I was checking out Digg.com and found an interesting article on Mark Cuban and why he is such a great blogger.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/technology/personaltech/20basics.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&emc=eta1&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1213640039-Ex95gb2f18ouDcpc6ix1SQ
I don't know how I did it, so I apologize if I am not giving proper credit, but from there, I somehow ended up at a link to Tigerhawk's blog which discussed gas prices and behavior modification. http://tigerhawk.blogspot.com/2008/07/gasoline-prices-and-behavior.html
Great stuff there. I am thinking that the whole gas price/behavior thing is all about opportunity cost. (Yes, I actually did learn something in Microeconomics!)
Everybody who knows me knows I bought a bike, and (at this late date in life) learned to ride it, in an effort to save gas. When I first started biking, it took me an hour to go the 6 miles to work. As I have gotten stronger and accustomed to the trip, it now takes me 35 minutes, which is only 15 minutes longer than my drive. Add it up, and we get extra time consumed by biking of 2.5 hours per week.
Is that worth it to me? Yes! Not only am I saving a bit on gas, but I am also saving wear and tear on my 10-year-old car. I am getting a bit of 'quiet time', and the exercise is good for my health.
Additionally, my son and I bike everywhere we can. We will carry our empty backpacks to the grocery store, purchase only what we can carry, and bike home. We bike to his martial arts classes, his baseball games, his friends' homes for play-dates, his after-school program. Granted, biking with a 7-year-old takes even more time. Is that worth it to me? Absolutely! While we're biking, we're talking. I wouldn't trade that for anything.
The opportunity cost in the extra time spent biking compared to the money saved by biking is, to me, a worthy trade. I plan to keep biking as late into the season as I can. This being Western New York, my biking season may end in August, but we'll see! :D
