First Ride With the Garmin 305

Today I rode the All About Bicycles Bagel/Doughnut/Muffin ride and used my Garmin 305 for the first time.

Here is a link to the activity and a snapshot summary of the ride.

Vacation

I figured I would spend more time writing while I was on vacation, but I have kept away from the computer more than I thought I would. Also, our cleaning/organization plans have not been as swift as I had hoped.

One reason is the fact that we spent the day after Christmas bargain hunting and setting up Christmas gifts.

One gift I received was an XBOX 360 and some really cool games to go along with it, including Call of Duty - 2, Gears of War, Need for Speed - Carbon, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six - Vegas and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell - Double Agent. Brian is amazed that I had the patience not to set it up on Christmas day. The reason for my patience was the fact that Best Buy had some amazing deals advertised, so Julie and I returned to the store Tuesday morning to take advantage of the specials. When all was finished, we left Best Buy about $90 better off. After leaving Best Buy, we went to pick up Brian so he could "assist" in setting up my new toy and help me make sure it all worked properly :)!

After playing for a while, we all headed up to Cadence 120 to finish installing one of my other gifts. A friend of mine gave me a new Garmin Edge 305 with Heart Rate and Cadence. This tech toy is super cool. With this, I will be able to upload my ride data for everyone to see at MotionBased.com. No more entering my ride data in my posts...I will just put a link to the data at MotionBased. How cool is that?

Another unexpected project was taking the car in for a brake job. Coming home from Brian's, the car made the most horrible noise when the brakes were applied. I took the car in to Big 10 Tires on Wednesday morning and learned that it was time for a brake job. Now nearly $500 lighter in the wallet, the car stops like a champ...a very quiet one at that! Next up for the car is new tires. They did not have the tires I wanted in stock, so they have ordered them for me and they expect to have them by next Tuesday.

Finally on Wednesday, we resumed cleaning and organization of my room. As we were putting the finishing touches on it, Julie decided she wanted to re-paint the room. She finished prep work tonight and the room should be completed tomorrow.

Last Sunday's Ride

Sorry I have been so slow in getting last Sunday's ride stats posted.

18.17 miles - Average Speed 12.6 mph - Average Heart Rate n/a - Max Heart Rate n/a - Calories Burned n/a

Today's Ride

Only about 17 people for today's ride. A bit on the chilly side, and the last weekend of shopping before Christmas may have attributed to the lower than normal turnout. Due to the heavy traffic on Schillinger Road, I opted to hitch a ride back from the shop with Eric.

33.56 miles - Average Speed 14.2 mph - Average Heart Rate 144 bpm - Max Heart Rate 181 bpm - Calories Burned 2,779

Holiday Time Off

Time off from work during the Christmas Holidays! This is something entirely new for me. In retail, this is the time of year that you do not take off of work. And for 15 years, I worked my tail off to help many people have a wonderful holiday.

This year, both Julie and I had vacation time available and at least for me, my customers (retailers) are likely too busy to want to hear from me. Since Christmas and New Years day are both on Mondays this year, I took five days off which ends up being 10 days of no work. I don't know if I will be able to handle it!

We have decided to spend some of our time off going room-by-room, organizing and cleaning. We started yesterday with my bedroom. Since I have lost so much weight, most of my clothes no longer fit me, even newer clothes that I have bought throughout the summer. I have a pile of nice clothes as high as my door handle that will be going to Good Will next week. I guess this is a good thing. I just am not looking forward to buying more clothes. I am going to hold off as long as I can because I have a goal to loose another 15-20lbs.

Mobile Bayfront Ride

With the holidays upon us, most people must have other things to do besides ride their bike. Today only Don and I showed up for the beginners ride. We decided to go a little farther since there were no beginners in attendance.

We went East on Halls Mill Road to Duval and then South on Michigan Avenue around Brookley Field to Bay Front Road. The weather was perfect for a ride.

We went South as far as we could before returning to Dauphin Island Parkway, just North of the Dog River Bridge. We went over the bridge and then went West to Rangeline and then back to the North to Halls Mill. We cut through Crestview to return to Government and our finish at Lenny's Sub Shop.

All in all a very nice leisurely ride. Don is headed back home for the holidays so he will not be attending any more rides here until after the first of the year.

29.47 miles - Average Speed 12.7 mph - Average Heart Rate 116 bpm - Max Heart Rate 150 bpm - Calories Burned 2,137

The FINAL SOLUTION!! for the IRS & Income Tax Problem

50 Reasons I Support the FairTax

How many reasons can you give for supporting the present obsolete IRS & income tax system?

1. It allows you to keep 100% of your paycheck, with nothing withheld for Social Security and Medicare payments.
2. It eliminates the regressive payroll tax that hurts the poor. Currently, every one of us is taxed a minimum of 7.65% on our first-dollar of wages up to $90,000, if we earn that much.
3. It assures that the wealthiest Americans will be voluntarily helping to fund social security with every last dollar they spend above the poverty level. Today, earnings are subject to payroll taxes only up to $90,000. The wealthiest Americans therefore do not pay into the system above that amount. If their earnings are from investments, no earnings fund the Social Security system. Under the FairTax, a single purchase (regardless of the source of the earnings) can result in greater contributions to the Social Security system than would be paid by an individual under the payroll tax of today.
4. It provides funding for Social Security and Medicare at a level equal to or greater than at present, with a stronger and broader tax base.
5. It secures the future of Social Security and Medicare because all spenders fund it and not just the workers.
6. It eliminates all personal income taxes, payroll taxes, corporate income taxes, gift taxes, death taxes, and capital gains taxes.
7. It eliminates the income tax and the IRS. Members of Congress and the public overwhelmingly agree that the current internal revenue code is cumbersome, intrusive, coercive, and inefficient.
8. It is revenue neutral with the present income tax system, funding the federal budget at current levels.
9. It will remove an average of 22% of the cost of American made goods by removing the built-in payroll tax (the other 7.65% of earnings that employers pay) and other business taxes that are now passed to consumers as an “embedded" tax of approximately 22% due to the cascading of income and payroll taxes paid by U.S. employers, at every step of production, to the U.S. Treasury.
10. It doesn’t tax used items – clothes, cars, homes. Only new items are taxed when sold by a business to an individual.
11. It is progressive, a “prebate” of the tax amount up to the poverty level is given to everyone. This means that those spending below the poverty level have a net gain because the “prebate” exceeds the amount paid in taxes. (Under the present system they pay the payroll tax even if they get a full refund of income tax withheld.)
12. It eliminates 90% of the cost of compliance. American families and American businesses waste an estimated $250 – $600 billion per year doing the paperwork necessary to comply with the tax code. That is roughly $1,000 – $2,000 annually for every man, woman and child in the U.S.
13. It creates an opportunity for our products to leave this country costing an average of 25% less, thus increasing our exports, lower our deficit balance of trade, and increasing employment at home.
14. It encourages investment in companies located in the U.S., thus providing a home for money already in the US and attracting more. The U.S. will be the most attractive tax-free haven in the world for doing business. American companies will return from offshore and overseas.
15. It encourages repatriation to the U.S. of money held by U.S. individuals and companies now in foreign countries, with no tax consequence.
16. All 290 million Americans and 51 million visiting tourists fund Social Security and Medicare with their purchases. Today only 110 million workers fund these programs via deductions from their paychecks.
17. The broader tax base includes the ten percent of our economy, an estimated $1 trillion, that today is underground or under the table. Under the FairTax, the illegal drug dealer will pay his tax just like the rest of us when he buys his sunglasses, BMW, and other items, as will those who do business for cash.
18. It allows families to save more for home ownership, education, and retirement. An average family making $50,000 will have $7,500 more spendable income.
19. It makes educational tuition a tax-free expenditure of tax-free income.
20. It makes American products more competitive overseas by removing the embedded tax from them, thus lowering their prices, which compensates for low foreign wages.
21. It makes American products more competitive at home by removing the embedded tax from them, compensating for the low cost of imported products not burdened by taxes imposed by exporting countries.
22. It removes the need for formal 401-K’s, IRAs, HSA, etc. Anyone will be able to set up any kind of savings or investment account without regard to taxes or the government.
23. It frees churches and other non-profit organizations from the expense of filing tax returns and paying their half of Social Security and Medicare payments for employees. There will no longer be any 501.c.3 or 501.c.4 non-profit tax status, because there will be no more tax to be exempt from.
24. It restores to churches and non-profit organizations the 1st Amendment right to engage in free speech, without fear of losing their tax-free status.
25. It gives individuals and businesses the right to donate as much as they want to in a given year to charitable causes.
26. It restores the 4th Amendment, protecting against unreasonable searches and seizures, from which the IRS presently is exempt.
27. It restores the 5th Amendment, which guarantees the right to due process. Under current systems the IRS has their own courts with their own set of rules not included in the 5th.
28. It cleans up a major flaw in campaign financing, eliminating campaign donations for "tax favors".
29. It eliminates wrangling in Congress over tax cuts, the tax code, and who is or is not paying a fair share of the tax bill.
30. It encourages work by letting workers keep 100% of their earnings and giving a rebate, to boot, making the notion that the more you work, the more money you have, a reality, unlike the current system where welfare is lost when you go to work, so your first dollars earned after taxes just offset what you were currently getting in welfare, making you no better off.
31. It allows more of the lower income families to become home owners by allowing a second job income above their current income (all tax free) to be applied to a mortgage. Money for down payments for homes is also saved totally tax free so that it will accumulate faster.
32. It allows families to retain farms and businesses in the hands of those who built them through the elimination of the death tax.
33. It allows families to help each other out tax-free, by eliminating the gift tax.
34. It encourages individuals to self-insure, making the health system more direct pay (no 3rd party pay), thus bringing costs down.
35. Without FICA to pay, most states, counties, municipalities, and school districts will see a large increase in their state budget revenues, additionally lowering the overall tax burden (State & Federal) for most Americans.
36. It assures that no American will find, at the end of the year, a need to get a loan to pay taxes as an alternative to penalties, interest, or cheating.
37. It restores individual privacy. The government no longer needs to know where you work, what you are earning, and what you are doing with it.
38. It eliminates the need to have a "marriage" clarification declaring who you live with, as that has no bearing at all on a state or federal sales tax.
39. It eliminates the need for courts to decide which divorced parent gets to take the tax deduction for children.
40. It reduces production costs for farmers and other subsidized businesses, leading to a reduction in subsidies, thus reducing the federal budget.
41. It eliminates the administrative costs incurred by states in collection of state sales taxes because states will piggyback the state tax collection onto the national tax collection, for which they are compensated by the FairTax ¼% administrative cost give-back. [Doesn’t this go to the retailers?]
42. It results in a windfall profit for many of those holding taxable corporate high interest bonds at the time of passage of FairTax, since they will not be taxed under FairTax. (A higher interest rate is usually paid to entice investors to buy the corporate bonds rather than go with the lower interest, but tax free, municipal bonds, now.)
43. It shifts the tax to consumption, which consumption tables over time show is more stable than income, therefore the tax revenue stream is likely to be a more stable and predictable amount.
44. It results in Federal Reserve rates being based on current consumption, which is rather stable, instead of future earnings, which are less predictable, resulting in surer inflation prevention.
45. It allows for better planning by businesses, because they no longer have to consider tax implications for everything they do.
46. It makes higher employment or better compensation possible in the small business sector where today it costs approximately three dollars in compliance costs to pay one dollar in payroll and income taxes.
47. It moves many now providing tax preparation, advice, accounting, planning, and records maintenance into an expansive economy where they will be producing goods and services. There they can add to the standard of living of all Americans and likely earn more than they do currently, instead of shuffling paper for the government (and not contributing anything economically to society).
48. It relieves citizens of the risk of facing the shift in burden of proof that is so common with the current system, i.e., the taxpayer is guilty unless innocence can be proved, when even IRS staff sometimes give conflicting interpretations.
49. It’s simple, unambiguous, and certain, the opposite of the current tax code.
50. It’s good for the environment. It reportedly would save about 300,000 trees a year that are needed to produce the paper for the IRS compliance and tax forms, enough to reach around the equator placed end to end 28 times. Also, since it taxes only new items, it would encourage buying tax-free pre-owned cars, clothes, furniture, houses, etc. Reuse is good for the environment, too.

Disappointing Experiences

Is it possible that having worked in retail for so long has caused me to expect too much from those I do business (or try to do business) with? I am constantly amazed at the lack of good service around every corner.

Taking care of my customers was always my first goal. The customer is always right (even when wrong). I suppose I may have read too many books, such as "Customers for Life" by Carl Sewell and "You WILL Be Satisfied" by Bob Tasca.

Maybe it boils down to work ethic. It is rare to find these days, a person with good work ethics. It seems most "employees" and surprising sometimes proprietors of a business are only there for the pay check. One of my favorite quotes come from a former sales rep I did business with at the bike store. He had reserved a rental car, and when he went to pick it up there were problems that the counter person either couldn't or wouldn't help resolve. The rep in question told her "I know two things...you don't like your job and I am getting tired of talking with idiots!" That about sums up my feelings with many that I come into contact with.

During a recent dining experience at Stix, a Japanese Hibachi grill, I believe I had the worst server I have ever had from a server. Julie and I both order appetizers and entrees. Julie's entree included soup and salad, and both of our entrees included our choice of steamed, brown or fried rice. I can not stand onions, so we asked if we could have the fried rice with no onions.

After finishing our appetizers, our entrees were brought to the table. the fried rice was full of onions, not to mention that it is kind of odd to receive your meal before your soup and salad. When we were finally able to flag a warm body down to inform them of the problem with the rice, we were told that the fried rice can't be ordered without onions.

To give this perspective, Stix has two separate dining rooms, the hibachi side where your food is prepared on a grill right in front of you and another room that is traditional dining. Julie and I typically have always dined on the hibachi side when we go out with friends because it is an entertaining experience as well. I know for a fact that they have rice, without onions pre-mixed, because I have watch them make it for me before my very eyes.

Our waitress finally came to the table and apologized that they "couldn't make us any rice without onions because the kitchen has already prepared all of the fried rice for the evening." So much for fresh, made to order food! She also apologized about not bringing the soup and salad and wanted to know if we would like her to box them up to take home. We declined, but asked that our bill be adjusted for the food that was not delivered as it should have been. She said that the soup and salad are part of the meal and could not be removed from the bill. Maybe she should have thought a little out of the box and removed our appetizer or drinks from the bill or at the very least offer us free desert. I, for one, did think out of the box, and deducted the soup and salad from our bill...right out of her tip!

Another issue is that our house is in need of some wood repair and a paint job. I received two estimates, and had a better feeling about the higher one, even though it was double the lower estimate. One thing, the higher guy came by reference from a good friend that had used him and was pleased with the work.

When I finally contacted the painter to get added to his schedule, he said it would be about three to four weeks before he could fit us in. That was in early October. When I hadn't heard from him by the first of November I called him to check on his schedule. He informed me that his brother had recently died, and he has gotten behind schedule because of things he had to take care of. He told me it would be a couple of weeks.

Two weeks later, I tracked him down again. He told me he was finishing up a back porch addition for a client and had one more job to do after that before getting to us. Nearly a month later I am still waiting...aren't people interested in working?

Today's Ride...a Bust

I suppose this is what I should expect hosting beginners rides. A total no-show. If the temperatures are low, the more seasoned riders will show up for their rides. They have the correct gear to make the ride comfortable. Beginners probably do not yet have all of the winter cycling apparel needed for days like today.

There is a great saying I love to speak: "There is no bad weather, only bad clothing." So for those of you who didn't make it today because of the below normal temperature, head on over to your favorite bicycle retailer and ask them for advice on what clothing you should buy. Or if you prefer, here is a link to some information that may help you on Cadence 120's website.

2.6 miles - 12.6 avg speed - avg hr 119 bpm - max hr 150 bpm - 229 calories burned (I need to find another way to burn off those homemade Belgian waffles I ate this morning)

Great Pricing On Adidas Cycling Apparel

I usually try to refrain from promoting any sales at any of the local bike stores, but this one is such a fantastic deal I had to mention it. Brad at Cadence 120 scored some great deals on Adidas cycling apparel. He received a large shipment that he has priced on closeout...35% below suggested retail! He also has a coupon on their website for an additional 15% off the purchase of Adidas cycling clothing, including clothing that is already on sale or closeout. The coupon, combined with the great pricing on Adidas results in a jacket that is normally $94.99 ending up only costing you $52.48. What a great deal!

Retailing Thoughts and a Different Route Today

Today, we started the beginners ride with only three riders; me Cindy and a guy named Josh that bought a Giant OCR Composite 3 like Julie's back in September.

Even though I am no longer in bicycle retail, I enjoy listening to people talk about their shopping experiences. Josh had made his purchase decision in part because of two things:

The time that Brad spent with him compared to that of other retailers he shopped with.

Cadence 120's 30-day Risk Free Promise.

The second item makes me feel really good since I was one of three retailers that helped pioneer this for the members a national co-op of retailers, YaYa! Bike.

Today's ride was a bit chilly at the start, but it warmed up as the ride progressed. For a little change in scenery, after our typical ride through Riviere du Chien, we headed over to Crestview to explore its potential for riding loops. This neighborhood is quite extensive, with some surprising hills on its northern side. I think this will be a great place to do Tuesday and Thursday evening loops.

25.24 miles - 13.2 avg speed - avg hr 128 bpm - max hr 164 bpm - 1,872 calories burned