The Car of the Future

You probably don't know me well if you don't realize that I was one of the first to put money down on a car that didn't exist yet - the Chevy Volt - and have since trumpeted both the praise I have for the car, as well as some of the "opportunities" we'll call them.  It is a point of pride to me to be a part of pioneering EV technology; it was not an economical decision by any means, it was 100% the draw of a cool technology that could change the world.  I fell in love the minute I first saw the concept car, and even though the real thing would not be rolled out in my state until years later, I had to get one.    

I've received tons of compliments and questions about the car, especially in the first couple years; people in the cars next to me at a stop light would signal for me to roll down my window to interview me, and I'd get stopped in parking lots all the time.  I'll never forget one taxi driver who asked me, "Does it really get awesome mpg?  How can you trust the numbers the computer gives you?"  I took a peek at my dashboard and retorted, "Well, it's been over 1400 miles since I last filled my tank, and it only holds about 9 gallons.  You do the math."  The taxi driver was so delighted, he screamed gleefully, "That's my next car!" as the light turned green and we drove off.  Sometimes people complimented me on the styling of the car, not even recognizing that it was electric.  When I told them that, they were dumbfounded!  Most EVs at the time looked like dinky capsules with googly alien eyes for headlights.  

A lot of people didn't understand the difference between the Volt's hybrid technology, or range-extended EV technology as GM tried to sell it, and that of a common Prius.  The difference, I'd have to explain over and over again, is that you can hardly ever drive a Prius for any useful distance at any reasonable speed, without the gas engine kicking on.  With the Volt, I get through most weekdays without ever using gas; the gas is there only as a backup if I run out of electricity, and for longer trips.  While many of my eco-friendly technophile friends were gunning for the Nissan Leaf, an all-electric car with a lower price-point, I knew that wouldn't do it for me because my family lives a little over 100 miles away, and the charging station at the midpoint was not installed yet (although I knew it was coming... some day).  To me, the Leaf was a great commuter car, but could not suffice as the only car of a household.  I faced a lot of criticism from the EV-purests; GM was, after all, the company reputed for killing the EV1 in the 90's, so who's to say the Volt would ever even come to fruition?  Plus, the Volt didn't qualify yet for HOV lane access, a privilege granted to the Prius and two other inferior hybrids, and all electric vehicles.  My commute at the time didn't benefit from HOV lane access much, and I stood firm on patriotic and technologically sound principles that the Volt was the way to go.  I got the last laugh, of course, as Nissan Leafs failed to hold up in the scorching heat of Phoenix summers, and all my Leaf-fanatic friends lemon-lawed or ditched their cars at a huge loss very quickly, while I am still thrilled with the performance and battery life of my Volt.

I had done all the negotiations upfront through email with the dealer in California, and he even friended me on facebook.  It was nothing like a "normal" car buying experience.  I had customized what little options there were to choose from, and the Volt Advisor assigned to me provided updates on where it was in the process and shipping.  When I arrived at the dealership, I was greeted with familiarity and hugs, even though I had never met a soul there.  I signed all the paperwork to purchase the car, and hadn't even seen it (except in passing, it was being taken to fill up as we were pulling in, and I caught just a glimpse of it).  When I finally got in the car, before I could even drive it, someone on the lot offered me $60,000 for it, almost 150% of the price I just agreed to pay through financing.  Since then, the car has been great to me, albeit some hickups along the way, but overall I am still thrilled to own Volt #492.

All that being said, the passion for EVs has faded a bit; I think the world has come to accept them more (there are 3 Volts and 2 Teslas at my work, all of which plug in, and Arizona now allows Volts to get HOV lane access which is great because my new commute practically requires it), and I think they are definitely an embedded part of the inevitable future.  It's not that I don't love my EV as much, it's just that with lower resistance comes a reduced passion to fight the good fight for EVs.  I no longer get surprised looks in parking lots, or badgering questions, and people have even stopped sending me news clips of Volts catching on fire (all of which were terribly inaccurate).  I look now to the future, which I am even more anxious and excited about.  I think the next step is autonomous vehicles, and I don't think they can come soon enough. If EVs scared the general public, self-driving technology has the potential to drive people out of the country in sheer terror.  But at the same time, I reason that the most dangerous thing you can do any day of the week is get into a vehicle.  Whether you're driving or not, you have a higher potential of dying in a car wreck than any other activity most people encounter in a year, with obvious exceptions. 

I saw a lot of irony in the fear of EVs for two reasons.  One, every person who feared the technology also owned multiple devices that employed that exact technology.  In fact, if you read between the lines in the crazy blown-out-of-proportion articles, the only ways to make a Volt catch on fire, it seemed, was to either set the whole damn place on fire, and the car would eventually catch on too, or severely damage the battery multiple times, turn it on its side, let fluids leak out for weeks, and then it might ignite itself.  So, my conclusions were, if your garage is on fire, don't get into the Volt that's in the garage, and don't stay in a Volt for weeks on end after a severe collision.  Following these two rules would prevent any death "caused" by the oh-so-dangerous Volt.  Nevermind, that it exceeded the safety regulations, it was an EV and therefore its scary!  Give me a break!  Meanwhile, iPhone batteries were burning up and endangering hundreds of people at a time on airplanes, but nobody got up in arms about those.  You know why?  Because iPhones are familiar, and Volts are not.  Second, people were perfectly comfortable driving around "internal combustion engines" - it has the word combustion right in there!  Gas is flammable, did people forget that?  Cars catch on fire from time to time, and they are not EVs.  So even if EVs were as dangerous, the worst that could happen is status quo. 

Similarly, I hear fears that I find irrational when casually discussing the potential of autonomous vehicles.  The most predominantly irritating question to me is, "What happens if the car fails to respond appropriately?"  My response is usually, "What if you fail to respond appropriately?  Or what if the car behind you fails to respond appropriately?"  Every day people die because humans fail to respond appropriately, so this fear is irrational to me.  Then again, I've been programming macros for years, and have always faced fears that the macros are doing something they aren't supposed to do.  When dealing with my macros, I reassure people that it is programmed to take the same steps you would take, it just does it a lot faster.  My experience in programming gives me faith in the potential for autonomous vehicles, because of just that. An autonomous vehicle, programmed well, would react the same way I would or should react, but much faster, and without distraction.  Whereas I may miss something while looking in a mirror, the autonomous vehicles effectively has eyes in all directions, and the logic would kick in much faster than human reaction time even without distraction.  I just finished reading, "The Great Race" by Levi Tillemann, which was primarily about the history of the EV, with an Afterword focused on autonomous vehicles.  The book cites one NHTSA study that showed "human error caused or contributed to 99 percent of incidents," translating to "tens of thousands of lives a year in America" that could be saved with appropriate automation.  I think the fear of automation is more of a control issue - if you feel like you are in control, then you have a false sense of security.  Handing that control over to a computer, even if its a more capable driver than you are, is what leads to this fear.  As for me, as long as I trust the programming and sensors, I will have no problem relinquishing control, because I believe computers are more capable already, and will only get better with time.  Even if my car's computer fails, it is likely going to do a better job handling a given situation than I would, and that's less of a risk than the risk we take every day driving ourselves to and from work. 

Yet autonomous vehicles, for all the promises they carry, do have some legitimate safety concerns.  Cyberattacks, to me, seem to be the most threatening.  There will have to be significant momentum around autonomous vehicles before hackers will bother to attempt such hacks, but as long as the cars are somehow connected to the internet, there will probably be a way to hack into them.  This is the most troubling aspect to me; because it is terribly sexy to think of being dropped off at the front door, and letting my car park itself, or better yet, generate some income for me by enlisting itself on an Uber-like service for the day, then being recalled to my location with an app on my SmartPhone.  But in order for it to be recalled back to us, and in order for it to play on car-sharing services, it has to be connected.  And that connection point is a threat.  No amount of cyber-security will ever assure me that a connected car cannot be hacked.  So, I try to play out the scenario of a completely self-sufficient autonomous car that is not actively connected to the Internet.  Maybe we plug it in at home for a limited amount of time to get the latest map and construction updates, but once unplugged, it operates in an airplane-mode-like status.  This still poses a small threat of downloading, but at least its not an "always on" connection.  I'd imagine there could be encrypted packages coming directly from whatever authority we trust, that we put on a flashdrive and install on the cars.  We can still get traffic and weather updates on our phones live during the drive, so if something severe did come up, we could still manually tell the cars how to respond without them being connected themselves.  But this means the cars will sit, like they do today, in the parking lot and we have to go out to it to tell it where to go next.  Maybe that's the sacrifice we'd make for assured or enhanced security.  I also imagine that cars could communicate among themselves with something less than full connectivity but more than sensors; maybe a hybrid technology lovechild between Bluetooth (localized) and EDI (standardized, plain-text) so that no viruses or hacking mechanisms could attach themselves. 

The biggest barrier, as far as I can see, for autonomous vehicles is not the technology, not the consumer demand and not the infrastructure.  To me, the biggest hindrance is going to be the laws and government policies which also currently seem to be rooted in fear.  Even liability will work itself out, I think, but if autonomous cars are not allowed to drive without an alert driver, then the technology is worse than pointless.  In fact, that makes it almost more dangerous: requiring an alert driver in an autonomous vehicle means a driver who is primarily not occupied with driving and yet vehicle manufacturers hold no liability because the driver is supposed to be alert.  If "The Great Race" teaches us anything, its that government needs to promote new and socially beneficial technologies with supportive policies, incentives and grants.  Putting up roadblocks does not deter the cars from coming into being, and it does not protect the government from being liable.  Government roadblocks will cause the host country to fall behind the technology race, and leaves the government open to lawsuits and criticism, at best.  Imagine if Canada, Europe, China and Japan all had networks of primarily autonomous vehicles racing at high speeds with fewer accidents combined than that in the state of Illinois, and the US laws prevented the technology from growing and prospering in this country.  People would be dying, becoming paralyzed or seriously injured every day, for no other reason than because of those laws.  How long would it take for victims and their families to build a class action lawsuit to remove the barriers to autonomous vehicles?  When they win, which they would, then the US would have to play catch up in the technology, maybe paying royalties to Japan and elsewhere, while the rest of the world has already benefited from years of experience and advancements.  The technology seems to be pretty robust, and America has the opportunity right now to get ahead and stay ahead in this technology. 

My Dad commuted further than the average American for a good part of my early childhood, and regularly got speeding tickets.  He always dreamed of a way to get between Phoenix and Tucson, two hours away by today's speed limits, in which cars would hook into a chain and be stacked up inches away from the next car and fly at incredible speeds of over 100 mph to shorten this well-traveled and congested route.  While I never thought it would be practical to install such a chain, I do foresee a future in which cars could travel at otherwise dangerous speeds, but being autonomous and (at least slightly) connected, would not be dangerous.  This is possible with autonomous cars. On a freeway with four or more lanes, one could be dedicated to autonomous cars, much like today's HOV lane.  The autonomous cars could have an increased speed limit, maybe 100 mph, and even draft off each other which increases fuel efficiency in addition to reducing time traveled.  The idea of an autonomous vehicle lane, to me, may even reduce the anxiety and fears of both government and the general public.  The laws could be altered to say that alert drivers are required to enter and exit the autonomous vehicle lane, but once in that lane, the car would be allowed to take over, and the driver is freed to read the news or check facebook.  This would mean that any accidents in that lane would not impact non-autonomous traffic, and could allow for a proving ground until acceptance has broadened.

Unfortunately, if EV fears is any indication, and I believe it is, I presume that fully autonomous vehicles will not be widely adopted for a long time.  I'd like to believe that they're just around the corner, but I just think there are too many hurdles, not in technology but in regulation and consumer trust.  Instead, I think we'll see autonomous features sneak their way into luxury cars, and then trickle down to their economy counterparts.  Lane keeping, park assist and automatic braking are evidence, as these features are already present in some cars.  I don't believe autonomous cars are science fiction, I think they are inevitable.  The questions will be, how long does it take to get there, and who will lead us into this inevitable future?

A close relative was walking down the street last Halloween, hand-in-hand with her husband.  They had just moved to their dream retirement house in Florida, and they walked every morning.  A presumed distracted driver veered to the side of the road, hit her and killed her almost instantly.  To me, whenever autonomous vehicles are rolled out on a mass scale, they will be too late.  But, better late than never.  

Let's get to work America, and make our roads safer for all the lives that can still be saved. 

 

Mid-Year Resolutions Reset

We're just past the halfway point through the year, and I believe that New Year's Resolutions aren't just for January 1 because it is never too late to make it a great year.  That being said, it has been a great year so far for me, even judging by the resolutions I set at the end of 2014:

• Shoot to check off four Life List items - DONE!  In fact, I did them all on one sweeping, epic roadtrip!  I wouldn't mind knocking one more off, with wine festivals coming up in Arizona, I could crush grapes with my feet!  #Wino
• Hike Seven Falls in Tucson - DONE!  It wasn't spectacular because the water wasn't flowing, but we did it.  Maybe worth doing again sometime when its not as scorching and has potential of water flow.  
• Go on a date to one of the events at Desert Botanical Gardens - Not done yet, we missed the last few Music in the Garden events due to the roadtrip, but there's still time.  The upcoming schedule should be released soon.  Don't disappoint, DBG! 
• Expand my vocabulary.  Learn new words and use them in my blog. - I'm on the fence about this one.  It was a great idea, and I've been receiving words-of-the-day from two apps, but I can't say new words have actually made their way into my vocabulary.  I am culpable of skipping them altogether at times.  There we go, culpable is a word I've never used before.  
• Learn to cook a new dish - using a crock pot, oven or stove - I TRUMPED this one, creating my own awesome dish that requires an oven AND a stove - my amazing cilantro-lime quinoa stuffed bell peppers.  So what if nobody else likes them, I think they're awesome!  And they're so photogenic!  
• Take a lesson in blues dancing - DONE!  I wouldn't mind more, but we did knock out one lesson and even danced on the floor socially a bit.  
• Make a gingerbread house - Not quite the time of the year yet, so this is still to come.
• Host a game night or dinner - We hosted a dinner party for Jaiman's birthday in January.  Despite the turkey frying taking longer than expected and then coming out extra crispy, I think it was a success.  I'm still up for hosting a game night before the year is out.  Who wants to come over?  

Since most of these resolutions have been completed at least satisfactorily, I'm feeling pretty good.  Still, I'm not ready to call it game over with 2015, not nearly.  A few things that have piqued my interest recently, so I'm going to amend my remaining resolutions with some new ones.  Here goes, resolutions for the rest of 2015:

• Make a gingerbread house (from prior list)
• Host a game night (repeat)
• Expand my vocabulary (continuation)
• Go on a date at DBG (from prior list)
• Check out some travel agent webinars (new)
• Research solar panels (new)

 

In addition, here are some things to look forward to for the rest of the year:

• August: Perseids Meteor Shower (peaks August 12th)
• September: Total Lunar Eclipse (Sept 28)
• November: See The Hunger Games – Mockingjay Part 2 (Nov. 20, 2015)

 

How to Plan and Survive an Epic Roadtrip

I feel overwhelmingly fortunate that I had the opportunity this summer to take a roadtrip around the country with my favorite travel partner, my boyfriend Jaiman.  Armed with my ambitious life list and inspired by Jaiman's love of roller coasters, we crafted a plan for an epic roadtrip that we will forever remember.  A planner by trade, I naturally handled much of the logistics to prepare for the trip, but worked with Jaiman to make sure it was both realistic for us, and hit the best of the best.  We had a few learnings, but for the most part, I would say it was a major success, largely in part due to the planning and preparation as described here.  So, if you aspire to craft your own epic roadtrip, here is how to succeed in planning and surviving such a trip.  

Dream big
With your key destinations in mind, review your life list (/bucket list), ask your friends or colleagues for ideas, use "10 best" lists online, and get all the ideas on paper. Our trip was focused on Six Flags parks, but I also wanted to knock off some life list things, and Jaiman wanted to add Busch Gardens into the mix.  Look for events in the target areas that are of interest.  Think about your interests and look for unique and special venues.  For example, beer enthusiasts should check out breweries of their favorite beers.  Car enthusiasts may find some fun car-related museums.  Don't just go for the cliche landmarks, make your trip personal.  

Map it out by day

I used Excel for this purpose, just because it gave me lots of columns to put in data about each day.  I didn't know what dates we would start and end when I started, so I had Day 1, Day 2, etc going down the sheet. Use Google Maps or Mapquest to determine drive time and distance from stop to stop. Be realistic about how much you can drive in one day. We had some long drives to get out of and back into the southwest; 16 hour driving days are not for everyone. Also, allow for time to fill up on gas, bathroom breaks and stopping for food.  If you're planning around a certain event, you'll want to note what date(s) that event are on, and then plan forwards and backwards from that.  I was primarily planning around Taste of Chicago which lasted 5 days, so I had some flexibility, as long as we were in Chicago for at least one of those days.  

Trim it down
Chances are, if you did a good job dreaming big, then your roadtrip plan is much longer than you can actually afford to take off. Maybe not, but you may still want to remove lower priority items anyways because busy roadtrips can be exhausting. Either way, look at what activities could be done in a half day when you allocated a full day, or where you can have an early start or late night to get you to the next destination a little sooner. Cut out activities you think are unnecessary now that you've planned everything. My first roadtrip plan spanned 3.5 weeks, and I was able to chop it down to 2.5 weeks without missing too much.

Note opening and closing times

Certain types of venues may have unusual operating hours, so if it's important to you to go to certain places, and you're limited on time yourself, it's good to know the hours of those places.  We nearly missed a stop I was looking forward to on an extraordinarily long leg, because we slept in a little and then I realized that Abita Brewery closed at 3 - we were targeted to get there at 2:55.  Yikes!  Luckily, they stayed open a little late, and we were able to make it there faster than expected.  We did miss the opportunity to take a tour, but since we've done so many brewery tours, I wasn't heart broken about that.  Still, it would have been good for us to have had the option by getting there by 2.  Another example, we were planning on going to the Arch the night we arrived in St. Louis, but decided that it would be cutting it close and we'd have to go get dinner afterwards, so we altered our plans to visit it in the morning, because Six Flags didn't open for another hour after anyways.  That way, we were able to eat dinner before checking into the hotel, and then we didn't have to go back out again that night.  

Establish sleeping arrangements early on
Once you have your plan, start looking at hotels, airbnb, and reach out to your friends and family in the areas to figure out where you will stay. The hotels in one of my destinations nearly sold out a full 6 months before my trip! I use Travelocity because there are a lot of hotels with free cancellation, in case plans change, and I can pay with PayPal credit for 0 interest for 6 months or pay at the hotel. About half way through our trip, we were getting a little burnt out, so we decided to move some things around, and I had just enough time to cancel one booking and book another, so the free cancellation is definitely nice, especially in the back end of the trip or when activities aren't as high a priority. 

Make a list, check it twice
Start a list of to do's and stuff to bring weeks before D-Day (Departure Day), preferably on your phone so it's with you wherever, so if you think of something while you're in the mall, you can add it immediately. Check the list with your travel companions. Review the list of your activities and make sure you have what you need for all of those. One thing I never think about (until this trip) is aloe vera - I bring sunscreen but inevitably get a little toasted anyways, and then I have to go buy aloe to treat it. So bring both! Think about appropriate footwear, technology needs, different weather conditions you need to prepare for, how you will entertain yourselves while not driving. Then, as you start to pack and knock off the to-do's, mark them as complete. Some things you won't be able to pack until you're actually ready to leave, so keep those open until actually in the car. The last thing you should do is go through the whole list (even completed items) to make sure something didn't get unpacked or forgotten.

Pack healthy snacks
The worst part of traveling for me can be the weight gain because I tend to let loose and try all the local cuisine. So to minimize this concern, I brought several healthier snacks such as Hummus Chips, Wheat Thins Popped Crackers, fruit snacks made with real fruit and lightly salted almonds. Sure, I still enjoyed fries and pizza and all the bad-for-you-but-so-good food at various destinations, but at least we were snacking healthy while trapped in the car for hours on end.

Decide how you will communicate

With our lives so publicized on social media, an epic roadtrip can flood your friends' facebook feeds. I debated putting a restraining order on our social media altogether, for the novelty of being disconnected for 2.5 weeks and so we can share our adventures all at once upon returning. But I've also found that friends can give you great tips if they see you're near their hometown or an area they're familiar with. Plus, I've been told (and assume it to be true) that people like to follow us on our adventures. So I settled on uploading pictures at key checkpoints, and a few other bonus things I'll talk about later. I wanted to make a video montage, which means I need to save some things for that, otherwise it would just be a re-hash of my previous postings. I also thought it would be fun to send postcards, because everyone likes getting real mail. But since most of the people receiving postcards would also be seeing my posts in close to realtime, my goal was to save funny anecdotes or jokes for the postcards and video montage only. This prevented the dreaded over-sharing on Facebook. I collected addresses before my trip, and included stamps, a clipboard and a pen on my packing list so I was ready to write and mail as soon as I got the postcards (and it wasn't my turn to drive).

Print select maps
Many of us are used to relying on our phones for directions, and so we can be caught off guard if the GPS isn't connecting or there other issues preventing us from using nav. So my advice is to review your plans and identify areas where you might need manual maps or directions, and print those out ahead of time. For example, part of our epic roadtrip took us from Chicago to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls and then to the east coast. So crossing into Canada, we planned to set our phones to airplane mode to avoid international charges. Thus, I printed out maps to get around in Canada. Another example was my friend's house not pulling up on maps even at home, so I made sure to get directions before leaving so we wouldn't be scrambling.

Consider car maintenance

We were fortunate that we were taking a brand spanking new car, so this wasn't much of a concern for us, but typically you'd want to at least think about what maintenance you'd want to complete before or maybe even during the roadtrip. Think oil changes, tire rotations, filing tires with air.  We did add air to the tires while on the roadtrip, but didn't require anything major until back home.

Make it productive
I think vacations can be even more fulfilling with some select productivity activities. Rather than just planning on sleeping and listening to music the whole drive, consider an audio book everyone can enjoy (we brought Jurassic Park the audio book), or use Pimsleur to learn a new language (see if you can get them from your local library so you don't have to shell out the big bucks). I encouraged Jaiman to bring his ukelele to practice; he almost didn't because it needed to be restringed, but hey, he can restring it in the car too! I did a lot of writing (postcards and blogs). Imagine coming back from a roadtrip having learned a new language or an instrument! Now there's a story!

Vary your footwear
I didn't invent this tip, I read it somewhere a long while back, but it really helps. This is especially true if you will be wearing heels, but any time you plan on doing a lot of walking and standing (more then usual), it's a good idea to bring a change of shoes and swap then out regularly. Your feet will rub and wear in different places, so as not to aggravate one area over and over again. In addition, while closed-toed shoes may be more appropriate and provide arch and ankle support, putting on loose-fitting sandals will allow your feet to stretch.  I've found some pretty awesome sandals that wrap around your ankle, so they are secure enough to take on roller coasters, but are made of yoga mats - I highly recommend these for theme parks, especially if you plan to get on a water ride because they dry quickly and don't slip when wet.  Foot massages and elevation at the end of the day will also help you recover quickly so you can be back at it the following day.

Plan your souvenirs
There's a sort of frenzy I see in people visiting a new place. They've had such a great time, they want to cherish it, often by buying everything they see. "So-and-so would really like this, and let's get these for you-know-who."

I think it's helpful to preemptively plan what souvenirs are acceptable. I collect shot glasses from the places I go; they're small, relatively inexpensive, often available, and can be very creative collectibles. Jaiman's mom collects pins and pressed pennies, easy peazy for the same reasons. Jaiman collects lanyards. We also decided to buy shirts for ourselves at the various parks, so that we could wear the shirt of a previous park at the next one. This might sound like a lot, but when temptation strikes to buy, say, a pint glass with our favorite ride emblazoned on it, it's easy to pass, because we simply don't buy those.  (I do collect pint glasses from breweries, but only because shot glasses don't make sense.) Or when the chance comes up to play a carnival game in which the losers at least get capes, we can skip it because we don't do capes. "No capes!" Knowing ahead of time what's acceptable not only prevents your from spending excessive amounts of money (do you really need an entire dining set to commemorate your fun time at M&M World?), it also saves you from buyer's remorse when you get home: if you planned to buy it, then buying it was expected and not excessive.  Since I planned to send postcards throughout my trip, that was another easy / inexpensive way to get something for the kids.  So before your next big trip, consider setting rules around your souvenirs; your budget and sanity will thank you.  One last tip, I've found that in the amusement parks, different stores carry different merchandise, so much so that we've had to back track to find that one souvenir or that one shirt in the right size; my solution is to buy it if you think it's calling to you because you can usually return it same day at a different location. 

Download apps
There are lots of neat tools out there to help you on your journey, from gas price apps to check-in apps like Swarm. Here are some that I find incredibly useful in roadtrips and why:

TripIt - This app carries my master itinerary. I like for a couple big reasons: it automatically imports your emailed confirmations into your itinerary (you just forward your email confirmation to plans@tripit.com), and because it can be shared across users/phones. So when I make a change to the itinerary, it shows on the itineraries of everyone else who is on the trip.
Yelp and/or TripAdvisor - You might already use these just to look up places around town, but when traveling they become doubly useful because you don't know the area and don't want to go to a crappy place for dinner or miss out on something awesome. 

TVFoodMaps - My boyfriend and I are self-proclaimed foodies (had to resist the urge to type a hashtag in front of that word), so this app appeals to our need to eat the wildest, most unique or most famous food around. It's how we found Tony Luke's, famous for being the home of Philly Cheesesteaks, while traveling through Philly. The app basically just shows you what places have been on TV, and which shows. 

Waze - If you're meeting up with someone and timing is tight, you can use Waze to send them your real-time location and expected arrival time. You only have to send it once and keep the app open (this does drain batteries so make sure to keep it plugged in) and they can check your status or track it as they desire. This app can be used as nav in lieu of Maps, and also has user-generated info on travel times, police on the road, accidents and disabled vehicles, etc.

Twitter - Even if you don't use your Twitter account much normally, it's nice to have handy when traveling, because you can tweet problems, memories or questions to the companies you're interfacing with. It's also useful for searching certain topics like events or amusement park wait times. At festivals and various venues, you can win awards or get your pictures on the big screen, so tweeting is good times. We won a toothbrush and travel case for my tweet at Taste Of Chicago.

Relax, enjoy and make the best of it
I tend to have trouble relaxing, because I always think I forgot something or have anxiety that I booked something wrong. But, I have learned to trust in my lists, and if something is screwed up, there is pretty much always a solution, and sometimes those make for the best adventures and funniest stories, so when it comes time to hit the road, I have to just roll with whatever comes our way. Sometimes that means missing out on something I was looking forward to, but I frame it up as a learning experience for next time. Get on your way, and see what the world has to offer!

My Favorite Waits

Publishing here from a previous facebook post from Aug 30, 2010.

For our supply chain class this week, we had two articles about lines and waiting in them.  More and more, consumers are looking for an experience, not just a product or service in isolation.  Managing customers' wait times is not enough, because they have expectations and perceptions about their wait that need to be managed.  As I was reading, I was thinking of some of my own examples, and thought, just in case anyone else finds this interesting, I would post them here.  The information in the articles and some of the ideas posted here might be great benchmarks or best practices for anyone starting their own company, too.

• Back in the day when you had to wait for something to load on your computer for hours, the Nickelodeon channel on AOL encouraged us to learn to say the alphabet backwards, and then provided the alphabet backwards for us to practice.  It was an idle, somewhat unrelated activity, but I eventually took their advice and learned the alphabet backwards one day while waiting for something to load, and can now recite it to this day.  Other ideas would be learning Pi to the 25th digit, memorizing zip codes or area codes for various parts of the state/country, learning measurement conversions (I always forget those), or maybe just interesting facts.  These could be used in certain queuing systems with real people just as much as on the computer.
• Check out lines can entertain you by the variety of gum, magazines and other various items.  By perusing these items in line, you take your mind off, even temporarily, the wait and how long you're waiting and the causes for the wait.  There is also the added benefit that the store can gain lots of extra sales from these last-minute impulse buys.
• Massage Envy offers water to their waiting customers - similar to the bar at a restaurant concept - and also suggests that maybe they need to use the restroom before going into their massage appointment.  There are also lots of things to buy, from scented candles to therapeutic lotions related to pain relief - similar to check out lines.
• Portillo's Hot Dogs would send employees outside to the drive-thru lane on a busy day to take orders from people before their cars physically reached the speaker.  Even before they came to me, I felt better about seeing him/her out there for several reasons.  First, I could see progress, even though my car was barely moving, he/she was speedily coming down the line.  Second, seeing his/her progress allowed me to predict when he/she would reach my car (eliminating uncertain waits).  Third, once I gave my order, I was in process and no longer pre-process - this also creates commitment where some people might bail after waiting so long.
• Oregano's has you put your name in like most restaurants, and gives you the option of sitting at the bar like many restaurants.  In addition, however, there is plenty of seating provided for the waiting area, and they sometimes walk around with sample pieces of pizza for their waiting customers to try.  I love this for lots of reasons, partly just because it helps pass the time, but its also like free advertising for their new pizzas or to get people to try something they wouldn't otherwise.
• Like Oregano's, samples are key to keeping customer satisfaction up at Beyond Bread in Tucson.  The sample bread is placed somewhere between the door and the cashiers, depending on how long the ordering line is.  If its long, the samples will be available near the door so you can start munching while in line.  If the line is short or nonexistent, many customers order first and then grab a piece of bread to munch on while they wait for their food.  Drinks are also an important way many restaurants keep you entertained and happy while waiting on food - especially when you get your drink from the fountain yourself… this fills the time up so your idle wait time is shorter.
• Waiting for the first ever Nintendo Wii's at Walmart - not only was this a community feeling because we were in line for several hours (Paul and I got there at 6 for a midnight release), but the store handled it really well by periodically coming out and letting us know how many Wii's were available and that only one Wii was allowed per person, so it lowered our anxiety about getting one.  Of course, there were obnoxious, naive passersby who killed the mood by shouting to us that Wii's would be widely available by the end of the month - little did they know it would take years for Nintendo to catch up to demand.  Around 11 pm (an hour before they could sell us the Wii's), the store manager came out and handed us each a numbered ticket.  Without this ticket, nobody would be able to buy a Wii.  So then we had a guarantee to a Wii, and were then allowed to get dinner or browse the store for an hour.  Furthermore, we retained our place in line with the number, so the first people in line were the first to receive and pay for their Wii.  An added service was that security guards escorted every customer out of the store and to their cars just in case someone tried to steal the precious systems from us. 
• Fry's Electronics - like the Whole Foods in NY we read about, Fry's has a bank-style check out with dozens of cashier stations, red and green lights to denote working or available, and an employee at the front of the line to direct customers to the next available check out.
• 
  Emissions Testing - they have a website to show you a visual video feed of the cars in line as well as the most current prediction of time spent waiting.  At the center itself, they also show you the prediction of time spent waiting.  This made the wait more bearable - until I saw the average time increasing by one minute every minute.  There were also signs to read to prepare you for the test - this also sped up the process I imagine - but it also gave me something to do and decreased anxiety of whether or not I had everything I needed.  One addition I would recommend: add that they take cash or credit card and how much the test would be so people can be prepared for this (I had anxiety about it going in).  An even better addition would be the take a number approach.  You could take a number with an anticipated time to return, and then go grab dinner, etc., instead of waiting in line.  Alternatively, there could be two lines, one to wait in and one to take a number in.  That would be slick!  BTW if anyone is looking for a supply chain project, I think this would be awesome!

Creating Pin-able Graphics (Hack)

Pinterest is an amazing home of flowing ideas and viral images perpetuated by self-described addicts.  Known for identifying more recipes and crafty ideas than one could ever conceivably actually create in a lifetime, Pinterest is also a great place to share business ideas, especially for entrepreneurs, and lifestyle ideas.  Pretty much anything with a picture can be pinned, and that's what makes Pinterest so powerful - its a way to organize, keep and refer to ideas, places and things we saw in this insanely overwhelming information overload we call the internet.  I have written previously about how to put Pinterest to better use, because I believe that its potentially has been largely untapped for individual users.  Now I'd like to spend some time on how to drive traffic to places outside of Pinterest by creating awesome graphics that show up well on Pinterest.   

Step 1 - Tools

As with many graphic design requirements, I use PowerPoint to collect images and I want to use and manipulate them into a collage of text, shapes and pictures.  You may also want to check out canva, at least for inspiration or to throw something together quickly, but in my opinion it is not ready as a tool for complete creation yet.  My recommendation for Pin-able graphics is to start with a blank presentation and use the Design ribbon to set the Slide Orientation to Portrait (longer vertically).  

Step 2 - Sizing

Limit yourself to about a third of the page.  If you don't have Guides and Gridlines activated, right click on the background to do so.  Set the vertical guideline to 1.25 to the left of its default center position (drag it to he left until it says about 1.25).  This little box is your working area. 

Step 3 - Search

I use Google images search to find the images I need, or at least inspiration.  If you plan to overlap a few simple images, you may want to use the Search Tools

to limit your search by Color to Transparent.  What this does is essentially filter on images that Google thinks has a transparent background - its not always perfect but it will get you better results in general. 

Step 4 - Crop, Remove Background, Rotate, Manipulate

Once I find an image, I copy it and paste it into my PowerPoint slide.  Then I may want to crop the image or I may need to do some processing to remove the background.  If there is a background that you want to remove, the most recent versions of PowerPoint have a powerful Remove background function under the Picture Tools ribbon (note, you must have the image selected for this ribbon to be visible).  Older versions of PowerPoint have a Set Transparency Color function available, in which you just select the background color and it makes it all transparent.  I'm also a fan of rotating graphics slightly to give them a more exciting look.  Sometimes keeping them straight portrays a more sleak, streamlined look, which may also be what you're trying to accomplish, so play around with rotating and decide which will work best for you. 

Step 5 - Keep Building

I repeat this until I have the images I want to work with.  Then I add text to go along with the graphics.  Consider putting the text at a slight angle with the rotation tool, especially if you left your graphics straight.  Or add shadowing or outlines to the text to make it stand out from the graphics.   

To make really long pins in Pinterest, build down that section we created to the end of the slide.  I caution not to make the graphics much longer than this, as really long pins tend to be annoying to users and will graphically be shortened

so you lose part of the graphic if it gets too long.  Keeping it about the length of the slide ensure that most of your graphic will be seen, and it will take up a nice amount of the screen when viewed on a board or on the home screen of Pinterst users.  

Step 6 - Export, Place it and Pin it

When you are happy with how it looks, you Ctrl+A to select all, and copy, and then open Microsoft Paint and paste it in there.  Be sure to adjust and crop as needed, and then save the graphic.  Place the graphic where you want the Pin to direct users to on your webpage, and then Pin it to one of your boards to get the ball rolling. 

Sustainability for Everyone

I'm a big believer in sustainability and reducing our requirements for oil and polluting processes.  Driving a primarily electric vehicle is just one aspect of my sustainable activities, and while it tends to be the most visible (and so awesome that I talk about it a lot), it's definitely not the only way to live a sustainable life.  Of course, it's not always easy to balance living comfortably with being green, and I'm not about to go live completely off the grid in a self-sustaining farmhouse; good for the people who do, but that just seems like a lot of work.  Instead, I look at all the little things that cause waste - waste in materials, waste in electricity, wasted water - and minimize my waste in those ways.  The best part about these sustainability-driven habits and practices is that they usually end up saving money in the long run, so even if you're not concerned about sustaining the earth, if you care about your budget, these little things make a difference there, too.  These are just some small, subtle changes that can make a super difference in your electric bill, water bill and your grocery bill. 

Reusable Water Bottles

This may be the point that I am most passionate about.  I am a commercially bottled water convert - yes, I, at one time, consumed dozens and dozens of Dasani and Aquafina every week, tossing the bottle in the recycling when I was done with it.  What's worse is I felt good about recycling these bottles and I felt like I was drinking better water for myself.  Not only does the cost stack up, but buying bottled water is kind of a pain.  Literally, in my case, because I have scoliosis so bending and lifting heavy objects, like a pack of water, tends to hurt.  So I tended to bring a stronger friend with me to the store to lift and move the water for me, which sometimes meant waiting until a friend was available.  The truth was harder to swallow than regular tap water.  Commercially bottled water may not be any better than tap water, and is a huge source of waste.  Water is needed to make bottled water, and then there's the gas and emissions to transport the water, and oil is used to make the plastic bottles.  When you're done consuming your bottled water, a recycling truck has to come and pick up all your recycled bottles, and the more recycling your neighborhood has, the more stops that truck has to make, adding up more emissions.  Don't get me wrong, recycling is good, but reusing is better. 

The main reason I drank commercially bottled water was because my local tap water tasted bad, and I had done some research and found that there were high levels of carcinogens in my local tap water.  While the commercially bottled water I drank did for sure taste better, there was no guarantee that the carcinogens weren't present, since bottled water is not regulated.  So I found a multi-stage reverse osmosis filtration system, and installed it in my home.  It admittedly does produce some wasted water, but because it is in my home, I am avoiding many of the other wastes associated with commercially bottled water.  The water tastes better than my normal tap water, and I feel better about drinking it.  What's more, the filter replacement costs are far less than the cost of constantly buying commercially bottled water, and the water is always available. 

Many workplaces also have filtered water available, including my own workplace, so I don't see much need for commercially bottled water at work.  I also go dancing, where commercially bottled water is available, but I'd rather bring my own.  The benefit of this is that I can guarantee my water is cold, whereas sometimes the water at dance venues is sometimes room temperature. 

One complaint I've heard about having your own reusable water bottle is that you have to take it with you everywhere, whereas disposables can be tossed when you're done with them.  I get it, but here's a simple way I overcome this issue: I have one at work and several for home, and I rotate them only periodically.  Usually I make a protein shake for breakfast, so I drink that on the way to work.  I rinse it out at work, and then pour a little filtered water in it and stick in the freezer.  During my workday, I use my "work" water bottle to refill and drink from.  At the end of the day, I grab my other water bottle out of the freezer and fill it the rest of the way up with filtered water - now I have cold water for the trip home or for dance practice or for the gym.  A funny beneficial consequence of this practice is that, because I use those little shaker balls to mix up my protein shake, I keep them in there when I freeze the water, and the metal of the shaker balls keeps the ice cold much longer. 

Thermostats, Settings and Airflow

Today's technology is amazing, and one great example of this is how far thermostats have come.  If you still have an old school static thermostat that you have to remember to change before leaving the house, this may be the easiest sustainable move to save you the biggest amount of money.  There are some very cool thermostats on the market now.  After some research, I elected to go with the ecobee thermostat for three main reasons:  (1) It is programmable; (2) It connects via wifi to my phone and computer; and (3) I didn't want a "learning" thermostat because my schedule varies so much.  The Nest may be one of the most popular smart thermostats, but its based on this learning concept which is supposed to make it easier to program, but for someone who has such a varied schedule, I assumed that it would always be confused and probably not help in my quest for reducing the electric bill.  I am sure it is a great product for people whose lives are a little more regular.  Ecobee was also relatively inexpensive for the app-enabled connectivity, so that was an additional plus for me.  I figured that it paid for itself within a few months in which I was living alone and wasn't home most of the time.  I basically set it to assume I was away until later at night, after peak hours were over, so that the temperature in house was warmer than comfortable in the summer and cooler than comfortable in the winter (I limited how hot or cold it could get because I still have a dog to worry about at home; if I didn't have a pet I may have gone to even more extremes while I was away).  Then, if I was headed home prior to when it would kick on, I would simply use my phone to adjust the temperature to a more comfortable one, so that by the time I got home, it was already heating or cooling to my liking.  Having roommates complicates this a bit, but I still think its worth it because we are all usually away during the day, so the program kicks in even if we forget to adjust the thermostat, and allows the house to get warm or cool down based on the outside temperature until someone comes home and adjusts it again.  The device also comes in handy when we go on vacations, because even if I forget to set it to vacation mode prior to leaving, I can jump on the app and adjust it remotely.  I can also see what my roommate has it adjusted to while away, and sneakily adjust it up or down a bit if I think the temperature is excessive.  Lastly, I cannot tell you how many times I've adjusted the thermostat from my phone even at home; it allows me to be a little bit lazier, but this also means I'm better able to manage my usage based on my current needs with great ease, even if I'm being lazy.  Technology, man! 

In addition to managing the thermostat settings, I also manage the air flow in my house for significant savings.  I have one to two rooms that aren't used regularly, so I have their doors shut and their vents closed.  In addition, there are these nice little magnetic vent covers you can buy for pretty cheap at a home improvement store, and I just slap those over the vents when I'm not using the rooms, to prevent as much leakage as possible (short of permanently closing up the vent with a hardening foam or something crazy like that).  Then when I have a guest coming for the guest room or I want to use my project room, I simply remove the magnetic vent covers, open the vents and doors and let the air flow to cool or warm the room as needed to match the rest of the house.  One other trick for external doors that are not used often (I have one leading to the back yard, for example), there are little pillow-like draft stoppers that can be placed at the base of the doors to prevent unwanted drafts in and and out of the house. 

Invest in CFLs and LEDs

Almost every lighting fixture in my house has CFLs in it, and a select few have LEDs.  I only have one regular lightbulb, and its because its a "Bar is Open" sign with spinning action that is only activated with the heat of the bulb, so it kind of necessitates it, but that fixture is rarely on.  We play cards at my parents' house a lot, and the chandelier over the table tended to generate a lot of heat, but we knew that we needed good lighting.  I found some great LED bulbs that are brighter than what we had and produce no heat, and are also more efficient, and gifted the bulbs to my parents for Christmas one year.  They've worked great ever since.  CFLs are definitely the mainstream "green" choice of bulb, but don't overlook LEDs for specific applications, especially chandeliers.  Dimmable LEDs (with corresponding dimmer switches) allow you to set the mood with varying levels of light, in an efficient manner. 

Turn It Off, Close the Door

This is a simple principle that helps reduce electricity waste and water waste.  Everyone has probably heard the principles about turning the water off while you brush your teeth, and turning the lights off when you leave a room.  My challenge to you is to question if and when you need lights on, use natural light instead of electrical lights whenever possible, and use minimal and efficient lighting when you don't need a ton of light.  My main living areas have multiple light sources: less lighting is produced by one switch, which either powers CFLs or LEDs, and bright lighting is produced by another switch.  So usually we use the low lighting options, and only use the bright lighting when needed like for cooking at night or doing detailed work. 

Similarly, the refrigerator door is a source of waste when left open.  When putting groceries away, I try to grab as many freezer items as I can at one time, open the freezer door, place them in there, and close the door.  Then I grab refrigerator stuff, and do the same.  It pains me to see refrigerator doors stay open while a person is sorting through heir groceries, and I strongly discourage this in my household.  Drinking out of a carton with the door open, or opening packages with the door open, are also wasteful activities.  So my principle is simple: close the door.  Open it to get what you need or put something away, and close it.  Just close it.  Close the door.

The Three Things Everyone Should Learn: Act III

You have undoubtedly heard or seen the outcries that music and art programs are being cut from school budgets and why this is bad for the kids. But there's a good chance that you don't comprehend what YOU are missing out on, if you don't dance. It's not all artsy-fartsy, it is just as practical, maybe even more so, than the other two "must-learns" in this series. Don't believe me? Read on. 

Dance has been a part of almost every culture since the beginning of civilisation, and for that reason among others, represents more diversity than the diversity of the world's languages and religion combined. Two people dancing the same genre can have their own incredibly unique stylizations, and new forms of dance spring up, especially in densely populated regions, all the time. At the core, it is aerobic, so it's good for the heart and a great way to lose weight. But it's so much more than other aerobic activities, because it is expressive, mentally challenging (in a fun way, of course) and uses varying muscle groups at different times and in different styles. You learn about yourself and become more aware of your surroundings as you learn to dance.  Have you ever been in line at a grocery store or similar setting, and had been bumped into multiple times by someone whose back is to you? I would say that this lack of spacial reasoning can be alleviated with dance and experience on the stage or in a crowded dance floor. It's a personal pet peeve of mine, and a compelling reason to me to keep (better yet, increase) the arts in schools. 

Science Tells Us to Dance

Look, there are a lot of artistic aspects of dancing, but that doesn't mean

science is absent from it. Children at very young ages intuitively move, clap and wiggle when they hear music they presumably enjoy. So it's built into our DNA. Nobody, or at least almost nobody, is literally born with two left feet. If you can walk (and even for many who can't walk), the capability is there; whether it comes easily or with great difficulty may depend on how much musical background you have, but you can always start developing it now. As we get older, we need dance even more; compared to other physical activity like walking or biking, dancing activates more parts of the brain, keeping us mentally healthier, and reducing the chances of dymentia and alzheimer's. 

Society Tells Us to Dance

At many traditional types of weddings, one of the first acts of a newly married couple is the first dance. We start much earlier than, with school dances being a major part of the traditional high school experience. There are several popular

TV shows dedicated to dance competitions, such as Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, and Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition. Amazing Race challenges often also involve local dance styles. Dancers perform at top award shows, during half time for basketball and football games, and in music videos. Football players themselves express touch down victory through their unique end zone dances. There are many popular quotes about dancing like nobody is watching and the like. My favorite of these is, "It's not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain." I don't think it's meant to be taken literally, but if you do learn to dance in the rain literally, then you can learn to handle the things life throws at you. 

To me, one of the most compelling reasons to learn to dance, besides the health benefits, is that dance is so social. Whether it's a girls' night out at a hot night club or a ballroom dance workshop, relationships can be forged in the comraderie of dancing experiences. I think dance teaches you to be comfortable in your skin, and gives you confidence, and when you have that then you can go out dancing by yourself and make friends. I met my boyfriend at a dance workshop that I attended by myself not too long after a rough breakup. If I had needed someone to go to the workshop with me, I either wouldn't have gone at all, or I wouldn't have put myself out there nearly as much. But because I went alone, he and I started talking, and we were dating within a week or so. Guys I've met otherwise, in school, at bars, through online dating, haven't worked out for me in the long run. 

Employers Tell Us to Dance

Creativity is one of the most valuable assets to employers. Communication skills is another. Ability to learn and adapt is also valuable. Dance may not be on most job requirements, but it can enhance and develop these crucial

characteristics. Many styles of dance entail both choreography and improvisation, and each of those develops different abilities. When improvising, you have to literally think on your feet, recalling your vocabulary of moves and stringing them together in a fresh way. When learning choreography, you have to take in information quickly, commit it to memory, repeat it back and adapt as variations and styling are added. Sometimes you have to break habits, we call muscle memory, in order to perform the given choreography, which again is a challenging mental exercise. Creating and teaching choreography also require adapting, strong communication skills and creativity. 

In addition to the valuable skills you learn through dance, having dance on your resume can set you apart. Your potential employer may have had dance experience, or have a son or daughter or niece or uncle who dances, and it can create an instant point of connection and interest other than your work in your day job. When I say I dance, people almost always want to know more, like what style and where do I dance, how did I get into it, etc. It's a great way to show that you're more than a (fill-in-the-blank) worker, with an artistic and very human flair. 

Get Started

I won't try to hide my bias; I think a great way to start is by taking some east coast swing dance lessons. It's fun, doesn't require crazy hip movements or stiff arm positions, and it can be danced to different tempos of music. Maybe best of all, you get to pair off with members of the opposite sex, because it is a very social dance. 

Lindy hop and Charleston are very closely related to east coast swing, and blues, balboa are somewhat related. So if you get involved with one, you'll probably get exposure to the others, and eventually want to learn them as well so you can go in and out of them seamlessly. 

I believe it is important to study multiple kinds of dance, even just a little of each. I've found that I can incorporate bits and pieces from one style into another, and having a broad vocabulary of dance styles allows me to also pick up new styles easier. Other styles I've enjoyed taking classes in include hip hop, tribal belly dance and pole dance. The only downside is that those are less social, more about performing alone or with a group. 

Lots of people enjoy salsa and the various related styles as much as I enjoy

swing. Both swing and salsa have whole communities with various venues in many regions, meaning you can pick up those styles and go dancing several nights a week if you want. Interestingly, there are many moves that are shared between salsa and swing, and simply stylized differently. So if you've gotten good at one, it's not as hard to learn the other. 

There's so much more I haven't even touched on here, but to wrap up, I'll summarize by reiterating that dance is good for your physical health, mental health, social life and work life. And yes, it can be a spiritual activity to, so it is good for your soul. I dare you to find another activity or topic that applies to so many aspects of our lives. Mind, body, heart and soul, what else is there? Just dance.