E-bikes at Best Buy? Coming soon...

Today's Sightline email led off with a link to the first in a 5 part series on electric bikes, and improving transportation efficiency with alternatives. I've only read the first 2, and this is a link to the second in the series. It talks about why people might choose electric bikes, and what's likely to happen this next year. My soon-to-be 20 year old son has been riding electric bikes as his major form of transportation since graduating high school. We got him a folding electric bike for graduation, and a more powerful (and more expensive) one last year. He rides both but prefers the more powerful one as we live on a really steep hill. If I hadn't had knee problems this year, I'd probably have already converted my regular bike to an e-bike and be using it for my shorter rides around the neighborhood, by which I mean 3-4 miles. I'm really jazzed that I'm not the only one excited about e-bikes so this series is something I wanted to share. I'll also take this opportunity to point out that even including the repair costs for the 2 accidents he's had (both very minor), all maintenance costs, and the costs of the bikes and all his riding gear, it's cost us way less for his transportation than it did for his older sister's car and it's maintenance and repairs. Less than half, to be more precise. Costs less, better for the planet, healthier for him. What's not to like?

Meditate like a Marine

Isn't that a great title? Today's email from dailygood.org contained that title and a link to the full article about measurable mood and memory enhancement from 12 minutes of meditation a day. (They called it mindfulness training, which is a somewhat clearer name, but it's the same thing.) Controlling mood is on my mind these days as my knee surgery recovery takes much longer than anticipated and I find myself struggling to maintain my emotional equilibrium. I'm okay with the loss of daily walks altho I miss them, but adding in an inability to sit at my work areas for more than 20 minutes, so it's very difficult to create, and I find I'm getting impatient easily. My Fiber Arts class for this quarter ended last night so I have a couple of weeks to focus on healing and maybe regain my sense of being centered and balanced.