Posts for Tag: douche bags

Latte/Cappuccino art and why it's like a bowl with no brown M&M's

Just the other day, someone I know was giving me grief over where I buy my coffee.  The word "douche bag" was used at some point which is fine with me.  I've come to realize that some of the things I enjoy are also enjoyed by the "bags of douche".  Does that make me a douche bag?  Maybe, but that's a subject for another time.  Back to coffee, the fact that Blue Bottle baristas create a nice little piece of latte/cap art was pointed as a sign of ultimate douche-baggery.  But I think people miss the point of why the art is there.  It's not to heighten my enjoyment of the coffee.  It would taste exactly the same whether the art was there or not.  However, it is an indicator that the barista who took the time to learn how to make the art most likely also took the time to learn how to pull a good shot of espresso, steam milk properly, etc.  Most importantly, the fact that Blue Bottle is obsessive enough about coffee to have their baristas learn how to make art means they are also obsessive about the quality of the coffee they source, roast and serve.

It reminds me of the story regarding Van Halen and the infamous bowl of no brown M&M's.  The larger than life rockers were known for their eccentric rocker habits and even wrote into their contracts that one of the requirements the venue provider had to have was a bowl of M&M's in the dressing room with every brown M&M removed or the contract would be voided with full payment due to the band.  Crazy?  Well actually not really.  The band used the brown M&M's as an indicator of whether the venue provider actually read every detail of the contract.  If they failed to notice a small clause like that, what else would they have missed?  Security requirements?  Sufficient power for all the equipment?  Whether their stage could support the weight of the band's lighting equipment, etc?  And more often than not, if they went into the dressing room and saw a bowl of M&M's with the brown ones still included (or no bowl at all), there would also be something much more critical that was overlooked.  In one case, the floor collapsed because the venue provider didn't read the section that showed what Van Halen's stage equipment weighed and that they needed to sufficiently prepare their floor to support it.   

I'm not saying that every place that serves coffee with some art on the top is a great coffee place but based on experience, I've gotten far fewer bad cups of coffee from places that make their caps/lattes with the art versus places that don't.  As with all things, your mileage will vary but next time you see a barista hastily pour steamed milk into your espresso, ask yourself what else she hastily did when making your drink.

Honda’s U3-X - Useful and you don't look like a douche

Saw this over at Crunchgear. Amazing product with real-world potential. Small, light, and actually inconspicuous enough. Not sure how much it costs but don't think it looks to be that expensive. Plus, if it's targeted to the people who have real physical disabilities, it might be covered by insurance.

I have always had a great disdain for the Segway. I think it's a pretty useless product that got way more hype than it deserved. The fact that it's been relegated to irrelevance proves my point. Big, bulky, expensive, and more of a status symbol than an actual product. It just screams - LOOK AT ME! PAY ATTENTION TO ME! Case in point, the Woz. I don't know what it is exactly but every time I see someone on a Segway, I want to just punch them in the face.

The dot com douche bags

Just read this story over at TechCrunch. Though the gist of it is technically more about file sharing and the music industry, it reminded me of the old days of 1999-2001 when all the dot-com douche bags (myself included) would cram into SOMA bars and think they were the kings/queens of the world. I distinctly remember a confrontation when one group of folks from Start Up A was monopolizing bar space and a group from Start Up B were trying to order drinks. As expected a little pushing and shoving match ensued with the requisite "Do you know where we work?" and "We're gonna buy this place!" was thrown around. Basically, young knuckle heads with too much money and too few failures in their young careers to know any better. A scant year or two later and most of them probably were unemployed. Another conversation I overheard was where a guy was talking about jumping to another start up only 3 months after joining his current one. His friend was saying "Do it man! That place is gonna take off! Take less money and get more equity. It's all about the equity man!" It was definitely a sign of the times.
 
As we have gone through one dot com implosion and are currently in the midst of a major recession, the number of young start ups has definitely diminished. Plus the fact that most start ups aren't getting monster investments and hiring just for the sake of hiring. The people who work at start ups today do it because they prefer to work in that environment versus trying to make a quick buck (believe me, there are far easier ways to make money than working at a web start up). This culling of the herd has definitely reduced the number of douche bags I see in the industry. But as the old adage goes, a douche bag never thinks he/she is a douche bag. Maybe someone is reading this and thinking, "This guy is such a douche bag." Wouldn't be my first time.

An evening at Santana Row

We were visiting friends yesterday in the South Bay for dinner and a movie. We ended up hanging out at Santana Row before the movie (specifically for Pink Berry). I'm actually quite amazed at how many people were there eating, drinking, shopping, etc. Guess the recession hasn't really hit Santana Row that much. I've noticed attendance at other mix-use malls like Emeryville's Bay Street has gone down compared to a few years ago.
 
I was thinking how much this place reminded me of a Vegas theme hotel, specifically the Venetian. Maybe it was the live music, the promenade, or the formulaic restaurant/bar/clubs. Actually, it was probably all the girls in skimpy dresses sloppily/drunkenly coming out of the bars.