Bicycle Delivery

Posted on September 10, 2016 by twsobey

When deciding to give up driving for a year, there was one life-changing event I saw in the near future that would make this particularly challenging, the birth of our first child. How to get us to the birth center when I couldn’t drive because of the agreement and my wife shouldn’t drive because, apparently, contractions are distracting and make driving dangerous (who comes up with these rules?).

Years ago, a friend loaned me his pedicab in exchange for me doing some work on the brakes. When I started thinking about how to get move us all about, this was my first option. Unfortunately, he has since sold the pedicab. As luck would have it, I overheard a conversation at work in which someone was about to donate their pedicab to a local non-profit which happens to be five blocks from home. After interjecting into the talk, the current owner thought this was a great use for the pedicab and agreed to let me borrow it before it went to the non-profit.

Two important facts about pedicabs: they are heavy and they are slow. This one has an electric assist, which I admit felt like cheating, until I realized it no longer worked and only added weight to the already heavy machine. Once we had it, we had to do some practice runs.

Practice Run

Practice ride. Maybe we should go for ice cream?

These ensured that we could make the one mile trip to the birth center without trouble. As a bonus, it’s pretty fun to ride around with a pregnant woman in the back of the pedicab. We got lots of interesting looks and many encouraging comments.

The time finally came 12 days after our due date and we were ready for the next stage. It also happened to come at 4:00am which meant pulling out all the bike lights we had to make this pedicab radiate in the predawn darkness. It turns out, that wasn’t too important since we only saw one car on the road, but still, we were prepared.

The ride down was wonderful. We had clear skies and cool (but not cold) temperatures. The stars were out to put on a beautiful scene between contractions and the pedicab cushioned most of the bumps in the road to give a gentle ride. My wife and mother-in-law rode in back while I pedaled. The whole trip took about 10 minutes and I can’t imagine it going any better if we’d been in a car.

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Obviously not a practice run. A bit fuzzy because taking pictures in the dark while someone is trying to give birth is tricky. 😉

When we got to the birth center, Charlotte, our midwife, had the place warm and ready. The way everything was laid-out and prepared was almost enough to make me want to give birth… almost.

We watched as the sun rose, bringing a soft predawn light into the room. Then as it rose higher, to the full brightness of midday. And still she labored.

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Pedicab at the birth center. Note the license plate of the car, “Midwife”. Clearly we were in the right place.

As afternoon progressed towards evening, we were all ready for this kid to be out and completely exhausted. When evening turned into night and we hit the 24 hour mark for labor, we reassessed. Charlotte suggested we think about transferring to the hospital where Dom could get some meds to help her rest for the final push.

At this point, speed was critical and I was too tired from being awake for ~40 hours to pedal us anywhere. With Charlotte and my in-laws driving, we made the 1 mile trip in no time. Once at St. Luke’s, Dom was able to get a few hours of much needed rest.

When she awoke, it was time to get this baby moving. Unfortunately, with all the stress getting here, our kiddo was not liking the idea of more contractions. After discussing with doctors, nurses, midwives and family what the options were we decided a cesarean was the safest route. This was definitely not part of our birth plan and wanted to avoid this option if at all possible. But when the decision was almost made for us with the hospital prepping for an emergency c-section, before things improved enough to cancel that order, we decided this was our best option.

In the end, we came away with a happy, healthy baby girl. She was born Sept 2 at 9:04am and weighed in at 7lb 14oz. We were kept at the hospital for a few more days of monitoring (every hour on the hour which seemed excessive) and were finally release on Sept 5. The hospital, with all their rules about how and where you can carry your child, was not too keen on a pedicab ride home for mom and the new born. Overall, I’m not sure Dom was either. Her parents drove all of us home where the three of us were finally allowed to sleep, uninterrupted for two hours, until she informed us that she needed changing… or food… or to burp… or…

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Meet Avery Morgan Sobey, she’s the cute one in front.

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Limbo

Posted on August 16, 2016 by twsobey

Saturday was the day. I stood on stage (briefly) and promised to relinquish my car as well as go car-free for a year in exchange for a fancy new bike.unnamed It was quite the experience. If you’ve never been to Tour De Fat, it’s worth checking out when (if) it comes to a city near you. It’s part biking, part beer and a lot of vaudeville-type shows.

Anyhow, the ceremony was Saturday, but I didn’t give them my car that day and they didn’t give me the bike that day. As a result, I’m now in this state of limbo. I’ve made the promise to go car-free but I haven’t gotten the bike yet. I’ve been bike commuting to work on my current bike, just to get into the spirit of it. Turns out, an extra 10 miles a day of biking doesn’t feel too bad… until you do a track workout after it. Then you feel slow and sluggish.

I’ve also realized during this time in limbo, there are a lot of different ways to interpret car-free and New Belgium hasn’t giving me much guidance. Obviously, I won’t be driving to work or out to run errands, but what if I’m at work and we have an offsite meeting? Can I carpool with that person to the meeting? If I’m going on a run with my running group, can I offer to drive a carpool to the trail head? If my wife wants to go out to dinner, am I expected to bike to the restaurant and meet her there? What if we take a road trip to McCall, do I have to bike there and if not, am I allowed to drive or just be a passenger? If I fly to a far off land like Seattle or Fresno, can I take a cab from the airport to the hotel or am I limited to only public transportation and a borrowed bike? And what about Boise buses? I heard from previous car traders that they we’re berated online for using buses when the conditions made it dangerous to bike… Really? So many questions.

I’m going to be asking friends for their input on where the lines are and creating my list of rules for what it means to be car-free. If you have any suggestions, comment below. Also, I had a very generous friend inform me that if I break the rules, he will come and steal my new bike. It’s always good to have friend so concerned with holding you accountable.

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Robin Avery, Homebrewer

Posted on August 10, 2016 by twsobey

Boise Brew Minute (episode 92) – Robin Avery talks about his home-made home brewing set up. He explains the benefits he sees of using electric heating to brew his beer such as not burning down his kitchen. We also discuss methods he uses to increase his brewing efficiency.

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Wanna trade?

Posted on August 5, 2016 by twsobey

Every year, Tour de Fat comes to Boise for a day of biking, beer and bemusement (usually music and vaudeville routines). Last year when they came through, I got a chance to talk with one of their brewers before the event and thought that might be the highlight of my Tour de Fat experience. This year will top that.

The event is rolling into town on August 13 this year as part of their nine city tour. In each city, they have a community bike ride through downtown followed by bike games, music, community building and, of course, beer. One of the more ceremonial events is the car for bike swap. One person in each town volunteers to trade in their car and go car-free for a year in exchange for a fancy new bike. This year, I’m that person.

Last Saturday I was looking around the web for info about commuter bikes and planning to get one. When I went to the Boise Bicycle Project (BBP) page to see if they had anything that might work for me, I spotted the link to sign up to trade a car. My wife just got a new car and I haven’t been driving our old one much so I thought this might be a perfect fit. I emailed Jimmy at BBP then forgot about it until Monday around noon when I got his reply, “Come to the Olympic, Tuesday night at 7:30 to make your pitch.” Not entirely sure what my pitch should be, I thought about it for the next 24 hours, then completely changed my idea.

When the time came, I got cleaned up from Track Tuesday as quickly as possible and over to the Olympic. There were four of us who volunteered to make the trade so we each got 5 minutes on stage to convince the audience to pick us. I went first and thought I did well, then I saw the next three present and each of them did great as well. Four very different stories. When the votes were counted (and recounted), two of us had tied. They called in previous car-for-bike-swappers and New Belgium employees to break the tie. After two minutes of deliberation, I was chosen.

So Lizzy, our trusted car for almost ten years, is going away, but her spirit will live on in a new bike (and trailer and helmet and…). It will be sad to see her go, but I’m excited about going a year without driving. As I’m approaching the end of my year of running, I’m starting a year of biking. What could be next? The other exciting piece is that I get to select the bike, trailer and all the gear I want, up to $2250! For those of you more into biking, any suggestions for what I should look at getting?

Here’s to a fun adventure. Ride on!

 

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44 North

Posted on August 3, 2016 by twsobey

opbkqlji_400x400Boise Brew Minute (episode 91) – In this extended interview, Ken from 44 North Vodka talks about the distillation process and describes their still. We also talk about the process for turning potatoes into alcohol. At 44 North, they use multiple enzymes at different temperatures to maximize the conversion of starches to sugars for the yeast before getting turned into vodka.

After the mic was switched off, Ken and I continued to talk about all sorts of topics including the recent admission by Jack Daniels of the role slaves played in the early days of the company. Here’s the article Ken sent me detailing this fascinating bit of history.

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300 days and counting

Posted on August 3, 2016 by twsobey

It’s been several months since I updated everyone on my running streak, but it’s still going. After the Birthday Bash this year, my miles have dropped off a bit as they usually do during the summer, but as of yesterday, I hit 300 days of running at least a mile every day. I’m still aiming for a year and it’s starting to feel close. Only 66 days left (don’t forget, it’s a leap year). There’s a lot going on in the next month (details coming) but as long as I remain injury free, I should be able to make it. Any one else on a running streak?

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“Reality is Broken” and Pokémon Go

Posted on July 31, 2016 by twsobey

Last week I was in Fresno working with students from California and the Philippines to create new inventions then build businesses around those products. Several of the students were excitedly playing Pokémon during their lunch break, especially those from the Philippines where the game had not yet been released. Once I knew what to look for, I quickly spotted other people playing the game everywhere.

One night, I went out for a run around the CSU Fresno campus. I assumed that at 10:30pm, the place would be empty and I’d have the well lit paths to myself. When I arrived, there were scores of people wandering around staring at their phones and quickly swiping up every few seconds. Apparently, Fresno State was a great place to go Poke hunting and hundreds of people of all ages would leave their homes every night to go walk around campus. We always hear about video games encouraging people to stay at home and not talk to each other, but here people gathered to get exercise and socialize with strangers.

The second and third night I ran through campus dodging players, I was reminded of a book I read several years ago called “Reality is Broken”. The premise was that we can use video games to help us solve massive, real-world problems. I’d heard an interview with the author, Jane McGonigal, where she explained her thinking and it sounded ridiculous to me. I picked up the book with the intent of debunking it in the first chapter. As is often the case, I came away a convert.

Below are my notes from the book which I’ve continued to turn to since reading it. There are some big lessons here and I think games like Pokémon Go show some of the potential games have to positively impact society. Think of how many miles Americans have walked since the game was released. Without it, most of those people would likely have spent that time at home passively watching TV or clicking around Facebook.

The biggest lesson I took away from Jane’s work was the idea that we don’t need extrinsic rewards to motivate people. When one of the panelists on “Wait… Wait… Don’t Tell Me” asked what you get if you win Pokémon, the others who had played made it clear that they had never even thought about it. The goal was not to win, just to play. When the student inventors were trying to solve their engineering challenges last week, I would often proclaim that the first team to finish would get 10 bonus points. We didn’t grade their work in any way, yet only one student ever asked what the bonus points were for. They aren’t for anything, they’re just bonus points.

This won’t completely solve the problem of Americans’ sedentary lifestyles but hopefully it will help. What other societal ills could be tackled with video games?

Lessons for game building

  • Extrinsic rewards decrease intrinsic motivation
  • Positive-psychology shows  intrinsic rewards fall into four main categories
    • Satisfying work – being immersed in clearly defined, demanding activities that allow us to see direct impact of our efforts
    • Experience (or hope) of being successful – we want to feel powerful in our lives, show off what we’re good at, be optimistic of our chances for success and feel like we’re improving over time
    • Social connection – share experiences and build bonds by accomplishing together things that matter
    • Meaning – be part of something bigger than ourselves.
  • Naches – Yiddish word for vicarious pride or bursting with pride we feel when someone we’ve taught or mentored succeeds
  • Fiero – Italian word that has come to mean the emotional high we feel after triumphing over adversity

Fixes for Reality

  1. Unnecessary Obstacles
    • Compared with games, reality is too easy. Games challenge us with voluntary obstacles and help us put our personal strengths to better use
  2. Emotional Activation
    • Compared with games, reality is depressing. Games focus our energy, with relentless optimism, on something we’re good at and enjoy
  3. More Satisfying Work
    • Compared with games, reality is unproductive. Games give us clearer missions and more satisfying, hands-on work
  4. Better Hope of Success
    • Compared with games, reality is hopeless. Games eliminate our fear of failure and improve our chances for success
  5. Stronger Social Connectivity
    • Compared with games, reality is disconnected. Games build stronger social bonds and lead to more active social networks. The more time we spend interacting within our social networks, the more likely we are to generate a subset of positive emotions known as “prosocial emotions”
  6. Epic Scale
    • Compared with games, reality is trivial. Games make us a part of something bigger and give epic meaning to our actions
  7. Wholehearted Participation
    • Compared with games, reality is hard to get into. Games motivate us to participate more fully in whatever we’re doing
  8. Meaningful Rewards When We Need Them Most
    • Compared with games, reality is pointless and unrewarding. Games help us feel more rewarded for making our best efforts
  9. More Fun with Strangers
    • Compared with games, reality is lonely and isolating. Games help us band together and create powerful communities from scratch
  10. Happiness Hacks
    • Compared with games, reality is hard to swallow. Games make it easier to take good advice and try out happier habits
  11. A Sustainable Engagement Economy
    • Compared with games, reality is unsustainable. The gratifications we get from playing games are an infinitely renewable resource
  12. More Epic Wins
    • Compared with games, reality is unambitious. Games help us define awe-inspiring goals and tackle seemingly impossible social missions together
  13. Ten Thousand Hours Collaborating
    • Compared with games, reality is disorganized and divided. Games help us make a more concerted effort – and over time, they give us collaboration superpowers
  14. Massive Multiplayer Foresight
    • Reality is stuck in the present. Games help us imagine and invent the future together

Important skills for solving large problems

  • Take a long view – look at scales far larger than we normally perceive
  • Ecosystem thinking – look at the problem as a complex web of interconnected and interdependent parts. Learn to perceive and anticipate how changes odd one aspect impact others.
  • Pilot experiments – design and run many small experiments to determine the best possible solutions.
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Brülosophy

Posted on July 26, 2016 by twsobey

Boise Brew Minute (episode 90) – Marshall from Brulosophy.com talks to us about his latest experiment. In this extended interview, we discuss brewing beer with old hops; the impact of age and storage conditions on the hops; and the importance of brewing temperature. The hop experiment was the second one to look at hop age. This time using Simcoe; the first time using Willamette.

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Edge Brewing

Posted on July 20, 2016 by twsobey

c3831060b6f7fd7d55a0439990ec9886_400x400Boise Brew Minute (episode 89) – Selecting the perfect hop for a beer can be challenging with all the classic varieties available and new varieties coming out each year. Kerry from Edge Brewing walks us through her process for sampling new hops and tells us when she opts for new or classic varieties.

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Matt at Going Concern

Posted on July 13, 2016 by twsobey

Boise Brew Minute (episode 88) – This week, Matt Snyder talks about his homebrew experiment with cream ale or as he calls it, summer in a glass. We discuss the use of adjuncts to improve the mouthfeel. We also briefly discuss bottle swapping where people from different parts of the country trade beers so they can sample beers they couldn’t otherwise get.

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