The DIY Way

Last week, for the first time, I hemmed a set of curtains. I may have cheated a little bit by using ironing tape instead of sewing the hem, but it gets the job done. I might pat myself on the back and marvel at a new job well done (well, not particularly well done, but a serviceable job nonetheless).

Obviously this isn't about tooting my own horn-hemming curtains isn't particularly difficult. What I am intrigued by is the ebbing of the DIY mentality, where today's young adults seem to possess fewer and fewer handiwork skills (which I had also mentioned with the increase in restaurant spending with the decrease of grocery store spending).

A New York Times Sunday Op-Ed provides some intriguing thoughts, and while I'm not as quick to believe an imminent demise of functional society, it does raise some good points. Many of those "world-changing" ideas exist to create a problem to be solved, and it seems that the primary basis of many of these is the convenience of someone doing something else for you. And of course more time to socialize, which seems to be the only priority outside working hours.

While I understand that we can't do everything and are unable to acquire every skill, the lack of these skills that the previous generation had around the house is quite galling. As the Op-Ed points out, many seek to outsource away "everything their mothers no longer do" to the point that they're completely useless inside the home. This lack of DIY, outside of figuring out how to make someone else do it for you, might also explain why so many seem to have such a hard time putting together IKEA furniture.

News flash: It's not that hard. With a little bit of can-do and some common sense, a lot can be done if only you have the spirit to try.

Overheard

Overheard at lunch yesterday:

Girl: Having the freedom to do what I want means that I can choose to be outwardly sexual.
Guy: But, that plays right into the patriarchy.
Girl: But isn't feminism all about letting me do what I want to do?

Rinse and repeat for the 10 minutes I was stuck within earshot of them.

Welcome to Seattle, and now a great portion of urban America, where you're free to do whatever you want to do, as long as it fits within the narrow mindset of the hive mind behind movements whose end goals don't actually have anything to do with equality.

Because I'm So Cultured

Because this totally belongs on r/im14andthisisdeep /sarcasm

Because if it takes a song for you to actually pretend to care about something, then you don't actually care. Read the YouTube comments for a good laugh and to see how superficial people can be (to be fair YouTube comments are generally cancer to begin with).

The tune itself isn't too bad though, if you take it in the context that it's music.

Complaining Towards No Means

Recently the local bus system made an unannounced change to one of their bus routes, making it so that it no longer passed through the neighborhood (and right next to my condo) during evenings and weekends. Naturally this is not a great change (though to be fair the route was added during the latest round of expansions due to increased taxes/funding), but one of the fellow residents taped an angry note to the mailbox area that did get my attention.

In the note she posted the reason why the route had to be further truncated during the evening and weekend periods (the route is normally truncated during the evening and weekend since it can only access a particular facility that's otherwise locked during regular business hours), noting that the park where the bus would turn around during evenings and weekends did not really like the buses inside the park (which does clog up a fair bit of traffic and takes up a lot of space). She also states that she was "stranded at a gas station", which is right along another bus route that goes right past our condo complex which you can use with a free transfer. Her only recourse of action was to urge everyone to call the local transit authority to complain to restore service (a service that the park didn't like having, with the buses turn-arounds inside the park boundary).

When faced with a problem, there seem to be three avenues of responding. The first, which seems to be favored by this lady (and those "I would like to speak to a manager" types) is to get angry and demand something from who the feel to be the offending party. This approach doesn't get anything done, and results in complaining for the sake of complaining. The second of course is to offer a solution or a work-around to the existing problem. Of course most people won't want to put in the effort as they believe that everyone else should fix their problems. The third, which is how I feel, is apathy. I don't particularly care, and I go on and live my life. The note did give me a nice chuckle at how people think they have been so wronged by everyone else.

Watching Car2Go

Being in Seattle I've constantly complained about the driving of the local residents, ranging from their inability to use common sense or the expectation that drivers don't anticipate anything. Of course, anecdotes don't really mean anything since they don't pool any statistics or trends, and these observations cover a ridiculous range of driver mishaps. Common observations range from the inability to park without the car being angled towards the turn from which it was made to changing lanes at the latest possible moment to make a turn or merge off a highway instead of anticipating ahead of time, and more mind-boggling happenings involving right turns out of the left lane.

Something that really does mark the poor ability of Seattle drivers is their use of the rental service car2go. car2go is a rental fleet of Smart cars that don't require reservations and are charged by the minute. To rent one, you use a smartphone to locate a car and basically enter it to begin your trip; ending the trip by parking the car. However, the parking the car part seems to give a lot of people trouble. The guidelines are not that complicated.

In Seattle, you may park in any non-restricted curb side parking throughout the car2go Home Area as well as any Restricted Parking Zone location. You can park at all parking meter locations without having to feed the meter but may not end your trip in spaces limited to less than 1 hours. You are allowed to park and end trips in 1 hour or greater restricted parking zones. 

Non-restricted curb side parking areas are basically street parking areas where parking is allowed 24 hours a day. Most restrictions to restricted curb side areas generally prohibit parking during rush hour, so car2go vehicles cannot be parked in those locations. Restricted parking zone locations tend to require a sticker on your car allowing you to park in that particular zone during specific times (for example in residential neighborhoods near the university during home football games). Given these restrictions it's not too difficult to park a car2go vehicle at the end of a trip.

Naturally, given all things Seattle and its anti-establishment mindset, parking rules are for suckers. My office sits right next to a tow lot, and most days about four or five of these vehicles will be sitting in the tow lot. We tend to get a good laugh every time another vehicle is brought in, as the last driver will be charged by car2go for the towing fees, which are significantly higher than the $.41/min rate that could have been spent to find a proper parking spot.

In somewhat related news, BMW will be bringing ReachNow to Seattle, a competing service that plans to utilize BMWs and Minis. It plans to charge more ($.49/min) compared to car2go ($.41/min), so now you'll know who's more willing to spend an extra 8 cents per minute to look suave.

Keep In Touch. Or Not.

I've always found it interesting how the dynamics of friendship work, especially after distance separates individuals. Friendships come and go, but some endure the graduations and new jobs, and ultimately the test of time. As I like to sit around and take in my surroundings (and people watch), I've observed a lot of personal interactions and given them some thought.

In any given relationship there is always an initiator, regardless of how close two people can claim to be-someone who starts the conversations; someone who lays the framework of any plan. The "initiator" values the friendship more than the other individual does and values these interactions at a much higher priority. I quickly noticed this growing up, as I tended to be the initiator. As someone who generally keeps to myself, this was ideal as things tended to happen on my terms.

I became deeply aware of these interactions in high school, despite having little desire to be social, and this greatly shaped how I keep in touch (or in this case didn't do so) with those I went to high school with. With college occupying all of my time and energy, I would no longer initiate interactions with those from high school, and consequently I have fallen out of touch with just about everyone I had known then. These days, I rarely acknowledge my time during high school, as none of my current interactions (or anything in my life in general) needs to acknowledge that time, and almost everything I do draws from the past as far as my undergraduate times.

While my life is generally consumed by graduate school (and hopefully graduating someday...), I still find time to keep in touch with a small handful of friends I made during my undergrad days. Once again I am the primary initiator in these relationships-every message; every Skype call; every visit. Perhaps I'm being too overbearing; intruding into everyone else's lives when they have already moved on. One day when I have new priorities and have less time and energy, these too will fall by the wayside. That's how it will generally be, because that's how it's always been and will always be.

A Classical Audience

As an attendee of classical music performances and a people-watcher, it's always interesting to take a look around before and after the concert and during intermission just to see the faces and styles through the crowds. Most patrons tend to be older (and definitely many in the senior category), and most are somewhat dressed up. Most gentlemen are wearing a button-down shirt and/or a jacket with pants, and the ladies tend to dress up as well (I'm not very fashion oriented as you can guess). While many concertgoers don't stand out from the crowd, there are always those that we all know and (tend not to) love.

The cougher
These people decide, against their better judgement and courtesy to fellow concertgoers, that the symphony is always the place to go when one is sick. Not only do these people cough and generally cause commotion between movements, but they're also the source of coughing during the music itself. These individuals also tend to bring throat lozenges, leading to the classic crinkling noises that punctuate the space between movements and any and all solos. These tend to mostly be elderly patrons, but no demographic is immune to having these among their ranks. Additionally, these folks don't understand how to turn off their phones.

The napper
These patrons do the exact opposite, and generate no noise. They can be spotted from rows away, provided that they're sitting in front of you. Characteristics of sitting behind one is having an unobstructed view of the stage. Most of these individuals tend to fall in extreme age groups-the elderly or the younger adults. If the don't wake on their own they are often prodded awake by a fidgeter with whom they attended the concert.

The fidgeter
Fidgeters are characterized by the complete inability to sit still at all, and can be characterized by the endless background noise generated throughout the concert. Oftentimes their movements are coordinated with the beat in some way, whether it be head-bobbing, toe-tapping, leg-brushing, or knee-swinging. The movements and light tapping sounds made are always off-beat, making it highly likely that these people may attend sporting events where chants and cheers get exponentially faster. The fidgeting is only temporarily remedied when holding the hand or arm of a significant other, who is most likely also a fidgeter or a napper. Occasionally humming can even be heard, which is naturally out of tune and most likely in the wrong key.

The hipster
Hipsters stand out like a sore thumb at concerts. Just like in everyday life, they feel like social conventions don't apply to them at concerts, so the still wear what they would out on the streets. They may be seen wearing flannel, jeans, and boots, and some even don't remove their beanies in the symphony hall. They are generally not noticeable when the lights go down except for their beanies obstructing the view of the stage. During the intermission they can be seen enjoying a cup of coffee and congregating with other hipsters. Many of these individuals are also fidgeters and, aside from senior citizens, require the most time in the restroom during the break.

The casual
While these people do attend concerts, they feel no need to treat concerts as an event. They stand out in their t-shirt, jeans (or even shorts), and sneakers (and possibly a fedora), and it's also likely they don't own any button-down shirts. Casuals tend to be college students or young adults who work in engineering or tech, where dressing up is a no-no. Speculation is that they may be a root cause of applause between movements.

The family
Type I: These tend to be families that enjoy classical music in a broad sense, and tend to be spotted throughout the season. These families are typically well-dressed and well-behaved, and tend not to stand out other than when you run into the children because they're below your line of sight (or obstructed by your intermission beverage of choice).
Type II: These families tend to only attend performances featuring the most famous soloists (and those of their native country). These families generally have no interest in the broader realm of classical music; instead zeroing in on the featured performer. They are instantly recognized pre-concert with the hurried shuffling of the children by the parents into the auditorium and by how they stand out with their dress. Tiger moms are particularly easy to spot, as embroidery is often featured on clothing that accompanies a stern look and pursed lips wherever she may turn.

The bro
These are the rarest species of all, as most bros tend to have zero inclination of attending these concerts. Legend has it that if a group of bros shows up at a performance the venue will run out of alcohol during the intermission. Bros are easily spotted in their t-shirts and basketball shorts paired with either basketball shoes or flip flops.

On Holidays

It seems that every day we're bombarded with another holiday (or at least something that's recognized as a holiday) or a "national (insert some mundane thing that we don't really care about unless there's free stuff involved) day". On social media there's always the juxtaposition of hype about the upcoming holiday with our "celebrations" of the previous holiday. Most of the time, these events are to "remind" us of certain things in our lives that we shouldn't acknowledge on just one day. It's turning holidays into meaningless events and seems to serve as an excuse for us to not be mindful of our own lives. Of course this is best served with some light-hearted Dilbert shorts on the subject.

Destructive Isolation

No, this isn't going to be about mental health or my views on how people need to man up and stop trying to blame everything but themselves in an effort to pretend to be a responsible person. Instead, this is going to be yet another diatribe against Seattle drivers.

Every time I drive anywhere, I always notice drivers with headphones in their ears. I've never understood this, especially in today's days where most cars have an auxiliary input or even bluetooth audio streaming. (I mean, if you can afford a car, you can afford a cable for your car.) Having headphones makes you audibly isolated from your surroundings, which puts you and other drivers around you in dangerous situations as you lose a sense by which you can react to a situation. Granted I haven't seen this result in disaster yet, but I've seen drivers not even notice when honked at when they weren't paying attention to the light change to green,  and another driver who didn't even notice there was a fire truck with sirens blaring right behind him. This isn't something I noticed until I got to Seattle, but of course this isn't a surprise because Seattle drivers treat traffic rules and common sense just like they treat anything else: by being a hipster and thinking they're better than it all.

This also gets towards a general theme of avoiding driver responsibility (so kind of back to the first point I said I wasn't going to go on about). With all the technological tools available to drivers today, drivers seem to have come to rely on them instead of actually being responsible drivers. We've probably all heard of someone who was on a motorcycle that was hit (or almost got hit) by a car changing lanes because the bind spot indicator didn't say that the blind spot was occupied. Naturally these things can be avoided if drivers would actually use their mirrors and check their blind spots. The same goes for the front-collision avoidance system, as drivers should be paying attention on the road and should thus be able to avoid this kind of idiocy. Too many of these commercials shows these drivers being distracted and being "saved" by these systems. Hint: if you need to rely on technology to prevent you from being a completely worthlessly terrible driver, you shouldn't be driving. The car I drive has none of these features (nor does it have a back-up cam or anything of that sort either) and I get along just fine.

Too Green?

I remember growing up that garbage was all one thing and that for recyclables only needed to have paper separated from the rest. Occasionally, especially during the fall season as the leaves fell, there would be a pickup for yard waste that you would leave as a pile on your curb. Back then, while living in the mid-atlantic, composting was something done on the household scale for garden use, if done at all.

On campus here there's a seemingly endless number of waste disposal methods. There's regular garbage, then there's several different recycling containers for mixed paper, glass, cardboard, etc., and of course compost. There are compost bins in areas away from lounges and food dispensaries. In bathrooms the primary disposal method is a compost bin for paper towels, with only a small trash can for landfill waste. This seems to be part of the university's mission to divert 70% of all waste by 2020 (which, incidentally I don't think will be possible given the amount of laboratory research that occurs on campus and the resulting waste). All these efforts are generally far beyond those of other areas, and this is very noticeable when I attend conferences on campus. During conference meals, attendees from out of town have a hard time sometimes distinguishing what goes in what bin (especially what is compostable and what isn't, especially with university catering doing their best to have food containers and utensils be compostable), and instructions are posted for our guests to actually dispose of their post-meal waste.

Last year the Seattle city council passed a measure that in which garbage containing more than 10% food waste could result in penalties, effectively forcing the populace to begin composting. The policy went into effect at the beginning of this year, and those not in compliance will be fined or penalized in some other fashion beginning July 1 with more serious offenders reprimanded at the beginning of next year. This seems to be the city's response in not meeting its goal of diverting 60% of its waste by 2015, and was basically the next stop from when the city banned the disposing of recyclable items with landfill waste back in 2005 (and even my homeowners association will impose a fine upon residents that are caught disposing recyclable materials in the garbage).

While we do only have finite resources and I do think it's great to encourage waste diversion, is it possibly too much to try to force everyone to be compliant?

Television and Irrational Behavior

A while back I was on a plane flight and, with not much else to do to pass six hours, watched a seasons of Parks and Recreation, the first sitcom (or any other television program outside of sports) that I had watched in probably ten or so years. It will probably be at least ten more years before I watch another television program, because watching television makes me irrationally angry and unable to enjoy the program.

This irrational anger stems from the irrational behavior often exhibited in these shows, often to create a plot or develop character developments and foils. However, what I am unable to get past is why it's acceptable to behave irrationally in television when it is often not acceptable to do so in real life. Given that these sitcoms are often supposed to be funny, these behavior is often trivialized. (Of course, if I wanted to watch comedy without any sense of morality or political correctness, then I'd rather watch Dave Chapelle or whatever where everything goes instead of sitcoms that feel forced).

In Parks and Recreation, I could not stand Leslie Knope, because the character was always acting in an irrational manner and was mostly selfishly thinking about herself, which is a common trait prevalent through society. Most of the other characters I couldn't stand as well, like Tom's creepy flirting and Andy's immaturity. I have a hard time being entertained while this type of behavior is occurring. While I can understand enjoying comedy for comedy's sake, I don't like it when I see people who behave like these sitcom characters and model their personalities and actions as such.

Perhaps this may be a case of looking at everything as a potential effect of society's anti-intellectualism movement towards the trend of Idiocracy, where people no longer think for themselves and allow the corporations and media to control everything, but I have a hard time believing that society will ever become more forward-thinking.

Panda Cheese

Back in 2010, Panda Cheese, a cheese made by an Egyptian dairy company, made commercials featuring a panda destroying stuff. I remember these commercials having great success over the internet and having quite a few good chuckles back in the way. I was reminded of these commercials recently, and while they still provide good comedic value, I was more curious about the song featured in the commercial.

Buddy Holly's True Love Ways is reminiscent of songs of generations past, where the instrumental was more than just a series of beats and the chorus didn't repeat over and over again. The lyrics were meant to be meaningful and the song overall was easy on the ears, instead of today's overstimulus in all facets of life. Kind of like...

City Sterility and The Idyllic Use of Rustic

Recently I received a catalog from Uncommon Goods in the mail, and several items were highlighted as being "rustic". For example, a set of large wooden dice in a brown cloth bag and a beer caddie made out of wood are both characterized as "rustic". While perusing the catalog, it was very apparent that Uncommon Goods tended to target what I call rich "city people", where many of the items served very specialized functions and command large price premiums.

This interesting sales pitch of essentially just using more natural materials in making objects seem more "rustic" is an interesting observation of the thought process of those who primarily are exposed to cities. Our living spaces have become jungles of concrete and metal, and the great outdoors are often absent from the urban environment.

With these observations I tend to associate cities with being too sterile. Everything is supposed to be clean from the environment, and nature is seen as dirty. Dirt almost seems revolting and non-domesticated animals become freaks. People have become so separated from the outdoors to the point that it seems to be a plague that contaminates on contact. (Ok that might be a big too much hyperbole, but the general idea stands).

What this has been replaced by is a more idyllic view of the "rustic" country style, where people sit on their beautiful porches all day overlooking perfect views (which of course are somehow super clean without the rest of nature getting in the way (or the real life). It would be entertaining to see "city people" spend an extended period of time away from the cities to see what it's really like to live out in the middle of nowhere.

Restaurant Spending Now Outpacing Grocery Store Spending

Recently I came across some interesting data from the American Enterprise Institute on the food spending habits of Americans. For the first time since statistics were tracked, the amount of money that Americans are spending at restaurants outpaced the amount being spent in grocery stores for the first time this January.

(Click to Enlarge)

Naturally, since this comes from the American Enterprise Institute from a professor of economics, the primary issue that is addressed in the publication (and several others that note the milestone) is of the economic nature, in that the improving economy has lead to increased discretionary spending, and thus increased restaurant wages (the last part being a very recent trend). It's interesting that the social and personal aspect of this has more or less been ignored, particularly as to why this has just happened, instead of before the most recent recession (though trends from then also indicated that this would be happening).

The Importance of Conversation

...or more specifically, the importance of your conversation (to yourself, naturally).

I tend to people-watch when I'm on the bus (that is, when I'm not asleep myself), and I have a good 20-25 minute commute to and from work aboard the King County Metro's buses. It's always interesting to see what happens, and conversation tends to lead to interesting observations. Of course, these are not my conversations, but those of others.

The buses, particularly on the commute home from work, tend to be very crowded, and oftentimes the aisle of the bus becomes standing room. Naturally, when there are only a few seats left, and when friends get on the bus together, one person takes an available seat, and the other person, seeing that there are no nearby seats, stands in the aisle next to their friend to continue their conversation. Naturally, this happens while the bus is still on campus, with a good number of people still wanting to get on the bus. Of course, the second friend is standing in the aisle near the front of the bus and is always completely oblivious to the crowd that is gathering at the front of the bus. Almost always the person plugging the aisle will not move and instead makes everyone else pull a swim move to get around to access the rest of the aisle space to let everyone else actually get on the bus. It's always interesting that people think their conversations are so important such that they'll endure 30+ people to swim around them in the not so wide aisle over several stops. It always feels that people are so unaware of their surroundings, though these days I'm never surprised anymore (even when cops show up and arrest someone off the bus).

Naturally, this problem will only get worse, as King County Metro is continuing to reduce service due to an increase funding gap, resulting in a lot more swimming around unaware self-important undergrads.

On Perception

Oftentimes I observe those who ride public transportation with their bikes to garner clues about how far their commute is. I can understand if you live far enough from major public transportation (like a local train that travels across town) that biking is essential to reduce the commute to a reasonable time. What I don't understand, is, if you are one of my neighbors, you ride the bus with your bike to a workplace that's only a couple of blocks from the bus stop. It also takes me two minutes to walk from my apartment to the bus stop.

It's interesting how much we care about how other think of us and the lengths we go to try to change who we are on the outside. It's not really going to change who you are, and I feel that going out of your way to impress people just doesn't get you anywhere.

Just my two cents...

The Supposed Right of Way

A large portion of the country seems to feel that the pacific northwest is a somewhat more "progressive" society, full of hipsters and people who aren't downright buttoned-down and closed-minded. However, this doesn't mean that they are necessarily not assholes who believe that their self-worth comes above the worth of anyone and everyone.

I've noticed this a lot more as I get back into riding. While riding and other forms of non-solitary vehicular transport are more prevalent (in addition to exercising in general), a disproportionately large group of these people act as if they're above the law and above reproach. The prime example of this behavior is when the bike trail crosses any road.

When many bikers (and runners) reach these crossings, they choose not to stop and then just continue on through the crossing regardless of traffic. While some of these crossings have stop signs for cross traffic, most of these crossings just have a sign indicating that there is a trail crossing at that present location and no more. However, this does not stop the endless berating of these drivers who choose not to stop at these crossings that have no stop signs and let the bikers/runners pass.

It's quite obvious that those drivers owe the trail users anything and anyone who does stop at these crossings is only doing so out of courtesy, but yet it has come to the point where these runners and bikers, for some strange and unfounded reason, expect any and every car to stop at these crossings as if it were the law, and will actively curse out drivers who don't wait at every crossing to let everyone cross.

What is especially maddening about some of the cyclists here is how they feel like they're above all laws and that no laws apply to them. In many places it is illegal for bikers to use the sidewalk, so bikers must use the road and designated trails. That being said, many cyclists feel like traffic laws don't apply to them and bike around the streets as if they were pedestrians, with everyone yielding to their every whim.

What would be entertaining is to see these bikers and runners try to be "progressive" and everything in the LA area, where I started riding. I feel like they would be a lot more grateful for what Seattle has to offer them...

"Reduced"

One thing I haven't understood is the concept of foods being prepared the exact same, except as "low sodium" or low whatever, especially with items such as "low sodium" soy sauce and other condiments. It seems like the mindset of people is that they don't want to put on any less of a condiment because it will somehow make their food "inferior" because they put less stuff on their food.

I think this links back to the predominantly American mentality of excess, where bigger is better, and there is no such thing as too much anything. It seems like portion control and any form of self-control when it comes to food tends not to exist with many individuals, and these people seem to act like it's up to these food producers to reduce the negative impacts on their diets instead of taking matters into their own hands and becoming healthier eaters.

Chinese Fashion...Or The Lack Thereof

Chinese people are very peculiar about their fashion. Sometimes they are very well-dressed, but on the other hand some people make very questionable decisions.

-A lot of people like to wear polo shirts-definitely a like, because I tend to like to wear them too.

-Crocs are ridiculously popular. It's really kind of hilarious to see how many people here wander around in crocs. I don't see the appeal of wearing crocs, but there are stranger things that people have deemed "cool".

-Platform (insert footwear here) is popular among a good handful of women. I'm not sure you look that cool when your feet are about three inches off the ground.

-A disproportionate number of men (compared to most any other country I've visited) like to expose their stomachs in public, whether it be unbuttoning their shirts, not wearing a shirt, or pulling their shirt up so it sits on top of their stomachs. Couple that with little exercise and the acceptance that it's alright to be a little fat, it's not a very pretty sight

-Some people just don't dress smart, like the ladies who wear heels while climbing the Great Wall. Sometimes I don't think people think about what they're going to do that day when they dress...

Driving in China

Rule 1: Anything relating to traffic regulation is only a guideline
Rule 2: The driver/biker/pedestrian with the biggest balls has the right of way in any
Rule 3: Don't hit a cop