State of the Union

Well, if I'd had any money for beer, I would have played a drinking game for President Bush's last State of the Union address, using the word "terror" or any of its derivatives as the trigger for tipping the cup. If I had done this, I would be too drunk to write this post right now.

Also, did anyone else notice the absence of the word "war" in the speech, despite the fact that most of the speech was about the war in Iraq? I believe he referred to it as the "mission." Sick.

Oh, and did you know that Nukular Power doesn't have any emissions? (just tons of toxic waste that we don't know how to safely dispose of and steaming hot water runoff that damages fragile ecosystems)

Can't someone at least teach him (and his daddy) how to say the word?

I'm sure I have other commentary, but will save it for later.


A final note on my budget: I was afraid that I might have accidentally under estimated the amount of money I spent over the course of the month, but upon review, it looks like I actually over estimated the amount, so I did have the money to buy beer after all.

On Budgeting

So how's it going, this budget? Let's put it this way.

Yesterday I asked myself, "Why in hell did you buy so many damned potatoes?"

Yeah, January's budget is spent. Plus $1.

Anxiously awaiting February, where I've reduced my budget to about 75% of January's budget. I have a secret savings project.

I really want a beer.

I found it!

I found the elusive entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge on the Brooklyn side! Turns out I rode right past it last time when I got "lost" and found myself on the Manhattan Bridge. While the Brooklyn has WAY more people on it, it's a much easier ride. Somehow, it's not just straight up and then straight down like its sister bridge, which you can see upstream. There are hills on this bridge. But that's nice because you don't feel like you're going to die at the midpoint. And it's shorter. Much shorter. It must be shorter.

I think I was in no fewer than 10 tourist photos today.

What's with...

... people on the train who insist on moving toward the door before the train has stopped -- even when there are 65 million people ahead of them? It's just rude. There's nowhere to move, people!

Success! (so far)

That's right folks, I've been able to find my keys pretty darn consistently since I decided that I needed to focus on that December 10, 2007. I was concerned that I would lose the pattern when I went to Indiana for a week, but I found a way to keep up the habit by being very mindful of other people's keys -- like my mom's car keys which I borrowed a few times. Incidentally, I think the key focus has helped me to be a little less aimless about other things like my checkbook or glasses. Also, I find myself planning things ahead (like putting my book in my bag when I think of it the night before instead of trying to remember it the next morning). This independence from my own memory is sort of liberating. I'm a little concerned that I will get complacent about it and start slipping, but it might actually be a part of me now. We can only hope.

Market ... oh irrational market

The Market is a funny thing. It (whatever it is) reacts to things like fear and excitement. The stock (and bond and futures and other things that I have no hope of maybe ever understanding) market reacts to feelings, actual real human feelings. So a recession or something like it is a product of people's collective feelings about the future and current value of any given thing. However, the actors in the system (investors and consumers) also react to things that happen in the market, like the changing price of fuel or the change in relative value of the S&P 500. So is it all just made up and a product of one big huge psychological disorder? Sounds like it to me. Luckily, one big thing might change soon, and that's the leadership of this country. I think we need one big giant psychologist to help us out of this muck. Anybody up for it? This probably makes very little sense unless you are in my mind. Maybe I'll unpack it better next time. For now, I'm off to bowl in Manhattan.

25 Going on Self-Help Guru

No, I don't think I have it all figured out, but I feel like my time of late is often consumed with actively trying to and sharing those trials, successful or not, with others. Food choices. Waste disbursement. Getting organized (or habitual) enough to find my keys. Budgeting. Is this part of quarter century development or is it just me? And if it is quarter century development, I guess I'm a late bloomer...

Bicicleta

I finally did it! I rode my bike to work.

First of all, the weather here of late has been outstanding. We have literally had the same weather as San Diego for three days running. This, while interesting and liberating (from the layers), is also a bit freaky, but that's a different post.

I was a little hesitant about doing it because I'm not a seasoned biker with my 10-pound chain around my shoulders, rolled up black long johns, worn in jeans, and chiseled calf muscles, and frankly, I was a little scared that I might get killed or seriously maimed. However, once I got on the street with my fancy new lights, I acquired a new boldness. I was running lights with the best of them (well actually more like 15 yards behind them because I was following the cues of others).

I got a little lost but still managed to make it to work in less time than it typically takes on the train. And I was also hindered by the fact that I am not the most fit person in the world. I had grammas with tiny wheels passing me on the uphill section of the (very long) Manhattan bridge. It was a little embarrassing, but I was still beaming with pride when I arrived at the office (and back home) in one piece.

I didn't ride in today because I was being wimpy about the rain, but there were plenty of other troopers out there -- including a guy riding a tandem bike alone. That has to feel a little lonely. It's like paella for two or something (movie reference).

Systems

Natural systems are complex but they are typically extremely efficient. Manufactured and managed systems often have inefficiencies and redundancies and other problems. Those that mirror the natural system often work better.

Take curbside recycling programs for example. In New York City, residential recycling is required and separate types of bags are necessary to distinguish recyclables from trash. There are fines involved for noncompliance, but they aren't really a deterrent. For the most part, this works because people are accustomed to sorting their recyclables and the system is pretty easy to comply with. However, the system is dependent on people acting in away that might be contrary to their nature and has to be enforced (which is an inefficiency -- enforcement is not a part of recycling, after all). In Curitiba, Brazil, recycling is voluntary. Homeless folks and recovering alcoholics sort trash and are paid in food and transportation vouchers. The proceeds from the products recovered goes toward social services to help the people who sorted it in the first place. Two thirds of the city's daily garbage is recycled. That's not two thirds of the daily recyclable materials, that's two thirds of all garbage. According the the New York Department of Sanitation's 2006 annual report, NY recycles 12,200 tons of garbage per week, but its total refuse (incl. recycling) collected for the week is 84,000 tons, so that's about 15%.

Which one do you think works better?

You should read about grass farming and all the symbiotic systems that farmers like Joel Salatin use on a daily basis to exploit cattle's natural propensity for acting like cattle and chickens chickens and pigs pigs (for that matter grasses grasses and grubs grubs too, but you'll have to read more Omnivore's Dilemma for that). You should read about Terracycle, the company that gets paid for its raw materials.

It's really kind of amazing and I'm not the only one that thinks this.

Part of this post talks about the complexity of systems, but underlying it all is really the concept that you can't change people's motives. And sustainability really isn't a catchphrase -- it's a necessity.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Three principles guide my reasoning on corporate social responsibility.

1. You can't change people's motives (mostly)
2. Systems are complex and can't (usually) be solved with one-size-fits-all simple solution
3. Sustainability isn't just a catch phrase

Different motives (or values), like I discussed in a recent post on food, can drive toward the same goals if carefully examined. For example, many people are driven by goals like a healthy place to live for themselves and for their progeny. Companies, driven by returning shareholders value (which is conventionally defined in terms of currency), are motivated by cost reduction and increased revenue. These goals can all be met with similar means. For example, a more sustainable environmental program would require it, on a fundamental level, to be more efficient. A more efficient system would by virtue of being less resource dependent, be less expensive in terms of currency as well.

Systems are complex. We learned from Michael Pollan that just switching to organic isn't going to do either of the things it purports to do: increase your health and decrease your environmental footprint. This is because many foods labeled organic are still produced on factory farms, processed with fossil-fuel-intensive machines, mixed with preservatives, packaged in unnecessary packaging, and shipped long distances. Eating local foods grown using non-industrial methods often can be much less environmentally destructive. However, as we learned from Sarah Murray, it's not just local either. A system that works with its resources rather than against them is more likely to be efficient and take into account the multi-faceted reality of life. Finding ways for multiple parts of a complex system to work in a symbiotic way is a beautiful thing. It's harder and it takes more time (think: evolutionary) but we're complex creatures and have created ways to adapt our modern simplistic ways back into the complex systems we came from. (I'm thinking nomad, to agrarian, to urban ... and back)

The definition of sustainability isn't CFL light bulbs and compost piles (well not necessarily). Sustainability means returning resources to the system in a way that is usable to future generations so that the system continues to thrive. Sustainability isn't as selfless as it sometimes is made out to be. Why do people have children (on a fundamental, evolutionary level)? They have children because they need to sustain themselves and once they get to a certain age, they might need some help with that. The American system isn't as family-oriented as others, but things like pensions, nursing homes, Medicaid, and Social Security are institutionalized versions of the younger generation paying and caring for the older generation--it's another product of specialization. In addition, those children, grandchildren, and other successors pass on the memory and legacy of their predecessors. It's a beautiful system and not at all selfless, though when changing a diaper or giving up a convenience to diminish waste, it can feel that way.

So if we can convince (or remind) corporations that their goals aren't necessarily in conflict with "social responsibility," maybe the world would be a better place. Our propensity towards specialization keeps us from seeing a bigger picture sometimes -- keeps us from seeing ourselves in the larger scheme and therefore disconnects us from the larger "system." As other measures of sustainability (like carbon footprints, community involvement, and employee satisfaction) gain value, maybe the way corporations view sustainability and return will change.

Budget

I thought budgeting was unnecessarily limiting and just too hard to manage. However, I've been watching my friend and her budget and she seems to have less anxiety about spending money than I do, which is not what I expected. This is because she knows what she has and what she can spend and therefore if she wants to spend $50 on a manicure, she knows that she won't have to forgo something more important.

The other problem as I saw was management. I wasn't sure what categories to use and I didn't see me cataloging them well. I don't want to get into the business of downloading my bank statement data all the time and I really can't see myself writing everything down or (worse!) keeping receipts. So I found a techy solution.

I use iGoogle as a homepage so that I have easy access to weather, news, my calendar, email, and other things. So I looked for a gadget to add for expense tracking and found one. It is perfect for my needs. It has 10 categories and tracks your spending and automatically totals everything and compares to previous months/weeks.

So, now I'm on a budget. It's based on my previous salary, so hopefully I'll be saving some money too.

New Style

This New Year's Eve celebration began with 2 hours of mani-pedis with a friend and continued into the night with a prix fixe dinner, wine, champagne, and good company. Just exactly the speed I wanted. Plus, I got to wear pants I bought in high school. While that doesn't say anything about my fashion sense, it does say something about my waistline! I still want to incorporate increased exercise into the resolution package, however.