Today on this ol' server

Is that a hybrid in your pocket?

In the reduce your carbon footprint front, I've gone without a car for about 9 months now. I bid my beloved nineteen seventy-two 2002 BMW farewell last year in some drastic it's-not-my-fault bad luck. Loved that car. I replaced parts on that car. The car was good to me. nuf, this ain't a car blog entry.

I've had the luxury to tell others to get hybrids. Till one day when one of the guys asked if I would drive one, and I proceeded to explain no and that I was wanted to build my own hybrid. That was then, now I'm just waiting for Mini to release the electric mini cooper. (I can't afford a Tesla.)

When the time came to replace my car or go without, I decided to take the plunge and not buy another car. In the Bay Area this is possible. Prior to the accident, when I moved I planned to live in walking distance to near major transit lines and a shopping center. Work is supportive, they have shuttles between campuses and near by train stations.

The inevitable, you work in IT, what about outages? Nearly everything major is remote-able. When something does happen it takes me about average time to get to the campus by bike as it does for the average team member. Some of them live 60+ miles away. I only live about an hour by bike to the Santa Clara campus and about 45 minutes to Menlo Park. In an emergency I can take a cab or zipcar. (zipcars for the day are cheaper than a cab ride if I'm going from my place to the campus. The downside is there are only a few zipcars and they are in the next town over.) Over the months for the outages I've been onsite, I've biked to two and a coworker picked me up, the other outages were remotable.

The down side: Things are sloooooooooooo when taking mass transit or biking. If something comes up, it's easier for me work from home rather than try to go in to work and then catch a bus or zipcar to the appointment. If I was in living in San Francisco I think this would be easier. Google maps tied in the iphone is invaluable. I'm no longer carrying around tons of paper maps and schedules. I do have to be careful that I get an updated schedule. If Google gives me a wrong schedule I'm screwed. I'll have to take a cab or miss the appointment. I don't carry paper schedules anymore. I do have the stock net access to look up any schedule from the appropriate transit carrier if need be. around me and where (esp for zipcars) works nicely. And now I have a clean conscious knowing that I am living lighter on the planet. I'm not going to say I have a southparkesque smug attitude about this, but it does help to know that I'm doing this for a decent reason when it's cold and rainy, or the bus seems to take forever down El Camino.

Posted at 12:00AM Mar 13, 2009 by saf in eco  |  Comments[2]