Bikes and Stocks at Yard Sale Prices

We just bought the kids "new" bikes this week at a yard sale, and we were more than happy to get a deal. Their old bikes had gotten too small, and Dad has not taken to time to properly teach his children to ride (insert guilt trip here). The new bikes, awesome September weather, and excitement from the kiddos has encouraged me to get them out riding this fall.

I've been equally excited to pick up common stocks at uncommon prices over the past few weeks. I'm no day-trader, just a regular contributor to my retirement plan at work. And as stocks get cheaper, it seems to me I'm getting more and more for the money. Granted, if this truly is the "worst financial crisis since the 1930s," there could be issues. But even if that's true, I think regular purchases of stocks over the next few years will pay off in the long-term.

It'll be another 30 years before I need the money, and I'm sure we'll have the "worst financial crisis since 2008" sometime between now and then.

Simultaneously we're attempting to pay off a car loan early. It's a 6% loan, so I know that every time we make an extra payment I'm earning about 6% on that money. It's the best savings plan we have going at the moment.

Am I missing something here? Should I be following the crowd to bonds and my 0.3%-earning savings account before our nest egg hits zero? Anyone with an actual financial background (I just count cars for a living) with insight?

Naked Streets

I'm generally a fan of "contrarian" writers and thinkers, and those who challenge so-called Conventional Wisdom. From the Freakonomics guy who questions everything, to Marcus Buckingham's views on management (First, Break All the Rules), I'm a sucker for this stuff.

I'm also a Traffic Engineer, so when I run across a "maverick" in my field, I perk up. Enter Hans Monderman from the Netherlands, who passed away earlier this year.

Hans took urban street planning to an extreme, believing that a mix of vehicular, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic would be better served by removing signs, stripes, signals, and curbs to creat "Naked Streets." In his shared-space environments road users communicated with each other to travel safely and efficiently.

Here is an excerpt from an article written just after his death:

His maxim was: “If you treat drivers like idiots, they act as idiots. Never treat anyone in the public realm as an idiot, always assume they have intelligence.”

To prove his point, Monderman was known for boldly walking out on to his naked streets and junctions, turning his back on the moving traffic and walking to the other side to show that drivers would not run him over.

In the world of Engineering you don't see "out-of-the-box" thinking like this every day, so it has been refreshing to me to learn of those around the world who push the envelope. Rest in Peace, Mr. Monderman, and thank you for impacting the way I do my job.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3167372.ece

Wizards in Training

I'm beginning to understand how wizard teachers feel when their wizarding students finally "get it." Our kids are currently on a magic kick, where they are constantly coming up with random spells to cast on each other (and their parents).

Janelle and I have both had our fair share of time frozen solid, waiting for the "Unfreeze" spell so we can continue our walk down the hall. Fortunately for us, our extensive Harry Potter and Diablo II experience has served us well.

Our little mages were hard at work last night, dabbling in elemental and creature-summoning activities in a tough-fought duel. Here is an excerpt:

Madilyn the Magnificent: "Super Fire!"
Blake, Necromancer: "Super Black Widows ... that eat fire!"
Madilyn: " ... drat."

But not to worry, I'm convinced Madilyn will come up with the proper counter-curse to attack the seemingly all-powerful Super Black Widows That Eat Fire before their next battle.

Happy bDay eBay

On this date in 1995 eBay was officially founded. I don't recall anyone having "World Wide Web" access in 1995 (though we might have had a few computers on campus with it), but I'm sure there were some Apple IIe machines, PEZ dispensers shaped like Yoda, and more than a few other random items.

Of late I haven't spent much time on eBay. When I do, I tend to use it more as a "price check" website than an actual place of business. It's nice to know somethings true value (i.e., the price someone - or a lot of someones - has actually paid for it).

And it is always good to know that if I need to replace my worn out "Hangin' Tough" cassette tape, I'll always have a place to go. Three cheers for eBay.

Ready for Some Football? Well, kind of...

After years of being a ravenous NFL football fan, I'm finding myself not quite as excited this year. I think it boils down to a couple reasons:

1. My team (Kansas City Chiefs) have extremely low expectations. They'll probably not be very good this year, and the excitedment level for the team is just not there.
2. My fantasy football team (Laser Cats) drafted in July based on schedule. As such, it's been a long time since our league owners talked, and there haven't been any big news items since our draft to make our preseason interesting.
3. My college team (Mizzou) has National Championship expectations, which I've never experienced in my life. I have found myself much more interested in studying the Top-10 college programs and all the teams on MU's schedule than digging into the NFL. Living in Columbia we have more access to the games, and with the kids getting older we're planning to attend later this month. Due to the cost of the NFL games, we likely won't be seeing the Chiefs anytime soon (even if we wanted to).

Don't misunderstand. I'll still be bellied up to the Plasma Thursday night, and again for the Chiefs-Patriots Sunday. And I'll probaby be over this post by next Monday and ready to write a retraction. But for now, I'm feeling much more Black & Gold than Red & White.