I drove my car up to Washington State this past May for my usual summer job. The company would fly me up, but I like driving. Plus, it was planned that my friend Matt would fly up at the end of the season and road-trip back with me. We figured we’d hit some “bucket list” places on the way. We brainstormed a bit and finally came up with a rough idea of our route. We had a plan but left room for flexibility.
I’ve always wanted to visit Olympic National Park in the very northwest corner of the country. That, and the Going-To-The-Sun Road in Glacier National Park were two in my “must-see” category. Matt wanted to do Mt. Rainier and Crater Lake. And we both wanted to see Mt. Rushmore.
I picked Matt up in Seattle on Thursday night. We got an early start on Friday morning, and quickly realized that if we had any sort of schedule at all, it was going out the window. What with the requisite “photo-op” stops (and me needing to stop so frequently to pee), we weren’t making much time. Instead of cruising through Olympic National Park (first on our list), we ended up spending much more time than we’d planned. This kind of screwed up our whole timetable.
We discovered that we wanted to linger at places longer than we anticipated. Ultimately, we had to scratch a couple of things off our list. But we added a few others.
Road trips are cool. But sharing a car during the day and a hotel room at night with someone for a week can be awkward and stressful. You get to know a lot about the other person – maybe more than you ever wanted to know. It’s very easy to get on one another’s nerves. So it helps when your traveling companion is someone you get along and enjoy being with.
Matt and I have known each other for a long time now, and we get along great. Looking back, I don’t believe he and I have ever had an actual argument. Disagreement, yes; argument, no. I don’t know why that is, come to think of it.
Over the years, we’ve done more than a few road trips together. The first time was back in the late 1990’s when I delivered an airplane – a tiny, two-seat Cessna 150 - from Pensacola, Florida to Flint, Michigan. Since then we’ve been on many flying, camping, canoeing, hiking and road trips. He is an avid mountain biker, and is always suggesting that I buy a bike and ride with him – but I have to draw the line somewhere. With me on a bicycle, the vertical weight distribution would be all wrong.
Anyway, we left Seattle, Washington on Friday morning, and got back to his place in Atlanta on Thursday evening. It was an awesome, fun trip! I’ll describe some of it in the next few installments here – with pictures!
Who Am I?
- Bob Barbanes:
- A nobody; a nitwit; a pilot; a motorcyclist; a raconteur; a lover...of life - who loves to laugh, who tries to not take myself (or anything) too seriously...just a normal guy who knows his place in the universe by being in touch with my spiritual side. What more is there?
02 September 2019
26 August 2019
Minding Your Business, Part II
Remember the story in July of 2018 about the guy here in Florida who confronted a woman about parking in a handicapped spot at a convenience store and then shot her boyfriend when he came outside? I wrote about it HERE.
On Friday August 23, 2019, the man, Michael Drejka was convicted of manslaughter of Markeis McGlockton. He has yet to be sentenced, so the story is not over.
There are plenty of lessons here. Let’s deal focus on three:
First and foremost is that if you lay your hands on another man in anger, you might just end up dead. McGlockton acted violently – there is no disputing that. The surveillance video clearly shows him instigating the physical confrontation. For that, he paid with his life. I'm guessing it wasn't the first time that McGlockton acted violently. Some lessons have to be learned the hard way.
Right or wrong, justified or not, dying is always a possibility when you start a conversation with violence. No matter what Drejka did that day, McGlockton could have just called Drejka a bad name, gotten in his car and driven away. But he did not.
Second Lesson: If someone physically attacks you, you don’t get to kill them! I’m sure things in that parking lot happened pretty quickly for Drejka, and he may very well have felt threatened with bodily harm by a man who was obviously quite younger and bigger than he was (but who was not brandishing a weapon at that point). So did Drejka have a reasonable, genuine fear that his life was in danger? Ehhhh, the jury did not think so. You certainly can get your ass kicked. (Some people deserve it!) But that doesn’t give you, the ass-kickee permission to kill the ass-kicker.
Third Lesson: The media sucks. Most stories that I've read, including THIS one from Reuters erroneously state that this case was a study in Florida's so-called "Stand Your Ground" law. The reality is that Drejka's attorneys went for simple self-defense and did not invoke "Stand Your Ground." But the media has an agenda that apparently has nothing to do with the truth.
Okay, anyway, Drejka was found guilty and he will be sentenced at some later date. He may face some jail time, or he might not. This is Florida, after all. But whatever sentence is handed down, it most likely won’t be Life Without Parole. Eventually, he’ll go on with his life. McGlockton is still dead. I wouldn't want to be either of those two guys.
There are no winners here.
On Friday August 23, 2019, the man, Michael Drejka was convicted of manslaughter of Markeis McGlockton. He has yet to be sentenced, so the story is not over.
There are plenty of lessons here. Let’s deal focus on three:
First and foremost is that if you lay your hands on another man in anger, you might just end up dead. McGlockton acted violently – there is no disputing that. The surveillance video clearly shows him instigating the physical confrontation. For that, he paid with his life. I'm guessing it wasn't the first time that McGlockton acted violently. Some lessons have to be learned the hard way.
Right or wrong, justified or not, dying is always a possibility when you start a conversation with violence. No matter what Drejka did that day, McGlockton could have just called Drejka a bad name, gotten in his car and driven away. But he did not.
Second Lesson: If someone physically attacks you, you don’t get to kill them! I’m sure things in that parking lot happened pretty quickly for Drejka, and he may very well have felt threatened with bodily harm by a man who was obviously quite younger and bigger than he was (but who was not brandishing a weapon at that point). So did Drejka have a reasonable, genuine fear that his life was in danger? Ehhhh, the jury did not think so. You certainly can get your ass kicked. (Some people deserve it!) But that doesn’t give you, the ass-kickee permission to kill the ass-kicker.
Third Lesson: The media sucks. Most stories that I've read, including THIS one from Reuters erroneously state that this case was a study in Florida's so-called "Stand Your Ground" law. The reality is that Drejka's attorneys went for simple self-defense and did not invoke "Stand Your Ground." But the media has an agenda that apparently has nothing to do with the truth.
Okay, anyway, Drejka was found guilty and he will be sentenced at some later date. He may face some jail time, or he might not. This is Florida, after all. But whatever sentence is handed down, it most likely won’t be Life Without Parole. Eventually, he’ll go on with his life. McGlockton is still dead. I wouldn't want to be either of those two guys.
There are no winners here.
19 August 2019
A Delicate Matter
I am back in Florida, having spent the last 90 days in Washington State drying cherries with helicopters. It’s nice to be back in my own house, sleeping in my own bed, eating my own food and getting back on my usual (ahem) routines. More about that later…
It was a relatively uneventful season…except for one crash that happened on a training flight before I got there. The ship was a write-off but the pilots were okay. The new-hire, an older guy is faking a back injury so he won’t have to fly anymore, I guess. Had I done a better job of researching him, I probably wouldn’t have hired him. But we were really hard-up for pilots this year, and so I took a chance. Next year will probably be worse as there is a real shortage of qualified helicopter pilots out there.
Other than that, we had a pretty good year, flying-wise. No records were set but the boss seemed happy.
The deal the company makes with pilots is this: Housing and food is provided in addition to a daily pay rate. We don’t specify how much food we’ll provide, but I assure prospective employees that nobody ever goes hungry at our outfit. The boss loves to eat, and he really likes it when we all eat together as a group. So he takes us out a lot.
At the beginning of the season the boss and I go down to Costco in Wenatchee and load up on food for the crew houses that the pilots can prepare themselves. In addition, we all go out to Taco Tuesday, and of course Steak Night at The Club Sports Bar in Okanogan, which we love. Friday or Saturday nights will see us having pizza at The Bakery in Pateros. I usually cook a big meal once or twice a week, and we’ll do a cookout/barbecue as well. Then there are the random breakfasts and lunches at Smallwoods (which we also love). As I said, no one goes hungry.
Every morning I would meet the boss at 0700 for coffee and to discuss what we wanted to accomplish that day. Invariably, he would proffer a piece of pie (apple, naturally – they don’t make pies from the cherries they grow around Brewster). Coffee and pie for breakfast?! Not what anyone would call a good and healthy meal. But it would be impolite and disrespectful to refuse. So I did not. I did, however, decline the two big scoops of vanilla ice cream which the boss usually added to his own pie.
In the beginning, the boss would get eight slices out of a normal store-bought pie. That morphed into four slices. It got ridiculous. (But if you’ve ever eaten pie from Cyrus O’Leary in Spokane, you’d understand our indulgence. They are AWESOME!)
One upshot of all this overeating was that I ballooned up to 210 pounds. I look and feel awful. It’s going to take some serious dieting and exercise to get back down to 180 pounds…if I even can at my age.
Another effect of our crazy diets in Washington is more…well…awkward to talk about. It’s a delicate matter. I spoke with the other pilots about this and they all concurred. To be blunt: Our poop schedules got all screwed-up. We were all pooping like crazy! Much more often than usual.
I am fortunate that here in Florida, I eat pretty healthy and don’t eat a whole lot. My diet is such that I burn off most of the food I eat during the day…if you know what I mean. I try to keep my total caloric intake down below 1,800, and preferably below 1,500 if I can. This means that there is not a lot of, um, byproduct. Once in the morning, and I’m good for the next 24-hours.
But up in Washington…I didn’t count, but we all must’ve been taking in 3,000 or 4,000 calories a day, maybe more. Just breakfast at Smallwoods alone could account for most of that! Portion control? Hah! Plus, none of us were exercising all that much. Consequently, we all had to adjust to having our days interrupted by inconvenient visits to the bathroom more often than usual. (I know, I know...first-world problems, eh?)
But as I said, now I am back at home and eating more sensibly. Yes, I can already tell the difference. It’s a giant relief - in more ways than one.
I didn’t really want to go up to Washington this summer, and I don’t want to go back next summer but I think I’m going to have to. (It’s a long story.) Next summer will make a total of ten years that I’ve been going up to Brewster. So we shall see. This year was a lot of fun – we had a really great crew. It makes it hard to quit. But ten years of doing anything is enough, no?
It was a relatively uneventful season…except for one crash that happened on a training flight before I got there. The ship was a write-off but the pilots were okay. The new-hire, an older guy is faking a back injury so he won’t have to fly anymore, I guess. Had I done a better job of researching him, I probably wouldn’t have hired him. But we were really hard-up for pilots this year, and so I took a chance. Next year will probably be worse as there is a real shortage of qualified helicopter pilots out there.
Other than that, we had a pretty good year, flying-wise. No records were set but the boss seemed happy.
The deal the company makes with pilots is this: Housing and food is provided in addition to a daily pay rate. We don’t specify how much food we’ll provide, but I assure prospective employees that nobody ever goes hungry at our outfit. The boss loves to eat, and he really likes it when we all eat together as a group. So he takes us out a lot.
At the beginning of the season the boss and I go down to Costco in Wenatchee and load up on food for the crew houses that the pilots can prepare themselves. In addition, we all go out to Taco Tuesday, and of course Steak Night at The Club Sports Bar in Okanogan, which we love. Friday or Saturday nights will see us having pizza at The Bakery in Pateros. I usually cook a big meal once or twice a week, and we’ll do a cookout/barbecue as well. Then there are the random breakfasts and lunches at Smallwoods (which we also love). As I said, no one goes hungry.
Every morning I would meet the boss at 0700 for coffee and to discuss what we wanted to accomplish that day. Invariably, he would proffer a piece of pie (apple, naturally – they don’t make pies from the cherries they grow around Brewster). Coffee and pie for breakfast?! Not what anyone would call a good and healthy meal. But it would be impolite and disrespectful to refuse. So I did not. I did, however, decline the two big scoops of vanilla ice cream which the boss usually added to his own pie.
In the beginning, the boss would get eight slices out of a normal store-bought pie. That morphed into four slices. It got ridiculous. (But if you’ve ever eaten pie from Cyrus O’Leary in Spokane, you’d understand our indulgence. They are AWESOME!)
One upshot of all this overeating was that I ballooned up to 210 pounds. I look and feel awful. It’s going to take some serious dieting and exercise to get back down to 180 pounds…if I even can at my age.
Another effect of our crazy diets in Washington is more…well…awkward to talk about. It’s a delicate matter. I spoke with the other pilots about this and they all concurred. To be blunt: Our poop schedules got all screwed-up. We were all pooping like crazy! Much more often than usual.
I am fortunate that here in Florida, I eat pretty healthy and don’t eat a whole lot. My diet is such that I burn off most of the food I eat during the day…if you know what I mean. I try to keep my total caloric intake down below 1,800, and preferably below 1,500 if I can. This means that there is not a lot of, um, byproduct. Once in the morning, and I’m good for the next 24-hours.
But up in Washington…I didn’t count, but we all must’ve been taking in 3,000 or 4,000 calories a day, maybe more. Just breakfast at Smallwoods alone could account for most of that! Portion control? Hah! Plus, none of us were exercising all that much. Consequently, we all had to adjust to having our days interrupted by inconvenient visits to the bathroom more often than usual. (I know, I know...first-world problems, eh?)
But as I said, now I am back at home and eating more sensibly. Yes, I can already tell the difference. It’s a giant relief - in more ways than one.
I didn’t really want to go up to Washington this summer, and I don’t want to go back next summer but I think I’m going to have to. (It’s a long story.) Next summer will make a total of ten years that I’ve been going up to Brewster. So we shall see. This year was a lot of fun – we had a really great crew. It makes it hard to quit. But ten years of doing anything is enough, no?
19 June 2019
Unbelievably...Back In Washington
You may now roll your collective eyes and sigh...
I may have mentioned in this blog a time or two that every year since 2011 I’ve been coming up from Florida to Washington State for my summer job with a helicopter company that does cherry-drying. Every year I say that it’ll be my last. And then every year I come back. Last year I was quite positive that I was done here.
And yet here I am, writing this at our headquarters in Brewster, Washington. Sheesh.
I’m not flying anymore. When I quit Petroleum Helicopters in 2001, I vowed that I was done with flying. I’d hit 10,000 hours of flight experience, which is a nice milestone and was sort of my goal when I started flying for money back in 1982.
But I’m not a good quitter, apparently. After leaving PHI, I took a succession of “temporary” (or so I thought) jobs, culminating in the one where I flew a Bell JetRanger for that rich guy in Alabama. That ended in 2010, and when I quit that job I said I was DONE! Then one of my friends called and told me about this cherry drying outfit that used the helicopters my dad flew in the Korean War.
But finally, I’ve had enough. I still love getting my hands on the controls of a helicopter, but my heart is just not in it anymore. I ride along with the new pilots, checking them out in the Sikorsky S-55 model that we use and showing them how we go about doing the job. But that’s about it. Now, I come up to Washington mainly to help my boss and his son get all of the equipment ready for the season. I stay for only two months (instead of as many as six!) and then beat feet back to Florida as soon as all the cherries are picked.
It’s fun up here, and that’s the trouble. It’s what keeps me coming back each season. But honestly (and I hate to admit this), I’d much rather be down in Florida with my motorcycle-riding buddies, taking trips and going to the beach while the weather is good. I mean, I live where people go on vacation! As I said, I’ve been trying (unsuccessfully) to stop flying for a living since 2001!
As great as Pensacola is, it’s certainly not Miami. We’re sub-tropical. And although our northwest part of Florida doesn’t get all that cold in the winter, it can be chilly (a high of 60 degrees for a couple of hours) and the November-December days at that latitude are short: Sunset can be as early as 4:30. Makes it tough to get in any meaningful trips if you don’t like riding at night, which I don’t. So we have to take advantage of the good weather in the summer.
Aaaaaaanyway, we’ve been having a pretty good season here in Washington, all things considered. The weather has been beautiful: clear and warm, but so far at least not blisteringly hot. (That’s coming next month.) The growers all seem to be having a good season; that is, good for them but bad for my boss who would prefer we were flying more. Perhaps the growers will get their cherries all picked early…(wishful thinking, I know) and I'll be out of here by the end of July.
It seems that I write this – or something similar – every year. I suppose I’ll be writing it again next year too.
I may have mentioned in this blog a time or two that every year since 2011 I’ve been coming up from Florida to Washington State for my summer job with a helicopter company that does cherry-drying. Every year I say that it’ll be my last. And then every year I come back. Last year I was quite positive that I was done here.
And yet here I am, writing this at our headquarters in Brewster, Washington. Sheesh.
I’m not flying anymore. When I quit Petroleum Helicopters in 2001, I vowed that I was done with flying. I’d hit 10,000 hours of flight experience, which is a nice milestone and was sort of my goal when I started flying for money back in 1982.
But I’m not a good quitter, apparently. After leaving PHI, I took a succession of “temporary” (or so I thought) jobs, culminating in the one where I flew a Bell JetRanger for that rich guy in Alabama. That ended in 2010, and when I quit that job I said I was DONE! Then one of my friends called and told me about this cherry drying outfit that used the helicopters my dad flew in the Korean War.
But finally, I’ve had enough. I still love getting my hands on the controls of a helicopter, but my heart is just not in it anymore. I ride along with the new pilots, checking them out in the Sikorsky S-55 model that we use and showing them how we go about doing the job. But that’s about it. Now, I come up to Washington mainly to help my boss and his son get all of the equipment ready for the season. I stay for only two months (instead of as many as six!) and then beat feet back to Florida as soon as all the cherries are picked.
It’s fun up here, and that’s the trouble. It’s what keeps me coming back each season. But honestly (and I hate to admit this), I’d much rather be down in Florida with my motorcycle-riding buddies, taking trips and going to the beach while the weather is good. I mean, I live where people go on vacation! As I said, I’ve been trying (unsuccessfully) to stop flying for a living since 2001!
As great as Pensacola is, it’s certainly not Miami. We’re sub-tropical. And although our northwest part of Florida doesn’t get all that cold in the winter, it can be chilly (a high of 60 degrees for a couple of hours) and the November-December days at that latitude are short: Sunset can be as early as 4:30. Makes it tough to get in any meaningful trips if you don’t like riding at night, which I don’t. So we have to take advantage of the good weather in the summer.
Aaaaaaanyway, we’ve been having a pretty good season here in Washington, all things considered. The weather has been beautiful: clear and warm, but so far at least not blisteringly hot. (That’s coming next month.) The growers all seem to be having a good season; that is, good for them but bad for my boss who would prefer we were flying more. Perhaps the growers will get their cherries all picked early…(wishful thinking, I know) and I'll be out of here by the end of July.
It seems that I write this – or something similar – every year. I suppose I’ll be writing it again next year too.
22 May 2019
Exciting, Glamorous Jobs?
It's funny. I don't like telling my Uber passengers that I'm a semi-retired helicopter pilot. They nearly always get the wrong idea. They think that flying helicopters must be an exciting and glamorous job. They couldn't be more wrong.
We professional pilots work very, very hard to keep the job from being exciting or thrilling. We like it to be very predictable and dull. One of my mentors used to say, "No surprises. When I'm flying I want no surprises." And that is exactly right. Surprises that get the heart pumping and adrenaline flowing can only mean that you're in a near-death experience. Typically, helicopter pilots are not adrenaline-junkies. Most of us are just the opposite.
And so we sit there as we fly along, monitoring all systems, keeping everything right in the center of "normal." This applies whether you're out in the Gulf of Mexico flying from oil platform to oil platform, or hovering over cherry trees for hours on end. If it's exciting then you're doing something wrong...or at very least you're not doing things right.
And yes, flying certainly is "fun," I won't deny that. The views are often spectacular beyond description. We get to see the planet from a perspective that few other mortals can experience. And that is truly special. But there are other things that make flying fun too.
When lifting off from the ground up into a hover, some pilots are content to allow the helicopter to lurch into the air like drunken sailor might get up from the bar floor after being cold-cocked for saying the wrong thing to the wrong guy's girlfriend. However, there is great pleasure to be had in getting the ship to lift off smoothly, so it seems to the passengers that the earth just falls gently away from the aircraft. It takes practice and finesse on the controls.
When I dry cherries I make an effort to follow this particular row at this exact altitude and this precise speed, watching the effect that my downwash is having on the trees and making sure that I'm shaking/blowing every one.
And so the pleasure...the fun, if you will...that you get from flying is often the result of doing it as well and precisely as you can.
People don't believe me when I tell them that driving for Uber is the most-fun job I've ever had. I quickly add that it's not the most highly-paying job...that should be obvious...but it truly is an incredibly rewarding and enjoyable job. I mean, what guy doesn't love getting paid to drive around?
There is a constant stream of new people getting in the car all the time. (And a fair number of repeat-riders as well!) You have to like people, of course. Doing ride-share might be miserable if you don't. Fortunately I do.
Just as with being a taxi driver, I'm a kind of ambassador of the Pensacola area. I truly love living here, and it's fun to communicate that and share my experiences with new visitors to the area...or compare notes with other locals.
But while taxi passengers were kind of guarded and sometimes standoffish, assuming that I was just another guy who couldn't do anything but be a cabdriver, Uber passengers look at me differently. It's subtle but it's there. There's a higher level of comfort and informality between ride-share passenger and driver.
When I take people out to Pensacola Beach, there is a point when you get to the top of the Bob Sikes Bridge. Suddenly you are presented with a beautiful, sweeping panorama of the barrier island and sparkling Gulf of Mexico beyond. Most of the time I'll spread my arms wide, smile and say, "THIS...is why I live here!" Nobody argues with me. I do love living where people come on vacation.
I know I've written about this before...about how much I love this Uber job. But I do. It's like this job was created just for me. I don't know how long it will last. Heck, self-driving cars might actually be right around the corner and they'll put me out of work. Who knows? But I'll enjoy it until I cannot do it anymore.
Flying was great, but ride-sharing is better. Believe it or not.
We professional pilots work very, very hard to keep the job from being exciting or thrilling. We like it to be very predictable and dull. One of my mentors used to say, "No surprises. When I'm flying I want no surprises." And that is exactly right. Surprises that get the heart pumping and adrenaline flowing can only mean that you're in a near-death experience. Typically, helicopter pilots are not adrenaline-junkies. Most of us are just the opposite.
And so we sit there as we fly along, monitoring all systems, keeping everything right in the center of "normal." This applies whether you're out in the Gulf of Mexico flying from oil platform to oil platform, or hovering over cherry trees for hours on end. If it's exciting then you're doing something wrong...or at very least you're not doing things right.
And yes, flying certainly is "fun," I won't deny that. The views are often spectacular beyond description. We get to see the planet from a perspective that few other mortals can experience. And that is truly special. But there are other things that make flying fun too.
When lifting off from the ground up into a hover, some pilots are content to allow the helicopter to lurch into the air like drunken sailor might get up from the bar floor after being cold-cocked for saying the wrong thing to the wrong guy's girlfriend. However, there is great pleasure to be had in getting the ship to lift off smoothly, so it seems to the passengers that the earth just falls gently away from the aircraft. It takes practice and finesse on the controls.
When I dry cherries I make an effort to follow this particular row at this exact altitude and this precise speed, watching the effect that my downwash is having on the trees and making sure that I'm shaking/blowing every one.
And so the pleasure...the fun, if you will...that you get from flying is often the result of doing it as well and precisely as you can.
People don't believe me when I tell them that driving for Uber is the most-fun job I've ever had. I quickly add that it's not the most highly-paying job...that should be obvious...but it truly is an incredibly rewarding and enjoyable job. I mean, what guy doesn't love getting paid to drive around?
There is a constant stream of new people getting in the car all the time. (And a fair number of repeat-riders as well!) You have to like people, of course. Doing ride-share might be miserable if you don't. Fortunately I do.
Just as with being a taxi driver, I'm a kind of ambassador of the Pensacola area. I truly love living here, and it's fun to communicate that and share my experiences with new visitors to the area...or compare notes with other locals.
But while taxi passengers were kind of guarded and sometimes standoffish, assuming that I was just another guy who couldn't do anything but be a cabdriver, Uber passengers look at me differently. It's subtle but it's there. There's a higher level of comfort and informality between ride-share passenger and driver.
When I take people out to Pensacola Beach, there is a point when you get to the top of the Bob Sikes Bridge. Suddenly you are presented with a beautiful, sweeping panorama of the barrier island and sparkling Gulf of Mexico beyond. Most of the time I'll spread my arms wide, smile and say, "THIS...is why I live here!" Nobody argues with me. I do love living where people come on vacation.
I know I've written about this before...about how much I love this Uber job. But I do. It's like this job was created just for me. I don't know how long it will last. Heck, self-driving cars might actually be right around the corner and they'll put me out of work. Who knows? But I'll enjoy it until I cannot do it anymore.
Flying was great, but ride-sharing is better. Believe it or not.
16 May 2019
Can Uber Survive?
For seven years I drove a taxi here in Pensacola, Florida. When Uber came on the scene, it was apparent to me that it was a taxi service disguised as something else. Uber was using various weasely excuses to get around the traditional licensing of taxicabs that many (but not all) municipalities have in place. Once the camel got his nose under the tent, there was no stopping it. Now Uber is everywhere. I saw the handwriting on the wall and made the Big Switch last May - a year ago, come to think of it!
As a company, Uber has never been profitable. It loses billions of dollars each year. Yet investors threw money at it like crazy, allowing the company to grow on a worldwide scale. And, sure enough, one of the reasons people use Uber is because it works everywhere. One app: every city. What's not to love?
Well...investors do love profitability. And it must have been with a certain amount of trepidation of senior management when they took Uber public this month (May 2019). Because now, instead of just being answerable to a relatively few investment capitalists, there will be another layer of management to deal with: Stockholders. And stockholders are notoriously fickle and single-minded (read: profit-oriented).
Uber came out of the box strong during the IPO, but the stock price dropped and dropped in the first week. I'm certain it's because of fear and skepticism on the part of would-be investors. To wit: Can Uber ever be profitable? Can it even survive?
Uber has stated that their future profitability depends on self-driving cars (SDC's). And they've hinted very strongly that SDC's are right around the corner. They're not. Merely saying something with conviction about some future event does not make it so. Sure, the technology has made great advances, but there's still a long way to go, and many issues to be solved before SDC's become a reality in your town. And even then they won't be introduced country-wide. Maybe they won't even be introduced first in the litigious U.S.! Would you get into an autonomous vehicle/taxi right now? I wouldn't.
But if Uber can take the driver (and what they pay him/her) out of the picture, then that's 40% more revenue for them. That's the theory, anyway. Who actually knows what additional, unpredicted costs there might be in terms of...oh...insurance, for one thing? If a driverless car gets into an accident and fare-paying people inside of it are injured, who pays? The reliability in heavy-duty commercial use of these new SDC's is unproven. It's a safe bet that passengers will treat an SDC Uber like they do a current taxi, maybe worse.
And what other fees will municipalities levy against the company for having their cars, roaming the streets while searching for fares, circulating aimlessly in already-clogged downtown areas? Here's the thing about a commuter's car: He drives it into the city, parks it, and it's OFF THE STREET during the workday. An autonomous ride-share vehicle drives itself into the city, drops off its passenger and then will still be in the mix of traffic, adding to the congestion instead of reducing it! And instead of twenty or thirty or forty people on a city bus, these same people will be divided up into four- five- or six-passenger (presumably electric) Uber cars? This is supposedly better? Maybe, maybe not.
So there are a lot of unanswered questions, a lot of unknowns. We've only addressed a couple. With driverless cars, Uber assumes that their cost of operation will go down. But I don't think that is assured.
Here in Pensacola, Florida, Yellow Cab has come up with this thing called Z-Trip. It's a hybrid taxi/ride-share service. You can use it just like a regular old taxi: Call Dispatch and they'll send you a car. OR, you can have your credit card information on-file with them and use Z-Trip as you would an Uber. Either way, they charge the going taxi rate here in Pensacola which is $2.25 per mile, which is higher than Uber and Lyft at the moment. Yellow Cab is transitioning all of their traditionally colored taxis to the new Z-Trip branding.
Right now, Z-Trip is only available in certain U.S. cities. And it's not global, of course. But if anything can eat into the ride-share market, it could be Z-Trip...if it can be rolled out and available nationwide.
As a company, Uber has never been profitable. It loses billions of dollars each year. Yet investors threw money at it like crazy, allowing the company to grow on a worldwide scale. And, sure enough, one of the reasons people use Uber is because it works everywhere. One app: every city. What's not to love?
Well...investors do love profitability. And it must have been with a certain amount of trepidation of senior management when they took Uber public this month (May 2019). Because now, instead of just being answerable to a relatively few investment capitalists, there will be another layer of management to deal with: Stockholders. And stockholders are notoriously fickle and single-minded (read: profit-oriented).
Uber came out of the box strong during the IPO, but the stock price dropped and dropped in the first week. I'm certain it's because of fear and skepticism on the part of would-be investors. To wit: Can Uber ever be profitable? Can it even survive?
Uber has stated that their future profitability depends on self-driving cars (SDC's). And they've hinted very strongly that SDC's are right around the corner. They're not. Merely saying something with conviction about some future event does not make it so. Sure, the technology has made great advances, but there's still a long way to go, and many issues to be solved before SDC's become a reality in your town. And even then they won't be introduced country-wide. Maybe they won't even be introduced first in the litigious U.S.! Would you get into an autonomous vehicle/taxi right now? I wouldn't.
But if Uber can take the driver (and what they pay him/her) out of the picture, then that's 40% more revenue for them. That's the theory, anyway. Who actually knows what additional, unpredicted costs there might be in terms of...oh...insurance, for one thing? If a driverless car gets into an accident and fare-paying people inside of it are injured, who pays? The reliability in heavy-duty commercial use of these new SDC's is unproven. It's a safe bet that passengers will treat an SDC Uber like they do a current taxi, maybe worse.
And what other fees will municipalities levy against the company for having their cars, roaming the streets while searching for fares, circulating aimlessly in already-clogged downtown areas? Here's the thing about a commuter's car: He drives it into the city, parks it, and it's OFF THE STREET during the workday. An autonomous ride-share vehicle drives itself into the city, drops off its passenger and then will still be in the mix of traffic, adding to the congestion instead of reducing it! And instead of twenty or thirty or forty people on a city bus, these same people will be divided up into four- five- or six-passenger (presumably electric) Uber cars? This is supposedly better? Maybe, maybe not.
So there are a lot of unanswered questions, a lot of unknowns. We've only addressed a couple. With driverless cars, Uber assumes that their cost of operation will go down. But I don't think that is assured.
Here in Pensacola, Florida, Yellow Cab has come up with this thing called Z-Trip. It's a hybrid taxi/ride-share service. You can use it just like a regular old taxi: Call Dispatch and they'll send you a car. OR, you can have your credit card information on-file with them and use Z-Trip as you would an Uber. Either way, they charge the going taxi rate here in Pensacola which is $2.25 per mile, which is higher than Uber and Lyft at the moment. Yellow Cab is transitioning all of their traditionally colored taxis to the new Z-Trip branding.
Right now, Z-Trip is only available in certain U.S. cities. And it's not global, of course. But if anything can eat into the ride-share market, it could be Z-Trip...if it can be rolled out and available nationwide.
01 May 2019
Renouncing Christianity
Christian evangelist, Franklin Graham (son of famous preacher, Billy Graham) has touched off something of an internet firestorm by criticizing presidential hopeful and mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg, who is gay. It started on Twitter, naturally. I was blissfully unaware of Graham's comments, but of course they spilled over into real life when the mainstream media picked up on them.
In a series of "tweets," what Graham said was this:
Presidential candidate & South Bend Mayor @PeteButtigieg is right—God doesn’t have a political party. But God does have commandments, laws & standards He gives us to live by. God doesn’t change. His Word is the same yesterday, today & forever.
Mayor Buttigieg says he’s a gay Christian. As a Christian I believe the Bible which defines homosexuality as sin, something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted, praised or politicized. The Bible says marriage is between a man & a woman—not two men, not two women.
The core of the Christian faith is believing and following Jesus Christ, who God sent to be the Savior of the world—to save us from sin, to save us from hell, to save us from eternal damnation.
Graham's comments leave me deeply troubled. I mean, I get it, Christians are supposed to live in accordance to the Bible. And the Bible (both Old Testament and New) decry homosexuality...call it a sin in no uncertain terms.
But where does that leave homosexuals? The fact is, homosexuals exist. They're not pretending to be gay; they just are. Do Christians like Graham believe that a person's sexuality is a choice...that they can switch it off at will? If so, I'd like to ask Franklin Graham if he believes his own sexuality was/is a choice. Did he choose to be straight? Why should it be any different for gay people?
This is a problem. Because as a gay man who always considered himself to be a Christian, I find myself at odds with the Bible. It is a dilemma that I can no longer reconcile or ignore. This is because I don't believe that we can pick and choose which parts of Scripture we want to obey and follow, and which ones we ignore. You either believe all of it, or none of it.
And so I feel less and less like a Christian every day. But I still believe in a Creator (and let's call this Creator, "God" for the sake of simplicity). I believe that God made me and loves me and wants to see me again when this particular chapter in my existence is over. And He feels the same about you. I don't think He really cares whether we like guys or girls, or whether we eat pork or shellfish (or any of the other silly prohibitions in the Old Testament).
Maybe it's time that I renounced traditional Christianity. Because if Franklin Graham's version of Christianity won't have me...won't allow me to be me, then why should I call myself one? I can still model my life after that of Christ. In most respects, anyway. Then again...by the time Christ died he was thirty-three years old and still single. Should we not even raise a suspicious eyebrow and ask why? Guys like Graham and his ilk are quick to point out that according to the Bible, marriage is between a man and a woman, period! Why then did Christ never marry? How come he never had a family and became the paragon of biblical virtue that Christians often hold up as the standard?
In a series of "tweets," what Graham said was this:
Presidential candidate & South Bend Mayor @PeteButtigieg is right—God doesn’t have a political party. But God does have commandments, laws & standards He gives us to live by. God doesn’t change. His Word is the same yesterday, today & forever.
Mayor Buttigieg says he’s a gay Christian. As a Christian I believe the Bible which defines homosexuality as sin, something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted, praised or politicized. The Bible says marriage is between a man & a woman—not two men, not two women.
The core of the Christian faith is believing and following Jesus Christ, who God sent to be the Savior of the world—to save us from sin, to save us from hell, to save us from eternal damnation.
Graham's comments leave me deeply troubled. I mean, I get it, Christians are supposed to live in accordance to the Bible. And the Bible (both Old Testament and New) decry homosexuality...call it a sin in no uncertain terms.
But where does that leave homosexuals? The fact is, homosexuals exist. They're not pretending to be gay; they just are. Do Christians like Graham believe that a person's sexuality is a choice...that they can switch it off at will? If so, I'd like to ask Franklin Graham if he believes his own sexuality was/is a choice. Did he choose to be straight? Why should it be any different for gay people?
This is a problem. Because as a gay man who always considered himself to be a Christian, I find myself at odds with the Bible. It is a dilemma that I can no longer reconcile or ignore. This is because I don't believe that we can pick and choose which parts of Scripture we want to obey and follow, and which ones we ignore. You either believe all of it, or none of it.
And so I feel less and less like a Christian every day. But I still believe in a Creator (and let's call this Creator, "God" for the sake of simplicity). I believe that God made me and loves me and wants to see me again when this particular chapter in my existence is over. And He feels the same about you. I don't think He really cares whether we like guys or girls, or whether we eat pork or shellfish (or any of the other silly prohibitions in the Old Testament).
Maybe it's time that I renounced traditional Christianity. Because if Franklin Graham's version of Christianity won't have me...won't allow me to be me, then why should I call myself one? I can still model my life after that of Christ. In most respects, anyway. Then again...by the time Christ died he was thirty-three years old and still single. Should we not even raise a suspicious eyebrow and ask why? Guys like Graham and his ilk are quick to point out that according to the Bible, marriage is between a man and a woman, period! Why then did Christ never marry? How come he never had a family and became the paragon of biblical virtue that Christians often hold up as the standard?
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