Milwaukee Specialty Food and Coffee

Editorials: The Single-serve Society's War on Your Wallet (Part 2)

I don't espouse some grand conspiracy theory, but I believe that in view of the fact that our society is transforming into an almost completely service-industry society, the promotion of singlehood follows as naturally as the night follows the day. Single people are simply more profitable for food service operations and other service industries. Any other single person will probably be able to relate to the difficulty of maintaining a "just right" food supply. Often, we end up with far too much and throw most of it out. Without a doubt, the largest frustration is time efficiency. I feel like I am "running" from task to task when I get up to a few minutes before I go to bed, but rarely feel like I get enough accomplished. This ties into the inevitable order of a delivery meal or stop at a quick-service restaurant.  While food cost represents roughly half of the price of the product served in a traditional restaurant category, delivery and quick-serve operations are even more profitable.   

Editorials: The Single-serving Society's War on Your Wallet

If I had to identify the chief megatrend of our times, it would be human non-coexistence. Current geopolitical events give what would otherwise have been a more lighthearted post greater urgency. I believe the marketplace's effect on our society over the past fifty years has been to isolate the individual human being to an unprecedented extent. The physical, psychological and environmental toll this has taken is almost incalculable.

Editorials: Dominik Brunner "Just Did It"

I'm fascinated by the story of Dominik Brunner, a German man who stepped up and exhibited great civil courage in giving his life to protect youths suffering threats and beatings at the hands of young punks. Here is an excellent article in German about the case. Of the many interesting aspects of the story, I note particularly that even though he was a business executive, he still rode public transportation to work.

Editorials: It's Hott to Work

Lately, I've been getting variations of the following offer in my junk mail, and this week's especially caught my eye (no surprise there).

I admit the first question that comes to mind is "How do I qualify for her benefits?" (The second is "If I show this to my parents, who are on Medicaid, will they finally start carrying a cell phone?") Seriously, though, the real question is just what the hell is being sold here. The government program that's being mentioned here is called Lifeline and is, without a doubt, salutary. I've written before that it doesn't bother me if my tax dollars go to pay for 40-ouncers, and it doesn't bother me if people on food stamps get government-assisted cell phone calls from hot chicks--in the unlikely event that the ad delivers on what it promises. 

I guess I just sometimes feel that our society is losing touch with the right way to obtain bodacious babes and all of life's other goods: through hard work and personal exertion. Obviously, those on government assistance have a much more limited scope of action available to them from which to pursue those goods. I write from a very lucky position in life, but I sincerely believe that despite national and global economic difficulties, in a sense opportunities have never been more abundant for those who genuinely want to work. Firstly, consider the one-two punch of globalization and the Internet. It's not like we're in Mayberry and you have to wait for Floyd the Barber to retire so you can take his job. You can "work" in Europe, Asia, or anywhere else in the world via the Internet. Obviously, people have a variety of perfectly valid reasons for wanting any specific job or a job in general. There's nothing wrong with wanting a position with fewer hours and great benefits that's less dependent on economic cycles, especially if you have a family. Those jobs are becoming increasingly scarce. 

I think a megatrend that will soon become noticeable is that for those with marketable skills, work will be more of a 24/7 affair than a 9-to-5 one. To maintain anything like our present standard of living, the work will have to be distributed over fewer heads, as up to roughly one-quarter of the present workforce will soon retire. Increasingly short product cycles and time-to-market will require "shifts" around the globe. In that light, I think the expectations women have of successful men will have to be overhauled greatly, as success is increasingly earned by erratic work hours and around-the-clock reachability.

Editorials: Religion: Sins of the Nose

My favorite magic trick of all is that performed by the maid service that cleans my apartment every six weeks. In the late morning, I leave a slightly stanky apartment; in the evening, I return to the lilting scent of (in tonight's case) cinnamon. I think they're unleashing the heavy ammunition now that I'm back on the White Owls. This summer, I was at Holy Hill and stopped in the bookstore. In a book about confession, "sins of the nose" were mentioned. (Apparently the belief in such a concept exists--you can even Google it, though it doesn't get many hits.)  One of the more memorable moments of the year followed one day not too long after, when I reflected back on reading that and thought to myself, "That is just nuts." It's hard to describe the feeling of calm I had immediately afterwards. It set the stage for several such moments this year.

Further along that chain of events, I find myself going into the Christmas season with, for perhaps the first time in my life, a workable perception of myself and others. It's not a naive perception; it's a perception that isn't going to be pushed around by every little thing, particularly those that originate from within myself. For example, I now sit unapologetically at a Starbucks. There are valid arguments for and against chains of various sizes, but I'm not worried about that now. What I am concerned about is the fact that I'm not going to be hectored into going to a local coffee outlet on the basis of a "buy local" argument alone. To be honest, I go to coffeehouses mostly for the Wi-Fi these days. My Tassimo machine makes not only good drip coffee and espresso, but even a perfectly serviceable cappuccino (!). The differential between Starbucks and growing local chains is shrinking--all coffeehouses are hit-or-miss in terms of quality now.

Editorials: Reminding Me That I Have So Much To Be Thankful For

The pastor who married my sister and brother-in-law sixteen years ago took his own life last month. I have to admit that I know next to nothing about him firsthand, other than that he was a handsome, earnest young minister. Word spread of a mustache coming and going and of a divorce, as those are the sorts of things suburban ladies like my Mom talk about.

Tonight at the coffeehouse, I read online about his life and passing. He was not some loser. He was popular and beloved and left behind two darling girls that everyone adores. He killed himself as a result of his depression. I won't editorialize other than to say that this stuff is real and deadly. I think it behooves us as a society to be a little more honest and open about such issues.

Current Affairs: Editorials: I Need a Swift Kick

One part of human psychology that fascinates me to no end is our need to fashion someone who is immune to the problems and struggles we face. I certainly consider myself a religious person, but I willingly accept that there is more to religion than the divine; there is a large measure of behavioral psychology to it as well. Outside of an occasional hour of Sunday School, I didn't grow up with Jesus--I grew up with concepts that are, in some ways, almost as all-pervasive as faith in Him. I carry them with me to this day. This faith has three basic pillars: (1) Thou shalt not begin any statement with "I want," "I need," etc., for this is selfish and unacceptable; (2) Thou shalt not waste other peoples' time/money/red ink; (3) In order to receive what are known in the psychobabble world as the "5 A's", particularly from the opposite sex, thou shalt be who thou art not. (And lo, that last one is mostly me talking to me.)

Today, I thought to myself half-seriously that there is one person who surely doesn't suffer from any of the problems I do: Taylor Swift.

Muhammad Ali famously said "Superman don't need no seat belt," and Taylor Swift--in my imaginings at least--don't need no smart phone. Taylor Swift don't need no match.com. (Pretty confident about that one.) Taylor Swift doesn't suffer from the things that make me feel dorky and inadequate and anxious. Taylor Swift doesn't need to worry about being aligned with megatrends to ensure her continued relevance; not only is she perfectly aligned with all of them, she is the megatrend.  

In my imaginings at least, Taylor Swift doesn't have to call Toppers or Jimmy John's and have them coordinate, almost like Norman Schwarzkopf, Operation Munchies Storm to get that late-night snack to her, as the people in my apartment building do because they just changed the way the intercom works and nobody knows how to operate it.  And aren't those situations the everyday bread and butter for all of us?  If you're anything like me, you might perceive that your inability to effortlessly juggle what sometimes feels like the shock-and-awe of incoming data from every information source, time zone and location--while never, ever letting them see you sweat--reflects a lack of competence. If only I were Taylor Swift!  Taylor Swift can be in every time zone at once--equally fresh-faced and perfectly coiffed! Isn't that why they rapid-cut between footage of her in Japan, France and Mexico in those prime-time specials?  

Am I lonesome tonight? So far from needing the online personals, Taylor Swift has headline-grabbing celebrity love interests on speed dial. Hungry? So far from needing to pick up the phone to have dinner delivered, I imagine that Taylor Swift has a retinue of girls in ball gowns bearing perfectly prepared meals on a silver platter, to be consumed in some lavish setting.

Never mind that I don't want any of these things. Our inner dialogue is surprisingly immune to such facts. My inner dialogue, in particular, seems almost impermeable to reality at times. Reality: Electronic communication, especially across time zones, is new and wonderful and anybody who has any ability to deal effectively with it at all is ahead of the curve. Reality: The sandwich or pizza delivered by Stormin' Norman tastes pretty darn good. Reality: Every person I've known who has substantial worry about whether they are good enough is very, very good.

Editorials: A Mobile Society

I started this train of thought in thinking that perhaps I'd been too hard on my home church, which I visited again last night. Though I no longer agree with their stance on major social issues, they do a good job of dealing with the highly mobile demographic group that they serve. The more I think about it, America's mobility explains almost everything about our society. Indeed, it's extended into the marrow of ideology, politics and religion.

Editorials: November = Coffea in Excelsis

I have to admit being rather fond of this time of year. It's brisk and sometimes even downright cold outside, but the bone-chilling hasn't set in yet. On a weekend, I can take a long walk during the afternoon and early evening without either breaking a sweat or freezing my tail off. The quiet--quantifiable in decibels in the Downtown and Lower East Side--relaxes and focuses me. Coffee tastes better, and coffeehouse experiences lend themselves to be savored more--despite certain marginal conditions. It's regrettable that coffeehouses have turned into de facto co-working offices. I'd rather by at my own workplace. Yesterday, I actually went to a coffeehouse to *talk to* someone, and it was like we were making a big scene. WTF?

Editorial: Black Coffee Friday

Today, I received my very favorite kind of letter in the mail: a letter from Discover card reminding me how much available credit I have. Just in time for Black Friday--and those who know me and/or this blog well will probably be expecting an anti-commercialism rant to mark the day. Far be it from me to disappoint, especially on a holiday weekend! The letter is sent out automatically whenever my balance reaches an unacceptably low level. Without going into numbers, my credit limit on the card would be enough to almost fill a small backyard swimming pool with brewed coffee--albeit McDonald's coffee, not Starbucks--bought cup by cup. (I seem to recall maxing it out pretty much that way--with a much lower debt ceiling--several years ago.)  Thanks for the reminder, Discover! To celebrate, I'm drinking a cappuccino. I even made it a medium. I could only fill a wading pool with the foam-topped stuff.

What's most notable this year is the discord between our economic numbers and the fever pitch of our consumption. Do people go to the office at 10:30 p.m. or midnight to do the next day's work? I'm fascinated by how we, as a society, have decoupled productive work and consumption. And that's not really a knock--I could be consuming on a higher level, but choose not to. So I decouple it on a personal level too.

I cite the swimming pool filled with coffee because it seems about as absurd as anything else I might buy using my credit line. What do I need? What do I want? (Though the cute young girls at my favorite local coffeehouse are reminding me that Botox might be on the list.) Tonight, I'll relax with a beer, a White Owl and a dodgy video on my computer--and I do apologize in advance for that visual. But I figure if you have relatively few vices, have them all at once. The pricetag: only five gallons of coffee. LOL.