New Hardware

Over the past several months, we've been making some hardware upgrades here at SAR Studios (a wholly owned subsidiary of Chaos Productions Ltd.*), in order to serve you ourselves better. I've been fortunate that I have not had to deal with any significant computer issues, as some of my friends have. But as time passes, even solid equipment can become obsolete.

For most of last year I was hounded by my cable company (whose name rhymes with Bombast) about my cable modem, which was at least a decade old. I was warned repeatedly that my modem had reached "end of life" status. What that meant, exactly, was not clear; it still worked, but there was an ominous suggestion that there would come a time when the company might no longer support it. I had chosen to purchase the modem in order to avoid an indefinite monthly fee, so it was up to me to acquire a replacement.

I'd happened to read an article on The Wirecutter (a useful and highly recommended site) on this very topic, and based on their advice I decided to purchase what was basically a several-generations-newer version of what I had. The going price at the time was around $90, but in September I was able to purchase a refurbished model for $50, which was more in line with what I wanted to spend.

The next step was my wireless router, which I'd had at least as long as the cable modem, or maybe even longer. All the devices we're using on our wireless network are capable of faster speeds than the router could provide, so a couple of months later I found another deal on an Apple AirPort base station (what Apple insists on calling its routers). Replacing a router in an existing home network is a bit further beyond the level of tech stuff than what I'm used to, so I invoked the assistance of my old college friend Dr. Hackenbush, who resides far from here in a land of pickup trucks and guns. Through the miracle of FaceTime he was able to guide me through the process (thanks again, Dr. H!), and I had the network cruising along again in a couple of hours.

That left my computer, an iMac with a 24" screen. It dated to 2008, and it had been my work computer until I left my job in 2012 (don't worry, we were allowed to take them with us as a "parting gift" of sorts). One of the first improvements one can make to an older computer is to add RAM. The iMac had 4 gigabytes of RAM out of a possible 6; why it wasn't built to allow expansion up to 8 is a question only Apple can answer, but it did not seem worth it to add only 2 more gigs.

New iMacs and Mac minis no longer have the option to add RAM after you've purchased the computer; you have to buy what you think you'll need, or risk having programs run more and more slowly years down the road. Of course, Apple charges a premium for this: to double the RAM in a new Mac from 8 gb to 16 adds $200. I found a new, unsold 2013 iMac, the last model with user-upgradeable RAM, that also had the latest, fastest wi-fi standard that my new router supports, along with a faster-spinning hard drive and the larger 27" screen size I wanted. That ended up being my Christmas present to myself. Doubling the RAM and installing it myself was $45 instead of $200.

Next time, I'll tell you about what happens when you move from an older Mac to a newer one, or rather, what's supposed to happen.

(*Those of you who have known me the longest will likely recall the genesis of the Chaos brand; no slight is meant to any other readers, and perhaps I'll go into some details and dig into the "archives" at some point.)

Grooming Garage: Bonus Buy

It seems a little silly to get excited about value-size packages of stuff I need, but some things (in my opinion) just cost too much. I've been using Schick Hydro 5 razor cartridges for a while now, and even though Schick has a far smaller percentage of the razor market than Gillette, they decided that they were going to price their products like Gillette does. So I've typically been paying $12 to $14 for a package of four cartridges, which strikes me as borderline outrageous, but unfortunately my face is so sensitive that I can't cheap out and buy store-brand blades, or any similar strategy—too risky.

Schick runs coupons in the Sunday papers pretty regularly, typically offering $2 or $3 off cartridges, but you rarely see them at an actually reduced sale price, but CVS sometimes offers $10 in "Extra Bucks" if you spend $25 on Schick products, so I have taken advantage of that in the past.

But recently I noticed that stores like Target are carrying a package of 12 Hydro 5 cartridges, priced at $31.49. That's a Costco-sized package. I haven't been to Costco in a while (I let our membership lapse to save some money) so I don't know if they are carrying Schick products now, but they didn't before. (Maybe one of the other warehouse clubs does?) Also, some of the packages have two extra "bonus" cartridges.

Careful shopping can combine a bonus package and a higher-value coupon; I had one for $4 off that was expiring this weekend, so yesterday after work I made my way to Target and got a bonus pack of 14 cartridges for $27.49 plus tax, which works out to about $2 a cartridge.

I want to track how long this package lasts. I estimate I won't need to buy cartridges again for a year, plus I have 3/4 of my previous package remaining. I typically shave only twice a week, and I can usually get about a month out of one cartridge.

Adventures in Consumer Electronics, Part 3: Untangling the Cords

When my TiVo failed, I lived a non-DVR existence by default for three weeks or so, like we all did back before these things existed. (Well, of course there was the VCR, but I doubt anyone is longing to go back to the days of that medium, recording shows on tape and trying to make sure you didn't accidentally record over something you hadn't watched yet.)

At that point I considered the idea of giving up cable TV and having only internet service. The phrase "cord-cutter" has been popularized by the media, but it's inaccurate because even if you choose to watch TV programming solely via a computer, you still need internet access, and that is usually supplied by the same provider as your TV service.

You can get an Apple TV and use it in conjunction with your iTunes account, buying season passes to only the shows you want to watch. You can also use an iPad or iPhone with AirPlay and an Apple TV to send content from a web browser (like current TV shows on Hulu or one of the networks' own sites) to a larger screen, like your TV.

But the availability of that type of content online is still frustratingly inconsistent, and access to a lot of it still requires logging in to verify that you have a cable subscription. It's complicated, even to watch a show on your computer that you missed or want to catch up on. And I'm not even the sort of person who puts on the TV and flips around to see what's on. Eventually I realized that I'm just much too accustomed to and entrenched in the habit of using a DVR to record, store, and keep track of what I want to watch.

The key piece that's missing is having web access built into the TV itself. It's surprising that Apple has not yet offered an Apple TV with a built-in browser. (I know it's possible to hack an Apple TV to add a browser, but that's not a mainstream solution.) Why hasn't this happened? It's right there, just out of reach. As I said to a friend, it seems very hard to believe that we're 20 years into the internet era and there is still no genuine, legitimate convergence between the web and TV, something that was being promised almost from the birth of the web. That feels like a huge missed opportunity.

I've also been hoping that the advent of solid state hard drives would enable companies like TiVo to be able to build and offer a next generation of DVRs that don't need traditional spinning hard drives, which would likely enable such devices to last much, much longer. In the absence of a converged TV (or attachment like Apple TV) with a web browser built in, a DVR with an SSD seems like a decent consolation prize.

Adventures in Consumer Electronics, Part 2: We Can Rebuild It

The TiVo model I have came out in 2009, so there was a reasonable argument for upgrading to the newest model, which has four tuners (I can't imagine needing to record that many shows at the same time, but you might be recording two shows and still want to watch something else) and much more standard storage capacity. At the moment TiVo is selling that model starting at $200 for the device, plus you then have to purchase service for the device from TiVo (pretty clever business model), which costs $15 a month if you choose to pay for it monthly, $150 annually, or $500 for "product lifetime service" which covers the life of the device. There are also some current deals on refurbished products; you can get the basic model DVR (which is perfectly well feature-filled for most people) with the same one-year warranty as a new model for $50, and product lifetime service for $350.

$400 is still a chunk of money, and since I've only just gone back to work, I didn't want to have to spend that much if I didn't have to, so I decided to look into getting a new drive. A google search led me to Fix my TiVo, which has lots of troubleshooting information (sometimes the units can be revived) and links to companies that sell replacement hard drives. One of these sites has its hard drive replacement instructions online, and a look at those convinced me I could handle the swap. (For those who are not comfortable undertaking such projects, that company also offers replacement service: you box up your unit and ship it to them, and for an additional $50 they install the new drive for you and ship the unit back.)

I purchased a 1-terabyte drive (much more capacity than I had previously) and it arrived in two days via Priority Mail. A printed instruction sheet was included, along with the two Torx (hex-shape) wrenches needed to open the unit and remove the hard drive bracket. The whole process took me about half an hour total, and I was moving slowly to make sure I got it right and didn't damage anything in the process. There's no soldering required, because the wires attach to the drive via a small connector that snaps into the back.

The whole procedure was very easy, and required only the ability to follow directions, a modicum of dexterity (one of the screws is a bit tricky to get back into its hole), and enough common sense to avoid touching things that shouldn't be touched (the power supply). Total cost to me was less than $150. A smaller drive is available (500 gigabytes) though it's only $20 less, but if you're really trying to do the swap as cheaply as possible, that would be the way to go. Drives are also available for other TiVo models, and some of those cost slightly less.

The key thing to know about doing a TiVo hard drive swap is that it does not affect a device's product lifetime service status. When you reconnect the unit after replacing the drive, you have to go through the setup process as if you had a new device, but as far as TiVo is concerned it's the same unit you've had. So my revived TiVo is not their latest and greatest model, but it suits my needs, and if it lasts me another four or five years I will consider that a pretty good value. By then I'm hoping we won't need DVRs anymore; tomorrow I'll have a few more things to say about other TV-accessing devices and the state of TV services.

Adventures in Consumer Electronics, Part 1: It's Dead. Again.

I recently endured another TiVo failure, though this time it was much more of a drawn-out process rather than a single catastrophic event. The most common problem with DVRs is hard drive failure, since the drive is working pretty much all the time, even if you are watching live TV and not recording anything else, and even, to an extent, when the DVR is "turned off."

So the drive failed, but in this instance I knew it was coming for months, because we were having random problems with recordings. The image would freeze, and then sometimes pixelate as the DVR tried to move past the problem spot. At first these were minor issues, and in some cases we could escape from them by fast-forwarding a little.

But as the weeks went by the instances got more frequent and more serious, to the point where the TiVo would have to restart itself, a process which takes at least five minutes. Also, if a show we were watching got "stuck" while we were recording another show, the recording in progress would also be ruined. Eventually we could not even watch live TV for more than 10 minutes or so before the bad hard drive caused shows to stutter and then freeze, leading to an eventual reboot. We even had to unplug it in order to keep it from continuously trying to reboot itself. Needless to say, the unwatched recordings on the drive were lost to us.

When the hard drive fails, there are two options: get a new unit, or replace the drive in the existing unit. Tomorrow I will explore those in more detail.

Fuzzy Cell Plan Logic

In trying to cut back on some of the household expenses, I have been looking at ways to potentially lower our cell phone and cable bills. Saving money on TV and internet likely means switching providers, and I have no particular love for Comcast so if that's what it takes, it won't bother me much.

I am rather reluctant to switch cell phone companies for a few reasons: inertia (it's easier to stay with Verizon); the network tends to perform better, with certain exceptions; my extreme dislike of AT&T. But the incessant ads proclaiming that Sprint or T-Mobile or whoever will pay off the early termination fees, and the lure of a new phone, led me to at least size up what others are offering and what it would cost.

It also led me to look at my account info on Verizon's website, which showed me that in any given billing period I have never used more than half of the data allowance I pay for, so at the very least I ought to be able to lower that and save a few dollars a month. I was also curious about the "More Everything" plan that Verizon has been offering, so after doing some inconclusive calculations online I called customer service to get answers from a human.

The lure of More Everything is that there are no limits on calling minutes or texts per billing period. We don't use a lot of phone minutes but currently I pay $5 a month for 250 texts on the Mrs.'s line, and on occasion she gets close to that limit, so it would be nice not to have to keep track of that anymore. (Most competitors' plans also offer unlimited talk and text.) But with three lines (my mother is also on our plan) and my current amount of smartphone data on one line for me, More Everything ends up costing a few dollars more per month. If I cut back the data to 1 gigabyte it would be a few dollars less, not what I consider a significant savings.

And what's worse is, if I configure the plan as though I were a new customer, it's about $15 less a month. This is not surprising, as these days there isn't as much growth in users as there was a decade ago, so cell phone companies fight each other for new customers, many of whom are switching away from a rival. Apparently, pleasing new customers is more of a priority than keeping existing customers satisfied, and this will certainly factor into my eventual decision.

More or Less

I enjoy my tech gadgets, but I'm not usually the person who has to have the thing before everyone else. When I get a new phone, I don't load up on all the extras at the phone store. I prefer to wait and see what my needs are, and maybe I'll happen to read about an interesting product that's being funded through Kickstarter (which is how I ended up with my Elevation Dock).

I've never had a car charger for my iPhone. I don't drive, and most of the time we're in the car, we aren't going more than a few miles from home, and I don't use the phone to stream music or anything like that. But lately I've noticed that using Google Maps in the car, even just to check traffic conditions, puts a heavy drain on the phone's battery, and during our last couple of overnight trips to Rhode Island my battery was below 15% by the time we got home, so I thought it might be a good idea to get a car charger.

I figured the Apple-branded charger would be overpriced and I wasn't wrong, so I started looking at some of the other accessory brands that have been making Apple-compatible products for a while. I looked through some products when I happened to be at a Staples and found that most of the car chargers they were selling were priced at $25 to $30. I didn't want to buy a no-name piece of junk, but I didn't want to spend that much if I could avoid it.

I looked through some websites and noticed that Target was offering free shipping on any order. They had a Belkin charger for $13 but it was sold out online. I could order it to pick up at a store but the one closest to us didn't have them in stock, so I chose the store in Somerville near Union Square since I could get there on my own without too much difficulty.

When I went to the store yesterday I needed to get a couple of other things, and before going to pay I happened to pass the area with iPhone accessories. I was very surprised to see that the item I ordered was priced at $34.99. I'd already paid for mine online and it was being held for me at customer service, but if I'd just decided to go to the store without looking online first, I never would have known about the lower price.

It's surprising that this far into the life of the internet and the maturity of e-commerce this kind of pricing disparity still comes up as often as it does. You should never assume that in-store prices and online prices will match, and you also can't assume that one will consistently be lower than the other.

Black Thursday?

Here it is Halloween, and I'm going to talk about Black Friday. Again. By now you've probably heard that Macy's is planning to open its stores at 6 pm on Thanksgiving, and that yesterday Kohl's announced that their stores will be opening at the same time, and staying open straight through until 10 pm Friday night.

Gee, if that's the case then why close at all? Why not just be open 24/7 all the way through Christmas Eve? Well, there's a Kohl's store in my city, and I just read that the company petitioned the city council for permission to remain open around the clock on up to ten days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. (I don't yet know if the city council granted permission.)

I'm here to encourage you to avoid this nonsense. Instead, consider shopping at stores that have enough respect for their employees that they choose to remain closed on Thanksgiving. You may not think spending a holiday with your family is ideal, but thousands of retail workers would like to do so. Nordstrom has been a longstanding adherent to not opening on Thanksgiving, and they are joined by Saks Fifth Avenue, Costco, Marshalls and TJ Maxx, and Dillard's.

I don't expect a reversal of recent Black Friday creep, but you can at least make an effort to support those retailers that are trying to hold the line on this foolishness. At least here in Massachusetts we have things called "blue laws," a vestige of our Puritan founders, that prevent stores from being open on Thanksgiving at all. So that's something.

Beer Math

Normally I buy a case of Narragansett "tallboys" about once a month, but funds are tight so I've had to look to less expensive alternatives. However, I still have standards. I can't stand PBR and I'd rather drink tap water than anything from Anheuser-Busch (and Bud's not that cheap around here anyway). I used to like Rolling Rock but since A-B bought them, I drifted away. (I seem to recall that it's kind of sweet compared to most other beers.)

I will drink Miller High Life, though I hadn't had one in probably 20 years. The first bar I frequented with any regularity in college sold bottles of Miller for $1.10 each in the mid-'80s. As long as it's cold enough, it tastes fine.

When you get into the lower-priced beers there's some strange math at work. There are standard cases, but there also things like 18-packs of 12-ounce bottles and 30-packs of 12-ounce cans. (I think the idea is that the people who buy these block-packs of beer will consume all of it with their friends within a few hours, but who really knows?) I also noticed that brands that offer 16-ounce cans tend to package them only in six-packs and not in any of these other quantities.

We have two large liquor stores in town that devote significant floor space to beer and carry many different permutations of packaging from the major brands, so I spent some time reading signs. I discovered that I could get an 18-pack of Miller for $12 plus deposit, compared to $20 plus deposit for the case of 'Gansett. But those are 16-ounce cans, which is where this gets really fuzzy. I decided I just needed to think of a single can or bottle of beer as a serving regardless of its size.

Then I went to the other big store and saw that I could get the 18-pack of Miller for $10 plus deposit, but only in bottles. After having had High Life in both cans and bottles, I think it tastes better in bottles. Canned beer doesn't taste metallic like it used to thanks to the modern advance of can lining, but something about canned Miller doesn't taste quite right. (This is not true of 'Gansett, so maybe their cans are lined with something different.)

Awareness Is Important

I don't want to bum anyone out as we head into a long holiday weekend, but sometimes serious things need to be considered. As so often happens online, I was looking at something that led me to something else, which is how I became aware of a smartphone app called Cruelty Cutter. Scan a product's bar code and the app tells you whether or not the company tests on animals.

I admit this is a concern that has not been on my radar. I try to be aware of companies' ethical policies and environmental records, but I hadn't given any thought to animal testing, and as a dog owner I definitely should be. We rescued a dog that was raced, but thousands of other dogs suffer more unpleasant conditions for the benefit of corporate profits.

The app's web page has a graphic showing over 60 companies that do test on animals. Unsurprisingly, some of the largest consumer-product companies in the world are listed; chances are there's something in your house that was tested on animals. There are a couple of surprises here: I always thought of Neutrogena as a company with higher principles. And I certainly raised an eyebrow at Iams, a PET FOOD company, but then I learned it's part of Procter & Gamble, which made it less surprising.

Naturally this prompted a review of the products we buy and use. We have Arm & Hammer laundry detergent and toothpaste, and Lysol cleaning products; I use Old Spice antiperspirant and shower soap and Listerine breath strips. In some cases I buy the generic equivalent of a product (Target's mouthwash is less than half the price of Listerine), but I don't yet know if it's cruelty-free or not. Sometimes generics are manufactured in the same factories as the branded products using the same ingredients.

With most of these products, we can make or already have made a substitution. The main issue from a consumer point of view is that in most cases it ends up costing more. Target carries Seventh Generation products at much better prices than Whole Foods or anywhere else I've seen them. A few months ago we decided to try 7G's dish soap because we had a coupon. It lasts just as long and works just as well as whatever we were buying before, so we have continued to buy it. Trader Joe's now has its own-brand equivalent to Tom's toothpaste that is cheaper.

We have a large quantity of Arm & Hammer laundry detergent because it's frequently on sale; recently, by using a coupon during a sale at Stop & Shop, I was able to get two bottles of it for $1. But there will come a point when we need to buy more, and there are options: Seventh Generation and Method, though both of those are more costly. Costco's Kirkland line is much more economical, but I'll need to check it with the app.

I also need to find substitutes for my soap and antiperspirant. For a long time Tom's offered only deodorants, but now they have an antiperspirant, and it's available unscented, so I will be trying that soon. I've bought Target's shower soap many times, but again I will need to check it with the app. Zest is another possibility. Oh, and there's also the Listerine breath strips, which I find much more convenient to carry than mints. There are generic equivalents, but they taste terrible.

There are a couple of important takeaways here: marketing is both pervasive and insidious, and companies are not going to make consumers aware of information that they would rather we not know; it's up to us to find out. I'm not trying to make anyone feel guilty about the products you buy and use, but I sincerely hope you will give this issue some thought.

Addendum: I should note that the Cruelty Cutter app is $2.99, but purchasing it helps fund the not-for-profit Beagle Freedom Project.

Price Difference

I had never purchased Pepcid, the acid-control medication, until our vet suggested that it can function as an appetite stimulant in some dogs. It does seem to be working, at least mildly, so we'll keep giving it to the dog.

We finished the box of 30 tablets we bought a month ago, so today I went to get more. I discovered that the CVS-brand generic equivalent costs $8.79 for 30 10-milligram tablets, while the Target-brand generic equivalent costs $3.44 for the same amount and size of tablets. Why? That's roughly two and a half times as much, an outsized price difference.

It was worth it for me to leave CVS and get on the bus, then switch to a different bus to get to Target. CVS is putting so much effort into refashioning its stores into would-be walk-in clinics that maybe they aren't paying as much attention to their competition. I buy a lot less of my personal-car items there than I used to, because they are almost always cheaper at Target.

Losing a Customer, Probably

This afternoon I ventured to my local Bed Bath & Beyond intending to buy a coffee grinder. It turned out that the model I intended to get was out of stock; I had checked the stock online over the weekend, but not today before leaving the house.

But I probably wouldn't have ended up buying it even if it was in stock, because the store price was $10 higher than the online price. This is the sort of thing that irritates the crap out of me. You can order an item online to pick up in-store, and I have done this in the past with certain items, but in this instance it didn't seem necessary. And if you do that, it's possible you wouldn't see the item on the shelf in the store, so you might not know there was a price difference.

And beyond that, we've had nearly two decades of e-commerce; isn't it time to expect that online prices and in-store prices will match? There's really no excuse at this point for this not to be so. If a website can tell me what stores have an item in stock, and lets me order it through the site to pick up at the store, then it probably means a common supply chain; what, then, is the justification for a different price on the item in the store? Taking advantage of people who don't use the internet, or are just gullible? Hoping that because people are already in the store they'll just give in and buy the item they came in for anyway? Neither of these strikes me as a strategy that will earn long-term customer loyalty.

Normally I would have left the store's name out of such a story, but I was so dismayed by the occurrence that I don't care. I know marketing people have google alerts for when stuff like this gets published online, so if someone from BB&B reads this and wants to talk with me about it, swell. (Maybe they can also explain why the 20% off coupons have disappeared.)

I walked over to the adjacent Target and bought ground coffee to use while I decide which online store I'm going to order a grinder from. And as I've dug a little deeper into looking at grinders online, I've also started to have second thoughts about the particular model I was planning to buy. I'm hoping to speak to the proprietor of our local coffee shop to ask her opinion about grinders, so it may take a few days longer to make a decision and order the thing.

Finding the Right Monk Straps

I've never cared for the menswear-blogger favorite, the double monk strap shoe, but the appeal of the more traditional single-monk style has grown on me in recent years. It's a dressy shoe but with more flair than a standard lace-up. I started thinking about getting a pair of monk straps about two years ago, and as I started looking at the offerings from various brands, I noticed a few things that helped me find the right shoes for me.

First, a lot of shoes have straps that look too dainty for a man's shoe. Part of this depends on the width of the strap, and part of it depends on the buckle. A narrower strap and a buckle that's too rounded at the corners give the shoe a softer look overall, that I'd probably describe as more "continental." That's fine, but it's not for me.

I also noticed that some shoes had a leather loop or keeper for the strap to pass through after it gets buckled (like on a belt), and others had the strap passing through the other side of the buckle. So now I knew I wanted shoes with a wider strap, a squared-off buckle, and a keeper loop. And the buckles had to be silver-colored, since I don't care for brass belt buckles or any other yellow metal.

Toe shape is always an issue for me; a shoe that's too tapered causes cramps and other issues for me, so I looked for shoes with a more rounded shape. Then I noticed differences in how the parts of the shoe were cut. I was seeing quarters cut on an arc, like a traditional blucher or derby shoe. This pair from Cole Haan is a good example:

It's a detail I might not have noticed had I not seen a shoe that did it differently. The first such shoe I saw was one from Allen Edmonds called the Norwich, and the front edge of its quarter pieces doesn't have that arc, but angles back just slightly down to the sole, like this:

I think this blends in much better with the overall aesthetic of the shoe, giving it a more distinctive look. Like almost all AE shoes, the Norwich is made in USA and normally retails for $345. I saw these details replicated a short time later on a shoe that Ralph Lauren was offering last year. It was also made in USA and retailed for nearly $500.

Without regular income, buying a shoe like this would be an unnecessary luxury. But I got some money for my most recent birthday, and I had some extra set aside before that, so I decided I was going to buy myself the AE shoes as a birthday present. Knowing the annual Allen Edmonds sale would be starting soon, I went to one of their stores to try on shoes and figure out which size would fit me best.

I thought I was a 10.5 E, but it turned out that the 11 E was a better fit. Earlier that day I'd happened to find a pair of the same style on eBay in 11 E for $100, while buying them new would be almost $300 even with the sale discount, so I decided to save some of the money for something else and bought the shoes that were on eBay (that's them above).

I probably wouldn't choose these for daytime business dress if I was in a situation where I had to wear suits regularly, unless I was an art director or something like that. But we are attending an event next weekend for which I'll be dressing up, and it will be a good opportunity to wear these.

Paying to Shop?

So Gilt is having one of their periodic warehouse sales in Boston tomorrow, but they want me to pay $10 to get in? The only things I've ever bought from them are undershirts that I ended up returning because the website had misstated the fabric content, and a casual shirt that I only wore for a couple of years.

Maybe if the admission fee was going to a charitable organization like the Jimmy Fund it would feel worth it, but even then I feel like I would be unlikely to find anything good enough, at a good enough deal, to make me feel like it was time and money well spent. I suspect that fashion-loving ladies probably get the better end of the deal.

An Open Approach

I've been following Everlane, a small clothing company based in California, since they started up a couple of years ago. They set out to make quality items at fair prices, and to be as transparent about their manufacturing as possible, meaning they disclose information about the factories used by their suppliers, they visit and maintain relationships, monitor working conditions, etc. They also reveal the cost structures of the items they sell, which is pretty much unheard of in the fashion industry.

I decided it was time to sample the product, and they recently added several new color choices to their T-shirt line, so I ordered three from them. Their Ts are manufactured in Los Angeles, just like American Apparel. The fabric is just as nice, and Everlane's T-shirts sell for $3 less, in part because they only sell direct so they don't have AA's cost burden of a worldwide chain of retail stores.

The fabric is as soft as you could ask for and the construction is first-rate. I have one minor quibble with the Everlane Ts: the neck isn't cut quite as high as I prefer, and since its fabrication is softer it tends to droop a tiny bit. I might try going one size smaller to see if that helps.

So, an Everlane T-shirt that's made in the USA costs $15, and if you buy two or more items the shipping is free. How does that compare to what other stores sell? Target sells solid Ts for $8, Old Navy's are $10 (currently on sale for $6), and Gap's are $17 (currently $12.50 each if you buy two or more). J. Crew's men's Ts are regularly $25, and women's are $25-30 depending on style and fabric (they do go on sale, but typically only "select colors"). None of those are made in the USA. Wouldn't you like to buy a garment that you know supports American workers, and is also a top-quality product?

By the way, Everlane sells more than just T-shirts. They have oxford-cloth button-front shirts; cashmere sweaters for men and women; a collection of bags including weekenders, totes, and backpacks; a woman's sandal; and other accessories like bags and scarves. Some of these items are made in the USA and others are not, but Everlane provides full information about where and how each item is made. This is a company you'll want to keep an eye on.

A Pledge to Make Something Better

Hoodies aren't really my thing. I have a couple that I wear mainly around the house or for walking the dog, depending on the weather. But I do care about how and where things are made, and I believe that clothing shouldn't wear out after a year or two of normal use and wear.

If your interests are so aligned, you may want to check out this Kickstarter project offering a 100% American-made hoodie backed with a 10-year guarantee. The amount you need to pledge to get one is $89, which might seem steep, but consider this: the famous gray hoodie that Bill Belichick sports on the sideline costs $75 at the Patriots Pro Shop, and you can be certain those aren't made in the USA. (Plus, you have to cut off the sleeves yourself.)

The people behind this have already raised eight times the funding they were asking for, so you can be confident that the project will go forward. If they were offering a pullover version, I'd be a lot more tempted to get one.

More Made in USA

I just read that work-clothing company Carhartt has a "made in the USA" line featuring some of its most popular pieces. I think this is smart business and I'd like to support it, though I don't need any work clothes at the moment.

I do have one of these jackets in black. I bought it several years ago and I generally wear it on weekends and sometimes to walk the dog, depending on the temperature. I like it because it's simple and rugged, and the styling is plain and classic, not something that will be "out of fashion" in a year or so. Mine was not made in the USA, and at the moment I can't justify spending the money to replace it with an American-made version, but it's nice to know that there are options.

And $75 is a very reasonable amount to spend on such a jacket, especially when you know the purchase supports American workers. A lot of companies are making great clothing in the USA, but not all of them are as accessibly priced.

You can see Carhartt's other made in USA items here (note: if you click that link, the page has a video that plays automatically). Perhaps sales of these products will encourage Carhartt to consider making more items domestically.

(By the way, if you live in the Boston area, there is a Carhartt store in the Legacy Place shopping center in Dedham, which offers an opportunity to check out these items firsthand.)

Iron, Man

Some months back, our iron of several years started misbehaving, dripping water on the garment being ironed seemingly at random. It was a basic iron we had bought at Costco for $30, and I think we'd had it six or seven years, so I figured we'd gotten our money's worth out of it.

I started thinking about what to replace it with, and I went to Amazon to read some reviews. After maybe half an hour I was dizzy, and felt like my brain was trying to stab itself. There were just far too many products, and every single one of them had at least one person who'd had a miserable experience with it and needed to vent about it. (This probably isn't news to those of you who shop online with any frequency, but people are much more likely to post negative reviews than positive ones.)

I decided the path of least resistance was to do what we'd done before; we went to Costco and I got the less expensive of the two irons they were carrying. It was a different $30 iron than the one we'd bought before, but it was the same brand, so I figured it would be all right. But a couple of months after we got it, I noticed that it wasn't generating steam properly. It was getting plenty hot enough but not making any steam, even on the highest steam setting. As a result, ironing a shirt was taking three times longer than usual.

I realized that we could still return the iron, thanks to Costco's generous return policy; for most items they sell other than electronics, there's no time limit on returns, as long as you have the receipt and don't abuse the privilege. That still left the question of what to get in its place. A Bed Bath & Beyond sale catalog arrived in the mail that same day, and inside was a basic iron, a different brand and $40 instead of $30. Conveniently there's a BB&B in the same shopping center as the Costco, so off we went. Costco even gave me the refund in cash, even though I'd made the purchase with my debit card.

I know there are people who swear by their $100 "professional" irons, and I did consider that option, but for the amount and type of ironing we do I believe a "regular" iron is sufficient. Some of the pro models are still made in Germany, however, instead of China, which is something I know some people like to be aware of (I'm one of them). If this new iron does turn out to be deficient in some way, I will most likely give in and get a pro model, but I'm hoping it won't come to that.

Support American Workers

Hey, you want to help support American manufacturing and job creation, right? You can, easily. Just go to your local Starbucks and buy one of these mugs for $10. They are being manufactured for Starbucks by American Mug & Stein in East Liverpool, Ohio, and for each one purchased Starbucks will donate $2 to the Create Jobs for USA Fund. You can also read more about the factory here.

American-Made Electronics

I feel that it's important to buy American-made products when it's possible and sensible. A lot of it has to do with how much you are willing to pay, or whether or not you are willing to expend the effort to find an item for less from an alternative source, like buying a pair of American-made shoes on eBay.

But there are some types of products for which buying American is impossible, or nearly so. Have you looked at irons lately? (I'll be getting to that one soon.) Or electronics? I'm not saying that the available products aren't well-made, but it would be nice to purchase something that you know is supporting American jobs.

For Christmas I got a pair of headphones from the Mrs. I'd been using a pair of basic earbuds to listen to music at work, and decided that I wanted an upgrade. I already knew what I wanted, so it was easy to tell her. For years I've wanted a pair of Grado headphones, which are made in Brooklyn by a company that's been in business and run by the same family for over half a century. Grado's headphones are consistently rated among the best available. They also make cartridges for phonographs.

My headphones came from Crutchfield, an electronics dealer that has a deserved reputation for offering quality products and outstanding service. I bought my plasma TV from them as well. The headphones, which are pretty much the least expensive Grado model available, are nonetheless amazing. The sound they product is incredibly detailed and rich, but it's also very natural, a quality that is often lacking from headphones and earbuds.

These are over-the-head "cans" with foam cushions and a thick cord. I don't know how I would feel about using them with an iPod or other portable, but you certainly could if you wanted to. (Actually, Grado does offer earbuds and a behind-the-head headset that are intended for use with portable music devices, though those items are manufactured for them overseas.)

Recently I heard about another American-made electronics product, a Kickstarter project to fund an iPhone dock made out of a solid block of aluminum. The company is called Elevation Lab and their project was successful; the docks are in production right now, and will start shipping later this month. I decided to contribute to the project so I could get one of the docks at the promotional price, but you can still pre-order one through their website.