If you haven't noticed, it's rather difficult to live in the 21st century without getting sucked into a cycle of wanting things that you might not need, or needing things that you might not want. Welcome to the system!
I like to think that I'm different...that I'm not as susceptible to the endless pressure to buy new things and discard the old ones. But the cycle of shopping and upgrading is built into most of the products we buy and the culture we live in.
For example, my main computer is pretty old. I bought it in 2001. It's got plenty of hard drive space left because I upgraded the internal hardware several times. But now it's getting slow and soon it will be a dinosaur, because its processor is already extinct. It has all the software I love to use, but soon those applications will be useless, too, because surreptitious updates will render them inoperable.
So now I find myself wanting a new computer....again. I don't want to want a new computer. They're expensive. My kitchen appliances are cheaper and they last forever in comparison. And until recently, televisions were the same way.
Imagine a world where every appliance, when plugged into the wall, gets delivered an update from its manufacturer that makes it stop functioning properly. "Hey, what's wrong with the coffeemaker this morning? It worked fine yesterday." "Sorry. The latest version of the coffeemaker brewing system requires you to update the wiring in your home. And also the shape of the outlets are going to change, so you'll need new plugs."
And televisions. I have a really old TV that won't die. It's square. It has a huge, bulky tube. I don't really want it anymore. But I'm trying to avoid the obvious next step: the flat-panel, widescreen TV. It's not that I don't think they're gorgeous and sleek: I do. It's not like I don't look at them often and wish I had one....are you kidding? It's that I'm trying not to get rid of yet another thing that isn't broken just so I can buy it again in a new package.
I don't want to spend my life shopping. I want to spend it enjoying what I have. Sure, I like to browse...but I want to do it on my terms ... not because I'm a puppet.
I've spent enough time living in Europe to enjoy simplicity in life. To not waste things. To not even want things. To expect change to unfold over time. But in American culture, it's hard to find a niche to accommodate this perspective.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Christmas was for the birds
I've been really busy and haven't had much time to write anything down. But I wanted to tell a story of two birds: the one I tried to save on Christmas, and the one I ate that same day.
First...I was walking to my flat in the middle of the afternoon, when I saw a crowd of people gathering in front of a driveway, snapping photos. What were they looking at? A bird. There was an injured hawk sitting in the driveway with a possibly broken leg. Everyone wanted a photo op with the bird and expressed sympathy for it, but as far as I could tell, nothing else had happened. So I called 411, got the T-Mobile operator, and asked for some kind of animal rescue phone number.
She patched me through to Animal Care and Control. Don't confuse them with the SPCA, who rescues, rehabilitates, and finds new homes for animals. However, the SPCA does not deal with hawks. Anyway, first the Animal Control person told me to pick up the hawk and put it in a box and bring it to her. But, as one of the bystanders said to me afterwards, "Isn't that their job? To pick up animals? How many city dwellers know how to pick up a hawk, anyway?"
Finally I got them to come out and get the bird, who had now figured out how to fly across the street, just to complicate things. It was hiding in a bush near a real-estate office. I hate it when hawks do that.
I waited till the Animal Care van arrived....the crowd of photo-takers left, expressing their regrets as they sped off to more important engagements, cell phones in hand. Eventually the woman arrived in the Animal Care van, and though she picked up the bird very gently and cradled it to her, she told me that the bird's leg was badly broken and that it was unlikely they could rehabilitate it. Which meant that I was sending it to its demise, which was not my intention. Perhaps it's better than dying an agonizing death from a voracious dog nipping at it or kids tormenting it or whatever....but I did think they'd make some effort to help it. Do they ever save an animal? Or should they be renamed "Animal Euthanasia and Control"?
Now, here comes the contradiction: I went to a Christmas dinner with some friends who invited me to share a dinner of goose with them. And I must say the goose was quite good....it tasted like chicken, only the meat was darker. It was delicious and as far as I'm concerned, if you're going to eat a big bird: skip the turkey, and go for the goose.
Yes, I know....it makes no sense. I spent my afternoon trying to save a bird, and then I ate one. But that's the paradox of the 21st century. We live in a world where people drive Hummers to the organic food shop. I am no better, I guess.
First...I was walking to my flat in the middle of the afternoon, when I saw a crowd of people gathering in front of a driveway, snapping photos. What were they looking at? A bird. There was an injured hawk sitting in the driveway with a possibly broken leg. Everyone wanted a photo op with the bird and expressed sympathy for it, but as far as I could tell, nothing else had happened. So I called 411, got the T-Mobile operator, and asked for some kind of animal rescue phone number.
She patched me through to Animal Care and Control. Don't confuse them with the SPCA, who rescues, rehabilitates, and finds new homes for animals. However, the SPCA does not deal with hawks. Anyway, first the Animal Control person told me to pick up the hawk and put it in a box and bring it to her. But, as one of the bystanders said to me afterwards, "Isn't that their job? To pick up animals? How many city dwellers know how to pick up a hawk, anyway?"
Finally I got them to come out and get the bird, who had now figured out how to fly across the street, just to complicate things. It was hiding in a bush near a real-estate office. I hate it when hawks do that.
I waited till the Animal Care van arrived....the crowd of photo-takers left, expressing their regrets as they sped off to more important engagements, cell phones in hand. Eventually the woman arrived in the Animal Care van, and though she picked up the bird very gently and cradled it to her, she told me that the bird's leg was badly broken and that it was unlikely they could rehabilitate it. Which meant that I was sending it to its demise, which was not my intention. Perhaps it's better than dying an agonizing death from a voracious dog nipping at it or kids tormenting it or whatever....but I did think they'd make some effort to help it. Do they ever save an animal? Or should they be renamed "Animal Euthanasia and Control"?
Now, here comes the contradiction: I went to a Christmas dinner with some friends who invited me to share a dinner of goose with them. And I must say the goose was quite good....it tasted like chicken, only the meat was darker. It was delicious and as far as I'm concerned, if you're going to eat a big bird: skip the turkey, and go for the goose.
Yes, I know....it makes no sense. I spent my afternoon trying to save a bird, and then I ate one. But that's the paradox of the 21st century. We live in a world where people drive Hummers to the organic food shop. I am no better, I guess.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Diary of a Bad Housekeeper
I have a lot of stuff. It's everywhere, crammed into every available nook and cranny in my 700-square-foot quarters. And I have reason to believe that if I had twice the space, I'd accumulate twice the stuff.
No, I'm not one of those crazy people who stacks the walkways with six-foot-high newspapers and other trash, nor do I bring home found objects from dumpsters or anything like that. I'm a keeper. I buy something, or someone gives me something, and if I'm not using it, I decide not to waste it (after all, I might have a need for it someday), or I feel guilty about getting rid of it (if it's a gift), and then after awhile....if I keep it long enough....it's so obsolete that it becomes a collector's item and then I feel like I really can't get rid of it.
One of my worst violations is hardware and software. I've kept an 11-year-old Mac 8500 and all the accompanying software to install on it again in case-- for some reason-- I feel like I need to go back in time to simpler (and often more functional) software, or retrieve a long-lost archive from one of my many hundreds of stored floppy-disk backups. Yes, my old Syquest drive ($500 when I bought it in the early '90s) is still stored in my closet, somewhere. My 10-year-old SCSI color scanner still sits on a cabinet, waiting for me to find an old photo to scan. And until recently, I had an army of stiff cardboard boxes filled with old software disks and manuals for software programs that dated back to when George Bush's pappy was president.
I'm trying to mend my ways. Really I am. I've been breaking down boxes and recycling them and those old software manuals. But I'm still hanging onto all those disks and installers. Somebody....talk some sense into me....please.
No, I'm not one of those crazy people who stacks the walkways with six-foot-high newspapers and other trash, nor do I bring home found objects from dumpsters or anything like that. I'm a keeper. I buy something, or someone gives me something, and if I'm not using it, I decide not to waste it (after all, I might have a need for it someday), or I feel guilty about getting rid of it (if it's a gift), and then after awhile....if I keep it long enough....it's so obsolete that it becomes a collector's item and then I feel like I really can't get rid of it.
One of my worst violations is hardware and software. I've kept an 11-year-old Mac 8500 and all the accompanying software to install on it again in case-- for some reason-- I feel like I need to go back in time to simpler (and often more functional) software, or retrieve a long-lost archive from one of my many hundreds of stored floppy-disk backups. Yes, my old Syquest drive ($500 when I bought it in the early '90s) is still stored in my closet, somewhere. My 10-year-old SCSI color scanner still sits on a cabinet, waiting for me to find an old photo to scan. And until recently, I had an army of stiff cardboard boxes filled with old software disks and manuals for software programs that dated back to when George Bush's pappy was president.
I'm trying to mend my ways. Really I am. I've been breaking down boxes and recycling them and those old software manuals. But I'm still hanging onto all those disks and installers. Somebody....talk some sense into me....please.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
smile doctor
I have a new dentist. This probably doesn't sound like a big deal, but I went to the same dentist for years and years....and then, when I changed jobs, I was far from her office, which was in the east bay. And my new job is in the opposite direction.
So....I went without a dentist for awhile. Then I started to search for one. But here's a tip: never, never pick a practitioner just because he or she is listed as a "preferred provider" by your insurer (or is the term "in network"?)! The people I contacted through my insurer weren't up for the job...they just charged the right price, apparently.
Finally I got a great recommendation for a dentist. He was downtown...in one of those big buildings filled with dentists and doctors. And I have to say....he was awesome! He showed me my teeth on a big flat-panel TV...in scary HD detail...did a complete exam, and even mailed me a comprehensive summary of the state of my gums, teeth, overbite, and more. I can get an appointment in a reasonable amount of time. And his staff seems to love their jobs. Not only that, they're hilarious.
This morning I had a filling done that I knew I needed before I found him. It took him 15 minutes...and he even gave me the novacaine I prefer....the kind *without* adrenaline in it. (For those of you who wonder why you feel so stressed in the dental chair: it might not be you. It just might be in that injection.) The nice thing about non-adrenalined novacaine is that it wears off in about an hour, so you're not slurring your words all day and trying to talk with a frozen face or crooked lips that feel like they're on someone else's face.
So....I'm happy with my dentist. My mouth will be in great shape, even though the rest of me is falling apart.
So....I went without a dentist for awhile. Then I started to search for one. But here's a tip: never, never pick a practitioner just because he or she is listed as a "preferred provider" by your insurer (or is the term "in network"?)! The people I contacted through my insurer weren't up for the job...they just charged the right price, apparently.
Finally I got a great recommendation for a dentist. He was downtown...in one of those big buildings filled with dentists and doctors. And I have to say....he was awesome! He showed me my teeth on a big flat-panel TV...in scary HD detail...did a complete exam, and even mailed me a comprehensive summary of the state of my gums, teeth, overbite, and more. I can get an appointment in a reasonable amount of time. And his staff seems to love their jobs. Not only that, they're hilarious.
This morning I had a filling done that I knew I needed before I found him. It took him 15 minutes...and he even gave me the novacaine I prefer....the kind *without* adrenaline in it. (For those of you who wonder why you feel so stressed in the dental chair: it might not be you. It just might be in that injection.) The nice thing about non-adrenalined novacaine is that it wears off in about an hour, so you're not slurring your words all day and trying to talk with a frozen face or crooked lips that feel like they're on someone else's face.
So....I'm happy with my dentist. My mouth will be in great shape, even though the rest of me is falling apart.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Album-buying fun
I recently bought two brand-new CDs...in shrinkwrap and everything. I don't do this as much anymore...first, I don't like what's in the brick-and-mortar stores, and if I buy physical CDs, I buy them used....otherwise, I buy them as downloads off the internet. And finally, I spend a lot of time looking for music online that I can legally put in a podcast.
But every so often, I order some CDs from Soul Seduction in Vienna. I got two CDs this time--and I could have bought them as downloads--but actually wanted the physical product this time. And I wasn't disappointed.
The first was the latest release in a compilation series that I like from Musicpark Records in Austria. This latest is called "Coconut"....previously there were releases like "Melon," "Lychee," etc. I don't always like every track on them, but there are enough that I do like. This was a nicely put-together collection of largely European downtempo-to-midtempo tracks from some artists I know already (Deep Dive Corp., Sofa Surfers, Waldeck), and some that I don't.
The second CD was really fabulous, in my opinion: Karuan's "Pop Arif," from Sunshine Records in Austria. This had lots of stuff I like in one package: subtle beats, downtempo with a hint of eastern fusion, and a nod to '70s-style soulfulness in the melodies and vocals...you know, the kind of soulfulness that pretty much became a dinosaur after rap and hip hop came along to dominate the culture. I liked this one so much I even posted a happy review on their site!
I notice that both Coconut and Pop Arif are also available as music downloads from Amazon now, too. Check them out.
But every so often, I order some CDs from Soul Seduction in Vienna. I got two CDs this time--and I could have bought them as downloads--but actually wanted the physical product this time. And I wasn't disappointed.
The first was the latest release in a compilation series that I like from Musicpark Records in Austria. This latest is called "Coconut"....previously there were releases like "Melon," "Lychee," etc. I don't always like every track on them, but there are enough that I do like. This was a nicely put-together collection of largely European downtempo-to-midtempo tracks from some artists I know already (Deep Dive Corp., Sofa Surfers, Waldeck), and some that I don't.
The second CD was really fabulous, in my opinion: Karuan's "Pop Arif," from Sunshine Records in Austria. This had lots of stuff I like in one package: subtle beats, downtempo with a hint of eastern fusion, and a nod to '70s-style soulfulness in the melodies and vocals...you know, the kind of soulfulness that pretty much became a dinosaur after rap and hip hop came along to dominate the culture. I liked this one so much I even posted a happy review on their site!
I notice that both Coconut and Pop Arif are also available as music downloads from Amazon now, too. Check them out.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
That Turkey Thing
This Thursday is the most peculiar of American holidays: Thanksgiving. Inescapable, palate-deprived, and perhaps the only American holiday (except for the possibly socialist Labor Day) that doesn't celebrate either war or Jesus... celebrating Thanksgiving is a requirement if you live in the USA.
Rule #1:
You must have dinner with other people at their house -- not in a restaurant! -- and if you're being truly proper, they should be members of your family.
Rule #2:
You must eat turkey and bread stuffing and gravy, and then some other kind of starch, and maybe a vegetable, and then pie for dessert. No other food is acceptable.
Rule #3
There has to be too much food, the air has to be too stifling, and you have to feel heavy and full and basically disgusted afterwards from over-indulging.
Rule #4 (NEW!):
Go shopping the next day. Apparently the day after Thanksgiving, which is also a holiday, is the biggest shopping day of the year, and many stores offer slightly-lower-than-usual prices for those who are OCD enough to wait in the parking lot at 5 a.m. to get inside.
But let's get back to the Thursday event. It struck me a few years ago, when I was sitting in my car in a traffic jam on Thanksgiving, that everyone in all the other cars was also on their way to a Thanksgiving dinner somewhere and that they would be eating the exactly same distasteful food as I was consigned to eat: turkey and starch. How creepy is that?
Don't get me wrong. I love having dinner with my friends, and I do like to reflect on the things I should be thankful for (a practice that has largely disappeared from Thanksgiving), but menu options would be great. How about some cracked crab and champagne? Or rack of lamb? Why not creme brulée for dessert? And listen to some new electronica tracks while we're making dinner?
Really, we should be thankful that we're not like the pilgrims who allegedly launched this tradition. We could dress up like them and do some role play, like tossing a female guest into the nearest river and accusing her of being a witch. That might make the time before dinner a bit more interesting.
But seriously. I will be going to the home of some friends on Thursday to eat the required items ....the only twist to this is that the other participants aren't Americans....and they're probably far more into this tradition than I am!
Rule #1:
You must have dinner with other people at their house -- not in a restaurant! -- and if you're being truly proper, they should be members of your family.
Rule #2:
You must eat turkey and bread stuffing and gravy, and then some other kind of starch, and maybe a vegetable, and then pie for dessert. No other food is acceptable.
Rule #3
There has to be too much food, the air has to be too stifling, and you have to feel heavy and full and basically disgusted afterwards from over-indulging.
Rule #4 (NEW!):
Go shopping the next day. Apparently the day after Thanksgiving, which is also a holiday, is the biggest shopping day of the year, and many stores offer slightly-lower-than-usual prices for those who are OCD enough to wait in the parking lot at 5 a.m. to get inside.
But let's get back to the Thursday event. It struck me a few years ago, when I was sitting in my car in a traffic jam on Thanksgiving, that everyone in all the other cars was also on their way to a Thanksgiving dinner somewhere and that they would be eating the exactly same distasteful food as I was consigned to eat: turkey and starch. How creepy is that?
Don't get me wrong. I love having dinner with my friends, and I do like to reflect on the things I should be thankful for (a practice that has largely disappeared from Thanksgiving), but menu options would be great. How about some cracked crab and champagne? Or rack of lamb? Why not creme brulée for dessert? And listen to some new electronica tracks while we're making dinner?
Really, we should be thankful that we're not like the pilgrims who allegedly launched this tradition. We could dress up like them and do some role play, like tossing a female guest into the nearest river and accusing her of being a witch. That might make the time before dinner a bit more interesting.
But seriously. I will be going to the home of some friends on Thursday to eat the required items ....the only twist to this is that the other participants aren't Americans....and they're probably far more into this tradition than I am!
Monday, November 19, 2007
The seven-year ouch!
Today I was reading an article about OPEC, and I saw a mind-blowing dollar figure for the price of oil in the year 2000....just seven years ago. It said that the price of oil per barrel in the year 2000 was just $10 per barrel. Today it's $100 per barrel.
Holy cow! Really? I knew it was creeping up and up, but I hadn't looked backwards to compare and contrast. It went up 1,000 percent since the year 2000?
Just think about it...seven years ago this month, Al Gore ran against George W. Bush for president of the United States. We all know how that turned out, and I'm sure this slightly elevated oil-price thing is just a wacky coincidence.
So I decided to search the net and look up a few other financial factoids from the year 2000. Looking backwards at November, 2000, exactly seven years ago this month, I found:
Value of the British Pound Sterling versus the US Dollar:
November, 2000: $1.42
November, 2007: $2.05
Value of the Euro against the US Dollar:
November, 2000: 83 cents (note: the Euro was only a valuation at this point)
November, 2007: $1.47
Value of the Canadian dollar against the US Dollar:
November, 2000: 46 cents
November, 2007: $1.02
Median price of a home in San Francisco:
November, 2000: $417,000
November, 2007: $827,000
National debt (in USD billions):
November, 2000: 5,674.2
November, 2007: 9,007.7
Holy cow! Really? I knew it was creeping up and up, but I hadn't looked backwards to compare and contrast. It went up 1,000 percent since the year 2000?
Just think about it...seven years ago this month, Al Gore ran against George W. Bush for president of the United States. We all know how that turned out, and I'm sure this slightly elevated oil-price thing is just a wacky coincidence.
So I decided to search the net and look up a few other financial factoids from the year 2000. Looking backwards at November, 2000, exactly seven years ago this month, I found:
Value of the British Pound Sterling versus the US Dollar:
November, 2000: $1.42
November, 2007: $2.05
Value of the Euro against the US Dollar:
November, 2000: 83 cents (note: the Euro was only a valuation at this point)
November, 2007: $1.47
Value of the Canadian dollar against the US Dollar:
November, 2000: 46 cents
November, 2007: $1.02
Median price of a home in San Francisco:
November, 2000: $417,000
November, 2007: $827,000
National debt (in USD billions):
November, 2000: 5,674.2
November, 2007: 9,007.7
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