Slice of Life

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Save a Little Plastic

A phrase I find myself saying more and more on a weekly basis is "save a little plastic," my customary response when I'm at my Mom-and-Pop convenience store in the morning picking up the best breakfast sandwich in the City of Charlotte and one particular checkout person who continually asks me if I want an over-sized plastic bag to transport said breakfast sandwich 10 feet to my car, where said breakfast sandwich will be half gone at the first traffic light. "No thanks, save a little plastic," I always say. I hope that others around me hear it and it makes them think about what they really need on a daily basis and how they can be more frugal. Imagine, if everyone in the world who bought a breakfast sandwich in the morning refused a plastic bag, too.

You see, too many people in this world don't fucking think. And although I'm by no means perfect, I do think about these things. I think about the daily plastic bags and the dead batteries I save in a large container so that I can take them to be recycled. I think about the tap water that doesn't need to be running when I brush my teeth and every light or TV that needs to be turned off when I leave a room. I think about the front door being open no longer than it needs to be when the dog needs to be let out and seeing how long I can keep my car on cruise control at exactly one mile over the speed limit when I'm on long trips in order to get the best gas mileage. I think about loading our high-efficiency washing machine up to the brim as much as possible. There are lots of other little things I think about like how our family is helping local farmers by getting our fruits and vegetables at a regional farmer's market every weekend and bringing our own reusable grocery bags to the store, to save a little plastic. I think about how long I'm going to drive my 2001 Honda Civic that gets phenomenal gas mileage, whose mileage currently sits at 99,995. And the thing is, these are just little things that really don't take any effort whatsoever, yet so many people completely fail at, and I'm not sure whether it is a result of stupidity or just plain laziness. Maybe a combination of both.

I'm certainly not perfect, far from it. It's almost inexcusable that I don't walk exactly 1.1 miles to the city's new Light Rail line. We've used it a bunch in the past and it's a gem, with anticipated ridership not even close to what the actual usage is. It would be cheaper than my parking pass, way cheaper. Plus I'm always yapping about working near the middle of the city with all the big bad buildings, so what better way to get out and experience it. So I realize there are plenty of fingers pointing at my own actions and inactions. I can do better. But I do try.

I suppose it could be a product of what is "in" these days. Not too long ago it was pretty hip to drive a gas-guzzling SUV or if you had a really huge cock, a Hummer. Funny how $3 per gallon gasoline made people rethink what type of vehicle to buy. And you know, for the upper-level higher-ups of the automobile manufacturers who are still making shit cars to the impulsive consumers who purchase them, it makes me wish for $6 per gallon gas. Hell, why not $10. Maybe that will make people think. We can do it, but too many times the consumer is not given the myriad of options that we certainly have the capability of achieving.

Taking a minute or two to put down the remote control and think about these things just takes time. It doesn't take money, it doesn't take a high level of intelligence, it doesn't really take any effort. Somehow, some way, we all got sidetracked from thinking about how we can all save a little plastic in this world. I used to do it for me and the feeling that I needed to be a leader among my social circles; it fits nicely with the whole attorney who changed careers and worked for a non-profit environmental organization theme. But you know, I've quickly grown frustrated as it brought me more in tune with who cares to think about these things (very few) and who don't give a shit at all (most). So now while I still think about these things and try to walk as lightly as possible in this fragile world to lead by example, I do it more for my son because I want to give him a good place to live. If that still doesn't make people think about saving a little plastic, then, as far as I'm concerned, they're hopeless. Fucking hopeless.

Take only what you need and leave the rest behind.

Saving the Smokies

Supporters battling to save the Smokies

Even Better

Here is an even better aerial photo of the property I permanently preserved to close out 2007.  The appraisal came in a few days ago and the family who celebrated with me at Burger King minutes after the closing made a donation valued at just shy of $1 million with this conservation project.

How to Speak Jackass

An additional fun part of my job is the variety of folks I get to meet with and develop relationships over the course of working on numerous projects.  Once in a great while I'm contacted by a realtor who is representing a seller that has some nice land and is interested in seeing if there is a way I can work out a deal.  I'm not going to turn this post into a rant about realtors, although my basic position is that the overwhelming majority of realtors are uneducated, impersonal gas bags who are ultimately an unnecessary evil to buying and selling a home.  Do you go out and hire an agent when you buy a car or search for colleges with your kid?  Didn't think so.  Fortunately the Wife and I hooked up with the best realtor we will probably ever work with when we bought our most recent home who actually restored what little faith I have in the realtor business.

In any event a realtor forwarded me a listing for a property that has been on the market for the better part of a year now - I know this because a little birdie forwarded me the same listing almost a year ago.  There are "several calls" about the property the realtor told me and that I needed to "submit an offer soon" as a result of the "widespread interest" in the property.  Sure thing, douche.  I informed Mr. Realtor that after he was done fielding offers from the "several calls" about the property to get back in touch with me if nothing panned out.  Within minutes I was asked to submit an offer on the property, which I did in the most insulting, low-ball fashion imaginable.  I eagerly await the message informing me what a gem this property is with a rundown of comparable sales in the area proving the property's true value.

What a silly game.

Another Victory for Mother Nature

Big, big win for SELC and the environmental groups that advocated against the U.S. Navy's brilliant idea to build a landing strip within a few miles of Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.  My dream job would involve serving as an attorney for SELC (read: there is potential change in the air right now).

Those Trees You Do See

They're always going to be there, pretty cool.  That's what I do.

More Greens for Everyone

A write-up in today's paper about a deal I closed just before the end of the year can be found here, under Mecklenburg County.  This is the first press I've gotten regarding one of my land deals.  Booyizzle.

Holy, Algebra

Somehow, someway, I'm doing Algebra again.  Didn't have to take a single math course during college, could have taken an economics class but decided not to because the professor was hard or class was on a Tuesday or Thursday (had no Tuesday or Thursday classes 7 out of 8 semesters during college, booyizzle, man I can't tell you what a treat that was, especially since Wednesday night was a big party night back in the day, not that I participated in any of those extracurricular activities or anything), and the econ classes were in the crappiest building located on the furthest side of campus.  Of course my buddies and I graduated and some rich donor died, and a few years later the economics department has a brand spanking new, state-of-the-art facility in the heart of campus.  My goodness college was fun.

So here's what I've been working on for an hour and am about to give up on:  this idea regarding the time value of money.  $10,000 today isn't going to be worth that amount 50 years from now.  Basically I'm trying to figure out what that precise figure is based on this example using the following formula, with some help from my friends at wikipedia:

PV = FV/(1 + i)n

The 'n' is supposed to be in superscript as to read "to the nth degree" with n equaling the "number of periods," whatever the hell that is, PV equaling the Present Value (in this case, $10,000) and FV equaling Future Value.  i is the rate at which the amount will be compounded each period and I want to use 4.5% which I know means something based on investment return and the historical effects of inflation, but I'm stumped at the whole 'n' part of it because do I use years?  Months?  Crazy stuff, and if there is an economist or someone just generally smarter than I am who can give me some advice I'd appreciate it.  My boss will clearly know that I wasn't able to come up with a solution on my own so I'll be sure to give you props.

UPDATE:  Just ran some numbers on my little formula and basically have $50,000 being worth a gazillion dollars 50 years from now.  Survey says?  EHHHHHHHHH!

Wordless

All I can do is shake my head when I think about my life a couple of years ago, five years ago, then today having lunch at Burger King with a couple in their 70s who just conserved their 30-acre property located in the middle of the most intense development I have yet to see, with the elder gentleman saying grace before our meal, thanking god for helping him with the decision he and his wife just made.  Remarkable.

It's been a while since my last Whopper.  Yum.