Life in the slow lane

I left the career job almost 2 months ago. So, how is it going? Is not working a full-time cubicle job all it's cracked up to be?

You bet!

I realize that this is a unique time in my life. In a few short weeks, I'll be living in B.C. and hopefully getting around to being productive again. After a few weeks of visiting friends and relatives, I'll start chasing down some Wwoofing farms to work on. In September, it's on to New Zealand and hopefully 6 months of travelling. After that, I guess I start another career. Still have to put food on the table.

I am really enjoying this half-speed life that I am living. I'm busy everyday, but realistically only for a few hours. That still leaves a lot of uncharted time to deal with.

Is there any guilt? None whatsoever. My only real concern is the complete lack of routine and the loss of some healthy habits. I haven't stretched since I left Dal. My back tells me everyday, all day, that stretching is required. It will win out in the end, but for now, sloth rules.

Unless life interrupts, this is my daily routine

- Sleep in a bit
- Drink coffee, read paper, read email and online news
- Maybe watch a bit of Comedy Central and Colbert Report
- Work on house or travel to-do list
- Run errands (literally)
- Have a bath, beer and nap in late afternoon (So relaxing)
- Cheap, healthy supper (salads, pasta)
- Get in some reading or computer work
- Bed early (some things just don't change)

I'm really in no hurry for this phase to end. That being said, I am getting itchy feet and really looking forward to stepping out the door with my little knapsack and heading off for some sort of adventure for the rest of the year.

Bridge Policy to Nowhere?

There has been quite a bit of chatter from the Bridge Commission lately about the possibility of raising the bridge tolls during rush hour traffic. Seems the Bridge Commission wants to help the local populous move towards a greener planet by helping us change our commuting habits.

This is just a tad disingenuous don't you think? We didn't see a lot of vehicle drop-off 3 months ago when the price of gas above $1.30 a liter. We also didn't see any reduction in the 80%+ of single-occupant vehicles. Although a price jump hurts, it doesn't change driving habits.

The Bridge Commission is not owned or controlled by HRM. It has bills to pay, debts to pay back, people to keep employed. Since the bridges are running near peak occupancy, raising the tolls is a great way to generate more revenue.

If HRM owned the bridges, my guess is that the option to control burgeoning traffic would be to make the center lane a commuter's only lane. Not so hot for generating revenue, but a proven way to change driving habits. Start taking time out of people's pockets, and you get their attention. This concept works in major cities all over the planet.

All long as we don't own the bridges, we cannot enforce any progressive traffic policy that includes those bridges. Instead, we allow what is basically a private corporation to pretend to care about the planet in the guise of trying to extract more money from a driving population that will spend more money to cross a bridge, but would hate to spend a nice big chunk of extra time to do the same.

WARNING: Habits may be habit-forming

Walking to work affords a lot of time and space to have things rattle about in your head. Every so often, a little gem pops up. If the idea starts worming its way into my waking hours, I examine it in more detail, and maybe come here to express my distilled thoughts on the subject.

I am a very habitual person. I get attached to clothes, dishes, movement patterns, you name it. I hate being late. I absolutely hate losing things. I wouldn't call it OCD, but I would call it anal. This is not new information, certainly not to the people around me. What is new is my way of looking at these habits.

In simple terms, my habits are habits.

For example, I am attached to my current coffee mug. Had it for years, will miss it when it's gone. Reality is, it broke a few weeks ago, and I am now OCDing on it's replacement. I'm not so much attached to the specific article, I just get attached to whatever I have. What I actually have is not that important. Who knew!

As I prepare to retire from Dal and go on hopefully an extended trip about the planet, I have been concerned about my habits and the long-term effect of wresting myself away from my home space. No biggie. I'll just fixate on the replacements that pop into my life.

It has been quite interesting naval-gazing on this topic.