Shek's Footprint

“I’ve used up gas just looking for gas,”  ”Right now, I’ll pay anything for gas,” Jenkins said. “I don’t care if it’s $5 or $6 a gallon. I need it.”

A quote from the recent gas shortages in Atlanta sounds very familiar to parts of the script of ‘Trainspotting‘. See news article for the complete story (article). 

I dont understand why people have forgotton the meaning of freedom. Freedom dependent on goods and services other than basic necessities like food, clothing and shelter is addiction. See more information on addiction here (link).

Does Jacksonville have a plan B if this were to happen here or are we going to be stuck in our SUVs? I am sure that Jacksonville will be worse off because Atlanta atleast has MARTA. Jacksonville has nothing. This is a list of Jacksonville’s illustrious projects (link).

The Car is up for sale. I am following sale techniques from here: (link)

I have put it up on Craigslist with a link to my sale site. Next in line is to put it up for sale on Autotrader, Cars.com and Cars4Jax. I will wait for a few days to see if I get any response from Craigslist though. Some color printouts of the sale site will go up on the apartment complex notice board and the break room at work too.

Update:

Cars.com ad: link

Cars4Jax ad: link

I have spent a lot of time talking about bicycling. That is not necessarily deviating from the topic of reducing my footprint because it involves removing a car from my life. Of the other things that I have been doing to save electricity usage is using a clothes drying rack in my balcony and the most recent one being switching off the water heater for a majority of the day. 

My plan is to switch off the water heater all day and switch it on at 6:30 am when I wake up. I shower by 7:15 am which is plenty of time to heat up enough stored water for the whole day, which involves another shower. The only problem is to remember to switch it on in the morning! I did not remember this morning and was left with low pressure mildly warm water to bathe with. Thankfully, the fall weather in Jacksonville has been pleasant, some what windy too so I did not have to scrub too much.

Not using the drier and switching off the water heater should reduce my usage significantly. 80% of the light in my apartment is CFLs. I know about the mercury problem and I promise to dispose of them safely if they ever go bad!

On a separate note, I am not tracking my carbon footprint yet. I understand the benefits of measurement but downsizing usage is a proven method of reducing ones footprint. I also want my footprint measured more accurately and not an approximate as provided by most websites.

Today was a particularly stressful day. It started off by a stupid online purchase. I am usually very prudent but this one was accomplished in a lot of haste. Now I know not to repeat it again. I then participated in charity for our employees affected by Ike in Houston which lifted my spirits a bit.

I was caught in torrential rain while returning home from lunch, the one that soaks you to the bone. The old black rain jacket kept my upper body dry and warm but my pants got totally soaked by the time I could find some shelter. As I stood at the side of the road watching the cars go by at normal speeds, I couldn’t help but feel under prepared. I had an extra change of clothes at work, so getting wet was not a problem. The problem was the lack of visibility for motorists in heavy rain conditions. I was stuck in the two lane no shoulder part of my commute. The situation’s apathy carried with itself an accusation for not being in a car.

The snickering comments of the nicotine-pumping lung-burning suv-driving co-worker about this being the time to use a car did not help either. The discomfort of soaked socks and drippign pants is easily eclipsed by the lack of choice, freedom and the impassiveness of fellow citizens. I truly was running out of patience with each mounting mile like Hummers of gas.

A complete new rain wear is on order. It folds into a small pouch that should hopefully fit in my also newly ordered Minnehaha Small Canvas Saddle Bag. After work, I went to the bike shop in the St. John’s Strip Mall (Town Center) to get a new saddle for my dutch bike. The dutch bike deserves the likes of Brooks saddles but she will have to wait for the time being. The ride back home was uneventful for the most part. It was also pleasant. Cool breezes and random specks of thin rain drops kept my tempers cool. I am sure the very act of bicycling brought my frustrations levels down too. The better part is that Laya was excited to see me no matter how wet and grumpy I was. She did her supersonic sprints in my tiny bedroom and on my bed, sniffed me over and tried to play with me. She is a sponge for frustration. All dogs are.

Get a bike, get a dog and live a happy life.

See sidebar for my new page (link). I keep getting asked why I am selling my car. I have written a short essay to lay down the logic and the math before people raise controversies over my multiple reasons…

Happy reading.