Fuel Savings Update!

I'm up to having saved 57.5 gallons of gasoline now! That's a serious savings now, if you think about just the volume of 57 gallons! I think I haven't been keeping track carefully enough, as I would have spent a lot more than that on gas by now, but it only takes into account the gas saved on my commute to and from work. Still, that's about 4 tanks of gas! Considering the amount of gas that is, the monetary cost (around $180ish, but I just kind of estimated from the time that gas was near $4 and now when it's back around $3 and used $3.15/gallon), and how much pollution would have been put out by my burning that much fuel, it really shows the difference that one person can make (which really negates my "...But I'm only one man!" argument). You won't step outside and smell cleaner air, but the difference is being made little by little. Considering all of the other people that I ride alongside on the trails, it all adds up and that little by little becomes more and more consequential.

Riding the bus...

I have to admit, I've been loving it! I've only ridden the bus a few times from my home to work now, preferring to ride my bike, but it's been fantastic! The first time, I felt like it was the biggest hassle in the world, transferring not once, not twice, but three times for a total of four bus rides! I couldn't believe it and I was worried about making my transitions and such. By now, it's only the 3rd or 4th time, but it's totally comfortable and while I still carry a paper documenting my travel plans that I scrawled down, I don't really need it now. Seriously, it's been good times! Yesterday, I spent $1.25 on the trip to and $1.50 on the trip from work. That's a grand total of $2.75!! Way less than a gallon of gas (and I found a $1 in my work parking lot technically bringing my spending down to $1.75, though I wouldn't expect this as a daily occurrance)!

As much as I do love to bike, now that I've gotten into the "whole biking scene", it has been such a joy to not have to on these occasions that I haven't felt like it or when my legs were feeling a little stiff because I didn't stretch when I got home. On top of that was the greatest thing yesterday! When I got onto the Community Transit #441, they had free Wi-Fi on the bus! Unfortunately, I couldn't get my Nintendo DS to link up to it properly, but I was able to find the bus' network and that means I can bring my laptop or Compaq Ipaq and surf the web and take care of email and such on the way home! That's a more reliable internet source than I have in my own home (I search around for unlocked wireless networks that I can get a signal from)! For the price of the bus ride, there's free internet, comfy seats and I still don't have to deal with the traffic, just like on the bike! I'm definitely going to be taking the bus at least once or twice a week now!