unlike so many other "tough" interviewers he gave Ron a chance to answer his questions. I found out a lot about Ron Paul in Russert's interview, it became clear that he is no where near perfect, and showed where the holes in his campaign. Where as after watching Stossel's interview I felt as though I had been watching a 30 minute TV ad.
So for all the people who don't just say what they want you to hear, but work hard just to get at the truth...we will miss you Tim.

The Clark Kentization of Gavin Gee

2008-06-13T07:49:00.004-07:00

Last week I joined the elite group of mild mannered super heroes hiding their true identities by wearing a pair of think spectacles on the tip of their nose. No longer do I have to live the stressful and high profile life of the bare foot bandit. Several innocent civilians have mistaken me for a professor, so I may start using that as my cover. I will help unsuspecting kids solve thermodynamic problems by day and by night I will save the trees by throwing the recycling bins into the dumpster...the barefoot bandit strikes again!

Save the cows, eat more beef

2008-06-12T13:09:00.002-07:00

The other day I threw away a stack of paper. Someone near by suggested I recycle it. "No thanks, I don't recycle" was my reply. She was shocked others in the room seemed to be panicking, perhaps they were looking for a child so they could cover their ears. A few people in the room nervously laughed and asked if I was kidding. No one could believe that I would not recycle. But it is true I don't (at least I don't recycle paper). Ever since captain planet swooped down and saved the universe our country has been on the recycling ban wagon. Anyone who isn't on said bandwagon, by nature must be evil and therefore should be shunned.

So before you commence your shunning of me for the next 7 years. Let me explain why I don't recycle, and if you are a tree hugging hippie then you shouldn't either.

Imagine for a minute it is possible to recycle cows or meat (yeah, I know it's disgusting, but just imagine). You would be able to eat a steak and then by recycling you could get 2/3 of the steak back to make another stake. Now assuming everyone doesn't instantly loose their appetite this would seem like a victory for the cows after the steak had been recycled until there was nothing left you would get 3 steaks for every original steak. That means you would be "saving" the life of 2 cows for every cow killed. But, in reality we would be killing off the cows. Cattle ranchers would quickly cut the size of their ranches as the demand for cows would decrease. In fact the cow population would decrease by 2/3.

The same argument follows for trees if we are able to reduce the amount of trees we cut down by 2/3 then it won't be long before we have 2/3 fewer trees. Paper companies will have less incentive to replace cut down trees because the demand for new trees will decrease. By not recycling you are actually increasing the demand for trees so trees become more valuable and therefore more people will want to grow trees. If you want to save the trees start throwing that paper in the garbage.

Next time you get that warm fuzzy feeling after saving a stack full of paper from the evil garbage can just keep in mind that you are NOT saving any tree, the only thing your helping is your environmentalist ego.

Why small cars don't scare me

2008-06-06T12:27:00.005-07:00

After my last post several people mentioned that even if you drive more carefully and are less likely to get in an accident while driving a small car, you are definitely more likely to die when you do get in a wreck. This statement is true, but it hasn't changed my opinion of small cars. The problem is many people feel if they aren't in the biggest car on the rode then they aren't safe, so hence the reason cars just keep getting bigger. But the real reason I'm not scared of getting a smart car when people say I'll get crushed is because I a smart car is far more protection then I have on my bike. Because I know anytime a bike and a car fight, the car is going to win. Just this week in Mexico we were reminded of how bikers are really putting their lives in the hands of the drivers on the road.
Fortunately I haven't had any crashes as severe as this one, but it shows how defenseless bikers are against cars. So of course it would be much more safe to start driving around in a big hummer, SUV or the Oscar Mayer Wiener car. But, I like to think I can trust my fellow drivers enough not to run me over. So please next time you see me riding down the road feel free to give me plenty of space, because regardless of what you might think, I don't want to play chicken.

One for the Little Guys

2008-06-03T08:10:00.003-07:00

Sitting on a subway in Stuttgart Germany I saw a smart car for the first time. I remember turning to the group of missionaries I was with and telling them how cool I thought it was.
"That little thing, I would totally run that over with my Dodge Ram if we were back in the states."
"I would love to get in an accident with you while I'm driving my dad's hummer."
"If I ever see your smart car in a parking lot I'm going to pick it up and throw it in the back of my truck."
I was starting to believe American's had grown up out of that phase though when I was looking for a new car about 2 years ago. I mentioned to several people I wanted to get a SMART car, this was just a wish since the car still wasn't available in America. I was shocked at the response. Without fail every response was nearly the same. "Your going to get killed." "Your first wreck is going to be your last." "I'd like to see what's left of that thing when you run into a SUV."
From their responses I began to wonder how many of my friends expected me to be driving through monster truck rallys on my way home from work. Having friends that plan on getting in so many wrecks is a little disconcerting considering how often I ride with them. Although I will admit the thought of someone picking up my car and putting it in the back of their truck is really funny. But personally I hate being in a big car, the smaller the better. Of course the only problem is--as I quickly found out while speaking to friends--everyone else likes to drive big cars. Which wouldn't be so bad but the people in those huge elephants appear to be the same people who think Mopac was intended to be a demolition derby. I was beginning to think there was no hope for the little guys on the road.
Until this summer, when an unexpected hero came to save the day. Who was our Knight in shinning armor...High Gas Prices! Suddenly driving the big trucks is becoming less and less appealing, and yesterday one of the friends who said I was going to be crushed by an oncoming Hummer just bought a Yaris. So while the rest of the country is complaining about outrageous gas prices I'm going to thank our quiet hero and encourage him to keep on climbing.

*Addendum: Actually large cars have contributed to turning our highways to into the bumper car range. Drivers who feel more safe driving are more likely to get in an accident. So driving a small car will actually decrease the chance of your getting in an accident. Although if we really wanted safe roads several economist have said installing a knife into the steering wheel pointed at the heart of the driver would decrease the number of accidents dramatically.

**Someone commented after seeing this post that I am another crazy environmentalist. To be clear I share the same view about environmentalist as Steven Landsburg.

Bike to work

2008-05-15T12:37:00.003-07:00

A few weeks ago I said how silly it is to bike to work. I still stand by everything I said, but in honor of National Bike to Work day I am encouraging everyone to bike to work. Not to save money or to be green, but because biking is FUN! And honestly you are less likely to run me over on your bike than you are driving in your car while talking on your cell phone, flipping through your iPod, shaving, and giving yourself a pedicure. So leave the car at home, dig the bike out of the garage and I'll see you on the road.

popping the bubble

2008-05-13T09:55:00.003-07:00

I mentioned in my last post a co-worker was sure the price of gas was inflated and eventually the bubble will have to burst. Today Paul Krugman states otherwise. It's starting to scare me how many times in the past few weeks Krugman and I have agreed.

$30?

2008-05-01T22:05:00.002-07:00

This week a co-worker of mine sent me an article that suggest the price of gas has been inflated, by shading dealings in future dealings. The article suggest oil should be closer to $60 a barrel, instead of $120. Now if that is correct then eventually we will see a sudden drop in gas prices, personally I think it is bunk. I'm still predicting you'll be seeing $4 prices before the summer is out (In fact I'm so confident in that I'm going to be some Exxon stock tomorrow). But the presidential election may give an opportunity for us to test this theory. Now true to my word I'm staying with the badical sabatical and I won't mention the election. But I will mention an idea some of the canidattes have. Two "defenders of the poor" want to get rid of the gas tax for the summer. That would save us 18 cents a gallon or an estimated $30 over the summer. Now if my friend is right and the price is inflated than we will save close to 18 cents on the gallon (you will never actually save all 18 cents, part of the tax is absorbed by the oil companies). But if the demand is still high enough for oil (ie. high enough to keep raising prices) than we will actually only save 8 or even 6 cents a gallon.
So far 2 presidential candidates (one from each party) think it is a good idea.
And 2 economist (Krugman and Mankiw) think it is lunacy.
As usual, I'm siding with the economist.

Life on the bike

2008-04-28T21:20:00.002-07:00

After my last post several people have asked me why I continue biking if I don't think it helps the environment or my pocket book. And last Wednesday when a misguided fellow, who apparently hasn't been reading my blog, tossed some garbage at me while I was riding my bike home, I started wondering; Why do I do this?
It is somewhat of a miracle considering initially the one rule my parents gave to my babysitter was I had to spend at least a half hour learning to ride my bike. I still remember Valerie Etchel trying to talk me into riding to the end of the street. I would argue that my parents didn't like me riding to the end of the street, because of all the traffic on the end of our street. Looking back I realize this wasn't the best excuse, seeing how I stayed on the sidewalk and never even ventured out onto the road. That, and the fact that we lived on a dead end. And had a total of about 7 cars drive on our street per day. I never even took the training wheels off until my uncle brad (yes, the same Uncle Brad who would have me sit in the back of his trailer so branches wouldn't fall out, the same one who would have me fix roughs on three story houses with a 45% slant, the same one who once told me to watch out while throwing a chain saw in my general direction) told me he would hold the back of my bike while I rode up the street. I wish I could say the feeling of finally riding without training wheels was a liberating one, but it was actually just as terrifying as realizing that uncle Brad actually wasn't holding onto the bike or as terrifying as the crash that followed that realization. No, my biking career didn't start to promising. But for some reason in junior high I wanted to get a mountain bike. Looking back the only reason I would want to buy such a ridiculous item was that Greg LeMond had been on the cover of Boy's Life. Whatever the reason for wanting it was, I must have really wanted it because, my parents remarkably got it for me. Now to many of my readers this may seem a run of everyday events, but getting something from parents who were struggling to make ends meet with 7 kids is usually considered a miracle like unto the feeding of the 5 thousand.
And shortly after getting it I got to go on a bike ride with my scout troop. It was a 50 mile ride (25 miles to our camp site, and 25 miles back the next day). After that ride I considered myself to be a member of that elite league where only a select few made it (namely Greg LeMond, Lance Armstrong, and my scouting troop). I had plans to continue making 50 miles treks for the remainder of my life, but for one reason or another the bike got tossed aside and probably didn't get another 50 miles on the tires for the remainder of it's life.
But in high school a friend of mine was a mountain biker, I went with him once and I was hooked. I quickly started laying money aside so I could purchase a new mountain bike.
Eventually I saved up about $250 in excess founds, and I headed up to the highlander bike shop. The reason I went to the Highlander shop was a member of our stake owned it, Doug Moffit. Since Doug was a member of our stake I didn't really question his suggestion of bicylces. But I was a little skeptical when he showed me a shiny blue Nishiki bike. Most of you have probably never heard of Nishiki bikes, indeed I hadn't either. In fact my friend had mentioned several good brands of mountain bikes, and Nishiki wasn't on the list. I mentioned this to Doug and he was quick to point out the reason my friend hadn't heard of Nishiki bikes was because he was American (as it turns out my friend was indeed an American) so I didn't argue the point. Had I thought for a second I would have realized that Doug was also American, and one quick look at the bike would have revealed the large American flag that said Made in the USA across it. And an astute observer may have asked "so in what country would they have heard about Nishiki". Since that little trip to the highlander shop I have been to Germany, Japan, and China yet I still haven't seen a Nishiki bike. But at the time I still wasn't very astute. So I bought the bike and decided to take it on it's maiden voyage up to my grandparents house. My dad drove off ahead and I started the trek. Unfortunately I didn't really have a good route to get there, and so I took (what I would later find out was the worst route possible) 27th up to my grandparents. This is where I was introduced to the pure hatred Salt Lakians have for bikers, particularly inexperienced ones. After riding for over an hour I arrived at my destination, thinking I had just made the worst purchase of my life. My dad gave me a ride home, and I wondered if I would ever ride the bike again.
A few months later though I was faced with a slight conundrum. The problem was I loved swimming, and I wanted to continue doing it throughout the summer, but my parents wouldn't be able to provide the taxi service I required (I lived about 15 min away, on the freeway, from my school). So if I wanted to swim I would have to ride my bike to the pool. I still remember getting up at 4 that first morning, just enough time to do my paper route and then head up to school. It was about 15 miles away going up (and I mean up. Mt. Olympus is not very merciful to bikers) I basically had the whole road to myself. I think sometime between 4:30 and 5:30 one of those summer mornings I feel in love with biking. But like any relationship you have to keep working at it, or before you know it you don't even know the person sleeping in your garage...well, maybe that doesn't apply to all relationships.
To insure my biking relationship didn't go stagnate I decided to take it to the next level. And, as circumstance would have it, I did so with the help of my Uncle Brad. Brad after graduating from high school had decided to move to hawaii, while there he fell in love with the women who would become my aunt, and the bike that he would eventually give to me. The bike had two names; the Honolulu express, and the '77 special. Both coming from the licensed sticker it had from Honolulu in '77. Although, my roommate Jared tried to change the name to the bikecetomy, mostly because the only padding on the seat was a small piece of leather Brad had taped on, and also...well the rest of the story we will have to save for another time.
Typically a fairly stoic person, few things get me choked up, and as a general rule I don't grow attached to any possessions, but just thinking about the '77 special still requires me to go grab a kleenex. There are two reasons for that. The first was due to my ignorance upon receiving the bike. After Brad gave me the bike I let it sit outside for a month or two, when I finally looked at the bike the tires where flat and looked completely tattered. So being the ignorant person I was decided to to pull the tires off and replace the tires and tubes. I quickly realized the tires weren't coming off as easy as I had thought, and what was even stranger was the tire didn't seem to even have a tube at all. But being ignorant as I was, I continued scrapping the tire off of the wheel. I bought new tires and tubes and the Honolulu Express was back on the road. It took about 2 months before I realized my crime. Brad asked about the bike, I told him how much I was liking it. He then asked if I liked the tubeless tires. There was a long awkward pauses followed by me saying "yeah, it is riding great". I couldn't believe it, I ripped out tubeless tires! I felt sick to my stomach...and still do anytime the memories of the '77 special come back.
Once I had the new tires on the Honolulu Express I decided to take it for a spin. Originally the plan was to just take it for a spin, with no particular route in mind. It was the middle of summer so one would think I would have brought a water battle with me, but with no destination I wasn't sure I was going to be out all that long. After wandering through Salt Lake for about 45 min. I found myself at Hogle Zoo (the base of Emigration Canyon). I paused at started to consider how I was going to make my way home when I saw (as strong bad would say) "a challenger". Actually it was a whole team of challengers, in full biking gear. I couldn't see them well, but I could see them getting close, and fast. This was my chance to go head to head with what appeared to be real bikers. I couldn't back down to the competition, so I started to make it up the canyon. I don't remember if I had initially planned after starting if I would go up the whole canyon or not. I had only been all the way through the canyon once and that was at night, and years ago at that. I also had a friend who lived up the canyon. I knew her house was a ways up, but I didn't know if her house marked the half way point, the three quaters mark, or if it was considered base camp. After what seemed like for ever I finally passed by my friends house. I was sure my legs would give out at any time, but seeing the team of bikers behind me kept me motivated to continue riding. Finally I came to a very steep hill, I had been biking uphill constantly for the last 2-3 hours the grade had been around 5%, but now it was more like 15. My legs couldn't go any more. Now with improvements in modern technology they have instruments that could have tracked my movements to let you know that I was indeed moving forward, but this was still in the last melenium and those instruments weren't available, so when the team of bikers passed me they undoubtedly thought I was just standing still. So perhaps they thought it was a tree talking when I asked them, in the weakest most feeble voice I have ever used, "How...muuuuch...fuuurrthhhher?". Whatever they thought I, a tree, or one of the flies who had found his final resting spot on my helmet had asked the question, they chose not to answer and they just biked on by. I was certain I was going to die there somewhere in emigration canyon. When just then I turned the bend and saw the team of bikers standing next to their bikes resting. I had reached the top! I very slowly started making my way toward the group of bikers hoping they would spare me a few drops of water. But, as soon as they saw me coming toward them, they hopped back on their bikes and started on the road toward Park City. I tried to yell out to them as they left, but it was to no avail. In the past 27 years I have met a lot of bikers most of which would do anything to help a fellow biker/anger passing car driver, but I am fairly certain those guys must have been commi's who figured the government was going to send someone to help me.
I took the next few minutes to look out over the valley to see my achievement. Then fearing I was on the verge of dehydration, I began my trip down. When I finally made it to This is the Place park (the place where Brigham Young declared, yes you guessed it, "This is the Place") I was estatic. I found the visiting center. I could see a drinking fountain just inside one of the doors so I parked my bike just outside and ran in to get a drink. I nearly died when I saw the "Out of Order" sign pasted across the fountain. Not wanting to leave my bike unattended I hurried on hoping to find a park with a fountain near by, or perhaps there would be a fountain at the zoo.
I had no such luck, and not seeing anything coming out of the canyon I continued home as fast as I could. I was starting to loose focus and was not thinking clearly at all when I saw sugar house park which after carefully combing it in it's entirety I did not find one drinking fountain. I say I was not thinking clearly because I looked everywhere except for in the large bathroom facility in the center of the park, which I found out later does have a fountain. I guess this is just a long way of saying when I made it to Liberty park and drank from the fountain for a good 10 minutes, it was the best water I had ever tasted.
After that trip the '77 special and I would make 4 more trips to the top of emigration canyon, I was never as tired, they never took as long, and I was never that thirsty again.
But that brings me to the second reason I get sad when I think about the Honolulu Express. After leaving on my mission I let my brother Gardner use the Honolulu Express, and my roommate Jared use my mountain bike. Sadly they were both stolen while I was in Germany. I don't really miss the mountain bike at all, but I still think of the good days I spent on the '77 Express.
I replaced it with a very nice road bike a few years later, it was never quite the same as the '77 special though. But that bike gave me a little more courage and biking prowess. It was on that bike when I started biking daily during rush hour on busy streets. It was there were I was reintroduced to the hatred Salt Lakians have for bikers. I had garbage thrown at me for the first time, had people try to run me off the rode, and eventually on my last day of work (and the day before I was to compete in another triathlon) I was hit. It was rather funny, I was hit on my last day of work. Which was ironic since the only 2 days of work I was ever late for was my first and last day.
It has taken me several years to buckle down and get a new bike and start riding again, but I am happy to say the bike and I have reconciled our differences, and I once again am loving life on the bike.
So why do I ride if I don't feel it is saving me any money or helping the environment? Because I love the bike.

Cost of Green

2008-04-23T17:42:00.003-07:00

Go Green, Save Your Green.

That was the slogan in our corporate newsletter this week. It seems everyone at my work is trying to become more "Green". And as a result every week there is an article from someone preaching the gospel of green. This weeks installment had to do with making your commute more green. It gave suggestions such as Carpooling, riding the bus (that doesn't come within one mile of our work), or, the best option, riding a bike. Several years ago, when I considered myself to be somewhat of an environmentalist, if someone would have asked me why I bike everywhere, I would have been quick to explain how I was saving the environment or saving money. But, seeing how I now longer consider myself to be an *idiot, I cringe whenever someone suggest that the reason I am biking is to become more green.
I realize there are possibly a few people out there (apparently more than a few at my work) who still consider themselves to be mentalist, so I will explain why biking to work is not the best way to make the world green.
Today it took me approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes to ride to and from work. Covering a total of 26.5 miles, which by happenstance is the same amount of miles my car gets to the gallon. Earlier today I heard the average gas price was $3.50. So by biking today I saved $3.50. What it cost me was 1 hour 54 minutes (it takes me 12 minutes to drive to work, and 24 minutes to get back). It also cost me a sore bum, having to be yelled at by passing drivers (they must have forgotten to read my blog last week), and narrowly avoiding being hit twice. Actually my story here is somewhat normal, the average commute is 15 miles and 26 minutes (slightly more than mine).
I work at an engineering company where the average salary is around $70,000. Which translates to approximately $35 an hour, so that 2 hour ride is costing an employee $70. If an employee is really serious about making the world more green he would drive to work (saving $70) and buy a tree, the next day he drives he could use the 2 hours to plant the tree. Keeping this up it wouldn't take anytime before he was "carbon negative".
Some people may argue there is another benefit to riding a bike, exercise. In my case if I don't ride my bike to work then I typically will go run on town lake. It takes me a total of 45 minutes to run 4.3 miles on town lake (that includes the drive to the lake, warm-up, and warm-down). When I do that I get a much better work out because I don't have to worry about getting run over, I don't have to stop constantly at traffic lights, and I don't have exhaust being blown at me (that isn't to mention not having garbage thrown at you, being yelled out, getting flats, or getting clipped by cars).
Another argument is that "well, no one is going to take all that money and plant trees". I would agree, when it comes right down to it, most people aren't *idiots. But them working on just about anything would be almost as good as them planting trees. If they are working (particularly if they are engineers) they are going to be helping grow that economic pie. And the real reason we have people writing articles about going green is due to how much green we have. Because you can bet your bicycle no one is worrying about how to make their commute more green in Zimbabwe.

*a.k.a. environmentalist

Make it stop

2008-04-19T16:25:00.005-07:00

Six months ago I was glued to youtube. Anytime there was a debate I didn't want to miss a second (yes, I suffered through all of the democratic debates. Although I did enjoy when Tim Russet had to tell Gov. Richardson he wasn't dealing with funny money). I hung on every word (well, at least when Ron Paul was talking). My political engine was fueled and revving in the red zone. Yet, this week when a co-worker asked if I would be watching the debates I cringed...When will it end!
By now, I, and probably you too, am sick of hearing how the bitter poor are clinging to Hillary. And the elite snobs are avoiding the sniper fire by placing their audacity in Obama.
I used to look forward to reading the Op-Ed columns in the NY Times. Now I shutter at having to read what Hillary did to destroy her chances or why everyone loves/is sick of Obama.
Something needs to be done. First, I was going to submit a bill to congress putting an moratorium on all presidential election reporting until August 1, but then I remembered I'm not a democrat. So to avoid being a hypocrite I have come up with another plan. Instead of changing the government, I will change the world. I hereby declare the beginning of the Badical Sabbatical. Yes, that is right, a sabbatical from any presidential election jibber jabber until August 1, 2008. Seeing how this blog is basically the trend center for the internet and web 2.0, I think it will only be a matter of a few weeks until the NY Times follows suite. My fellow bloggians of the world UNITE! be badical, join the sabbatical.

Solving the Vagabond mystery

2008-04-14T13:03:00.003-07:00

My good friend Bryant has me all figured out.

Who cares about the poor?

2008-04-11T15:07:00.008-07:00

President Bush released his tax information today and the Clintons released theirs earlier in the week. Hillary after finding out she is in the top 1% of tax payers said she was "surprised", but also, she didn't want the Bush tax cuts and she didn't need them. Regardless if she wanted them or not she got them. As a result she and the president had a little extra pocket change. So how did they use all of the extra cash? Well they didn't release how each nickel and dime was spent, but they did release how much they gave to charity. Now over the past 8 years the Clinton's have made an average of $13.6 million a year. They have also given approximately $1.25 million to charity each of those years. Now Bush made just over $920,000 this last year, and gave $165,000.
So clearly the Clintons are giving more, but if you look at the percentage of their income donated Bush gives almost double what the Clintons do (17.9% compared to 9.15%). Perhaps Milton Friedman was right when he said you can tell more about a person by what they do with their own money than you can by what they do with the money of others.

UPDATE: Obama just released his tax info and he took the cake. He gave about 5.7% of his income to charity last year.

ANOTHER UPDATE: McCain released his tax info today. He decided to give the cake away, donating over 27% in 2007.

ANOTHER UPDATE PART II: Biden, the true egalitarian gave between .09% and .31%

Shamu comes to Austin

2008-04-10T14:53:00.006-07:00

At the beginning of April I made a goal to cut sweets out of my diet. Initially this seemed like an easy task. All the money I could save by not purchasing sweets, could mean I would save a grundle. I quickly have come to realize the problem isn't the sweets I am buying, but the ones being thrown at me. In the past 10 days I have been offered cookies, cakes, brownies, soda, twinkles, banana bread, and muffins. An average of 2 times a day I get offered sweets, now I wish I could say I turned them all down, but as Paul says "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak". So it is time we all started helping each other out. Stop taking treats to work. You may think your doing all your co-workers a favor, but your not. So unless you're trying to make your office look like sea world I suggest you start saving money, and all of your friends and co-workers waist lines. Next time someone ask you to bring treats for an activity tell them you'll do one better, and bring nothing.

Don't feed the bears....or the bikers

2008-04-05T11:49:00.004-07:00

Wednesday morning while heading over to meet a friend for my morning run, I realized my Camry was in the red zone (not like in the old spice commercials, but on the thermostat. For the record my car doesn't make out with other cars.) and smoking out of the hood. So sadly I took another trip down south to visit my friend Gary Krutsinger. Now I've planned on riding my bike to work for sometime now, but I never had enough motivation to do it. But seeing how my car was spending some quality time with Gary, I figured now was as good of time as any.
Thursday was the first day I rode a bike to work since I was hit riding my bike to work at the Cottonwood Country Club. It really took me back to those good old days of riding to work in the dark while the sane Americans are still sound asleep, and then riding home while those same Americans curse at me and throw garbage from their cars. Yes, there is nothing quite like riding a bike. There is something about it that makes me feel alive, perhaps it is because driving a car makes me feel like a robot. But, it has become apparent that many of you robots driving cars don't know how to act around cyclist. In an attempt to help smooth your future interactions with this rare breed of lunatics we call bikers, here are a few tips.
1. Approach with caution. Most cyclist are just as afraid of you as you are of them.
2. Do not pet the cyclist (by pet I mean punch). Perhaps it looks like they would enjoy a friendly smack as you drive by going 50 mph, but, turns out, not the case.
3. Do not attempt to feed the cyclist. A common mistake for robots to make is to confuse cyclist for environmentalist. And although environmentalist enjoy eating garbage to help the enviroment, cyclist do not. So when driving past a cyclist please avoid the temptation to toss your garbage at them, but instead save it for the next time you are having lunch with the Sierra Club.

By following these three simple steps robots in cars and loonies on cycles can finally learn to coexist. And who knows perhaps we can even save the starving members of the Sierra Club.

Free your X

2008-04-04T16:27:00.002-07:00

Last week a few of my friends were sitting around chatting when one mentioned he had seen a "chump" hitting on his x-girlfriend. From this encounter he had decided the perpetrator was a schmuck, and then informed the rest of us in the room "in case you didn't know [His x-girlfriend] is off limits". I have bumped into this circumstance quite a bit here in Texas and, I have to say, I HATE IT! Listen, memo to all jerkfaces who think they have some type of control over who dates their past girlfriends...unless a girl has a ring on her finger she is anything but off limits.
In this blog I have mentioned Milton Friedman approximately 187 times. The reason I can't stop talking about him is he chose the perfect title for the perfect book. Free to Chose! From the moment I heard the title I knew I would love the book...and I did. Because he was expressing our God given right. That we are free to chose; good, bad, smart, stupid, or outright insane. So who are you to think you can take away that right from your girlfriend? Hillary Clinton?
Obviously if you have split up, then either you or your former significant other decided the two of you would be happier with someone else. So why deprive any of your friends their happiness. It's like Sting says "If you love someone, set them free".

Don't worry I wasn't going to use my savings anyways

2008-03-27T19:57:00.004-07:00

In a past post I mentioned that I spend $2 a day funding the Iraq war. My brother called me on it, so I checked. Actually the first 4 years of the war cost me much less than $1 a day, but last year it was over $2. Now it is up to everyone to decide if they think that money was well spent or not. But for those of us who would like to reduce the amount of money we spend on bombs, toilet seats, bridges to nowhere, and Spitzer's late night rendezvous there was a way to cut it down. It was one of the happiest days of my life when I realized there was a way to not pay taxes...I could stash away money in a 401K! I could pretend like I am a popper without the government stealing all of my cash. Sadly Greg Mankiw pointed out to me today that money might not be as safe as I thought. Turns out that Barack doesn't put any of his money in a 401K, which can only mean one of two things. He likes paying taxes, or he has reason to believe taxes are going to be significantly higher after he retires. So not only will I never see the $4,000 I pay to social security each year. But, also the 10% of my wages I put in my 401K. At least I will have the satisfaction of knowing my hard earned money will be put to good use. And who knows maybe they will let me use that fancy toilet.

Jumping Jigga Watts Batman...It's Josiah!

2008-03-26T15:49:00.005-07:00

Josiah Schaddelee (right) is a student at the University of Texas were he is preparing to become a firefighter and save the world (or at least a few kittens that are stuck in trees). He gained fame when he was one of only three capital wardians who didn't turn into a little girl during the month of December. I caught up with him to ask about some of his goals and his recent conversion.

What brought you to Austin?
The University of Texas at Austin and my automobile.

What is your favorite thing about living in Austin?
Well, I don’t like Texas that much. I don’t like suburbia. Austin is very non-suburbia, it has green belt, Frisbee golf, Zilker,. The nature of Austin it just isn’t all buildings and concrete there is a lot of wildlife to it.

How has your life changed since joining the church?
Well, I kind of like don’t cavort and party, I still party, but I don’t inebriate myself. I don’t do engaging activities on Sunday anymore.

What was the hardest thing about joining the church?
Definitely the steel rail that gashed the top of my head.

Describe the perfect day?
It would start with me waking up. Upon which I would eat some breakfast and splash water in my face. And then I would do all sorts of fun things. Everyone would do fun things with me. And pretty much fun things would happen all day. And when everyone is too exhausted to do fun things, we all sit back and eat some brown sugar and maple oatmeal, and then hit the sack.

What are three things you are passionate about?
Food, music, J.C. (Jesus Christ)

I’m just very passionate about food because certain foods revolt me, and I can’t be in the presence of it. Like salt and vinegar potato chips, and mayonnaise, I am venumently opposed to McDonalds griddle cakes.
I enjoy and I listen to a lot of music. I have made my rounds and I can distinguish good and bad music. Really bad music can put me in a really bad mood, so I try to be passionate about listening to something that is pleasant, relatively speaking.
I’m not always passionate about JC, but it is increasingly where I want my priorities to lie. And that is where ultimate rewards come from so it makes sense that is where I should be focused.

What things are you looking for in an ideal candidate?
They would have to be increasing adaptive, they would have to be able to serve the people, and poses the discernment to know when the people are making foolish decisions. They would have to be exceptionally good at helping the population, realize what the right course of action is and why it is being implemented. They would also have to be firm and steadfast in consistently doing the right thing. And they would have to be capable of not only leading the country, but serving to help the country as well. And they would have to be completely green

Getting back to my Roots

2008-03-25T08:09:00.002-07:00

Yesterday my dad started a blog where he is going to tell stories about growing up in Pocatello Idaho. His first post is mostly about how my Grandpa ended up there. I never knew people had such a negative opinion about war crime judges. But what impressed me is that my Grandpa didn't listen when the government told him he wouldn't be able to make it on his own. He said it was better to try. My Dad often did the same thing, by turning down government funding while he was at school. They both had the Audacity of Hope. They actually believed they would make it even if the government didn't put them in the wheel chair and pushed them along.
Compare that to Barack Obama's idea of hope. He thinks we can make it on our own...if we eliminate foreign competition, if we pay off anyones mortgage who can't afford to pay themselves, and if we pay for your health insurance. You might make it, but we will put in every fail safe possible (because lets face it, your not going to make it). Yes, he is uniting the masses. Where people all over are standing together and saying "YES I CAN...count on the government to take care of me from cradle to grave". Yes, finally we have a politician that can help us reach our full potential of dependancy and usher in a new age, the age of hopelessness.

5 years...and a whole lot of money.

2008-03-19T17:33:00.003-07:00

So we have reached the 5 year anniversary of the Iraq war. To date it has cost Americans 500 billion dollars. I did a little simple math and that means that every man women and child has paid $1,646.45 give or take a bit. That means we pay about $329 a year. But of course not all of the children are really pulling their weight (and believe me I have seen some fat kids) we are actually each paying a bit more. So if you spread the cost out among everyone who filed income taxes then the amount increases. If you are one of the approximately 134 million who did file their taxes you paid $3721 or $744 dollars each year. Which means if you are like me than you are actually paying more than $2 every day to Iraq.
When I lived in South Salt Lake Casey Fitts justified rasising taxes by 116% by saying "It is just a candy bar every day". Yes, my parents now get to "donate" a candy bar every day so that a women with far less education, experience, and mental capacity can make more than double the average salary of the city while sitting at a desk playing solitaire. Now for $2 you can get more than a candy bar, you can get a hamburger at my work cafeteria. So in honor of the 5 year anniversary and Casey Fitts stupidity, I skipped lunch thinking instead those two bucks are going to Iraq so we can blow up more bridges. I can't help but think some where in Iraq there is a kid wishing I would have eaten the hamburger.

3^3

2008-03-12T19:54:00.003-07:00

In honor of my 27th birthday I decided to write my birthday wishes in this post similar to how Greg Mankiw did on his 50th (although I don't think the Times will publish mine). Initially I planned on writing about how I wish my money was still worth something, and that we would get inflation under control. I also had the wish that presidential candidates would actually listen to their economic advisers. And about 10 other economic related issues. But Wednesday my younger brother Andrew entered the MTC to prepare for his mission in Peru.
While speaking to him I started to realize how trivial some of the issues I spend all day arguing about really are. Now don't get me wrong, I haven't taken anything off of my wish list. And I will continue to harass Bernanke and all of the presidential candidates. But I decided this year if I could only get one of my wishes to come true it would be to become a missionary.
As I was talking to Andrew and giving him advice I started to have flashbacks to my days in Bayern. It seems all I have left from those days are a few journal entries and a par of photos. All of the important lessons learned have been all but forgotten. I remembered thinking what I wanted to become while I was out there, and looking at where I have arrived it is apparent I took a few wrong turns. So this year I am going to be looking for that lost path I should have headed down long ago. And who knows, maybe I will get a chance to give the FED a piece of my mind while I'm looking.

My brother needs a house!

2008-03-04T21:39:00.003-07:00

For the past few months my older brother Gardner has been searching the Salt Lake area for a new house. Now my brother recently received his Masters degree in Economics, so he isn't exactly raking in the Benjamin's. And prices in Salt Lake haven't plummeted as they have in other parts of the country. But there have been a few foreclosures. So every time I hear about the number of foreclosures skyrocketing I give out an evil cackle (waaahahaha). And every time I hear some *eggnog head politician saying we need to help people so they don't foreclose I am getting ready to paint my face and head out with the local mob (to join your own local mob simply grab a torch and pitch fork then proceed to the town square screaming gibberish). I mean really no one ever thinks about the even poorer people who can't even afford a house. As people foreclose home prices are falling and that means for many Americans they will finally be able to buy the house they have always wanted. If we really wanted to help the poor we would let the housing crisis do it's thing, and we would lock up those crazy chowder heads into the darkest dungeon (at least I think that is what mobs do). I thought I was alone in this idea, until Steven Landsburg came to the rescue and backed me up.

*eggnog head or chowder brain is a term often used to describe our current president, or any other loon without any economic sense.

We need more criminals!

2008-03-04T20:44:00.002-07:00

So today I got a great chuckle when I was listening to a story on NPR that was discussing the sad state of affairs in Camp Gabriels. Camp Gabriels is a prison which due to the low number of inmates is getting shut down. This comes after the NY Times did a story on how 1% of Americans are in prison. This is a huge burden on everyone. So when we hear a prison is shutting down you think the masses would be jumping for joy. But no, not in upstate New York. Were they are lamenting the loss of the 180 jobs, they think we should wait to close the prison. The mayor of the town explained the logic in waiting: "If we wait the economy will continue to grow thanks to the jobs created by the prison, and we will build new homes...homes that will soon be filled with criminals". I am just waiting for Obama to pick up this story....just think we can boost the economy by importing criminals!

Giving them Hope while preying on their Fears

2008-02-29T08:30:00.004-07:00

Obama's message of hope is sounding more dismal to me every day. But the real question I have is how is he going to be such a great diplomat by cutting off trade with all of our friends? Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks Obamanomics are not only scary, but it is old fashion fear mongering.
Update: Thomas Sowell says what the real problem with the rust belt is. Without playing at peoples fears or pandering for votes.

Close the Door

2008-02-28T19:31:00.003-07:00

Now as the name of this blog implies I am always looking for ways to maximize my utility. So while reading the Times this morning I found one thing that was preventing me from do just that. So I have decided to start closing the door on a few of my options.

I Want My Raise Back Bernanke!

2008-02-28T18:16:00.005-07:00

Two days ago I heard a report that inflation was higher than it had been in years. 1% in January alone. Ben Bernanke said that the rising inflation rates will lower the unemployment rate. He also denied the notion that America is moving into the stagflation that we had in the 70's. I find it interesting that the only presidential candidate's who is talking about the problems we are facing with the Fed is Ron Paul.
Bloomberg might, and although he said he won't be running. I think what he is really saying is "these guys are no good, they don't have real solutions, so I'll announce my candidacy's next month."
But in any event, keep in mind that the only reason the unemployment rate will drop next month is because you just got a pay decrease.

Ron Paul in Austin!

2008-02-27T17:20:00.005-07:00

The Ron Pauliticians hit the campaign trail last weekend, by visiting the Ron Paul rally. I found it appropo that he was speaking under "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

FYI. This is why Ron Paul would be better than Obama

Getting out of the Ghetto

2008-02-21T09:06:00.003-07:00

A recent study shows how difficult it can be for someone to get out of the poverty cycle. Personally I found it very encouraging. It shows that there is a way out of the cycle...get educated. Now Paul Krugman is saying we need to do more to help people rise out of poverty. But I think if you look at the world as a whole we are doing much better people have been breaking the poverty cycle all over the world. And according to a new paper from Andrei Shliefer the one man we have to thank is Milton Friedman.

Learn your Econ!

2008-02-18T17:34:00.004-07:00

So when I was a senior in college Justin Skidmore (a friend and former roommate) suggested that I should take a class in economics. His reasoning: We require that people take biology, history, and a host of other classes that most people will never use. We all need economics to make educated decisions every time we step inside to a pool both, and knowing about the krebs cycle won't help with that. Tyler Cowen says that we don't hold our politicians to any of their economic promises, perhaps the problem is that no one knows anything about economics.
As a side note: Obama and Clinton have talked about the difference between between the rich and poor. Michael Cox and Richard Arms show how big that difference really is.