Cool Nerdy or Tech Nerdy

My wife and I are generally of the nerd set.  Not having kids, we have a few more tech toys than most people.  We are tech savvy, but not social software saavy..  My wife is more social software savvy than I am especially when it comes to really social things like emoji.  

Emoji is a cool little app that changes the keyboard on an iPhone so you can send graphics characters instead of lame smiley's like :) or :-) like we used to do in the 90's with email.  As cool as emoji is, the engineer geek in me say that emoji needs memory and processor power, that slows down my iPhone.  I don't want to slow down my iPhone to send pictures.  Because of this I fall into the "lame" tech nerdy category according to my niece.

Obviously the solution is to get a newer faster iPhone that can handle the apps.  That of course is Apple's plan to take over my wallet.

Some people can't see the difference between a Cool Nerdy guy and a Tech Nerdy guy so they expect that I have it all.  My dad was a little older than most of my friends parents, so I was instilled with depression era rules on things like clothes, lights and toys.  Clothes you wear until they wear out, not until they are out of style.  Lights, if you aren't in the room, you turn them off.  Toys, if you might out grow it, you don't get it.  Lucky for me that rule didn't apply to cars.

My wife is a little different than I am in this way.  She is more Cool Nerdy and Fahionista type.  She likes new clothes daily, and works at a retail store part time just for the discount.  She of course has emoji and sends me texts with happy faces instead of :) like I send her.   On things like lights, we compromised.  I converted the house to LED lighting, and added Insteon lighting control.  When I go to bed, I hit all off, and I feel better knowing I am not wasting any energy, she feels better because she can leave on all the lights she wants until bedtime for under $1.00 a day.

Like the lights in the house, if it wastes energy or processing power, I probably don't use it.  That makes me a Tech Nerdy guy. If I were a Cool Nerdy guy I would have the latest of everything.  Are you Tech Nerdy or Cool Nerdy or Neither and don't even have a smart phone?

The (Almost) Healthy Dessert That Only Trader Joe's Can Make

Trader Joe's is a place that always has a surprise hidden somewhere in the store.  I am not talking about Larry the Lobster that kids get to go find, but rather the treats that change on a regular basis.  People who hang out in my neighborhood are probably expecting me to talk about some great wine find, but that isn't the case.

Some time ago while trying to lose weight, I found that my skin looked much better when I gave up carbs.  As I hit my weight goals, I started adding carbs back slowly and my skin broke out again.  It turns out I had a minor reaction to gluten.  I stopped eating gluten and my skin stayed clear.

So this little "desert" started with Trader Joes Gluten Free Ginger Snaps.  The problem is being a pilot, the ginger snaps were good, but I had to make them better.  The next obvious step was ice cream, but instead, I added the dark chocolate.  One square of the 72% dark chocolate between two ginger snaps turned out to be pretty good.

Of course that wasn't enough.  The next step was the Trader Joes 0% fat Greek Frozen Yogurt.  Then I added the Trader Joes Chocolate desert made with Coconut milk.

Finally I put it all together, and came up with this dessert.  It takes a little shopping to get all of this, but it is well worth the effort.  I recommend using a small bowl to keep from making a super-sized dessert.  We use very small dessert bowls to make this.

Ingredients needed (All Trader Joe's branded items)

Roasted Coconut Chips (found with the nuts and trail mix at most locations)
Gluten Free Ginger Snaps
Dried Pineapple
0% Greek yogurt
Chocolate Dessert made with Coconut milk (The strawberry is good too)
72% dark chocolate bar
Real Maple Syrup.

Grab a small bowl, a spoon and get ready.

Sprinkle the Roasted Coconut Chips to cover the bottom of the bowl in a single layer.  Break apart two gluten free ginger snaps (the triple ginger cookies will work good too) and make another layer.  Next add intertwining layers of the Vanilla Yogurt and the Chocolate Coconut Milk Dessert.  Using a spoon to make flat layers works better than using a scoop.

Break one square of the 72% chocolate bar into very small pieces and sprinkle across the top.  Cut one or two pieces of dried pineapple into small pieces and sprinkle on top as well.  Finally drizzle a light string of Maple Syrup to finish it off.

Let me know what you think.

The Real Cost of A Chevy Volt - 1000 Miles Completed

A month ago almost to the day I brought home my Chevy Volt.  I have a bit of an issue because I look at electric cars as an economic issue, and my friend Randy Jackson of sunpoweredevs.com looks at them as a strategy and freedom issue.  I really want us both to be right.  I find it ironic that it took a GM car to get me to drive an electric car when it was Cadillac that killed the electric car in the late 1920's.

Up until the 1920's you had to hand crank your gasoline car to start it.  Then Cadillac invented the electric starter and the gasoline powered car quickly surpassed the electric car in sales.  People go for cheap and easy.  Batteries back then weren't cheap and they weren't easy because of the limited range.

I believe that most consumers are going to go for the solution that provides the most bang for the buck as we say.  Wal-Mart proves it every day.  We want more for less, environment, made in China, it really doesn't matter and the sales of cheap imported products at Wal-Mart and Target prove it.

For me, acquiring the Chevy Volt was strictly economic.  I was looking for a new car and wanted the most bang for my buck period.  On paper, the Chevy Volt looked like a bargain.   After spending $1800 to put a new rear end in my F-150, and spending an average of $489 per month on fuel for it.  The first 1000 miles each month was costing me nearly $300 each month in gas.  The lease on the Volt is $399 per month.  With the tax credits and rebates, the Volt is essentially free, as would be a Nissan Leaf.

Admittedly, the Ford Fusion energi is a far better looking car and the sticker price is about the same as the Volt.  The problem is that the Ford only goes 16 miles on a charge before using gas.  The Volt can travel about 44 the way I drive it. My record is 48.

Since the Fusion Energi has smaller batteries than the Volt, the rebates and tax incentives are lower making the Fusion more expensive until those rebates and incentives expire.  For whatever reason, the Fusion lease programs carried a much lower residual value adding $150 or more to the lease rates with the same amount of money up front.

So I have a Volt.

As of yesterday, I have driven 1000 miles in the Volt.  Doing that I used $30 of electricity at home and $5.00 of electricity from Charging stations along with 5.3 gallons of gas according to the computer.  I also have learned about a big frustration with electric car charging.

The city of Seal Beach for charges $3.37 per kWh to charge your car. A Volt gains about 10 miles for each hour of charge, and according to the City of Seal Beach charger, I used 1 kWh in 20 minutes of charging.  That is $3.37 for 20 minutes of parking and 3.3 miles of range added to the car.  If it isn't obvious, that is crazy expensive.

Here is the rub.  The Volt gets about 10 miles for each hour of charging on a level two charger.  According to the best information I have it charges at a rate of 3 kWh on a 240V level two charger.  The simple math at home is .28 x 3 = .75 for 10 miles.  Gas at $4.00 per Gallon and 40 MPG that I am actually getting is $1.00 for 10 miles.  Easily 25% more cost effective to use electricity at home.   At a ChargePoint station charging .25 per kWh it is even cheaper.

South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa is the clear winner, I found a nice covered charging slot that allowed two hours of FREE charging.  Guess where I spent $1100 on a new Mac Mini?  Thank you South Coast Plaza for getting it.  Free parking and Free charging.  I don't think electric cars should get free electricity everywhere, but how nice is it to add a few solar panels and get customers to spend money in your center by giving away $1.50 in electricity?

To put this in perspective, assuming straight rates and Level two charging at 3 kWh, parking and charging in Seal Beach is $10.11 per hour.  The space right next to the charger is free.  Charging at home on Tier 3 rates is $.84 per hour.  The City of Seal Beach is asking for $9.37 in profit every hour!

The Grove in Los Angeles has some pretty pricey parking too, and charging there as a Blink member is $1.00 per hour.  With validation, I get two hours of charging and parking for $2.00.  In Seal Beach that would be $20.22 while my gasoline powered friends parked right next to me would be parking for free.  Maybe there should be a way to "validate" some electric charging when the people really spend money.

If the city of Seal Beach wants the sales tax from my business, they are not encouraging me to stay long at $10.11 per hour for charging are they?

At $4.00 per gallon and 40 miles per gallon, charging at $1.00 per hour is about the same cost economically speaking since I get about 10 miles of range per hour of charging.  At the normal retail level, electric and gas cost me about the same.  When you include the annual fee for Blink, it is actually more expensive slightly.  At some point electric rates have to go down because states are going to tax electric cars for the fuel tax they aren't paying.

It is all about balance, if electricity costs more, people will stop buying electric cars plain and simple.

This economic problem has created another issue.  Electric cars that plug in and don't actually charge.  I noticed that two of the there electric chargers in Seal Beach were occupied by other cars, and when I read the charger they were not actually charging.  I was the only guy dumb enough to pay $3.37 per kWh I guess.

I would think that cities, attempting to encourage use of clean electric vehicles would charge .20 or .30 per kWh, and $1.00 per hour of charging at most like the Grove and Carl's Jr. locations do.  Why is Seal Beach charging so much to plug in?  Don't they want my business and tax money?

Speaking of Carl's Jr., I stopped in for lunch, plugged in and walked over to the Citadel to get a pair of Jeans.  The Citidel hasn't installed any chargers yet, free or otherwise.  Fortunately, the Carl's Jr. Manager was very nice and just asked that I don't stay for more than 2 hours even though the other two cars in the Blink charger spaces were not electric at all.

So far I have found two Carl's Jr. locations on my way home that have Blink Chargers.

Economically speaking, I won't be plugging in at a City of Seal Beach location until they get reasonable with the rates.  Gasoline is way cheaper and parking isn't that big of a deal on weekdays.  If the City Council wants to say the chargers failed, they are doing the right things to make that happen.

South Coast Plaza on the other hand will keep getting my business as long as there are free electric spaces even if only for two hours at a time.  Talk about getting it.

At the end of the day, after 1000 miles, I haven't filled the tank so I have to trust the computer in the Volt when it says I have used just over 5 gallons of gasoline, $5.00 in paid electric charging and two hours FREE at South Coast Plaza and my electric bill that went up $30.  Round up and call it $60 for 1000 miles v. $289 for 1000 miles in my F-150 and the Volt is clearly the economic winner.  Just in case you think the F-150 isn't a fair comparison, I also have a Mercedes SL that also gets 14 mpg in the real world.  I just don't drive it enough, And the Volt is saving a few miles off of that car too.

And yes, the Volt is fun to drive, has a great stereo, and navigation that is better than the SL or my wife's ML.  My favorite feature is sending an address from my phone to the car so I don't type it in at all.  The voice command part stinks.  Ford is the hands down winner here.

The real monthly cost of driving a Volt 1000 miles is $399 for the lease, and $60 for the gas.   The F-150 or the SL would be $289 for gas alone.  Is the Volt a winner?  Yes.  Is electricity the winner?  Yes, that is as long as you don't charge up in Seal Beach.

The Volt at the Airport - No Chargers!