Nobody cares what I’m doing, what I’m thinking or where I am.

Specifically, nobody that doesn’t know me. Most people know this deep down inside and never get involved with this stuff. But it seems I got caught believing that I could influence the thoughts of others and the world at large by doing nothing more than continuing to exist and telling everyone I could find. This has become something of an issue for me with social networks. It takes more time and consideration for me to update my Twitter status than I would ever want to put into it. I’m more inclined to shout it out my window, and the people on the receiving end would probably care approximately as much as the people following me on Twitter, Friend Feed, etc. So I’m shutting it all down with the exception of Facebook and LinkedIn. I’ve only ever friended people that I have at least had a beer with on Facebook, and I genuinely care what happens in their lives. LinkedIn is my rolodex, so I’m keeping that too. Other than that, I’m done and I have a few reasons for each.

I first got on Twitter May 2, 2008. In the following 2 years I’ve posted some 390 tweets or a little under 1 tweet every 2 days. I recently went through the list of the people that were following me and of 230, only about 20 were people I actually knew. The rest were a random assortment of people that ranged from relatively interesting to spam (more or less). So I started un-following people and I noticed that my number of followers was dropping in stride. That means it’s likely that the vast majority of them were using an autofollow program, and couldn’t care less about what I had to say. The other thing I noticed was what people were actually saying, either they were selling me something, telling me how to be a more effective entrepreneur or regurgitating links to stories. The first two things are annoying and Digg already exists for the third. I need some additive commentary, otherwise I can find stories I’m interested in without going through the additional Twitter layer.

For the life of me, I still don’t know why I signed up for Friendfeed. It does a lot of things I don’t like, and only a few of the things I would like it to. I thought it would be an easy way to post something in one place and have it disperse outward, the problem is that it’s one-way communication and worse, it’s redundant. I almost always end up posting thing on Facebook because that’s the only place that someone who cares is actually going to see it. I also still have to go to other networks to see what the people I’m not connected with on FF are doing/saying.

A.K.A. The thing all my friends hate. Foursquare is really in a class of its own as far as social networking goes. I only recently signed up after seeing some friends using it and I quickly came to realize that nobody gives one shit where I am at any given moment. Not only that, but I had to remember to tell this thing every time I was at the coffee shop, or a store, or the Bird, or wherever. It got tiring for me pretty fast, but not before several of my friends decided to heckle me for constantly updating it. It turns out that the only people who care where I am are the people who are with me or are planning to be there too. Everyone else just wished I would shut up (electronically) and get on with my life. Plus, I wasn’t winning anything.

So that’s it, I’m done. There’s a host of other sites out there where I probably have a profile dangling with nothing interesting on it. Over time I hope to be able to shut down each an every one of them.

Clear Windows > Snow-Covered Windows

So you made it out the door and the Sherrif/Repo man is nowhere to be seen. Before getting in your Malibu, it’s important to brush the snow and ice off of your windows. Nothing is going to turn a good day bad like wrecking in your parking space because you couldn’t see and didn’t want to invest 3 bucks in a scraper brush.

Yes, this means you.

Spinning Tires > Locked Up Tires

This point might seem obvious be a little tricky to understand, but spinning wheels have significantly more traction than wheels that are not spinning, just ask the guy in the snowbank. The reason for this is actually pretty simple physics rocket science. Imagine that a spinning tire is not actually moving in relationship to the road, whereas a skidding tire is. The traction is significantly greater for the spinning tire (not moving in relation to the road) than the skidding tire (moving in relation to the road).

Moving > Being Stationary

So you made it out of your driveway with clean windows and spinning tires, you’re already well on the way to having a good time. But oh no, there are some things blocking your way (drivers that didn’t read this post and are stuck in the snow bank). Do whatever you can (within reason and safety) to keep moving. Another little physics lesson: It takes less effort (work) to keep an object in motion that is already in motion. Remember how traction is greater when the tire is not moving in relation to the road? Well now the same thing that keeps you rolling straight when you’re moving is working furiously against you to keep you from moving and you don’t have any traction because of those bald tires, which brings us to the next point.

Snow Tires/Chains > Bald/Summer Tires

If you anywhere that has a lot of snow (North of the Mason Dixon Line, the mountains, Mother Russia, etc.) you should consider snow tires during the winter. Skip on to the next point if you’re already a little overwhelmed, because this next bit is complicated. When you’re skidding on ice it’s because of two main factors, 1. the friction coefficient we’ve discussed on end and 2. hydroplaning. Hydroplaning is what happens when water sneaks in between the tire and the road and causes the tire to move in relation to the road (sounding familiar?). Snow tires help you get better traction by 1. increasing the initial friction coefficient (by being made of a softer material) and 2. providing more options for that water to escape. They won’t stop skidding if you try really hard (which I imagine you are), but they will significantly reduce it.

Don't be this guy.

AWD/4WD > 2WD

Now you’re probably saying, “You can’t roll in a Subaru with dubs.” Yes Mr. Stereotype, this is probably true. However, there’s a reason all those people driving Subarus are not buried in a snow bank. Another lesson perhaps? Let’s say an engine has X amount of power, 92bhp like your CRX does. When you try to lay that incredible power down through the front wheels only, you’re towing the back wheels like deadweight (remember trying to overcome that static friction?). However, when all for wheels have power going to them, each wheel is overcoming the dreaded (or celebrated) static friction and moving the car forward more easily.

More Weight > Less Weight

Of course you already knew this, didn’t you, fatty? Remember the guy in the pickup from before?

Yeah, this guy.

Another factor influencing your traction is weight. A vehicle with more weight exerts more downward pressure on the road (on account of gravity, a lesson for another day) and increases the friction (assuming the wheels are spinning) between the tires and the road. So while your manly man’s pickup might have 4WD, it won’t do you a lot of good if you’ve got the equivalent of a midget pushing the back wheels down.

Your pickup's traction solution.

The simple solution is to add some sand bags to the bed, or more midgets, whatever is easier to come by.

Being Smart > Being An Idiot

So let’s say you’ve got a car or truck with 4WD/AWD, clean windows, snow tires and an even weight distribution/team of circus midgets. Well, you probably don’t really need to know this because you already graduated from Basic Driving Knowledge School (not required to receive a driver’s license in the US). But driving in poor conditions is dangerous, and it’s not just because of you or the drunk idiot in the Malibu with bald tires going 70mph. It’s dangerous because 95% of the other people on the road are just like the idiot. So try as you might, you will probably get stuck or wrecked because of at least one of these people (probably more). The easiest way to stay safe out there is to NOT GO OUT THERE. Settle down with that bottle of Wild Turkey and turn on the Xbox, you’ve got a long day of fun ahead of you!

Don’t:

Eat any processed foods. Anything that had to have chemicals added, anything that went through a factory, anything containing unnatural ingredients.

Eat dairy. None.

Eat any non-whole grains.

Drink alcohol. This is the core of the challenge. I drink a fair bit and particularly late at night. It’s part of my lifestyle and one of the main social aspects of living in Dallas.

Do:

Eat organic lean protein. Anything like chicken, turkey, fish, lean beef (unprocessed) that is organic and free of steroids, growth hormones, etc.

Eat a lot more fruits and vegetables. Fiber not only cleanses your system but helps you to absorb protein and other nutrients more efficiently.

Continue to have a consistent exercise regime. I can’t always ride as much as I have over the holidays. But two distance rides on the weekend and shorter rides during the week combined with runs should be ample.

Ride to work. It’s only 3 miles, so there’s no excuse not to.

Luckily I’ll have a partner in crime for this. My friend John is committing to something very similar for the month so I have some backup if I have a moment of weakness.