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.