2024 April - 5% diary

It's a diary of my normal life, the 5%. Just posting my replies to the monthly newsletter questions between the family and cousins. Dragon comments are after, "in the record".

David -- 

Here in The Valley, it’s extremely difficult to survive without a car, but I stumbled on this article about a guy who moved to a new development in Tempe that is car-free. I found it fascinating. My only gripe is that they need to have a designated person in charge of a building cluster. See pic. You need a manager to resolve issues and do safety like a fire drill. The manager would live rent free and live in that cluster. They did this in the dorms at UC Santa Cruz. 

Would you consider living without a car? I have several times when I was at college. Once at UC Santa Cruz where we walked and took the bus. And at UC Davis where it was flat and I bicycled everywhere.

Is that even possible where you live? It would be possible now since the advent of electric bikes and carts. FYI. If you get an electric bike make sure it is a chainless digital drive bike or at least a belt drive. Here is a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-Zyp6jX0HM  No messy chain, just get on and pedal or ride. 

Is there adequate public transit available in your area? There is but you need to take it all the time to get used to it. 

 

From home to work at S&C Electric Co.

 Do you use or have you used public transit at least occasionally? Before I retired, I used to bike to Berkeley BART, Bay Area Rapid Transit (13 min), and BART to Oakland (20 min), then ride my bike to work in Alameda (12 min). Mind you, I had to carry the bike up and down the stairs because it was not allowed on the escalator, though starting this year you can now take your bike on the escalator. So it was a 50 minute bike and BART versus a 30 minute drive. See pic.

Any mass transit adventures or stories to share? Too many. On BART, anyone can come on the train, though most of the time it is quiet. One time I slept through my stop. Another time some homeless person had all their possessions on the train. Another time a homeless person had not bathed forever and it smelled like it. There have been folks who perform on the train asking for money. Homeless people would ride BART to have a safe comfortable place to sleep. 

 

In the record, the Gremlin: The three umbrellas and the clairvoyant was an interesting adventure. 

There was another adventure that I have yet to write about that happened when Ibol touched me

What should a city do to get me out of my car? Make transportation free. If you own a car/truck you pay an extra pollution tax which pays for the free transport for everyone else. Everyone without a car gets to use the city's electric bikes and carts for free. Have bike and cart hubs at the local transit hubs, e.g. BART or Amtrak, where you can always get a bike or cart. I am willing to give up a car, the insurance, the repairs if the city took it over. 

 

Did you watch any of the March Madness NCAA basketball men’s or women’s tournament games? Only the women's games I watched the highlights of was Iowa's star Caitlin Clark. It was amazing to see her shoot 3-pointers with ease.  Here is a vid of all her 3 pointers in the NCAA tournament: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKowlffXvGQ&t=19s  And she was excellent on assists also.

Will you watch the NBA championship games? I only watch the Golden State Warriors and only the highlights. Let's face it Steph Curry changed the sport of basketball forever.

Are there any other sports that you like to watch, such as baseball, hockey, tennis, rugby, golf, etc.? The only other sport I am following is Shohei Ohtani on the Dodgers. He is another person who has changed his sport.

What is your favorite sport? You know, I don't have a fav sport. I prefer triathlons versus baseball. Maybe fencing which I took at UCSC.

 

Cool pic.

Did you view the April 8 solar eclipse? No.Though some friends in North Caroline sent a pic. See pic. 

In the record, another eclipse post is here:  Eclipse 

In the record, planets and moons overlapping each other allows for transit.

 

What shows are you watching/streaming/binging lately? Okay, so I am slow. I will admit that. See pic. I have rediscovered that my 75" TV/monitor I got with the relief money in 2021 is a 4K device. 4K! Bonanza! Why am I not streaming movies! The first one we did was Oppenheimer just this last Saturday. The kids and I watched it once. I watched it two more times. The third time I keep stopping the movie to Google who is what to understand the back history of what happened to Oppenheimer. It is nice to be able to stop the movie and go to the bathroom or get a snack or just stretch. The next ones are Barbie then Everywhere Everything All at Once. And I always binge watch anime and dash cam videos.

 

And lastly, what have you been up to? Well, I was going to talk about a project, until I found out today that our mortgage was sold from Snapfi to PHH mortgage. So I Goggle PHH and find out that they are the worst. See pic. What am I supposed to think when the first review says, "RUN don't walk from this company." There are 13 reviews rated at one out of five. One person said that they would have rated them 0 if it existed. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I am a good person. I have paid my mortgage on time all the time. Why am I being punished? I know that I should not judge them from other reviews, but I just got the news that the mortgage was sold April 1st, when in fact the notice arrived today. Not a good start. I have become religious now and pray to the Lending Gods to spare my soul. Amen!

Stay safe everyone! 

 

 Fun Fact:

Well, the house we used to vacation at in Bisbee is now an invisible house.

 Update: