Thursday, January 04, 2007

2006, Rear In Yer View (And Everybody’s Celebratin’)

I’m a geek. I keep lists. I keep data. If I don’t know where I’ve been how will I know where I’m going?

Is it warm enough outside?

The negative cost of The MinusCar Project, it’s more than just a bike ride.

2006 Mileage
1,917 - The Car
3,258 - The Bike(s)

Fuel Purchased (gallons)
9.6 - average per month
32.46 - average per month pre-MinusCar

At $2.75 per gallon I pocket $62 per month over my previous life.

Auto Service (dollars)
4.20 - average per month
210.32 - average per month pre-MinusCar

$206.12 savings per month.

I save a total of $268.12 a month in automobile related crap. Shoot, I could buy a whole ‘nother car. A nice one too! No wonder The Wife has green lighted an Independent Fabrication for me.

Anybody want to discuss how they can't afford to cut their car's carbon emissions by 70%?

The bicycle is also a "natural enemy of impulse buying" which leaves room to discuss decreased consumer debt and increased charitable giving. Decreased consumer debt is directly connected to decreased consumption which is directly connected to transport and resource utilization, and even more environmental impact.

Is it warm enough outside now? The MinusCar Project, it's more than riding bikes.

Other Stuff

Books Read/Listened – 9

Full Length Feature Films Viewed – 33 (4 in theater)

Best Film – V For Vendetta. It actually made my top 5 all time favorite, which honestly is probably about 10 long.

I saw all 10 of Ebert’s Top 10 of 2005. That’s an annual goal for me.

Hours Of Broadcast Television: 32 (13 NFL, 14 Winter Olympics)

Hours Spent In Front Of A Computer Screen: data unavailable :)

Best Concert – Brule': Red Nativity @ Washington Pavilion

Disc Golf Rounds – 12
Disc Golf Best Score – 52

Happy New Year!

8 comments:

tanya said...

hey. i was in sioux falls last week - during the rain/snow storm. i was driving on 26th street and saw a rider. being from atlanta, i don't know how you people cope with the weather in SD. perhaps you're a bit insane, but nonetheless, i tip my hat to you for your dedication to this cause!

Dan Trabue said...

You're a disc golfer, too! Another commonality.

Great lists. Especially your car/bike lists and savings. Great data.

I'm not sure that I could easily recollect what my annual pre-bike car miles were - probably 10-15,000. It may be interesting to try to track what it is now.

How do you do that - you have a log book where you record each trip?

Snakebite said...

Dude! Way to go! Might have to engage in some disc golf with you sometime. Disc golf on bikes? Why not? Recently at the Arena was "Disney on Ice" so why not disc golf on bikes? OK - maybe not.

mytzpyk said...

Dan:

I have a palm pilot equipped with Documents To Go which essentially puts Microsoft Excel in my pocket.

I record daily bike miles and weekly car miles. Every time I buy gas I put that in...which was like 7 times last year. The auto service spending is in Quicken. The media stuff goes in a Garbage In table with categories.

LvilleTex said...

To me the most amazing stat is the 32 hrs of broadcast TV. Is that only the big 4 or is that all non-movie TV? If so, that's even more of a revolution than the cycling. I rode 2400m last year, but sure as hell watched more than 32 hrs of TV. I watch that many in British murder mysteries. Bravo!

that dave said...

i love the stats its great to see that you recorded them. sounds like an awesome year. we have no cable in our house so there is no t.v at all. we do watch dvds and videos.

mytzpyk said...

Sorry everyone - I've been at a wedding this weekend.

Tanya - thanks and I hope things continue to progress well for you and Tanzania.

Mr Bite - once upon a time I did the disc golf biathlon. 20 miles on bike and 1 round of speed golf. Speed golf scoring is the round score plus one point per minute. I'd be happy to go a round with you.

Regarding the TV - the watching is a measure of real-time TV including network and cable. Real-time would include any weekly shows recorded or not, if there were any.

It does not include Seinfeld Season 5 & 6 and Deadwood Season 2 on DVD. It won't include Seinfeld Season 7 either...which is on my desk at this moment just dying to be viewed.

It also does not include deliberately recorded and watched specials like when U2 took over Conan and Korn was live on whatever that channel is that shows live concerts. I watch these because my buddy KT looks out for my necessary TV interests.

And the best part about little or no TV watching...The Boys, so far, pick up the habit. So far they're pretty content with their collection of Hot Wheels Acceleracers and Fischer Price Little People DVD's.

Anonymous said...

I keep records, too.
Year Bike mi Car mi Gal/mo
2005 384 1772 9.6
2006 1383 997 5.9