I've been doing it wrong. From now on, you can bet I'm giving my groceries a hug. 🤣🤣 Mr. Minksky is an inspiration! I wish him and his partner ALL the success!
I don’t know, Frankie seems like he could stand to work on being more honest and genuine in his interactions with women. You get back what you give out, you know?
Phones don't record calls that come through while they're off, at least not on the device. But Frankie should contact his phone company - they have a record of all incoming calls and can tell him what numbers called him that night
I'm very surprised that no one commented on the use of the word, "Bougie." Do all the rest of you know that reference? Is it only King Tut and me who are in the dark because we are ancient? C'mon own up...did all the rest of you know this??!!
The Urban Dictionary helped me: Bougie: People pretending to (or think they are) high class and but they're really not (or don't realize they aren't.) Example 1: That bitch wit a Louis Vuitton bag and designer glasses complaining about her expired coupons at Target is bougie. Example 2: The hoes who go wine tasting but still live with their parents are bougie.
It just came to me; do you think "bougie" is derived from "bourgeoisie?" Kind of makes sense. (And don't all of you hipsters out there say, "No duh?!")
I am no hipster. I prefer Homer Simpson so I'm gonna go with D'oh -- one of the best things about the comments on this Newsletter is perfectly unexpected tangents. BTW since I have three late twenty sons, I have the edge on some of this. I think the pronouciation is BOO --- ZHEE which would have made it a dead giveaway for the French thing.
Its been a bad and perhaps local joke forever. Target is a Twin Cities company. Norwegians and Swedes are apologetic about having things that are too nice and probably guilt-ridden about it :)
As for the genius, as I've shared with Anne previously, if I was so smart, I would have a paid Newsletter :)
Oh my goodness, I loved Frankie's story! She's definitely the one even though he doesn't remember her name 🤣 I hope it works out, but it sounds like he needs to get his heart broken a few times. I think you should interview some of the people on the missed connections site.I bet there are some great stories! Maybe for Valentines day?
Jillian, I had my heart broken, only once. And though the feeling was intensely miserable for a while, I cherish the scar and the feeling, in my dotage. I pity anyone who has never had their heart broken.
And I carry the guilt of breaking 4 hearts, that I know of. I went away to college and it changed me greatly, and I broke up with my high school sweetheart, back home. She didn't lose me to another girl; she lost me to the roaming pack of drunken choirboys I hung with in the dorm. She lost me to freedom. After the breakup, I had a dry spell of about 6 months, met 3 girls within one week, all terrific. The most unlikely of the 3 wasn't flashy, but gawd could she kiss! I broke it off with the other 2 fairly quickly. The one I chose married me. She was a terrific young woman, but, alas, the marriage didn't last. I guess I can't stand prosperity...
Android is an open source platform which means, unlike Apple, you can pick and choose ways to customize it.
Apple has the same business model as AOL used to have which means you are locked on the Apple reservation. It infuriates Apple users when they are compared to AOL users but facts are facts.
Oh, and pound for pound, Apple iphones cost a whole lot more than Android phones.
Micheal, that last bit I was sort of aware of but I had no idea until I started asking my Android friends how cheap the phones can be! My friend has an $18 phone. What???
The newest Android phone is Google's very own Pixel 7 Pro. It retails for $900. It is comparable with Apple's newest release, the iPhone 14 PRo Max which retails for $1100.
The last communication device I saw that sold for $18 were two cans connected by a string.
You know, I didn't have a "smartphone" of any type until about 4 years ago. My sons and my wife had Apple phones from back when "Hector was a pup." Look it up! They love Apple. When it came time for me, I chose the cheapest one, an LG android phone. It does the job, but it's not as good as Apple.
How do I love New York? LET ME COUNT THE WAYS! I grew up on an island on the west coast of Canada, but since my teen years I was drawn to New York. I lived in Montréal in the 1980's and visited NYC twice and was appropriately impressed and besotted. When I moved back to the west coast in 1990 one of my biggest regrets was that I wouldn't as easily be able to visit New York, and in fact didn't make it back there again until 2017. For my 60th birthday I planned and saved up for a trip to NY... had a super cool Airbnb near Washington Square rented that was an artist's studio in the 60's. I was going to be there alone for 18 days with visits from my husband, my daughter, and a good friend. Alas. That birthday was May 5th, 2020 and although I don't remember the details, for some reason the trip never came to pass. Plus I lost money on the Airbnb. What a world. Anyhoo, one of these days I'll visit again.
Of course, that's not the only reason I read Café Anne! I wouldn't subscribe to just any old newsletter about New York. You're hilarious, and the New York you reveal makes me feel like I'm there.
Well, I would have written more about Android vs iPhone beyond my exclamations, but I didn't want to leave the longest comment in history. Over the years I've owned both, but somehow iPhones always found a way to piss me off. Beyond the proprietary BS I don't even remember what those things were, but the last time I owned one I vowed "never again".
I’m one of your out-of-town subscribers and I look in often just because I love YOUR New York. This one made me wish I lived in Bushwick or near enough to check out this guy and his store. I really love his logo.
I am an Android phone person even though I have an Apple Macbook Air and an iPad. We buy open phones and prefer to pick our contracts or no-contract agreements accordingly. There has been no down side.
Jan 23, 2023·edited Jan 23, 2023Liked by Anne Kadet
Another gem.
(1) Why NYC -- There is something magical about the big city in any country and NYC is it here. People want to see it and gravitate to it whether Seoul, Tokyo, London, Paris. I read once that at the peak of European migration, 25% of all immigrants that arrived in NYC stayed at least for a while!
(2) Aharon & the Horseradish Market -- The copy for the apples is almost a clone of what we get when we visit Trader Joe's and the horseradish market seems similar. People respond to the vibe of a market and can ignore the stuff like I've seen this before because it makes them happy. The rivalry of the brothers from Germany who inherited the Aldi Market dynasty in Germany and became Aldi and Trader Joe's in America. The best part of the story is Aldi and Trader Joe's likely share many suppliers yet the vibe and appeal could not be more different. Small, convenient, efficient, produce turnover rapid so no old stuff in the stores. Best part of story was grabbing a tech guy who makes stocking and pricing easy without any overhead. BRILLIANT. This is EXACTLY why the tech boom has changed everything. Guys like his friend eliminate the barrier to entry and friction to access. Businesses that figure out how to leverage access to information can do almost anything including finding cheap high-quality chocolate.
(3) Matchmaker -- no comment
(4) Phone -- have owned both. Only Google Pixel these days. Everything Google makes works for everyone, everything Apple makes only works for the herd -- Big world >> Small world -- example why would I Facetime if only part of my family used it --- Zoom or Google Meet or Microsoft Teams -- all of them are built for the WHOLE world except Facetime -- seems narrow and unnecessary. Inclusive > Exclusive
First the phone thing. One of the ironies here is that I suspect that while Apple has long tried to market itself as the option for those who "think different," the reality is actually the opposite. And I say this as an-Apple lady! So thank you for the insight.
I was thinking about Aldi when I wrote about Horseradish, btw. Except Aldi seems purposefully charmless, almost like it's making an effort to convince shoppers that no opportunity for price slashing will be overlooked!
There were awesome things to like about my experience with Apple devices. The best analogy is the walled garden. If you have a beautiful garden it is great to walk around in. Nice to go outside the walls though :) Since the phone market is mature, I believe they will both become more like each other in the next few years. While you are not a car person, it is heavily reported that Google will very soon block access to Google Earth, Maps and Waze to people who have apple devices and plug them into their cars for navigation etc. I would expect when they behave like Apple and put the stuff behind a paywall it will be a hassle for a lot of people. This seems inevitable because the phone market is mature and they will now try to steal each other's customers. I think that Apple is likely the pre-eminent hardware company in the US and Google is the prre-eminent software company in the world. Get some popcorn and watch
The Aldi thing is hilarious. If you are unfamiliar the story of the brothers who inherited the Aldi empire is a great one. They divided the world so as not to compete with each other. One of them would never sell alcohol or cigarettes, the other was anything goes. The US is the only market in the world where the Aldi brother businesses compete at some level (the brothers are both deceased). Here one operates Aldi and the other operates Trader Joe's. They seem so different on the surface but operationally almost identical, just a different niche.
It is interesting to me as our country has descended into a weird political dual. In nearly every country in the world their key city is treated like a crown jewel. Here we have this weirdness of us and them and it is unfortunate. Direct investment by the national government in cities like Seoul and Tokyo is amazing and the citizenry universally looks on them with pride.
The wife of the founder split the company in half and forced the two sons to be geographically isolated as they did not get along! A real feud it seems. I love the fact that one of them was sort of a frugal Puritan and would not sell cigarettes or alcohol!!! When Trader Joe's was launched in CA by the non-Puritan side of the family, the compelling sell item was "Two Buck Chuck", usually a bottle of basic red wine for $2!!! Aldi is a curious and super-successful business. I believe they are organized a bit like McDonald's in that they BUY the building, typically unconnected to other structures and then run with super-low overhead. Employee pay way above industry average but they expect the employees to do all of the jobs associated with the store so no unions. It would be interesting to walk into an Aldi run by the side of the family selling Marlboro Lights.
Good question Amie! Egg prices are always top of mind for me and a good basis for comparison between stores. He was selling a dozen large eggs (organic I think?) for $4.29 which is two dollars cheaper than my local supermarket and also I think cheaper than what I'm seeing at my Brooklyn Trader Joe's.
Glad you liked the photo! Its one of my faves as well!
DUDE I am a long-time fan of Apple Rankings Dot Com and the only reason I don't visit the site every day is that doing so instills a sense of hopelessness and despair at the thought of ever creating anything that comes to close to what has been achieved by Apple Rankings Dot Com. Thanks for the reminder.
LOL You're right Alex. I also heard from a Rhone Islander who made the point—how do I know this periodical does not have a MASSIVE CIRCULATION??? Viva Rhode Island Monthly!
There's really no mystery why non-New Yorkers are so fascinated by New York - it's because there is truly no place like it on Earth. Other cities are cool, amazing, incredible, etc. - Vancouver, Hong Kong, London, I'm looking at you - but they're not New York. And they never will be.
Bryan this is what I suspect but I haven't been to ANY of the world's other so-called great cities so I have no basis for comparison. On the other hand once I moved here I sort of felt like, why bother? How could it possibly get any better?
I read your writing not because it is about New York but because I like your writing, the people you find and the way your mind presents thoughts. Thanks you!
From a technical perspective, non-iPhones require cell service to message in a group while iPhone groups will work on wifi and/or on cell service. Also, a lot of the features iPhone users take for granted such as read receipts, typing indicators (those 3 dots that pop-up in a chat), texting over wifi, and more are not compatible with non-iPhone users. Images and videos sent from non-iPhone devices will also be blurry as Apple turns texts between iPhones and Android phones into SMS and MMS, an outdated technology. These are all easily fixable issues that Apple can address but they won't because of one simple thing...
There's nothing like having iPhone users shame non-iPhone users for polluting the group chat with their green texts! I have personally experienced this horror and the offender quickly used his work phone, an iPhone, as the number to be added to the main group chat between us friends after some swift backlash!
"looked exotic; possibly Indian or Middle Eastern or North Africa or Spanish or Mexican or Italian?" Add in Greek and Persian and you've got two decades of people describing me as well.
Also, re: phones. I was an old school Mac head from like 2000-2010 and bought the first iPhone. Then went corporate for a while and switched to PC and Android from 2010-2020. Switched back to iPhone in 2020 when I think their innovation quotient picked up again, but still use a Microsoft Surface for home computing. That said, my wife and I are in the market for an Apple laptop at the moment.
Like most tools/technologies, no single product does everything you need it to, so picking and mixing likely provides the most flexibility and offers the best bang for your buck.
Its interesting you put so much thought into this Amran. My sense is that most folks just pick one or the other never think about it again. I wonder how many people are in the wrong OS for their type/needs because of that?
Best comment of all! "I wonder how many people are in the wrong OS for their type/needs because of that?" The sentence is simultaneously insightful and ridiculous! I think people, because there are SO MANY OF US, and so many mechanisms to find out who belongs to "our tribe" treat phones / OS a bit like they used to treat their religion, ethnicity or race. Says way more about us than it does about the phone makers. They are more than happy to exploit this "feature" of humanity :) I think they all make calls, send messages and take pictures pretty well. Here's my scientific theory -- "the more prominently someone accessorizes or prominently displays their phone, the more doctrinaire they will be when you ask them about their phone". Bejeweled or ornate cases are a dead giveaway as is the tendency to walk while holding it as if it's a good luck charm. I did a brief technology consult with a specialty bicycle company years ago. The absurdity on offer of phone mounts on a bicycle was truly amazing.
I think most people have to make tradeoffs because the expenses understandably add up. I love Apple products, but I worked in finance for a number of years and am the treasurer for my kid's school and my HOA. No matter what any Apple mark says, Excel does not work as smoothly on an Apple product because the keyboard is different. You don't lose functionality, but you do lose dexterity and speed.
Even though Apple creates a "walled garden," I think iOS is marginally better than Android at the present moment -- primarily due to network effects (e.g., everyone in my family/demographic has an iPhone).
I was considering buying a new iPad Air recently but couldn't pull the trigger because it won't really solve any of my technology gaps. So now my wife and I are considering a Mac laptop for her, while I primarily continue to use the Surface, and we both keep our iPhones, and our kids have iPad minis available to them when they're not terrorizing us. This should cover all bases, but that's a lot of tech! And it's expensive.
A good parallel is power tools. I got into woodworking five years ago, and what I quickly realized is that there's like 10 different power saws because they each do ten different things super well, but are otherwise useless.
I'm from Indonesia and I honestly subscribe to your newsletter because you write interesting real-life-NYC stories. But why an 'outsider' like me have such a big interest in that city? I guess because I grew up watching too many rom-coms set in NYC 😅
Interesting Diar! And this coincides with what some of my friends suggested—that writing, films, articles, TV shows about NYC is almost its own category of genre that people are used to and familiar with, so they keep coming back for more.
Agreed! Having grown up seeing NYC only in movies and on TV, there's something so magical about it that it still doesn't quite feel like a real place to me, even though I've visited many times.
I've been doing it wrong. From now on, you can bet I'm giving my groceries a hug. 🤣🤣 Mr. Minksky is an inspiration! I wish him and his partner ALL the success!
Me too, Debra! He's just one of those people who manages to make everything FUN.
Honest to gawd!! I'm going to make an online order or call it in, since I'm, unfortunately, NOT in NYC. What a nice guy he is!!
I don’t know, Frankie seems like he could stand to work on being more honest and genuine in his interactions with women. You get back what you give out, you know?
LOL that is a good point Jenn.
haha yeah, I don't think he's ready for "the one" yet.
I agree! But it seems he was honest with Anne. That shows progress!
Phones don't record calls that come through while they're off, at least not on the device. But Frankie should contact his phone company - they have a record of all incoming calls and can tell him what numbers called him that night
Oh that's interesting Mark. I'll pass that on to Frankie!
I'm very surprised that no one commented on the use of the word, "Bougie." Do all the rest of you know that reference? Is it only King Tut and me who are in the dark because we are ancient? C'mon own up...did all the rest of you know this??!!
The Urban Dictionary helped me: Bougie: People pretending to (or think they are) high class and but they're really not (or don't realize they aren't.) Example 1: That bitch wit a Louis Vuitton bag and designer glasses complaining about her expired coupons at Target is bougie. Example 2: The hoes who go wine tasting but still live with their parents are bougie.
Great observation -- part of the key of your example is the pronumciation though (TAR - ZHAY)
It just came to me; do you think "bougie" is derived from "bourgeoisie?" Kind of makes sense. (And don't all of you hipsters out there say, "No duh?!")
I am no hipster. I prefer Homer Simpson so I'm gonna go with D'oh -- one of the best things about the comments on this Newsletter is perfectly unexpected tangents. BTW since I have three late twenty sons, I have the edge on some of this. I think the pronouciation is BOO --- ZHEE which would have made it a dead giveaway for the French thing.
That WAS the giveaway!!
I have two sons in their twenties; 29, turning 30 in 24 hours and the youngest, 26. My gawd I was 40 with the 1st and 43 with the 2nd!!
My entire life, as revealed in my comments, is nothing but perfectly unexpected tangents!
Mark you are a genius! That is the perfect example!!
Its been a bad and perhaps local joke forever. Target is a Twin Cities company. Norwegians and Swedes are apologetic about having things that are too nice and probably guilt-ridden about it :)
As for the genius, as I've shared with Anne previously, if I was so smart, I would have a paid Newsletter :)
Oh my goodness, I loved Frankie's story! She's definitely the one even though he doesn't remember her name 🤣 I hope it works out, but it sounds like he needs to get his heart broken a few times. I think you should interview some of the people on the missed connections site.I bet there are some great stories! Maybe for Valentines day?
That is such a good idea Jillian! Thank you!
I second this--missed connection interviews!
Also, Frankie needs to live with this regret and learn from his mistakes.
Jillian, I had my heart broken, only once. And though the feeling was intensely miserable for a while, I cherish the scar and the feeling, in my dotage. I pity anyone who has never had their heart broken.
And I carry the guilt of breaking 4 hearts, that I know of. I went away to college and it changed me greatly, and I broke up with my high school sweetheart, back home. She didn't lose me to another girl; she lost me to the roaming pack of drunken choirboys I hung with in the dorm. She lost me to freedom. After the breakup, I had a dry spell of about 6 months, met 3 girls within one week, all terrific. The most unlikely of the 3 wasn't flashy, but gawd could she kiss! I broke it off with the other 2 fairly quickly. The one I chose married me. She was a terrific young woman, but, alas, the marriage didn't last. I guess I can't stand prosperity...
Heartbreak is so painful, but, ultimately, it's such a central part of the human experience.
I agree! I didn't finally have my heart broken until I was like 36 and then I was like, ok, now I get it! I finally joined the human race!
Just like running with sissors: it's all fun and games until somebody gets hurt!!
https://youtu.be/CFJ0ijW--cY
Heartbreak is the ultimate paradox; the Tin-Man expressed it very well in the Wizard of Oz.
https://youtu.be/CFJ0ijW--cY
Android is an open source platform which means, unlike Apple, you can pick and choose ways to customize it.
Apple has the same business model as AOL used to have which means you are locked on the Apple reservation. It infuriates Apple users when they are compared to AOL users but facts are facts.
Oh, and pound for pound, Apple iphones cost a whole lot more than Android phones.
Micheal, that last bit I was sort of aware of but I had no idea until I started asking my Android friends how cheap the phones can be! My friend has an $18 phone. What???
The newest Android phone is Google's very own Pixel 7 Pro. It retails for $900. It is comparable with Apple's newest release, the iPhone 14 PRo Max which retails for $1100.
The last communication device I saw that sold for $18 were two cans connected by a string.
One of the pictures in the story was taken with an $18 phone. Suck it, string-cans (that is not a nickname for Michael G, lest you worry)!
From now on I am referring to Michael G. as "String-cans."
You know, I didn't have a "smartphone" of any type until about 4 years ago. My sons and my wife had Apple phones from back when "Hector was a pup." Look it up! They love Apple. When it came time for me, I chose the cheapest one, an LG android phone. It does the job, but it's not as good as Apple.
How do I love New York? LET ME COUNT THE WAYS! I grew up on an island on the west coast of Canada, but since my teen years I was drawn to New York. I lived in Montréal in the 1980's and visited NYC twice and was appropriately impressed and besotted. When I moved back to the west coast in 1990 one of my biggest regrets was that I wouldn't as easily be able to visit New York, and in fact didn't make it back there again until 2017. For my 60th birthday I planned and saved up for a trip to NY... had a super cool Airbnb near Washington Square rented that was an artist's studio in the 60's. I was going to be there alone for 18 days with visits from my husband, my daughter, and a good friend. Alas. That birthday was May 5th, 2020 and although I don't remember the details, for some reason the trip never came to pass. Plus I lost money on the Airbnb. What a world. Anyhoo, one of these days I'll visit again.
Of course, that's not the only reason I read Café Anne! I wouldn't subscribe to just any old newsletter about New York. You're hilarious, and the New York you reveal makes me feel like I'm there.
Also... ANDROID! ANDROID! ANDROID!
Oh wow what a bummer. Stupid Covid for ruining your NYCATION BA!!! I hope you do come back to visit soon.
And thanks for your kind words you made my day :)
Haha I feel like the Android people are a lot more fierce than the iPhoners....
Well, I would have written more about Android vs iPhone beyond my exclamations, but I didn't want to leave the longest comment in history. Over the years I've owned both, but somehow iPhones always found a way to piss me off. Beyond the proprietary BS I don't even remember what those things were, but the last time I owned one I vowed "never again".
I’m one of your out-of-town subscribers and I look in often just because I love YOUR New York. This one made me wish I lived in Bushwick or near enough to check out this guy and his store. I really love his logo.
I am an Android phone person even though I have an Apple Macbook Air and an iPad. We buy open phones and prefer to pick our contracts or no-contract agreements accordingly. There has been no down side.
Elizabeth, thanks for your sweet comment. And I'm with you. Isn't that logo the best?
Also, super interesting you went Android even though you're otherwise "Apple family." Thanks for the insight!
Another gem.
(1) Why NYC -- There is something magical about the big city in any country and NYC is it here. People want to see it and gravitate to it whether Seoul, Tokyo, London, Paris. I read once that at the peak of European migration, 25% of all immigrants that arrived in NYC stayed at least for a while!
(2) Aharon & the Horseradish Market -- The copy for the apples is almost a clone of what we get when we visit Trader Joe's and the horseradish market seems similar. People respond to the vibe of a market and can ignore the stuff like I've seen this before because it makes them happy. The rivalry of the brothers from Germany who inherited the Aldi Market dynasty in Germany and became Aldi and Trader Joe's in America. The best part of the story is Aldi and Trader Joe's likely share many suppliers yet the vibe and appeal could not be more different. Small, convenient, efficient, produce turnover rapid so no old stuff in the stores. Best part of story was grabbing a tech guy who makes stocking and pricing easy without any overhead. BRILLIANT. This is EXACTLY why the tech boom has changed everything. Guys like his friend eliminate the barrier to entry and friction to access. Businesses that figure out how to leverage access to information can do almost anything including finding cheap high-quality chocolate.
(3) Matchmaker -- no comment
(4) Phone -- have owned both. Only Google Pixel these days. Everything Google makes works for everyone, everything Apple makes only works for the herd -- Big world >> Small world -- example why would I Facetime if only part of my family used it --- Zoom or Google Meet or Microsoft Teams -- all of them are built for the WHOLE world except Facetime -- seems narrow and unnecessary. Inclusive > Exclusive
Mr. Dolan!
First the phone thing. One of the ironies here is that I suspect that while Apple has long tried to market itself as the option for those who "think different," the reality is actually the opposite. And I say this as an-Apple lady! So thank you for the insight.
I was thinking about Aldi when I wrote about Horseradish, btw. Except Aldi seems purposefully charmless, almost like it's making an effort to convince shoppers that no opportunity for price slashing will be overlooked!
Also: NYC! NYC! NYC!
There were awesome things to like about my experience with Apple devices. The best analogy is the walled garden. If you have a beautiful garden it is great to walk around in. Nice to go outside the walls though :) Since the phone market is mature, I believe they will both become more like each other in the next few years. While you are not a car person, it is heavily reported that Google will very soon block access to Google Earth, Maps and Waze to people who have apple devices and plug them into their cars for navigation etc. I would expect when they behave like Apple and put the stuff behind a paywall it will be a hassle for a lot of people. This seems inevitable because the phone market is mature and they will now try to steal each other's customers. I think that Apple is likely the pre-eminent hardware company in the US and Google is the prre-eminent software company in the world. Get some popcorn and watch
The Aldi thing is hilarious. If you are unfamiliar the story of the brothers who inherited the Aldi empire is a great one. They divided the world so as not to compete with each other. One of them would never sell alcohol or cigarettes, the other was anything goes. The US is the only market in the world where the Aldi brother businesses compete at some level (the brothers are both deceased). Here one operates Aldi and the other operates Trader Joe's. They seem so different on the surface but operationally almost identical, just a different niche.
It is interesting to me as our country has descended into a weird political dual. In nearly every country in the world their key city is treated like a crown jewel. Here we have this weirdness of us and them and it is unfortunate. Direct investment by the national government in cities like Seoul and Tokyo is amazing and the citizenry universally looks on them with pride.
I had no idea about this Aldi brother thing. SOOOO interesting!
And yes that is an interesting point about the relationship between the U.S. and the rest of the country. It's for sure love/hate.
The wife of the founder split the company in half and forced the two sons to be geographically isolated as they did not get along! A real feud it seems. I love the fact that one of them was sort of a frugal Puritan and would not sell cigarettes or alcohol!!! When Trader Joe's was launched in CA by the non-Puritan side of the family, the compelling sell item was "Two Buck Chuck", usually a bottle of basic red wine for $2!!! Aldi is a curious and super-successful business. I believe they are organized a bit like McDonald's in that they BUY the building, typically unconnected to other structures and then run with super-low overhead. Employee pay way above industry average but they expect the employees to do all of the jobs associated with the store so no unions. It would be interesting to walk into an Aldi run by the side of the family selling Marlboro Lights.
That pic of Mr. Kindly ecstatically showcasing his Snack display is an exclamation mark in itself!!!!!
How much does he charge for eggs????
Good question Amie! Egg prices are always top of mind for me and a good basis for comparison between stores. He was selling a dozen large eggs (organic I think?) for $4.29 which is two dollars cheaper than my local supermarket and also I think cheaper than what I'm seeing at my Brooklyn Trader Joe's.
Glad you liked the photo! Its one of my faves as well!
also: regarding apples, I feel like you will love this: https://applerankings.com/
DUDE I am a long-time fan of Apple Rankings Dot Com and the only reason I don't visit the site every day is that doing so instills a sense of hopelessness and despair at the thought of ever creating anything that comes to close to what has been achieved by Apple Rankings Dot Com. Thanks for the reminder.
hahahahaha I feel like if anyone could do it, it's you. some sorta website ranking every single bodega in nyc or something
you did not need to come for Rhode Island Monthly like that
LOL You're right Alex. I also heard from a Rhone Islander who made the point—how do I know this periodical does not have a MASSIVE CIRCULATION??? Viva Rhode Island Monthly!
hahahaha i mean....https://www.rimonthly.com/the-best-rhode-island-restaurants-and-bars-for-bathroom-selfies/
i rest my case
Ok yes I agree this is PEAK JOURNALISM!!!
There's really no mystery why non-New Yorkers are so fascinated by New York - it's because there is truly no place like it on Earth. Other cities are cool, amazing, incredible, etc. - Vancouver, Hong Kong, London, I'm looking at you - but they're not New York. And they never will be.
Bryan this is what I suspect but I haven't been to ANY of the world's other so-called great cities so I have no basis for comparison. On the other hand once I moved here I sort of felt like, why bother? How could it possibly get any better?
I read your writing not because it is about New York but because I like your writing, the people you find and the way your mind presents thoughts. Thanks you!
Abigail that is so great to hear! Thank you!
Phone choice is an iPhone since I would have FOMO with another phone due to the iMessage group exclusivity (curse the green texts!)
OK Nate, I gotta hear more about this...
From a technical perspective, non-iPhones require cell service to message in a group while iPhone groups will work on wifi and/or on cell service. Also, a lot of the features iPhone users take for granted such as read receipts, typing indicators (those 3 dots that pop-up in a chat), texting over wifi, and more are not compatible with non-iPhone users. Images and videos sent from non-iPhone devices will also be blurry as Apple turns texts between iPhones and Android phones into SMS and MMS, an outdated technology. These are all easily fixable issues that Apple can address but they won't because of one simple thing...
There's nothing like having iPhone users shame non-iPhone users for polluting the group chat with their green texts! I have personally experienced this horror and the offender quickly used his work phone, an iPhone, as the number to be added to the main group chat between us friends after some swift backlash!
"looked exotic; possibly Indian or Middle Eastern or North Africa or Spanish or Mexican or Italian?" Add in Greek and Persian and you've got two decades of people describing me as well.
Also, re: phones. I was an old school Mac head from like 2000-2010 and bought the first iPhone. Then went corporate for a while and switched to PC and Android from 2010-2020. Switched back to iPhone in 2020 when I think their innovation quotient picked up again, but still use a Microsoft Surface for home computing. That said, my wife and I are in the market for an Apple laptop at the moment.
Like most tools/technologies, no single product does everything you need it to, so picking and mixing likely provides the most flexibility and offers the best bang for your buck.
Its interesting you put so much thought into this Amran. My sense is that most folks just pick one or the other never think about it again. I wonder how many people are in the wrong OS for their type/needs because of that?
Best comment of all! "I wonder how many people are in the wrong OS for their type/needs because of that?" The sentence is simultaneously insightful and ridiculous! I think people, because there are SO MANY OF US, and so many mechanisms to find out who belongs to "our tribe" treat phones / OS a bit like they used to treat their religion, ethnicity or race. Says way more about us than it does about the phone makers. They are more than happy to exploit this "feature" of humanity :) I think they all make calls, send messages and take pictures pretty well. Here's my scientific theory -- "the more prominently someone accessorizes or prominently displays their phone, the more doctrinaire they will be when you ask them about their phone". Bejeweled or ornate cases are a dead giveaway as is the tendency to walk while holding it as if it's a good luck charm. I did a brief technology consult with a specialty bicycle company years ago. The absurdity on offer of phone mounts on a bicycle was truly amazing.
I think most people have to make tradeoffs because the expenses understandably add up. I love Apple products, but I worked in finance for a number of years and am the treasurer for my kid's school and my HOA. No matter what any Apple mark says, Excel does not work as smoothly on an Apple product because the keyboard is different. You don't lose functionality, but you do lose dexterity and speed.
Even though Apple creates a "walled garden," I think iOS is marginally better than Android at the present moment -- primarily due to network effects (e.g., everyone in my family/demographic has an iPhone).
I was considering buying a new iPad Air recently but couldn't pull the trigger because it won't really solve any of my technology gaps. So now my wife and I are considering a Mac laptop for her, while I primarily continue to use the Surface, and we both keep our iPhones, and our kids have iPad minis available to them when they're not terrorizing us. This should cover all bases, but that's a lot of tech! And it's expensive.
A good parallel is power tools. I got into woodworking five years ago, and what I quickly realized is that there's like 10 different power saws because they each do ten different things super well, but are otherwise useless.
I'm from Indonesia and I honestly subscribe to your newsletter because you write interesting real-life-NYC stories. But why an 'outsider' like me have such a big interest in that city? I guess because I grew up watching too many rom-coms set in NYC 😅
Interesting Diar! And this coincides with what some of my friends suggested—that writing, films, articles, TV shows about NYC is almost its own category of genre that people are used to and familiar with, so they keep coming back for more.
Thanks for your kind words!
Agreed! Having grown up seeing NYC only in movies and on TV, there's something so magical about it that it still doesn't quite feel like a real place to me, even though I've visited many times.