On Teaching Meditation - Day 40

Yesterday, for the first time in many years, I led a small meditation class. I had strangers over and attempted to act like I knew what I was doing and instruct them in meditation. It was a big step for me back into a world that I used to be a part of, and I enjoyed it. Of course, mostly they just meditated and I took a back seat and meditated myself, as it should be. But still, it was fun. They were really nice folks and we had a good conversation about the holidays, what it means to be busy, what it’s like to retire (one of them was a retired high school teacher who is about to go back to teaching some classes because he’s basically bored). We ate Pepperidge Farms cookies and drank herbal tea. We watched a short video from Dan Harris. We talked briefly about politics. All in all, it was very pleasant. Sometimes, I am as guilty as anyone (in fact maybe more so) of impostor syndrome - the essentially narcissistic feeling that we are special, in that we are especially bad or abnormal, and people are going to figure it out any minute now and we will be singled out as the world’s worst at whatever it is we’re trying to do. But the truth of course is that all of us are just trying our best, and most of them time you’re way more normal than you think you are, and you’re going to do just fine. Occasionally you will be brilliant, once in a blue moon you’ll really mess up, but most of the time it’s just business as usual, and that’s OK.

So, yeah. More meditation teaching to come, maybe even getting back into yoga instruction - that’s the next step!

On Bike The US For MS - Day 39

Most of you know that I belong to a charity, Bike The US For MS. Any of you who know me well might even be sick of hearing about it, but I want to devote today’s post to this group, since it’s been such a huge part of my life. I write about activities I do with Bike The US For MS a lot of course, but I don’t think I’ve ever just stopped and written a post specifically about them. It’s an organization that was started by a man who had a personal connection to the disease about 15 years ago. I discovered them about 6 years ago, and to be honest, I had no connection with MS - I was just looking for a community to join that would help me with riding my bike across the country. I had done my own, self-directed ride and I enjoyed it but I wanted to have that experience with others. It was a rough time in my life, a very lonely and sad time, and I needed some friends, and BTUSFMS came through in spades. It’s probably an exaggeration to say they saved my life, but I definitely think they improved my quality of life a hundred fold, giving me some direction, some connection, something to be proud of. And that continues to this day.

I know for those of who reading this, it may be hard to imagine yourself riding your bicycle across the country. And it’s true that for some of you it’s not a goal that would ever make any sense. But I bet somewhere out there reading these words there’s someone who enjoys the outdoors, would love to meet new people and do something to be proud of. I can tell you there was a time when I never could have imagined myself riding a bicycle across country, and now I’ve done it between 2 and 4 times (depending on how you count). And I’m going to do it again!

It is a lot to ask - both time and money - but the rewards are amazing. You meet amazing people, you get to see a part of the country that you’ve never seen before, and in a way you’d never get to see. Riding into small town America is a unique experience and something I’ll cherish.

If you have any interest in this great organization, just hit me up and I’ll tell you everything you need to know!

On Golden Knight - Day 38

My final bike is my most recent, and the one that has the least romance or history behind him. I named him the Golden Knight, for the silliest of reasons; on the top he says “Ultra CF”, which made me think of UCF, the University of Central Florida, near where I grew up, and their mascot is the Golden Knights. It makes sense though because when I think of a Golden Knight I think of something about too fancy to be useful, and that’s kind of like this bike. It’s an extremely expensive, all Carbon Fiber bike, very very light and with a serious race geometry. I’ve only ridden it a dozen times; it’s kind of waiting for the weather to get better so I can take it out on some serious rides. It’s the kind of bike where you worry about the material of the water bottle cages. I bought it from Decathlon, which is a French department store that has just started to dip its toe into the United States and happened to open a store here in Oakland. I love the Blue and Pink paint job; it’s the official colors of B’Twin, which used to be the Decathlon house brand; it would be recognizable in France or England but is pretty rare out here, which makes it all the more special to me. It’s the one bike of mine that I would never leave locked up outside or get too dirty. The wheels alone are worth about $1200.

It’s more bike than I need, really, and for that I love it.

On Rocinante - Day 37

On to the second of my three bikes, and by far the most famous of them. This is Rocinante. He’s named after Don Quixote’s horse in the book of the same name. Don Quixote was famous for slightly toddy heroism in the face of madness, and that seems appropriate for a steed that has now taken me on 4 cross country bicycle trips. The only one he didn’t go on was the very first one, where I rode my old Canondale which sadly never had a name and got ingnominiously stolen off the roof of my car in downtown San Francisco. Imagine that - that old bike made it on a three month Jack Kerouac-style journey across country only to fall victim to bike thieves the first day I was back in town.

Anyway, Rocinante - Ross for short - is an awesome bike. I bought him off eBay from some guy in Florida who had it sitting in his garage. It was a terrifying moment because I hadn’t bought much off eBay and I had no idea what was going to show up. But I had wanted a titanium bike for a long time and they were - still are - absurdly expensive so this was the only way I was going to get one. It was $700, and it showed up extremely dirty and obviously a little worse for wear, but it worked right out of the box! I was thrilled. I’ve had a ton of fun with this bike - it’s easy to work on and indestructible and still fairly light. Covered with stickers, it catches the eye, but doesn’t look appealing to bike thieves. I’ve got him tricked out now with Di2 shifters that I bought off a fellow cross-country bicyclist, and he’s basically perfect for what I need him for.

Right now he’s hanging out on my bike trainer and he’s turned into my Zwift bike; he’s comfy and sturdy and he fits the style of trainer I have. Soon he’s going with me up to Ashland to be the bike I work on for my bike school in January!

Here’s to another decade of good times, loyal steed!

On Jean-Luc - Day 36

I own 3 bicycles, and I love them all for different reasons. For the next 3 days I think I’ll post about each of them in turn, starting with Jean-Luc. Jean-Luc (and yes I name my bicycles) is an old steel Peugeot, probably made in the 70s and imported from France. He’s named Jean-Luc after Jean-Luc Picard, mostly because he’s a) old, b) French, and c) I like Patrick Stewart. It’s a single-speed bike; not a fixie, because that would mean no flywheel; this bike doesn’t have to be pedaled constantly when it’s moving, you can “free spin” the pedals. I liked the idea of owning a single-speed bike because they’re easier to maintain, and so far that’s held true, with one big exception. It turns out that French bikes of that era were made with unusual seat posts, and when I bought it, it had this cool yellow saddle on it that turned out to be a theft magnet and got stolen, thus prompting a frantic search for a new post which I - no lie - ended up having to order from the Netherlands. So now I have a special cable lock just for the seat. But other than that, the bike has been exactly what I wanted - a great way to bump around town. I’ve ridden it as far as into work, 42 miles - but I regretted that decision. It’s not a great bike for that kind of thing. Actually, apart from the fact that it’s sturdy and reliable, it isn’t honestly all that great of a bike. But something about the yellow-and-blue color scheme and it’s general cranky Frenchiness just sort of appeals to me! Of all my bikes, this one gets ridden the most these days; I take it to Subway, to the Bart station, to Best Buy, etc., etc. It’s also the only one I will ride in the rain because I don’t care if it rusts and it has nice wide tires to grip the road.

On Endings - Day 35

Sniff! Endings are always hard, and saying goodbye can be tough. Today I had to let go of my trusty Subaru. She was a good car, but she was starting to have too many high mileage problems. Ironically, it’s the smog test that finally did her in; she wouldn’t pass, and getting her to pass was measured in the thousands of dollars. Her power steering was basically shot, she burned oil, she got bad gas mileage. Still, I liked that car. It was big and roomy, with leather seats and a pretty great sound system and a bike rack. It fit my lifestyle. I’d love to go back to a Subaru at some point; for the moment I’ll be taking over my brother’s old Chevy Cavalier; more about that little gem later!

I always get weirdly sentimental about these things. It’s just a physical object, it doesn’t care where it goes! But I do hope it gets to somebody who can use it and isn’t just dismantled. In the right hands, it’s totally fixable and could really benefit somebody for many thousands of miles to come!

Bye Subaru!

On Fixing A Bicycle - Day 34

In mid-January, I’m going to attend a full week class in bicycle maintenance, taught by the United Bicycle Institute - UBI - in Ashland, OR. I’m so excited! This is something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and finally made the time and space to do it. Sort of a gift to myself for the new year. The class is called Introduction To Bicycle Maintenance. As most of you know, I volunteer with Bike The US For MS, and they are always in need of people to do bike maintenance on the road. With this sort of training, I am hoping I can fill in for them as the guy to do that maintenance. Plus, I love fixing bicycles, and this is the sort of professional level training that could get me a job at a bike shop, should I ever decide to do that in my spare time. And really it’s just an investment in a hobby I truly enjoy. We’re going to learn how to adjust brakes, fix tires, assemble a bike, fix a bottom bracket, wrap handlebars, adjust gear ratios, etc., etc.

I can’t wait!

On Apple - Day 33

Today marks my one year anniversary of working at Apple. I really appreciate Apple for giving me an opportunity. At the time I took the job, things were looking a little weird and dark. I was getting out of an awkward situation professionally, and I was in the middle of some things in my life where I really just wanted a job I could count on to continue to build my skills and resume; a place that would reflect back my trust and be a peaceful place to hang my hat. Apple has been more than generous with me and I appreciate all the cool people that I get to work with, of course most importantly my friend Breckin. I’ve had two really cool bosses, learned a lot about Artificial Reality and a few other things besides, and hey, discount on laptops and phones is never a bad thing!

Again, I’m just very grateful for the way my life has gone and the part that Apple has played in it!

On Thali - Day 32

I love Indian food. Tonight, I went to one of my favorite gems down in the South Bay near where I work, a restaurant called Ularavaru. It’s not a particularly bougie spot; I found it one day when I was search for buffets - you know I love a buffet - and it came up because on M-W for dinner they do an all-you-can-eat thali setup. You get vegetarian or, uh, non-vegetarian, and they bring you a colorful plate full of all sorts of mystery things, all of which are delicious, and none of which do I know the name of. Plus free chai, and water, and papadam, and dosas, and just basically everything. I have no idea of course if it’s really authentic but I can tell you that nobody in there is speaking any English and the place is packed and I don’t think they’re making any effort to make me feel more comfortable, either with the surroundings or with the food. There’s no WiFi and the cell service sucks, so all you have to do is sit there and actually eat your food. And it’s amazing. Everything is spicy; I don’t think they even realize that the food is spicy to white people. I’m not sure they would even know what to say if you asked them how spicy it is because I’m not sure they even know. They will bring you seconds of anything but you have to wait for them to bring those four-containered metal jugs that they carry around and then - if you’re me - you just have to point at things because you have no idea what they’re called. And they must have about 3 different DVDs full of Bollywood music videos because I’ve only been there a half dozen times and I’m already seeing the same ones repeat. And it’s only like $12! I come out of there sweating like a pig but I think I’ve got all my vitamins and minerals for a week and probably killed off several infections growing in my body.

I’m eternally grateful that being who I am, and living where I do, I get to have experiences like this. Gimme a week and I’ll be back.

On Being Reflective - Day 31

Not what you think! Today I wanted to talk briefly about an interesting rabbit hole I went down. I’ve been working on improving my ability to make and produce YouTube content, which I practice daily over on my YouTube channel, Giant Orange Beanbag (named for, you know, my giant orange beanbag). Anyway, in watching one of the videos I made recently I realized that the reflection of the monitor in my eyeglasses was incredibly bad and distracting, so I started googling how to get rid of that. There were the standard suggestions of turning down the monitor, adding lights off to the side, changing the camera angle, etc., but one of the things I didn’t know about was anti-reflective coating on glasses. So long story short I ended up ordering a pair, but along the way I read some fascinating science articles about how the whole thing worked. I thought maybe it would have to do with scattering the light to break up the patterns, but actually it’s cooler than that. Through a combination of a material with a very specific index of refraction and a very small layer of coating which is actually one-quarter of the wavelength of light, and some awesome math that reminded me of my days in Computer Graphics graduate school, they’re able to make the light interfere with itself, not unlike the way noise canceling headphones work. Isn’t that cool?

https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/science-questions/question615.htm

On Andy Rooney - Day 30

I miss Andy Rooney. For those of you who aren’t old, Andy was a “reporter”/reoccurring character on a show called 60 Minutes. 60 Minutes - which I just, remarkably, found out is still actually on TV - was a show that myself and my parents watched when I was a kid. It was a sort of poor man’s NewsHour; an hour long news show that would do long form news articles about topics which were topical but not immediate. If it was on now - and I guess it is! - it would probably cover the opioid epidemic a lot. Anyway, as a sort of comic relief, they had this guy Andy Rooney. He looked and acted like a cartoon character; kind of like the Grandpa on the Simpsons; slightly befuddled by life, a little bit anachronistic and mildly sarcastic but loving and gentle. He was what we are were inside; occasionally confused by life but desirous of being kind towards it. He was grumpy, but not overly grumps. He liked people a lot, although he often didn’t like what they did. I’ll see if I can link some video clips or at least a picture of him here. I used to do a pretty good Andy Rooney imitation; his worldview aligns well with mind which made it easy. He would often get on a good rant and then pause and then say “and another thing,” and often behind the “other thing” was a deep philosophical nugget that would leave you thinking for days.

He died a while back, and I miss him. The world needs Andy Rooney right now. RIP.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Rooney

On Juneau - Day 29

I’ve always wanted to go to Juneau, Alaska. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s my fascination with the idea of a city that you can’t drive into or out of. There’s something weirdly anachronistic about that idea, like it’s somehow separate from modern society. Add to that the fact that it’s the capital of the state and it’s just kind of an interesting mix. Plus I hear it’s really beautiful up there, and the people are very genuine. I wouldn’t want to live someplace that remote, but I’d love to visit. Not now; not in the winter. In the summer. Maybe take a train up north as well; I hear you can do that. I’ve never had any reason to go there, and likely I never will, so if I want to do it, it’s going to have to be like my trip to Denver; I’m just going to have to do it on a whim.

If anybody has any suggestions about how to get there or what to do if I went for a long weekend, drop me a line, I’d love to hear about it!

On Owning Better Things - Day 28

A while back, I was in a store buying something (and yes I recognize the irony here) and they wrapped it in a bag which had their slogan on the front: Own fewer, better things. I’d heard this before of course but this time I was in a receptive mood to really confront that idea. It’s never been something I’ve been good at; I definitely have a bit of hoarder in me (reference my earlier post about cables).

Fast forward a few months and I’m in Denver at the art museum, looking through the gift shop, when I come across this exquisite ceramic coffee mug with a bronze bottom. Immediately I loved it. I’d been drinking coffee out of whatever I could find laying around; usually a Bob’s Donuts coffee mug (which, to be clear, is an amazing donut store but not really a great coffee mug supplier). But it was $37, which is a totally outrageous amount of money to pay for a coffee mug. I’m still not sure why I bought it. I think it’s because I was on vacation. Anyway, I’ve been using it for a month or so now and, while it certainly hasn’t turned my life around, it’s amazing how interacting with one small but really well made object every day can make a nice little bump in your happiness. It’s really a tiny piece of art. Every time I touch it and pick it up, the weight and balance of it and the way it keeps my hand safe from the hot coffee just gives me a little happy wiggle.

I know I’m privileged to be able to even think about spending $37 on a coffee mug. I’m aware of that. But what I’m really saying is that all of us could invest in fewer, nicer things. Now it’s time to see if I can bring myself to throw away some of my older, crappier mugs.

On Panicking, Or Lack Thereof - Day 27

Today I want to write about one of my favorite authors, Douglas Adams. I’ve been doing some filming at home at my desk, and I noticed in the background I had a collectors edition of his most well-known book, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy, up on the shelf behind me. It’s emblazoned with a huge copy of his most famous saying, “Don’t Panic”. I love Douglas Adams. It’s one of the few things from my childhood (art appreciation-wise) that has stuck with me into adulthood. Billy Joel? Sure, he’s OK. Baseball cards? Yeah, best left behind. But I found Adams when I was very young and I’ve been entranced ever since. I loved the movie, I love the radio scripts, but mostly I love the books. My favorites of his are actually some of his less-well-known works such as Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, and his nonfiction environmental book, Last Chance To See. I can’t say exactly why I like him so much. I enjoy the absurdity of british humor, such as Monty Python, but ultimately Python didn’t really teach me much about life (not that it was trying to). Adams teaches me something, a sort of resilience to absurdity. There is a depth of sincerity and profundity to even his most silly writing that touches me. The humor is sort of a sugarcoating around the pill of some hard lessons about life and how we respond to it. My favorite story is him writing about sharing a trailway station with another man and a packet of cookies, and watching him and the other man (a stranger) slowly and maddeningly take turns eating what he assumed to be his own cookies, only to later discover his cookies still in his pocket (and thus that he had been eating a stranger’s cookies). The story is simple, to the point, and left a deep impression: we think that the world has it out for us, but the truth is never that simple.

Anyway, R.I.P. Douglas. You were one of the greats.

On Electric Cars - Day 26

Today I went looking at an electric car. It was a BMW i3 Range Extender edition. I liked it. My current car is on the way out. It’s a Subaru Outback and it has 210k miles on it, and recently it flunked the smog test and it would take a lot more than I want to spend to bring it back into the good graces of California. I can’t bear the thought of investing in an ICE car because I feel like it’s so backward and plus Greta says not to. On the other hand, where I live isn’t quite ready for the Electric Car Revolution. I can’t charge at my apartment complex; they installed the requisite devices but for reasons I cannot fathom won’t turn them on. And Oakland is kind of a dead zone for EV charging stations. So, I’m looking at cars which are primarily electric, but have a safety valve. And really there’s only 2 or 3 - the Chevy Volt, the Honda Clarity and the BMW i3 rEX. I like the i3 because it’s clever; it uses an emergency motorcycle engine to charge the battery when you really can’t find a place to charge. But it’s primarily electric and goes over 100 miles on a charge, unlike the Volt which is rated at about 50. It’s a cute little thing, I liked it. I think I may buy it. There are downsides; the gas tank is absurdly small which makes long trips kind of a bummer. Plus, when it runs off the gas engine it’s seriously underpowered, which means that going to Tahoe might be interesting. But hey, you have to make tradeoffs when you invest in the future, right?

On Liking Terrible Things - Day 25

Last night, as I was having trouble falling asleep, I started watching videos by one of my favorite YouTube comedy duos, the Game Grumps. Among other things, the Game Grumps are a Let’s Play channel, which just means that they play video games on the video and talk about them. As is often the case, I found myself gravitating towards a subset of their videos put together by a fan, loosely entitled “Game Grumps Play Bad Games”. These are videos where the video game they play turns out to be - intentionally or otherwise - terrible. Poorly programmed, poorly spelled, weirdly drawn, whatever it might be or all of the above. And I found myself wondering, not for the first time, why it was that I like this genre of entertainment, what I will call Other People Noticing That Things Suck. One of my favorite shows, both when I was a kid and now, is Mystery Science Theater, which is sort of the “Tonight Show” of Watching Things That Suck; the big daddy, the one that started the modern era of this sort of entertainment. And I love it.

But it’s not mean spirited. That’s important. I’ve watched people who try to emulate MST, but do it too aggressively. Game Grumps, MST, VideoGameDunkey - what they share in common is that you know that deep down, they are actually big fans of the genre of work they are skewering. They make fun out of a gentle sense of love and affection. At some level, I think I have a Kantian fear that what I’m doing here isn’t really very nice; that I’m having fun at other people’s expense. So being kind about it is important, to make sure it isn’t mean spirited. The point isn’t to make the creators of these things feel bad; I think the point is to make us feel better by reminding us that other people - sometimes even people who are supposed to know what they’re doing - mess up too.

On Human Technology - Day 24

For someone who spends their life dealing with technology, it may surprise you to learn that I can’t stand 99% of it. Most technology is clumsy; overly complicated, poorly designed for human factors, not thought through. It’s surprisingly hard - as somebody who’s been involved with this - to build technology and stay focused on the fact that it’s designed to solve a human problem. Which is why I love my AirPods. Now, they certainly aren’t perfect. It sucks that the battery can’t be replaced which makes them essentially eventual eco-trash. They don’t work as well with non-Apple products. They’re in-ear headphones, which means that if not treated carefully they can cause hearing loss. But for what they are, they are the best. I’ve bought other in-ear bluetooth wireless headphones, and they all “work”. But AirPods just work. Like, every time. Pull them out, put them in, listen to music. Put them away. Music turns off when they come out of your ears. Music starts again when you put them back. Every time.

Seems simple, right? But apparently it isn’t. Behind the scenes, a ton of people work on making that magic happen so that I don’t have to care, and can just throw them in my ears and expect them to work. Not 99% of the time; 100% of the time. And what I’ve noticed is that my behavior patterns - and my stress level - change significantly when I use technology that I trust, that I know will work. When I expect things to work, I move smoothly through experiences and my day. When I have to deal with things I don’t trust, then - even when they do end up working - I have to focus so much more of my attention on them.

Not every product Apple makes is great. But AirPods are, and Apple, I salute you for them.

On Kondo And Cords - Day 23

My closet is my own personal nightmare. I call it Closet II: The Closeting: When Things Own You. It’s just a giant pile of misshapen cords and hot nonsense. The tipping point for me came a few weeks back when I actually needed one of these cords somewhere in that giant pile and I could not find it for the life of me and had to go buy another one. “Oh,” I thought to myself, “there is only one reason I keep these things around and that’s because I might need one of them in the future, but here it is, the future, and I had to go buy one anyway because I have so many that I couldn’t f***ing find one.” So, yeah: Marie Kondo up in this piece.

Anybody need a bunch of cords?

Adam over and out.

On Equanimity And Politics - Day 22

The topic for this blog occurred to me as I was listening to NPR’s news this morning about the President taking a surprise trip to Afghanistan to basically support the troops. Personally, I firmly believe that one of the biggest - if not the biggest - problems this country, and even the world faces is the fact that we are finding it harder and harder to agree with each other. Some call this the balkanization of politics and ideas; we no longer have any common ground. So, if I feel that way, I should start with myself. So, at great personal psychic expense, and after taking a long hot shower, here follows a list of the

Top Ten Things I Agree With Donald Trump About, Despite The Fact That It Makes Me Ill To Think About (*)

1. I think it’s great that he went and supported the troops on Thanksgiving, and he seems to have genuinely done a good job of doing that.

2. As a general rule, I agree that it would be good for America to send less troops abroad and be in fewer wars and international entanglements. (Of course, the way he goes about it sucks, but in principle I agree).

3. As a general rule, I agree that China has been unfair in its trade practices, and I am glad someone is at least attempting to narrow our trade deficit with them. (Again, he isn’t great at it, but I do agree with the basic principle).

4. He did sign the proclamation supporting the pro democracy movement in Hong Kong. (Granted, he had little choice, but hey).

5. He did sign the act making animal abuse a federal offense nationwide.

6. As a general rule, I do agree that rural folks in this country got the short end of the stick in the last few decades, and I do feel bad for people whose career depended on old ways of doing things and couldn’t reeducate themselves for the new market. (Again: he’s done nothing for them, in the end. But in theory I agree.)

7. I don’t completely disagree with him when he says that there a lot of career government people who are very biased and would like to see him fail. I suspect that’s probably true. He’s been incredibly disruptive (mostly in a bad way, admittedly) and people don’t like change. I mean, let’s be honest: if I worked for the government, I would be one of them.

8. I don’t necessarily think buying Greenland is a totally stupid idea. Maybe a weird idea, and certainly not our highest priority at the moment, but, you know, it’s not the dumbest thing he’s ever said. We’ve bought territory before, after all.

9. (Side note: at this point I had to Google “Good things Donald Trump has done”. I actually found a few surprising ones including this one, which I guess is the whole point of this). Last year he signed a law allowing people who are already dying access to experimental treatments that aren’t yet approved. This is a good idea and I support it.

10. Whatever you want to say about the guy, I have to admit that he’s been exactly what he said he would be, pretty much. I don’t think you can say he represented himself dishonestly. He said he was going to be an authoritarian jerk who reminded you of your weird bigoted uncle, and then he followed through.

(*) To be clear: I think Trump is a terrible president and not a terribly good human being. That’s actually kind of the point of this exercise.

On Vests - Day 21

Today I want to write about something a little random that I happen to be thankful for - my vests! Many years ago, I stumbled into some clothing shop over in the East Bay - I couldn’t tell you where anymore - and saw this awesome vest. It was, for me, crazy expensive and more than I’d ever spent on something like that at the time, but I was trying to broaden my horizons and for some reason this vest spoke to me and I bought it, right off the rack. Ever since then, I’ve worn that vest in so many situations, and every time, it just makes me feel a little more fun and playful and just a bit more grounded. I’ve tracked down the manufacturer and it turns out to be this woman who used to live in the Bay Area and now lives in Hawaii. She makes every vest and piece of clothing by hand; she starts with off-the-shelf used clothes, like American Eagle vests, and then modifies them extensively to create something very different. I love them, and I now own 2 vests and a full jacket. Her business name is Ghetto Goldilocks, and if you ever see her stuff, consider buying it because it’s really hard to find these days!