The Perfect Foam

Visiting the Dentist

At my last dentist appointment I came across an interesting paradox of going to the dentist.  Your dentist wants to find something wrong with your mouth!

It’s only when they get to pull a tooth, fill a cavity, or do a root canal that they make the big bucks.

This may be true to some extent when seeing any doctor, but not as much as when we visit our dentist.   I swear that I’m not an “anti-dentite” by the way!

When visiting an optometrist for example, even if your eye-sight has deteriorated and you need a stronger prescription, you can very easily buy your glasses/contacts elsewhere.  Yes you have to pay for the appointment, but unless you are getting Lasik you are done.

Not all dentists are the same, but an experience I had with a one of my previous dentists fits into the “I wanna find something wrong with your teeth” mold.

This particular dentist attempted to convince me that I needed a mouth guard made to combat the effects of grinding your teeth while sleeping.  These cost a lot of money and are NOT covered under normal dental insurance.  When I went home a few weeks later to visit my family I got a second opinion from the dentist that I had grown up seeing.  His verdict- no evidence whatsoever of teeth grinding!

With some diligent cleaning and a lot of luck, I have managed to avoid any serious issues with my teeth and I certainly hope to keep it this way.  Anyone else have similar experiences at the dentist???

Tags: dentist, doctor, paradox
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Flowers Anyone?

There are numerous opportunities to be a good (better?) boyfriend in San Francisco.  By this I mean buying flowers!  I know my girlfriend loves flowers and I can almost guarantee most girlfriends out there do as well.

Strategically positioned throughout the financial district the abundant flower stands are impossible to miss.  And Fridays are “dollar-a-stem” days, so there is really no excuse not to buy.

Or so I thought.

As part of my quest to live a sustainable and sensible life my goal is to examine each area of my life, to make changes one-step at a time, and to simply do the best that I can.  I have come to realize that sustainable living is much more a process than a single choice.  And I am the first to admit that it isn’t easy (look for my “sustainable living” guide soon!).

A while back I happened to think about an article I had read about the flower industry and how especially bad it was for the environment.  In order to maximize growth, the inevitable (over)use of fertilizers and insecticides follows.

I realized that I had been buying flowers without asking myself what the ultimate cost was, both to the environment and to the people growing the flowers.  This was something I had done in other aspects of my life so I decided to do so in the flower-realm as well.

I knew that the flowers from these stands certainly weren’t organic, but I wondered where they were from.  Upon asking I was told they were from such faraway countries as New Zealand, Australia, and Holland.  REALLY?!  I couldn’t believe it.  I just couldn’t!  I hadn’t expected all of the flowers to be sourced locally, but to think that the cheapest and most efficient way to get flowers is to grow them across the world and then ship them thousands of miles to San Francisco was incredible to me.

Back to “dollar-a-stem” Fridays.  Is the true cost for a few flowers really only a few dollars?  Personally I think it absolutely is not.  The cost to the environment (chemicals used in the growing process and oil used for transport) alone is much more.

My decision was an easy one.  I was done buying flowers from the financial district stalls.  In fact, I was done buying non-organic, non-local flowers. Period.

The cost (not the price) did not equal the few days of enjoyment my girlfriend and I received from the flowers.

Luckily, I quickly realized that the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market in San Francisco provides me with an option to buy locally grown, organic flowers directly from those that grow them.  So my girlfriend still gets flowers (she would argue not frequently enough!), and I feel good about where my dollars are going; who my dollars are supporting.

I leave the choice up to you, but I urge you to begin looking at all areas of your life, especially the consumer side.  Ask yourself if the “buying as cheap as possible” mantra is the right one to have for the long-term health of our incredible planet.

Maybe a better mantra is “buy less, but buy right”.

Tags: flowers, organic, sustainable
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What’s up with the bug eyes??

I’ve been meaning to write about the “bug eyes” phenomenon for some time now.  I saw a particular ridiculous pair on a girl just a couple hours ago, so I finally decided to sit down and write about it.

You’re probably thinking I’m crazy, that I’ve finally gone off the (really) deep end.  I promise you I’m still very much with it, really I am!  “Bug eyes” simply refers to a girl wearing unfathomably large sunglasses.  And by large, I mean LAAAAAAAAAAARGE.  Like 2-3 times as big as they should/need to be.

If anyone has an answer for me as to why girls do this or if they actually think it makes them look good, I can’t wait to hear your explanation.  For the record, I don’t see how looking like a bug can possible make you look good…

In the meantime I’ll be laughing tomorrow at my next “bug eyes” sighting (which, by the way, there are plenty of out here in SF)!

Tags: bug eyes, ridiculous
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$1000 Umbrellas

Catchy enough title for you?  Let me explain!

I was on the bus last week on my way home from work and a guy about my age was sitting next to me, frantically trying to figure out where he had left his watch.  How did I know?  Because I could hear him talking to a co-worker on his cellphone, asking him to check his desk in the hopes that he had taken it off earlier in the day (you also may be interested in my post on public cellphone use).

I heard him mention that it wasn’t just any old watch.  It was a Breitling watch.  Breitling happens to be a luxury Swiss watch brand.

It got me thinking about owning something meant for daily use that was so expensive.  Now I have nothing against watches.  Especially Swiss watches, considering my Swiss heritage.  And I can understand wanting to own a well-made watch that will last for many, many years.  But I think that it’s very possible to get a well-made watch in the $100-$200 range, and a Breitling certainly does NOT fall within this range.

So the question is, does a guy my age need to have a Breitling watch, especially considering the chance that it could be lost or misplaced?

Before I answer the question I would like to give another example of an item meant for daily use that people often tend to lose or misplace: an umbrella.  Beyond some very obvious differences in terms of quality, there is another reason why we don’t buy $1000 umbrellas.  We happen to lose them too damn much!

So to answer the question- the guy probably doesn’t need the Breitling.  And I would say unless he is prepared to lose the watch, then he most certainly shouldn’t have it.  Though we probably don’t lose watches as frequently as we do umbrellas (or sunglasses) most of have lost or will soon lose at least one watch in our lifetime.

Is it really worth the stress and the angst when we lose that watch because it happens to have cost $1000 or even much more than that?

Probably not.

PS.  I didn’t actually think a $1000 umbrella existed.  Well, I was wrong, times FIFTY!

Tags: cellphone, umbrella, watch
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Passion

Last night I had the pleasure of finally going to Yoshi’s, a jazz institution in the Bay Area.  Playing was a group called “Third World Love”, hailing from Israel.

Throughout their hour and a half set, I noticed something that I realized I had seen before, specifically at other jazz concerts.

Passion.

The looks on the faces of the four members of this quartet said it all.  Conveying a sense of intensity, mixed with pure enjoyment, they were doing their passion.  There is nothing better to experience.  To see someone in their element truly enjoying their profession is incredible to see.

Up there with the feelings of love, happiness, and amazement, the feeling of passion is my favorite emotion to see in someone else.  I myself have many passions, and seeing these jazz musicians in their element gave me further proof that we can all do what we are passionate about.

Sometimes it just takes time to get there.

Tags: jazz, passion
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Local Is the Place to Be

We are all very well aware of the current economic situation and we are kindly reminded on a daily basis by the media of how bad things are.  God forbid that the media tried to be a little more positive, right?

Anyway, I will leave the whole media discussion for another day.

Since moving to San Francisco and especially since the economy started on its downward spiral late last year, I have experienced a major change in my outlook as a consumer.

Local.

Thinking, supporting, buying, local.

Maybe it goes without saying, but I’ve come to realize the power I have whenever I spend my money- it’s actually quite a bit of power.  With every dollar I spend I make two choices: what to spend that dollar on, but more importantly what NOT to spend that dollar on.

As part of my eco-framework I continually try to live as sustainably as possible.  Whether that means composting, buying organic produce, or using public transportation I try to do as much as I can, whenever I can.  But to this framework I have also added the word local.  So in terms of buying organic produce that means belonging to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), rather than buying organic fruit grown thousands of miles away (now how organic is it really to then transport that food using fossil fuels?).

Now even though the economy is what it is and along with most others I am trying to save as much as possible, I am also making sure that I continue to spend money at the same time.

If everyone stopped spending money, what would happen to our neighborhood stores, restaurants, and cafes?  We have all seen the impact that the decrease in consumer spending is having.  Again, as consumers we have an incredible amount of power.  We can choose to support not only a local restaurant, but also the entire network of local ties that the restaurant itself has.

Case in point: I live in the Russian Hill neighborhood of San Francisco and a few blocks from my apartment is a favorite restaurant / wine-bar of mine called 1550 Hyde.  It certainly isn’t the cheapest meal around, but every time I’ve been there I feel great about the money I’m spending.

1550 Hyde uses organic and sustainable ingredients, they work with many local farms, and their grease is recycled for Bio-diesel fuel.  So not only am I supporting this one restaurant (owners, workers, etc.), I am also supporting a secondary network.  My money supports local farm owners and their many workers, and I am supporting meat and produce grown the RIGHT way rather than the CHEAP way.

Can I afford to eat a meal like this all the time?  No.  That’s why most nights my girlfriend and I (ok, ok, mostly her) cook our own meals using the organic produce from our weekly CSA box, and then once a week we try to support a restaurant like 1550 Hyde.

Next time you are planning to go out for a meal or heading out to buy something think about the power you have in the decision of where you will eat or shop.  It’s incredibly empowering and once you make the conscious decision to think a little deeper about where you are spending your money, I promise you that it’s difficult to stop.  1550 Hyde recently had to take another day off per week in addition to the customary Monday day off.  We can all do our part to ensure that our local stores and restaurants make it through these tough times.

And remember, sometimes a more expensive item on the menu or at the grocery store is far less expensive in terms of the human and environmental cost than the cheaper option.

I am all for being frugal, but being cheap is another matter all together.

Tags: cheap, consumer, frugal, local, organic, power
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Mindlessness Continued

Piggy-backing off of my last post on mindless waste, I wanted to share with you another instance of mindlessness that I witnessed a few days after the incident at the cafe.  And I’m willing to bet you’ve seen this happen as well- most likely countless times.

It entails watching someone smoking a cigarette mindlessly (there’s that word again) flick the cigarette to the ground.

Now don’t even get me started on how ridiculous it is to smoke cigarettes.  I mean, it provides an individual with nothing more than the temporary relief of a craving and causes terrible damage to the human body.  Is drinking alcohol great for your body?  Studies have shown that in moderation alcohol can actually be good for us, though of course as with most things drinking too much can also cause terrible damage to us.  The distinction is that smoking cigarettes is much harder for most people to do in moderation than having a glass of wine or a beer with dinner.

Anyway, I apologize for my digression.

To put it plainly, I find the act of flicking a cigarette bud to the ground to be revolting.  Without thinking, smokers (not all) literally pollute our environment (or cities) with millions of cigarettes a year.  Where does this “inherent” right come from?  Why should this be allowed?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t enjoy walking in a park or city and seeing the ground littered with cigarettes.  In my humble opinion, we should ban this practice.  Anytime someone is caught dropping a cigarette bud on the ground they should be fined.  And fined hard.  Like $500 per occurrence!

Harsh?  Yes.  Would this provide the necessary incentive to force people to properly throw away their cigarettes?  YES.

Don’t even get me started on cigarettes in general!  I think they should be banned in ALL public/open places where others may be affected, meaning almost EVERYWHERE!  After all, do we let people openly spray cancer-causing chemicals in the air?  Well, actually…

Tags: cafe, cigarettes, mindless
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Mindless Waste

I was sitting at my favorite local cafe last week and I took a break from my book to people watch for a few minutes.  A girl that had been sitting at a table drinking coffee and reading a paper got up to order a pastry.  The lady working the register put the pastry into a paper bag and handed it to the girl.

The girl went back to her table, took out the pasty, and then walked over to the trashcan and promptly threw out the paper bag.

Lifespan of this paper bag- approximately two minutes.

This is a prime example of what I like to call “mindless waste”, something that I have been guilty of countless times in my life.

There were two opportunities for this bag to have remained unused.  First, the lady working the register could have asked the girl if the pastry was “for here” and then she could have put it on a plate.  Second, the girl could have said that she didn’t need a bag.

For the past few years I have tried to do the latter as much as possible.  It takes almost no effort once you get used to the notion, and with each refusal of a bag you are doing your part to use less.

It actually hurts my eyes to watch the above take place.  It’s a microcosm of the wider problem of wastefulness our world faces, especially in Western countries.  It’s high time that the throwaway society we live in come to an absolute end.

Start out by taking baby-steps and next time you are offered a bag, just say no!

Tags: cafe, waste
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Sleep, Please

If there is one thing in my life that I wish I could get more of but wouldn’t have to give up any additional time to get, it would be SLEEP!  Now of course this wouldn’t be possible, but it sure would be nice.  No matter the effort, it’s a tremendous struggle to get to bed earlier.  Every day I tell myself that I need to be in bed before 11, but every night I find myself with things to do or things I want to do.  If only it were possible to go to bed at midnight, wake up at 7 in the morning, and somehow get 8-9 hours of sleep!

And though one of my favorite weekly activities is sleeping in on the weekend, two problems have developed as I have gotten older.  The first is that I simply cannot sleep as long and as late as I used to.  Gone are the days of 12-13 hours of uninterrupted, amazing, blissful, relaxing sleep!  I can’t even get 9 hours of sleep in a row anymore.  Whether it’s sensitivity to light or noise, or having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night/morning (which I HATE!), a night of uninterrupted sleep is a miracle for me.

The second problem is that I don’t like getting up late on the weekends because I want to get outside and get my day going. A friend of mine said it best when he pointed out that in San Francisco brunch starts at like 9 instead of 11 or 12 because it’s such an active city.  So of course I feel guilty about getting up past 10.

There is nothing worse than the following two scenarios, which I have experienced far too often over the course of the last few years.  The first: going to bed late and dead tired, and knowing you are going to be dead tired when you wake up the next morning.  The second: waking up tired in the morning and thinking to yourself that you can’t wait until you get to go to sleep that night.

But of course, as night comes ever closer and the time that I promised myself I would be in bed by is long gone, I have failed yet again to get to bed “early”.  For the most part, no matter how tired I was during the day a few hours earlier, I always seem to wake up when it gets dark.  Suddenly the tiredness is gone.  Such is the curse of being a night owl.

If you have any advice for me I’ll be up late tonight and early tomorrow morning.  It’s a Saturday morning and I can’t go wasting the day away in bed.

Tags: brunch, sleep, tired, weekend
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Random

In lieu of my normal post this week I’ve decided to compile a list of some of my random thoughts/observations.

Hope you enjoy!

1.  I have attended a few lectures/conferences over the past year (that people had to pay to go to!) and observed people emailing, surfing the net, or messaging on their Blackberry instead of listening to the speaker.  Why even come?!

2.  I have had more than one person ask me a question in one of the following formats:
a. You know where, “insert place” is, right?
b. You’ve been to, “insert event or place”, right?
c. You know where, “insert street name” is, right?

Why ask me a question if you’re already assuming I know the answer?!

3. Listening to someone you just met casually drop the accomplishments of their children into a conversation is the worst.

4. Feeling down or sad, or even depressed is based on everyone’s own perspective.  There will always be someone who has it worse.  Sometimes thinking about someone else’s problems simply isn’t enough to make you feel better.  Everyone has a right to have a bad day or days, no matter what their situation.

5. I keep a “To-Do” list handy at all times.  There is nothing worse than looking at a freshly made “To-Do” list and feeling like you have to finish everything on the list ASAP.

6. There is nothing better than seeing someone you know when you are out and about if you want to see them.  On the flip side, there is nothing worse than seeing someone you know when you are out and about if you don’t want to see them.

7. There is nothing that tastes better on earth than ice cold water when you are really thirsty.  Example: after an hour of high school basketball practice with nothing to drink.

8. For all of you Rhode Islanders out there- Del’s Frozen Lemonade never tastes as good as after playing 2 hours of basketball on a ninety-degree, cloudless, sun-beating-down day.

9. There is nothing more humorous than two politicians (think the 2008 Presidential debates) each using their own set of statistics to prove why the other candidate is terrible.

10. And finally, you never know when a ping-pong player, who is also an aspiring chess master, who also loves numbers, and who also loves to gamble (mostly when the odds favor him) decides to then also become a body-builder.

Tags: Blackberry, observations, ping-pong, politicians, random, Rhode Islanders, thoughts
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