Category Archives: Alan’s Life

My scooter / motorcycle carrier and Holy Week – Maundy Thursday

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I’ve been sitting in front of a computer screen the past couple editing, it’s a bit tedious and monotonous – cut and paste, cut and paste, render files. The rendering is taking awhile and in the meantime, I’ve been posting some items for sale.

I'm trying to sell my scooter / motorcycle carrier with a 2 inch tongue on craigslist and ebay. http://bit.ly/1eANWzz

I’m trying to sell my scooter / motorcycle carrier with a 2 inch tongue on craigslist and ebay.

 

I still have my Aprillia scooter, I just don’t have a need to haul it around, like I thought I would. One of the images I posted reminded me that today is Maundy Thursday – as opposed to Monday Monday by the Mamas and the Papas.

It is cross-like.

The bike carrier reminded me that Thursday commemorates the two betrayals of Jesus by Judas and Peter before the Last Supper.” (Remember Father Guido Sarducci of Saturday Nigh Live? He claimed to have the dinner check from the the Last Supper – what a relic that would be!)

"When

 

To refresh your Sunday school lessons, this was the day when Jesus called his guys together for a going away dinner, the last supper – a passover seder. He gave them some pretty good advice with the hopes that they would hang together. He said they should “love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another”.

For the most part they did stick together, but It still baffles me why Judas and Peter turned on Jesus at the last minute. It really didn’t matter, because the cops would have eventually found him, anyway – bad news travels fast in an oral culture.

Judas was supposedly smitten by satan. When the super natural is involved, there’s really no explanation when, as Flip Wilson’s Geraldine said, “The devil made me do it.” Judas must have been a skeptic from the get-go and went along for the free food – loaves and fishes went a long way in those days.

"David

 

Peter was just being human, too, and I think he had bought into Jesus’s rap about helping the marginalized people in society since he continued on and was the first Pope. The question is, did Peter ever get over denying he even knew his main bud?

Peter denied he knew Jesus not once, but three times when queried by total strangers. Maybe someone can enlighten me about the significance of the rooster crowing after Peter’s denials – seems like Jesus may have predicted it, now that I think about it.

Peter’s actions weren’t quite as bad, but I’d say a natural reaction when you consider Jesus was a wanted man.

I wonder if I would have stood up for Jesus considering the possible consequences. Back then, when Jesus was still alive, the denial of knowing a criminal was more of a survival tactic. There were no Miranda rights.

These days, it’s more about professing faith about Jesus rising from the dead and all that eternal life stuff, which can be risky, but not as risky as the possibility of being convicted as a co-conspirator and hung on a cross.

Jesus wanted his guys to remember him by breaking bread that was representative of his body and washing it down with some wine which was to remind them of his blood.

I think it’s amazing that all this caught on and continues to grow – in some good ways and some bad ways – after all these centuries.

Anyone need their feet washed?

Are you honest with yourself and with others ALL THE TIME or blame everything on Obama?

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I was at the Conference on World Affairs today and the topic of one of the lecture panels was about spin doctoring and little lies and artful truth-stretching. I think that spin doctoring is most closely associated with politicians and public relations strategies, but the panel discussants made the topic more personal through their own stories and experiences.

The guy on the right is a columnist for the Chicago Sun and gave examples on how his outlandish claims were actually true. The next speaker from Down Under had rationalized working for Shell Environmental after knowing Shell Oil was a major polluter in Nigeria. The third panelist is a rock musician who told the story about his father who finally fessed up that he was a co-pilot and not a pilot during WWII. The final speaker from Hollywood is a show runner for reality TV in LA and explained that everyone in Tinseltown are liars.

The guy on the right is a columnist for the Chicago Sun and gave examples on how his outlandish claims were actually true. The next speaker from Down Under had rationalized working for Shell Environmental after knowing Shell Oil was a major polluter in Nigeria. The third panelist is a rock musician who told the story about his father who finally fessed up that he was a co-pilot and not a pilot during WWII. The final speaker from Hollywood is a show runner for reality TV in LA and explained that everyone in Tinseltown are liars.

 

For most of you out there, you’ve probably never heard of CWA.

This is a week-long conclave with a bunch of talking heads of various academic disciplines who come together to lecture to an audience about current topics. The topics are mundane in nature, but the panels can get very heady.

I tend to go to the sessions that have some practical applications in my day-to-day world. I suppose it’s because I still work and try to gain some new insight into how to conduct my business.

There are lots of retired people who seem to go for the more heady sessions about war and peace in the middle east, etc. etc.

Stuff that I think the average Joe or Joette, really have no control over, but are interesting to talk about and there’s little personal risk in doing so.

Anyway, this spin doctoring panel about the art of rationalized lying fit in with one I heard earlier in the day about the future of communication. I was also interested since my recent illness, I’ve started to get a lot off my mind to relieve stress.

Turns out, being frank and honest may add more to my stress, than I imagined, which I’ll explain later.

What did I learn?

Like Jack Nicholson says in “A Few Good Men” – “You can’t handle the truth.”

In our daily lives as we meet our neighbors, go to work, interact with friends of various ilks, I’ve learned that people can’t handle the truth, unless they’ve concocted their rationalizations or come to grips with their truths.

The session earlier in the day I attended about the future of communication had a big discussion about the “filter bubble” of internet searches.

As the search engines become better at “dialing in” the words and phrases of our searches, if a person relies too heavily on the search results, the narrow results put us in our own artificial realities that only reinforce what we think, rather than providing a broader perspective.

The example used by one of the presenters, if a political extremist only googles obama, guns, 2nd amendment, the only results that will come up will be those that have come up time and time again, thereby leading the activist to think that “everyone” holds the same views.

Since my flirt with death, I’ve had a big attitude adjustment that life is too short to “beat around the bush” and have become more forthright in my comments and approach to people. Based on reactions I get from people, this isn’t an acceptable cultural norm.

People aren’t interested in hearing frank and unfiltered opinions, especially if they concern them. So far, folks get defensive, push back, and jump to conclusions. I may have to return to my wicked ways and join the crowd, since others aren’t willing to face their big and little demons openly.

I’ll be more selective in my battles, for sure.

I’m figuring out that most people like telling the little lies and concocting stories backing them up; rationalizing their questionable actions as being positive choices.

By the way, if anyone posts that Obama is a liar or Congress members are liars, your comments will be nixed. Those targets are too easy.

This is about you and I coming to grips with our own behaviors before knocking anyone for theirs. Now that I think about it, if we only surround ourselves with people and media accounts that only bolster our own perspectives, we are enabling the status quo liars in Washington D.C.

eGo Car Share service is handy, but for now, I’ll stick with the VW Eurovan

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I don’t know if this car sharing service works in communities other than those with compact borders, but there’s always an eGo Car Share car parked on the corner in my neighborhood.

I’m still not fully confident in my driving – physically and automotive-wise. The Eurovan has had more than it’s share of problems, but I think it is finally getting to the point where I trust it.

The engine blew up in the middle of nowhere outside of Fort Washakie, Wyoming because the instrument panel had a short in it and wasn’t detecting engine temperature – although I could have checked under the hood more often (that was fixed under warranty). Many thanks to Gary Collins who towed the van from Lander.

The exhaust system is rotted out and that will be fixed tomorrow; it’s a manual transmission and I am gaining strength back in my clutch leg / foot and I put new rubber all the way around.

I’ve been exploring different transportation options, leasing from a dealer, selling the Eurovan and buying new; and the eGo Car Share. I haven’t had a new car since the 1970s and I don’t know what got into me that I would investigate one now!

Although I did become more fluent in the car leasing game. The current deals you see offered aren’t the best deals. I will check again at the end of the year for the 24 month lease with nothing down.

Even if I have to put a few hundred into a used vehicle, it’s still less expensive than maintaining a new one. Now that the Eurovan will soon be road worthy and a couple thousand bucks later, it may be worth using the loaner car from time to time.

The eGo Car Share is a local nonprofit company that owns a bunch of cars and trucks that get loaned out to Boulder and Denver users for an hourly rental charge. It must be a franchise of some sort.

At my first glance, the Car Share is best suited for a person who doesn’t own a car and just needs one to run a few errands, haul a load of dirt, etc.

People who don’t drive much already have a small carbon footprint, but for someone like me, it’s probably not the best option since I drive quite a bit in a single – occupancy vehicle.

But at least the Eurovan is bought and paid.

Since I’ve known about the service for some time, I decided to sign up to find out what it is all about.

It’s a simple enrollment process on the internet and once a guy has filled out the forms, taken a quiz about the service, a “fob” is mailed out which is used to lock and unlock the car. Once inside, the key is wired onto the steering column and away you go.

All you have to do is get approved, pay any monthly fees and then reserve a vehicle on line or call their office. If you’re looking for a particular kind of vehicle, say a van or pickup, then accessibility may not be as handy.

If a person doesn’t have a car or at least one that’s all paid off, this is a pretty good option. Included in the $4.50 to 6.95 hourly rate is a $250 deductible insurance plan and vehicle wear and tear. The rent maxes out at $39 to $49/day which is comparable to a car rental place.

You get 50 miles included then $.33 to $.38/mile after that. The person who uses the car when the gas tank gets to be about 1/4 full is responsible for filling up. There’s a credit card in the glove box to cover that cost.

Today, I drove a Honda Fit for a few errands to try out the program. For less than 10 bucks, I went to the office supply store, stopped off for a few groceries and dropped the car off in the Holiday Neighborhood.

How does this compare to renting at, say, Enterprise car rental where I do most of my business.

Depending on the season, an Enterprise intermediate or standard car rents for anywhere between $25 to $50 / day with unlimited mileage. You either buy their insurance or cover the rental under your own policy. Enterprise also has a $10/day weekend rate Friday through Monday during certain times of the year.

Renting a car is definitely cheaper than the Car Share for basically the same deal if a person wants to use it for quick errands around town.

Car Share is not good for driving to work and letting it sit for eight or ten hours, unless your work is near a check in point.

I’ll stay enrolled in the eGo Car Share deal. It’s a good complement to my RTD ECOPass bus pass, my Eurovan and Enterprise car rentals.

For more info, http://carshare.org/