This is the last part of the Half Dome hike. When I first saw this, I said no way! But then I did it and it wasn't that frightening.

As I am remaining to keep my blog quasi-anonymous, I realize that there are some things you should know about me. (I’m kinda stealing this post idea from Ryan’s 8 Random Things About Me post from Planting Dollars – Sorry Ryan!) So here are just a few quick and dirty facts about me:

• I’m short. Barely 5′ 2″. My husband, on the other hand, is a foot taller than me.
• I’m a Starbucks addict. You probably already knew this, especially if you checked out my guest post at gobankingrates.com.
• I love my green, Raleigh, Comfort bike. I bike as much as I can to Starbucks (of course!) to school, to the bank, to the grocery store. (Though lately I’ve been a little lazy !)
• I use Quickbooks to help track my spending. I’m the bookkeeper around my house, including handling all of my husband’s client invoices (he’s self employed), purchase orders, and even help out on projects occasionally.
• I’ve been able to pay down about $8,000 in debt. I still have more to go, but I’m getting there. I should be seeing that finish line in under 24 months, whew!
• My husband and I are hoping to purchase a house in the next year to year in a half. Perhaps a little house, under 1,500 square feet.
• I’ve increased my credit score by almost 200 points this past year. I need to raise it about 60 more points, but if I continue making on time payments and using my credit cards lightly, that should happen this year.
• I love architecture, especially little house plans. For those of you who are looking for terrific house plans, I finally created a ‘House Plan’ category and organized my posts that include links to house plan sites I’ve found. You can see this category on the right side bar. I notice that much of my Google traffic is from people searching little house plans, so here’s to you!
• I like to hike. I’ve hiked the Grand Canyon twice, hiked Yosemite’s Half Dome in a day (up and down), hiked Vernal Falls twice, and I hope to someday hike Mt. Whitney. (I’m not at all interested in Mt. Everest!)

Random facts that confirm I’m boring!

I’ve been feeling lazy lately. Instead of pedaling my way to work on the majority of week days, I’ve been tapping the gas pedal instead. I can blame it partially on the weather, the cooler weather makes it more difficult to get going in the morning, which makes me run out of time for cycling. Of course, this week we finally had some much-needed rain, and that too curtails my riding. If only I could figure out a way to ride in the rain without getting wet!

Wednesday, I rode to work after a rainy beginning to the week. I felt much more alert and ready to teach my 24 students how to write an expository piece on city wildlife. Yesterday, after driving a mere 5 1/2 miles, I felt sleepy and forced myself to look peppy. I quietly told myself on Wednesday, that I would ride my bike again on Friday. But of course,  I woke up to a rainy morning and just can’t justify getting soaked on the way to school.

So how do cyclists in cities like Copenhagen do it? Well, for one they have an awesome bicycle infrastructure. Their bike paths are clearly marked and safely separated from vehicles. Another bonus, when a large number of people commute by bike it encourages others to do the same. I know that if a few hundred people were also on the streets bicycling to and fro, it would motivate me even more (I’m also secretly competitive so I would be out there peddling more often!)

Most cyclists in Copenhagen commute roughly between 2 to 8 miles a day (I found a very rough estimate in kilometers and estimated it into US miles, so it’s not exact). In contrast, most people in the United States including myself, commute a little further every day. When I ride to work, I end up riding a total of 11 miles round trip. Due to the distance of my commute it takes me about 45 minutes, and in inclement weather exposes me to the elements for a longer period of time. My one experience riding to work in light rain left me slightly drenched from the knees down. My rain attire only covered me from my head to my thighs since I needed to move my legs for pedaling.

Until I find the ultimate rain gear or humongous umbrella to cover my body while riding, I will continue wimping out. So, kudos to those mighty Nederlanders and their riding through rain, sleet, or snow! If you’re interested in city cycling, check out Cycle Chic, it’s a really inspiring bicycle site from Copenhagen.

Last night, something scary happened. My husband and I left in a hurry to run some errands and thought we had closed our garage door. Of course, not closing the garage door may not seem too terribly scary, but our garage faces an alley where no one can notice strangers coming or going. Our alley has a few people who roam up and down collecting cans and a guy who drives up and down collecting things made of metal. This is all fine in my book. But last night, as we drove down our alley and headed back to our garage, I realized we had left the garage door open!

I love our bikes!

My husbands first words out of his mouth were, “Our bikes are gone!” Gasp! I thought, “My bike is gone? What will I do? I love my bike.” My husband starting searching through his tool boxes to see if anything else was missing or had been touched. To our surprise, nothing else was missing. So, we assumed someone, or two people, quickly saw two bikes, hopped on them, and rode off into the setting sun. What a great Christmas present those bikes would have made! My first reaction was that I needed a new bike. Yes, this is silly, but two days a week a ride my bike to work. One day a week I ride my bike to school and avoid having to pay for parking. And many days a week I ride my bike to Starbucks. I needed a bike!

My husband thought it would be best to drive around the neighborhood and see if we could find the assalients. As we were driving off, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that our bikes were in our backyard. Our backyard? I hopped out of the car and raced through the garage door  into the backyard. Sure enough, there they were, safe and sound. Relieved and confused, we parked them safely back in the garage and closed the door.

While eating dinner, we discussed who could have put those bikes there. I initially thought it might have been our next door neighbors who had been pulling in to their garage as we were pulling out of ours. Maybe they had noticed we hadn’t closed the door and decided to be helpful. My husband thought it might be the nice old lady who walks her dog down our alley that wrangled the bikes into the yard. I couldn’t picture her doing this with her dog on the leash, our bikes are heavy and she is elderly.

Later that night, we listened to a voice message on our answering machine that solved the puzzle. Our neighbor, three doors down who frequently hangs out in his garage, left us a message explaining the whole scenario. The elderly dog walking lady noticed our garage door was open. Not being able to figure out how to close the garage door herself (she would have had to push the button and run to beat the door), she talked our neighbor into moving the bikes into our backyard. He also couldn’t figure out how to close the garage door from the inside, had left it open and looked up our phone number to leave us a message (this is a neighbor who lives behind our house, so we are really alley neighbors.)

Thank goodness for friendly neighbors! I would hate to have to find a new bike or go without one for a while. It has become my second mode of transportation and I love riding.

As I have mentioned many times in some of my other posts, I’m not a huge shopper. Especially when it comes to clothes shopping, I go only when I absolutely need to. Meaning, I can no longer repair the wholes in my pants and my husband begins throwing out my well-worn shirts. This is my cue that I have to go shopping.

Because I am such an impatient shopper, I usually begin browsing a store’s inventory online, this way I have a clue as to what they are selling this season. Also, entering a store isn’t so stressful; I can go right to the item I saw online and decide if I like it. I’ve learned from past experiences that if I enter a store without a plan, I often leave exasperated and without purchasing anything.

Browsing online also allows me to view sales items ahead of time. Often, these items aren’t readily available in the store, but at least I can see if they are selling a majority of their inventory at deep discounts. I can gauge the best time to go to that store. Purchasing some things, like shirts, online is doable; however, pants are a whole other story. I must try on pants before buying them. It’s an unfortunate reality when you are shaped like a pear.

I love cargo pants!

Recently, my well-loved cargo pants grew two new holes, and one of my favorite plaid shirts ended up in the trash.  This event, in conjunction with reading FabulouslyBroke’s post about some upcoming sales at Old Navy, the Gap, and Banana Republic, was the reason I decided it was time to purchase some new clothes. I browsed items online at both the Gap and Old Navy and realized they were having similar items on sale, exactly what I was looking for: new cargo pants to replace my old, patched ones.

The mall I decided to shop at, while finishing up some other errands, only had an Old Navy (ON). I was limited to only this store because, well,  I am cheap and lazy. Though, I did end up stopping by Macy’s for some shirts, and they were on sale as well. After perusing the sales racks at ON, I tried on a few of last season’s cargo pants, and with my husband’s thumbs-up, purchased a couple of pairs for a reduced price of $14.99 each!

Why am I so stuck on cargo pants? Riding my bike has a lot to do with it. On the days I ride my bike to work (which, I  must confess, have been few lately), I need something comfy and roomy to bike in. I may take a change of clothing for the top part of my body, like an extra shirt. However, I don’t like completely stripping down, so I wear the pants I rode in all day. If you’re thinking, “Oh, yuck!”, I’ll reassure you that it’s really not that icky. I swear.

Standard Time is on - darkness befalls us

I still don’t know why most states adhere to the Day Light Savings time change. I understand that it once had to do with either the agrarian economy, meaning farmers having more daylight to harvest, or maybe something to do with the trains. I may be a bit confused on the train thing, I think that had more to do with the different time zones. However, most people I know and talk to, fret over the time change twice a year.

In the Spring, when it’s time to spring forward, most happy go lucky folks like the additional hour of daylight in the evenings. Those long days remind most of us of our care-free childhood when summer meant no work and all play. Yet, I think that if we didn’t spring forward, we would still get to enjoy the lingering light as summer approached. Take Arizona, for instance, they don’t adhere to Day Light Savings Time. Due to their scorching summers, why add an additional hour of blazing sun to their day? However, they still end up with plenty of evening sunlight. The Earth’s tilt makes sure of that.

Come Fall, or Autumn (for those East Coasters), falling back an hour makes most of us cranky. Yes, we do get that one additional hour of sleep on the first day of Standard Time, but the rest of the first month of two, as we adjust to regular time, the days grow shorter. The darkness makes 5:00pm feel like 8:00pm, our bodies tell us it’s bedtime. Many people driving home from work at this time, struggle with the new found darkness. A few years ago, I read an article that said that states that follow Day Light Savings, which means they change their time twice a year, have more car accidents following the time change. People have to readjust to the darkness or lightness for those first few days. So, on top of having to change all of the clocks in the house, and being cranky, I am also more likely to have a car wreck!

Some people may argue that they prefer Falling Back to standard time because it gives them that extra of hour of sunlight in the morning. Those happy morning people are probably elated when it’s time to set the clocks back. In some ways, I will also like the additional hour of sun in the morning. But mostly, this is due to my safety. I like riding my bike to work 2 or 3 times a week. Lately, I’ve been leaving my house in pitch darkness, I could still see stars and the moon shining above my head. So, my morning commute will be safer. In contrast though, my evening commute will be less safe because it will be darker, thank goodness for LED bicycle lights!

I guess the time change is a catch-22 until states decide to eliminate Day Light Savings. Hopefully everyone has remembered to set their clocks, unless, of course, you live in Arizona, you lucky devil!

I’m currently working on a research paper for school, so my mind is a little cluttered at the moment. The class is teaching diversity in the classroom, and my topic I’ve chosen to research is environmental racism. So far, I have read a couple of books by Jonathan Kozol, a prominent author  in detailing segregation in our schools, that describe instances of environmental racism. I chose this topic because 1) I am an advocate of cleaning up our environment, 2) our cities are very segregated for the most part due to poor city planning (this poor planning also affects my bike riding!), and 3) I grew up in a desegregated school district that had enforced busing, but has since discontinued this practice leading to more segregated schools.

Kozol’s books specifically focus on apartheid education and how there is great resistance to move towards integration. In part, this is due to people’s ignorance and the government’s unwillingness to do anything about it. A couple of things that have struck me, and why I chose my topic of environmental racism, is how poor communities are surrounded by manufacturing and industrial plants. It’s not that these people have chosen to live near the paper plant that occasionally has a toxic chemical spill, instead the paper plant chooses a community that they know won’t fight them. The poor community doesn’t fight the plant moving into their neighborhood because they don’t know how to or who to contact, and they usually don’t have the financial means to do it or, unfortunately, the education to even know that they can fight something like this.

How can we expect children to learn in such a decrepid environment such as East St. Louis?

Another interesting topic that Kozol’s research shows is that some communities have literally segregated their racial populations by physically altering a neighborhood or cutting off one section of town to another by removing a bridge or building a freeway. For instance, East St. Louis (a prime example of environmental racism) built a bridge, that the neighboring suburban community had fought, connecting a poorer neighborhood to a more wealthy neighborhood. During an Independence Day celebration, the wealthier suburban neighborhood blocked access across the bridge so that the people from the other side couldn’t partake in the festivities. They claimed that the reason this was done was because they were worried about violence and crime. However, they completely segregated themselves from what they perceived as a racially inferior group of people. How truly unpatriotic for a July 4th celebration.

The biggest contention I have is that so many of our cities are poorly designed with no central meeting area or community center that makes a community feel connected. If we could redesign some of our suburban areas, our cities would most likely become more desegregated on their own, which would lead to desegregated schools. Desegregated schools allow children to become familiar with many cultures, which is a more accurate picture of what their adult lives will be like. Children learning in a desegregated environment are more comfortable in social situations, and social skills are just as important as academic ones. As I continue researching how chemical toxins affect children’s learning capacity and how communities purposely segregate themselves because of their own ignorance, I will update my posts to include my findings.

I have a personal dislike for JP Morgan Chase Bank. They canceled my husband’s credit card, even though it was paid in full, and paid in a timely manner without any late payments. They closed his card for very vague reasons that we still don’t understand. However, they recently posted a profit that made the stock market zoom off the charts. So, does this mean our economy is now recovering (in part due to JP Morgan Chase)?

Stock Market October 14th, 2009

I’m slightly hesitant to say we’re in a recovery, even with the profits posted and the stocks improving.  In my opinion, I think the economy has seen the worst, in terms of banks losing so much money on irresponsible loan practices, which negatively impacted our economy. Yet, with a high unemployment rate, or people living in fear of losing their jobs, consumers aren’t yet ready to spend like there’s no tomorrow (nor do I hope this happens anytime too soon). I, personally, feel like the majority of the population will become more financially aware and avoid sinking further into debt given the lessons learned from their own individual mistakes and the mistakes of large banks.

My view of the population’s habits may seem a bit optimistic, I guess I’m just a “glass is half full” kind of gal. In contrast however, I’m not nearly as optimistic as some realtor’s seem. For instance, my husband was searching for homes in our price range (mid $200’s) through Craig’s list the other day. Many homes in my neighborhood have fallen into foreclosure and banks are now trying to sell them for half of what the original owner paid for them a few years ago. But, some of the homes realtor’s are trying to sell are still around $700,000 or more. I understand how some homeowners may be desperate to sell their homes and do not want to lose much money on them. However, this is quite unrealistic given the current housing market and economy (especially California’s  state economy!).

So where does our economy go from here? And, when will we truly see a marked improvement? In a perfect world, our economy would shrink slightly, compared to what it was. Consumers would be more thoughtful about their purchases, instead of excessively consuming. Our country would begin to manufacture some of our own items, instead of relying entirely on imports from other countries. (Maybe this is too general of a statement, but I’m trying to make a point). Cities and towns alike would build a network around local businesses, supporting each other’s goods and services, generating income that moves within a city and across a county, state, or internationally (new money obviously needs to enter any city or town to drive the economy). Cities and towns would also work on building a better infrastructure of transportation, incorporating pedestrian friendly centers and bike friendly towns to reduce pollution.

When people can feel confident that they are not in jeopardy of losing their jobs, can save money for rainy days, and purchase items using cash, not credit, then I think we will be in the black and on our way to a healthy economy. The lessons learned during the depression of the 1930’s are similar to the lesson’s we are relearning today, don’t over extend yourself, your income, or your credit: live frugally.

I’m the expert on running on fumes. To be more specific, I run on fumes in a number of ways. Let me count them for you:

1. I can go about 3 hours in the morning on a Starbucks coffee alone. No food, just java juice, teaching 5- and 6-year old’s how to read up until their recess time. I run my body on a highly caffinated and sugary drink. (Sometimes this includes a 45 minute bike ride to school on a beautiful day).
2. I work a total of 12 hours a day, if I include my travel time. I start the work day at 8am (no travel included here) and finish around 6:30 pm or 7pm, depending on the day. I teach, I help my husband with his graphic design business, I post daily, and I have homework to complete. I rarely have time to breathe, let alone have a sit-down meal. (There’s a trend building here I think).
3. I can stretch our bank account dollars until our next payment arrives, whether it’s a client we’re waiting on, or my monthly (yes, monthly) paycheck. The most frustrating part of owning your own business is the infrequent payments; some clients pay within a week or two, others pay on a monthly basis, and still others take their time and pay when they feel like it, pushing 45 – 60 days at times.
4. I can hyper-mile our car until the gas light has been on for a full day running on fumes, or ride my bike if I feel like not filling that day. This isn’t as difficult for my husband and me since he works from home and rarely needs our one vehicle, and I enjoy biking to and from work or school.

I’ve always been a very active person, I can’t sit still for very long or remain unproductive. I’m not ADD or ADHD, I know what this looks like, I can actually focus on tasks and complete them. I just like to stay busy. I’ve been like this since I was a child; playing outside until the street lights came on, babysitting when I was a teenager, working two jobs or more jobs when I was attending college for my BA in my early 20’s. It’s very difficult for me to just sit.

Full Speed Ahead

Most friends and family members comment on my fast-walking pace as I zip around the neighborhood, school, or store. I physically can’t walk slowly, it hurts my hips, which you would think would be just the opposite. Whether I’ve eaten a balanced, nutritious meal, or I’ve only had my sugary Starbucks drink, my speed remains the same: full speed ahead.

When my husband and I visit our families, we become restless while the television is blasting in the background and our relatives are in a vegetative state on the couch. We fidget and squirm until we finally get up and leave for a bike ride, or a drive to the store, or a bar for a drink (not that I’m a big drinker – I’m always the designated driver, a complete tee-totatler). With the holiday season coming up, we’re making our plans and dreading the family visits. We love our families, but we don’t necessarily like how they celebrate the holidays, in front of the TV! So, we must decide how we are going to keep busy, active, and productive over the holiday season, whether I’m running on fumes or a full tank.

I recently read an article in Scientific American about how bike friendly cities have many more women bicycle riders, and how one can gauge how ‘bicycle friendly’ a city is by looking at how many women are riding their bikes. For example, a terrific bike friendly city in Europe is Copenhagen. Copenhagen has a lot of women on bicycles due to their terrific bike infrastructure. (You can check out this great photo-based blog that inspired me to ride my bike.) Another county, cited in the Scientific American article, was the Netherlands. According the article, 55% of their bicycle riders are female.

The main topic of the Scientific American article is that women are more risk-adverse, so if you encounter a city where there are many women bicyclists, then it means they feel safe riding. Feeling safe riding a bike through a city usually depends on separated bike lanes, a bike infrastructure that gets you where you want to go, and more bicyclists on the road, which means the motorists are more aware of them. When a city lacks this type of infrastructure, it’s difficult to feel safe riding down a busy street among motorists who barely realize you’re there.

For instance, I ride my bike through the suburbs of Los Angeles to and from work and school. I’ve chosen a longer, less trafficked route that lacks any kind of bike lanes or signs. I’m often reminded at intersections that motorists don’t see me. So many motorists blindly whip around a corner not even glancing in a cross walk. (I mix my bike riding between sidewalk and street only because I feel safest doing so.) I’ve gotten accustomed to looking over my shoulder and swiveling my head in all directions to make sure a car isn’t running a red light or a left-hand turner sees me riding through the intersection. I’ve become a defensive bicyclist.

Me biking through Santa Barbara

If cities want to encourage more people to ride, then they need to get more women on the road. To do so, cities need to create a bike infrastructure where people feel safe riding in the bike lanes. Separated lanes are terrific, as are clearly marked lanes. If the bike lanes ran diagonally through a city, to shorten the path to and from a destination, this would also encourage more riders. If the lanes were separated from fast-moving vehicles, this too would encourage more riders. And, if the separated bike lanes got riders to and from stores, schools, and office buildings, then again more people would hop on their bikes. Currently, the separated bike paths in my community run through the park. There aren’t any stores in the park, or schools, or places of work. The only other separated bike lane we have runs along a bus line. This is very helpful, but then again, why wouldn’t you just hop on the bus instead of riding 5 miles to work?

There are a few cities working to improve their bicycle infrastructure, like New York City. I was there last summer and saw many more people on bikes, but in Mid-Town Manhattan, I didn’t see many bike lanes. It was a little intimidating watching people ride their bikes among the weaving taxi cabs. I surely didn’t feel like I could ride my bike in that city, at least not yet. I know that in the United States,  Davis, California and Portland, Oregon are bicycle havens, but I haven’t gotten the opportunity to check these cities out.

The problem boils down to what comes first? If people aren’t riding their bikes, a city doesn’t see a reason to improve something that no one uses. If a city doesn’t improve it’s infrastructure, then only the die-hard bicyclists will continue to ride and potential riders will be discouraged. It’s good to see more articles about city riding popping up in magazines, maybe this will encourage more riders.

Do you want to ride, but are intimidated by the traffic? Do you ride, but have to be wary of unaware motorists? Do you live in a city that is improving its bicycle infrastructure. I’m curious to know if others would be more willing to ride if their city improved their bike lanes.

I consider myself a fairly organized person. I have to be. I’m juggling many balls, or wearing many hats, to use a metaphor describing my current life style. I help my husband with his graphic design business, I teach elementary school, I am attending school myself part-time to finish up my teaching credential, and I’ve started a blog because I enjoy writing. So, being organized, or managing my time wisely, is a must for me.

However, my wallet (or wallets) is/are the one area where I’m just not as organized. Now, I read years ago that a messy,or disorganized, wallet is an indicator of a messy financial situation. I don’t know how much I agree with this, though I can see where one would make that connection. My situation, though, is different. In some ways, I have achieved superb wallet organization, in others, I’ve not. For example, I have two wallets. One wallet holds all of my credit cards, which I rarely use, my AAA membership card, my health insurance, dental insurance, and pharmacy card, and a Border’s Books Club card. This is a wallet that I don’t pull out very often.

My other wallet, a small, fake-leather, coin purse I purchased in Mexico almost two years ago, holds my debit/ATM card, my Starbucks Gold Reward Card, my savings account ATM card, my Ralph’s Club card, my driver’s license, and (here is the surprise) a couple of Starbucks Gift Cards. I use this wallet on a daily basis. It’s small enough to fit in my pocket when I ride my bike to Starbucks in the morning or to the grocery store. It’s also convenient to place in a small clutch when, and this is rare, I go out and need a smaller purse. I knew I had a couple of Starbucks Gift Cards in there, but I thought they only had a dollar or less on them, so haven’t bothered to pull them out in a while.

Starbucks Gift Card, a pleasant surprise!

The other day, my husband needed my debit card to renew our AAA membership. He pulled out my small coin purse and emptied the contents on his desk (this was easier for him to do than file through the cards with his large fingers). When the two Starbucks Gift Cards fell out, along with the debit card he needed, he announced his finding to me. He even had the time to look online and check their balances. To both of our amazements, one of the gift cards still had $20.00 on it! I was shocked. Not only did I not realize I had this kind of credit on one of the gift cards, I don’t even remember saving it for future use.

A few days have passed and I still haven’t used my gift card. I am now subconsciously ’saving’ it for a rainy day. However, that little surprise was delightful, sort of a similar feeling to finding cash in a washed article of clothing.

Do you find pleasure in surprises such as these? How many of us misplaced a gift card only later to find it? Did you use it right away, or save it?