Monthly Archives: February 2012

A general lack of enthusiasm

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I am not an early adopter. I refused to update to the new-improved priority inbox until daily deal emails began to smother legitimate correspondence. I refused to upgrade my old Macbook until I convinced my workplace to buy me a 27” iMac, at which point I considered improving my own computer situation. I’m still trying to figure out how to explain that they should let me keep it at home so that a) I don’t need the Macbook or its future replacement, and b) I never again have to “work” in something other than yoga pants.

My personal trials aside, I’m wondering if market saturation on daily deals has finally occurred. With every local paper, e-magazine, start-up-mobile-app-co, and cloud hosting provider taking a chunk out of the daily deal market, I think the novelty might be wearing off. Not to say I haven’t benefited extensively from these deals in the past: I’ve had a few free scoops of ice cream, some lousy Pho that I’m glad was ½ price, and without a Groupon, HD and I never would have ventured all the way up to the end of MBTA route 77 in Arlington Heights to discover the Meat House.

Lately, though, my inbox has been bringing me all kinds of stuff that I would never want, and I’m not sure who else would, either. Example A: a “vintage” curling iron for $100. I have a real vintage hair dryer from the early 80s and over-zealous drying leads to 2rd  degree burns. I couldn’t imagine forking over 20 Abe Lincolns for a so-called vintage appliance (even if it is 60% off). There’s a reason the CPSC exists, people.

I keep seeing restaurants deals that are seemingly great with for “$40 for $20” offers, but upon closer inspection, dinner would be $80 for two, so suddenly a $20 coupon doesn’t seem like such great savings for a meal I wouldn’t pay for anyway. I’m guessing the reason that I’m not going out to $80 dinner dates has more to do with the same reasons I’m reluctant to order a $12 pizza from the glutard-friendly place down the street: buying dinner treats cuts directly from my liquor budget, and a girl has to have priorities.

I rode bikes the other weekend and dropped someone who will remain nameless (his name rhymes with Rat Grilled Lips, in case you know him) on an average sized hill. This was kind of awesome, as I typically average negative twelve mph, even when riding my bicycle in forward direction. Luckily, when he moved up here two+ years ago,  he decided to replace big miles with big donuts (thanks Verna), and now, I have gained a distinct edge over him that should last for the next four days.

Somerville, MA. Seeing this bike was extra motivating. It made me want to go find a nice highway, a big truck, and see how fast I could go in the little ring.

This event was a first, as I’m usually only able to drop out-of-shape senior citizens and pedestrians on foot, and it was hugely motivating. I hit the gym after work for a full week with a sense of purpose not matched since, um, ever. I was fueled with the knowledge that I could maintain my distinct advantage for a total of two weeks, even if he decided to put together two nickels worth of effort.

Unfortunately, this past weekend, I was totally schooled, just by the wind, on the bike path. So, dreams of cycling superiority at 8 mph are totally over.

Somerville, MA. This snow day picture would have been much better if I hadn't already used my mitten to clean off the Buena Vista. Now, no one will believe how significant the snow was..

Now, the weather has turned to something gross, or perfectly appropriate for New England this time of year, depending on your perspective. I’ve lost all motivation to work towards being a mediocre cyclist. So, instead, I’ve spent this past week gorging on ice cream and pancakes. Screw you, Mr. Rat Grilled Lips!

 

 

Lessons Learned in Boston, Part 1

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I’ve been living in the urban jungle that is greater Boston for more than 6 weeks now.  Lately, I’ve been pretty busy juggling the work + the life balance. The ”work” part seems to be really boring to anyone who isn’t me. The “life” part largely includes eating baked goods with origins ranging from Somerville to Belmont, eating in Chinatown, and sampling pizzas along the Cambridge-Arlington corridor. If “life” gets any more “difficult,” then at some point in the future, I might need to consider purchasing two plane tickets any time I want to travel.

Luckily, I’ve managed to balance the time spent eating my way through local neighborhoods with travelling via foot or two wheels. Four wheels are no longer an option, as I sold the Saturn Rocket a few weeks ago.

This is not a big deal, because the perspective of the world seen from the right-third-of-the-lane or sidewalk has helped me to  learn some important lessons about greater Boston and greater Bostonians:

1.  When mischievous produce escapes from its proper place, an example will be made of it.

Clementine Skewered on a Post

(Somerville-or-Medford, MA)

 

2. Don’t get mad at drivers who nearly mow you down while you’re riding a bike, because, more likely than not, a dog is driving.

Dog Driving a Car

(East Somerville, MA)

 

And 3. if you ever feel that people around you can’t seem to appreciate being outside, take comfort in the fact that  it’s really not their fault:  we have become so entrenched in our built environment that we can no longer differentiate between aggregate rock and plant matter.

Keep off the Crushed Rock (keep off the grass sign near zero grass)

near Battery Wharf, Boston, MA

 

The Internet is just as dumb as we are.

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The Internet is full of advice. It will feed you a list of news stories with the top ten ways to save money, or keep your job in a bad economy, or pick a retirement town. What it doesn’t do is qualify the information as to whether or not those ten facts will actually be a) newsworthy or b) at all useful.

For example:  I feel that all the financial advice doled out on the internet includes a nugget about giving up a $7 a day Starbucks habit and to start bringing your lunch to work and stop eating out.

I don’t know what planet the people who come up with this advice live on, but I live in a world where if I bought $17 worth of convenience food each weekday, I’d be broke by 1 pm Wednesday.

While pretty much every “save money” faux-news article that craftily sucks me in mentions this universal coffee addiction expense, only about half of them tell you to run your errands or commute by bicycle. I’m going to skip the obvious waste of time this info is (how else would I run errands or get to work? By foot? feet are for chumps) and focus on the lame fact that’s always included: somebody mentions that bike commuters feel that their bike commute is the best part of their workday.

This is either a blatant lie or most people who commute by bike have really shitty jobs and lunches. My job is pretty good, but even when the day goes poorly, my lunch outshines my commute. These bike commuters with so much joy must either: not be on high traffic potholed urban roads, or they need to learn how to make a proper sandwich.

Even on the lousiest day at work, I get more joy from my delicious and lovingly packed lunch than I do from the few miles I spend trying to get to work quickly without excessively sweating or getting crushed by a larger vehicle (equal importance on these two).

Regarding seven dollar coffee, I actually have been bringing a thermos from home, despite my office’s free coffee maker.

On my first day at the office, I was given a tour of the facilities, including a special stop at the "fancy coffee" machine

Sometimes I need more coffee than my thermos can provide, and I buckle to the call of the Keurig. However, just looking at it makes me angry. 1) it’s a disposable coffee machine. 2) it makes an average cup of coffee (at best) 3) those little cups cost someone a lot of money. Because my organization eats the costs, its free for me, and I’d actually save money by using it.  I still limit my consumption of its products because it pisses me off.  I just can’t get behind the idea of a sub-par cup of coffee (or tea) that costs twice as much (or more) the cost of brewing it yourself, even if it costs 40% the price per cup than purchasing the same size cup from your local barista. Sure it’s easy, but there are a lot of other ways to make sub-par to average coffee/tea that are cheaper and less wasteful.

More seasonally, I’m saving money by making Husband Dan a valentine instead of buying one. This means that the two hours spent on this project, saved $3 and the fifteen minutes spent on picking out a heartfelt card. I still have to print and sign it.

At first, I thought I could adjust some of his favorite quotes into loving messages.

Quote from Get Him to the Greek (Where the F are you? I'm gonna kill you. Smiley face)

For example: One of Dan's Favorite Quotes from "Get Him to the Greek"

Then I realized that was a bad idea.

So, I took a cue from the fact that while I’ve been sitting in front of a screen in my office, he’s been going on some pretty enjoyable bike rides as part of his house husband duties (“find me better routes for weekend rides and then make me some tacos. Thanks”) and thought I’d make him something bicycle related. I think it’s better than a card from Walgreens. Hopefully he will like it enough to not divorce me.