my consumer economy

Watch: Tissot Automatic PR 50

For the last couple of years I wore a decent looking, but of fairly poor quality, Fossil watch. I call it fairly poor quality because a few months ago after it stopped ticking the guy at the watch store told me that fixing it would cost more than buying a brand new one! Rather take this as an insult, I instead took it as a sign that it was time to get a new watch, and maybe even step it up in terms of quality. I quickly decided that I was not ready to throw down the real big bucks for a Rolex, Citizen, etc., but a couple hundred of dollars would be acceptable as long as it meant I could count on it surviving longer than the two years you get out of a Fossil. Unfortunately, that spec is an under-served market in the watch industry. I went to a number of watch stores and department stores, and the vast majority of the alternatives fell into one of two camps. There was the sub-$100 market for Swatch, Fossil, etc., and there was the greater-than-$1000 market for watches that all famous tennis players seem to wear (for reasons I still can’t really understand). Anyways, I finally broke the curse and stumbled upon Tissot watches when waiting for a flight in the San Francisco international terminal of all places. Long story short, it was exactly what I was looking for so I pulled the trigger and got it. I’ve only been wearing it for a month or so, but so far so good! If you are ever shopping for a watch in this price/quality category, I definitely recommend giving Tissot a look.

Price: $325 (I paid a bit more for immediate gratification and in-person sizing adjustments, but you can get for $295 on Amazon if you don’t care about those things)

Overall: nice-to-have

Buy it here.

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Technology: Office 2008 for Mac (Home & Student Edition)

Now that I have my new MacBook Pro, I need a way to use all of the excel files that I’ve used over the years. I briefly tried using Numbers, but it just doesn’t do the job. So I went to the Apple store over the weekend and bought Office 2008 for Mac. The full version is $400, but if you don’t need Exchange support, then you can get the Home & Student edition for only $150. With so many other options for email (e.g., Zimbra), why would one ever want to pay another $250 for the ability to support Exchange?

Price: $150

Overall: nice-to-have

Buy it here.

Posted in stuff | No Comments » Tags: apple, mac, microsoftoffice, nicetohave, stuff, technology

Technology: MacBook Pro

The last time I had a Mac was in 1998, the same year that I got my first PC. By the time I made the switch I was so done with the Mac and I thought that I’d never go back. I guess I forgot the old adage to never say never. Why did I come around? Perhaps it was because of all of the friends who spoke so highly of it. Perhaps it was because of the clever (and incessant) marketing. Perhaps it was because all of the cool people at work had them. Or perhaps all of the above. Whatever the reason, I love it. I love the speed. I love the design. I love Safari. I love watching video with the wide screen. I love scrolling down a web page with two fingers on the track pad (I really, really love this). I love being able to turn a photo 90 degrees using the track pad. I love Expose. I love it all!

Price: $1,999 to $2,799 (depending on screen size)

Overall: must buy

Buy it here.

Posted in stuff | 1 Comment » Tags: apple, giftforher, giftforhim, mac, mustbuy, technology

Skis: Volkl Mantras

After riding the same Salomon F9 skis for the last ~15 years, I decided that this would be the year that I’d finally get some new boards. Rather than do lots of research on my own, I decided to turn directly to my friends that ski the most and ask them for a recommendation. That is what this blog is all about right? And considering that I’ve skied with both of the guys that I looked to for advice, I felt pretty confident that they would know my style and skill level, and thus, have good suggestions for me.

Thankfully, their recommendations were consistent (they both recommended Volkl hands down) making it a very easy decision. If looking for a pure powder ski, get the Gotamas they said. Need more of a hybrid that you could still use on groomers from time to time? Then go with the Mantras. Not wanting to buy 2 sets of skis (one for powder and one for groomers), I quickly gravitated to the Mantras.

But deciding on which skis to get was the easy part. Finding them was much more difficult. Because I was buying them towards the end of the season in March, most of the stores were completely out of stock or only had sizes too big or too small for me. I called at least 10 stores, and then my perseverance finally paid off. The San Carlos REI had one last pair, and they were on sale for only $400!

Price: as low as $400 on eBay

Overall: I’ll let you know after next winter

Buy them here.

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Travel: Pueblo Bonito Pacifica

February in San Francisco can be cold. The best cure…take a Friday off of work and head down to Cabo San Lucas. I made my reservations at the last minute, but if you are organized early you can get a flight on Alaska Airlines (which has the only direct flight from San Francisco). Otherwise you have to fly through Los Angeles which will cut into your precious pool time.

When you get down there stay at Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Holistic Retreat & Spa. Enjoy one (or both!) of their two incredible pools. Throw back a few margaritas (or your drink of choice) with some tasty snacks (quesadilas, ceviches, fish tacos) poolside at Aire. Have a private dinner on the beach or join other guests at Siempre, their gourmet onsite restaurant. Get a massage at their top-notch spa. Take a walk along their picturesque beach. Most importantly, relax and have fun. Don’t worry, it is very easy!

If you still need convincing, see some photos here.

Price: depends on season; find out here.

Overall: must buy if you are ever in Cabo

Buy it here.

Posted in travel | No Comments » Tags: cabosanlucas, hotels, mustbuy, travel

Books: The Audacity of Hope

With the primary season now in full swing, I picked this book up to better educate myself about Barack Obama. His rhetoric throughout the campaign has held a strong appeal for me thus far, but I wanted to see if I would feel the same after digging in past his stump speech to see what he really stands for underneath the covers. I’m only one chapter in, but thus far I remain very impressed. Above all, I appreciate that he sees the world in shades of gray, rather than the stark contrast between black and white that many politicians evangelize. He is able to put into words that which I have long believed, but have not been able to articulate nearly as well as he. Yes, he is a democrat, but he also believes in free markets, competition, and entrepreneurship. Yes, he is angry about policies that favor the wealthy, but he also believes that many of the problems in the inner city will not be cured by money alone. Yes, he opposes imposing religious beliefs on anyone, but he also believes that our values and spiritual life matter a great deal in life. As someone that doesn’t like to be force fed beliefs or categorized into boxes, I find this philosophy highly appealing.

Price: $10

Overall: must buy for political junkies, nice-to-have for everyone else

Buy it here.

Posted in stuff | No Comments » Tags: barackobama, books, giftforher, giftforhim, politics, stuff

Technology: Monster iCable for iPod (Mini to RCA)

Since I had some friends coming over to pre-party for New Year’s Eve, I wanted to be able to play music from my iPod on my stereo. As far as I can tell, there are at least 4 ways to do this:

1. Apple TV
2. Mac Mini
3. Airport Express
4. iPod to RCA cable

#1 and #2 offer functionality beyond what I really needed in this case (i.e., they enable video and audio). Additionally, it seemed like #1 was the poor man’s choice for #2 (i.e., why not pay a little extra for something that provides storage and an internet connection?). At the end of the day, I was very tempted to go with #2, especially since I had read this recommendation recently, but ultimately I decided it was not the best time to buy a Mac Mini given Mac World was just days away. Hence, the beauty of option #4. It could not have been any easier to set it up (i.e., it was as plug-n-play as it can be), and if and when I get a Mac Mini in the future (i.e., once the prices drop post Mac World), this cable will still be needed to set up the audio connection (the video connection is passed through a DVI-to-HDMI cable). In other words, it provided me exactly what I needed for the night, plus it was a down payment on a future Mac Mini to TV connection.

Price: $30

Overall: nice-to-have

Buy it here.

Posted in stuff | No Comments » Tags: ipod, nicetohave, stuff, technology

Shoes: ECCO Soft Moc Penny

Yes, I know it seems like I got two pairs of shoes over the last week, but I actually go this pair over a month ago during the Thanksgiving weekend, so there was actually more than a month between purchases. In other words, I’m not a not that big of a shoe whore, but just a little one. In any event, I’m pretty happy with these shoes. Not as comfortable as the Cole Haan’s, but good enough. Bottom line, they’re good casual shoes that go well with just about anything (e.g., jeans, cords, khakis).

Price: regularly $130 (on sale for $76 at Nordstroms)

Overall: nice-to-have

Buy them here.

Posted in style | No Comments » Tags: ecco, giftforhim, nicetohave, shoes, style

Technology: The Gift of Flickr Pro

Here is another gift I gave away this Christmas season. This time around the “sexy folded gift certificate” (Flickr’s description, not mine) for Flickr Pro made the perfect stocking stuffer for both my mom and sister, two new Flickr users who joined after having used Yahoo! Photos for years. Like many of their fellow Y! Photo converts, it was hard for them to fathom an online photo service that did not allow free unlimited uploads and storage, free unlimited albums (or sets as Flickr dubs them), and free viewing access to more than just the last 200 photos. Sure, they got all of that for free for the first 3 months like all Y! converts, but once that time ran out I envisioned them heading off to Snapfish or Shutterfly before they really got to see all of the goodness that Flickr is. To make sure that did not happen, I got them each 2 years of Flickr Pro, and to my surprise, I also got 1 year added to my own Flickr Pro account (3 months for every 1 year of gift)!

Price: $25 per year

Overall: nice-to-have

Buy it here.

Posted in stuff | No Comments » Tags: flickr, giftforher, giftforhim, nicetohave, stuff, technology

DVD: Friday Night Lights - The First Season

This was one of a couple presents that I got for my girlfriend this year for Christmas. We were late to this party and didn’t start watching it until the 2nd season, but if the 1st is anything like the 2nd then I’m sure we won’t be disappointed. You see, there is no other show on TV today that can match FNL. First, the characters are real. They aren’t just good or bad. Like real life, they are complicated. Good people do bad things and bad people do good things, with a million shades of gray in between. Second, the acting is superb. It’s not easy to portray these multi-faceted characters, and yet the relatively unknown cast does exactly that, nearly to perfection. Watching it I get that same feeling that I had when I first saw Ed Norton in Rounders or Phillip Seymour Hoffman in The Big Lebowski. You heard it hear first…one (or more likely more) of these previously unknown actors will go on to become full-fledged stars. Finally, the show has uncanny crossover appeal for both men and women. If someone told me a year ago that my girlfriend (who hates football - american football that is) would religiously watch a TV show about high school football in small town Texas, I’d have appropriately told them to increase their medication. But here we are today, and it is her favorite show!

Price: $19

Overall: must buy

buy it here.

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