Author: Anthony

Posted on

A Minimalists view on race and race relations

As with all (or most) concepts/ideas, this minimalists view on race is small and simple:

There is only one race. The human race.

(How’s that for minimal?)

For starters, “race” is not the same as “ethnicity.” Race is a concept of grouping people by their physical attributes, and separating them with name labels. The very concept of race only serves to segregate people. So the very idea of race lends itself to race-ism. Ethnicity refers to the place of origin and culture of people.

So by that logic ……. race doesn’t really exist, or I should say that it exists only because we believe it does. Take it from Bill Nye (Bill Nye on Race).

One thing I have learned through experience about people and their behaviors, is that as much as our thoughts influence our actions/words (and therefore others actions/words), so too do our actions/words influence our thoughts (and others thoughts). So by that logic, the way to eliminate this fictitious concept of “race” (and therefore racism) is to simply not talk about it. I think Morgan Freeman’s view on this is the most valid one I could find (Morgan Freeman on Race).

So lets all just stop talking about it. Not to each other, not to ourselves, and certainly NOT TO OUR CHILDREN. Eventually the very concept will be just a memory to some, and completely erased for others. Our children won’t even have a concept of it or a use for it.

So in the spirit of not talking about it, this is my first and last post on the subject.

Posted on

My Minimalist Home

It’s difficult to believe that I have been writing posts for two years now and this is the first time I am posting pictures of my home. Well the truth is, that we tend to me semi-private people, and were therefore kind of insecure about the idea of putting it all out there. It is also for this reason that I will not be posting any pictures of the bedrooms; there are some things that should still remain private. Besides ….. There is nothing to be gained from seeing a minimalists bedroom really. We also have a 5’X10′ deck through our dining room I won’t be posting any pictures of for security reasons.

So I’m going to take us through my small 825 square feet of sanctuary (our condo), room by room giving some general points of how I have laid everything out.

The entry way:

In the entry way of my home all we see is a coat rack and shoe rack to the left, mirrored closet to the right, and a stair case.

 

 

No pictures, no decor. Not that I have anything against pictures or decor (the rest of the rooms have it), but I prefer the entry way to be pretty plain.

At the top of the stairs is the main hub area (kind of like a hall way) that joins all the rooms together. There is really nothing to it, so a picture is not necessary.

 

The Living Room

Just a basic black, white, and grey look with color sprinkled in here and there. 44″ TV, Sony Stereo Receiver, Infinity speakers, a little play area for my child, and all the basic elements of a standard living room. the pictures on the walls plus the sofa set gives the room a NYC theme.

 

Plus an awesome Spider-man print. Besides the fact that Spider-man is awesome, he does go with the city theme.

 

So as we can see, I do have both prints up on the walls and decor on the surfaces, however both the wall and table top decor are minimal, with a great amount of space between them. I believe it makes the space look more elegant, and makes each piece of decor more noticeable; the pieces demand more focus. This is right in line with the philosophy “less is more.”

 

 

The Dining Room / The Office

Let me start by saying …. we don’t dine in here. We dine in the kitchen. This room is used mostly for computer time.

It also happens to be where I store my bicycles and cycling supplies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m really big on Star Wars.

This side of the table is where I keep all my office effects, as well as my MTG supplies (I play Magic the Gathering). All these things fit neatly under the first leaf of the book shelf, unnoticeable from the other side of the room.

 

To me, an office is incomplete without a cork and white board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Kitchen

Simple, small, and everything I need. Nothing I don’t.

 

 

Bananas, an absolute must for a cyclist.

 

 

 

 

And this is where we actually dine.  The table functions basically as a “kitchen nook” and folds out to a decent sized table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bathroom

Not much to say about it. Just very simple, basic, easy. We like to keep an oceanic/arctic theme going in here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simple, but not plain. Perfectly functional, but easy to maintain. It’s my small slice of heaven.

 

 

 

 

Posted on

Commuting Time

The most valuable commodity we have in this life is time. This is a theme that recurs time and time again in my posts. With that being said, to practice minimizing when it comes to time, one would reduce time spent doing activities that do not add value to their life while maximizing time spent doing activities that DO add value to their life. Simple, right? (rhetorical)

Commuting is a big part of that. Our regular daily commutes that is. Most of us average folk get up in the morning, get ready, grab a quick bite for breakfast, then head out to our job. When our work day is over, we commute back home again. We do this five days a week almost every week of the year (holidays and vacation aside).

When we add it all up the commuting part of our day is quite a significant portion of our lives. So is it worth it? Is it worth so much time away from our families to work where we do? …… Depends. It depends on how long the commute is, how much we make at our job, if our job gives us any sense of purpose (a career). For most of us our jobs are actual work, so lets assume its not a career.

Work: definition – Time one spends doing an activity when they would rather be doing something else.

 

Lets start with the length of our commute.

 

In this day and age I still know many people who live here in mid-state NY that commute to the city everyday to go to work. Always I am compelled to ask “WHY?!”, “Why deal with such a long commute.” Always the answer is: “I make sooo much more money there.” I can’t help but think …. “really?” I doubt they really did the math.

Lets say that somebody scores a fabulous job at 100,000/year (Wahh Hooo), but they have to commute 1.5 hours to work one way (this is common). This means technically they are commuting 3 hours a day in addition to their 8 hour work day. That’s 11 of work per day. Make no mistake, that IS 3 hours of work. So this person works 11(hours)*5(days)*52(weeks) = 2,860 hours a year. This is $100K/2,860 = $34.97 an hour.

If they were working a non-commuting job at that rate their yearly pay would be $34.97*40(hours)*52(weeks) = $72,727.27. So in actuality Mr. six figure salary only really makes $73K a year, it just turns out to be $100,000 with all the “overtime” they are putting in.

This person would be better off taking a job making $73K a year close to home, as it would give them back 3(hours)*5(days a week)*52(Weeks) = 780 hours per year of their life back to spend on activities that add value to their life. Family time perhaps.

Oh, and we have not even considered that the commute itself costs money. I recall on my city trip that a round trip train ticket is $37 for off peak (job travel will be ON PEAK, so this is a generous number). $37*5(days)*52(weeks) = $9,620 a year in travel alone. If someone drives for their commute instead, there is gas, parking, and wear and tare on the vehicle. With all of that, I promise it will be no less than an additional $5,000 a year.

In the end, It’s rarely even worth it. Time is so much more valuable than money.

 

It may even be worth considering when deciding to live in a building apartment. People tend to favor living up on a high floor in an apartment building as opposed to a ground floor. I think it’s because they like the view. But do they consider the consequences? Keep in mind, the time it takes to get from the front door the building to the front door of the apartment is part of every commute that a resident makes. Lets suppose it takes 30 seconds to get from the building door to the apartment door for someone who lives on the ground floor. Let us also suppose it takes 1:30 minutes to get from the building door to the apartment door for someone who lives on the 10th floor. For the sake of simplicity lets assume this person only does one commute per day. 1(minute)*7(days a week)*52(weeks) = 6 hours additionally per year just on building transit. Is having a good view worth 6 hours per year of our life? Maybe, maybe not.

 

Going back to Mr. Six Figures up above. I’d like to ask him a question: “Would you spend $27K to get 780 hours(32.5 days) of free time back?”I think he would pay. I have known too many executives that wish they could spend more time with their family. Keep in mind that the 32.5 days is truly FREE time. No sleep and no eating needed, as those are already accounted for in the time they have presently in their normal day when they are not commuting.

 

This is the thinking of a minimalist.