It Will Be Colossal!

Some days just seem to work.

I just got back from a Bike 2 Work committee meeting. In my head I’m thinking we’re screwed. We’re biting off way more than we can chew. On my left is Mr. Bite saying, “I think there needs to be a little chaos that day.” Whatever goes down on May 18th at Fawick Park and the post-event bike pub crawl it will be colossal…failure or success. And part of The MinusCar Project story is…dooooo it!

I rode 23 miles today between home and work and the downtown Bike Committee/Bike 2 Work Committee meetings. I love this sort of day.

Once upon a time there was Full Face Helmet Guy keeping me accountable to my ride to work. Our paths would cross just about every day and we’d acknowledge each other in various ways featuring various levels of creativity. My employer changed locations. I have a new accountability partner. He’s known around here as The Dad. The Dad works on the same block I do. I parked my bike next to his today. Family values. See, some days just seem right.

I was correct in my previous post. My friend DDD did read this and did send me the picture he took. Here is the coolest hole from Saturday’s partial round of disc golf.



Sew Green. I know there are some crafty women (and I mean that in the best of ways) who, for some inexplicable reason (probably my darling The Boys), read The MinusCar Project. Welp, be aware that Sew Green has arrived.

“One day last November, on my regular blog, I mentioned wanting to start a blog about consumption. It turned out, some dear crafting blogger friends were also interested in this idea.”

The blog shows 14 contributors and they received 50 comments to their introductory post. If you visit and end up replacing your reading of The MinusCar Project with them…just remember once in awhile who sent you. Heck, maybe I’ll replace my reading of The MinusCar Project with Sew Green.

Additionally, it appears one of the contributors is friends with the Blue Greenie…go. Now.

A Very Good Weekend

In reverse order…

The Family joined me in checking out my employers new digs. The MinusCar Project got a whole lot easier over the weekend. My company moved (I’m guessing) 33% closer to my residence. I now have three acceptable ways to ride to work. That’s 66% more than the old location. It will be harder to equal last year’s bike miles, but it could mean more time to ride recreationally.

I missed out on a couple chances to get my position on global warming corrected…

Sunday morning there was a bike parked inside a local church. The MinusCar Project was a special guest in a Sunday school class. I forgot to pack shoes which worked out great. It provided me a nice way to begin the conversation…as we sat in a circle and looked at my shoes. I’m just glad I don’t ride Look pedals.

The actual class was good too. It’s extremely nice to be given the opportunity to practice some of what I write here...in front of real people. I think it came out pretty well in that setting. Hopefully the church doesn’t burn down this week. But seriously… to anyone from that class who happens to come this way, thank you.

Saturday afternoon a group of cyclists joined the local St Patrick’s Day Parade. This parade is a people’s parade which I think means all you need is a face to enter. Or perhaps all you need is a placard and a magic marker. These are some sweet signs.



If I would have stopped to fully read their signs I would have learned they were offering an opportunity to get more information about their cause post-parade at a nearby park. It wasn’t ‘till tonight that I realized I missed out. Oh well. It would have dampened the post-parade high and I had moving work to partake in.



I think this is The Owner. Note the three inches of sweat around his neck. It was around 40-degrees. I named him G. O’Rilla – which I guess isn’t very funny, judging from the responses I received from parade attendees.



Here's Snakebite looking real nice warming up my parade bike before the start. A few miles on it each year keeps me young. It’s a great way to jump start the quadriceps and the monkey butt for the season…and my knees can still handle the pressure.

Finally, I got out and played my first round of disc golf with DDD Saturday morning. I haven’t played since September. It was a great morning. One of the holes was drifted in. He’s supposed to send me a picture. Either he forgot or it didn’t turn out. He’ll read this and let me know which. (Hi DDD!)

Friday's With Snakebite

Recently I met Snakebite downtown to recognicise Fawick Park to see if the facilities could handle the party our group is intending to throw for National Bike To Work Day on May 18. We met outside the Snakepit…

Late last summer he determined it was time to give up on his car as primary transportation. To do this he needed to be more centrally located within the city. Previously his residence was extreme south and his employment is extreme north. He moved downtown.

We met outside his apartment building and selected a lunch destination. Instead of the establishment directly beneath his apartment we went one door down to enjoy a relatively new place. Our meals were prepared and delivered by the owner.

While we ate a gentleman arrived and briefly conversated with the owner. Snakebite observed the various relationships between the two people in conversation, their work and their residence. All are downtown.

Community. Is it a side effect of deciding it’s time to consume and produce less? Perhaps it’s no coincidence that living downtown is becoming more attractive.

Third Grade Social Studies - Vocabulary

“Hey The Boy 9 (not his real name) what’s demand?”

The Boy 9: “The people and their wanting stuff.”

“What’s the stuff?”

The Boy 9: “Huh?”

“There’s a word.”

The Boy 9: “Product.”

“Who are the people?”

The Boy 9: “Consumers.”

“How do you get the consumers to want the stuff?”

The Boy 9: “Advertise.”

It’s that simple. I’ve never appreciated home schoolers more (by that I mean we don't. Homeschool).

Import, export and international trade are on the list too. Perhaps tonight we’ll discuss trade deficits and global slave trade. Because right now, while he doesn't have money to spend, is a good time to talk about what 9 year olds in other countries do with their time.



Social Studies indeed.

Of Things Bike

You remember Dr James Dobson was attempting to get Richard Cizik fired? Bummer for Dobson...

"The National Association of Evangelicals board, meeting this week in Minnesota, supported a broad agenda that includes environmental protection...also declined to censure Rev. Richard Cizik, an evangelical lobbyist who has embraced environmentalism as a moral issue."

A couple guys from the local bike club announced a ride today. I woke up stoked to attend but at the same time I should have been getting ready to roll I learned that some of the city bike stuff I’ve been working on was in the local daily today. I wondered why a reporter sat through our last meeting. I couldn’t believe he was offering himself up as a Bike 2 Work volunteer. Oh…you say he’s doing an a.r.t.i.c.l.e?

The Owner is quoted. This is the third time this week The Owner has been in the daily (if rumors of his gun permit acquisition are true (they’re not)). The other time was for a local telling of the Red Bull Ride the Sky experience. Look at that article to see a very nice picture of two guys riding stairs inside a building (go fast though because I think they only keep a seven day archive).

I’ll just poach it -

Solve for x: small business owner + community involvement = x.

I joined the ride in progress and waded through a few hub deep puddles of melted snow with Mr Bite. Today marked day three in a row of Bite-related activities. Jealous?

Post ride I stopped at the LBS and salesdudepel gave me status on The MinusCar Bike. Looks nice doesn’t it?



It was a 30 mile/50 degree day. Ahhh…

T-Shirt #2.8.d

This snippet, "seek out time to be still" coincides nicely with a beautiful poem my friend at White Open Spaces posted recently, a response to my fasting/sabbath post from a few days ago. Check it out here.

Now, the final installment of essay 2.8.

When you are 18, society will consider you an adult, both legally and figuratively. You can keep those things that work for you and discard those that don’t. You might decide to become an ultra-conservative right wing Christian (although I truly believe such a position is fraught with loads of cognitive dissonance – look it up, you’ll understand). If you save that $160/mo you can even buy a pretty decent car. I hope you’ll choose a car free life, but I’ll understand if you don’t. For what it’s worth, here are a few of the things I hope you’ll learn these next few years if you already haven’t.

I hope you learn to depend on your friends and that they learn they can depend on you. I hope your relationships are deep. I hope you learn to weigh the satisfaction of an activity against the effort it takes (in human power) to get there and back. I hope your actions match the expectations of your spirit rather than appeal to what everyone else might be doing. I hope you learn to be comfortable with your thoughts and seek out time to be still. I hope you find people who love you because of who you are and not because they ascribe worth based on your possessions – where you live, what you drive, how you dress. I hope you surround yourself with a community whose deliberate actions serve to make a positive difference for the generations who’ll be here long after you and I have died.

And I hope you are always aware enough to know that minus is the new plus.

With much love,

Dad

p.s. for future reference - if you are going to concoct a story so your girlfriend can come home with you, I really need to be in on it.

T-Shirt #2.8.c

The South Dakota Peace and Justice Center showed Who Killed the Electric Car? free at Sankofa Coffee Bistro Thursday night. I went and enjoyed the show very much. Mr. Bite was there. I sat with The Dad. It was a good night.

Now, back to the current essay. This is the portion that challenges me the most.

Years ago I attended a motivational seminar where the speaker urged us to ‘observe the masses and do the opposite’. He was talking about wealth building and not transportation issues, but the world is hurting because of our transportation issues and the advice is still good on many levels. Part of my paradigm is the belief that global warming is real. I truly believe this, and while everybody talks about what everybody else should be doing to solve global warming, I decided to observe the masses and do the opposite. I lowered the thermostat, I rarely use the clothes dryer, I eliminated most meat from my diet, and I bicycle for most of my transportation needs. The masses are trapped in the cult of the car. I decided to free myself from that paradigm. I’m certainly not there yet, but I can never be unaware again.

One of the things the masses do is automatically award 16 year old children driver’s permits and sometimes even buy them cars. I’ll not be doing that. You will not get a permit at age 16 or even 17. If you’ve read up to this point and all you’ve gotten is the message that I’m not going to let you drive, you’ve missed the lesson. You don’t see the plusses, only the minuses.

Your relatives will think that I’m doing this because of the money, but they’ll be wrong. A teenage driver certainly costs more. Insurance costs would be $75/month extra. 2 tanks of gasoline a month (a very conservative 15 miles a day) would be another $60/mo and general wear and tear on the car about $25/month (upkeep and repairs). That’s $160 each and every month that I won’t be spending on the car via the oil and insurance industries.

So what will I do with that money? I’ll give it to you. Each and every month until you turn 18, you’ll get $160. If your relatives decide to buy you a car, and they might, and if you accept the gift, the money stops. I will NOT subsidize your entry into car culture by underwriting any cost associate with it. If you would like a nice bicycle (and I mean NICE) I’ll get you a nice bicycle. But a car? NO. To do so would not only go against everything I believe in, it would feel as if I wasn’t properly preparing you for the future you will have to live if the planet is to survive.

T-Shirt #2.8.b

I’m big on paradigms these days. I’ve come to realize that paradigms reveal themselves in behavior and when you blindly and unthinkingly accept things the way they are you do a great disservice to yourself and the world around you. You might even behave in a way that is counter to what your spirit demands of you. For instance, operating from a paradigm of finding the lowest price, no matter what, might cause you to support a business that exploits children in India, poisons groundwater in Peru, or enslaves young women in China so that the price you pay at the checkout is a few cents cheaper than the store down the street – the store which pays its employees an adequate wage and gives them time to be with their families. I believe it pays to know as much as is possible about your world because when you are armed with knowledge, you have a better chance of behaving so that you’ll have no regrets. And here’s something I’m pretty sure of: cars are not going to be a part of the future - not like we know it now – and I’m pretty sure most folks at some gut level know this too.

I realized long ago that you don’t really belong to me. Yes, you are ‘my’ child and I love you dearly, but you belong to the world, not to me. I’m just cosmically entrusted to provide safekeeping and guidance and preparation until you fly away to your future, a place where energy will never again be cheap, where cars will be scarce, and where all social, religious, and political institutions are certain to be quite different than they are now. It’s odd for me to realize that my very liberal view about religion, drugs, rock & roll or my gay sexual orientation will cause less of a conflict to your ultra-religious, very conservative relatives than my reticence to allow you easy access to car-culture, but such is the power of a paradigm.

T-Shirt #2.8.a

I recieved an essay from my friend in Kentucky. He's the author of essay #15. It's really really good. It's also really really long. I'm splitting it into four (maybe five) parts. I think the most challenging part for me is part three.

Dear Son,

Earlier tonight we drove 2.6 miles (one way) to pick up your girlfriend so she could eat dinner with us. We were one car among many cars on the highway, a ribbon of asphalt lit up like a Vegas gaming table, lined with halogen lights, LED billboards messages hawking sales of goods that travel thousands of miles to get to the shelves, all while the radio brought us the news from Iraq via the BBC world news. As I’m writing this I just asked you about what you were thinking when we were traveling there. You said you were thinking up what to tell her parents if they asked where we were going since they would never consent to having her come to our house. I was thinking of something else.

I was thinking of the world you will inherit, and how this seemingly ordinary act of driving a short distance to pick up your girlfriend is a luxury, of how the news about the Iraq war is related to the 1/3 gallon of gas we would be using tonight, how the world seems to be on an insane path because of energy addiction, and how I’ll be able to handle a coming ideological impasse, your 16th birthday.

A major excitement in my life was the acquisition of my driver’s permit at age 15. It was a rite of passage that ranked right up there with getting laid for the first time, and I couldn’t wait. I’m not sure what you think about your 16th birthday, but every time I’ve mentioned your age to anyone in the past 6 years, a common reaction would have an oblique reference to it … ‘before you know it, he’ll be driving’. Your mom’s relatives -especially your uncle Mike- has been talking to you about how ‘you’ll be needing a car when you’re 16’. Your 17 year old cousin owns a car. I’m not angry with them (or anyone else) for this reaction because it’s what they know. It’s the way they think, their worldview, their paradigm. Just like you and me, they have always known a world full of cars and, as a result, structure where they live, where they shop, what they buy, and maybe even who they choose to love on some level due to the luxury of easy transportation that cheap energy and the car allows. They filter their world through the car windshield and don’t even realize they are doing it. It’s their paradigm, this cult of the car.

To be continued...

I'm Fast

“Fasting – to abstain from food.” February I fasted from blogging.

“You can’t fast from blogging. Fasting is about food. Fasting has been about food for thousands of years.”

Fasting is a form of asceticism – “rigorous self-denial; extreme abstinence; austerity.” And maybe the desert fathers and mothers in essay 2.7 knew a thing or two that I wish I could know today.

I didn’t blog. I didn’t listen to as many podcasts. I didn’t bike.

“That’s hardly rigorous self-denial!” True. But what didn’t you do in February?

I also practiced Sabbath. Sunday. Did nothing. Another form of fasting.

The point of fasting? It makes space. It doesn’t have to be religious.

Sunday is a reading day now. Sunday night has become game night. The Boy 5 continues to dominate dominoes.

“Saturday, Donny, is Shabbos, the Jewish day of rest. That means that I don't work, I don't get in a car, I don't fucking ride in a car, I don't pick up the phone, I don't turn on the oven, and I sure as shit don't fucking roll! Shomer shabbos!” – Walter Sobchak

---

Turns out it’s true. Dobson did try to get Cizik fired. He’s trying again this week. Enjoy. Lent.

---

In better news, the Globe Squatters blog is the story of two people as they leave home (Tasmania) and explore the globe. Why?

"Well, we have found ourselves in the routine of working, paying off our mortgage and general busyness - leaving little time for the things we consider important. We realised we were in need of a change of pace. So after many ideas, thoughts and dreams we hatched a plan to head overseas on a working holiday, hoping for more holiday than working!"

T-Shirt #2.7

From MC in Harrisburg, SD -

Let's take the minus and plus in a different direction. Let's go away from Western thinking for a bit. It's time for some Eastern thought.

It's visual. Look at the minus – sign and its horizontal tilt.

Let's observe the plus + sign and the vertical and horizontal leanings.

Taking those pictures into the spiritual relationships one can see the horizontal connection of God through interaction with God's creation; be it man or nature on the physical plane as suggested in Romans chapter 1.

Look at the plus and one can see the vertical approach to God in an upward longing, stretching to the heavens begging to hear His voice or feel his touch as the horizontal plane cuts through the middle causing the upward gaze to fall downward into the eyes of the awaiting chosen vessels to share His love with open hearts and arms ----

Embrace the horizontal connection of God on earth and enjoy the minus as the new plus.

In a mathematical sense, addition through subtraction makes minus the new plus. Cities and their multitudes are often represented in literature as places of bad influence and corruption. In contrast, rural areas with their sparse populations are refuges of rest. Christ often started his day in solitude to give himself strength. During the day he visited villages and sought solitude within the multitudes. He sought individuals to affect solitary lives. As night approached, he found in solitude, a time to heal from a single day filled with a myriad of moments with many.

The desert fathers and sisters of the 4th century isolated themselves from society so they could hear the voice of God more clearly. The more they prayed and sought Him in prostrate form, the less time they had for the world. They would go for weeks and months without seeing others so as to become more in tune with his will. Multitudes would flock to the desert to hear the wisdom of God when the contemplatives would break fast.

Minus – and plus +. It's time for some quiet reflection and a search for solitude.

Ride The Sky

Is it March yet?

The Owner was cruising the St Paul, MN skyway last night.

Actually, the Red Bull Ride the Sky time trial was last night. The Owner was selected as a participant. His three minute ride is here.

T-Shirt #2.6

From JH in Brookings, OR -

Bicycles

I love cycling. There are so many facets to cycling that just aren't available in any other sport. Travel would have to be one of the facets that are way up there on the list.

My wife and I traveled the Oregon coast last summer on our tandem. We had a great vacation and spent a third or less what we might spend on any other kind of diversion.

One of the most interesting encounters we had was a cycling couple from Canada and their children. For them this meant two tandems and two trailers. They had been on the road for over a month. They left from Vancouver, British Columbia and were headed for Southern California. Can you imagine the education their children are receiving?

Minus is a Plus for them. If you have ever toured and came home with anything you didn’t use you obviously begin to wonder why you took it. That extra weight. That extra item just getting in the way!

The Minus as a Plus with cycling for me includes no worries about many health problems caused by lack of exercise. Less cost for travel. Less wasted time with exercise and travel time combined. And I gotta say at least one plus. That plus is a modestly clearer ability to reason. No I haven’t ridden yet today can you tell!

By the way the fuel saved riding isn’t very impressive overall. One rich dude’s cross country flight in his private jet will burn more fuel in a couple of hours than probably everybody in the nation that rides saves in a day!

I used to bike to work when I could but now my job and type of work I’m involved with prevents that. Anyhow I can drive the 60 mile roundtrip to work on less fuel than it takes me to get the second engine started on the small twin engine aircraft I fly for work! (It takes about 90 seconds or less with one engine running before I get the second one started).

T-Shirt #2.5

From GH in Spanish Fork, UT -

I’m just going to have to disagree with the entire premise of this essay even though I completely believe in everything Minuscar stands for. Minus is not the new plus. Minus has been the plus for a long time; it’s just that many are just figuring it out (me included).

In the beginning plus was plus because before the creation there wasn’t anything yet so there was no way to have minus. Not too long after the beginning Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden. Surely the Garden of Eden was a better garden than the Jones’ have. Then Adam and Eve made choices that caused them to be expelled from the Garden of Eden. The earth was certainly a step down from the Garden of Eden, but if Adam and Eve hadn’t taken that step, we wouldn’t exist. That step down was a step forward for God’s entire plan. Minus was the plus.

Over 2000 years ago the Israelites were waiting for the coming of a Messiah. They were looking for a leader to come rescue them from Roman rule so they could inherit their promised land. They were waiting for a political leader who was powerful enough to overthrow Roman rule. What they got was the carpenter’s son who was meek and humble. He did not overthrow the Romans; in fact, it was the Romans that carried out his execution. In his humble way he left us with the perfect example and freed us from sin. Although not as impressive as overthrowing the Romans, providing a perfect example and remission of sins is far more powerful than defeating the Romans. Minus was the plus.

During Jesus’ ministry on earth a wealthy man asked him what he needed to do to have eternal life. Jesus responded that he needed to keep the 10 commandments. The rich man said that he already did that. Jesus then told him that he should sell all of his possessions and give to the poor. The man had to give up earthly wealth in order to obtain eternal wealth. Minus was the plus. But, as is often true today, the wealthy man was more interested in his many possessions than he was in the eternal wealth that comes with using your possessions to help those who have less.

As I look into my own life, I can look back at many instances when my family had considerable money and times when my mom went hungry so I could eat (I was too young to recognize she was doing this until later). The times when my family had money do not correlate with the times when my family was happy. In fact, it is an inverse correlation, the times we were the happiest were the times we were the poorest.

When I started my own family I wanted to give them everything (I’m a slow learner). We had quite a bit, but the day I got rid of the TV was the start of my big gifts to my family. Starting on that day I had more time to spend with them in meaningful activity. In the last few years we have really pared down on “stuff” and increased time spent together doing creative things. Last summer I made the big step of selling my car so that all of our errands had to be run with one car. Now we rarely drive the one that we have. This year I will put more miles on my bike than are put on the car.

Minus is the plus. It always has been. Eventually, as people strive to get more; those who know how to do without will have the most valuable knowledge available.

T-Shirt #2.4

Dad. Dads are good. I blogged a little about my dad once. Thank you LC.

From LC somewhere in Illinois -

MinusDad

Minus isn’t the new plus, minus is just plain plus. How do I know this? I grew up with a minus sort of guy playing the role of father and the pluses I got from that keep piling up, even 30 years later.

My father is my hero for so many reasons, minus just being one of them. His most visible minus was transportation related. He rode his bike to work in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa in the 1960s. When we moved to a Kansas City suburb, he took the bus.

I can’t tell you his reasons for doing that because we’ve never discussed it. My minus father is also a very reticent man. But I can guess. Part of it was economic, part of it was novelty, but most of it was freedom. To me, a big part of the minus/plus equation is self-reliance.

When the car, washing machine, even television in those days, broke down, he fixed it. When we needed something new, he built it. We found him most often in the garage or his basement workshop. The plus part for me came in being able to hang out with him there or take a rare trip to the hardware store.

Reticence doesn’t matter so much when you’re shoulder-to-shoulder with someone. Still to this day, he’s in his 70s now, he can most often be found on a ladder, in the garage or working in the yard.

Here’s another plus. Minus people don’t throw things away even if they are broken. My father has hardware to rival Wal-Mart and he can find just the right part without too much work.

I’ve inherited many of my minus father’s traits. I ride my bike, I attempt many repairs (some more successfully than others) and I rarely throw away any useful part, no matter how obscure.

One of my favorite minus memories was when I volunteered to work on the art merit badge with my son’s Cub Scout troop. The boys got to make junk sculptures out of pieces and parts I found in the basement. More than one father assumed I had to scavenge for weeks to find all the ingredients. I didn’t think about it then but I should have answered, “No, I got it all from my minus dad.”

T-Shirt #2.3

From Tom Glanzer, Living On Liquid somewhere near Huron, SD -

Almost a year ago to the day, my life changed.

My wife, then 3 year old son and unborn son were driving to the airport in Omaha to catch a flight to visit my in-laws. They never made it.

They t-boned a Coke delivery truck. The 2006 GMC Yukon with 4,000 miles on it was totaled, but everything worked the way it should have. Maxim's car seat and seat belt saved his little life. Steph's seatbelt and air bag saved the life of Steph, and the little person we now know as Brecken.

That accident could have been completely different. I could be alone.

When an event like that happens you look at life a bit differently. Things that seem like the world...don't matter as much.

After that accident, we changed our lives...minus = plus style.

We were chasing the "American Dream" big house, big city, always rushing, kids in daycare...etc.

Then we did it, we subtracted my wife's job, we subtracted our $350,000 house-dreams, we subtracted our high-cost living style, I subtracted eating out every day, I also subtracted 20 pounds by doing that...we subtracted living in a great bustling city, we subtracted cable TV, I subtracted my office on the top floor...etc.

What we added...our kids to our care 24 hours a day, a house on a lake in a part of the state not many people know about or care about, family dinners eaten around a table almost nightly, we read to ourselves and our kids, sunrises and sunsets that get more and more epic, more faith in each other and God, more time with grandparents, more smiles, more joy, more peace.

It is still a challenge, we miss friends, things, and some luxuries, but what we have gained, what our children will gain...it is priceless.

I know that our minus...has generated more plus than we will ever know. I see it on the face of my loving mother when she holds my boys, I see it in the toys scattered all over the house after a cold South Dakota day has forced the boys to play inside, I see it in the snow angels that Maxim and I made 2 months ago and that still mark the ice-covered lake just outside my bedroom window, I see it when I leave the house for work, and my wife and boys are still tucked away in their beds...knowing that the day will be spent together as a family...just like every other day.

Minus is a Plus for this family.

T-Shirt #2.2

It's true. We're giving away MinusCar t-shirts again. Start here for the details.

From CM somewhere in Japan -

- is the new +

3 years ago, I was doing what was expected of me. It was killing me.

I was a teacher at a small private high school in Calgary, AB, a city that was rapidly approaching a million residents. Those of you who are teachers know that a rookie teacher in a small, private high school with limited resources is going to be a jack of all trades. That was certainly the case for me.

I taught 7 completely different and topically unrelated subjects I was in charge of the PE Department I was Athletic Director responsible for the Digital Media program which the administration seemed to think put me in charge of maintaining a network of 30 computers running Windows ME from the beginning of September until the end of October I coached volleyball 3 nights a week after volleyball finished I started coaching basketball 3 nights a week until the end of March I did all this and more for a salary that was about 60% of what I would be earning for half the work in a public school.

My life was worse than a run-on sentence.

Add to that, a wife and two kids at home, involvement in a church where the pastor was a workaholic and didn't know when he was asking too much, meetings, home groups...blah blah blah.

I think you get the picture. It was killing me.

For two years, we kept telling ourselves "Something has got to give! We can't keep living like this." While we told ourselves to slow down, things kept piling up.

Then in May of 2005, something gave. My wife was accepted into the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme (www.jetprogramme.org). We sorted our 'stuff' into four categories: throw away, give away, put into storage and take with us. The 'throw away' category was quite likely the largest (aside from the piano). People thought we were nuts. We sold our house and car and landed in Japan in July of 2005.

The last year and a half has been a sigh, an extended Sabbath. We have finally learned that moving slowly is ok, that we can live with a whole lot less 'stuff' than we thought before, that living with less stuff is actually a precursor to being more alive.

I gave up a whole lot of stuff to come here, but I gained far more.

I gained time with my wife and kids. I gained perspective. I am relaxed. I have enough. I have time to read and learn. I have time to ride my bike, throw a Frisbee, fly a kite, build a model tank, take pictures, go bowling and just hang out with friends.

The stuff that I gave up was ultimately worthless. What I gained was priceless.

T-Shirt #2.1

JK somewhere in CA -

Getting by with Less (Minus) Having More Time for What Really Counts (The New Plus)

It began six years ago. I was making great money for a 22 year old but I hated my job. I had the things many would consider important in life. I had a new car and a 4x4 toy for tearing up the woods. I had plenty of disposable income. I traveled and spent money like there was no tomorrow.

Then I read a book called Culture Jam. This book changed the way I felt about life. I quit my job and got a room above a bar for the summer at the beach. I worked only enough to barely pay my bills. I surfed and mountain biked and hung out with my friends. I only lived 1 mile from the beach yet in the beginning of the summer still drove there. I began to realize the insanity of this. I fixed up a junk bike and bought a surfboard rack for it. This is when I began to see the Bicycle as more then just an object for recreation.

The key vehicle for my childhood mobility took on a new meaning. I began to ride more. I went from driving 20,000 miles a year to about 5,000. I sold my 4x4 and my only car began to sit more and more. When I moved back from the beach I continued this positive inertia to find new ways I could substitute car use with the Bicycle. It became a challenge to see just how much I could accomplish.

In May of 2002 my girlfriend and I found out we were going to have a baby. He was not planned yet turned out to be the best surprise of my life. With the new values I had in my life I really wanted one of us to stay home with my son. My wife worked a job she attended college for and had great benefits. I was only spinning pizza at a local shop so the choice was an easy one. I would be a stay at home dad. This turned out to be the most life altering experience ever.

As soon as he could hold his head up I got him a trailer to tow behind my bike. He loved it. He would just stare out of the side window and watch the world go by. We traveled everywhere by bike and people were surprised if we showed up by car.

In March of 2005 I got rid of my car. It seemed pointless to pay insurance on something that just sat there. We used the money this freed up to pay down our dept and for more time together. I shop at thrift stores and try to never pay full price for anything. I break out the sewing kit to mend clothes. The less we spend the more time we have together. I have worked occasionally full time but for the most part I stay at home with my son.

A few months ago I purchased a used mini van. The idea of facing another winter without a car and being home stuck indoors with a 3 ½ year old clouded my judgment. It gets driven very little and I look forward to becoming a car-lite family again in the spring. The frugality of my life these days allows our family many freedoms I feel sorry others don’t enjoy.

I say “don’t” instead of can’t because the changes we have made are within reach for most. Our friends have been influenced by our decisions and this way of thinking is very contagious. Decades from now when the Voluntary Simplicity Revolution is analyzed, Minus being the New Plus will definitely have it’s mention. Am I naive? I hope for the future I am not.

“One must become the change they envision” Gandhi

Let's Be Religious: The Offering

Today marks the end of a long string of some of my hardest fought for posts. I hope you enjoyed them. Congratulations to all who could keep up. Some of my anonymous friends couldn't hold the pace. I guess that happens when the Bible gets put on public display. I trust they'll catch up later.

Ready for the MinusCar-style offering? I have t-shirts...

"The shirts are monetarily free… you gotta pay with words. Write something around the “minus is the new plus” theme. 300 words minimum. I don’t care if it’s good or bad. I want to publish it on this blog but if you say no I’ll honor that. Leave it as a comment to this post, or e-mail it to me at mytzpyk at yahoo dot com.

Any address information exchanged in this transaction will not be used by anybody but me and only for shirt delivery. Upon request I’ll wear it on a commute prior to mailing. Icky. I will make every effort to supply a shirt for every essay but I cannot guarantee every essay will result in a shirt."

If you have an old shirt and the logo on the back is coming apart, write another essay. I made the logo bigger. It holds together better.

If you write include your shirt size. I'll have them made in March.

If you don't know what the shirts look check here - The Invitation.

If you don't write I won't have to spend any money.

This might be my last post for the month of February. It's a fasting/sabbath thing. If you've been paying attention you probably understand.

L8r

Let’s Be Religious: Biblical Perspectives On…VI

Jonah

Jonah was not a happy man. Jonah wouldn’t listen to God. A ship’s crew had to shake Jonah awake to get him to deliver God’s 40 day warning to Nineveh. Jonah didn’t think Nineveh deserved to be spared and he knew God wouldn’t see it that way.

After delivering God’s message Jonah left the city and found a place nearby to sit and watch what would happen. He was so angry he removed himself from the city, from the community. Jonah delivered his anonymous message and left. He did not get to enjoy the celebration when God spared the city.

Please, don’t be Jonah.

Some churches are saying the end is near. Some Christians think the end is near. Some people believe the end is near. Jonah was so angry he wanted to die. He was ready. “Take away my life for it is better for me to die than to live.” “It would be better for me to die than to live.” “I am angry enough to die.” I suspect it is this thinking that statements like this come from, “why the concern with the environment when it is evident the end times are near. The concern should not be in saving gas but in saving ourselves.”

God said to Jonah,

And should I not have concern for the great city Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left...
and also many animals?

Please, don’t be Jonah.

The truth is, It’s Really Just The Beginning.

mytzpyk is Michael Christensen, he lives, works, rides in Sioux Falls, SD.

His e-mail address is mytzpyk at yahoo dot com.

Anonymous commenting has been disabled.

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After tomorrow’s offering you’ll be free to go.