The Bicycle: A Liberating Vehicle

Here’s an article on the surprising freedoms brought about by the bicycle that had me laughing out loud as well as stunned by the attitudes prevalent less than 100 years ago. I ride for a variety of reasons, health, fitness, to clear my mind, but the primary motivator is the way it makes me feel. There is nothing like natural endorphin!

This past week I logged 105 miles on my bike without much thought to how fortunate I am to be able to ride – not just physically able but also from a socially acceptable standpoint. According to the article, in the late 1880’s, “Female cyclists were often accosted verbally and physically as they rode. Emma Eades, one of the first women to ride a bike in London, was attacked with bricks and stones. Men and women alike demanded that she go home where she belonged and behave properly.”

Now, I have had rocks, ice and beer cans thrown at me while riding but not for being a woman on a bike. I was simply an irresistible target to simple minded children riding in the back of a truck. Fortunately, the laws have changed and very seldom do I see kids in the bed of a moving truck, anymore.

It’s interesting that the bicycle is also partially responsible for changing the way women dress. To ride a bike, one had to wear a more rational outfit such as bloomers and not the customary long dress. I don’t know if my grandmother ever rode a bicycle, but she did mention that she played basketball in the early 1920’s in bloomers!

I owe so much to those that went before and fought to open up so many opportunities for me and others. What they went through seems unimaginable to me now days. I will never take another bicycle ride for granted!

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Protesting my Property Taxes

It doesn’t seem to matter that home prices are dropping across the country - tax appraisals continue to inflate. I was surprised to see that the county had increased the appraisal value for my home. I knew it would never decrease, but at least I entertained the idea that it might stay the same.

A couple of weeks later I received a letter from a firm that wants to protest my taxes for me and take 50% of the savings. I had been considering a protest and that convinced me to file. I called the appraisal district and was told that they can not adjust valuations over the phone. I explained my case and the appraiser on the phone suggested that I file a protest in writing. Ugh. More time and work on my part required just to get a fair shake, a fair appraisal.

The following is the first draft of my letter of protest. The place names have been changed, but other than that this is the letter to be mailed.

Dear Appraisal Revew Board,

It is my desire to file a protest based on the valuation of my property being unequal to other properties. Valuation and property data is provided in the following chart for three homes located in my home neighborhood.

My property at 928 Home Road is to be compared against comparable homes at 927 and 930 Home Road. These two homes, at street #927 and #930, are the two closest homes to my house at 928 Home Road. My house is located between these two properties. All three of these properties have been re-valued for tax year 2008 and the figures in this chart reflect the most current values for 2008.

First in a comparison of the lots, it becomes apparent that my lot is more narrow with much less frontage than either of these other two properties. Both of these properties have a more functional and usable shape and consequently should be more valuable than my lot, yet my lot has a significantly higher land rate (cost per square foot of land). In addition, I do not have usage of the last 100 feet (North end) of my lot because it is under water. A city drainage ditch completely crosses my property. Using the rate (cost/square foot) for the lot that most closely resembles mine (930 Home Road), my total land value becomes 0.74*28907 = $21429.

Next, my home structure is valued at a greater amount than a larger home next to mine. Both homes are rated in good condition and are separated by only one year in age. The home at 927 Home Road has 153 square feet more living area than my house and a garage that is 180 square feet larger than mine, yet my house has a higher appraised dollar value. By calculating the cost per square foot for the home at 927 Home Road and applying the same rate to my own structure, the new value becomes: $53.41*1947 = $103,998.

In addition, my home has a large retaining wall that is in need of repair. Neither of these two other properties have a comparable retaining wall. The wall is approximately 11 feet tall and extends over 90 feet across my property. This wall provides support for my home foundation. The wall is constructed of used railroad ties that were installed in 1987. The railroad ties have deteriorated and need replacement. I have included a photo of the damaged wall and an estimate to replace this structure.

As is the case for any major repair work, a prospective home buyer would request that the cost of the retaining wall work be subtracted from the final selling price of the home. Given a market value of $125,426 minus the cost estimate of the wall ($19,722), the final market price becomes $105,704.

Please review the information that I have provided and reconsider the property valuation for 928 Home Road.

Thank you for your time,
Sincerely,
homeowner


I really don't expect the county to lower my property valuation to my recommendation. However, I do expect some relief and of course I am eager to read the logic behind any rebuttal.

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Remarkable Gas Savings with New Furnace

A few years ago I replaced an old gas furnace with a new, more efficient unit. The old furnace had failed, so there was no choice in the matter. This past week I captured my usage history from the web site provided by my gas provider and built this chart. The data ranges from October 2003 to the present. I replaced the 17 year old gas furnace the last week of March 2005.


It’s pretty obvious that the new unit uses less fuel. It even saves gas in the summer months most likely due to the fact that it does not have a pilot light. The plot also has a linear trend line which definitely indicates that usage has decreased. I continue to make other small adjustments to reduce consumption. For instance, I have replaced a programmable thermostat, built an attic stair insulation box and made more use of a space heater which allows me to set the thermostat lower.

The secondary axis is an inverted temperature scale and the smooth oscillating green trace represents the average temperature for each month. It’s surprising how the temperature profiles over the years follow each other so closely. There is not a whole lot of variation when averaged out over a month.

A comparison of the maximum usage of 12.3 in Feb 2005 to the maximum of 8.8 in Feb 2008 resulted in a savings of 3.5 thousand cubic feet of gas, while the average temperature was the same at 47 degrees for each of those months.

I am thrilled to be using less gas, but as you might expect, the bottom line has not changed due to rate increases. My total gas bill for the past year is remarkably similar to that in 2005.

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Case in point: 401(k)-style retirement plans not for everyone

What a shocker! 401(k)-style retirement plans are not worth much. Here we have an example of college educated teachers with control over their 401(k) type retirement plans that have failed to invest wisely to secure a decent income in retirement. After 17 years, the teachers have actually requested to hand over their retirement plan money and be allowed to go back into an under funded, state-run pension plan!

The experiment has failed. Unfortunately, Pandora’s box has been opened and even though these public employees will be allowed back into a defined pension plan, many private sector employees will not. Second chance do-overs for corporate America are not likely.

At my place of work, the new hires requested a portable pension-like fund and voted via surveys to get just that. When the company announced this change to the retirement plan for all new hires, I had mixed thoughts. I envied the portability and independence that a 401(k)-style retirement plan would offer. But, the impact of such a change extends much deeper than just having control over your own funds and the potential to capitalize or fail at managing your retirement income. As a long term employee and future pension participant, I am also very wary about how this portability will affect the workforce.

One of the greatest strengths at this company is the accumulated wealth of knowledge and experience that goes into every design. That is quickly changing. The new hires readily state that they have no intention of staying at one company for even 5 years! Let alone 10, 20 or a career. It’s a fact that employee turnover is increasing. A defined pension plan is one very good reason to stay with an employer and it is no longer a factor at this company.

The lessons learned from the teacher's case in West VA can also be applied to other similar situations. Remember how so many clamored for Social Security to be privatized? Give me my money, they said, I can invest better than the US Government. Personally, I would love to have Social Security privatized. I know I could invest intelligently and improve on the returns. Seems most everyone else thinks that too, but it is far from the truth. This WVA case is a prime example.

Privatization of Social Security would be a boon for me, but not so great for the country as a whole, and for that reason I am against it. Darn it! I detest socialism. But, I also know that Social Security is all that some folks have or ever will have for retirement or disability income and they do not have or ever will have the mentality or financial tools to handle money, invest money, or properly plan for their economic futures. Face it, the majority of humans are financial flops and giving them investment control over their Social Security money is akin to throwing them out on the street.

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Torn tendon Takes a Toll

While completing another one of my home projects, re-building a work bench area, I injured my right knee. I don’t know exactly when it happened. There was no sudden pop or moment of sharp pain. Rather, at the end of the day, I noticed my knee felt like it had been twisted. There was just a slight twinge of pain and then over the next few hours it started to stiffen up. By morning, it was too painful to walk! I hobbled around some, iced it and tried to keep it in the one position (straight out) that was pain free.

I did some research on line and verified that it was indeed my quadriceps tendon, one of the biggest tendons in the body, that I had aggravated. Based on the pain location, I have torn only the lateral or exterior side of the tendon. And every time I move and feel that sharp pain, I imagine that I am tearing the tendon even more. Yikes. So, my weekend plans changed abruptly. No bike riding or roller blading or even walking the dog with this bad wheel.

As if immobility isn’t depressing enough, I am frustrated and a little distressed at how I got the injury. I have a 4 step wooden ladder. Most of the time, I don’t use all of the steps – meaning that I step down from the second or third step all the way to the ground. I have always done this, but usually I am working on dirt or the lawn whereas this time I was on concrete. Taking a bigger step places more stress on the knee of the leg that first touches down on the concrete. The distressing part is that getting older is most likely a key factor in this injury. Time is taking a toll on my durability.

I have torn other tendons before, usually playing sports: elbow, shoulder, and Achilles – they all hurt like a red hot poker every time they are moved. And the only way to recover is rest……Maybe that’s not such a bad thing. It forces me to slow down and spend some time doing other more sedentary things. It’s events like this that help re-new my appreciation of good health.

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