The Culture of Waste

There's a scene in Scent of a Woman where Frank (Pacino) is having a suit tailored and he offers to have a suit fitted for his companion for the weekend, Charles (O'Donnell). Charles tries to reject the offer, but Frank insists. He tells Charles that after the weekend was over, he could simply give the clothes away if he didn't want them.

This idea of giving the clothes away suggests that clothes can endure--that even after being worn, they retain some value. Clothing is meant to be worn many times, and, if made properly, can last multiple generations. I think this idea is lost somewhat in today's current cultural climate. We're constantly craving something new, and we quickly discard that which is old--last season's clothes, the last generation iPod, etc. We're very quick to look down upon things that aren't the latest and even more so on things that are "used." I call it the Culture of Waste--a societal aversion to reuse. We waste water, energy, food, time, and talent. We consume at a rate that we can't sustain. We're trained to constantly buy new shit even when we don't need it. The result: a marketplace that sells products that aren't made to last, but only to satisfy our undying hunger to consume. We sell shitty cars, computers that break too easily, and food that really isn't food at all. We've become perfect consumers where all we do, literally, is consume. We forget about everything else, important things like civic responsibility, community, and even our own health. (I keep saying "we" because I'm a guilty party).

So, let's start demanding better products, and by products I mean everything from vegetables to retail goods to infrastructure. Better clothes, better toys, better food, and better cities. Let's stop wasting so much of our resources, and not because we're giving in to some tree-hugging liberalism, but because we're humans living in a civilized society and we deserve better.



Psuedo-related: For further multimedia fun with the idea of "better," check out this speech.

Deconstructed Places

An office is a shared workspace. When I hear the word "office", however, I think of cubicles, post-it notes, those Herman Miller chairs, legal pads, etc. Social media and wireless tech have me deconstructing what it means to "go to work." The idea of owning a house and a car and commuting two hours a day seems laughable. I'm caught in this cycle where I seem to be serving the process itself. I'm working so that I can afford to work. Nothing I do in my office can't be done remotely. I'm finally realizing what it means to live in a wireless world. No wires, no office necessary.

And do I need to buy a home? Do I need to spend the rest of my life trying to pay for a house? Why can't I rent and be able to move around? Not being tied to an "office" liberates me from that. Home ownership has been established as the end-all-be-all of American citizenship, but technology seems to be redefining the idea of "home." Maybe "home" is not a house, per se, but the United States. The way I conceptualize my home and my office has changed.

*Photo is the first result I got when Googling "deconstructed places."

The Line at Baja Fresh

I eat lunch at Baja Fresh too often. It's terrible for you. But that's a separate issue. What fascinates me are the people you find in line during any given lunch hour. You'll most certainly get the guy ordering for the entire office, which is annoying. That person has been deconstructed by every stand up comic alive, so I'll assume you've heard a rant on that somewhere. The more interesting person is the guy or girl that sees Baja Fresh as a Mexican restaurant and tries to order their food using Spanish inflections such as "burrrrit-tos" and "enchy-lathas." God forbid they order a quesadilla. That person is better than the parent that can't control their kids. He or she is trying to order bean and cheese burritos while the kids are slinging jalapenos at each other. And just yesterday I saw a bone-thin girl order a tostada with no beans, rice, or meat (I live in California). I really love the person that is on the phone explaining the menu to people while they're at the counter. If you're back a few people, this is fine, but not while you're at the front. And, for the love of God, can you please at least pretend you know what kind of food Baja Fresh serves? "Oh, hey, the Baja Burrito sounds good, what's in that?" "Do you have anything besides beef or chicken?" "Does everything come with rice?" "Do you have something that's not wrapped in tortilla?" What the hell? It's a burrito and taco store. If you want a garden salad then go to Panera or something. Go eat a $5 foot long, asshole. Complaining that everything is so unhealthy at the register is useless. Get off your high horse and eat a fucking burrito for once in your life.

I feel for the employees. California is the land of finicky eaters, people allergic to absolutely everything. I can't imagine the requests they get. That is why I have a gameplan going in. I know what I want before I get to the counter. I order quickly and without hesitation. I owe it to them. And I don't want them to spit in my Mahi fish taco.

$100

Last night I walked to the library from my apartment, planning to stop right after at the bank to deposit a $100 bill. I spent about an hour browsing books, checked two out, and walked home forgetting to deposit the money. Right before I went to sleep I remembered that I forgot to deposit the money but couldn't find it anywhere--I had dropped the money somewhere. I searched all over my apartment, my room, and backtracked my steps. Nothing. $100 gone.

Losing $100 ruined my fucking week.

This is the life I've created for myself. I can not blame anyone. I've made a series of decisions that has me in a situation where a C-note is make or break. Obviously, I have to make some changes. "Tighten the belt" as everyone is saying. My hope is that this is rock bottom and that I can begin my new journey into progress.

Mixed Martial Arts

I love watching MMA, and I'm fascinated by the lives of the athletes and the business decisions being made around the sport. I'm still waiting for mainstream acceptance of MMA, and here's a start: Georges St. Pierre in a Gatorade commercial. Granted, it's for air in Canada (St. Pierre's home country), but I think this is a good sign. MMA is approaching critical mass. There's a reality show, a video game, corporate sponsors, a million viewers per pay-per-view event, action figures, modest coverage on ESPN, and even CBS tried to get in the game for a bit. We'll see what happens.

Friendster

I still get emails from Friendster. I opened an account maybe 4 years ago, didn't use it at all. I'm sure it made someone a ton of money, but who uses it? I mean, even MySpace is old hat.

I'm curious about the resources necessary to keep Friendster functioning. Shouldn't we just delete the whole thing, make room for better technology? Is it the tech equivalent of a deserted suburban street in California with rows of foreclosed homes?

*UPDATE: Apparently, Friendster is huge in Asia.

Twitter

Right now (Thursday Night @ 10:34 PM) I can hear a loud helicopter hovering near my apartment. It's been going on for like ten minutes. I updated my Twitter status to:

@mikerevolution helicopter hovering near apartment; annoyed and nervous.

After I did that, I got curious and entered the term "santa monica" in the search bar and saw the following Tweets:

@BradFranklin @MM73 are you in Santa monica by chance. can you here a helicopter. any idea what's going on? police helicopter maybe?? I'm at Montana & 2nd

@joey1980 : there are several helicopters hovering in the same area towards the beach in Santa Monica. mysterious!

tonychen 3-4 choppers flying over santa monica beach or off the coast - what's going on??

@ButtercupD ahhhh, huge multiple car crash on PCH in santa monica. that's why the g-bird is out!! hovering over PCH.

The same search on Google couldn't give me up to the minute updates or news. This is why I think there's chatter that "Twitter is the new Google." Within seconds I got useful information. I experienced first hand the power of social media, and the marvelous utility of Twitter-like technology. Hopefully this tool is put to great use. It allows for instant feedback and communication while taking advantage of a network. Michael likes this.

Walmart

Earlier this week, I was on Walmart.com shopping for an item. I added it to my shopping cart, but ultimately decided not to buy it. I got an email today with the subject line: You left something in your shopping cart at Walmart.com.

I had forgotten all about it. They reminded me, and the idea of buying this thing crossed my mind again. This is brilliant. I don't necessarily want every company to copy this technique, but this is the kind of thinking I want in retailers.

Well Done

I applaud the AP and espn.com for running this story on graduation rates. I know it's tough when kids aren't staying in school very long, especially basketball players, but I like the media paying attention to this. Let's continue to hold colleges accountable.

It's F***ing Distracting

Until your home computer breaks you'll have no idea how much time you waste on it.

My computer hasn't been able to connect to the Internet for two weeks. In those two weeks, I've gone to the gym regularly, read 3 books, reworked my resume & cover letter, donated clothes to Goodwill, enrolled in a class at UCLA, watched less TV, and gotten more sleep. The Internet isn't a bad thing, it just makes it easier to get side-tracked.

I sit at a computer all day at work. It's nice to come home and do things like prepare my own dinner, enjoy a glass of wine, and go for a stroll. I'm sure I'll have my machine fixed soon enough, but I'm gonna try to keep this thing going for a while. My goal: be happier with less. It's nice to disconnect.

iMad

I'm not upset that technology is progressing rapidly, but I just bought that iPod shuffle two weeks ago. Today I found out there's a new, even more badass iPod shuffle with more capacity and VoiceOver. No one is at fault here, I'm just mad at Apple for dishing out new and improved products every 3-4 months. Financially, it's impossible for me to keep up.

In a recent article by Chris Anderson (The Long Tail), he states, "the marginal cost of anything digital falls by 50% every year, making pricing a race to the bottom..." How long before iPods are given away for free and we just pay for the content? Let me know so I can stop wasting my money on the damn things.

Book Rant

I can't stand books that include a "How to use this book" section. Quit stalling and present your ideas. If readers don't have the good sense to take notes or take time to answer questions presented in the text, then your writing sucks. I know you get paid by the page or by the word, but I'm not fooled. Don't waste our time. I say "our time" because when I read your book, I'm sharing my time with you, the author. Don't be frivolous with your customer's most important commodity: their attention.

The End.