I’ve been riding the Electra Amsterdam three-speed Dutch-style bicycle for some three months now (maybe I should stop and take a rest ). Its quite the clunker and any size hill makes you appreciate a mountain bike if you’ve ever owned one. But I really love the riding position, and find that the bike is just plain fun…ergo, I ride more often. Anyway, a couple of days ago I popped a rear spoke and the wheel started to wobble dangerously. The bike shop promised it “in a couple of days”, so I’ve been “forced” to ride my Gary Fisher Sugar 2 mountain bike instead of the Dutch Devil.

I’m not sure which Rocky movie it was, but I’m thinking of the one where Sly is up against this enormous Russian steroid boxing machine. While the Rusky is training with the latest high-tech equipment and the best coaches, Rocky goes to a farm, somewhere in Siberia it looks like, and begins to cut and haul lumber and move enormous boulders in order to get in shape. Well, you can probably guess the rest even if you haven’t seen the movie….Rocky trounces his opponent by using the absolute lowest-tech real-man training methods.

So here I am, first time on the Gary Fisher uber-bike after a year’s absense and I’m flying! Hills that I used to struggle to get up even on this bike, seem easy and banal. I realize that three months of hauling that 50 pound hunk of ersatz Dutch steel has really built up my leg muscles. Nasdrovya!

One of the most fundamental business concepts is “adding value”. This means that each time we use our skills, ingenuity, creativity, labor, etc. to transform something from a basic form to a new level of performance, we can ask disproportionally more for it. An example: If corn sells for $10 a bushel to the end-user, and I can buy it wholesale for $8.00, then I can resell it for a profit of $2.00. On the other hand, if I can take that $8.00 bushel and mash it, cook it, flatten it, and bake it into corn chips, I can, after all expenses, sell those chips for the equivalent of $20 a bushel…a profit of $12.00 instead of $2.00.  I have in essence used my brains to “add value” to something as basic as corn, transforming it into something more desirable (to some) for which they are willing to pay me disproportionally more than the value of the corn itself.

This is why selling raw materials really does nothing for a company’s or even a country’s long-term prosperity:

1. Those raw materials will eventually run out;

2. Not adding value to the raw materials shortchanges you by forcing you to sell your stuff at a disproportionally lower price than you could have gotten had you transformed them into something more useful.

Understanding the concept of adding value is particularly important when it comes to food. As Michael Pollan points out in his bestselling book, In Defense of Food, you will notice that the least transormed foods (e.g. fruits and vegetables, meats, dairy) are placed at the periphery of any grocery store, while the most heavily tansformed are strategically placed in the center. The store is designed to get you into the center because that’s where the most profit lies (and unfortunately, the most crap!). Companies make disproportionally more money on food to which they have “added value” than they do with “real” food. Unfortunately, when it comes to food, adding value usually means processing that food by removing nutrients, adding preservatives, and increasing the unholy-trinity of salt, sugar , and fat in order to make it more palatable.

At $36 for 200 ml, Castle Forbes Lime-oil Shave Cream is one of the upscale uber-creams with a reputation for an extraordinary natural strong scent. Lathered up with the Dan Capshaw brush it produced a wonderful lather that was more than enough for three passes with the Merkur Slant-bar razor. Unfortunately, the cream was not sufficient to make up for the very aggressive Slant-bar shave that left my skin raw and howling after the alum block. I’ve used the Slant-bar before and it does take some getting used to, but in the interim I have also used some outstanding razors that produce a better shave with less irritation (E.J. Chatsworth, E.J. Loxley, and the Gem G-Bar). I cooled off with the Trumper’s Lime Skin Food, in keeping with the lime-theme, and the end result was a very acceptable 7.5 shave (It would bave been a 9.0 with a better razor).

First real shave since my return from Phoenix. What a relief! Chose to go the “simple” route - J.M. Fraser shave cream, the Dan Capshaw brush, and my 1940’s Schick injector with the big blade exposure and a fresh Schick (authentic) blade. The gloss cut was with Cromwell & Cruthers shave oil (not the best stuff, somewhat thick), but an outstanding result was had nevertheless. Trumper’s Coral Skin Food and a splash of Booster Lilac topped off what turned out to be a solid 9.0 shave.

Archaeologist daughter just arrived in London on her way to Greece and another Summer digging at Ancient Helike. First photos from London include, what else (the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree), but food shots of the most recent commestibles post-flight. And they say the Brits don’t know cuisine!!! Jacket potaotes with beans and cheese….mmmmmm!

I took my brand-new Canon G9 to Phoenix with me instead of lugging the Leica MP and a load of film in an X-Ray resistant bag. Here’s my inital reaction to using the camera for a week:

If you had told me 20 years ago that a camera like the G9 would one day exist, I would have speculated that perhaps yes, but not in my lifetime, or certainly not at an affordable price. The Canon G9 is a marvel of functionality that can detect faces, movement, and bright spots that require compensation. You can meter in the center, on a grid, or ask it to evaluate the entire picture to come up with the best exposure compromise. It can shoot in several color modes, in black & white, or in “positive film”. With the sounds off, the shutter is far quieter than even the legendary Leica M’s - almost imperceptible even to the photographer. In a nutshell, this camera can do just about every conceivable thing one could imagine…and for only $499 (plus applicable taxes…today…next week it will be cheaper!). It even has a viewfinder for those old-timers (like me) who can’t stand using the monitor screen.

Ironically, amidst all this functionality lies the camera’s greatest weakness…the functionality itself. In fairness, you could simply set it at one mode and stay there forever….but, you won’t! The almost endless options tug at you constantly, forcing you to second-guess yourself. “Hmmmm….maybe I should shoot this in color?” or, “Wouldn’t it be better if I used RAW instead of jpeg compression?”. “Maybe I should switch the meter to ‘evaluative’ rather than ‘center-weighted’?” Clearly, this isn’t the camera’s fault, its the photographer’s (mine). But if “form follows function”, we can extrapolate that notion a bit and say, “functionality should follow function”. If the function of a camera is to provide a near endless array of options with which to interpret what one sees, then the Canon is spot-on. If the function of the camera is to impose the least possible impedance between internal vision/feeling and reality, then anything that intellectualizes the process of taking a picture creates a barrier to fulfilling that function. And the Canon G9, as well as other high-end digital cameras, are very “intellectual” machines, akin almost to Artificial Intelligence where the machine’s “mind” substitutes for the person’s.

Don’t get me wrong…I like the G9 and will continue to use it….but I already have a hankering to get back to my MP and its Neanderthal simplicity.

Today’s shave was technically perfect…a smooth, virtually stubble-free skin. CADE shave cream applied brushless, and three passes with the Schick ST, plus alum block. But the overall experience was disappointing, too quick, too easy, and rather lacking in feedback…typical cartridge/disposable razor performance (although not as bad as with a Fusion). I have arrived at the conslusion, echoed by Kevin Johnson, that its a shame to miss a truly great shave just because you’re traveling. I’m going to go back to the drawing board on this travel routine once I get home.

Today’s shave was thoroughly unsatisfying…my fault really, I pushed the envelope of simplicity too far by choosing to use just the CADE oil and the Schick ST disposable (on its second day). The poor Schick struggled, and I found myself repeatedly going over the same spots trying to reduce the stubble. In the end, a reasonably smooth result was attained, but there was no pleasure in it at all. No alum block either. The only consolation was the CADE A.S. Balm which impresses me more and more each day. Overall, a 7.0 shave in the “new” numbers.

A couple of shots with the new Canon G9 camera. At the Phoenix convention center. Shot in 16:9 format and in B&W mode.

The Schick Slim Twin (ST) performed very well with the CADE shave cream applied brushless (frakly, I think this cream was designed to be brushless since it doesn’t lather up well with a brush). The gloss cut with the CADE shave oil was essential though, as the blade/cream combination had still let quite a bit of stubble after the first three passes. Still, the oil did its usual magnificent job with the result a near-perfctly smooth face. The alum bar spoke of little irritation and the CADE A.S. Balm plus a splash of British Sterling made up for some of the missing “pleasure” elements inherent in travel shaving. Overall a solid 8.5 shave.