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.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, February 9, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, January 26, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
hm - imagine that
Apparently I wear pants with a 36" waist now. First time in a decade. This is after Christmas even.
Friday, January 9, 2009
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.
Not sure what percentage of the NPR audience would recognize that track.
Monday, January 5, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Finance Year in Review
Interesting statistic - the average person in the US saved money this year - 2.4 percent of income as of the most recent report. (http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/pi/pinewsrelease.htm) Not much, but it's better than the negative numbers of previous recent years. Interesting when tracked historically that the number has never exceeded 15 percent http://www.bea.gov/bea/dn/nipaweb/Nipa-Frb.asp
How do I stack up?
Since I've now been at one address with one job for over a year the finances are stable enough to note (sale of house excluded from the numbers below - only job income counted)
Percent of total pre tax income to:
Income Tax - 21% set aside in deductions - based on previous years this is pretty accurate
Rent and Utilities - 23%
401k - 8%
Money Market Savings - 28%
General spending - food/gas/travel/clothing/stuff - 20%
Other interesting facts - The interest gains in the mm-savings account did not offset the losses due to some optimistic stock bets in my 401k - total investments are down 1.6% on the year.
Rent and utilities are high in an absolute sense - though offset by very small gasoline expenditures - no gas for the commute and errands works out to less than a tank per month.
I had the sense there was going to be a stock market drop and rearranged the 401k, but not enough apparently. I also rearranged a bit post-correction, though still a bit risky. It will probably be a year until things really start to turn around and post small gains there.
General spending also seems high in an absolute sense - but then there's the quality of life quotient... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122955255403315677.html ... I suppose it's a small price to pay.
How do I stack up?
Since I've now been at one address with one job for over a year the finances are stable enough to note (sale of house excluded from the numbers below - only job income counted)
Percent of total pre tax income to:
Income Tax - 21% set aside in deductions - based on previous years this is pretty accurate
Rent and Utilities - 23%
401k - 8%
Money Market Savings - 28%
General spending - food/gas/travel/clothing/stuff - 20%
Other interesting facts - The interest gains in the mm-savings account did not offset the losses due to some optimistic stock bets in my 401k - total investments are down 1.6% on the year.
Rent and utilities are high in an absolute sense - though offset by very small gasoline expenditures - no gas for the commute and errands works out to less than a tank per month.
I had the sense there was going to be a stock market drop and rearranged the 401k, but not enough apparently. I also rearranged a bit post-correction, though still a bit risky. It will probably be a year until things really start to turn around and post small gains there.
General spending also seems high in an absolute sense - but then there's the quality of life quotient... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122955255403315677.html ... I suppose it's a small price to pay.
Happy Winter Solstice!
Sunrise: 7:55AM, planned Sunset 4:20PM... not even 8.5 hours of daylight on the shortest day of the year when you're this far north.
It has been a nice winter week - got a couple inches of snow on Wednesday - cold since then so it hasn't melted. Then a couple more inches last night to cover up the sanded/slushed ice with new white snow. It's apparently pretty rare to have this much snow near the sound.
(The inland suburbs have had about a foot total by now)
Not that I'm complaining - it has limited the consumerist Christmas rush - people walking around downtown are shopping, but the snow is at least as interesting it seems.
Quiet morning - coffee - NPR - headed to the market when the vendors typically set up in an hour or so.
That's the news from Seattle.
It has been a nice winter week - got a couple inches of snow on Wednesday - cold since then so it hasn't melted. Then a couple more inches last night to cover up the sanded/slushed ice with new white snow. It's apparently pretty rare to have this much snow near the sound.
(The inland suburbs have had about a foot total by now)
Not that I'm complaining - it has limited the consumerist Christmas rush - people walking around downtown are shopping, but the snow is at least as interesting it seems.
Quiet morning - coffee - NPR - headed to the market when the vendors typically set up in an hour or so.
That's the news from Seattle.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Too organized?
So last night I ironed all existing clothes in the closet and then organized them.
There are 7 respectable shirts (5 button down linen, 2 polo) with matching pants for the work week - those go in the middle part. I oddly never mix the shirts to different pants b/c then there's a disparity that will result in having an unmatched pair of pants at the end of the cycle. (Won't wear a black shirt with brown pants, so on)
Then there is the suit, two suit shirts: one standard cuff and one french cuff, and two 'nice' shirts for going out to dinner.
Then there is the ratty pair of jeans and two pairs of hiking/camping pants.
Anything that doesn't fit me anymore or doesn't fit the organizational scheme is now either rags or donated.
This is one of those odd moments of equilibrium in the wardrobe. No clothes are to be bought until the number of available outfits drops to 3 (one load of laundry)
It may sound boring, but I don't like to think about what to wear - I just want to wear it and consign thinking to other areas of life. It's not like it's an entire closet full of white shirts and grey pants... I don't work for a bank (presently).
There are 7 respectable shirts (5 button down linen, 2 polo) with matching pants for the work week - those go in the middle part. I oddly never mix the shirts to different pants b/c then there's a disparity that will result in having an unmatched pair of pants at the end of the cycle. (Won't wear a black shirt with brown pants, so on)
Then there is the suit, two suit shirts: one standard cuff and one french cuff, and two 'nice' shirts for going out to dinner.
Then there is the ratty pair of jeans and two pairs of hiking/camping pants.
Anything that doesn't fit me anymore or doesn't fit the organizational scheme is now either rags or donated.
This is one of those odd moments of equilibrium in the wardrobe. No clothes are to be bought until the number of available outfits drops to 3 (one load of laundry)
It may sound boring, but I don't like to think about what to wear - I just want to wear it and consign thinking to other areas of life. It's not like it's an entire closet full of white shirts and grey pants... I don't work for a bank (presently).
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Survey Says
In Seattle, coffee capital of the US... 8 computer nerds are in class (4 locals, 4 people that moved here from eleswhere, including me) - the morning beverages of choice are as follows:
2 green tea, 1 black tea, 1 earl grey, 1 coffee (the Hawaiian)
Random observation.
2 green tea, 1 black tea, 1 earl grey, 1 coffee (the Hawaiian)
Random observation.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
The next 10 years.
This is from everything I've read/followed what has happened over the last decade - time may add more details/corrections/sarcasm.
- Tech boom/bust - economic downturn.
- Government issued lots of debt to the rest of the world to get cash.
- This cash was then lent out at low interest rates to banks.
- Since the stock market wasn't producing large enough gains for investors after the tech bust, the government promoted home ownership. People viewed this as the next great investment.
- Banks which could get lots of low interest cash from the government lent to consumers at low mortgage rates.
- Easier/cheaper mortgages led to increased demand for homes, which in turn raised home prices.
(Insert note here that average wages have been essentially flat since 2000)
- Given flat incomes, people reacted to the higher home prices by taking on more debt to buy a new home, or by taking out home equity lines of credit to take equity out of their investment to buy things or vacations or whatever (essentially re-buying their existing home at a higher amount).
- Banks saw huge gains in the 'value' of their mortgage portfolios, securitized them and started trading them on that speculative value.
- Long standing income ratios and documentation requirements for mortgages were relaxed so that the banks could get more mortgages to trade. (Which required more people to take on more debt to cover the resulting higher prices)
(Reminder that wages have been essentially flat since 2000)
- At some point (November 2007 by most accounts) this cycle snapped - people started defaulting on their mortgage debt since the interest payments alone in some cases were more than could be paid back.
- As these mortgages were foreclosed upon and resold at auction the value was less than that of the mortgage.
- The securities that contained these mortgages became less valuable as a result. Investment banks then rapidly stopped buying securitized mortgages.
- Since these securities couldn't be traded for a profit anymore, companies that had leveraged to buy them started failing...
- The government realized that some former-governmental entities such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with the companies that insured them (AIG) and some companies with powerful lobbyists or people in the administration (Goldman Sachs) were involved in these trades as well and could fail.
- So, the answer, in the form of the bailout, was to attempt to 'fix' the prices of these mortgage securities at certain levels and have the government buy them from the 'too big to fail' companies.
- Simple economics has proved price-fixing impossible throughout history, the bailout money has since been basically given to the various companes without any assets in exchange so that as they encounter margin calls they can pay their losses on these securities.
(Important note here - the bailout is financed not with existing taxpayer money, but with more government debt - we as a country are taking out debt to pay for the losses on excessive debt held by our financial institutions and citizens)
- Now this bailout is being extended to any lending institution - auto loans, credit cards, so on.
What then is the incentive to play by the rules and live within your means? If there is a huge government safety net waiting if you default on your debt, why not buy the Lexus and a huge house...
There has to eventually be some huge unintended consequence of all this debt, now proxied to a national level... it's just a matter of what and when.
I thought at one point it might be currency valuation... US dollar losing serious value compared to other currencies, but it seems to some degree other countries made the same mistakes as the US so that's pretty stable for now.
What else could happen? Don't know... though it will be interesting when it happens I'm sure...
- Tech boom/bust - economic downturn.
- Government issued lots of debt to the rest of the world to get cash.
- This cash was then lent out at low interest rates to banks.
- Since the stock market wasn't producing large enough gains for investors after the tech bust, the government promoted home ownership. People viewed this as the next great investment.
- Banks which could get lots of low interest cash from the government lent to consumers at low mortgage rates.
- Easier/cheaper mortgages led to increased demand for homes, which in turn raised home prices.
(Insert note here that average wages have been essentially flat since 2000)
- Given flat incomes, people reacted to the higher home prices by taking on more debt to buy a new home, or by taking out home equity lines of credit to take equity out of their investment to buy things or vacations or whatever (essentially re-buying their existing home at a higher amount).
- Banks saw huge gains in the 'value' of their mortgage portfolios, securitized them and started trading them on that speculative value.
- Long standing income ratios and documentation requirements for mortgages were relaxed so that the banks could get more mortgages to trade. (Which required more people to take on more debt to cover the resulting higher prices)
(Reminder that wages have been essentially flat since 2000)
- At some point (November 2007 by most accounts) this cycle snapped - people started defaulting on their mortgage debt since the interest payments alone in some cases were more than could be paid back.
- As these mortgages were foreclosed upon and resold at auction the value was less than that of the mortgage.
- The securities that contained these mortgages became less valuable as a result. Investment banks then rapidly stopped buying securitized mortgages.
- Since these securities couldn't be traded for a profit anymore, companies that had leveraged to buy them started failing...
- The government realized that some former-governmental entities such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with the companies that insured them (AIG) and some companies with powerful lobbyists or people in the administration (Goldman Sachs) were involved in these trades as well and could fail.
- So, the answer, in the form of the bailout, was to attempt to 'fix' the prices of these mortgage securities at certain levels and have the government buy them from the 'too big to fail' companies.
- Simple economics has proved price-fixing impossible throughout history, the bailout money has since been basically given to the various companes without any assets in exchange so that as they encounter margin calls they can pay their losses on these securities.
(Important note here - the bailout is financed not with existing taxpayer money, but with more government debt - we as a country are taking out debt to pay for the losses on excessive debt held by our financial institutions and citizens)
- Now this bailout is being extended to any lending institution - auto loans, credit cards, so on.
What then is the incentive to play by the rules and live within your means? If there is a huge government safety net waiting if you default on your debt, why not buy the Lexus and a huge house...
There has to eventually be some huge unintended consequence of all this debt, now proxied to a national level... it's just a matter of what and when.
I thought at one point it might be currency valuation... US dollar losing serious value compared to other currencies, but it seems to some degree other countries made the same mistakes as the US so that's pretty stable for now.
What else could happen? Don't know... though it will be interesting when it happens I'm sure...
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Update
So, it's been a month or so - what's been going on?
- The end of October was pretty quiet - went to a hockey game (local minor leagues team like the Charlotte Checkers - similar atmosphere too) - first event at Key arena - interesting building - too bad it is underutilized now.
- Peggle is a damn addictive game - simple entertainment - follow the bouncy ball - I think the physics model should include air resistance though.
- This weekend there are a couple of concerts I'm interested in - probably will only get to one of them though - Helio Sequence - should be an interesting show.
- Currently reading "On Food And Cooking" by Harold McGee - it's basically the next step in food-nerdiness after reading Alton Brown's "I'm Just Here for the Food (v2.0)" - gets into more of the history of different primary ingredients and what chemical reactions actually define 'cooking' of those ingredients. It's a bit of a textbook style approach, but still very well done and a good balance of entertaining and practical.
--------------- Nerd thoughts warning -----------------
- Ordered a single ended triode tube amplifier kit - should be interesting to see if I can still solder/read resistors
- As an aside to that - I have some sort of odd engineer's affliction... For the last 5 years I have been using a Sony ES amplifier - which worked great and was technically very nice - discrete power circuits per channel, very low distortion, so on... but I have always had this feeling that I was wasting it - it was a 5 channel amp with different sound environments and all kinds of other 'home theater-y' BS - I currently have 2 speakers, which are small - I didn't need all the technical overhead of the ES - so I put it on craigslist. So then I find a solution, which is more expensive, technically less sonically precise, and I have to put it together myself - just so that I will have a pure single input, stereo output, amplifier - there will be less 'waste' in the final application.
(Technically over time it will pay for itself in lower power usage as well, but that's beside the point)
It's an odd 'retro-technology' interest I have... mechanical watches, tube amplifiers, single speed bike...
All are 'old' - there are newer technological solutions which do more, more accurately (Quartz watches, solid state amplification, deraulliers). I guess I just don't like excess features... more for the sake of more... I'd rather apply modern engineering and manufacturing to old technology to get a solution that is accurate enough for everyday use and more, ah, human-understandable, than newer technology.
Perhaps modern life is more of a black box ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_box ) world though - the watch tells the time until the battery dies, then a new watch or battery is purchased. The 'stereo' makes music until a newer model with more 'power' or more features becomes available, so on.
For some odd reason I have to know the how/why of everything I use in normal life. And once you find out the how you see the questions arise - why does a watch have to have a battery - why do stereos have 7 channels when music is still only recorded in stereo (vast majority of music that is - however yes, some people watch lots more movies than I do) - why buy convenience food when it's possible to make something better tasting and healthier in less time... so on.
While I concede completely understanding any of these examples down to their minutiae is not practical either, it is a bit enlightening to at least open the boxes that one encounters in everyday life.
- The end of October was pretty quiet - went to a hockey game (local minor leagues team like the Charlotte Checkers - similar atmosphere too) - first event at Key arena - interesting building - too bad it is underutilized now.
- Peggle is a damn addictive game - simple entertainment - follow the bouncy ball - I think the physics model should include air resistance though.
- This weekend there are a couple of concerts I'm interested in - probably will only get to one of them though - Helio Sequence - should be an interesting show.
- Currently reading "On Food And Cooking" by Harold McGee - it's basically the next step in food-nerdiness after reading Alton Brown's "I'm Just Here for the Food (v2.0)" - gets into more of the history of different primary ingredients and what chemical reactions actually define 'cooking' of those ingredients. It's a bit of a textbook style approach, but still very well done and a good balance of entertaining and practical.
--------------- Nerd thoughts warning -----------------
- Ordered a single ended triode tube amplifier kit - should be interesting to see if I can still solder/read resistors
- As an aside to that - I have some sort of odd engineer's affliction... For the last 5 years I have been using a Sony ES amplifier - which worked great and was technically very nice - discrete power circuits per channel, very low distortion, so on... but I have always had this feeling that I was wasting it - it was a 5 channel amp with different sound environments and all kinds of other 'home theater-y' BS - I currently have 2 speakers, which are small - I didn't need all the technical overhead of the ES - so I put it on craigslist. So then I find a solution, which is more expensive, technically less sonically precise, and I have to put it together myself - just so that I will have a pure single input, stereo output, amplifier - there will be less 'waste' in the final application.
(Technically over time it will pay for itself in lower power usage as well, but that's beside the point)
It's an odd 'retro-technology' interest I have... mechanical watches, tube amplifiers, single speed bike...
All are 'old' - there are newer technological solutions which do more, more accurately (Quartz watches, solid state amplification, deraulliers). I guess I just don't like excess features... more for the sake of more... I'd rather apply modern engineering and manufacturing to old technology to get a solution that is accurate enough for everyday use and more, ah, human-understandable, than newer technology.
Perhaps modern life is more of a black box ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_box ) world though - the watch tells the time until the battery dies, then a new watch or battery is purchased. The 'stereo' makes music until a newer model with more 'power' or more features becomes available, so on.
For some odd reason I have to know the how/why of everything I use in normal life. And once you find out the how you see the questions arise - why does a watch have to have a battery - why do stereos have 7 channels when music is still only recorded in stereo (vast majority of music that is - however yes, some people watch lots more movies than I do) - why buy convenience food when it's possible to make something better tasting and healthier in less time... so on.
While I concede completely understanding any of these examples down to their minutiae is not practical either, it is a bit enlightening to at least open the boxes that one encounters in everyday life.
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