NezSez

How is it that gas companies can charge nine-tenths of a cent?

Does it really make that much of a difference?

Take a look at the sample pricing from last week (outrageously high pricing notwithstanding):

• $4.17 and 9/10 for Regular
• $4.29 and 9/10 for Plus
• and $4.41 and 9/10 for “V-Power”

Why can’t they say $4.18, $4.30, and $4.42, respectively? What if I buy exactly 1 gallon — shouldn’t I get one-tenth of a cent back? I don’t. So I end up paying $4.18. Multiply that by hundreds of millions and those one-tenths add up, don’t they?

Be Honest with Your Pricing

We should be more honest in our pricing, and I’m not just talking about gas stations, but everything in general. In fact, I propose a simple way to present more “honest” pricing — something along the lines of:

• Under $15, round to the nearest dollar, e.g. $1.00 per song on iTunes, not $0.99
• $20 to $100 - round to the nearest 5 or 10, e.g. $25, $90, $100
• $110 to $990 - round to the nearest 10, e.g. $240, $680
• $1000 - $9,900 - round to the nearest 100, e.g. $1400, $8,900
• $10,000 - 99,000 - round to the nearest 1000
• $100,000 - $500,000 - round to the nearest 5000
• $505,000 and up - oh, who cares at this point? You can go back to pennies, e.g. $99,999,999.99

Don’t you think that would help?

Have a great weekend!

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photo by Ken McCown

When They’re Automatic Faucets

Has this happened to you?

You go into a restroom at a department store, or a movie theater, or airport, and inside you find the sinks all sport the new “automatic” faucets that dispense water when you move your hands underneath the spigot.

In theory.

They’re more trouble than they’re worth

You can be sure that more often than not, when you wave your hand under one, nothing happens except for the slight physical exertion from the concert effort of a number of muscles in your upper body, arm and hand. You can hear the sound of a pin drop because there’s no water!

Then you move to the next faucet — okay, that one works.

Now to the paper towel dispenser. Automatic again. And of the three there, one doesn’t work. Oh, look here, there’s a manual paper dispenser — that’s why there’s three, they forgot/didn’t have time to take one down.

And have you ever sat on an autoflushing toilet? Don’t get me started.

Get rid of the Gadget-y Plumbing

I would like to see these modern “conveniences” done away with.

• They run on electricity or batteries - thus, another waste of energy — what happens when there’s a blackout — and if it’s batteries, more waste to add to our landfills when they run out of juice, which, in my experience, is often
• They are not convenient - is it too much trouble to simply flick the lever of a normal faucet? Or how about installing the foot activated switches you find in hospital rooms?
• We have enough digital gadgets in our lives - really, the restroom should be the last bastion of analog devices.

Okay, end of rant. Have a great weekend!

There are thousands (or millions) of sites devoted to finances, financial responsibility, getting/staying out of debt. Visit any self-help section at your local bookstore and you’ll also find hundreds of books devoted to the same topic.

I thought I’d sum up what I’ve seen, read, and (for the most part) practice - the number one rule to financial responsibility. However, to write only one sentence seemed almost like…cheating. So, in the interest of verbosity, I did some more thinking on the subject. Here’s what I came up with:

1. Earn More Than You Spend - the optimist version
2. Spend Less Than What You Earn - the pessimist version
3. Savings = Revenue - Expenses, where Expenses < Revenue - the mathematician’s version
4. Net Income = Gross Income minus Total Expenses and Deductions (you did save those receipts, right?) - the accountant’s version
5. Buy 1 less Cup of Coffee a week to save $20 a month - the conscientious Starbuck goer’s version
6. Every month, pay into your retirement, then your bills, then whatever’s left is extra - the Financial Guru’s version
7. Every month, pay into your retirement, then your bills, then half of what’s left can go into the “games” - the Reformed Gambler’s version
8. Every month, pay into your retirement, bills, and then buy ONLY one pair of shoes (that costs less than what you have remaining) - the compulsive shoe buyer’s version
9. Every day, save a dollar, spend the rest - the homeless person’s version
10. When you see a 10 dollar bill on the ground, DON’T pick it up - the Bill Gate’s version

Here in San Francisco, we happen to have an extensive residential Recycling Program, one component of which is the composting of all food scraps and wastes from the kitchen.

Biodegradable Bags - great, but expensive

Early on, after we had used up the complimentary supply of biodegradable bags to line the “kitchen pail”, I started looking for them at our local stores. These “biobags” are actually made out of mater-bi, a type of bio-plastic derived from corn. The biobags are actually breathable, and have a really different, stretch-y feel than normal plastic bags, and are designed to break down in about 10 days after exposure to the elements. Perfect for composting.

The thing is, they’re quite pricey right now — about $6.50 for only 25 of these 3-gallon bags.

I know that as more and more cities adopt a household food-scrap composting program like San Francisco, more people will buy them, and due to economy of scale, the price should (in theory) come down.

Low Cost Alternative

While we wait, though, here’s another cheaper alternative:

Save (and request) paper bags from your grocers. Folded over, a regular large-sized paper bag (the ones with the fold-up handles) will fit inside one of those compost pails.

Take a look:

The Kitchen Compost Pail is about three-quarters the size of a standard paper bag.

Fold over the top opening edges of the bag inside out, about six inches, to form a smaller bag. (The “smaller” bag was previously fitted into the kitchen pail, which explains why the bottom’s all mushed.)

It takes some doing, but a little bit of massaging, the bag will fit inside the container. Once inside, to prevent liquids from eating through the bag too quickly, simply line the inside with a few torn out sheets from a magazine or catalog.

Voila!

Over at ZenHabits is another useful post, 7 Powerful Steps to Overcoming Resistance and Actually Getting Stuff Done. In it, Leo mainly talks about the book The War of Art by author Steven Pressfield, and discusses how to overcome our natural urge to not do the things we really want to do and rather maintain the status quo.

Of the 7 steps listed, number six jumped out at me:

“Know your motivation. Why are you doing this? Why is this task important? What is it working towards? And how important is that end goal to you? Why is it important? You need to know these things to build up the motivation to overcome Resistance.”

Motivation is Key for Me

Most of us have seen or read crime thrillers, where the detective needed to find the motive (and evidence, and opportunity) that will finger the bad guy.

Well, in real life, we have motivations for everything we do (hopefully not crime). As such, motivations play key part in explaining why there is so much conflict in our societies: different priorities, agendas and the like. On a more personal level, though, understanding my own motivations is a step towards understanding myself, and that’s what I want to talk about today.

Think about it.

A Baby’s Motivation

As a little baby my motivation was to survive. I needed my:

• food
• water
• shelter
• love

The basic needs.

A Child’s Motivation

As I kid, my main motivation was (probably) to have fun, to play.

However, as I mentioned in my post about reading, at some point my motivation became the need to satisfy a thirst for reading fun books, which I guess can still be viewed as to have fun.

A Young Adult’s Motivation

College for me was quite a long, circuitous path, because I did not know what I wanted to do for the longest time — I did not have the motivation. There was also the allure of making (okay) money at a dead-end job, money to pay for more expensive past-times (dates, trips, video games, and other grown-up “toys”).

A Parent’s Motivation

Now, I have a business I love, and my main motivation to do well?

To provide for my family. I know that when the time comes for me to leave this existence, I want to be able to answer in the positive to this question: “Did I do my best for my family?”

Motivations “Grow Up”

It’s interesting how my motivation for the longest time was: for the Self. It began as the basic needs, but I now realize that the rest of my “needs” over the years and the resulting actions (why we need to buy certain things, say certain things, perform certain actions) all derived from motivations that I acquired through learning from my parents, my peers, and the media. From time to time, I was able to re-evaluate my motivations and modify them.

Throughout a lot of my life, my main motivation remained geared toward the self. And although I didn’t think of it as much, it was a form of selfishness, a self-love.

However, once I got into a serious relationship, one that has developed and grown over the years, that main motivation has changed. I now do what I do to provide for my family, to teach the young ones and instill in them values that hopefully will remain and help them grown into good, productive young men.

I find myself teaching, and MOTIVATING them.

Have you thought about why you do the things you do lately?

If you liked this post, you may like:

• Sheer Force of Will

I know I touched on Driving Efficiently, but here’s a quick, simple tip on how to drive safely. It applies to both drivers and pedestrians:

Make Eye Contact with Other Drivers

Whenever I’m driving and come upon an intersection, whether I’m required to stop or not, and there is a car waiting, I strive to make eye contact with the car’s driver.

I often notice many drivers usually do not attempt to make eye contact, but rather they look only at the other car. However, only Autobots drive themselves, so it’s more important make sure that the other driver sees you, otherwise the odds of an accident increases.

This especially applies even when you’re a pedestrian. In fact, even more so, as your very life can be on the line.

I recall being one of three passengers in a car driven by a friend who was a fairly new driver. Upon making a right turn, she braked, and then looked left for oncoming traffic, unaware that on the right a mother and her child were about to cross the street. Our friend proceeded to turn, and almost ran them over! We were horrified, but luckily no one was hurt.

For me, there were two lessons to be learned:

1. My friend was in the wrong — she failed to look right to make sure it was safe to turn.
2. The mother did not look at my friend — she only noticed the car was stopped (momentarily while my friend looked for oncoming traffic). Had she tried to make eye contact, she would have noticed that my friend had not seen her. She should have then waited until either saw that my friend saw her, or until the car had made its (rude) turn.

To this day, I am especially careful crossing the street (even when the light is green). When it comes to Human vs Auto — Auto wins. Every time.

Be safe!

Why Being Punctual is Important in Our Society

Here in the U.S., being on time to appointments, dates, work, meetings, etc., is important. Unlike some cultures where tardiness is routine, or even expected, we’ve developed the expectation of punctuality because we live in a fast-paced society. With automobiles being as popular as they are (see how many on the road have only one driver), and cities full of things to do, places to go, etc., it becomes important to schedule events and tasks. Being late to something early in the day can have a domino effect on the rest of the day, resulting in frayed nerves and ill-feelings.

What Happens When We’re Late

• Resentment - A person being late will generate at least a modicum of resentment in the person that was waiting, unless it’s become such a habit that the other person EXPECTS the tardiness, which in case…
• Unreliability - A person who is late gains the reputation of being unreliable. This dependability issue may come into play when a person is being considered for a job or a promotion or even a pay raise or bonus, since…
• Uncaring - A person who is late will come to be thought of as uncaring. I would say that the uncaring borders on arrogance, as it seems as if the person has no regard to the feelings, needs and deserved respect of the person waiting.

Tips to Ensure Habitual Punctuality

So, if by now, you think as I do, that being punctual is important, I’ve put together a few pointers to aid in that endeavor:

• Acknowledge the Importance of Punctuality - Like ending any bad habits (e.g. smoking), the first thing to do is the acknowledge the problem, and develop the desire to do something about it. Without this important first step, it’s an uphill battle.
• Be a Time Realist, not a Time Optimist - Realize that we live in a space-time continuum where time flows non-stop whether we do something or nothing. So, be mindful of the little things we do: brushing teeth - 3-5 minutes; reading and responding to an email - 5-10 minutes; putting on make-up - 10-15 minutes, whatever, and know that doing a bunch of them will add up to a large chunk of time.
• Pad Your Appointments - Allow for things like travel and breaks, and even some “breathing room” when planning appointments if possible. Say you have two one-hour meetings. If possible, put in a 15 or 30 minute “break” between them to allow for things like having the first meeting run over a few minutes (because someone else was late), or so you have time to gather material and prepare for the second meeting without being rushed, etc.
• Have the Correct Time on all Clocks - I think it’s a better idea to have all your clocks and watches be set to the correct time, rather than setting them 5 or 10 minutes fast. By setting them fast, you subconsciously know you have an extra 5 or 10 minutes, and what usually happens is procrastination. To set the correct time is very easy these days — some clocks have built-in radio communication that automatically sets the time, and for all the other devices, use your computer or cell-phone as a reference point.
• Prepare the Night Before - Using the divide and conquer principle, figure what tasks can be done the night before, if being somewhere on time in the morning is your goal: getting clothes out, making lunch, etc. If you have kids like I do, getting their clothes out is a good strategy, as is making sure their schoolwork is already packed up in their backpacks.
• Work Backwards from Desired Appointment - Here is what I feel is the main key to punctuality. All the previous tips are supporting blocks to this one. Since life is filled with uncertainties, we allow for some time for little “hiccups” to occur. So, for a job interview, the target time to arrive would be 15-20 minutes before the appointment. For a regular job, the target time would be 8-10 minutes before the official start time. Once the target arrival time is determined, work backwards to arrive at a realistic time to leave. Use experience to determine a realistic amount of travel time, and from that derive your departure time. From that, continue working backwards to allow time to eat, satisfy bathroom needs, groom and get dressed, etc., to arrive at a realistic wake-up time. Then use an alarm to wake up at that time. If you have trouble waking up, then it’s obvious an earlier bed time is in order.

Being on Time is a Desire

In the end, being on time is as much a desire as it is a coordination of logistics.

If you have any thoughts on this, I’d love to hear them.

At Busy Warehouse Stores or Supermarkets

When I was writing my post on The Best Times to Think, it occurred to me a there was a quick thinking example I can share — an example that was not about quick thinking, but rather a thinking example that I can explain quickly. Here goes:

Look Beyond Just the Number of Shoppers in a Line

When I pick which line to wait in at say, Costco, I don’t make my decision just by looking at the length of each line (e.g. how many people are queued up in each line), I also take into account the fullness of their shopping carts.

A slightly longer line with half-empty carts will take less time to process than a shorter line whose carts overflowing with STUFF.

The Simple Math to Choosing a Line

Obviously, I want the line where the number of shoppers times the number of items is smallest overall. (Sometimes I’ll also glance at the cashier to gauge his or her level of competence).

Hope that helps.

Okay, we all know that smoking is an unhealthy habit. We know that smoking usually leads to health problems and a probably an early death (unless your first name is George and your last name is Burns).

We also know that it’s often glamorized in film and other media, and that nicotine is highly addictive, blah, blah, blah.

I’m not here to talk about all that, although I just did.

What I would like to point out is the bigger picture on why one should not smoke:

Smokers are Litterers

Smokers litter like there’s no tomorrow — probably 8 out of 10 smokers will throw their butts on the ground. Ech! Quit smoking and you’ll be beautifying not only your lungs, but the environment you share with fellow humans.

Smoking Profits Others at Your Expense

Smoking is one of the ultimate exploitation of the masses. When you think about it, whoever owns the tobacco fields, manufactures the cigarettes, distributes and sells them also know the ill effects of their products (if they say they don’t, they’re lying). But they don’t care about you, they only care about profit for themselves. Therefore, if you are someone who is totally against big corporate “evil”, then quitting smoking will make you less of a hypocrite (even more so if you’re a doctor).

Smoking is the Ultimate Selfishness

So odds are that smoking will put you into the hospital at some point. For lung cancer or emphysema or heart ailments — whatever — you’ll be in one of those rooms, lying in bed, on a respirator no doubt.

BUT, guess who else will be there, if you’re lucky: your loved ones.

Not only will you be suffering, but they will suffer even more if they truly love you (but maybe they don’t, but that would mean you have other issues). You will see the pain and sorrow in their faces as they look over you.

When you smoke today, it’s a sure investment in a loved one’s future anguish (and that return on investment is a pretty sure thing, better than some Internet stocks, I’d wager).

That, my friend, is the final reason to quit today: Don’t just quit for yourself, quit for your loved ones.

I have never smoked, but have often thought about the people I’ve known who do (or did). I hope that you find these ideas different from all the other information out there on how quitting smoking would only benefit you.

In the end, our own actions often have a ripple effect, and smoking is something that truly affects other people as it does the smoker. As such, it’s something over which you totally have control, that is, if you want to.

If you need help quitting, try these sites:

• CDC site
• WhyQuit

If you wish, please comment, and if you like to keep reading about ideas to live a more positive life, subscribe to my RSS feed.

One thing that I do to minimize my impact (at least a little) on the environment is my driving habit.

Rather than trying to convince everyone to drive a more fuel-efficient car, use public transportation, or walk more, I will share a few simple tips to drive more efficient.

A Few Simple Tips

1. Ease off the Accelerator - yes, it’s a “rat race” out there, but I try not to be in such a rush to get to places. On freeways, I stay close to the speed limit (when it is safe). Past studies have shown that gas-powered cars becomes less efficient once past the 45-60 mph speed. On city streets, I avoid constant hard acceleration and deceleration.
2. Being Patient - I get my share of drivers who cut me off, grab the right of way at a 4-way stop. But instead of getting worked up over these apparent slights, I let them slide. I know a lot of people are in a hurry, but what I do for my ease of mind is to leave just a bit earlier than when most people would. Making that a regular habit results in a more stress-free driving.
3. Corollary to #1: Use less Brakes - in big cities, certain streets have timed lights that will change to green in sequential order, and I find that if I drive at the optimal speed (determined by a little bit of experimenting), I almost never have to brake. But, if I were into heavy acceleration, not would I waste more gas, I end up braking more, thus wearing out my brakes faster. Worn out brakes have to be replaced, meaning the old brake pads will go into a landfill, with the added bonus that my wallet would be lighter sooner.
4. In a mall parking lot, I park at the first available spot - The times I’ve gone to malls I often see drivers circle around the lot many, many times, obviously looking for a spot that’s 50 feet closer to the store entrance. Meanwhile, I’ve already taken a spot near the back and am already on my wait into the store. Time is money, right? Instead of wasting gas circling, I take the first available spot and also get my circulation going.

I know these are just a few simple tips (compared to dumping the SUV or something) but they are certainly more than do-able, and would only require a slight effort on your part.

Positive Effects of Driving More Efficiently

Imagine if everyone employed such tactics in their driving: the cumulative effect would be more than a little significant. For me, I know that when I drive efficiently:

1. I help to produce a safer, calmer, healthier driving environment for everyone else out there on the road - Oh, and for pedestrians, too.
2. I reduce excess waste of gas - A good thing
3. I reduce the rate of junking my brakes - For instance, I’ve only gone through two sets of brake pads with 130,000+ miles on my car
4. I save money - the result of the above two

Well, there you go — some simple ideas on how (and why) driving efficiently is a good thing.

Try it, feel free to let me know how it goes.