Paul Merrill | Shiny Bits of Life

July 8, 2014July 18, 2014

When fantasy does not work

yellow ferrari 458 When I was a teenage boy, my peers had posters of the Lamborghini Countach on their bedroom walls. I had a poster of Eddy Merckx winning the Tour de France on a Gitane bicycle.

Lamborghinis and Ferraris have long been the desire of countless men (and fewer women) worldwide. If you want to buy a new Ferrari, there is an 18-month waiting list, even if you have the money!

But such cars are not the objects of my fantasy. They don’t appeal to me as much as the new Honda Fit. Why? The Fit is attainable. In my wildest dreams, I will never have enough funds to own or lease an Italian supercar. Even if my income increased dramatically, it would take a massive shift in my personal worldview to allow spending that kind of money on pure fun.

Like last week’s post, I do appreciate the art of such beautiful machines. And normal cars benefit from the boundary-stretching work that goes into the creators of supercars pushing the edges of automotive performance.

I find beauty in the simple functionality and efficiency of the Honda Fit. “Doing more with less” describes how the Fit goes about its mission. And it’s fun to drive, as well!

I shot this Ferrari 458 at “my” local Ferrari dealer.

July 1, 2014June 28, 2014

I’m just glad it exists

The Vertu Signature Touch smartphone costs $14,100. It’s incredible that such a thing even exists. But I’m glad.

It’s comforting to know that a few people in the world can experience Vertu’s largest ever ruby button. (I am not sure what it controls – maybe the ejector seat?) And it’s reassuring that one craftsman carries each object d’art from start to finish. (Their signature is on the inside of the battery cover.) However, vegans would not be happy with the seaspray lizard skin and black alligator skin cases. Vertu’s “focus on performance extends to the range of stunning ringtones performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.”

I am not being sarcastic when I say that I’m glad that such a thing exists. Though I honestly think a $649 (£549) iPhone is better in almost every way,* the fact that people are willing to spend their excess funds on such an obsessed-over creation is amazing. Somehow the ultra-fringe is appealing to me. Though I would not want a Vertu Signature Touch, even if it were given to me, I’m glad it’s out there. I picture a Vertu craftsman working away in a dim-lit basement in the depths of rural England, smoking a Meerschaum, whilst listening to Benjamin Britten. It’s comforting.

* 1) I think the Apple OS ecosystem is better than the Vertu’s Android ecosystem. 2) Even though the per-unit expenses involved in the Vertu Signature Touch project are far more than that of the iPhone, the amount of development hours and design time that went into the iPhone is vastly more than what was invested in the Vertu. This is similar to why the navigation system on a Ferrari is not nearly as good as that of a luxury Toyota. 3) An object’s rarity does not automatically equal it being the best in its class.

If you want to learn more, you can download the brochure.

June 24, 2014June 23, 2014

Secret combination

rexona soap from kenya Almost twenty years ago, Heather and I lived with a very gracious family in rural Kenya, for two weeks. Learning how real people lived was part of a training program to orient us to life there. (We went on to live in East Africa for five years.)

Peter, our main host, was on break from college. He served as our translator and cultural broker, fluently speaking English, Kikamba and Swahili. He loved to listen to Kenyan radio, powered by a large car battery. I will never forget the Rexona commercials. We heard them every morning, whether we wanted to or not – the walls weren’t very thick.

The commercial was totally in Swahili – except for the slogan, “Rexona – Secret Combination!” Rexona was a brand of soap, with touted qualities to make your skin amazing. The “R” at the front of the phrase was always trilled.

Why do I bring this up? Food Babe got Budweiser to list their popular beer’s ingredients for the first time. Rice might not be on the top of everyone’s list for what makes a quality beer, but then again, Budweiser is probably not on the top of everyone’s list as being a quality beer.

Mystery in ingredients can be a good thing or a bad thing. For Rexona, it was good. For Budweiser, maybe not so good.

June 17, 2014June 14, 2014

Intentionally blank

We’ve all received documents in the mail that have “This page intentionally left blank” printed on one side.

That’s a beautiful reflection of some of the things that are wrong with American culture. My guess is that some team of lawyers made a bunch of money through a successful lawsuit against a company that caused deep emotional harm to an individual because they didn’t know that one blank page in their mortgage documents was supposed to be blank.

All that toner. All that time going through laser printers. And all those happy lawyers.

(Don’t get me wrong – I’m not against lawyers. But sometimes it’s just too much.)

June 4, 2014

You gotta live

I put up a question on Facebook recently about soy. I wondered why it was considered bad. That post received 28 comments! A lot of people care about soy.*

cup I love coffee. How does that relate to soy? Well, I know that coffee has caffeine, which is known to cause problems for people with heart problems. My mother and several uncles died of heart-related problems. So if I were purely logical, I would quit drinking coffee. But I love the taste of a fresh hot cup of fine coffee each morning. I’m willing to lose a few months of my life for the minor thrill of coffee.

Soy is not a great source of pleasure to me, so it’s not hard for me to skip buying soy snacks. But I’m not going to carefully read each label before I buy a product to see if it has soy. I’m willing to take the minor risks associated with eating more liberally to avoid the hassle of reading every label when I go shopping – or insisting that other members of my family who do grocery shopping for my family do the same.

Having said that, I do not condemn those who are careful label readers or non-allergy soy avoiders. I understand that you have to live your life too. and I greatly appreciate that many people care about such things, or we would all be consuming food that is a lot less healthy than what we are.

*If you don’t know about why some people consider soy to be bad, you’ll have to visit my Facebook page. And you’ll have to be a Facebook user to see that post.

May 27, 2014May 27, 2014

Filters

drip coffee filter Filters help us relate to other people. When we see someone with their hair messed up (and not on purpose), do we tell them about their problem or keep it to ourselves? Do we share our political views without considering the majority perspective of those in the room? When we see something wrong, do we speak up and fight for what we feel is right?

Everyone falls somewhere on the scale of having a weak filter (readily saying what’s on our minds) to having a powerful filter (rarely saying anything). And it’s good that both types exist. If confronting people didn’t exist, nothing would ever get done. (And there would be a lot of mismatched outfits). If sensitive types didn’t exist, there would be a lot more wars.

I am glad for the diversity of creation.

Special thanks to my brother Bill. Our brief discussion of filters during his recent visit spurred this post.

May 13, 2014May 11, 2014

The Death Star

Every day I pass the Death Star. At least that’s what I call it. It’s an outdoor sculpture along one of the office-lined roads of Greenwood Village – part of The Tech Center, a section of suburban Denver with a ton of corporate offices. Specifically, it is in front of an expensive private fitness center.

There is no prominent plaque describing the sculpture or naming the artist. So I am sticking with, “The Death Star.”

Public art is one of those things that often defies logic. In this instance, I’m not sure how a large disc that is disintegrating – or partially destroyed – relates to corporate office parks. But apparently a decision-making committee did.

May 6, 2014May 4, 2014

The bass in the basement

basement-closet Every Sunday they played so well. Sometimes the music touched my soul so much that I cried.

We were part of a church in Oxford, England called St Aldate’s. One Sunday, on the way home after church, I told Heather than I wanted to play the bass. I have always been able to hum the bass line in my head. I played violin in elementary and middle school. My sister is a professional musician. My dad could pick up any instrument and create music in less than an hour.

We returned to live in the States, and Heather bought me a bass, an amplifier, and a few learning videos – including one by a favorite bassist, Abraham Laboriel. I spent a little time trying to learn to play. It was not as easy as I hoped. I tucked the bass in a corner. A year later, the bass went into the basement closet. Two years later, I sold it.

Seeing the bass in the basement became a guilt trip for me. Heather bugged me to wipe the dust off and give it another try. We finally realized it was not going to happen, and I admitted defeat.

Selling that bass was a freeing experience. So maybe if you let go, you will find freedom. But maybe it’s worth fighting till you win.

Footnote: There is no period – or full stop – after the “t” in St.” That’s just how they spell it in England.

April 29, 2014April 27, 2014

I will not lie for you

Blu e-cigarette ad It is amazing to think that electronic cigarettes will allow you to take your freedom back. Nicotine addiction is a prison, of sorts. Yes, e-cigarettes will allow you to smoke in public (though that is being debated). They will allow you to have freedom from the poisons of tar and some of the other harmful toxins in tobacco smoke. But are they a path to freedom? I don’t think so.

I’m not here to tell you that tobacco is evil. I know it brings pleasure – and yet it kills you. My coffee each morning is laced with a minor toxin, caffeine. And since my mother and several of her brothers died from heart diseases, if I were only concerned about my health, I would kick that habit. Alas, I choose pleasure.

What I am here to say is that if I have a choice, I will not spend my hours marketing something that I could not sell to a friend. I also know that not everyone has the luxury of choosing how they spend their working hours. And I do not condemn those who spend their hours working on something they don’t totally believe in. As a friend said a long time ago, “Why do you think they call it work?”

If you are curious, I do spend my working hours on stuff I believe in. And I definitely consider that to be a privilege.

(And the title of this post was inspired by a song by James Taylor.)