Introduction

Introduction

Hot on the heels of last week’s expensive pillow post, I thought I’d talk about a not nearly as expensive mulberry silk pillowcase that I purchased at the start of last summer, pictured above. I bought it because I had heard that silk will stay cool all night relative to the ambient temperature, and that it doesn’t suck the moisture out of your skin and hair unlike cotton pillowcases. Thankfully both of these things turned out to be true and I slept pretty well throughout the summer. While I was searching for the right case to buy, I came across all different types of silk materials, but ultimately ended up choosing mulberry when I learned that it was the highest quality silk out there.

Introduction

My current pillow was starting to feel flat and worn out, so like most people nowadays I started my search on Amazon for a new pillow. While browsing around, I stumbled upon a ridiculoulsy expensive pillow. The first thought that came to my mind was that this had to be a mistake. I decided to set aside some time to dig into this and tell you about my findings.

Introduction

If by now you’re not familiar with Uber it’s a ridesharing service in the form of a convenient mobile app. In 2017 I quit taking the bus. Let me paint you a picture of what used to be my commute, which wasn’t even too bad to begin with. I live in the San Francisco bay area, about 40 miles south east of SF proper. If you’re not from the bay area, I should tell you that most of it is large swaths of suburbs as is common in California. Don’t get me wrong, there are downtown and metro like areas in the likes of Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Palo Alto, and San Jose- but the bay area is no New York City or similarly booming metropolis.

Introduction

I’ve always been somewhat of a casual numismatist. Not fanatical or anything, but I suppose coins have always been kind of interesting to me because each one carries its own guarded piece of history made up of the countless interactions that others have had with it. It’s fun to imagine who’s hands some particular coin has passed through, what they may have bought with it, and what their lives were like. Going through that thought process always made it all the more exciting that the coin was passed on to me and that my life was now a part of its story. Another aspect that made coin collecting fun for me was hunting for U.S. coins made with 90% silver in my spare change, which are increasingly seldom found in circulation.

Introduction

A few months ago I was in the market for a new wallet. My sketchy looking $20 “leather” wallet from JC Penney that I had bought 5 years ago when I was 19 and broke was falling apart on me. This time I wanted to buy what I perceived to be a grown man’s wallet- so I started my search on Amazon. While the Bellroy Hide & Seek immediately caught my eye due to its slim profile, I wondered about the price tag. What goes into making a wallet like this?