Leica’s aren’t cheap…their chargers shouldn’t look that way. I could go way further with this, but the least they could do is center things up, rough in some concentricity on the corner.

Took another pass at a graphic redesign.  15 minutes.  

Very neighborly. Had half a mind to grab a ladder, spend 5 minutes, and caulk the second half

Needed to get the road bike down to Santa Cruz…got a few looks on the way.

Been buying this product for several years…don’t understand why the package needs to be so busy.

Saw this ad on an in-flight magazine for Polo Black:

His home, a city loft. His girl: smart and beautiful.  His escape: a fast car.  The Polo Black man pushes boundaries of classic style with a modern edge.  He is cultured and hip, understated, well educated and down to earth.  His style is modern, casual, an he’s the consummate gentleman.  The notes of this fragrance exhibit his style with iced mango, Spanish sage, tonka bean, and black patchouli.  $58

Pretty much standard issue duty-free writing, but then they had to go and get a picture of that guy. Let me make some corrections:

His home, big and gaudy, and styled after a movie he saw.  His girls, not particularly interesting, but great candidates for future plastic surgery.  His cars: depreciating rapidly.  The Polo Black man has a bit of modern douche about him.  He doesn’t read books, can’t remember Harvard, and wears a bank-collared shirt at all times–even with shorts/crocks.  His style is Brooks Brothers.  Period.  The notes of this fragrance exhibit his style with iced mango bits doused in black patchouli, left out in the sun and mixed with coconut tanning oil.  $You can’t afford it.

I’m absolutely positive the latter version would sell more.

Any way this thing could have been built to last?  How about not having the thinnest cast section go through the area of highest stress.

As a person that designs goods, and quasi-luxury goods at that, I’ve been feeling myself pulled constantly towards a need to possess nicer things. The desire is persistent, from the things I wear, to the things I use, to the things I plan to acquire next. For clothing, I used to shop at thrift shops—a veritable Mackelmore in my hayday. With an increasingly busy life, I traded the luxury of disposable time for the luxury of disposable income. So, of course, I started shopping at Target. And H&M. But lately, I’ve had a hankering for Zara shirts, and Muji everything. Is this creeping materialism, or growing up…or is it both? But I had today a mild epiphany on the corner of a street in Tokyo, something which I hope to keep oft in mind. There was about an hour left before my train to the airport, and I was headed back to pick up my things from the hotel, when I noticed a mild old man sitting astride a shoe shine box near the subway exit. Now, I’ve never had a shoe shine, and I wasn’t even sure my old dirty boots would quality. Walking over towards him, I drew up my pant legs and gave the universal shoulder/eyebrow sign for “well?” He gestured over towards a yellow laminated sign and gave the universal sign for “got this much?” Taking my seat and pulling up my first boot, I watched the man gingerly apply polish with an old toothbruth, and then proceed to spend ten minutes rigorously polishing each boot. The time spent was enough to make me apprehensive about my train, but was also ripe for reflection. I thought of the lovely patina acquired by leather, and how I appreciate that the layers of polish were in a way a travel momento: in many years time, the boots would have the world’s diversity engrained in them. I thought about the care he gave to my lowly boots, and the importance of not disparaging lesser customers. And then I noticed the shoes the man had on. In a city like Tokyo, the opulence of which is probably matched by only a few other metropoli worldwide, this man must have seen the entire range of footwear: from my lowly Fryes, to the $10,000 (insert-famous-fashion-label). And yet the man wore a pair of black leather slip-ons. They were suple and well polished, but their age was coming through at the edges. Now I know it’s nieve to assume the man had the means to acquire shoes of higher calibre, but some part of me expected that. And it made me think: if this humble man, who sees daily extravegance–if he is content to appreciate the nicer things in life without necessarily posessing them, then perhaps there’s something for me to learn from him. He also did a damn fine job on the boots, which was nice.