The Friday Compost - the multipurpose earthworm

This week I am focusing on worms. Last week's "Friday Compost"  was about... compost, and led me to the subject of worms. There are several different types of worms, but only one of these types fascinates me - the burrowing earthworm. They live in the ground, eat dirt, and poop fertilizer. If you doubt this, Google "worm poop fertilizer". There will be around 171,000 results.

There are surface worms that eat whatever you toss on them, and repay you by pooping fertilizer. These are also pretty cool. A company that sells surface worms owns the Web site URL www.wormpoop.com. Don't buy these worms for your compost pile, they won't be happy. It would be like a bicyclist having to ride the subway. That's bad, real bad.

Earthworms are the worms that are the coolest. They burrow through the ground by passing much of the dirt through their tubular body. As the dirt passes through their body, they digest the organic matter. The sand they ingest helps them digest. They leave behind what is called worm casings (or poop), which is actually humus. Notice the single "m". If I wrote "hummus", you'd stop buying the ground chickpeas at the grocery store. Some of you may not buy the hummus anyway. It is very easy to make. 



Humus is stabilized organic matter, that has broken down as far as it can break down. This is what you will find in the bottom of your new backyard compost bin in about another week, if you purchased one after last week's blog. This stuff makes an awesome soil amendment, which allows for water and air to pass through the root zone, and stores nutrients for the plants. This should be worked into your soil by turning it in with a spading fork. Or with a roto-tiller if you abhor exercise.

Some people who have seen Tremors are afraid of worms. This is called scoleciphobia. Actually, that's just fear of the little worms. By the way, most fears are passed on from parent to child. I'd never have guessed this connection. But I digress.

Worms are a gardener's friend. (And a fisherman's friend, we'll get to that later.) Having worms live in your compost pile is a great compliment. It means you are keeping it healthy, and appropriately moist. If you don't have worms, you may need to figure out why.  It may be due to poor ground contact, or it not being well aerated and moist. Over time, if your compost is healthy, the worm population will increase. As you take out compost, you will transfer some of these healthy worms to your gardens, where they will continue to eat and poop. All of this is good.

Worms are great for bait, and fun to catch. Some people think you dig them up for fishing. But a true outdoors person knows how to get the worms while they are relaxing and mating on the surface. The worms that, is not the fishermen. Although they are welcome to relax and mate on the lawn also. Worms are hermaphrodites, but let's not go too deep into that subject. There may be kids reading this.

Here's how to go about worm hunting. On a dark night, when the lawn is moist, take a flashlight and cover the lens with a piece of wax paper. I used rubber bands to do this. Go outside with the light off, and get down on all fours on your lawn. This won't work on pavement, you'll just look weird, and may end up with armed men in tactical gear showing up. The worms can feel the vibrations of you moving, and are very fast at pulling back into the wormhole (for you Star Trekkies, this isn't the space wormhole, this is a hole in the dirt). So settle in very slowly.

After you are on the ground, hold the flashlight in your non-dominant hand. If you aren't sure which one is dominant, it's the one you use to write. So hold the flashlight in the hand you DON'T use to write. Take your dominant hand and keep it in front of you, ready to spring into action. Turn on the light. Don't overextend, you will need the light to not go past your arm's reach. Worms lay on the surface, and you have about the blink of an eye to grab them. Aim for the side of the worm that is in the hole. You will develop an intuition for this. If you grab too hard, they break. But don't feel bad, they can regrow what you broke off, they have several hearts. Once you have one between your fingers, don't yank, or they will break. You will need to apply steady pressure by pulling them away from the hole. They will eventually give up, and you can drop them in your bait bucket. If you see them pull back, slowly crawl forward and try again. This is real hunting. Human against worm. A winner and a loser. Be the winner.

I think there's a plan to build a Wii game called "Earthworm Grabber". It will be considered a fitness system, and provide a great opportunity for kids to pretend they are grabbing worms with one hand, while eating potato chips with the other. I'm not sure if the experience will be the same. So grab a kid, a flashlight, wax paper, and a rubber band, and go experience nature as it was intended to be experienced.

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Sometimes the best solution is the simple solution

Many of us were taught about nutrition by using the food pyramid. We were told what we should eat, and in what proportions. Growing up, it was never confusing to me, and I never heard anyone say they didn't understand the message. Yet somewhere along the way, it was decided by people much smarter than this ordinary person that the food pyramid was too confusing, and we should come up with a new way to present nutrition. Having 6 groups with graphics that resembled actual food was contributing to the obesity problem.

So the government came up with a color-coded pyramid aimed at ending the confusion. It also focuses on gradual change, instead of making the case that we are what we eat, so if you eat Pringles, you are a Pringle. I will admit that the new pyramid using colors wouldn't work well when I grew up, since touching a color on the pyramid would only provide me the tactile experience of touching something. Today we have interactivity, and as a result, kids can click the colors on the pyramid, and learn a lot of information, while avoiding that rare thing called exercise. For the young people reading this blog, go ahead and touch the colors of the new pyramid on your screen to experience what happened when I touched colored graphics as a kid. There's not a lot going on there, now is there?

What challenge were they trying to address by coming up with a new pyramid? Did people really look at pictures of corn, and wonder what they were supposed to eat? How about bread? It must have been confusing for someone, otherwise we wouldn't have the new, less confusing rainbow pyramid with stick figure on stairs. It almost resembles Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. If you don't see the resemblance, try closing one eye and squinting at the screen. Maybe if we overlay the three pyramids, and apply a swirl pattern, we will end up with an even less complicated representation of our dietary needs, and we will then know that Self Esteem and chicken are at the same relative level on the pyramid.

I'm just an ordinary average guy, and I find that the simple solutions are usually the best. When I was faced with the prospect of having to take a statin to control my cholesterol levels, I asked what my options were. I was told by my doctor that diet and exercise didn't work for many people, but I could try this. While taking the statin. So I thought about my health, and realized that I was about to start taking a medicine that would make me feel like crap, so I could eat foods that weren't good for me, and would damage my health anyway. I realized that if I didn't eat the stuff that wasn't good for me, I wouldn't need to take the medicine. So I made drastic changes in my life, and as a result I lost about 20 pounds, and no longer have high blood pressure, high triglycerides, or high cholesterol. I didn't take the statins. It has always been the simple solutions that resonated with me. More proof that I am ordinary. 

As my contribution to help clarify the nutrition issue, I developed my own food pyramid. It is black and white, all text, no graphics, no interactivity, no lawyerly warnings, and no encouragement to help you slowly down the path to nutritional change. It is simple, effective, and must be implemented immediately upon reading. After developing the pyramid and reading it one time, I lost weight, and feel great (it rhymes, maybe I need an audio overlay for the pyramid). I am sharing this with you so you can take advantage of this limited time, free offer. In turn, please share this pyramd with your family and friends, it may help them cut through the confusion of trying to figure out how to interpret what a picture of vegetables means in terms of healthy eating. Here are some bonus tips for reading this far: If it is natural, eat it. If it is processed by any large food producer, don't eat it, don't own it, don't serve it.

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The kindness of saying "no"

We all want to be thought of as a "good" person. Someone who cares about others, and provides assistance for those who are less fortunate than us. As a result, we give to charity, and in many cases volunteer with organizations that distribute food, household items, and even go as far as helping build houses for those who are ravaged by storms, or living in poverty.

We make these choices based on our belief systems, and are not coerced into providing the assistance. We expect nothing from the gift, other than the internal feeling of good that our act provides us. Most religions encourage helping those less fortunate than us, and we heed the call. If we start to see a favorite charity mismanage our kindness, we may turn from it, and find somewhere else to help. This allows us to apply accountability to our gift. We wouldn't give if we didn't think it counted.

The receipt of kindness must come with the requirement of accountability. Without this, the kindness becomes a curse. A kindness over time becomes an expectation by the recipient, and the giver of the kindness will start to feel like they are being taken advantage of. This type of kindness serves no one. 

Think of this concept in terms of personal relationships. If a friend or family member came to you and asked for money, you may give it to them. If they came back for more money, you may start to ask what they are using it for, and why they don't have any money of their own. You may accept a lame excuse a few times, but eventually you will become more careful about the help you offer. As you cut back on your support, the relationship may become damaged, and in the end, your friendship with the person may disappear. 

To apply kindness in the above situation, you must say "no". If you say "yes" every time someone asks for something, how does this help the other person grow? How is this type of giving considered a kindness? Isn't this bad for the person you are giving to? They never learn to be responsible for themselves, and look to you to provide them with continuous support. 

I learned from experience, that saying "no" at the first request, when it was obvious that the person's need for money was caused by their continued behavior, will also end a friendship. But a friendship based on this give and take is not really a friendship. If the friendship must end, let it end before the introduction of money makes it worse.

In ancient times, like maybe earlier than 100 years ago, there was little in the way of government assistance. If someone couldn't afford food, they relied on the charity of their neighbors. Often this charity came from the churches in the area. This type of community support was based on kindness, and would allow the community to control the type and length of assistance. So a widow with young children may have received more assistance than a lazy adult who wouldn't work. Kindness for the widow equated to a "yes", and kindness for the lazy adult equated to a "no". It isn't kind to give to someone who refuses to be responsible.

We in our modern society have completely redefined kindness, and have done so by providing one bureaucracy to take money from us, and another collection of bureaucracies to administer the money as a form of kindness. This kindness we distribute goes to all levels of income, individuals, families, organizations, corporations, and foreign countries. Our kindness also provides a comfortable income for the people administering these bureaucracies. No longer does someone have to rely directly on their community to help them, and carry the accountability this community-based support would apply. The average person has no control over how the kindness manifests itself. The bureaucracy has made all of the decisions in terms of where the kindness is sent, and how much of it is sent.

Some people would call the establishment and continuation of these bureaucracies a kindness. But the kindness may be better applied by encouraging the recipients of the kindness to become self sufficient. Many can make the transition, and those that can't, will be provided for. Those that won't transition, will get no help. Sometimes the greater kindness is in saying "no".

So the next time you are asked to be kind, ask yourself - is kindness in the specific instance "yes", or is it "no"? Only you can answer that question. It is an individual decision.

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Conflict for conflict's sake

"What do you want out of this interaction?" I wondered this as I watched the argument unfold at the counter of a local chocolate storeon Saturday. I was being the Easter Bunny, and true to form, I waited until the day before Easter to shop. I was the next in line to pay. The woman in front of me vented her anger on the person behind the counter.

From what I could figure out in the conversation, the woman had purchased $240 worth of chocolate. She carried it out to her car and put it in. With her treasure trove of chocolate safely in her car, she reviewed her receipt, and realized that she had been overcharged by $20. She had come back into the store, and asked for a refund on the amount she was overcharged. She was asked where her purchases were. She said they were in her car. They asked to see the purchases. She refused.

The manager (or maybe owner) was on the other side of the counter. He was trying to figure out how to deal with the woman's issues. She was elevating her tone of voice. I was standing there feeling my blood pressure kick up a notch. I just wanted to pay and leave.

The woman explained her position. The mistake was the fault of the stupid employees of the company. She was a victim of being overcharged, and wanted her credit card credited for the overcharge. She would not tolerate the store's request to ask her any questions. Questions were accusations, and she is a loyal customer.

The store manager explained his position. He couldn't just give her money. She should have paid attention while her stuff was rung up, and the woman didn't have to be so derogatory.

The woman explained that she was only being derogatory because the manager and the stupid employees were derogatory to her, and she had a right to be derogatory since she was wronged by the stupid employees. The problem was the store's problems, not her problems.

An employee jumped in to help, by pointing out that the customer could have come in a few days earlier for her purchases, and the employees would have had more time to offer the woman the level of service she demanded.

The customer's spine got stiffer, and her tone became more high-pitched. This was an ugly scene on what should have been a joyous and thankful weekend. As I was finally being helped by the cashier, the two people were still arguing over who was wrong, and who was right. The manager had already refunded the money based on the woman's word. As I turned to leave, I loudly wished everyone a joyous weekend, and peace. The sales person smiled knowingly at me, and the two arguers continued to make their points, apparently unmoved by the negative attitude they were pushing to the crowd of customers.

I left the store with a feeling of agitation. I was experiencing incongruence in what I witnessed. A woman had purchased gifts for people she cared for from a local business. I wondered what was driving her to act the way she was acting, and what her expectations were related to the exchange with the manager/owner. I then thought about what the manager/owner wanted from the exchange.

Neither of them were approaching the conflict from a place of empathy and understanding of the other person's position. They both appeared to be more interested in creating a win-lose situation. One person wins, one loses. One is right, one is wrong. I used to live in that zone, so I can totally relate to what was going through the minds of both parties. My desire to jump into the fray was a remnant of who I used to be. I am happy I was able to control myself, but unhappy that I felt agitated from observing them. I wandered around Westwood window shopping as I pondered what could have been a better scene.

The customer could have approached this from the perspective that the store employees were very busy, ringing people up every few seconds. Mistakes happen, and she understood. Would the manager like to come to her car and see what she purchased do he could determine how to fix the situation? She could have trusted in the goodness of others.

The manager could have understood that the customer is always right, until they are wrong. He could have started with an apology, offered to come to the customer's car to see what she had purchased, and focused completely on resolving the customer's issue. He could have acknowledged that his employees work hard, and may have made a mistake. He could have made it clear that his business was based on being fair, and the situation would be taken care of. Give her a free piece of chocolate.

It took a few hours for me think through what I observed. I hoped that the customer didn't pass out her angst with the chocolate gifts. Tainting a gift with the bad mood that was felt when it was purchased can't make the gift feel like a blessing.

If a gift is purchased from love, it should be purchased lovingly. We are the way we are due to our upbringing, and how we think. We should provide a positive example of how to shop for loved ones, so those that observe us, will hopefully learn to do the same. When we are feeling our anger increase in a situation, think of what the loving thing to do is. And do that. The actions we take in anger will only lead to more anger.

How do you control your irritation when things don't go your way?

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The Friday Compost - all the news that's fit to rot

Let it rot. That's our motto. We even rot some of the newspapers that we peel our root veggies onto. The newspaper may not be organic, but in the overall scheme of things, they probably add less to soil contamination than the fallout of the car exhausts from the 900,000 people living in my county.

This morning's Friday Compost before turning it over

Composting is very simple. I've done this for years. You only need four things - nitrogen, carbon, water, and heat. Nature will do the rest. Nitrogen is basically anything green, and comes from the various vegetable scraps we accumulate during food preparation, the few times I catch our grass clippings, and from the occasional refrigerator reject. Carbon is brown - or dead, like yesterday's news - and is primarily tree branches, leaves, or any other items that aren't green. Water is crucial to the rotting process. Keeping your compost wet will keep it rotting. Keeping the compost hot will help it rot faster.

There are several ways to generate heat. One time I dumped our fireplace ash into the compost, and didn't realize it had hot embers in it. The ensuing smoke and fire was exciting, but NOT the way to generate heat. A good way to generate heat is to dump some of your grass clippings on top, but you are better off leaving the clippings on the lawn. Last year we purchased a plastic composting bin with a lid, and this black container generates heat from the solar gain of being exposed to the sun. After years of open composting, I am sold on the value of a good plastic bin with a lid.

We keep a small container on our counter, and when we prepare food, we toss the scraps in it. Every morning before work, I empty the container into the compost bin. I do this year-round. I have yet to run out of space, and we eat lots of vegetables and fruit. We also add egg shells, coffee grinds, tea leaves, and of course, the fireplace ash. After I confirm there are no hot embers remaining.

There seems to be a common myth that compost smells bad. Trust me, it doesn't smell bad. Through a new Google feature called "Rub and Sniff", if you rub your monitor where the compost picture is (below), and then smell your finger, you will experience what compost smells like from 3 feet away. Then wipe the finger smudge from your monitor. Placing the compost by your property boundary closest to your least desirable neighbor is a waste of effort. Place it close enough to make it convenient to use, and far enough away to not trip over it.

Friday Compost turned over

There are a few things you must do to keep your compost healthy. You must turn it a few times a week. I use a spading fork for this. You must also ensure that the contents of your compost bin is making contact with the ground. This allows for worms, and beneficial bacteria to migrate into the pile and speed the composting process. I use the handle from a broken garden tool to open gaps in the muck, and this lets the compost fall to the bottom after I remove compost from the access door at the bottom. I have taken about 5 shovels of great compost from the pile so far this year, and this is what was produced over the winter. I expect to get loads more as the weather warms and I start to turn the gardens.

Some items are not for the compost bin - meat, including chicken should never be added. Fish scraps are great, but be sure to bury it in the center of the bin to avoid any odors. Don't add any dairy, fats, or plastic.

Our town used to pick up garbage twice a week. Due to cost increases, they have cut back on pickups to once a week. Due to the type of items that end up in the garbage, our trash can doesn't smell, and the volume of garbage we generate is so low that a once a week pickup is just fine for us. Think of how much less would go to the landfill if everyone ate local, organic foods, and composted the scraps. This would also keep the farmers near us in business. The volume of compost we generate isn't huge, but there is great satisfaction in seeing our waste turned into an organic and clean soil amendment and fertilizer.

So give it a try! You will get addicted to it. Most counties sell discounted composting bins, so before purchasing one at a store, check with your local and county government. If you are already composting, did I miss anything? Is it working for you?

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Life is open book, so why do we memorize?

When I think back to my public school education, I try to determine how it prepared me for my life. What was the one class I took that was pivotal in making me a successful adult?

My success can't be due to math classes. In fact, I have a confession to make. I still haven't memorized the multiplication tables. The system I use, is to pick an easy number, and work from there. So if you ask me what is 7 times 7, I don't pull the answer from memory. I know that 6 times 6 is 36, so 6 times 7 is 42, because if I add another 6 to 36, I have 42. If I add 7 to that, the answer is 49, which is the same as 7 times 7. I can also work with large numbers this way. My system relies on a broad view, not on the details of the numbers.

When I was attending college, calculators were allowed in math tests, but not notes. So I would use a scientific calculator, and save the equations in the text function. I had a hard time memorizing long equations. When I sat for my Project Management Professional certification, I memorized the equations, and as soon as I sat down, I wrote them on the index cards provided by the test monitor. Whenever I need them now, I reach up to my bookshelf and look them up. Some would argue that I may not have a calculator at the moment I need to do the math, and memorizing the equation helps you better understand why the calculation is the way it is. This may be a valid point. If this issue comes up once in my life, I will reconsider memorizing the equations.

Some people refer to the above approaches as common sense. Which is something we don't seem to teach anymore. We line kids up in rows, and teach them all the same stuff. Our focus appears to be on having children pass standardized tests, but life isn't standard. Life is far from standard.

I slept through English. My vocabulary and grammar are honed from a voracious appetite for reading. I'll read a cereal box at breakfast if there's nothing else handy. Make me pancakes and invite me over, you can see for yourself. Ask anyone who knows me. I read. And then I read some more. Now I also write, which is very similar to reading.

In many ways we have a world of knowledge at our fingertips. We are able to quickly find answers to the most trivial questions within seconds by using our cell phones. Is your refrigerator broken? Look up the solution online. Do you have an ache or a pain? Look it up. We can scare ourselves half to death by typing our symptoms into WebMD. Admit it. You've done this. I have.

Before computers, books were our sole source of information. Many of us would walk to the library, search the index cards for the subject we wanted to learn about, write down the book location on a scrap of paper using a stubby pencil, and wander off down the aisles hoping to find the book we needed.

Before libraries, it was even harder to retain knowledge, since books were expensive and heavy. Of course our ancestors lived in a primarily agrarian society, so all they needed to know was what a weed looked like, and what was a vegetable. No one had to find a book to figure out how to kill a deer for food. Life was simpler.

Before a written language became common, many civilizations used songs to transfer information. The Mongols had a simple tune (sometimes called a ditty) they used, and would just add verses with the information they wanted to transmit. Everyone knew the tune, and the new orders were communicated by having the messengers learn the new verses.

Some historians think the tune they used was actually the Flintstones theme song. Imagine that bad song plant. Endless hours of riding horses across the steppes, marauding, killing, sending refugees running in fright, with the Flintstones running through your head. "Kill them, just kill them, we're a modern marauding family. From the, town of ..." you get it. (This song will now be in your head for a few hours. Thank me.) Years of this song would make you hungry for warfare also. The birth of the printed word has almost ended all of that.

So as I think about this more, what was the single best class I took? What time investment did I make in K-12 that made the largest impact on my life? Besides lunch, I'd say it was typing. These days it is called keyboarding, but when I was in school, computers were ... different than that they are today. I am now able to bang out a quick e-mail, text message, or blog. I can almost type... I mean keyboard, as fast I think. Well, almost.

What was your most valuable class from growing up? Feel free to comment. And if you like this post, please subscribe using the buttons on the right, and share with your social circle using the buttons below. Your friends will thank you, and think you are real smart.

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The truth should be told through us, not by us

I was warming up prior to the start of a 5k a few weeks ago, elegantly clad in my Vibram Five Finger Bikilas. A guy near me saw my footwear, and started a conversation about how I liked them. He had seen some press about VFFs, but hadn't tried them yet. I related how I had run exclusively in the VFFs since my first run in them over a year ago, and how I had reset my personal record in a 5k twice since then. I'm 48 years old, so this is no small accomplishment.

After ridding myself of excess fluids, I stopped by my running club's tent. My club has serious runners. People who make racing their priority in life. I am not a serious runner. I just utilize running as part of my cardio routine, and race for the t-shirts. As we mingled, someone noticed my bright blue Bikilas. He immediately told me how he had tried them, had pulled a muscle, and never ran in them again. Some others also ruminated on how bad they must be for the feet. I tried to explain how much these freaky little things did for my running, but they had the walls up. There was no way I could breach their defenses. So I just smiled, and nodded my head. I don't debate zealots, unless I have time to kill.

As we lined up for the start, many people were staring at my shoes. A few people were poking each other and pointing at my shoes while whispering what must have been anecdotes of doom and pain. Of the 500 or so competitors, I didn't see anyone else in VFFs. I was a freak. I am a freak. Take in my freakiness. The race started.

This year I decided to do everything with a smile on my face. It's easy to run with a smile on my face wearing the Bikilas. As my smiling faced passed the first mile marker, I noticed the clock showed 6:07. I was faster than ever. I also remembered that I had a 7 mile run on my training calendar (doing my first half marathon in June) for the next day, and I may trash my body if I kept at this pace, even if I was smiling. So I backed off a bit. My next two mile markers had me more aligned with the pace I wanted in the race. I was racing as part of my half marathon training.

As I came to the last stretch, a proud father called to his son who was in front of me, that he was in 26th place. I eyed up the kid, and then looked at the guy in front of him. He looked about my age, so I decided that if I could take him and the kid, I'd be in 25th place. So I picked the pace up. The gray haired guy picked the pace up. I settled about 10 yards behind him, and decided that if I beat one person, it should be him. The kid was no competition for me. The kid made his break. The gray haired guy held his pace. I put a little in the tank, and then busted loose. My strategy was simple - if I passed him quickly, he wouldn't try to keep up. I had to open the gap quickly, and take away his confidence that he could catch me. Which is what I did. The kid looked back, thought I was coming for him, and took off leaving us well behind. I beat the gray haired guy by a few seconds (you can see him in black over my shoulder in the picture), and he was in my age group.

As my body and mind settled, I sucked in air as I sucked down water. My honey came over and gave me a kiss. I noticed my time at the crossing, and it was 20:26, which put me at 6:35 per mile. My previous personal record was 6:45 per mile, and on a much flatter course. I was pumped. The results were posted as the sheets filled. I elbowed my way in (sorry kid, didn't mean to hit you in the head), and saw I 'd won my age group. This was a first for me. I wandered some more, and then doubted that the results could be correct. I must have misread the scores. My honey joined me to read the results, and yes, I won my age group. I was a happy guy.

As I watched the awards, two guys stood next to us. One noticed my footwear, and asked how I liked the VFFs. I told him that I won my age category, and had set three personal records in less than a year. He and his friend congratulated me, and one said he had been reading about them, and until now, he hadn't been convinced. Now that he heard me, he was convinced. He was buying a pair.

The members of my running club were great, we had won most of the age groups, and had a strong showing. As I walked back into the crowd with my first place trophy, I heard someone say "Look at what he has on his feet. Do you think he ran in them?".

On that day, I told the truth of minimalist footwear through my performance, not just with my mouth. We can tell people what we know to be the truth all we want, but the best way to convince others of the truth we find in our life is to live the truth. People around us see the impact the truth has on our lives and learn from this.

This lesson applies to many aspects of life, whether it be religion, personal beliefs, or world view. Tell the story through how you live our life, not with just your words. Be the change you want to see in the world.

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Just because it's easy, does it make it right?

I knew it was going to be a unique day when I arrived at the office and the newly hired marketing vice president was fired. This was a few years ago, and I was operations director for a venture capital backed corporation. I never got the whole story, but there were some rumblings that the latest victim of the whims of leadership was spending too much time traveling to other offices to party with the single ladies who would be under him (no pun intended).

People getting fired was pretty typical there, and every day I drove into the parking lot with a knot in my stomach, wondering when my turn to get fired would arrive... but that's a topic for another post. Another memorable day for me, was finding that the two person art department was let go. I went to HR, and asked who would finish the work they were doing for our clients. It didn't surprise me that they looked startled, and said they didn't know this group did work for us. So we outsourced the art work by hiring one of the people they fired as an independent contractor. He received better pay, and was able to work from home. I envied him many days as I witnessed the "bad" venture capital carnage.

Back to the unique day. My boss came by my office, and explained that the just fired marketing guru had a new hire starting that day, and this new person would report to me. I asked if I was taking over the marketing function, and found that no, I was to utilize New Hire as a project manager. I asked if anyone had talked to New Hire about this yet, and no one had. She was still in HR doing paperwork.

My frustration was evident. I had been trying to have my budget increased for months so I could hire another project manager. This money was given to marketing, and now I ended up with a person who I had not interviewed, had no experience that I needed, and was about to find out they just had an instantaneousness career change. My boss told me that if the new person didn't work out, I could just get rid of her. Like she was an unwanted potted plant, or an empty pen.

About an hour later, New Hire was brought to my office. She had been told about the changes, and she was not happy. She had left a job she loved, working for a good boss, thinking that this new position was a great career opportunity. Instead, she was being told that she would now be a project manager, and she had no choice but do it, since if she refused, she'd not have a job. If she didn't have a job, she would lose her apartment.

Once I heard her disappointment, I realized that my initial concerns were self-centered. This was her life that was being toyed with. We had to come up with a plan. So I outlined what I thought we should do. She had experience in project management, because every marketing campaign she worked on was a project. I would help her learn the skills she needed, and our team would support her. If she found another job in the meantime, I wouldn't be upset if she left. But while she was with us, she could learn new skills, and help our project management team deliver great projects. Who knows? She may actually like project management! She grudgingly accepted the plan.

A few weeks later, she was doing fine, managing projects, and making connections on the team. She was still disappointed, and sometimes it would come across in her tone. I didn't blame her, and tried to help her see the positive side of the situation.

On one of my regular calls with my boss (who worked in a different city) Boss told me that New Hire had made a face at Boss (really, a face). This showed New Hire had a bad attitude, and she should be happy she has a job. If this keeps up, we'd have to fire New Hire.

A few days later, I had my regular meeting with the boss's boss. In the meeting, Big Boss told me I should find some reason to put new hire on a performance improvement plan (this was the first step to fire someone, and there was never a focus on performance improvement, it was on firing), and get the clock started to fire her. I leaned back in my chair, looked across the table at his grinning face (I still don't know how one can grin after firing people by the handful), and asked a simple question. "Am I in this position to do the right thing, or am I in this position to do the easy thing? I'd like to think I'm here to do the right thing."

I went on to explain the many successes New Hire had since joining our team, and reminded Big Boss of how New Hire had transitioned from marketing to project management, and was part of the team now. I had no problem with New Hire's performance, and wouldn't put her on track to be fired. I acknowledged that New Hire pulled attitude on occasion, and I'd deal with that. He dropped the subject.

In our next department meeting, I reminded everyone of the importance of attitudes, and how we should be role models for positive energy. I admitted that the organizational environment was sub-par, and that at times I also had disappointment, but that we must be careful of how we are perceived, especially among People Who Fired. The message was understood.

I thought of this story recently when I received one of the occasional e-mails from New Hire. She is now leading a project management team for an advertising agency in NYC, and had contacted me to say how much she enjoyed working on our team back in the time. She was hiring more staff. She had applied many of the methods we had used in our old department for keeping the workload tracked and managed. I thought of how a person who was handed a very bad situation, learned from it, embraced the changes, and turned the bad situation into a new career path. I'm proud of her, and am thankful I had the presence of mind to not follow the leaders on that job.

We both learned from the experience. New Hire learned to adapt, and I learned that as tempting as the easy solution may be, we must make sure it's the right solution. If we must choose between what's easy, and what's right, we must choose what's right. Easy and wrong is what will haunt us later. 

Spreading Zen peace and love - via LiveMeeting

Strange things can happen when using applications on a business laptop. Years ago, I was at a trade show doing a live presentation to a group of prospective customers.The presentation was taking place in a trade show booth, with about 20 people seated, and many others passively observing from the aisles. I also had colleagues hanging around, watching my screen. I was in my element, excitedly showing off the cool new stuff we were developing for middle school and high school students.

As I was about to provide the attentive audience with the main point I was trying to get across, MS Messenger suddenly popped open with an instant message from someone I know. It went something like this... "Hey Bobballooey! What's happening? Remember the time we were at that party and you ...". I'll let your imagination fill in the embarrassing details. I cracked a joke, closed the application, and continued on - somewhat flustered. Some of life's most lasting lessons come from incidents like this. Why didn't I learn from this?

Knowing yourself is the most significant aspect of achieving any sense of happiness in your life. I came to this realization a couple of years ago. It wasn't an epiphany that smacked me in the head. It just slowly percolated up through me. This realization was part of my journey - one that continues.

I thrive in high paced environments, where there is a certain amount of energetic tension that permeates the atmosphere. The sense of urgency, and the shared challenge of meeting group goals keeps me engaged and focused. The downside of a high paced environment is that my operational tempo will continue to increase until I have what feels like electricity coming from my fingertips. I know that if I don't take a lunch break, and step away from the computer at intervals throughout the day, I can get so wired that I carry this home with me.

My honey recommended an application to help me remember to take short breaks throughout the day. Stillness Buddy is a software program that opens when the computer boots up. The software allows you to pick the intervals and select the theme for your relaxation reminders. They offer a free 14 day trial version you can download.

From the first day I installed it, I found myself being more productive. I also found myself leaving work feeling more relaxed and able to refocus my attention on the "life" side of work/life balance. For my theme, I selected a Zen master, Thich Nhat Hanh. I chose him as my Stillness Buddy, because he looked relaxed. The choice was that simple. (As a disclaimer, the entrepreneurs who created this program offer an affiliate program, and I do not participate in it. So I have not been paid or in any way rewarded for endorsing this product.)

So where does LiveMeeting come in here? Many of the meetings I facilitate are conducted via Windows LiveMeeting, a desktop sharing program that resides in Outlook. So everyone attending the meeting sees my computer desktop. Lately I have forgotten to disable my Stillness Buddy prior to my meetings. Maybe I'm doing this purposely at some subconscious level, wanting to share the peace and love with my colleagues. Or maybe I just forget. I am a guy after all. My colleagues who are paying attention, and not multi-tasking, will often laugh, and some have asked "what's that?". I always brush by, and occasionally have sent information after the meeting about the software.

The intruder at my LiveMeetings

Last week I was recording a live demonstration of some functionality in SharePoint. I convert these recordings into "just in time" trainings, and post them in our training library for my colleagues to access when they need them. I am proud to say that not only has Thich Nhat Hanh been a participant in many of my meetings, but is also now living in cyber-perpetuity as a part of some of our training. I hope my colleagues appreciate the sentiments I extend to them, and may they find peace in all they see, and spread that to others. They should also breathe in and out gently, while half smiling. I also hope I haven't violated any copyrights as a result of this inadvertent capture.

Has anything like this happened to you? What would you think if you were in a meeting and this happened? Please share your comments below. You can post anonymously.

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The indignity of bike tights as office wear

A couple of years ago I had a 24 mile round trip bike commute. I'd carry my clothes in a pannier, and after parking my bike in a space between my cube and the wall, I'd grab my pannier, dash off to the bathroom, and change into my work clothes. I was exposed to my colleagues for all of 5 minutes. At least that's what I did until a meeting I attended.

"Exercise is important, you need to find time to take care of your body. If you don't have time for the gym, you can ride your bike to work like Bob does, and wear those tight little ... shorts." My boss said this to a large group of people at a department meeting. I choked on my bagel, and laughed to lighten the moment. It was the last time I arrived at our office in bike gear.

The next time I rode, I stopped at the bathroom, parked my bike outside the door, and changed. I then took the elevator up to my floor, and hung my bike clothes out sight in my cube.

A couple of days later, a colleague stopped by my desk with a question, and asked if I was doing my laundry at work. I had to get a better plan. I was also getting strange looks in the bathroom as I went in to change. I had to change my game - again.

My next concession was to ride to a local gym, and shower and put my work clothes on there. I'd arrive at the gym in the morning, check in, use the shower, and then ride my bike the last 3/4 of a mile to the office. In the summer, I'd still be warm, and my sweat would often come through my shirt, causing some temporary dampness to show through. I'd then hang my bike clothes under my desk, on the back wall of my cube. All was well. Except I now had to add 20 minutes to my ride time to compensate for a shower and the last leg of my commute.

We then moved closer to my job, and I suddenly had a 17 mile round trip commute. I started to research my clothing options. My honey and I had ridden in Holland a few years before, and people just rode their bikes in their normal clothes. They didn't ride hard or fast, but they all rode. As I researched the options related to this kind of riding, I found a new term - cycle chic. This style of riding makes it okay to just get on your bike and ride. In whatever clothes you have on. Just like we did when we were kids.

At this point, I had lost almost 25 pounds, and needed a new wardrobe. My honey and I went shopping for machine washable clothes, with the idea in mind that I could just wash the clothes after I wear them (okay, after I wear slacks a couple of times). This different style of riding had me shopping for a new bike, one that was more upright so I wouldn't have anyone confusing we with a racer.

With my new bike and new way to ride, I just ride slower so I don't get as hot. My fast bike commute was about 35 minutes, with 20 minutes of shower time, for a total of about 55 minutes. My cycle chic ride provides me a commute of about 45 minutes. The difference in commute time is negligible, but the logistical simplicity of already wearing my work clothes and not needing to shower, made cycle chic a much better option for me.

Here is my advice (in no particular order) for determining what to wear for your bike commute:

• Watch the weather within a few hours of your ride to make a determination if you are likely to get wet
• There are two ways to get wet - from perspiration, or from rain. Wearing rain gear may make you just as wet from perspiration as not wearing it. If you are likely to get wet from rain, make sure you can keep the water warm by wearing a vented and breathable outer layer. Wind from your forward motion combined with wet clothes can put you in hypothermia real quick.
• For cold weather, use layers, and wind protection
• If your ride is long, you may be better off in bicycle specific clothes instead of cycle chic
• Be sensitive to your colleagues and what may bother them if you show up at work in your tights
• Few people will develop body odor from 30-40 minutes of exercise, so don't shower "just because". The old "where will I shower?' question is a lame excuse not to ride.
• Choose clothing that breathes, and in warmer weather, will move vapor off of your body without soaking your clothes. 
• Rolling clothes will prevent wrinkles, and allow you to put them in a pannier or basket
• Be flexible, and experiment

Did I miss anything? Please add to the comments if I did.

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You'd see all the signs, make a guess, and be wrong

I was surprised last summer when I saw some friends for the first time in years. One of them immediately started a political conversation with me. It came across as confrontational at first, until I realized we agreed on many of the positions he was taking. After a short time, I asked him why he'd think I wouldn't agree with him. He cited my lifestyle choices as the reason to think we were not in alignment on many political issues.

What are my lifestyle choices? I live a low impact, green lifestyle. It isn't hard to do, and has provided me many benefits in terms of overall happiness, as well as in my financial and physical health. I think of this as part hobby, and part lifestyle. The more I become immersed in my chosen greenness, the more I come up with ideas on how to be more green.

Many days I roll out of my driveway on one of my bicycles, and pedal the 8.5 miles to my job. I wear my business casual clothes, with my shirt pressed and folded in my large front basket. My bike commute route has me sharing space with car drivers, pedestrians, commercial vehicles, and potholes. On days I don't bike commute, I carpool. If I have to take the car, I wrap in my errands on that day to take advantage using it. I also use my bike for most local errands. One less car is good for everyone.

My honey and I are part of a food co-op, Purple Dragon, and are vegetarians (I do eat fish and chicken occasionally). Every two weeks we receive a large box of local, organic, and healthy vegetables. Participating in this keeps our local and organic farmers in business. It also has an impact on our health. At least we like to think so.

We take all of the vegetable scraps, as well as egg shells, coffee grinds and other assorted kitchen waste, and compost it in our backyard in our Earth Machine. There are many benefits to doing this. We carry less garbage to the curb, send less to the landfill, and produce a nutrient-rich soil medium with the scraps from our organic produce.

Our lawn consists of diverse greens. We don't treat it with chemicals. I just started sowing in White Clover seeds to decrease maintenance needs, and provide pollen for bees. Our spring Crocus don't have to compete with the crabgrass prevention chemicals. I cut the grass with a manual lawn mower. I don't catch my clippings, and as a result I don't fertilize the lawn.

We have started the process of growing vegetables on our property. I built a cold frame from leftover building materials, and we have our first batch of seeds germinating. Our landscape is designed using many native species, and with the birds in mind. Planting just one shrub that provides food for birds makes a huge difference. Imagine if we all did this.

Our gardens is being dug now, and our compost us being utilized to supplement the soil. We will plant in a way to take advantage of the sun, and put in a fence to keep the tree rats (squirrels) out. Part of our plan is to get a couple of chickens to round out the suburban homestead.

The downspouts from our rain gutters have diverters installed, and the water is captured in barrels. We use the water from these barrels to water our plants (we don't water the lawn), as well as keep our compost moist.

We enjoy local theater, whether it be from my occasional part in a play, or our being in the audience enjoying the talents of other people. We both practice yoga, and have owned two Volvos.

If you put all of the above together, you would probably assume I am a liberal. And you'd be wrong. I am a supporter of our American form of government, and we are a representative republic. Notice I am not a Republican, meaning I am not registered in this party, and don't identify myself as such. I'm philosophically a libertarian - a lower-cased libertarian, not a member of any political party. I believe that individual rights trump all government power, and my lifestyle is an expression of me embracing my rights. One of my intentions for 2011 was not to blog about politics, so I will stop any more discussion of it right here. This blog is about putting labels on people, and how these are often wrong.

The decisions I make in regards to my lifestyle are based on being a good steward of the resources I can manage. This is aligned with my fiscal conservatism, in that I save money from my lifestyle, and I reap health benefits. These health benefits are in the form of a normal weight, no health flags to worry about, and a much happier disposition.

We often look at people, and based on what they are wearing, driving, or doing, we apply labels. Many of these labels are applied as a way to make a judgment about a person. An example of this is when we see someone in a Hummer. We may automatically believe they are a political conservative, and they don't care about the environment. We may see someone who is financially wealthy, and think of them as someone who takes advantage of others. Or we may see someone riding a bicycle to replace a car, and assume they are an environmentalist liberal. These conclusions are often wrong.

Think about this during your day, while monitoring your inner voice, and you will probably see examples of what I'm talking about. Try to alter that voice, and see people without judgment. It will free your mind up for more important things, like where to plant that native shrub to feed the local birds. What labels do you come up with? Do you like being labeled?

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Listen to internet radio with RobertProl on Blog Talk Radio

Traffic calming works everywhere it is tried

Here's a great video explanation of the benefits of traffic calming measures taken to protect pedestrians and bicycle riders.

MBA: Traffic Calming on Vimeo

I will have a new blog post shortly, life is keeping me busy.

Weather guessers can't be trusted, predict your own bike commute weather

Who will you believe - the weather guesser, or your own eyes? This is a good question to ask, as we look at last Friday's predictions, and compare it to reality. The weather guessers were calling for 2-6 inches of snow, but we had rain instead. There is a little bit of a difference between 6 inches of snow, and some rain. Many school kids were disappointed to see what was probably the last chance for a snow day slip just out of reach.

This morning the report for my areas shows a 20% chance of rain. Does this mean it will rain 20% of the day? Is it a 20% likelihood that it will rain at all? This percentage means nothing to me. I need data I can use to plan my commute, not a report aimed at the people who are getting in their car and driving to work. For these people, they need to know the umbrella needs to be with them, and how much hair spray they should spray to protect themselves from split ends, and "rain scarf head".

My honey and I were very involved in sailboat racing a few years ago, If we planned our sailing around the weather, we would've missed out on many great sailing days. We'd also waste bad sailing days waiting for what doesn't exist. Even in Biblical times, they knew the futility in chasing the wind, and noted the futilty of chasing the wind throughout the Book of Leviticus.

So how do I make the determination if I will ride the bike to work or not? I generally look out our kitchen window after I wake up. If the patio is wet, it's probably a good guess that it either just rained, or is presently raining. My next step is to look at the hourly report on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Web site. This is great information, since it turns the 20% chance of rain into an hour-by-hour prediction of the rain in any specific area. I pay special attention to the times I will be bike commuting.

Hourly weather graph showing my local area prediction for today

I didn't think to grab the data from early today, so I can't see what the rain prediction was for my morning commute. I can see from this graph that the 20% chance of precipitation is a blend for the day, with an 80% chance of rain for when I am eating my lunch in the comfort of my cubicle. The likelihood of rain tails off as the day goes on, with a 45% chance of getting wet on my ride home. And who cares if I get wet riding home. I only wear machine washable clothes when I bike commute.

What I may do before I leave today, is look at the radar images for my area. I can animate these, and see how quickly the storms are moving. I have used these maps to time my exit from work to avoid thunder storms. I either leave a little early, or hang around a little longer, and avoid the worst of it. I prefer Weatherbug for analyzing radar images. Their prediction capabilities are much more precise at the local level than the main stream media or the National Weather Service. In 2004, the 25 passengers on a water taxi in Maryland may not have been dumped into frigid waters if the skipper had been using Weatherbug instead of the National Weather Service. Weatherbug was warning about 60 MPH wind bursts at the local level. NWS was providing a blended report, until after the storm had passed, when they issued the warnings.

Doppler Radar shows storms

When I animated the abov map, I could see the rain is coming in from the west to the east. So I can be relatively sure that I won't get wet if I were to ride now, although the hourly prediction is showing the chance of rain close to 80% for right now. I also used my two eyes, and just looked outside. No rain in sight. 

Had I used the weather report as my sole predictor of weather, I'd have drive in today. By being my own weather data analyzer, I was able to bike commute. In all my years of doing my own data analysis, I can think of only one time when I got wet on my ride home. I was prepared, and had packed stuff I could get wet in for the commute. 

With that said, I guess I can expect to get wet on my ride home. The mere fact that I just told everyone how I determined it was okay to bike commute today, and that I didn't pack any snivel gear, is probably more than enough reason to have "He Who Controls Weather" drench me for a good laugh, and to teach me humility. 

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A White Clover lawn, Rhubarb, and catching the water

Thatch rake, and exposed soil

I'm not your ordinary American gardener, my focus is on maintaining a low impact, and not using chemicals. We don't use our front lawn for any specific purpose, other than somewhere for the postal worker to step on our Crocus, so I was interested in planting something completely different. After doing some research on the Internet, we agreed to sow White Clover in the lawn. Clover has many benefits. It stays around 6 inches tall, looks real nice, provides lots of pollen for the honey bees, and you can search for four leaf clovers when you're bored. Before the lawn chemical companies convinced everyone that if it wasn't a single blade of grass, it was a weed and needed to be killed, most lawns were White Clover.

Yesterday I took a pound of White Clover seeds I purchased from Amazon.com (see box on left), and mixed it with soil I had excavated from our backyard to install a sidewalk. I then used a thatch rake to remove the thatch from the lawn, exposing soil. Once the soil was exposed, I lightly spread the seed and soil mix across the lawn, and watered it. A pound covers about 300 square feet if it's spread consistently. I'll post pictures as it grows. 

My next door neighbor asked what I was doing, and I explained. He said he has the lawn service spray his lawn to kill that kind of stuff. How will I mow it? I told him I won't mow it. He had a strange look on his face, some incongruence that he will carry with him for days. Of course he has a Zoysia grass lawn, which if you walk barefoot on it, you are sent a medallion as a testament to your ability to endure pain. He also uses his shop vacuum to pick up acorns. 

Barrel with diverter open

My next project was to install one of our rain barrels, so I can start capturing the free water off our roof to water our plants. Last year I replaced the downspouts, and had all the water run into the barrel, and out of an overflow. The overflow was inadequate, and the water would just pour off the top, scaring my honey into thinking it would run down our foundation and into the basement (my man cave). So I found a rain diverter online, and purchased two of them. These can be opened to divert water into the barrel, and when the barrel fills, it flips up, sending the water down the tube into the runoff. I installed one to feed the rain barrel, and will install the other rain barrel and diverter in early May. A typical rainy day can fill a barrel in about 15 minutes, depending on your roof area, and this water can last days for watering your gardens. 

The secluded corner

My honey recently came up with a landscape plan, and purchased a bunch of Witch Hazel, Beauty Berries, and Roses. I had to move a 1/2 cord of firewood to make space for the plantings. With this accomplished, I planted the first Witch Hazel. 

I also planted a Rhubarb plant we have been toting around in a pot for two years. I love Rhubarb! I also started to define and turn the veggie garden. I was able to get a few shovels full of compost from the Earth Machine we installed last fall to enrich the soil. 

First Witch Hazel

Today I will finish the plantings, and get out for my half marathon training run. I will attempt to post another blog later today with an update. 

On Friday I had the last five of the sixteen replacement windows for the first floor delivered. I am still trying to figure out when to install them. I may try and do one per night this week. 

Grow Rhubarb, Grow!

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The middle class author is emerging

I love to read Penelope's blog, until I don't anymore. Then a few months later, I read her blog again and love to read it. And this cycle repeats.

Penelope's Guide to Blogging | Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist

When I started blogging in November, I was just playing with social media, getting a better understanding of how they all relate to each other. Suddenly, my traffic doubled, and I started having fun.

I haven't picked a main theme yet, but do have topics I enjoy writing about. I'd write more about office politics, and management dysfunctions, but it might sound too real to people I work with who may read this blog. So for now, I pick a topic that interests me, and just dump my words on the paper.

Writing my blogs have been great for helping me get my thoughts down in a coherent format quickly, and I think my writing overall has improved. I have two books kicking around in my head, where they've been waiting for the right time to come out. A few weeks ago, I started writing one of them. I won't provide any teasers, but my honey loves me, and if it sucked she'd have told me when I read her the first chapter. But she said it was real good, so I will keep writing.

I know a literary agent, and he once said that in order for a book to be successful, it must be about dogs, self help, weight loss, sex, exercise, or business. We once sat on a sailboat during a sailboat race without wind, and tried to change the "or" to "and", coming up with a book that was about dogs, self help, weight loss, sex, exercise, and business. It was very hard to mold these topics into a story.

The other book bouncing around in my head is a business book, outlining how to perform specific processes in project management. I can probably get it on paper in a few weeks of part time work, and self publish. But one successful author of a business book (Peter Taylor) I corresponded with, provided me an outline he used to get a book deal, and invited me to write my idea in his format to submit to a publisher. He also said not to write the book until I had a publishing deal. I haven't done this yet. Indecision is the key to flexibility. 

Penelope would disagree with his wanting to use a publisher. Her New rules for self publishing blog post outlines the cold hard facts. Publishers help very few people get their books published. Self publishing is a perfectly viable path for writers.

Think of what MySpace and iTunes did for musicians. They created a marketplace for a middle class of musicians to gather a following, and sell their music. I really believe that self publishing, and digital distribution will do the same for writers. People who can write engaging and/or useful stuff, will be able to make a living writing. 

What do you think? Is self publishing a viable option? If I author a book, would you be interested in buying it? You'd probably want to know what it's about first, and I understand this. I promise it will be good.

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Want to hear my bike bell? Catch me first. Gary Fisher Simple City 8 review

We moved last June, and I was very happy as I contemplated the changes we were anticipating. One of them was that I was going from a scary 24 mile round trip bike commute through Mordor, NY - sometimes called New Square, to a 17 mile round trip ride in suburban Bergen County, NJ. Riding through Mordor had a post-Apocalypse feel to it, and was best navigated on my Surly LHT, head down, feet locked in, and the touring tires biting at the crumbled pavement. A multitude of school buses marauded haphazardly around the wandering mini vans, making me feel like prey in the times of the dinosaurs.

I was very happy about our move, because suburban NJ afforded the opportunity to get a route and a bicycle which were more appropriate for my stature in life. My honey laughed at that one too. It's okay to laugh with her. I was also claiming my reward for having lost 20 pounds and kept it off for a year. The deal my honey made was that I could buy any bike I wanted. I thought about buying a racing bike for over $6,000, but wouldn't I look stupid in my slacks on a carbon fiber bike, with no where to put my stuff?

Instead, I looked for a bike that would provide an upright ride so I could see and be seen better. I also wanted a comfortable riding position, so I could wear my business casual work clothes, and wouldn't make me think I had to race to work. Riding hard means I sweat hard, which makes me aromatic. I also wanted a bike that had style, and would make the trip enjoyable. I carry my lunch everyday, in the summer I carry swim gear for my side trips to the pool on my ride home, and occasionally I carry a laptop. I also do light shopping on my ride.

My initial focus was to look at the many bikes on the major manufacturers' Web sites. The variety was mind-boggling. I then visited a few bike shops to discuss my options, and every shop I visited wanted to sell me a bike from stock, and recommended tri-cross bikes, road bikes, and a few urban rides, which are basically mountain bikes that are modified to road ride.

Then one day my honey sent me a link to the Gary Fisher Simple City 8. I loved the look of it, except for the basket. The basket is seriously eye-catching. After a bunch of phone calls and e-mails, I found one bike shop in the area that was willing to order the bike without obligation on my part. Tenafly Bicycle Workshop responded immediately to my e-mail, a week later I test rode the bike, and a day later I purchased it.

Who mugged Forrest Gump?

I rode the bike home from the shop, and as soon as I got home, I posted the picture on the left of this page on Facebook. The first person to comment asked "Who mugged Forrest Gump?". The basket is an eye catcher. Have I mentioned that yet?

The basket is actually a nice thing to have, and made it simple to run to the store to pick up items, such as Sunday morning pasties, and library books. I also use it for my laptop, lunch, and to place my shirt in on warm days. It holds a lot, and doesn't impact the ride much. The basket has two parts - an outer skeleton, and an inner mesh basket that is attached, but has small holes to keep your stuff from falling through. To compensate for the basket and the potential for over steer, there's a stabilizer spring between the front of the frame and the back of the fork. This keeps the wheel from flopping to the side when the basket is loaded. The spring is also great for carrying the bike on stairs and through doorways, since it keeps the wheel from hitting the walls and railings. If you use the basket, be sure you use bungee cords or rope to tie down your stuff. The inner mesh of the basket will act as a trampoline, and when you come off of a bump, will propel your stuff onto the road.

Axiom rack, with wood top

As my bike commute became darker last fall, I pondered where to mount my lights. The basket posed a challenge. I'd have to purchase additional accessories to mount the lights. So I purchased an Axiom Phoenix DLX rear rack, and removed the basket. Adding the rack provided me the ability to carry panniers, and allowed me to add lights to the handlebars. This week I reinstalled the basket, because I missed the convenience of being able to run to the store without the minor complications of a pannier.

The fenders are stylish, have a low profile, and keep the water off of me (and off the bike). They are also stable, and I haven't had to tweak them yet. Fenders are so highly underused in America. They keep me dry, keep the bike clean, and provide places to put reflective materials.

Both tires have whitewalls, which are highly reflective. The light jumps off of them at night. This provides great side visibility for other road users. The tires themselves are fairly bullet proof, they are Kevlar lined and the only flat I had was a pinch flat from not doing my ABC check.

I'm not a bike parts techie, so I won't get into the component makes and comparisons. I will just say that the front brakes are alloy calipers, and if you fix a flat, you will need to inflate the tire after you install it. The calipers don't have the little lever to widen the space to allow the filled tire to pass through them. These brakes work. I especially like the roller brakes on the rear. On wet days, these are not effected by the water.

Kickstand and stabilizer spring

The rear hub is the Nexus 8 speed internal hub, and at the 800 mile point, I have not even thought about the hub. It is bullet-proof, and works. I haven't had to change a flat on the back yet, but will learn how to take the rim off when this happens. Okay, maybe I will do this tonight, since Murphy is probably snickering right now at my lack of technical expertise.

The kickstand is great. It's a Pletscher, and scissors open. When I arrive at work, I enter from the back door, ride the elevator up to the 3rd floor, and park the bike near my cube. Our facilities management team offered to get me a bike rack, but I declined. If they get me a bike rack, I will be expected to leave my ride outside. I pointed out the kickstand, and how I don't touch the wall. They approved my request to park the bike inside. I attribute this to the kickstand. It is also great for parking in our garage at home. I can stand the bike next to the car, and still have room to walk around it. The kickstand also allows me to load and unload the bike without worrying about gravity sucking my bike to the earth, potentially damaging this work of art. The stabilizer spring also helps loading and unloading immensely.

Catch me if you can
(yes, that's my helmet)

One of my favorite activities on my commute is to eyeball any riders in Lycra gaining on me. I then split the difference, and slowly pick up speed. Don't let the pressed slacks, mirror, brass bell, and my overall geekiness fool you. I can put the hammer down at will. I then ride with a smile on my face, and keep the rider a few bike lengths behind me. Because I can. Eventually, either they wear me out, or I tire of the game, and let them pass. I usually give them a "hello", and a few rings of my brass bell (purchased separately) as a greeting. My other favorite is to let them pass, and then drop in behind them. I then wheel suck - with the smile. Eventually they hear me, and look back, completely startled to see me smiling, with my basket loaded, easily riding along with them. "Nice bike, does it go fast?" is one of my favorite questions to ask. You should see their bikes wobble as they process that question.

As the saying goes, it's not the bike, it's the rider. Or another one - expensive basketball shoes won't put the ball in the hoop. This bike is fast when it has to be, as long as the rider is fast. So if you are bike commuting between Oradell and Montvale, and see me on my ride, catch me if you can. You'll get to hear my bell, but only if you work for it.

I really love the ride on this bike. It is very comfortable, has solid components, and is nicely balanced. I have over 800 miles on it, and I am still as happy with the bike as the day I purchased it. 

Reference information:
Who is Gary Fisher?

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