Can red velvet cupcakes made from a store-bought Sprinkles mix beat Crushcakes in downtown Santa Barbara?
Without question.
Monthly Archive for May, 2008
I sort of go crazy when I get a new hobby. It was the way with watches, denim, then shoes. The problem is you rack up a huge credit card bill and then you sort of plateau and there’s nothing for you to buy because you already have it all. It’s hard for me to find shoes to buy now because I live in a town with no good shoe stores (and hunting them down is very difficult) and I am pickier about what styles I like.
This month was good though. I picked up four pairs and if I didn’t waste time last night, I would have gotten a fifth. I am still waiting for the Red Wing Gentleman Travler’s to come in but you can see the others now.
John Varvatox x Converse Jack Purcell Slip-Ons
I am impressed that Varvatos continued to team up with Converse each year. Cmon, Chucks and Purcells are not the easiest shoes to work with. There are only so many things you can do with them. I had to wait a few weeks for my size to come in at Zappos. I used Prakash’s Christmas gift (certificate) to buy it. These are laceless and white. I needed to fill that void in my shoerack and this was just the ticket.
New Balance 576 LERT
New Balance really only has one or two iconic styles but what sets it apart is it’s a huge canvas with lots of elements that can be customized. You can make the “N” a different material or color. You can change the laces. You can customize the lettering in the back and so on. I like brown and this stood out enough to catch my eye.
Puma Vaughn Bode Basket II – Limestone Gray-White
I missed the first Vaughn Bode but not this second release. They had Black, White, and Red available too but I thought this gray one was tonal and the stars design wasn’t too obvious. Subtle yet different.
When I wrote my three part series titled “The Triad of Evil,” many folks asked me for a follow-up. They wanted to know what I thought where the three (or more) good companies that surely must exist to combat the evil. At that time, Costco immediately came to mind but honestly, I couldn’t come up with two more. Now, I am sure I can start on the new series. Besides Costco (and REI), my new favorite company is Zappos. In fact, I just received a pair of John Varvatos Jack Purcell slip-ons from them yesterday. [Note: Thanks Prakash for the gift certificate!] It’s a great fit and I got it with next day free delivery, which is how quickly most customers get their shoes. They also offer free returns.
I won’t go on about how legen – wait for it – dary their service is but what made me think about inducting them into the club is this article by Bill Taylor. It’s a quick and fun read and in it, he talks about how Zappos built a company on customer service and how they actually offer to pay new employees money (at $1000 right now) to quit. The idea is that anyone who takes it hasn’t really bought on to the culture at the company and would not be a good fit anyway. Lastly, he links to a great example of their knows-no-limits customer service. They actually send this lady a flower arrangement after they found out her mom had recently died.
In a world plagued by so much bad service and poor experiences, it’s nice to see a good corporate citizen like Zappos rise above the rest.
I’ve been a fan of Taylor for month’s now and I’ve been telling passengers in my car about her anytime one of her songs is playing on XM. She impressed me with her performance of “Tim McGraw” at the ACMA’s last year. Watch how she interacts with Tim McGraw and his wife Faith Hill. With last night’s performance, I think she is ready to tip. This girl is on fire. What were you thinking, Drew?
The other day, a friend asked if eating costs me a lot of money. It got me thinking about how much I actually spend on food. Then on the way home from said friend’s house, I noticed premium here was $4.79. I did a double take because I rarely pay attention to gas prices. I rememer when $3/gal made headlines. I decided to go home and see what the essentials, food and fuel, really cost.
Notes:
- I am only tracking credit card or check purchases. Items paid for by cash are not counted but they do represent a good portion of the food I consume.
- The gas amounts are extremely accurate since I never pay for gas with anything but a credit card.
- Some food prices are exaggerated since I may have put a meal on my card (and later was reimbursed) or I might be buying lots of groceries that I split with my roommates.
Go ahead and click the image above so you can see the full chart. This is a report from the last 6 months. What can we learn? Well, the months I spend the most money on gas is when I visit LA. That’s obvious. Gas prices obvious have gone up though. The same report a year before (12/1/06 to 5/14/07) shows an average gas expenditure of $108.89. Obviously this is not exactly accurate since, for example, last May I had visited the gas station in May and so far I haven’t for this month.
It’s hard to comment on food, particularly Dining Out, because like I said, sometimes I am paying the whole tab. The big months are good indicators of months where I ate at some really nice place(s). Average amount spent on groceries last year (same period): $187. Average spent this year: $219
I need to eat cheaper and spend less on gas. McDonald’s and scooter, here I come.
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