Looking forward to it

These two first person shooters will be released in November. Excellent!!

The Government Owns Our Home

Wells Fargo bundled our loan and sold it to Freddie Mac, and we were informed of the change this morning. We are now owned by the government. Oops, sorry, our house (not our lives) are owned by the government. I think.

Retirees, Gamers, and Retired Gamers

When I worked at Intel manufacturing, I never met anybody that retired from the organization. At Boeing, it seems like every month I run across someone new who is going to retire in the near future. I'm told that a quarter of the employees at Boeing are eligible for retirement in the next 5 years (I believe people can retire once they hit 55 years of age, provided they worked enough years with the company).

At Intel, I mingled with shift workers and pager-carrying engineers. Plus I met so many gamers! It was wonderful. At Boeing only with engineers and I have only met one other person who plays computer games.

You can infer and reinforce all sorts of biases you already have about these two companies.


Thus far, there are no retirees who are gamers and no gamers who have retired from gaming that I know of.

Would You Spend $440 per Year to Sleep Extra 30 Min Each Day?

I can frame the question so many ways, but I framed it this way to spur the most radical way to think of it. The question is if you are willing to carpool or vanpool in order save money.

In Seattle here I drive in the reverse commute pattern, so there is no benefit in getting to work earlier if I have a carpool or vanpool. It is purely a financial and environmental decision. The cost is 30 min. of lost sleep per day or shifting my entire evening by 3o min and sleeping earlier. The benefit is $37 per month (which translates to $440 per year).

Vanpool, in which a much larger group of people take a 10-passenger van together, saves even more money but requires me to wake up even earlier. My estimates show $720 savings per year for 45 minutes of lost sleep (or time shifting to sleep earlier by 45 minutes) every work day.

If I break it down to the savings per hour, it is roughly $4.50 per hour that I save during commute time.

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I've started carpooling to try it out, but it is tough being fiscally and environmentally responsible. How much savings would you need before you carpool?

Brrr

A week after Seattle reached triple digits, I have to wear sweaters. It is a cool 60 degrees now.