Shopping Philosophy

Yesterday began at Greenhouse Coffee + Plants downtown—good coffee, great service, quiet ambiance with lots of plants—where I wrote a blog post on shopping philosophy: not anti-business but not supporting distasteful behaviors. Photo work at home hit a rough transition with the start of a new Claude chat that provided overly involved editing advice with poor results. Tacovore lunch with pleasant server Malika, salad half brought home. Progress on Leland's laptop software installation. Walked to Suds for beer with Michael and Tim, Tim providing ride home. Evening watching Sirens with leftovers—wonderful movie showing humans getting caught up in irrelevant things, entertaining pushback, few humans having clues.

Values and Choices

October 20, 2025

Got up and went to Greenhouse Coffee + Plants downtown. Their coffee was good, the service was great, and the ambiance is wonderful—quiet space filled with plants, the kind of environment that supports focused work without demanding attention. While there I wrote a blog post on my shopping philosophy. I'm not anti-business, but there are some very distasteful behaviors that I'll avoid supporting. Where money goes matters. Every purchase is a vote for how you want the world to work. Some businesses earn that support through quality, service, and ethical behavior. Others reveal through their actions that they prioritize profit over everything else, including basic decency. Choosing where to spend becomes an expression of values, not just a transaction.

Came home and worked on photos. Had to start a new Claude chat when the conversation got too long. Those transitions are interestingly rough—the new conversation lacks context from the previous work, requiring re-explanation of approach and goals. The editing advice ended up being way too involved, producing results I wasn't liking. Sometimes you need to recognize when a direction isn't working and set it aside rather than forcing it forward. The photos will wait.

Went to Tacovore for lunch. Met a very pleasant server there named Malika—the kind of person whose presence improves the experience beyond just efficient service. She brought genuine warmth to the interaction. Ate a salad, brought half of it home. The portion was generous enough that finishing seemed unnecessary when hunger was already satisfied.

Worked on Leland's laptop a bit. Installed some software, continuing the configuration process. There's still quite a bit more to do but progress is being made. Building a functional system takes time—each installation, each setting adjusted, moves closer to a laptop that will serve him well for photography work.

Walked to Suds for beer with Michael and Tim. The usual social connection, conversation flowing easily among familiar company. Tim gave me a ride home afterward, saving the return walk in darkness.

Watched Sirens and ate leftovers. Sirens is such a wonderful movie, easily one of my favorites. Humans get so caught up in things that aren't relevant—arbitrary moral rules, social conventions that serve no real purpose, fears about what doesn't actually matter. It's good to see entertaining pushback against that tendency. The movie celebrates sensuality, creativity, and honest human connection while gently mocking the repressive impulses that try to control them. There are a few humans who have a clue, who understand what's actually important versus what we pretend is important. The movie is a love letter to that clarity.

The day moved from articulating shopping philosophy to experiencing businesses that either earn support or don't, from photo work that didn't cooperate to social connections that did, from laptop configuration to movie appreciation. Everything comes back to choices—where to spend money, when to persist versus when to set aside, which values deserve defending, what actually matters versus what we tell ourselves matters. Some days clarify principles through both writing and living them.

Interesting mushrooms from the hunt on Saturday