Scribbles

Hiding the Buck

jl — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:32:38 +0000

I’d like the notion of moving towards a cashless society. Unfortunately the credit card companies aren’t willing to price their fees accurately to reflect true risks. As a result, we all suffer. But right now I don’t want to talk about credit card companies. I found an idea to for small businesses to cope with them.

Small businesses often put restrictions for customers who pay with credit card. Most of the time, they tack on an extra fee, not a large fee, somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 cents. Other times, they put a minimum spending limit. They do so to protect their margins; each transaction costs approximately .30 + 3% of the total amount. For the small shops that conduct many small transactions, say a burrito joint selling $7 burrito meals, 50 cents represents about 7% of the total transaction, making it unbearable (note, my small business also has to deal with the credit card fees). As a customer, I don’t like paying the extra fee, but I get it, so I grumble to myself, pay cash and get on with life.

But the other day, I encountered an ingenious workaround. This dessert tea shop, Cha for Tea, offered a 5% discount from my total bill if I paid cash. Absolutely brilliant. I felt great about paying cash under the illusion of saving money, as opposed to silently griping about forced to pay cash. Of course this is all psychological. But I felt great and empowered. And the tea shop managed to avoid its margins on a $5 drink getting chipped away by greedy financial oligarchs.

So if you’re a small business where credit card fees chip away your margins, adjust the prices to make this option equivalent to the 50 cents surcharge for paying with plastic. Shift your customers’ mindset so they feel smart for paying cash. And for the customers who want convenience and earn Starwood points, they won’t feel bad. It’s win win win. Yes, Mad Burrito and all the taxi drivers out there, this is for you.

In Defense of Food (or not eating crap)

jl — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:50:24 +0000

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

That’s the verbatim summary of Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food from the introduction. Before all the carnivores out there start rolling their eyes, let me say this book isn’t about promoting vegetarianism. While it’s true that I keep a mostly vegan diet, something I work and laugh at, this isn’t my attempt at convincing you to give up meat.

I will however share my take from his book, based on those three simple guidelines – not hard commandments – to eating. It’s time to move away from the unhealthy food obsessions that involve breaking down every meal into its components, counting carbs, following the diet fad du jour. Embracing this infatuation with nutritionalism for the past 30 years, we’ve abandoned thousands of years of eating cultures from all around the world that has proven to work. In the meanwhile, the Western diet, quickly spreading through globalization, has produced worse health and less satisfaction in eating. We should simply eat and enjoy real food. I won’t expound on not eating too much, something I hope you find obvious already. Instead let’s look at what constitutes real food and why mostly plants.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT EATS TOO – the biggest argument for avoiding meat from a health perspective. Putting ethical concerns aside for this argument, let’s examine eating meat from the purely selfish goal of health. It tastes great, provides protein, and satisfies the inner hunter – all things I completely relate to. But today’s meat from the supermarket isn’t the same meat my grandmother bought from her local street butcher. The entire meat production industry has changed so much, that today its sole purpose is to convert energy to protein in the most efficient manner, so efficient that it disregards concerns we should be wary of. Livestock are stuffed with grain, antibiotics, and growth hormones instead of their natural diet. Although these details are slowly gaining coverage through books and movies, they’re still relatively obscure to the public. I lament that, without our conscious knowing, the industry has sacrificed quality for quantity, cost over health over the decades. We now arrive at a point of getting inferior meat on both fronts of nourishment and taste. It’s telling that beef in Argentina or wild game taste better because of the importance of what the animals eat. If I want a hamburger nowadays not stuffed with crap or contaminated by E. coli, I have to go great lengths and costs to procure the meat and cook it myself. (This includes Californian hamburger stalwart In-n-Out too.) Even disregarding the low probability of getting sick from individual incidents, eating such mass produced meat several times a day, over a long period of time will inevitably lead to undesirable consequences down the road.

The industrial food complex has affected vegetables as well through a relentless maximization of crop yields using artificial fertilizers and genetic modification/selection. They follow the same formula of producing the most quantity by spending the least. Hence the push for eating well-grown food from healthy soils. (Pollan uses this description instead of organic because you can still obtain such food without the organic certification.) It’s been shown that vegetables grown in such soils without synthetic fertilizers contain significantly more vitamins, antioxidants, and nutrients, which is the whole reason for eating more plants to begin with; these antioxidants help our bodies detoxify the poisons from the environment and our diets. This is a case where a carrot from the supermarket really isn’t the same as the carrot from your backyard or a local farmer. They look the same, but inside they’re vastly different. While many of us shy away from spending more for such commodities (when did you ever differentiate carrots from various sources the way you’d differentiate the makes of cars?), the bottom line is our health. By comparing the seemingly identical vegetables from vastly different sources and choosing correctly, we truly nourish ourselves beyond filling the belly.

My last piece of advice is to avoiding fake foods, especially items containing trans fat and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Trans fat, found in processed fats like margarine and almost every fast food chain, will kill you, plain and simple. This is common knowledge now that many product labels tout zero trans fats as a selling point. Credit NYC for standing up on behalf of people in banning trans fats in restaurants. As for the HFCS found in almost all processed foods from soda to meats to even bread, examine the ingredients label of some of your favorite foods and you’ll be surprised to find it there. While the cheapest sweetener to purchase, it’s produced at a high environmental cost. And that’s not even accounting for its role behind many health problems and likely one of the biggest culprits behind America’s obesity epidemic. Its prevalence in almost everything is tragic, as PGuy will attest to in his breakfast forays. Sadder yet, the media has kept relatively under the lid that HFCS is suspected of containing mercury. I doubt it’s completely avoidable from one’s diet, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to reduce intake. Check the advice linked through the picture below.

High Fructose Corn Syrup – Cut it Out

All this can be quite overwhelming for the average eater. For myself, similar challenges exist: howto change what grandma buys and cooks, my passion for adventuring in great food, and my wallet’s limitations. My approach, or compromise so to speak, to all this is my flexitarian diet (eating mostly plants with the occasional meat), follow the guidelines as much as possible, but not like a religion. Most days I’m fairly disciplined, but give myself the leeway to not restrain those moments that should be enjoyed. As for enjoyment, give yourself the pleasures of a real meal, one shared with friends and loved ones. Make it an experience, one over conversation and personal exchange, instead of an allotted time to feed at the trough. No matter the cultural background, humans historically have not scarfed down thousands of calories with eyeballs glued to the television. It’s bad enough that we already do that in front of a monitor during lunch (guilty as charged, amongst many folks in the US). So why not invest a little time in improving not just the what but also the how in our eating habits?

A final take on the Michael Pollan: he delivers the bad news through exceptional story telling and a personable voice of authority backed by extensive research. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Omnivore’s Dilemma a couple years ago. While this follow-up has less of the story telling elements, it does not disappoint. I highly recommend reading both books in sequence; they’ll entertain while opening your conscious mind to what enters your body every day. And what can be more vital, more fascinating than that?

Summer Travel Freeze

jl — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:27:52 +0000

I love traveling. Not just seeing new places, but also the aspects of it that people don’t typically enjoy, like dealing with airports, sleeping in hotels, finding the best bargains. Semi-disturbingly, that’s probably one of things I miss most about consulting. Sometimes I wake up on Monday and lament not having to cab to the airport and spend the next three nights in a hotel bed. And I surely feel less motivated to self-indulge in FlyerTalk. I found it hilarious meeting some new friends in the Bay Area who were equally avid Starwood fans as myself. Nice to share the obsession of maximizing points and their redemption value.

But I’m not carping about not collecting points and status. I realized that my traveling, while less frequent than my past professional life, has been rather respectable. Thanks to a slew of weddings and side trips, I’ve been to Peru, North Carolina, twice to NY, and San Francisco, all within the first five months of 2009. With that, and the uncooperative economy, I’m shutting it down for a while and self-imposing a travel freeze for the summer. Of course I enjoy doing my part and helping the economy, but there’s also my personal economy to worry about. Not that I will be remotely bored, I already figured it all out. Tons of movies and shows to catch up and a long reading list awaiting on the new eReader.

Speaking of television and movies, I recently upgraded my Netflix subscription to the 2-disc buffet variety. I caught some of the shows highly recommended by friends:

Dexter – I found myself quickly drawn into it and finished the first season before realizing. The main character, a serial killer bound by an honor code, surprisingly connects with the audience with his inability to feel any emotion.

Californication – the first two episodes have been brilliant, not to mention apropos; The protagonist, a slumping writer, moves from NYC to LA and starts blogging about his hatred for the city while womanizing and trying to win back his family. Hey, I can compare notes, without the womanizing part. And yeah, that makes my blog a lot less entertaining.

Burn Notice – discovered by accident this sleeper show about a spy in Miami. There’s spy stuff, fashion, girls in Miami, and mojitos. Did I mention girls in Miami?

I suspect this recent surge of interest in entertainment is partially spurred by a couple good flicks I caught. Doubt was a tour de force in acting and story telling. Pixar’s Up would’ve moved even Dexter. And the Hangover got me itching for a boys trip to Vegas. Anybody wanna volunteer to get married?

Even though describing those plans makes me feel like a hermit, I do entertain people frequently enough, so I’m not at a loss for social activity. That’s before accounting for further exploration of the city of Angels. While all of this isn’t nearly as exciting as traveling, it’s also a lot less disruptive, allowing for settling into a more local routine and spending more time with friends in the same area code.

And if I get really bored, all those miles banked up can still make for a short trip in August.

Reflections on LA

jl — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 06:58:12 +0000

Time keeps flying. It’s been more than half a year since moving to the west coast and settling into downtown Los Angeles. Whenever people ask about it, I tell them that not only has it way exceeded dreadful expectations, I really enjoy it. Aside from the obvious benefits like work, being closer to loved ones, and the weather, how has my LA experience been so far? Being in NYC right now presents the perfect time and space to reflect on that million dollar question.

I didn’t hold any false notions of replicating my previous NYC lifestyle, one requiring a density of people and happenings. Different cities have their own character so it doesn’t make sense to clone an existing lifestyle (that is not completely suburban) from one geography to another. The important thing is getting a feel of LA life and figuring if it could grow on me.

I started with the food scene since I enjoy it so much and also am quite picky about what I eat. I began with a simple strategy – follow Yelp recommendations. But soon I found the reviews requiring too much sifting through and the accusations of extortion made me uncomfortable. So I moved on to leveraging social media in full, sweaty embrace. With the indispensable Google Reader, I follow numerous foodie blogs whose authors share similar tastes with, as well as the latest from the LA Times food section. I also access specific news for downtown LA through several excellent local sources. And yes, Twitter has also been a fantastic resource. Who can ignore it, especially after all the attention on the roving, twittering Kogi BBQ trucks that have been all the craze in LA?

Back on the topic of my eating habits, I suffer from what the Accordion Guy calls a “socially acceptable eating disorder”, namely a vegan diet. The history of that traces back to about 5 years ago, when I attended a motivational seminar that challenged me to change my diet, with the intent of attaining higher energy to accomplish all of my personal goals. Impossible as it seemed, being the irredeemably hardcore carnivore that I was, I went vegetarian for a while and realized its benefits. The difference in how I felt was night and day. It’s hard to deny the truth once you know it and I couldn’t go back. Still, it was difficult. But since then, through much exploration, my options from a taste perspective have vastly improved, no more bland and nutritionally empty foods. Also the amount of new literature out there supporting this eating philosophy has contributed to further improved health benefits. At the end, the main motivation is to feel better and have more energy for things like reading that book everyone recommends or writing this blog post, things that we never have time for. And it works for me. I will gladly share more on this topic in the future.

While I strive to eat healthy, I don’t always; cultural and social obligations often get in the way. And I find that acceptable, since it’s not a religion and I’m not part of PETA. Sometimes there are dishes so wonderful that I simply have to have every so often. As a result, when I do break the routine, I won’t settle for mediocre, run-of-the-mill stuff. That said, access to healthy food choices in LA has been comparable to NY. Not like moving to Dallas or anything like that.

It’s reached the point to expand my activities in southern California beyond the food scene towards more social and local events. I still miss tremendously my incredible group of friends in NY. Yet I accept the need to building a new network of friends, through reconnecting with old ones in the area, and putting on that out-going persona to befriend new ones. Expanding my geographic coverage requires venturing out of downtown into the other neighborhoods. And while my curiosity of LA’s myriad pockets has often been tempered by my aversion to driving and parking, my past efforts to get out of the comfort zone have usually paid off. And then there are always more foodie trips.

The 3/50 Project

jl — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:43:16 +0000

Came across this idea while reading through blogs and thought I’d share it with you. It’s simple, pick 3 independently owned stores that you really like and are local, and spend $50 there every month. Like a pyramid scheme, but without the deceit, by executing the simple plan and getting others to follow, we can all help our local economies. It’s not a lot of money, and it keeps those businesses we love stay afloat. What an elegantly effective idea. Go check out the site and spread the word, the 3/50 project.

Facebook Quibble

jl — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:19:40 +0000

The following is a snapshot of my FB feed after I complained. (Note I don’t mean to single out Steph and her cute family).

Detox Duration

jl — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 04:52:28 +0000

My family keeps complaining to me that my 10-day detox is too long. They keep cautioning me to be careful. I keep reassuring them that I had done the Master Cleanse just a few months ago, and there’s nothing to worry about. To review on what the duration is supposed to accomplish, I re-read the book today. It opened up at a chapter titled, “Can I do 5 days instead?” The answer was clearly no, and the reason is that it really takes time for one’s system to get rid of all the toxins and heal.

Today, the 5th day, I woke up feeling like my system in full detox state. My tongue has turned a fuzzy white that many people experience while detoxing. And my expulsions resembled what they were during the latter part of the previous cleanse. Luckily this time around, I didn’t feel any sort of tiredness or irritability. However, my workout today felt a bit tiring, most likely due to a lack of caloric intake, caused by my growing wariness to the lemon-syrup-cayenne pepper concoction. Weight-wise, I’ve dropped about 8.5 pounds, which I feel neutral about since it’s not a goal for my and knowing that I’d gain it back quickly.

The real nagging thing about the cleanse is that I’m bored. The novelty of it wore off last time, so now it feels like work. Getting up, drinking the salt water flush, making lemonade throughout the day, all that combined with the hit on my social life, has been somewhat trying. But I’m almost halfway through, feeling fine, and looking forward to the promised land of mental clarity and invigorated health. Until then, more lemonade.

Spring Cleaning

jl — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 02:47:37 +0000

Today I’m starting another 10-day master cleanse. I promised to do another one within 6-months, so what better day than the first day of spring right? What really bums me out is shutting down the social activities for the next two weeks. However, that leaves me without much excuse to be unproductive or unfocused. I definitely won’t make the same mistake of day-dreaming about food. Time to get a lot of work and reading done while my body expels bad stuff, and by bad stuff, I mean crap.

Cryptonomicon

jl — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 08:39:56 +0000

I’m still kicking myself for waiting this long to read Crypto. Not that I ever doubted Neal Stephenson’s genius, as I have read much of his other work. But as somebody with such a fascination with WWII and computer science and hacker culture, I’m way behind the curve. Better late than never, but sure could’ve been sooner.

The extant reviews and acclaim more than describe its content. As to how I got into it is where this post comes in. After years of reading non-fiction, I decided to switch back to some fiction for a break. In picking a book, I went through my long list of “must-reads” and stumbled across this massive novel. Wanting to put my eReader to work, this tome was perfect for saving trees, not to mention being on sale. Besides, does it get any more appropriate than reading a geeky book on a digital reader?

Reading Stephenson on my eReader

Does the device displaying the book seem rather unfamiliar, especially compared to the iPod-esque Kindle? It’s actually a Sony PRS-500, one of the first reading devices using electronic paper. A wonderful hand-me-down from my gadget friendly uncle, this svelte toy has been the perfect companion on the plane, subway, and coffee shops. While I still drool over the Kindle 2, like when I saw it on the subway the other day, I don’t feel so bad after learning about Amazon’s draconian methods for restricting where one can get books from. Regardless, you’ll find me in the camp of happy eReader owners.

Over the past couple weeks, Crypto managed to entertain on many a late nights, and tickled my inner geek with ingenious hacker stories and reviving some great times in my past. I’m certain that non-geeks would still enjoy this book tremendously. So don’t procrastinate like I did and give yourself a treat.

De-Friending on Facebook

jl — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:36:24 +0000

Last summer, after a series of unpleasant events that involved deceit and disrespect, I had a huge falling out with my troubled cousin. So angry at the time, I de-friended him on Facebook. Half a year later, I login this morning to find a message in my FB inbox titled “Really!?!” In it, said cousin makes a one-sided rehashing of past events, most of it accusatory, and concludes that other families have put up with worse and we should put things behind us, all with a lack of contrition or acceptance of blame. Pretty heavy stuff for breakfast.

Well, forgiveness/absolution issues aside, FB has become a medium for me where I share my thoughts and social life with, um, friends. Like many people who get friend requests from their mothers or colleagues, I have a reluctance to share many of the things about me that are on this social network. So it would seem perfectly reasonable for me to not want this part of my life to be an open book with somebody I have nothing in common with other than some DNA sequences. For once the adage, “You can choose your friends but you can’t choose your family” gets turned around for the good – I can choose my friends, including those online.

So it took him half a year to discover this act of Internet dissing. Looking back on that post about him, the very first post of this blog no less, I realize that back then I overlooked his clueless-ness, attributing it mostly to youth. But four years have passed already. Some things never change.