Day 7

Under a week and I missed Day 6: it was a partly sunny Easter Sunday - we spent it walking around Capitol Hill. The art museum up there had a new exhibit - a collection of Japanese woodblock prints from the 17-1800's. Part of the collection was an early print of the Great Wave ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa ) - it is a beautiful print but the other more tranquil nature scenes from the same series were perhaps more interesting to me.

So, to catch up - Day 7 of things that inspire happiness: the short cappuccino.

I think at this point I've sampled this drink from every coffee shop in the greater downtown Seattle area. There are two schools of thought on the cappuccino in this city. Some coffee shops treat it as a short latte, with more actual milk mixed with the espresso than milk froth. (otherwise termed the wet cappuccino) The other is to have the espresso with only the thick layer of milk froth on top. (dry cappuccino) Either way the general idea is to have the primary taste be the espresso, with a secondary taste of the steamed milk, and not too much of either. The result is a very well balanced drink, and my favorite coffee variation.

Day 5 - Wool

Wool - it's like Polartec, but less clingy and better looking.

This post inspired by the cool and breezy day here in Seattle.

Day 4

Today's inspiration for happiness: seasonality.

Walked through Pike Place market after work today to get a couple things for the pizza planned for dinner.

While the corner grocery has a few things year round - potatoes, onions, peppers, mushrooms, carrots... it's the seasonal things that make the market special.

The asparagus has been slowly marching northward. In the winter it comes from Peru, then Mexico, now in spring we're seeing California, then shortly Oregon and then Washington toward the end of April. The local apples are also fading out. California citrus has been big lately. Berries are starting to creep northward as well.

There's something that's continually optimistic about noticing the progression of seasons through what you eat. It's impossible to be bored with food when it is only around for a few months at a time, and it helps pace life. Stock the pantry with a few staples - rice, beans, noodles... and add whatever's interesting as it shows up.

This kinda goes hand in hand with the focus thing-a-day from earlier in the week. Since moving out here and slowing life down it has been far more enjoyable.

Day 3 - Dali Atomicus

Not being an art history major, this was only a recent find, but it is one of the more fun photographs I've seen: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Salvador_Dali_A_(Dali_Atomicus)_09633u.jpg

The photographer, Philippe Halsman, noted that it took 28 attempts to get the best combination of throwing 3 cats through the air, a bucket of water, and Dali jumping. What an excellent use of an afternoon.

Day 2

Things that inspire happiness: focus

Ok, it isn't a thing, but there are those simple things that require absolute attention for a short period of time. Threading a needle, dicing an onion.

There are times when I run a lot through my mind, so shoving it all to the back burner for a minute helps things be more ordered later on.

New Idea

I'm purposefully starting this before April 1 so that I might myself take it seriously.

Daily posts of one thing that inspires happiness. To be accompanied by a photo as often as possible. Sometimes elaboration. Sometimes not.

Day 1:

Pineapple.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=36322247&id=36620541

Why? Requires use of a fairly large knife to take it apart. And tastes like candy.

Time and Scale - Part 1

This post is NPR inspired. It's not uncommon. The basis is a story about how various researchers are approaching the phenomenon of time apparently going faster as people age.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122322542

I wonder how I will be when I'm old enough to officially have these sort of perception issues. To me, childhood was a series of next steps. (School, sports... always something to do, always a new year, new grade, check the boxes, move on) I recognize that is unusual. I'm not sure if there was a goal beyond getting to 'the future' despite not having a clear picture of what 'the future' entailed.

Summers were perceived as slow, because they were. The only things to do were to play baseball/basketball with friends and go on bike rides. (Or later, summer jobs, then going out to movies, etc)

Did I ever envision myself at 28 when I was 8, or 18? Not specifically. Classes were chosen based on what I could do with a reasonable amount of interest and effort, and what would provide the best odds of a job later on. That worked out well enough. The only thing about the present is that the steps are further apart than in school. Jobs are steps, not much different than grades really. They just seem to take 3 years at a time for me to step up to the next one.

There are some constants in my life. I'm glad there are friends who have lived life in parallel for a long period of time. It helps provide perspective. Despite the house experiment in Charlotte I don't seem to aspire to anything beyond a small apartment - this makes the job bit easier - no need to work too hard. Travel seems to be a constant as well.

What's the next step? I think the problem I'm running into now is the 'here is a fine place to be, but there has to be a change eventually, right?' mode of thought. More on that later...

Hair Drying - An Engineer's Perspective.

So, while brushing my teeth this morning I noticed that Allison's hair dryer has a power consumption rating of 1875 watts. Not being familiar with hair dryers it appears that is essentially how manufacturers determine which one is 'better' than the next and thus which should cost more - so you get 1000 watts for $10 and 2000w for $25 or similar. (Though in that case you get more watts per dollar for the cheaper one) 

Being an engineer this seemed like an entirely arbitrary measure of the effectiveness of a hair dryer. Thinking about what matters in drying hair: the amount of power it is sucking from the wall does not particularly matter. The amount of it can transfer to the air that is passing through the device is more important. Thus, I propose that an efficiency metric is more of a meaningful 'this hairdryer is better' measure than the ultimate out-of-wall watt rating. 

Take for example two 1500w hair dryers. Measure the remaining energy at say 10cm from the exhaust nozzle where the user's hair typically is. If one is able to deliver 500w at that distance it would be 33% efficient. (33 percent of the wall energy is transferred to your hair) If the other only delivers 150w at the same distance, it is only 10% efficient, and thus inferior. 

This could then get the shopper to value energy efficiency - a very 'green' thing in the current age. And then the hair dryer makers could come up with more efficient heating coils to further increase their efficiency ratings and outperform the competition. It's a win win. Customer's get dryer hair faster, less energy is used in the process.

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.