desperate for change

Having moved out earlier this year and now being fully responsible for the food going into my mouth, I’ve stuck pretty much with a pretty basic formula: rice + vegetables + meat/tofu. For variety, I might go out for lunch or have soup. For breakfast, it has been danish pastries. I have developed more of an awareness of this “food” thing. (I guess this is part of living consciously, for those of you who follow Steve Pavlina.)

In the past, I have just considered food to be fuel and/or entertainment. However, if you think about it, there is a whole lot of things going on behind the scenes that we don’t even get to see. For example, organic foods have really become mainstream in the last while as people are more concerned about the use of pesticides. And then there is the talk about treatment of cows, pigs and chickens before they turn into consumables.

I have been more interested about vegetarianism as of late. When I was a kid, I used to think that vegetarians are weirdos. These days, being vegetarian is relatively mainstream; just ask Pamela Anderson. Generally, I think that society’s tolerance of weird has improved so neither being Pam or being a vegetarian is as strange as it used to be.

Other people’s reasons for becoming vegetarians are pretty straightforward: kindness to animals, religion, health, etc. For myself, a efficiency obsessed technie, I like the idea that vegetarians has a smaller ecological footprint than meat eaters; the beef that you are eating has to be grain-fed with a pretty large amounts of grain. Also, I like the idea that my food preparation would be simplified if I don’t have to deal with meat.

I would say that I am veg-curious these days. When I eat out, I sometimes order the veggie burger (and sure, pile on the bacon and cheese please). I think that it is a matter of finding some basic recipes to try out and then going from there.

There is something inefficient about having a pile of coins sitting in a bucket at home. It isn’t collecting interest. It is gathering dust. In fact, it is a magnetic mountain of sorts, attracting even more coins. In time, you end up with more and more, until you decide that you’ve had enough.

My friend and I went to the mall to see if we could find a Salvation Army collection kettle; but alas, the mall was about to close and the collection volunteer was no where to be seen. So, we tried to spend it.

We bought: bananas with 223 pennies; and a $2 lottery ticket with mostly nickels and a few dimes. Even though the lottery ticket was not a winner, I am satisfied that part of the proceeds go to support the local communities, even if it was in a very indirect way.

If the mall wasn’t closing up, I’m sure we could probably finish unloading the coins at the dollar store.

There is something pleasing about unloading a ton of coins onto a cashier. So, who wants to go shopping with me next week?   Does anyone know of a more proper way to deal with a pile of coins?

I don’t own a car. Okay I lied – I own a fleet of over 200 cars. Okay I lied again – I am a part-owner of a fleet of over 200 cars. Yes, I joined the Co-operative Auto Network back in October (CAN for short). It was a sensible decision – my brother needed a car but didn’t have one; I had a car but didn’t really need it, except for social outings. So, Alfredmobile was passed on to him.

(For your refernece, Alfredmobile is (was, haha) a ’99 Honda Civic Special Edition. Air-conditioning and keyless entry. Not too many kilometres but its been in a few random bing-bongs.)

As of today, I’ve had more than a month of CAN experience. Here is my take of it so far. You very likely have different driving needs, so your mileage will vary (figuratively and literally).

What are my transportation needs? I walk to work. During the week, I have my salsa classes. And of course, there is the going out on the weekend with friends and such. I should also note that my company will reimburse up to $70 for my transit pass purchase if I do not drive to work.

So how often do I need a vehicle? Two or three times a week; once during the week for a salsa class and once on the weekend for a late night out.

How much does it cost? You can check out the website for the exact pricing details. November cost me about $270 (for 8 bookings of various lengths, one cancelled booking, administration fee, and taxes). Note that I get reinbursed when I fill up the car so the actual statement I got last month is less the cost of the fillups.

How do I pick up the vehicles? The cars are scattered through out the city in “secret” locations. When you are finished, you have to return the car to the original location. Whenever I pick up a car, I imagine James Bond music playing while Q explains the features of the vehicle I am about to pick up. My only real complaint is that I am a good 15 minute walk away from the closest car; Burnaby is not as well covered as Vancouver.

Are there really Mini Coopers in the fleet? Yes, but I am actually starting to take fancy to a Hyundai Sonata. Note that there are quite a variety of cars in the fleet from old to new; from big to small. Usually you would want to go for the one closest to where you live, but sometimes I go the extra mile to pick up a particular car (say a certain red Mini).

How does this compare to when I still owned Alfredmobile? One year’s car insurance was $1611 for leisure use only. I remember gas ended up being $50 a month or so, but then again that was when gas was still more than $1 a litre.  Also, having a car meant that I deliberately drove more. Besides this, there is the 3 to 4 times a year of car maintenance, which I would estimate at $1500 for the year. (I got new tires for Alfredmobile this summer). So operating Alfredmobile for a year cost $3711 at these estimates. This is conservative as I do not consider depreciation, which is not so much for this older vehicle. A year in the Car Co-Op cost $3240 a year based on my November usage. This is not really a scientific comparison, as my car usage pattern is different in the two cases. Also, there is actually quite a lot of variance in both of these estimates, but overall I would consider the pure dollar costs to be in the same ballpark.

What is my transportation profile like, now that I don’t have a regular car? I do a mix of public transit and co-op car during the week, depending on my destination and what time of night I plan to get home from whatever party I am at. Again, work and grocery shopping is just walking distance from my home.

How do I like it? I am loving it. I have to be honest -  Alfredmobile is starting to show its age and I’ve been lusting for a newer vehicle for the last while. I like that I don’t have to worry about oil-changes and other things like that.  I like the mental lightness of not owning a vehicle.

Are you sure you like it? Well, there was this one time I got a car that was in a secluded location. It was probably not a good idea to be returning it in the middle of the night. Did I mention that it was in the heart of crow territory? I have never seen such a dense concentration of crows in my entire life. I kept imagining my bloodied body being pecked at by a zillion crows.  By the way, this would explain why this car was covered in bird-poo. Crow-poo if you want to get technical. Other than that one particular occasion, it has been pretty peachy.

Am I going to keep it up? Cost-wise, this is about what I am expecting. As long as I am having fun with this, I will keep my membership. (Or more precisely, when I get fed up with not having a car when I need it, that’s when I’ll get one.) I do enjoy the occasional bus & skytrain ride so this is pretty good for me.

Joining the car co-op isn’t for everyone; I recognize this so I am not making as strong of a sales pitch here. On the whole, I am pleased that this has worked out for me.

There is something about having the infamous third place in your life. Home is where you live. Work is where you work. The third place is where you can pursue your passions and interests.

These days, my third place is the salsa classes I’m taking. I’ve started taking classes in March – I like the pace and intensity and it is at just the right level of difficulty for me. I only wish my ballroom dancing friends would join me, haha! Did I mention that the classes are starting up again in January? Did I mention that the teacher lets you go more than once a week to his other locations, if you sign up for “one” class? Did I mention that there are more girls than guys? Did I mention that we learned an awesome move that made it look like the guy was tossing the girl in a dramatic looking fashion? How’s my sales pitch?

Dance halls and studios have not always been my third place of choice.

In the past, I’ve gone to church. I’ve gone to Toastmasters. Heck, you might even consider the library as a serious third place in my youth. The Web, could be considered a virtual third place. When I was still in university, school was both the work place and the third place

Where is your third place?