Soup - Variations on a Theme

Now that the weather has cooled down - lows in the 40's, highs in the 50's - more clouds than sun, it is unofficially soup weather. If you feel the same way, here are some notes on recent experiments in soup:

All are generally calibrated for 4 servings (2 people for 2 nights - a good time to effort ratio imo) and are very forgiving if you want to mess with ratios. Hardware: Stainless steel pot, stick blender, spoon.

Potato Leek w/ Pear:

2ish pounds of white or gold potatoes, cut into approx 1" squares.

2 large leeks or 3 smaller ones - Cut ends off, chop into rings.

1 onion

Sautee the veggies - butter or olive oil - essentially some fat with a bit of flavor, then add:

2 bay leaves

1 qt chicken or vegetable stock

generous amounts of dill, thyme and a bit of rosemary

Simmer for .5-1 hour until potatoes are soft. Meanwhile, dice and sautee 2 pears in a separate skillet.

Puree the soup with stick blender then top with the caramelized pears and aged white cheddar.

Acorn Squash:

3ish pound acorn squash. Cut in half, scoop out seeds, put in 350 degree oven to roast. Meanwhile:

Sautee 4-5 minced cloves of garlic, a chopped onion and either 1 chopped leek or a few stalks of celery in olive or sesame oil.

Once veggies are ready, either scoop out or cut up (depending on firmness) the roasted squash and add it to the pot along with

1 qt chicken stock

2t of curry powder

1-2t of half sharp paprika

Simmer for .5-1 hour then puree with stick blender. Top with blue cheese. A neat trick here which was picked up from a local fancy restaurant is to retain the seeds and roast them, then crush them when they're crunchy and add them as a garnish at the end as well.

Basically, pureed soups can be distilled to the following general formula:

Starchy vegetable at a 1:1 ratio by mass with an onion/leekcelery combination - sautee this

Add stock

Pick a regional cuisine and add the typical seasoning trifecta and add it

Simmer for .5-1 hour then blend

Finish with cheese and black pepper to taste.

It is interesting how many different flavors can be created out of a pretty basic idea. Allison has swapped the acorn squash for butternut and added apple, topping the potato leek with bacon or other pork is tasty. And it still averages out to about a half hour of cooking per day. (one day it's 1 hour and the second day it's no time at all to reheat)

The schedule I've had over the last couple years has helped my cooking immensely - lots of time to experiment with and refine different food ideas that I've found at various restaurants or remembered from the past.

Moving (This seems to occur every two years)

Well, half the apartment is in boxes. The other half will be tonight or tomorrow night. It actually isn't a painful process this time around.

The move from the Charlotte apartment to the house was difficult because Allison and I still had our separate sets of stuff. The house didn't exactly help fix the consolidation issue. Tons of space meant there were still more chairs and random boxes of stuff than necessary.

The move from Charlotte to Seattle was a bit difficult just due to the distance, but it at least led to a serious downsizing of all duplicate or not used stuff.

The current move - well, I still think I have too much stuff, but all non furniture things should fit in a minivan on Saturday for the 4 block trip to the new place. I'd like to consolidate a bit further, and probably will in the upcoming months. I really should just end the whole old computer thing. I'm the cat lady of old computers/computer parts. They multiply regularly. And even though I can make old technology work, that doesn't mean it's actually worth anything. I could clear out a big box and two complete old computers and still only make $20.

The cheapskate part of me thinks it would be wasteful to throw out/giveaway anything with remaining value, but if the value is so small and it's just taking up space... why save it. Or, if the distance between frugality and a bit more efficient life is less than $100... might as well just go for it.

Sourcing, again.

A common theme of my blog posts has been sourcing: the numerous paths that various small everyday objects I interface with in everyday life have taken to arrive at their current location in the world.

Something that I have not come to an acceptable understanding of is 'does it matter?'.

I'll consign a vast percentage of my spending into the 'Yes' category without much comment here: food and drink. Alaskan salmon require the climate and conditions of that region to taste the way they do. Local produce tastes the way it does due to the soil and climate. Wines made from the same grape variety but different locations can taste entirely different. Mentioning terroir sounds wine-snobby, but that does not mean it doesn't exist. And that character makes a compelling case for spending money on one type of product over another. But does it exist everywhere?

By percentage the next largest amount of outgoing money is probably clothing. Think of a common men's button down cotton shirt. It is used everyday, wears out eventually and has to be replaced reasonably often. Does it matter if a shirt is sewed in your city or country? Does it matter if the cotton was grown locally, or if the fabric was woven locally? If a shirt is grown, woven and sewn in your country is it worth a price premium solely for that fact? If a shirt, in total, costs a company $10 to get it to their store, does it matter if $2 goes to the fabric producer and $2 goes to the tailoring company, then the remaining $6 to ship it around the world. Would it be a better decision to spend $4 on fabric and $4 on tailoring then $2 on logistics if that would mean that the shirt is produced in the same country where it is sold? Does that make for a stronger economy in the home market? If there is a price premium to produce locally how much... 10 percent or 50 percent... I'd like to think the shortest path between origin and eventual sale is the most efficient, but know that is probably not the case. In my experience though quality is independent of price and country of origin. Certain manufacturers exercise more strict control over the construction of their shirts - it's that simple. But would it be more sustainable to manufacture with those same quality controls in the same country where the products are sold? The US is a huge global producer of cotton and should have abundant labor.

Are there any pieces of clothing which have, to go back a step, terroir, which would justify the price premium to come from a specific location? Take for example a pair of denim blue jeans: does the popularity of jeans stem from their comfort or utility, or does it come from their history of association with egalitarian American physical labor? If the later would it be then pastiche for them to be sourced from a tropical country with no history of wearing denim and then worn in climate controlled cubicles where the job does not demand the same qualities as originally made denim pants useful?

As is the usual with these thoughts... no conclusions... feel free to add any opinions...

Apartment Lifestyle Choices

In the next week Allison and I will ramp up the apartment search. The cost of the current place is too high for an under construction building on an under construction street. I somewhat dread going to any apartment offices and getting brochures stating that said building contains 'Luxury Apartments'.

What is Luxury in terms of an apartment? What qualities... no that may be overreaching... what objects must it contain to be labeled as such?

Having toured a dozen or more buildings and units, it appears the common elements that Luxury apartments have which those that do not mention Luxury are:

1) Washer and Dryer in unit

That's not aiming very high in what is it now, nearly 2010?

Most buildings have front desks and a secure packages room, most have some form of on site workout room... but these are pretty basic as well.

It seems that the lifestyle that they attribute to living in the Luxury building has little to do with the building itself.

The location of most of these buildings are very good - I suppose that can be Luxurious. Close to bars, restaurants, public transportation links (er, that doesn't match with the advertised lifestyle)

I guess to me what makes an apartment Luxurious is 1) it is quiet and 2) it is cheap enough that it only takes a small percentage of my income to live there.

With all of the real estate/credit mess that is still going on, several people I know have bought houses. This brought back memories.

In retrospect I don't fault the house I bought 3.5 years ago (and then sold 1.5 years ago) - it was a unique design, solidly built, on a quiet street, in a quiet neighborhood. However I think I fault my motives. I wasn't ready to live that life, be that committed to a single location. It was an obvious investment (which as I've detailed earlier returned a decent amount, but relatively small annual percentage yeild, of money) but one which consumed a lot of time and made me question what I wanted out of life.

What would make me buy a residence again? It would have to be small for ease of maintenance, cheap to not eat into the travel budget, and not impede a reasonly pedestrian pace of day to day living. Doesn't sound like a recipe for a luxury lifestyle community brochure: small living space, old building, have to walk everywhere - well, depends on the definition of luxury.

Hm

On a lighter note - this is a refreshing summer drink:

-3ish ounces of dry vermouth

-10ish ounces of club soda or sparkling mineral water

-Fresh squeezed juice of 1 large or 2 small lemons

Probably because it reminds me of another combination I like: campari/orange/club soda

More globalization thoughts. And television.

But you don't even own a TV, would be the first comment. Ah, the wonders of bittorrent. The first focus of this thought is No Reservations: Anthony Bourdain's slightly odd look at food and culture around the world.

Taken individually the episodes are not too far from the beaten path of other travel and food shows. Go to scenic or remote part of the world, come up with a few points of reference that define the area. If you look at say, south India, then coastal China, then New Zealand, they look like 3 very separate cultures. However over the course of the years of production many smaller, less obvious countries have been introduced. Sri Lanka, Fiji, so on.

I don't know if adding these 'missing pieces' was intentional (probably) but it has managed to very effectively show how intertwined and related different cultures/countries are - it's nearly as much of a history lesson as it is a travel show. This doesn't play out in the order of airing... the India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and other South/Southeast Asian shows cross all 6 years. Same thing going around the Mediterranean - Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Greece - they're from all different years of production. It's very non linear.

But watch a geographical region of shows in as the crow flies order, and you get a concise overview of how differently the various cultures interpreted similar geography, food ingredients and changes through history (global trade, imperial/colonial invasions, so on).

This view is not unique in the modern TV world - Michael Palin has a similar approach, though in a far more linear fashion - focusing series on specific regions/routes/lines on the map. Pole to Pole traveled linearly down the globe from north to south along a line of latitude. Pacific Rim, Himalayas, Sahara... all show the gradual variations of culture around the world. Celebrate the differences yet respect the common historical origins. It's humanism, on tv.

Where am I going with this... these observations seem, well, obvious... I think too much on what I see as a conlict in this country/the modern world... caricature versus character. I name the two hosts above as proponents of trying to find the 'real' in the world. It isn't a specific place or brand, but to look at where a thing, where a food, where an idea about life, comes from.

Is it a uniquely American invention to distill certain parts of culture into branded products?

Take the usual fast food hamburger - McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's - doesn't matter, they're all basically the same - it doesn't taste anything like the result of actually making a hamburger yourself, or the hamburger that you have a person make you if you go to a non-nationalized restaurant. I won't even go into the discussion of whether one can be considered 'better' than the other, or the matter of costs. They're different. But because of the difference is a 'Whopper' branded item actually a hamburger or is it a brand which happens to contain some percentage of hamburger meat and rough appearance of the hamburger sandwich.

What impact does it have on people and culture and how they view the world when the brand has more visibility than the product? This may be too new (late 19th century/early 20th perhaps) a phenomenon to answer that.

Sustainable Optimism?

It's all relative.

There has been lots of qualified good news about the economy lately. Stock markets are at the highest levels (since last fall). Car sales are improving (short term due to the scrappage scheme, for makers of good economy cars, based on one month's improvement). Housing values have statistically stabilized (but many cities still have price to wages affordability ratios higher than historical averages). Average personal savings rates are highest in a decade (still only 5% of expendable income).

This will probably continue and get louder as we transition in to fall, when year over year numbers will be nothing but positive - anything is better than the falling off a cliff last year.

What is the goal of all of the optimistic press? Do optimistic people spend more or loan more? Is that much of the economy based on consumption? Are that many people that irrational with money?

There may be a point to the optimism - unless you're in banking or real estate or construction or automobile production (and probably a host of other industries) things aren't too bad. IT is doing well for instance. There are still new independent restaurants opening in this city. Lots of people out wandering the mall streets in the evenings. There are also still tons of summer tourists doing the usual touristy things in the city here.

I have wondered how much relevance there is between macro level economic data and what I see on the streets (macro level for a city, micro level on every other scale) . Through this economic downturn there hasn't been too much change on the streets of Seattle.

Perhaps it was optimistic thinking that a recession would bring a bit of austerity. That wouldn't be the American way it seems.

Visitors

The parents and grandparents were out on this coast to visit last weekend. We took them out of the city, hopping a ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island and the Olympic mountains, then another from Port Angeles to Victoria, where we stayed for a few days, and yet another to Salt Spring Island.

As the elected chauffeur, I had a small bit more thinking to do than the others, so it was probably a slightly less relaxing trip for me, but that is okay - I think it worked out well for everyone else.

Photos are here:

http://www.maslows.net:12110/Site/Photos/Pages/Victoria_BC_Road_Trip.html

A few thoughts on the trip:

- The Olympic Mountains are still majestic. Hurricane Ridge on a clear day is about the best place in the world to spend time. Clean air, mountains in one direction, water the other.

- Victoria is still touristy. But the old architecture has been kept up well enough. Reminds me of Asheville.

- Salt Spring Island would be nice when not a market day. It's a quiet town with a nice harbor - too many people ruins the relaxed mood of the place. Calvin's bistro is well done - owned by a couple people from Bern - nice patio, Warsteiner on tap, excellent salads - I'd go back.

- Ferries are an inefficient way to travel. Next time I'm going by seaplane.

Globalization Day 2

Shirt: Reyn's: Honolulu

Undershirt: Hanes: Haiti

Pants: Old Navy: Phillipines

Undershorts: Merona: Thailand

Honolulu will count as 0 miles because it was both made and puchased there. The other 3 add up to about 17,500 miles.

New Idea - My Globalized Life

Until it gets old, I'll post a daily snapshot of where the various bits of stuff that I interact with on a daily basis come from:

Some of the common characters which I won't list everyday are:

Watch: Seiko: Japan

Shoes: Ecco: Thailand

Belt: label removed, leather stamped Italy

Rough estimation of total distance of travel between manufacture and purchase points: 17,800 miles

Today's variables are:

Shirt: LL Bean: Malaysia

Undershirt: Hanes: Haiti

Pants: Perry Ellis: Indonesia

Undershorts: Hanes: India

Rough distance estimation between manufacture to purchase points: 26,400 miles

From the Ashes

Thinking more about http://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story.jsp?section=top&subject=ami&story=amMade0709&referer=&aff=national and the general decline of the American car companies, I would like to ask: what is an American car these days, and what should an American car be?

It could be my opinion, but I'd imagine that if a group of people were asked to name their favorite American car, it would be something 1) old and 2) overtly styled and 3) powered by a v8 engine and 4) rear wheel drive

On the sporty end people would choose a Corvette or Mustang. On the normal car end it would be a 50's Chevy or Cadillac or 60's Lincoln.

By all non-rose-colored-glasses accounts every car on that list is less safe, less efficient and less reliable than any modern car. However they are all still remembered and adored 50 years later because they have style.

Current American cars are just cheaper (in every sense of the word) copies of cars from elsewhere in the world. Sometimes they're even built on platforms cast off from other car manufacturers : Ford Taurus == previous generation Volvo S80, Chrysler 300 == Two generations old Mercedes E-Class, Chevy Malibu == Previous generation Opel Vectra.

Instead of trying to compete with the Honda Accords and Lexus RX350's of the world, I'd like to see a return to an American style car.

Take the styling, chrome and all, from a 50's era American sedan body, galvanize it so they don't rust out like they used to, then just update the safety features (design in some crumple zones in the hood and fenders, add airbags and seat belts) and modern brakes (discs instead of drums) and drivetrain. Keep it rear wheel drive so that the hood is low and engine bay less cluttered and thus easier to work on.

Even a modern interpretation of a classic design is better (Google 'Ford Forty-Nine Concept' for a good example) than the current state of American non-design.

As things are - meaningless brands with mostly uninteresting products, solely appealing to nationalism in their advertising to sell cars - the current C11 bankruptcy is too kind an option.

Economic thoughts...

This is a prime example: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124580784452945093.html

It would be nice to know how much corporate bribery it takes to get a member of congress to espouse an idea/plan that is flawed on that many levels.

More (and more risky) debt does not equal economic growth or recovery.

It will be interesting to see how the government thinks they can influence corporations to grow the US economy and provide jobs for US citizens. Once the average citizen feels well off enough they'll buy the houses and condos in question.

As long as there is cheap, exploitable labor in other countries, and that there is no tax disincentive for companies who are based in the US yet use cheaper foreign labor this disparity will continue.

Let's take a simple example. The apple juice in the office fridge here has ingredients of water and apple juice concentrate from "China, Chile, Argentina". Approximately half (per USDA statistics) of the apples grown in the US come from about 100 miles east of where I'm sitting. It is shocking to me that the cost of growing and harvesting apples is that much cheaper in China, Chile and Argnetina to make up the cost of transportation. Or conversely, how much more expensive would it be to buy apples from the farmers in the country where this corporation is based and pays its corporate income taxes? Would the foreign apples still be cheaper if the company had to be based in the country of their suppliers and deal with the (arguably less stable) sociopolitical climate or tax laws there? Should the company not be allowed to be based in the US if a majority of its people are foreign or a majority of its product is imported?

It may be a fallacy, but I am thinking under the assumption that if companies were more localized then the business, and thus the economy in the region in which they operate, would be more stable/sustainable in the long term (less money would go to transportation, more to the producers), than always having to find new sources of exploitable labor, and new markets. The reason they're mentioned separately is that the producers and consumers of so many products in the modern world are thousands of miles apart. How many Chilean/Argentinean/Chinese would pay the prices that this juice company asks for their product in the US? I'm betting it's an unsustainably small number.

There isn't an easy answer given the current global trade situation, so I can't offer much in the way of insight here... it's easier to see the unsustainability of the current situation rather than a path to a long term stable solution.

Small details.

http://maslows.net:12110/2.jpg

A month or so ago I picked up a second watch. A simple cheap Timex in the submariner style. I had been wearing the dressier not for US sale Seiko hiking and thought it might be a good idea to not do that, since I would rather not want to mail it back to Japan for repair if I were to hit/drop it against a rocky trail.

Today I just felt like wearing the Timex for the orange strap. It's a cloudy/drizzly day, I'm wearing dark brown pants and a dark grey shirt. Brighten life up a bit.

Unfortunately it also uncovered a new unconscious twitch - the Seiko is an automatic winding mechanical watch. The winding mechanism makes a barely audible clicking noise as it rotates when you move your wrist. It also has a slightly impreceise fitting leather band, so I have to shake my forearm slightly to center the watch on my wrist occaisionally.

The Timex has a quartz movement. It has neither the feedback nor the odd band, but I've done the centering shake of the wrist a couple times expecting it to do something.

It's a Virtue

Blogger apparently limits importing of old entries to 50 per day, so I will slowly back-fill the few hundred livejournal entries I had into here. Patience.

Abandoning Ship

I've gone google.

http://npmaslow.blogspot.com

It makes it easier to follow multiple sites at once.

Time

In the last week 1) It has been hot - over 80. Today is back in the 70's though. It is nice.

2) I have been thinking of things to do. The mode of life I've chosen out here allows for frankly obscene amounts of free time. Set work hours. No notable commute. No house to rebuild. No homework.

In the winter the free time is easy to fill. It's cloudy and gets dark early. Make some tea and pick up a book (or dozen over the course of the winter). Problem solved.

In the summer it is nice, so I feel the need to be outside. Wandering parks and around the city after work is nice, but not really that productive.

I see why retired people take up golf. It formalizes the whole walking around in a park thing and calls it a sport.

If a garage space was not over $100 per month in this neighborhood I'd pick up another old German car and start working on it. Something to think about when choosing the next place to live.

I also like the idea of sailing, though it too involves expensive parking and lots of maintenance and ordering expensive bits and pieces from the internet.

The whole reading thing... I've read more in the last year than in the previous 5. It has been nice. Some serious books, some frivolous yet fun. There are still many 'classics' to read though. Perhaps that could be a goal for the next year. Or learn another language. Though that is near impossible without daily use/immersion.

I think the whole idea of a goal, or lack of one presently, is what is causing me to run in circles about this. Life is presently good, though the state of the economy makes me very risk averse presently so I'm to keep my options open and not be too ambitious or burdened.

It's odd to be able to think like this. Life to this point has been one interminable series of next steps... there has always been something that needs to be accomplished. I'm still young in a relative sense. There should be something out there better to work toward.

But lately, sitting on park bench looking out over the mountains, with nothing to do but enjoy the breeze, it has been hard to see what that step could be.

Wallet Longevity

Tumi Meridian Slim Single fold in black leather. Purchased immediately after I moved back to Charlotte for the bank job, 6 years ago today. Just noticed that the leather is worn through on the spine. Not bad for a $60 wallet (about 2.74 cents per day of use). That's good value.

Current Reading

The Geography of Bliss - Eric Weiner.

Before picking this up I was aware of the existence of the World Happiness Index and Bhutan's idea of a Gross National Happiness rather than Gross National Product. I like the idea of happiness... trying to figure out what the good life is... what it represents... how to get there. I also examine every aspect of my own life. This may be counterproductive after a point. I also travel some, and listen to NPR. I am pretty much exactly the target audience of this book. So, how did it go?

It's light, but worth reading. The style is perhaps a bit too much of a travel log and too light on statistics, but that may be the point. It is well illustrated that happiness is neither economic nor cultural, and more due to an individual's ambition or expectations matching up with their current place and mode of life. Different societies (countries in the book's case) tend to produce different expectations of their residents, so the premise that an individual can find happiness easier some places than others is, in my opinion, valid. As long as the individual realizes they can't go to a place and instantly be happy, just that the place is an enabler.

Additional Simplifying

Sold the Mercedes.

Zipcar works well.
It feels futuristic.
Their website shows what cars are available where and when.
Check one out and provide a return time (SMS message extensions are available if you're running late).
When you walk up to the car just put the proxcard next to the sensor and it unlocks.
The key is on a cable next to the ignition.
Drive as needed.
Return it to the original parking space and wave the proxcard at the sensor to lock it and check it in.

Car #1 - the Honda Civic Hybrid. Basically, it's a Civic which is worse to drive than the original in exchange for a few more MPG. Which is disappointing because the whole point of the Civic is a small car which drives well. (Given the vtec engine option and decent tires)

On the hybrid: between the regenerative brakes, battery assist and poor tires it makes for a hopelessly non-linear driving experience. Constant brake pressure produced inconsistent levels of braking depending on whether regeneration was working. Consistent accelerator pressure produced such poor acceleration that it didn't matter whether the batteries were working or not.

At least the interior build quality was good - no notable rattles or wear at 28k miles on this car.

Come to think of it, in the last year or so I've driven nearly every sub-15k-new sedan platform on the market. I'll use Flexcar to get to the last couple (Toyota/Scion and Subaru) and then come up with a list. Current leader is the Hyundai Elantra.

Light at the end of the tunnel? Is it the end or a headlight of the train engine.

NY Times article on the effects of the current recession on the city's notoriously consumerist culture ( http://nymag.com/news/features/56623/ ) has an advertisement for a $4000 watch on the sidebar. It's a flash add, the other options seem to be other gaudy jewelry.

I suppose it's a value option compared to a $15,000 Audemars Piguet or others...

Hawaii

Supporting pictures here: http://maslows.net:12110/Site/Photos/Pages/Hawaii.html

I suppose Honolulu-Waikiki was what I expected out of Hawaii - a very tourist dependent economy with lower taxes than most states to make shopping 'friendlier' to visitors, fancy hotels and crowded beaches. A place for people to go who want to be seen, in a bikini. Basically like Los Angeles or some of the major Florida beaches. You don't initially see any reason to have travelled 5 hours to get here.

The interesting part of Honolulu was to find the small places where tourists weren't around. For instance the bento counter where the owner addressed a probable regular customer and her kids in Japanese, then when leaving her kids turned to the owner and said 'Good Bye' in English. (Good chicken with ponzu sauce and very properly done sticky white rice - chopstick friendly) Or the drive-in restaurant a dozen streets back from the beach which did not have a single rental car in the parking lot. There is normal city life there, it's just not obvious.

Going to the north shore of Oahu was a very quick and stark contrast - the beaches were nearly empty, and the only crowded places were the good restaurants in the small beach-y towns. It's a relaxing place. Only a half hour from all the conveniences of a major city, yet it might as well be an entirely different island.

However the vacation really started after leaving Oahu for the big island. Oahu, even on the north shore, seems 'normal' and 'American' - everything is familiar. Hilo and the volcano seem to represent Hawaii as it was when it was its own country - and it's infinitely more interesting for it.

- The Hilo airport doesn't have walls on all sides. There are comfortable padded lounge chairs in the main lobby area, which is not air conditioned - the breeze is comfortable even on an 80 degree day. In this era of making a grand show of security it's refreshing to see a chain link fence as the most formidable barrier.

- Even the main hotel area of Hilo, Banyan Drive, hasn't changed since it was built in the late 50's/early 60's. Hotels are family run, restaurants use locally grown or caught ingredients, the beach-y areas are filled with decidedly non-tourists - families setting up a tent and grill for the afternoon, children play on the rocks in the bay, so on. The local drive in menu is half American, half Polynesian. Quaint is the word I'm looking for, or a tropical version of Lake Woebegon(e), I suppose.

- The volcanic national park is a interesting geology 101 course - see how earth gets made - plate tectonics at work. And the miles of desolation caused by lava flows are beautifully alien to someone that is used to hiking in forests. Trees do provide shade though, which would have been appreciated, as it was hot.

------------------------

Rental cars:
- Chrysler Sebring convertible. This is the absolute worst car that I have driven. I was about to add 'except for any early 90's GM product' but even those didn't break during the rental period. Partial brake failure is one thing, falling-apart levels of quality at 20k miles is another.

- Hyundai Elantra. Perfect commuter car. Quiet, comfortable, good design. Mini-Lexus levels of fit and finish. Nice sound system. Just over 12 grand brand new - that's incredible value.

- Chevrolet Corvette. Plasticky, garish, yellow, chrome, showy, extroverted... everything I don't like in a car. And yet - the ride is comfortable and the exhaust is quiet when cruising, the engine/automatic-transmission combination is perfect, and the handling is very easy to exploit. 2nd gear through a tunnel at 60mph is one of the better automotive experiences you can have. Tire smoking sliding exits from parking lots, with an automatic transmission no less, is another. Passing a car on a 2 lane road with a quick tap of the downshift button is a third. To drive it is as fun as my previous BMW 540 or Porsche. To be seen in... I just wouldn't fit. Maybe in dark grey or black, no stripes, no chrome, maybe.

Quick update

It's been a busy couple weeks.

Hawaii - interesting. Especially Hilo. Oahu is a bit too touristy for my style of travel. Longer update to follow during downtime at work this week.

3 day workweeks should be standard.

Sold the car. Going car free at least until the move. If it goes well all the better, if not it's old Porsche time again. They're just too much fun.

Mt. Si is a good intro to climbing a mountain - steep hike (3600ft up in 4 miles of trail) followed by a very rocky summit area. Too many people though. Want a more remote route next time.

Sounders played to a draw with some really crappy refereeing and lots of missed chances.

Quiet week ahead.

Made in America

In the last year or so based on different well publicized events there has been a resurgence of the 'Buy American' mantra, whether it be kids toys, food, cars, so on.

The two main issues I see as worthy of discussion around this point are 1) quality control and 2) efficiency with a subcategory of environmental friendliness.

The times when 'Buy American' appears in the media it is usually implied that all American made products in that category are categorically better than the products being replaced. That American made toys won't contain lead, that American made food is more pure, or that American made cars are the foundation of our economy.

The questions that those proponents should be asking instead are:
- This toy was bought from an American owned store: how does that store choose their suppliers, and how much transparency does the store have to the suppliers' quality control process?
- Similar story for the candy. How did the end retailer choose which candy brand to purchase and do they have any accountability from a quality standpoint for that brand's supply chain?
- What makes a car American in the present day anyway? If a brand with headquarters in Detroit builds a car in Mexico, how American is that car compared to a car built by a brand headquartered in Guanma, Japan yet built in Indiana? And if a foreign automobile producer does so more efficiently with similar labor conditions and quality controls, is it not the best choice for the end driver to buy that car without regard to its country of origin? The missed sale opportunity for the runner up company should prompt them to study the more efficient process and modify their own accordingly.

The American way in this regard seems to be to have government boards establish minimum standards which are plausibly based more on safety than industry lobbyist pressure. (the definition of what can be sold as 'Chocolate' vs. 'Chocolatey' or crash test standards on cars, for instance)

Stores here can then import whatever meets that minimum standard and attempt to sell it. Sounds easy enough.

It would take more than random musings on a blog to figure, statistically, what percentage of products which fall afoul of the minimum standards are Made in the USA vs. Made Elsewhere, though I can think of many well publicized quality control failures of American products as well as foreign ones.

So, for retailed goods, is 'Buy American' anything more than blind patriotism? Maybe, sometimes.

Example 1) Textile goods.
- The US is statistically both a major grower and consumer of cotton. So why are so many cotton-goods made overseas presently? Cheaper labor. It surprises me that this cost savings will offset the costs of shipping the material and finished goods around the world, but apparently it does. Are overseas labor/relative standard of living pay conditions substandard compared to those in the US? Probably lower overall, but not in every case.

Given two functionally identical jackets/shirts/bags/etc of the same price, one made in the US, one made elsewhere, is it any more economically efficient to purchase one over the other? I'd propose yes since a smaller percentage of the cost of the product goes to transportation costs, meaning more money goes to the people involved rather than the process involved. It may take a small bit more research on the purchaser end to find the brands which are made in the US, but from my experiences it's possible to get competitive quality at an equal or lower price from US manufacturers in many goods. (Suit, Pea coat, camera bag, duffel bag)

Example 2) Food.

This is easy - the shorter supply chain the better. That said I do like bananas, and the term banana republic exists for a historically valid reason.

--------------------

Over the years I've held my own prejudices with regard to country of origin (German cars for instance) but understand that's mostly a stylistic choice rather than a statistically backed choice. If everyone bought cars based on total cost of ownership they'd end up with a Hyundai or lightly used Toyota.

Interesting Discoveries

St. Germain elderflower eau de vie

http://www.stgermain.fr/index2.php

1-2oz of the liqueur + 5-6oz of sparkling mineral water or club soda = refreshing and tasty beverage.

It's light in both alcohol and sweetness and tastes like a particularly herby or spicy honey sweetened soda.

Other elderflower drink sources: Ikea sells a non alcoholic elderflower/simple syrup concentrate as well as a pre-diluted tetrapak'ed drink. It is also by accounts the defining characteristic of British sparkling wines, which I have yet to find or try.

Also,

Absinthe - it's showing up in liquor stores locally. Picked up a bottle of Pernod (their Absinthe, not Pastis) and after a few tastings, it is far more like alcoholic licorice candy than the complicated herby beverage I've had from other brands that are not imported to the US. Still interesting - the green to white louche effect is present and never gets old, but I'll have to try some of the other brands for the correct taste.

Carrying stuff.

Travel in the modern era is a great exercise in efficiency and minimalism. Especially flying. My recent experiences at airports indicate there are two prevailing modes of thought here:

- The business traveller who carries a roll-on suitcase that is precisely 1" too big in every dimension to fit in the overhead bin, and a laptop, and a (man)purse, and a jacket.

- The family vacation which checks 2 bags per person, then when they get on the plane realizes they checked the thing that keeps the baby from screaming for the next 5 hours.

I endeavor to break this cycle. Just out of college I swapped out a falling-apart backpack for a nice Victorinox roll-on suitcase. It fit everything, it was bright red. Generally a good piece of equipment. Except that 1) it was awkward to carry and 2) I walk a lot and don't want to click a rolling suitcase down the sidewalk of a major city, for many blocks... it draws attention.

So the Victorinox was sold on ebay.

Enter the 1 compartment, 1 zipper, 1 carrying handle, duffel bag. Many companies make ones which are sized approximately to the airline carry on specifications. The goal was to find one that is fairly priced, made with exacting attention to detail from suitably durable material, and not 'precious'.

(defined loosely as something I could set on the floor of a bus/throw onto a boat/etc and not care if it gets dirty/wet - closely tied to the 'fairly priced' argument)

Filson, Barbour, Tumi, Victorinox, North Face were all eliminated due to high price and/or complexity of design. Many others were eliminated for feeling too cheap or unfinished.

Two contenders emerged - the RedOxx Small Aviator bag: http://www.redoxx.com/product_categories/8/products/22-small-aviator-bag

And the Mills Canvas Shelter Island: http://shop.millscanvas.com/theduffelbags.html

Being indecisive and with a vacation pending, I ordered one of each.

Both are made in the USA and guaranteed as long as the company stays in business. Mills has been around over 120 years - safe bet there. RedOxx - only 20 thus far.

Both use the same nearly-comically-large YKK zipper - good sign. RedOxx has two opposing pulls though - nice touch. And the monkey's fist knot zipper pulls are well done.

Both are finished very nicely - no exposed fabric edges to fray, all seams are finished very nicely.

The main difference is in the material. RedOxx uses heavier Cordura nylon, Mills a surprisingly soft canvas cotton cloth.

Initial signs are good in each case. The cost differential is striking for how similar they are though.

The RedOxx bag is the same price as, if not cheaper than, any similar size bag you'd find at a big box store. Having examined many of those, the RedOxx is far superior in design and construction.

The Mills bag is nice and I like the navy cotton cloth - it's nearly stylish. But it is pricey in comparison to the RedOxx for what appears to be similar build quality, space and function.

I'll use both extensively in the next year and see if anything breaks.

Things I find interesting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zFFdcEcMag

Coffee Nerding

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2262016/watch_the_clover_coffee_machine_in_action/

Finally went to a Starbucks which had one of these interesting machines. It's basically an inverse French press with more precise temperature control. They offer 5 single country of origin coffees (Kona, Sumatra, Kenya, Ecuador, and another one) spanning the range from medium to extra dark roast.

It is interesting that they don't use any of the 'normal' Starbucks blends in the Clover. I may go during a quiet time of the day and ask to try it to see if the usual acidity found in Starbucks coffee comes from the beans or normal brewing method.

After trying the two lightest roast beans (Kona and Kenya) I have to say it was without qualification a very good cup of coffee. Nice, mellow nutty coffee flavor with no acidity or 'burnt' taste at all. Allison and I agreed that it compared very well with our (and everyone that has tried it) unanimous favorite coffee - Dilettante Cafe Hapsburg (Medium) roast.

The downside- $2 cup of coffee. But if you ever are in the mood for a perfect cup, the Clover can make it.

Yeah, this has been more Starbucks pimping after the Via mini-review, but I get a pretty regular string of Starbucks gift cards as part of a micro-bonus system at work, so they actually compete for my attention with some of the excellent independent cafes in Seattle. Having used many of their locations their problem isn't product or concept, but consistency. If the barista knows what they're doing, you can get excellent coffee/espresso. In the downtown Seattle area locations, good is more common than not. In the suburbs or other states, it's hit or miss at best, and at that point it ends up being not worth the cost. If anything the Clover seems to be a nearly foolproof way to make a consistently perfect cup of coffee, so I applaud the innovation and hope it makes its way across the country. (And thus decreases the cost through economies of scale)

Short notes

Interesting things:

Starbucks Via (their new instant coffee - this was the Extra Bold version, not the lighter Columbian) - got a free sample last week - finally got around to trying it. Surprisingly, it's drinkable decent coffee. The overall impression is of an Americano or Turkish preparation (where there are usually grounds on the bottom of the cup anyway) using day old beans. Less flavor than a good real coffee, but it's definitely not acidic or offensive in any way.

The first thought I had was - this is the perfect camping coffee. Single serving package, decent flavor, mixes easily into hot water.

At nearly $1 per serving though full retail price, it costs nearly as much as real coffee, which is possible to get any number of places in this city.

Overall - decent. If in the middle of nowhere - excellent.

-------------------------------------

At lunch yesterday I walked over to the waterfront sculpture park and sat (with a real cappuccino in hand) and stared across the water at the mountains. It was a brilliant sunny and warm spring day, and I had this odd feeling of contentment - that of all the places in the world to be at that time, I'd choose here over about anywhere else.

--------------------------------------

Tweed jackets. Excellent for the 'it is marginally cool' temperature days at the beginning and end of winter.

---------------------------------------

Headed to Portland this weekend for more urban wandering. Will be good to have a change of scenery from Seattle - it's been a couple months without going anywhere else - that's too long imo.

---------------------------------------

British Airways has some great deals for flights to London around Thanksgiving - sounds like a fine second vacation for the year. And then the Eurostar to Paris for a few days as well. Anyone want to meet us there?

Onward!

Disparity

The daily walk down 1st or 2nd Ave and along the waterfront makes clear some of the odd, well, disparities, about living in this city.

Within a half dozen blocks:

There are multiple stores where people can buy organic food and chemical free bedding - for their pets.
vs.
There are also people, either homeless or just hungry, who ask for food, or money for food.

There are multiple million dollar high rise residences which are in some cases second residences based on the lack of lights on at night.
vs.
There are people sleeping on cardboard boxes on the doorsteps of those buildings.

People will put on hundreds of dollars of clothing on a Saturday night to spend a fair fraction of that on drinks and dancing.
vs.
People will beg those same people for change while walking between bars.

---------

These are the two extremes I admit. The majority of life along these streets are normal people working normal jobs living in normal looking apartments.

These disparities will always exist, and will exist everywhere. There are some cities that try mightily to create two different worlds for the two extremes, there are others which are more open about it. Any place I've lived there have been agencies that have worked to try to bridge the gap between the two extremes, and I've worked with a variety of them over the years, but is there a good answer other than to carry on in that manner?

I found it odd that I would get asked for change when in college (loans for tuition and a part time job for spending money), and that was just Raleigh.

I now don't know what to think when I get asked. I presently have some amount of money expressed as electrons in a database somewhere. I don't exactly carry a lot of it around. There are multiple shelters/soup kitchens within a couple miles of where I'd get asked for money which by all public accounts are not overburdened.

No notable conclusion or remark here - just some observations on the day.

----------

That said, it is brilliantly sunny here - so it's time to go for a walk.

A new record

2 months to the day - the time it took to wear through the sole of a pair of shoes (Clarks).

The previous pair (Born) survived 8 months. Time to put a pair of Ecco to the test now.

Having a walking commute yet still wanting to appear somewhat professional takes more of shoe budget than I'd previously considered normal. Still cheaper than gas.

Home Alone

So, Allison went back to NC for the week to visit her family. This leaves me with lots of time to finally catch up on reading and computer games - two things I have less time for when she's around.

We had a good weekend though - went out to dinner on Friday night to what I consider is what American food should be right now: a place like Quinn's up on Capitol Hill. Seasonal local greens salad, wild boar sloppy-joe style sandwich, well made fries made fresh from real potatoes. Basic recipes, executed well using quality local ingredients at a fair price... satisfying.

Our Valentine's day dinner was Mama's Mexican - to continue the trend of not going anywhere remotely fancy or romantic on Valentine's day. The place was surprisingly busy. (well, not really surprising - their shredded beef for the burritos is great - and dinner for two is ~$25 including a beer and margarita)

And then Allison made a marionberry cobbler though, which was tasty.

----

Quick gripe on how the present administration is trying to 'sell' its national bailout plan. From http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123471581432090221.html one of the objectives is:

"raising home values that have been plummeting"

Ok - remind me how we got into this mess in the first place. Oh right - home values which rose faster than wages.

Which goes back to my inflation/deflation thoughts last year. Will wages be inflated to match home prices (trying to keep the average income/average home price ratio to the historical under 4, not over 5 as in recent years)? I'm betting not, by choice. Perhaps by default in 3-30 years or whenever we have to start paying back the mountains t-bills that other countries have been buying from us so that we can pay off bank debts.

What is the solution? I still tend to think bankruptcy is a valid option for any insolvent institution - too big to fail should be too big to exist. Let those companies that didn't over-leverage pick up the pieces and grow based on sound and sober leadership.

More clothing oddities.

Pre-owned but very good shape 100% cotton oxford cloth button shirt at Goodwill: $8

One trip to the dry cleaners to 'start from scratch' with said shirt: $2.50

Brand new 100% cotton oxford cloth button shirt at Martin/Osa: $12.99 (on sale from $60)

Nearly cheaper to buy new than to buy used for clothes these days.

Spring Cleaning

Random Finds and Observations:

Apart from some pre-Euro-denomination money that Allison had, we have a combined foreign currency reserves of:

2 Mexican Pesos
50 Jamaican Cents
1.66 Euros
1.10 Swiss Franc
60 Czech Haleru (Koruna Cents)
1.88 British Pounds
1 Yen

Need to go to these places (again in most cases). And then buy a soda.

Globalized Pants

So I recently replaced two pairs of work pants. The two new additions are both 100 percent cotton flat front 'chino' style pants from two different major retailers. They're finished nicely and are nearly indistinguishable in build quality.

One stated its construction as: fabric made in Italy, assembled in China.

The other stated its provenance as: Made in Bahrain.

Now, neither Bahrain or Italy has a statistically significant cotton industry: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/agr_cot_pro-agriculture-cotton-production

So statistically, the cotton that the pants were made out of probably came from China, the US or India.

In the first case, the cotton was shipped halfway around the globe from any of the top three producing countries to Italy, then back around to the other side of the globe as fabric to be made in to pants in China, then once more around to the US for retail sale.

In the second, assuming the fabric was also woven in Bahrain, the cotton potentially did not even have to make one complete trip around the world, if it was originally grown in India or China. Though it could have circled the globe from US to Bahrain and back to the US as clothes as well.

It would be interesting to know what it cost to make each pair of pants, from the growing of cotton to the fabric to the sewing to the transportation around the world.

The retail price for each was about the same - the first was $98 (Brooks Brothers), the second was $89 (Banana Republic). Given the logistics necessary for the pants to exist, I can believe those numbers.

However, the actual purchase price for each pair was $39.20 and $14.99 respectively.

I'd imagine it is either a marvel of global supply chain management or a money-losing proposition for the company to sell pants at that price.

The final purchase prices along with their manufacturing path also bring up the question of what is a premium brand, but that may be for another time.

Good link.

http://unreasonablefaith.com/2009/01/21/how-to-stump-anti-abortionists-with-one-question/

That is all for now.

hm - imagine that

Apparently I wear pants with a 36" waist now. First time in a decade. This is after Christmas even.

Good choice

Local NPR story on the Israel offensive against Hamas ended with the transition music of (Thievery Corporation) Marching the Hate Machines Into The Sun...

Not sure what percentage of the NPR audience would recognize that track.

Holidays/Travels

It was good to see all the friends and family over the holidays, but I'm glad to be back. After a week of driving everywhere and drinking in the humidity, it was refreshing to wake up to a cool cloudy day, throw on a wool coat and hat in case of rain, and walk. The route was typical - market to get fruit and vegetables for the early part of the week, park to gaze at the snowy mountains across the sound, home for lunch... then wander over to the downtown mall area and watch people rush the end of year sales. (That and I'm still on a casual search for a 3 button tweed jacket in a primarily grey hue)

While in NC Allison asked about nostalgia - if there were any places that I missed. This was in Raleigh, so that was pretty simple - no. We went to the usual places - NeoMonde, O'Malleys, so on, but that's because they're good rather than there being any specific memories associated with them. This isn't new, and it is how I've thought since probably grade school, but I perpetually live in the future - nearly everything I do in the present is merely working toward a better life later.

I started to see this trend about my last year in Raleigh... and started getting away from the computers/books weekend mornings to walk. Living on Hillsboro St made this feasible... walked the neighborhood streets to see normal families live normal weekend lives... walked downtown to the small farmers market... walked through parks and past ongoing baseball/soccer games... it seemed a way to get some sense of social normalcy after a decade of living in textbooks and computer based jobs. Looking back... the times spent wandering around on a not-yet-sweltering-hot spring/summer/fall morning were perhaps what I appreciated most during my time there.

This trend continued after the move back Charlotte and was successful for a while, but after the first year or so the free time graph went to zero and stayed there. Moving to the house didn't help matters, since it required its own share of time in addition to work and school... so I left that life.

It may be a side effect of the technology driven life I've chosen, but for an hour a day, and many a weekend morning, it is important to see the world at walking pace.