Two wheels are better than none.

For several years now, Diane and I have been intrigued with the idea of simplifying and slowing down our lives. We seem to live in a culture where the norm is to fill every waking moment with some sort of activity in an attempt to find fulfillment and to somehow afford our children all the "opportunities" that we have missed out on. Like the opportunities to never be at home, not know how to relax and not be content unless something is going on.

We believe that we are called to live at a pace that is different than the rest of our culture. It seems like folly to dive into the same habits of filling up every second that everyone else seems to have. We really think our world would be better if people were able to find joy without having to be eternally busy.

I am not talking about working less or slower, but, rather, how we need to fill our free time. Well, I could go on about this subject for a while, but I will not.

I was intrigued by a book I read about a year ago entitled "How To Live Well Without Owning A Car". The book is about a journalist who ditched his car as a fluke, it broke down and he decided he would just do without until it was fixed, and decided to stay without a car. In it, the author explained how he took care of commuting, running errands, taking trips, dating, socializing, and more, all without a car.

He also cited a 2004 American Automobile Association study stating that the average American spends $8,410 per year (roughly $700 per month) to own a vehicle. that is a big chunk of change. Between your payments, gas and maintenance, how much do you think you spend per month on your automobiles?

We weren't able to figure out how we could do this with our children and with the distance we have to go to get to the grocery. But, it probably would not be impossible. As I mentioned, we do not have as wild of schedules as most people we know, but we still do go plenty of places that would require much more planning and thinking about if we did not have our car. Fortunately, our car is paid for(the whole personal debt thing is another problem), but we still have to pay for gas and maintenance.

So can it be done in Tucson? Here are a couple of articles about people who are moving thataway:

Dump your car for a bicycle or bus? Yep — and here's why

Less is more: Two wheels can be better than four

Update

Here is an article about an earlier post:

Unconventional Baptist churches not shy about sex

the Wave Method of Neighborhood Improvement

Our neighborhood is considered sort of semi prestigious. It was built at the same time by the same builder as the Indian Ridge neighborhood, which was built as a kind of cheaper less exclusive sister of the Tucson Country Club. So, our neighborhood, like Indian Ridge, was initially home to generally professional families of Doctors and Lawyers and that sort of demographic.

Even the the neighborhood is fifty years old, we still have a high ratio of resident home owners, especially compared to other midtown neighborhoods. This ration bodes well for the safety and valuation of the homes.

Still, we have some wild people that come through from time to time.

So, one of the Deputy County Attorney's I met suggests this tactic for most any neighborhood. He calls it the Wave Test. Basically, it consists of waving at the people you see in your neighborhood. This accomplishes a couple of things. First, it makes your neighborhood appear more friendly. Secondly, it generates the impression that you are waving because you expect to know the people driving through your neighborhood.

This also provides some benefits to your neighborhood. People in your neighborhood might wave back, making it actually a little bit friendlier. those that are checking your neighborhood out, either to live there or for other purposes will gather that everyone knows one another and keeps up with who is in the neighborhood. Those that are looking for a friendly community oriented sort of neighborhood might decide to live there, while those that want their deeds to go unnoticed will move along to other areas.

So, wherever you live, you can help out a little bit by waving at folks as they go by. Try it out.

Pictures from training

A few pictures from the padded assailant training. Can you even see the bruise on my head?

Kinda sad kinda glad story

I usually don't put my work stories on here. While some of them are very interesting, unusual and even exciting, it doesn't seem prudent. For one, they involve people's personal stuff, like their arrest record. Who wants that on my blog? Sometimes they involve ongoing investigations. Don't want to compromise that just so I can entertain you.

But, last night we had a kinda sad, but kinda glad story that I think I will share.

The Border Patrol received a call that a family of illegal immigrants was stranded alongside the roadway. We were called because it was considered a medical "follow up", as the family had indicated that they were dehydrated and starving.

The four of them; Mom, Dad, and dos hermanas were not only tired, dehydrated and hungry, they were also very distraught because they had lost track of two other sisters that had been traveling with them. They had lost them the night before somewhere in the desert.

Border Patrol Borstar guys, their medically trained search agents responded and we gave the family food, water, gatorade....stuff like that, before Border Patrol took them for processing. We told them we would keep looking for the other two. It would really suck to lose half of your children like that.

At then end of my shift, one of our late shift guys tried to pull over a van that drove away and got stuck in the mud. About twenty people ran off, but four of them stayed behind. I was on my way home, as I was already late, but I decided I would go see if I could help. Who knows, maybe the sisters would be there.

When I got there, I found the four, which included two dehydrated and sick sisters, the same ones we were looking four. When we told them that we found their family and that they were terribly worried about them, they started crying.

I guess it was a good thing I went to see, because everyone else who knew that these two went with the others had already left for the night, so we were able to get them all back together before the night was over.

A New Running Mate for Obama

"Nothing says change like getting an old, white, rich politician as your running mate!"
- From my Dad's friend Doug's Facebook.

Sorry, just thought that was funny.

About My Dad

I Added this section that has links to some of the posts, notes, blogs and words that people had to say about my Dad. If you haven't yet, take a look at some of them, because I am very proud of him.