Posts made in March, 2015

After my first post on Made In USA, a reader sent an email to point me at a local company (local meaning with a shop in San Francisco) making hoodies, vest, and other nice apparel for the same price as the Gap. So I ordered one of their hoodies and I was again pleasantly surprised by the quality, the feel and the softness of the garment. The company is American Giant and has factory in South San Francisco and in North Carolina. There is a level of attention to details that is quite nice, especially for $90 hoodie. The zippers are metal zippers, not the cheap plastic ones. There is a metal loop where the string for the hoodie goes. And a very discreet logo. The making of this hoodie: The best part is you can get 15% discount at American Giant by using this link....

Up to this point, we had done a fairly standard Burma trip. Two destinations on our itinerary were off the beaten path. First, on our way to Inke Lake we stopped for one day and one night in Pindaya. The second one was the Kyaiktiyo pagoda also known as Golden Rock, which was an extra two days trip after coming back to Rangoon. Based on my previous post about the food and the lodging you could think it was a luxury trip (and it was) but these two locations were a little to a lot more basic in the food and accommodation. Pindaya The attraction of Pindaya are the caves that are filled with buddhas. On our way to the airport, we stopped on the side of the road to take pictures of the low fog in the Mandalay valley. Pindaya is a small town and after visiting the...

Did you see the full moon yesterday? This month, the moon was rising over the Coit Tower in San Francisco. The ideal point was between Lombart St. and Chestnut St. Unfortunately there is no open view between those two streets, buildings are lining up the streets and keeping the view for themselves. I got on top of Lombart right before sunset. The cable car stops right here, with the gold light of the sunset it was great, candid shot. Even the Coit tower was basked in warm light, but I was looking for a better location. I could not find any, so I went back to Lombart St. and found a spot that was the closest to buildings as possible, while still having a view. When the moon rose, it was on the left of the tower but too close to the tower. This confirmed what I...

A couple years ago, I started to be aware of our reliance on cheap, imported products. I was getting concerned that nothing was Made in USA anymore. For me, Made in USA is synonym of quality goods. Remember those Levis jeans Made in USA that would last years. I think I’m part of the problem (or least I as a consumer). Who doesn’t like low prices on any products, and imported products let you stretch those dollars further. That’s a vicious circle, we prefer to buy cheap imported products, the manufacturer notices this, relocates overseas to make cheaper products, everyone wins. Not really, so a couple years ago I made the decision to buy preferably Made in USA products. Some of those products are really hard to find, therefore I have decided to...