Shopping

The Story of Me Buying a Bike

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I originally started writing this in May or June 2020. I have been pretty slow getting things published.

Even before the Corona Virus lockdown I thought about getting out with the girls on bikes. It wasn’t until last Summer 2019 that both of them were able to bike ride. They could not get very far on their scooters even though they both scooted for years. With biking skills I figured by this summer they would be strong enough bikers that we could at least travel locally around with them. Then the virus happened and we got locked in.

When I commuted to work my walking to and from the train, and walking to and from getting lunch was typically just enough to get my entire activity requirement for the day. At least according to my Apple Watch. When I worked from home prior to lockdown i would need to take a walk to the store or something to get most if not all of my activities requirements. Even before lockdown I figured one way to keep active when working from home would be to get a bike and use it as my daily exercise.

One of my friends at work told me about a bike purchasing scheme the company had so you could get tax relief on a bike if you wanted to bike to work. My luck the scheme closed at the beginning of the tax year on April 1. I was looking to buy something in the middle of April. I had to figure out plan b. I did some research online for a decent all around “hybrid” / street bike. I figured out what brands the local shop sold and found what would work for me online. I then went to the local bike shop on the Saturday before Easter. The bike I wanted was exactly what the guy at the bike shop suggested. I wanted a simple Giant Escape. I was half convinced before going to the shop to get the Giant Escape Disc. It is basically the bike I wanted with slightly more expensive Disk Breaks. The guy at the store told me the same reasons I told myself why I wanted to spend the £50 or so more on the better breaks. More bad timing the bike i wanted in my size was not available in the store. If I had stopped by the day before I would’ve been able to buy it since he had one in stock that he had already sold. Funny enough I did go to the store on Good Friday however it looks like they were closed. I figured since it was Good Friday they were. It turns out he had the shutters down but was open. I was lucky in the sense that he could still order the model and size I wanted online and have it shipped. Apparently several other models and sizes were no longer available since they were having trouble getting shipments from Taiwan.

The bike was supposed to arrive a week later however it took about two before it showed up. It was ready on Friday afternoon so I biked it home to give it a quick test drive. I hadn’t owned a bike in years. The Trek I had when I lived in Manhattan and Long Island city was long stolen from the bike rack in the long-island city apartment.

What could be considered even more bad luck was in mid-May due to the coronavirus lockdown my company announced they were re-opening up the cycle to work purchasing scheme that I originally could not use. Apparently due to the lockdown and concerns about commuting when the lockdown lifted there was lots of inquiries about it. Even though I bought something already I am still tempted to purchase a Bromley folding bike the of the scheme. With a folding bike I could go places with it and then fold it up and take it inside with me where as the bike I have i cannot. The bike I have I would never really lock it up and leave it anywhere. In all honesty I am not sure if I would actually use the folding bike the way i describe. The idea of it does sound very promising though. The other advantage to the folding bike is I could keep it in my home office versus having to keep the regular bike in the shed in the back garden. It’s a minor nuisance have to get it to get through the house and outside. The main reason I want a folding bike is I just want it. I know myself well enough to know that all the other reasons are pretty much rationalizing that. I’m trying to see how much I use what I have before I decide to get something better.

I knew I missed biking. I didn’t realize how much until I actually had one was able to go exploring the neighborhood. That though is maybe another story.

The Story of My Chuck Taylor Dilemma

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If you know me now you may have noticed that most of the time I am wearing trainers (aka sneakers). Specifically Converse Chuck Taylors. Surprisingly it is a relatively new phenomenon for me. It was only maybe five years ago that I started wearing them.

When i first started wearing Chucks they were not that comforatable. I tried insoles and they were ok. I was about to stop wearing them when Convese announced their Chuck Taylor II’s. They claimed they would be even more comfortable. I was curious. I could not wait unitl they came out. When they did i got bought a pair. They were very comfortable. I ended up buying pairs in several colours, both high and low top. From then on that was pretty much what I would wear everyday.

I ended up buying about three colours in each of the hightop and the low top variant. I like the hightops for work and the low’s are easier to get on and off when I am home and out with the kids. So I own several pairs.

Since I have several I don’t wear any one pair down very quickly. Right before we moved to London I think I had to replace one pair for the first time in a few years. When I did so it was no problem to get a new one.

Last fall i had two pairs of hightops that had the souls start ripping. They needed replacement. When I went online to buy replacements I was confused not to see the Chuck II’s anywhere. What I did not know was that the Chuck II line of shoes was cancelled after about a year or so of production. Apparently diehard fans were not a fan of the new look. The look was not bad for me. The big deal was that they were much more  comforatable than the traditional model. When I previously bought replacements they must still have just had stock of them. Now no one had them.

I tried the Converse one Star as an alternative. I wasn’t too happy with the way they looked however I needed something so I tried them. They were not comfortable at all. It was a total waste of money from me.

Then I tried what are used to do before the Chuck II’s came out. That was purchase a regular pair and put an insole in them. It was what I did to the dress shoes that I used to wear before wearing the sneakers to work. Oddly after wearing the really comfortable cushion on the Chuck II’s the same insoles were not as comfortable anymore. I did force myself to wear that one test pair with the insole for a while. I am still wearing it and they are totally fine however not nearly as comfortable as I used to have. I could buy more of those however I was trying to find other alternatives before I did that.

My next step was to go to eBay where I was surprised to find a half way decent selection of gently used Chuck II’s. I was hesitant on buying that sort of used stuff on ebay. The prices were super cheap so I gave one a try. They turned out to look exactly like the picture and were in fantastic shape. It was like they were never used. I was able to buy one or two more like that however then the supply dried up. I realise I needed to find a better long-term option. Since I was totally over thinking my solution at this point i continued my investigations.

In my research I keep coming across comments about the Chuck Taylor 70. People had said that they were definitely more comfortable than the originals.  Some people were also comparing them to the II’s that i had. Then one or two people said they probably were not as comfortable but close. Since I was running out of options I decided to buy one pair of the Chuck Taylor 70’s high tops. I was hoping to see how they fit.

The first pair I got was definitely way too big. I bought the same size I wore in my other chucks. I quickly returned them back to converse. I then went looking for 1/2 size smaller of the same shoe. I could not find it anywhere in stores. Most stores didn’t even have this model at all. I finally did find one store that had them in stock. Unfortunately they were only one size smaller. The sales clerk said they don’t stock half sizes. I tried the one size smaller and it was too small. With that information I rolled the dice and ordered the half-size smaller than the original one I bought online.

When it arrived, I realize it fit a little bit too big. I decided that would work good enough since the full size smaller was too small. I have been wearing this pair for a while now. I even took it as my only pair of shoes on a week long holiday. I can’t say for certain if there as comfortable as the II’s. They are comfortable enough that I can use them as my day-to-day shoe. Since I was able to buy a few cheap pairs of the II’s on eBay I haven’t had a need to buy any new 70’s beyond the first pair I bought. At least I know now that when another pair wears out I have an option for replacement.

The Story of My Complex Relationship With The Old Fashioned

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There was a time long ago (2-3 years ago) when I did not like the taste of a good old fashioned  . Let’s call that time in my life BOF (Before Old Fashioned). I recall ordering one or two at bars and not really liking them. Then one January a few years ago on our anniversary M and I went to Jean George’s. I remember the night because I got there early or on time. M and I were both coming from work so we did not travel together. Side note the subway was messed up and M does not give herself any leeway in travel time.  Those factors and the fact that I generally am too early to things added up to me waiting about 20 to 30 minutes before M joined me.

While I was waiting at the bar I figured I was at a three-star Michelin rated restaurant so I assumed they can make pretty good cocktails. Up until that point I have had bad luck with old fashioned’s. They just didn’t taste quite right to me.  I did want to give it a few tries before I made my decision on if I like them or not. So I ordered one and drank it while waiting for M. The verdict was I still did not like it. At the time that last bad experience settled the drinks fate. It was off my list of things I would drink.  Or was it?

Flash forward a few years and I tried one again. My memory is fuzzy on the circumstances. I think it was we were at M’s friend Joe’s in Maine. The prior year he made me a fantastic Manhattan. So much so that I started making them myself the way he did it.  Wow those are strong but yummy.. The next time we saw him I believe he made an old-fashioned.  When he made it for me it was really good and I enjoyed it. So much so that when I was out with friends from work I started trying to order them again. It was still hit and miss in the beginning but after that I got really into them.

I started mixing them at home. The old fashioned are more complex and time-consuming to make than my favorite sidecar. I made them anyway. The first time I ran out of the ingredients to make the old-fashioned I forgot what it was that I originally had bought. I turned to the Internet to see what good bourbon to use for the drink. I found a couple of review sites that talked about the best bourbons to use in the drink. I then took the two top suggestions and went to the local liquor store to see if they had them. They had both options however for some reason I said I’m gonna buy the second best one. I can’t remember why.  I think the description better suited me.. It wasn’t like one was that much better than the other. They just had different reasons for liking one over the other. And that’s how I started mixing drinks with the Four Roses.

When I would be out and ordering an old-fashioned at a bar some of the better places would ask what I wanted it made with. It used to be I never knew a good answer for that.  Then I started asking what the suggested options were. That’s when I realized I had picked a delicious choice because many of the places I went to with good bars would have the four roses as a choice. After a while when asked what I wanted the drink made with I would specifically ask for that.  Then every so often i would get a “good choice” reply.  It was nice that something i liked made me sound like i knew what i was talking about.  I really do not know what I am talking about.

Somewhere along the way in my old-fashioned drinking experience I was introduced to the maple old-fashioned. It was super delicious. It basically replaces the simple syrup,  sugar, and water of a regular old-fashioned and replaces it with maple syrup. It was a simple Google search or in my case duck duck go search and I had the ingredients and how to make the drink. It was significantly easier to prepare and almost more delicious.

I thought I found a new goto drink that i could make at home.  Side Cars are good and easier than a regular old fashioned however if i do it the way i like it with the sugar on the glass it gets messy and takes a little longer.  To have an easier option would be great.  I made a few of the maple old fashioned at home. In the same general time frame I was waking up with migraines now and again. That’s rare for me. I was curious what the trigger was. After a little while I thought the trigger might have been the Maple old-fashioned. It is a lot of sugar. Some foods can be trigger so I got really scared.  Migraines are not something I mess around with so that stopped my buying or mixing this cocktail cold.

That didn’t stop me from making or buying regular old-fashioned. I just make them less often since they are a pain to do.  When we got to to London I didn’t have the same ingredients to make the original ones I liked the cube sugar that M had bought so I at the time thought stupidly to roll the dice and had M get some maple syrup. After the first attempt i was ok.  So i tried them again.  I was still ok.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could drink them and be okay. No trigger made me very happy so I was back on making these delicious beverages.

This brings me to what inspired me to write what turned into this very long post. I had a finite supply of Four Roses.  A big positive of London vs New York is you can go anywhere and get liquor.  The local market we use has.  Getting a good selection of higher end liquor is more of a challenge.  Some suggestions given to me did not pan out.  I turned to Amazon almost just to check for funzies.  Turned out they had what i wanted.  Amazon had a decent selection so I not only got the Four Roses I wanted I now have a new goto place to order any nicer stuff i may want to buy.

Next up for me is finding a new cocktail to master.

I get up at 3 AM for only a few things…

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There only a few things that will get me up at 3 AM. The two main reasons are A and T. They do that more times than I would like but overall they are great kids.  Other things might include a flight that I really couldn’t get at any other time but first thing in the morning. Even then I would try to avoid it at all costs. Then of course there’s an Apple launch event. I’d be lying if I said I never got up at 3 AM before to order an apple device. In recent years I haven’t. Last year I wasn’t even sure if I wanted an iPhone 7. I opted to get one at the end of November.  I wasn’t motivated enough to get up in the middle of the night then.

In previous instances of me getting up to order a phone (or a tablet) I was exceedingly frustrated. I would get up at 3 AM or one time 6 AM thinking I can still get ahead of the rush. My early morning attempts were semi failures due to technical problems with Apple systems. One time I spent 45 minutes trying to place an order only to go to bed and get up at 6 AM to try again. By then it was a month wait for the product. I might go back and troll my blog history to find out what product it was that i had that happen.  I’m not too crazy, I don’t think. I only attempted this maybe twice before. I have waited out in the freezing cold for two hours for an iPad once. MC was dating at the time and she still decided to marry me. That’s how you know you have a winner.

Flash forward to this week and I had to think about if I wanted to get up early for this launch event. In the end I had sound reasons and motivation to do so. It boils down to my move overseas. We aim to move around the first week in January. That means if the constraints around supply chain for the new phone are anywhere near true, and they likely are I might not get my phone in time for my move. If anyone’s actually reading a technical post like this they might wonder why, or who cares? The answer is an iPhone cost the same in dollars as it would in pounds or close to it. That means to buy it in London it’s 30% more expensive due to conversion rates. Since I knew I wanted to buy the phone my option was to either get it before I go or pay the extra price. This phone is expensive enough so I wasn’t willing to pay more for it when I got there.

I decided that if I was not able to order the phone Friday morning and have it delivered in a reasonable time prior to the end of the year I would not get one. My alternative would be either to get an iPhone 8+ or simply stick with my 7+ until I’m back in the US for a while over the summer. The fact that the iPhone X is as thin as the iPhone 8 with a bigger screen than my current plus is so compelling for me to want it. I love the screen on my current 7+ however that phone is just way too big. Whenever I hold my work iPhone 6S it just feels more natural.

 Thursday evening I told myself I was going to bed early, maybe before 9 PM. That never happened so I went to bed around 10:15 PM. I set my phone alarm. In order not to wake MCI also set my Fitbit silent alarm to go off a minute before my phone alarm. I was aggravated when the Fitbit said it was low on battery life. I took the chance that it would last until the next morning. It did. The silent alarm went off as expected and I was able to get up and turn off the phone alarm. I know I was successful when MC asked me when she woke up if I’d gotten up in the middle of the night to do my order.

I settled into my desk with my iPhone and iPad plus a web browser ready to go hoping to have one of them work quickly. I was ready to go about two minutes ahead of schedule. A few minutes after 3 AM Eastern time my iPad started working with their store app. My initial plan was to use my IPhone upgrade program. Oddly when I tried to do that from the iPad told me I needed to do it from my phone. The challenge was the phone wasn’t loading the app. I had thought about this and the upgrade program is nice however I don’t really need it. Set aside money each month for a tech fund for purchases just like this that I know I will want to make. Whenever I sell gear I put it in the fund also. Instead of using the upgrade program I simply bought the phone out right. I got my confirmation email at 3:08 AM. Within that eight minutes from when it launched I was told a delivery time of November 10 through the 17th. It officially launches on 4 November. I’m really wondering who is actually getting the phone on the fourth?

Since I did not use my upgrade program I will need to buy my iPhone 7+ outright and then sell it on eBay to recoup the costs. It’s a minor inconvenience however I did not want to mess around with switching to my phone and waiting for it to work.

I was back in bed around 3:10 AM. Unfortunately I had trouble sleeping since I was wide awake by that time. It felt like no time passed before 6 AM rolled around and I had to get up for my morning routine.

I think getting up at  a ridiculously early hour to preorder something is for everybody? No course not. For me  I am into technology that just works. This is something that I use constantly that’s always with me so I find it worthwhile to do what I did. I know many of my friends likely don’t understand it or don’t “get it”. And that’s okay. There’s also those friends who messaged me at 330 asking me how I did. Obviously they were also up trying to score one.

Surprised by the availability of NFC payment

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I was shopping today and I was surprised at the number of locations that I went to that supported Apple Pay (aka NFC payments).  Along those lines until this week I hadn’t seen anyone asking me to use the chip in my card (EMV chip) eve thought the deadline that shifts the liability to the merchant and not the credit card companies if they don’t use the chip passed in November.

Of all the places I went to today the quick scorecard I had was as follows:

  • Macy’s, YES but I knew that already since I have used it before
  • Lego Store, NO however what was frustrating about this merchant was that they used the same terminal as several places I have shopped at that do take NFC payments.  To make things more annoying the terminal had a big NFC logo on its screen however I was told the system didn’t accept the payment type.  I did have to pay using the EMV chip.
  • Applebee’s, YES however I couldn’t get it to work.  They still get props for the fact that check out was via a tablet at my table.  It was still a regular swipe card but cool that I could have ordered food and checked out at the table.
  • La Maison Du Chocolat,  YES
  • Card store, NO.  Let’s face it this is a local Hallmark store that doesn’t even take AMEX so I didn’t expect anything.  They still used the standard swipe card.
  • Party store, NO, however I only bought something very cheap and paid cash.
  • liquor store, NO but at least they took AMEX.   For some reason I find many liquor stores that don’t take it however that is a different conversation/blog post.

Based on my experiences today counting the stores that should have worked with the NFC payments I was supposed that almost 40% of the stores supported the NFC payments.  That was higher than I would have guessed.  I am hopeful that 2016 will see a large increase in the number of stores accepting the chip technology.

Please Take My Money Macy’s

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There was a time a few years ago that I wanted to start a blog titled “ please take my money”. It was going to highlight all the instances where companies for some weird reason made it difficult for you to actually give them your money to buy something. My first case was a situation I had with AT&T regarding canceled contract and number porting. In the end it was cheaper and easier for me to actually not do business with them. Shortly after that there was another situation that I today can remember but it got me thinking about writing about this stuff.

Flash forward to today I am at the mall trying to buy holiday gifts. I don’t normally go to stores and this was a last-minute situation so general I wasn’t pleased however in all but one instance the experience was surprisingly stress-free. Before all the stress-free parts of the day came Macy’s.

I was in Macy’s to pick up a gift for a babysitter and someone else. I was luckily able to find what I needed rather quickly and got online to pay.I was a bit concerned since the line was pretty long. It was one of the last shopping days before Christmas so I expected lines. I didn’t expect was such a long line to be served by one person when there was at least two registers. To add insult to injury several store clerks came and went to the unused registers to do who knows what and to have quick conversations with the one clerk working. None of those people decided to help customers waiting in line. Instead I waited 30 to 45 minutes for transaction that should take most maybe 10 to 15 minutes. I understand corporations need to cut costs however situations like going to physical stores. It also emphasizes why I shouldn’t. I thought the argument of brick-and-mortar store is you get personalized service? In this instance the service was substantially less than if I would’ve ordered something online ship to me.

 

Waiting in line

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Waiting in an enormous line at Macy’s.  If stores wonder why people don’t like going to them a ten person deep line with one register open is the reason.  Add to that some other checkout person came by and started another register only to do one thing and leave.

I am not ashamed that I get excited by LED lightbulbs

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Today MC and I took some of our holiday to goto Home Depot.  We are looking at renovating our kitchen and we needed to investigate some details.  After we finished doing that I wanted to check out the lighting section.  Our fixtures in the ceiling are not big enough to allow me to put in 75 Watt equivalent CFL bulbs.  I have enough trouble seeing on a bright sunny day outside so I can use every extra lumen I can get.  I recently read about a flat LED bulb from Phillips.  The shape of the bulb had me curious if a 75 Watt equivalent would fit in the ceiling fixtures.  The only problem has been that the last Home Depot and every online store I have gone to have not had them in stock.  I am not ashamed to say I was very happy to see that this Home Depot had them in stock.  I picked up 4 of them to see if they would work out.  I was happy to see that the bulbs do fit perfectly in the fixtures were only 60 watt equivalent CFL’s fit before.  In our bedroom it was amazing how an extra 300-400 lumens make the room so much brighter.

Besides the fact that I now have brighter lighting in the apartment, these bulbs shouldn’t need to be changed until after Amelia is out of College.  That is assuming we still live in this apartment.  The LED bulbs will also allow me to dim them.  Master plan is to put in smart dimmer switches that plug into my home automation system.  The possibilities get interesting once i do that.  I hope to write about that once my plans start to materialize, but I am excited by the possibilities.  Yes I said it i am excited about new light bulbs and light switches. I had to think about why that was.  The reason I came to is I always loved Science Fiction.  I don’t yet have swooshing doors that open when i walk up to them but I can have lights that dim depending on the time of day or go off when people leave the room.  That on top of the fact that my iPad seems to do more than those PADD’s in Star Trek The Next Generation my 12 year old self would think I am living in a great Sci-Fi future.  Take that Star Trek!

Amazon, Why oh Why are You Using Smartpost?

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I am very concerned about Amazon’s recent switch to Smartpost for some orders.  I have been a huge fan and customer for years and a Prime customer for many of those.  Recently I have noticed Amazon’s switch to Smartpost for some orders.  I was concerned because i have heard horror stories about Smartpost but didnt have any issues.  Now that has changed and my first delivery was missed purely because of Smartpost.  I wrote an email to Amazon.  In the event that they don’t read or reply to customer mail and before I forgot I wanted to paste the text of my mail into this post in the hopes that someone from Amazon may find it.  I get trying to cut costs, but Smartpost is just bad.  My example below is only the first example i have had with Amazon, but not the first i know of personally or professionally.

My wife pointed out that this order was formula and other supplies for the baby.  The whole reason we buy from Amazon is their price and the fact that we can rely delivery dates.  Yes we can goto the store nearby in a pinch if a delivery doesn’t happen but at that point why should I be ordering from Amazon at all for that stuff?

Email message read:

I have used Amazon Prime for years.  Very recently my family has started receiving packages via USPS Smartpost instead of directly from UPS for free prime shipping.  Today i was supposed to receive the order listed however USPS was unable to deliver it since no one was home.  Lets ignore the fact that someone was home and tried to buzz them for now.  I got an email telling me in order to reschedule delivery i need to goto a website and fill out a form to ask for re-delivery.  UPS or Fedex don’t require this.  They just try 3 times.  Also a more minor note that my building’s super accepts packages and i have never had a problem with other carriers until your switch to smart post.  Your switch to Smartpost is a step in the wrong direction compared to Amazon’s typical stellar service.

Not to make threads since i am one customer but continued experiences like this will lead me to look at alternative vendors.  I use Amazon for many things because of its ease of ordering and because I know I will get my stuff without question.  Starting to have delivery problems will get myself and probably others to rethink your services no matter how cheap the shipping costs are.