Some people are asking the question, “how do I support the troops without supporting the war?” I want to express how important it is for all of us to understand, that when you support the health and functional ability of a person you are in no way supporting war. You are actually supporting the opposite of war. You are healing. Now is the time that all of us support the people wounded from war no matter how you feel about the current politics and motivations. The trauma and memories sustained in war take time and effort to alleviate, to heal; we as a community must do our part now and help in the healthy healing of those affected by war.

What happens to individuals who are experiencing PTS(D) (Post Traumatic Stress (Disorder)) is that certain memories, due to their peculiar nature or the nature of the environment that they happen in, are not processed, categorized, and stored adequately into the brain. The traumatic event continues to “vibrate” or emit emotion from deep inside the psyche, causing emotions of anxiety, paranoia, depression, and an array of other emotions to overlap onto the individual’s everyday experience. Symptoms include road rage, sudden angry outbursts, dramatic mood swings, paranoia, depression, heavy drug use, work addictions; there are many manifestations the individual will display when trying to suppress the memories of a traumatic experience that have not been processed correctly.

Will PTSD Go Away With Time?

PTSD will not go away with time, it will actually get worse and the behaviors will become more ingrained and adopted as ones personality. It is vital that PTSD is cured as soon as possible. If left untreated, the violence, depression, and anxiety will affect the individual until death. The unhealthy behavior patterns created from dealing with PTSD can be passed into the society or adopted by offspring and transmitted into the next generation.

For soldiers and others dealing with a war experience, healing PTSD should be incorporated into a transitional period of six months to two years that adequately adjust the individual into a peaceful society. Expecting an individual to adjust on their own from a war zone into a peaceful society is kin to sending a soldier into a battle without bullets, they’ll have a gun that they believe in, but when it comes down to it they are unarmed, vulnerable, and will not stand a chance in hell dealing with the experience by themselves.

Good News;Bad News of Healing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The good news is that there are many solutions that can successfully heal the wounds from traumatic events; the bad news is that they are not easy. In almost all cases the traumatic event must be remembered in order to be re-processed and understood. When the memory is remembered, processed, and properly stored, and the individual can then continue their life conscious of the memory of what has happened and how it has changed them, or incorporated the event into their life view or outlook, then they are healed. This is not an easy process and takes time, honesty, and support from fellow soldiers, family, and the community.

Solutions for Healing PTSD

The solution of minimizing the effects of PTSD is that the memories must be elicited from the mind and put on the proverbial table, or, to use a better analogy, the proverbial soil. The memories must be held in conscious understanding as they are given time to sink into the soil and become part of the individuals make up or “psyche”. This is not easy and will take the resource of a trained councilor. The memories do not just sit peacefully on the soil, instead they boil there on the surface as the individual tries to consciously interpret the events; the soldier can and will most likely be in an agitated stated while these memories are discussed, broken down and processed. By going through the process of not letting the memories be hidden and forgotten we keep the memories in view, as painful as it will be, for the days and weeks that it takes to process the experience. If the soldiers are in a safe area where all they need to think about are the memories, this transition of holding the memories in their conscious to process them, talking about them with other soldiers and consolers, could take as little as a weak. Possibly more time will be needed for more complicated cases such as predisposition to bi-polar disorder, depression , or other possible pre-existing situations that have to be taken into affect in dealing with additional mental trauma. Traumatic situations can trigger mental disorders and certainly are more complicated combined with various mind states.

What Is Processing?

Processing means to come to an understanding, to come to terms with, to get what you can out of, to incorporate into the self and understanding of the world, to understand and move beyond by reviewing a situation and finding out what happened and why. Although a soldier will have been gone from their loved ones for years, I suggest that there should be the resources for them to, if they so choose at any time, enroll themselves in a inpatient setting where they can safely de-brief and process the war experience with other soldiers, proper nutrition, drug free environment, and trained military professionals helping them come to a more stable mind frame. This process could take a week, a month, or six months. The overall transition to becoming a civilian from active war duty could easily take two years.

A cured soldier will still remember and feel the emotions that they experienced but they will not be debilitative and will not suddenly send them into erratic behavior. There probably will not be a day that passes that a soldier will not have a thought about their war experience, in the terms of PTSD, thinking about the experience is healthy, and shelving the experience worsens the symptoms.
Most soldiers are going to need at least three to six months of a multiple faceted incorporation process. The heart of this process is three part consoling. The first is soldier and families, this allows his/her family together to understand the causes of the behaviors and the entire family unit is able to work through the transition together. The second is soldiers with soldiers; this group allows the soldiers to talk openly about the specific experiences which are vital in processing the experience. The soldier needs other soldiers to create an environment where the specific war memories can be discussed; most soldiers will have no one else able to hear the horror that they witnessed, such is the case in the family environment or the work environment. Support from fellow soldiers is vital as they are now all on their new mission to incorporate into a society peacefully and they are not to leave any one of their comrades behind. The third is for family members; generally a four part class should take place before the soldier returns and be sufficient to prepare the loved ones of what to expect, what to watch out for, and who to get in contact with when things are tuff.

We cannot expect a soldier to “just adjust”, even sitting in the sunshine in the front yard the soldier will have memories and thoughts racing through his/her heads for months as the brain processes all the information. The soldier and their family must have access to counseling as a family, spouse counseling, which will help ease the strain on a relationship that the healing and reintegration process will endure. The process will be hard on the family, children, and friends, and we must not let the soldier’s life go to pot as they try to process the experience and become the person they will become having had such an experience.

The peculiar thing with this type of war, as with Vietnam, is that there is not a front line and a rear base, the soldier is constantly, 24-7, at risk of suddenly and without warning, being blown up or shot in the head. These conditions do not allow for time to think about anything other than what the soldier is to do to survive. If they spend even a moment thinking about what has happened when something has happened they are putting themselves at danger of being killed by whatever is happening. Although, if the soldier can, as soon as they have time, write the experience in a journal in as much detail as they can, every chance they get if possible, then they will have a great tool in processing the trauma. This will immensely help in the healing process later on and be a vital weapon for the soldier to use in their fight against PTSD.

Veterans Helping Veterans

There are many Vietnam vets who are just now understanding how the war affected their lives; they can play a vital role in healing their younger comrades heal while strengthening their own healing process. The Vietnam vets, or first gulf war veterans who have healed and adjusted will know the exact nature of thoughts and emotions the soldiers are experiencing. Soldiers will listen to a fellow soldier easier than someone who does not know what combat is like. Although, it is imperative that the soldiers open up to the help of the spiritual/emotional community and the therapist and counselors who can help them.

The Nature of Counseling and Intelligent Strong People.

It is the inherent nature of a soldier to be as tuff as nails, and independent, as well as dependent on their fellow soldiers; most soldiers will refuse help on the basis that they can “handle anything” or that they do not need anybody. Their thinking might be, "I survived a war, I can survive anything”. But they will quickly find out that the memories and chaos will not disappear on their own. The soldier must come to realize that it’s the strong and smart person who will use the tools and resources available to them. They might have survived the battlefield, but without treatment, it just may be dinner at the mother-in-laws that kills them.

A tri-force is in place; Google Maps, Street View, and Photosynth have taken the mystery from moving and successfully reduced a month long process into an afternoon internet session.

No more running around town peeking in windows of dark houses trying to scope out the size of a living room or the condition of a bathroom. No more waiting for late landlords, or driving past a house because the neighborhood looks run down. Much of the foot work required in compiling a list of potential houses, or apartments/condos/igloos, to move into can be done sitting on your fat lazy American butt, intelligent butt that is, online at your computer.

Get the Satellite View

When you find a house on the market that fits your budget you can first Google Map it to see its relative location from everything in town. How far is the bike ride to your work place or school, how far is the park for the kids, is there a dog park around? (Very important questions) You can see if the house is on a major road, near a highway or railroad tracks, and if it is close to your favorite river; you can also check the acreage of the lot and much more.

See it From the Street

To get a look at the exterior of the house itself Google has begun to build upon their Street View capabilities. Now, in many cities including Portland, Oregon, San Francisco, and Cincinnati, Ohio; almost anyplace in town can be seen from the perspective of the street. In Street View you can look right at the house as if you are looking at the house from the street. Check out the parking scene, take a look around the neighborhood, walk to the local park, check out the yard, the view, the condition of the building itself; you can even look up at the sky and enjoy a 360 degree turn of your potential place of residence.

See the Interior

Now you have seen the neighborhood, the exterior condition of the house, and the yard; it’s time to take a look inside. Microsoft has recently released Photosynth, a picture stitching program that enables a virtual 3-D tour of any place that has been submitted to the Photosynth web site. Although the technology of taking many pictures and turning them into a 3-D type tour exists already in QuickTime VR, Photosynth offers an easier process that only requires a camera and many photos as compared to QuickTime VR’s special tri-pod stabilizing equipment. It seems that any real real estate agent with half a lobe will jump at the opportunity to present their houses virtually online for potential buyers to “walk through”. Stitching programs work by overlapping photos together like puzzle pieces to generate larger, sometimes 360 degree, views; Photosynth and QuickTime VR take stitching technology to the max by forming them into virtual worlds with walls and halls that you can virtually, using your computer, walk through. You can literally scroll down a hall of a house going into all the bedrooms seeing their color schemes, check out if the bathroom is equipped with a fan, or check out the appliances in the kitchen. Some of the first Photosynths have been of famous places around the world and are available at the Photosynth website listed below. I highly recommend that you download the program and check out the capabilities.

So, now that you have seen the satellite view of the hood, the lovely sight of the bay windows, and have had a virtual walk through of the house; you have successfully just weeded out ten prospects that did not add up to your high standards saving yourself loads of time and energy. So rest, dang it; grab a book and relax will ya? Sheesh.

Mark Stegman Sept 3, 2008.

http://photosynth.net/
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/technologies/qtvr/
http://maps.google.com/

"MySpace", the name sounds like a small child’s safe zone or clubhouse; my initial impression was that it was a chat room for kids. It was when I saw the capabilities and easiness of configuring the site that I was signed on. It was in the hours of trolling new band after new band that I knew that MySpace was a music producer's dream.

Last of the Old School, First of the New School

You see, I was born in 1978. I am from one of the last generations that did not have cell phones in our high school; I am still waiting for the web page to download on my computer from my first year of college. Some of you remember might remember the early life of the user internet, waiting forever for a web page to load, slowly, line, by, line, longer,…, if there,… were,… pictures. But, as those of you who used the street maps inside of the phone book to find a street can attest to, a lot was different then and sometimes I don’t even know how I managed before. In particular, booking bands and promoting musicians was very different and has now been completely revolutionized by the social networking platform called MySpace.

Taping Walls

I got my first stage managing gig when I was eighteen in a small club off the campus of Ohio State in 1996. Above the club was a head shop that had a taping wall; I am not digging too deep in time here but things have changed at a fast clip in ten years. The taping wall had live shows recorded on audio cassette tapes of the Grateful Dead, The Doors, Phish, and Jimi Hendrix lined up and down the wall by year; the head shop had “tons” of tapes, they had to have had a hundred tapes! You would go in the head shop with a tape or buy a blank, high quality TDK of course, and pay a small fee for the shop to make you a tape. This was 1997 and having a hundred tapes was considered fanatic.

Booking Bands in The Early Nineties

The way the music scene worked in 1996 was a band had to have a bio to book gigs; if you wanted to book a gig or get signed, or do anything, you had to have a band bio. The standard band bio included a tape of your music of course. A taping of a show would suffice but to get taken seriously you wanted to have a studio quality recording. Remember, this was pre “studio in a laptop” era; no one had a studio except for the costly professional studios; with whom a band had to pay or trade for some recording time to make a quality demo for their bio. Once a band had a tape, they needed to have photographs. A band didn’t want to have too bit pics or the scary, “dead in the basement” look of Polaroid shots of their band. Many musicians and bands doing anything serious hired a professional photographer or had professional pictures DEVELOPED. Developed is a chemical process in which …you get the point. Already, with the tape and the photos alone the band is looking at a small investment even before they can get a gig.

Typewriters

The bio also included a typed biography describing the band, who they are, where they are from musically and geographically, what is their music type, what are they trying to do live on stage, where and how were they trained, and all types of any materials that might be relevant to producers. All this would be included in the must have manila envelope, not sealed.

Exasperating! For the band a costly and timely venture; many bands flaked on and broke up just in trying to create their bio, finding that trying to work together to build the marketing tools was too much for them. For the producers it was a time consuming occupation. A producer has to open up the bio, put the tape in the cassette player, press play, fast forward, play, fast forward, fast forward, while reading the bands bio to see if they are the type of band you want playing at their establishment. This process took many hours and many nights reviewing bands. A lot of time spent to find that a band is not that good; yet, most of the bands to make it through the bio process had the talent to at least get a gig.

Now, musicians and bands have all that digitally composed in one neat and east to use digital format. Producers can now troll through twenty times the amount of bands in one sitting taking in the music, history, pictures, and if a band is so inclined, (nudge nudge, wink wink), live videos. MySpace offers a quicker, more comprehensive resume of a band and their fans. MySpace is a musician and producers dream and has changed and industry.

http://www.myspace.com/

As I type this, many of my compatriots and thousands of wild land forest fire fighters are scourging through the thick of the forest displacing the immense heat with axes and shovels. Their job is dangerous; people die every year fighting forest fires. The heat from a forest fire is so great that it can literally boil the soil days after the fire has burned through. The heat drives deep within the ground where it can stay burning hot for months. This type of heat is so hot that if you poured water on it, the water would only sit on top of it and evaporate, not affecting the heat at all. These pits of fire exist under the ground waiting for the right wind to blow, or the right root to run on, called root fires, and can easily re-ignite a forest fire.

Firefighters Go Where Machines Can Not

Send in wild land forest fires. After they dig a line around a fire it’s time to attack the “black”. The “black” is the name of the part of the fire that has already been burned over. Gridding the “Black” for hotspots is an extensive part of putting out a wildfire. The firefighters line up spread out every five yards, twenty people long, and start gridding the forest. Their job is to find any of these hot spots, and so far the methods of finding the heat are the same as firefighters starting fighting wild land fires a hundred years ago. They look for smoke(duh), smell for fire, look for bugs on the surface (some bugs are attracted to heat), but the main method of locating underground hot spots that can easily reignite a forest fire is by sticking the top of their hands into the ground every square foot in the woods. If their hand gets burned, then they know that there is heat there that needs to be dug up and displaced. The proper method of feeling the ground for heat is to use the topside of the hand, that way, when they get scolded by the heat and blistered, the working part of the hand is not blistered and they're still able to hold a shovel. Sounds archaic, it is. It’s high time we arm our firefighting army.

Thermal Imaging Technology

There is a chain of command that is like the military on a fire fighting crew. One of the higher up fire authorities, who is like a commander, walks around the “black” using an expensive thermal imaging system. With this machine he sees the hotspots burning within the ground. He then marks the hotspot with a ribbon tied on a branch of a nearby tree for the firefighter crews to find. If this commander happens to run into the firefighter crew in the vicinity he’ll point and give vague forest directions like, “that way about a hundred yards”. The crew’s then trek through the extremely dangerous forest looking for ribbons tied to trees. Nearby a pink ribbon tied to a tree, there will be a hotspot.

GPS and Fire Crews

Recently though by the motivation of those firefighters and backpackers who love to have the latest woodland gadgets, fire crews have guys armed with GPS satellite mapping and location devices. Now, instead of looking for pink ribbons in a burnt out smoking forest, the crew can receive exact coordinates of the hotspots overlaid pinpoint accurate topographical maps. The future of GPS technology could look like this; a passing satellite takes thermal readings of a forest fire and emails the crew bosses (sergeants) the map with the coordinates of the hotspots along with other imperative weather information. Or the commander’s thermal imaging gun can transmit the coordinates of the hotspots directly to the crew bosses GPS unit using Bluetooth technology. The crews can then easily locate the coordinates of the hotspots and put them out. Much less time spent sticking their hands in the forest floor blindly not knowing if a snake lies in wait in that hole or if super heated burning coals will scold and blister their hands. GPS systems also offers important fire information such as current elevation, weather updates, and other fire hazards like dangerous deadly tree and bee hives could be marked on the map. GPS will also let the Incident Commanders (president) know exactly where the crews are on the fire all the time and in real time. Some of the Unites States tragic deadly wild fires were incidents in which the Incident command did not know where the fire fighters were on the fire.

Forest fires put forest fire fighters in the back country and in perilous conditions; one change in wind direction can scramble a team. The fire fighters must be armed with the information, maps, and location technology to safely put out these ginormous threats to our society. Communication from the top of the command structure to the guys in the black must be concise, informative, and in real time; there is no room for error and no reason any forest fire fighter should be left unarmed and unaware.

Mark Stegman

I am a big fan of generator powered lights on my bicycle that generate power from the spinning back wheel, but I will be the first to admit, an old generator can slow your roll, especially pedaling up steep hills. The answer is the Owleye solar LED. This weather resistant sleek silver LED is about the size of an IPod (the 60 GB kind) and comes with three various mounting mechanisms so you can choose how and where you want it on your bike. The solar array mounted on the top of the light looks cool and requires only two hours of sun for three hours of constant light or six hours blinking. At first sight, I was concerned about the brightness of the one LED encased in clear plastic, but all my doubts have been put to rest, this bad boy puts out more light than my battery powered bike light (which we all know eats batteries like an energy monster). Set in blinking mode the Owleye Solar LED strobe light saves energy and is most definitely seen coming down a bike path.
Check out the Owleye Solar LED

Video streaming is a word that you have probably heard of by now or at least you should have. YouTube is a video streaming service; also, there are services that will host a video to stream to your website, say, a short infomercial or product demonstration, for a fee of course. What makes a stream so applicable is that the end user does not have to download the full video onto their computer; instead the video is hosted on a server and “streamed” to the end user through a variety of media players. Today, I want to discuss live video streams.

Home Entertainment, Big Screens, Surround Sound

Now that most households have big screen T.V’s and sharp surround sound stereo systems the idea of having a concert broadcast in your living room becomes a viable new attractive form of entertainment. Combine this with the leaps and bounds in video streaming capabilities and you see why even major corporations such as AT&T and Microsoft are investing and interpreting the video stream technology.

I was live at Bonaroo music festival in Tennessee thanks to AT&T’s Blueroom, I was live at Langeradoo music festival in Florida thanks to the Iclips Network, and continually see up and coming bands like “Your Mama’s big fat booty Band” perform live on a site called Synclive, without even leaving my garden in Montreal.

Be Live at Bonaroo From Portland, Oregon

Live video streaming is a future of music media. If you’re favorite band is not coming to your town, you don’t have to travel a jillion miles to check them out in concert. As more music aficionados are not able to travel around the country taking in their favorite concerts, now they can “do the tour” from their internet connected yurt. (Wink) Not able to find a sitter, or don’t like the crowds, whatever the reason, throw a party at your house and get down live knowing that you are experiencing the music in the moment.

Now, any band can stream their show onto the web using a site called Synclive, no matter who you are or what kind of music you make, (although the site only seems to have somewhat quality music-I am not sure of their filtration process) you can broadcast your show live around the globe. New Years Eve parties will forever be more exciting with concerts from all over the world being streamed into Anywhere, USA.

AT&T Blueroom

AT&T is one of the largest corporations investing in live video stream of music concerts and festivals with their AT&T Blueroom. They were live at Bonaroo in Tennessee and the Coachella music festival in California; although, it was painfully obvious they are concentrating on the technicalities and the technologies and not the production itself. The downtime in between music acts was a painful awkward silence showing silent video of people standing around, not to cool. It was a real waste of live video space where they could have had a live VJ entertaining people while hyping up the festival and the live broadcast. It’s free, so I won’t complain, but I have to ask “Where was Pauly Shore?!!!!”

IClips Network

“IClIps Network” made me a fan by broadcasting live at Langeradoo music festival in May; Langeradoo was the early summer show held in Florida that hosted a lineup of seemingly every good band out there. Iclips has good entertainment that they keep archived on their site so when they are not live you can check out a previously recorded concert or interview. Also, Iclip’s as well as Synclive offer real time commenting while the show is taking place allowing for fans to communicate about the experience like being at the real show live. They also seem to still be hammering out how to produce the shows they are broadcasting live from, but their full screen presentation of the venues and great camera work offer an entertaining presentation of the musicians and events. (Their on stage camera presence can distract or hype of musicians)

Synclive

Synclive is a unique live video feed site that allows anyone with a video camera, laptop, and internet access to broadcast a show live to the entire world. Their user interface is friendly and offers a real time chat to those who sign in enabling you to talk with other fans like being at the real thing. This site will surely present some of the up and comers to the world with it’s “do it yourself” appeal and relying on the up loader for quality content. They also offer their archived shows; I watched Public Enemy from NYC before watching a live performance of “Your Mamas Big Fat Booty Band” from a club in Atlanta, Georgia. The only down on Synclive is that they do not offer a true full screen, but how could they when they get their live feed from any video camera used by a roadie? I highly recommend this site for all you up and comers, D.J.’s, promoters, producers, the party goers and the party throwers.

Get It While The Getting Is Good

Have a party at your house in Oregon and project a band playing live at a club in Miami, cool party! It’s a fabulous live world at your finger tips. I suggest you take advantage of it while it’s free, because, I’m betting this type of technology and access will soon cost you at least the price of admission.

Right now, as I type, I am also watching and listening to the band Panjea broadcast live from the 10,000 Lakes music festival in Minnesota via Iclips. There is something cool about having a live feed of a festival happening hundreds of miles away to placate a rainy day here in Montreal.

Mark Stegman

http://www.iclips.net/
http://app.synclive.com/
http://www.attblueroom.com
YMBFBB= Your Mamas Big Fat Booty Band

DO you want to live in a clean and organized house and never have to clean? Or, would you rather have a disheveled dirty crowded house where you are constantly cleaning. I have personally lived in both and know what it takes to live in a clean house and never have those whole days spent cleaning up huge messes.

Put Things In Their Place

First, everything has a place; when you finish with something you return it to where it is stored. It takes the same amount of time to set something in the wrong place than it does the right place. Second, incorporate cleanup into the dinner or project, then the kitchen goes from clean, to used, and back to clean and ready for the next person. If you see something out of place, put it where it belongs. If you spill something, clean it up. When you use the shower, take a moment and shake the shower curtain quickening the drying process so the water doesn’t hang around enabling mildew.

With everything in its own place it's easy to pull out a vacuum cleaner, give the rug a quick spot check and be done with it, putting it back wrapped up. If you incorporate cleaning into your life style you avoid the buildup that forces you to, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, spend hours going from kitchen to the bathroom, to the living room sweating scrubbing cleaning, only to have it dirty right back up again.

The House Sets Up Strict Rules

So, to try to fix the mess, you get the housemates together and set up strict rules and signs, “If you use it, wash it!” and “Whose turn is it to clean the bathroom”. This authoritarian lifestyle is not a lot of fun and can be totally avoided by taking moments in your day to incorporate living clean and living in a constantly clean environment.

The Recycle Metaphor

Well folks, society and recycling take the same metaphor. If each of us incorporates the proper disposal of paper, plastic, and glass and other recyclable products into our use of those products we will avoid the big Saturday afternoon cleanup. We will avoid having to have strict laws or recycle taxes enacted to try to motivate us. We can keep our earth clean while we live in it by putting the things we use in their proper place. Lets incorporate a clean lifestyle in all ways, if it has a triangle with the number in the middle, it’s recyclable. If your local community doesn’t offer recycling service, then make them; that should be a community mandate. Saving the Earth begins by saving our own "living rooms" and incorporating the time and energy of clean up and proper disposal in the act of making the mess. At least put the waste were it belongs. Recycle.

By: Mark Stegman

If I told you there is something that you could do right now that could help end the war in Iraq, fix health care, prolong your life, give you a sexy slim figure, bring your family closer together, save yourself and the children from asthma and diabetes, save some air for your kids, maintain the natural beauty of your neighborhood, save you enough money to buy three new laptops a year; would you believe me? It is simpler than you think; it’s as easy as riding a bike.

Actually, it is riding a bike.

I shouldn’t have to plead a case here; the benefits of riding a bike are so great, that if all the folks fit to ride bikes utilized their pedal power, instantly, our America would experience an immediate and instant transformation towards health. Riding a bike daily gets your heart pumping and the blood flowing strong through your veins. Your breathing exhales toxins stored within your muscles. You work you ass and thighs, building the power source of your strength. You burn healthy calories instead of polluting petroleum; keeping the air in your community fresh and clean. If you want “health care” then get health care; get your kids and the wife and go for a bike ride, you’ll live longer.

The Healthy No Car Life Style

Biking in combination with the bus becomes more convenient especially when the weather is cold. I do my grocery store runs on a bike utilizing a backpacker's hiking pack; I load my groceries in my pack instead of plastic bags and ride home easily. For trips to other towns I sit back with my laptop and headphones on riding smoothly along on the train; when I get to my desired town, I use the town’s bus system, whose routes I easily accessed online, to get around quickly and on the cheap. The Amtrak Cascades on the West coast allows you to bring your bike aboard the train without any disassembly, as does the Amtrak's bus service. For me, bike riding to work allows me to mentally prepare my mind for the rigors of the workplace; at the end of the day it offers the time to process the day at work, riding out the accumulated tension fro the days labors, I am clear of the drama by the time I come home making sure I do not bring the stress of the workplace inside to my family.

Weekend Bus Service

Towns that do not have Sunday bus service border on criminal neglect of the people they are supposed to serve. Think of the elderly people who need to go somewhere, the non gas users, and the disabled; do they not count? In order for the healthy no car lifestyle to work it is imperative that all towns fix bike racks to the front of their buses and have seven day a weak bus service. Upon returning to the train station on Sunday after visiting a nearby city, there must be some bus service to avoid costly taxi cab rides. All economies could benefit from the people having access to downtown and the mobility to get out and spend their hard earned money. For many people Sunday is a workday like all others and need the service to get to and from work.

Reap the Benefits of Money Saved

As I write this article I am enjoying happy hour in a high rise restaurant having cocktails over looking the beautiful pacific valley while planning a trip to Thailand with the money I have saved from not buying oil, paying for insurance, and upkeep on a ton of metal. It really is a great trade; I get rid of a huge waste polluting machine, and in turn, I get in shape, healthy, tour the world, save some air for my kids, and feel better. It’s clear to me, I’ll see you all when I get back from Thailand.

"Health Care is a Way of Life"

Mark Stegman