Pocket Change: 09/03/08
- Eat the rich part II! Presidential candidates don’t just suck, but they also crumble at Northbrook IL’s Max and Benny’s Bakery where you can get McCain and Obama cookies. Soon to come: VP cookies! (Drive Thru)
- United Airlines listens to its customers and keeps the in-flight meal. Now if they’d just stop showing awful movies like Paycheck! Honestly, though… People make the extra effort to defend… airplane food?!? (NYT)
- A drunk driver in Iowa tried bribing a cop with free Jimmy John’s sandwiches. Unfortunately for the driver, the police officer wasn’t also drunk. (Iowa City Press Citizen via Obscure Store)
- What will money be like in the future? How will our relationship to money change? (Core77)
crunchy Obama cookie picture from .
Pocket Change: 09/02/08
- I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. To any and everyone that may have been affected by Hurricane Gustav, you are in my thoughts. Please take care of each other. To anyone with a cell phone, txt the word “GIVE” to 2HELP (24357) to donate $5.00 to the American Red Cross. It is, quite literally, the easiest thing you could do to help.
- This isn’t really consumer related, but it really pisses me off! (Excuse the language, Mr. Rogers) (Chicago Tribune)
- “We’re going to have a lousy Christmas…” Sheesh! Retail and real estate consultants are a gloomy sort, aren’t they? (Crain’s)
- Fantastic. Now I can scream into my phone about what I’m going to do when I get off the subway… while I’m on the Subway! (Red Eye)
- What is the generation spawned from the Baby Boomers going to do? (What the hell are they called, anyway?) We may have to actually pay for the things we buy… up front?!?! AAAHHHHHH! (Slate)
- Two billionaires go to court to argue whether or not they can race their boats. Billionaire problems are silly! (New York Times)
- Hey Chicago, take note! It’s not much, but I could stand to read more stories about direct city-to-citizen bicycle advocacy like this one. (NYT)
- Recession and Inflation: a quick lesson in blog format. (VoxEU)
- The faucet has been turned off for quite some time. Someone finally noticed. R.I.P. Trickle Down Economics. (TPM)
- New York City apartment prices are falling, still ridiculous. (NY Sun)
O Organics Vanilla Blended Lowfat Yogurt
Item Purchased: O Organics Vanilla Blended Lowfat Yogurt (27 oz.)
Location Purchased: Dominick’s / 3145 S. Ashland / Chicago, IL
Price: $3.29 + tax
Purchased on: 08/25/08
Review: I’ve opened a lot of Yogurt tubs in my time… Wow. That’s not something someone shares with the world very often, is it?… Anyway… I’ve opened a lot of Yogurt tubs in my time, and occasionally there will be a bit of a solidified build-up near the edges. A quick couple of stirs with a spoon and everything is back to the goopy liquid that yogurt eaters across the world know and love.
This particular tub of “blended” yogurt had more solidified yogurt mass around the edges than I’ve ever seen before. Obviously it wasn’t blended enough. The short of it is, I ended up scraping about a half cup of solidified yogurt out of this tub before using any of the rest. With the consistency of cold cream cheese, I couldn’t bring myself to wedge any on top of my cereal.
The remainder of my purchase was perfectly fine. The vanilla flavor covered up the natural dull bitterness that most plain yogurt has nicely and has provided me with full flavored breakfasts each day.
Even though I found it enjoyable, it may be a while until I try a tub of O Organics yogurt again as I have the feeling it may have been left on the shelf a bit too long. I hate when initial fluke encounters turn me off of an otherwise delicious product, but if it pushes me to find a better product, then that is all the better.
Rating: 2.5 / 5
Lucerne Mexican Four Cheese Blend (8 oz.)
Item Purchased: Lucerne Mexican Four Cheese Blend (8 oz.)
Location Purchased: Dominick’s / 3145 S. Ashland / Chicago, IL
Price: $2.99 + tax
Purchased on: 08/25/08
Review: I can drink Chianti and wax poetic about the marbled blue appearance of fine cheeses with the best of people with far more money than me, but sometimes I need a quick all-purpose cheese to throw in an omelette, tuck in a taco or sprinkle on some nachos. Though a plate of fine Gouda and blue cheese nachos sounds great, my waistline and wallet can’t always stand for it.
Dominick’s parent company’s private brand, Lucerne, has nothing to do with the city in Switzerland, from what I can see. In fact, I’m confused as to why grocery chains have to even create their own (let alone, several) brands for their foodstuffs. What’s wrong with calling it ‘Dominick’s’ or ‘Safeway’ brand cheese? Does the differentiation between private grocery brands actually influence anyone’s purchase? I know the only thing that influenced me was the $0.80 I saved by punching my phone number into the keypad at the register.
I won’t even go into the tugging wonder at the back of my head regarding whether or not Lucerne brand dairy products are factory farmed or not. All I have to do is go into the simple pros and the dissuading cons.
Pros include the convenient pre-shredded format of not one, but four different cheeses! My cheese grater is right over there on the other end of the counter, but do I really have the energy today to use it? Also, it doesn’t matter if Mexicans use all four of these cheeses regularly or not. This is what a doughy Midwesterner like me has come to know as ethnic food. These are old-habit die hard pros that the American consumer in me so desperately hangs on to. Yes, I yearn for fresher cheeses from local dairies to line the wall at the supermarket near me, but that hasn’t happened yet and sometimes I’m too busy to get to the Farmer’s Market.
I know, I’m a bad loca-vore! Despite that, I’ll still reach for the occasional convenience shred-pak of cheese.
The cons, however, may stop that reach. Though I’ve tasted convenience cheeses that are fantastic, Lucerne seems to confuse dairy with paraffin here. Though it melts, this Mexican cheese can’t seem to shake it’s waxy consistency that lingers on the tongue long after its been consumed.
If I should buy this again, I’ll be sure to pick up enough Chianti to wash away the stubborn aftertaste.
Rating: 1.75 / 5
Pocket Change: 08/27/08
- Sara Lee is teaming up with ‘High School Musical’ in hopes of selling more bread. To who? High School drama clubs? (Crain’s)
- Chicago wants to start charging residents $10/month for garbage pick up. Does that mean residents get to stop paying their property tax bill? (Chicago Sun-Times)
- I can’t wait until I earn $250,000 per year so I can be considered “middle class!” (Slate)
- Orders for durable manufactured goods have increased recently. (New York Times)
- In that strange land across the pond, recessions are good for the economy. No matter how many credit cards we max out during our recessions here, it just doesn’t seem to work. (Telegraph UK)
- Consumers seem to avoid large and small extremes in soft drink sizes. At Starbucks, I just get confused when I can’t find a “small.” (Science Daily)
Adbusters’ Blackspot Sneakers
Item Purchased: Adbusters’ Blackspot Sneakers
Location Purchased: Adbusters.org
Price: $88.00 w/shipping
Purchased on: 08/04/08
Review: I have friends who seem to buy a new pair of shoes every week or so. I’ve never been that sort. Give me a pair of comfortable sneakers for the day-to-day, a pair of dress shoes for important meetings/dates/functions and a pair of boots for the days when the sun don’t shine. That’s all I need and quite often more than I have (I can’t seem to find my boots). As far as the sneakers and boots go, I wear those until they are ready to fall off my feet. You probably think I am being heavy on the hyperbole, but I’m not.
Given the state of my last pair of PF Flyers, it was time to invest in some functioning footwear and the Blackspot Sneaker from Adbusters has intrigued me since it’s initial release.
Adbusters created the Blackspot brand (or anti-brand) nearly four years ago as an actions-speak-louder-than-words endeavor. Though the words in Adbusters Magazine are routinely powerful, informative and inquisitive, they do tend to land on the critical side when discussing corporations and their foibles. One popular target for their criticism has always been Nike. Adbusters clearly stands on the anti-corporate, anti-unfair labor conditions, anti-cruelty and anti-logo indoctrination, but until their Blackspot Sneaker campaign, they hadn’t really done much other than advertisement remixes and smacktalk to initiate a counterbalance.
Blackspot seeks to create a brand… or anti-brand that doesn’t stand for cheap and stylish consumer goods at the expense of corporate and human rights crime. Though slow-going, the sneakers, with their simple spot anti-logo and anti-sweatshop production is a start.
As I said above, the shoes are produced in a family owned factory in Portugal that meets Adbusters’ quality of product and quality of workplace standards (read more here). Blackspots are constructed from primarily organic and mostly biodegradable materials and feature hand painted “unswoosher” spots on the sides as well as a hand painted red dot on the right shoe’s toe for “kicking corporate ass.” Though the visual style of the shoe is not much different than your typical Converse Chuck Taylor shoe, the simplicity is part of their allure to me. For those of you who need to have some sort of fashion status, the shoes were designed by none other than shoe boutique mogul, John Fluevog. The Blackspot shoes may even be one of the least expensive Fluevogs you can buy.
Speaking of the price tag, Blackspots are only sold at independently owned retailers and any proceeds made by Adbusters go right back into funding the ad-free magazine and the foundations other campaigns.
Finally and most interestingly, everyone who purchases a pair of Blackspot Sneakers receives a printed certificate that serves as an actual share in the “company.” By using the number printed atop each certificate, shareholders can log into the Adbusters.org site to vote on future shoe designs and other Blackspot campaigns. I will not deny the initial pretentiousness that Blackspot’s background may give off, but seen through to the share-clutching end, all of that pretentiousness fades away and the good intentions of those Adbusters folks shines through.
Enough about the philosophy… How are the shoes as a product?
Much sturdier than your average canvas shoe, the Blackspots seemed to fit perfectly and provide sufficient support from the moment I slipped them on. These shoes are also the first pair of mail-order shoes that actually fit my large feet and didn’t require an exchange for a half size smaller or larger. The soles provide a sturdy cushion of a foundation for my walking/biking lifestyle and though the grip on the bottom looks to be a bit underdeveloped as far as tread goes, I’ve had no problems sliding or falling off of my bicycle pedals (that much can’t be said for my old PFs). The only drawback I’ve seen to these shoes so far is that their sturdiness lengthens the breaking-in period that all low top sneakers go through and a week later, I am still nursing the blisters on my Achilles heel.
Suffice it to say, I love my new Blackspots. Not only are they utilitarian, comfortable and subtly stylish, but there is also no residual guilt attached to my purchase, laying somewhere in the dark underbelly of the company’s history. In fact, my new Blackspot Sneakers may be the first item of clothing, due to their significance beyond superficialities, that I am proud to wear.
Rating: 4.75 / 5
Pocket Change: 08/25/08
- You would think that people losing their houses and having to move farther away from their workplace would cause more people to use public transportation. Instead, the city of Chicago is using the real estate crisis as an excuse to raise the price of a bus ride. (link)
- I knew that the government got money that sits in inactive bank accounts for a while, but 3 years is it? Is this some sort of economy-stimulating scheme? Time to start moving some funds around, people! (link)
- Taking your change into the grocery store and putting it into one of those high-fee Coinstar machines is recycling? That’s what Coinstar’s new green campaign says. Do yourself a favor while doing the environment a favor, take your coins into your bank for “recycling” and avoid Coinstar’s ridiculous fees. (link)
- Food is getting expensive. Subsequently, so are school lunches. Somehow I don’t think this will help the child obesity problems in America. (link)
- A homeless man tries to re-live simpler times… by offering an undercover cop $0.02 for sex! Someone get this man a piggy bank! (link)
- As gas prices fall, it costs less to get your food to you. Unfortunately that doesn’t change the price of the food itself. Looks like we’re finally paying for all of that corn we eat. (link)
Pocket Change: 08/11/08
- Media theorist and one of my favorite authors/thinkers, Douglas Rushkoff offers some Recession investment advice. (link)
- Whole Foods has been selling recalled beef that may be contaminated with E. coli. Because of little pieces of feces. That’s what I call whole! (link)
- One of my goals in life is to meet a few friends at this bar for a couple of drinks and some good conversation. (link)
- Brooklyners admit that not all big box stores are all bad. (link)
- Credit card debt isn’t just an American problem, but the social implications in other cultures may be a bit different than you are used to. (link)
Mana Lemonade from Mana Food Bar
Item Purchased: Mana Lemonade
Location Purchased: Mana Food Bar / 1742 W Division St / Chicago, IL
Price: $3.00 + tax
Purchased on: 07/28/08
Review: Alright. I know I’ve been pissing on Mana Food Bar for the last few days. I’m pretty sure I can mark Mana down as one place that won’t be offering me free food any time in the near future. Everyone working in the place was very nice, so they might allow me to approach their convenient carry-out window if I wear a Nixon mask. But would I even want to?
The answer is a resounding “YES!”
Well… not the Nixon mask. Face masks are rough on people who wear glasses.
There is one thing that will keep me coming back to Mana Food Bar, should I find myself in the area. That one thing is not the cutesy ridiculous Sake-tinis or even the delicious Dengaku. That one thing is the Mana lemonade.
Forget everything you’ve ever experienced with fresh squeezed fruit juices. Mana Food Bar takes their citrus drinks to another level and I don’t know how they do it. If it were just lemons and sugar, I’d be surprised and prone to getting down on my knees to bow. Mana’s Lemonade has the perfect amounts of sweetness, tartness and otherworldliness to make it worth a trip alone.
I’ve experimented with mint and other herbs to make my homemade lemonade something special, but nothing has come close to this devine mixture. Having the ability to simultaneously quench your thirst and make you thirsty for more, I rate this lemonade as something not only worth $3.00 a small glass, but something worth going out of your way for.
I don’t know what kind of herbal magic Mana uses to make this perfectly balanced drink, but if the whole veggie tapas theme doesn’t work out, this place could have a good run as a juice bar.
See… I found something to love at Mana. Hopefully you’ll find more than I did.
I’ll be sitting at the bar, nursing a lemonade while you test the waters.
Rating: 4.75 / 5
Pocket Change: 08/07/08
- I once ate a pigeon in Chinatown and loved it. After reading this story from the New York Times, I’m none too eager to do it again. (link)