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from the editor.

one of my four goals for 2010 is to pay off $8,000 of my school loan (about half of my remaining total).  this hasn’t been working.  i need to re-examine what’s been going on and come up with an alternative solution.

the state of things.  i set out initially to pay $750 per month against my school loan, delivering payments via credit card to the loan company.  last month’s payment was a paltry $350, and this month’s payment totalled $450.  what the hell happened?

essentially, there were numerous expenses i’d not factored into my initial budget.  these include:

• emergency repairs (looks like my car’s electrical system is on the blink…if it cares to blink at all)
• car insurance (currently over $900 per year, which isn’t much but the quarterly payments are significant enough)
• travel (yeah, i do want to take vacations and breaks…this costs money)
• other 2010 goals (these cost money too)

i have dipped into my savings account (via my automatic overdraft protection) a couple times since april: basically once every month i’m paying out of my savings account, even if it’s something less than $50.  though it’s not much, i feel it’s a horrible habit to begin, and definitely not a sustainable behaviour in any case.

how do i solve this?  i see several options.

1. extend the goal into 2011. this will delay the goal about 6 months.  by default this is do-able.
2. re-assess the goal to be $6,000 instead of $8,000 by year’s end. again, this is an approachable goal, and it would be done soon enough anyway.
3. pay off whatever i’m short the $8,000 at the end of they year with my savings account. this is also doable, but i feel it’s undesirable (too close to “admitting failure” than i prefer).  in all honesty, i see myself doing this anyway.
4. improve my income stream in some way. this is possible, but at the present time it doesn’t seem a very realistic possibility.  one of my other goals for this year is to publish a board game of my own, and i will be acquiring a construction certification in late july as a possibility for side jobs.  but there are a number of other commitments i would have to sacrifice in order to make a side job viable, and the board game has no financial guarantee.  i am not ready for this step just yet, i reckon.
5. stay on a $750 payment schedule, but pay these every 1.5 months. so i would keep the $750 payment structure, just not on the same timetable.  although it satisfies one of the criteria, putting a wrinkle into my solid monthly payment schedule doesn’t seem like a good idea.  furthermore, it doesn’t help me meet the goal any quicker.

out of all the options i’ve listed above, a combination of the first two seems the friendliest option.  however, as i mentioned above, i’m more concerned about accomplishing the goal i’ve set.  i think my course of action will be to pay what i can per month (which seems to be about $450 per month at the moment) and then make up the difference at the end of the year with payments from my savings account.  although this takes away some of my financial cushion, it’s likely to afford me greater peace of mind than stretching the goal out along a lengthier time table.

this is, of course, dependent on whether or not i still have savings left; unforseen emergencies may come up that cause some additional dwindling of my savings.  that’s not worth even speculating at this point.  my “plan b” (which combines options 1 and 2 above) can compensate for a significant loss of savings assets, so i’ll defer to that if necessary.

as this is a personal goal, and no one else really has any stake in it, i’m merely thinking out loud with this.  but i had made a promise to myself to do it in 2010, and i want to find a way to achieve that goal.  i’m not too pleased about this at the moment, to be honest, but i have a feeling i will be much more satisfied once i can finally write off that debt.

Tags: economy, personal, writing by editor
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here’s the plan for bike odyssey 2010.  for those readers who are unaware (but might still give a damn), bike odyssey started back in 2007, and finally came to fruition for the first time in 2008.  because i enjoyed the experience so thoroughly, i decided to reinstate the tradition–but this time bring a partner along.  surprisingly enough, three people have agreed to join me this year, and we’ve been biking together in the past couple months in an effort to train up for the main event.  as of this writing, it happens in four days (!).

so what is it, exactly?
bike odyssey 2010 is a bicycle trip from baltimore, md, usa, to ocean city, md, usa.  the entire trip is approximately 170 to 175 miles (eh, what’s a few more miles, anyway?).  the route ambles northward along a major u.s. roadway; once we’ve skirted around the north end of the chesapeake bay (helped by a pickup truck–for less than a mile–to cross the susquehannah river, because bicycles are not allowed on the bridge), we’ll be easing our way south towards the eastern shore.  eventually, we stop at a relative’s beach house and stay there for a couple days.  we’ll have family and friends meet us in ocean city later in the week, and they’ll drive us home after a few days of rest and relaxation.

the trip takes about 2.5 days, riding steady for 6 hours or so each day.  we’re staying in hotels during the evenings of the two days on the road.

what’s the big deal about all this, anyway?
at first glance, there’s nothing remarkable about the trip, other than the fact that it’s being done.  not everyone considers riding 170 miles over three days very enjoyable.  but i do, and the guys biking with me do, too.

additionally, this year i wanted to make the trip worthwhile to more than just us riders.  i took on a fund-raising benefit for a local baltimore homeless shelter.  my goal for this effort is to eventually raise $1000 to benefit the shelter and its residents.  prospects are good; at the initial fundraising benefit we raised just over $300, and later donations (as part of a “pledge-per-mile” program i developed) have just about doubled that number.  although i’m doubtful the full $1000 will be raised, there’s no reason to not keep trying.  plus, there’s still time, so more funds may come through somehow.  we’ll see.  but regardless, the shelter staff are appreciative of the funds and other resources we’ve collected for the shelter so far,  and every little bit helps.

why a bicycle?  why this?
way back in maybe 2004 or 2005, i made a vow to purchase a bicycle once local gasoline prices went up to $2.50 per gallon.  essentially, i wanted to save money; maybe i wanted to be a little healthier, too.  so when the fateful day came to pass (it was inevitable, naturally), i went to a department store and bought my first bicycle i’d ridden since college for about $99.  i was able to make short trips around town to visit friends, do errands, and take leisurely trips out and about in my spare time.

as time went on, my finances waxed and waned due to a period of “career transition.”  i was shifting from a semi-corporate job into the non-profit sector, and i was continually looking for ways to reduce expenses.  riding a bicycle became less and less a leisure activity, and more a viable mode of transportation.  at the age of 30, my last car finally died, and i ended up being car-less for a few months for the first time since i was 19 years old.  around that time–the hot summer of 2007–i suddenly hatched the plan to ride my bicycle to ocean city.  i have a relative who owns a summer house over there, and i have a open invite to stay when i please.  i hatched a plan to make my way there in august of that year.  i asked friends and family to help me out financially–i had just finished up a year-long americorps term, and funds were drastically limited.  i was also still out of work at the time, so i spent my days riding my bicycle, volunteering around town at various projects, and eating ramen noodles or peanut butter on toast.

as the date for the trip drew near, i suddenly had to change plans.  one of the bands i’m in was invited to travel across the country and participate in a televised audition for a spin-off of the american idol television show.  the bike trip was put on hold.  i eventually was hired by a non-profit organization (with whom i’m still employed now) and began to personally, emotionally, and financially regroup.  the trip with the band was a blast, of course, and was a superb uplifting experience for me in a number of ways.

before i knew it, early 2008 had come along.  the idea of the bike trip had never left the back-side of my mind, however, and i became more obsessed with the notion of achieving that personal goal.  i would bike to the day job any day that it wasn’t raining or snowing, and that the temperature was over 35 degrees fahrenheit.  i would take solo trips out to shopping malls a dozen miles away, eat a snack, and bike back home.  i would bicycle 20-mile round trips to pick up groceries.

eventually memorial day weekend 2008 arrived, and i left for ocean city.   two and a half days later, i was looking a the atlantic ocean.

it’s not easy for me to articulate the sense of accomplishment i had felt, perhaps because it had resonated with me personally at such a profound level.  the past year and a half or so had been a very trying time for me in terms of my personal life, and although the original trip had been delayed, eventually achieving it seemed not so much completing a task, but more like opening a door to many more possibilities and opportunities.  since that time, i’ve felt less inhibited by personal boundaries, anxieties, and social mores.  i feel less angry and frustrated.  i realize that careful, thought-full planning can eventually bring positive, long-lasting results.  i had felt i finally achieved one of my personal goals, after having endured close to two years of meeting resistance.

so i wanted to do it again.  at the beginning of 2010, i established four annual goals for myself. another bike odyssey is one of them.  so i’m doing it again, but this time it’s “bigger and better” than its precursor.  that’s the part of accomplishing goals that seems the most attractive to me: once one major success comes along, you’re encouraged not just to repeat it, but to take more risks, to “turn it up a notch,” and to expand your boundaries even further.

this is the main reason i wanted partners this time around.  i will never forget how intense the achievement was for me.  if i can encourage someone else to answer that call, and to meet that challenge, then i’ve done a profoundly rewarding service for someone else.  it’s doubtful that a single bicycle trip will always blast someone’s perceptions wide open–as it did for me–but at the very least it can open their experience to more opportunities.

i’m totally excited for you! how can i support bike odyssey 2010?
hell, i’m glad you asked!  you can download the “pledge per mile” form, and then e-mail me to arrange a pickup.  we’re accepting pledges until midnight, june 13th, 2010.

thanks for reading.

Tags: bike odyssey, personal, writing by editor
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