Unconsumed holidays

Word on the street is that with the supposed Trump tariffs looming on goods made in China, people should buy what they need now to save a buck or two. If you’ve been eyeing a dishwasher upgrade and the thing is Chinese made, time to buy yourself a Christmas present.

Anecdotally, sales representatives have warned us at work to put in big orders now, should the tariffs come into fruition, and suddenly that batch of laptops is now 20% dearer in price. I’m sure the representative has an incentive to sell as much as possible before the end of the year for that bonus. That said, our university is not exactly loaded with cash, so any savings on bulk purchases is not nothing.

Maybe Trump is playing 4D chess: threatens tariffs, inadvertently causes the biggest holiday buying season of all time.

It may be the most wonderful time of the year in terms of weather and atmosphere, but the blatant and rampant consumerism of the holidays is kind of disgusting. The combination of Black Friday and present shopping is both a financial burden and environmentally unfriendly. The endless shipping boxes and the energy it takes to get them to customers.

I’m glad my friend group do not have holiday gifting culture. And even if we did, I’d buy everybody stuff they’d actually use. Like toilet paper, or a pack of USDA Prime beef. The last thing I need more of are items that just sits on a shelf to look nice. It would go straight to the trash bin if and when I ever move home again.

Good news: I saved 100% by buying nothing!

Take me out.

A billionaire pays off some students' loans

A notable bit of news out of this past weekend was the Morehouse college commencement speaker announcing to the graduating class he’s going to pay off the entirety of their student loans. The final bill is estimated to be around 40 million dollars for the nearly 400 students, a princely sum that’s but a drop in the bucket for the billionaire Robert Smith, not to mention it’s likely tax-deductible.

A grand gesture, nonetheless, and for the 2019 Morehouse graduating class, the most welcome of reprieves as they embark on the next stage of their lives.

How much are you kicking yourself if you’re the Morehouse student who missed graduating this year by a few units, or busted your ass to graduate a year early and missed the opportunity at this tremendous gift? Also, whoever’s commencement speaker for the college next year is going to be put in a very tough position (“Sorry, class, I am not going to pay off your loans. Good day!”). Indeed, not just anybody can hand out eight-figure sums with relative impunity.

Someone ought to do a study of these lucky graduates on how this loan forgiveness will impact their future success compared to previous classes that aren’t as fortunate to receive such largess. I’d bet the blank state would prove quite significant a factor.  

Anyways, a billionaire paying off student loans: isn’t this exactly what’s being bandied about by the likes of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, only on a grander scale? Tax the billionaires to raise revenue and forgive all of the outstanding student loan debt. I do wonder what the Venn diagram look like of people who are applauding Smith’s actions and people who are against the federal government – via taxing the ultra-rich – paying out student loans.

My position on this is the government can do what it wants as long as it’s not using my particular tax money, though I wouldn’t necessary vote for the affirmative on student loan forgiveness; I literally have zero skin in the game. I never had student loans, and I’m definitely not in the tax bracket to be affected by the tax increase.  

But that raises a question: if people with student loans are getting bailed out, shouldn’t people like me who graduated college without being saddle with them get something as well? I mean, I could’ve taken out loans as well; and had I known beforehand it’d be forgiven a decade down the road, I’d most certainly would have. I think it’s only fair the government forgive my other types of loans, like the car note on the 911…

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The hottest new item at Trader Joes.

Making of the calendars

It’s getting to be that time of the year when people agonize over what presents to buy to gift to friends and family. It’s also that time of the year when people procrastinate until the very final Friday before Christmas. It’s why I never visit malls - or even go outside - on that particular weekend: too much frantic, too much mayhem. The danger of an unsuspecting driver too worried about finishing his errands crashing into my car in a parking structure is immensely high.

Best to avoid all that.

In fact I avoid holiday shopping entirely by getting (making) the same present for everyone: a bespoke calendar for the following year, using the photographs I’ve taken in the current year. My friends receive something uniquely special and useful, and I save lots of money because each calendar only costs 20 bucks.

In the past fews years I’ve done this through Apple’s Photos app, utilizing their official printing service. The results are typically Apple, which is to say amazing and proper quality. Unfortunately, this year there’s a bit of hiccup: Apple for some reason have decided to end its photo printing products operation. What a shame; I guess the scale wasn’t enough for a company that sells iPhones in the billions of dollars.

So for those dozens (?) of users, we are relegated to using third-party companies. Two of those - Mimeo and Motif - provide an extension that integrates with the Photos app and offers a convincing facsimile of the discontinued official product. To produce my calendars this year I chose Mimeo, primarily because for first time users there’s a 20% discount. I’m actively saving up for an 911 so every single cent counts massively.

Having since received the calendars, I have to say the quality is surprisingly good. It’s not to the levels of Apple where the font design and layout of the dates is more clean and carries a simplicity, but where it counts the most - the pictures, Mimeo does the job well.

I do still miss the Apple version, but I’m glad there’s viable replacements readily available.

A study in uniformity and scale.