The founders of PareUp saw an opportunity to save food from going to waste by putting it on the plates of people looking to dine well on a budget. At first they imagined a service where users open their fridges to one another, but decided it would be uber creepy (pun intended) to apply the model of the sharing economy to half eaten jars of peanut butter and Greek yogurt. The breakthrough came with something bakeries were already doing–offering discounts on soon to be wasted food. They set out to scale that model to food services of all types. The folks at PareUp wagered on ethics as a driving force behind consumer habits. Far from early concerns that almost-stale bagels might give patrons the wrong idea about a baker, participation with this service only strengthens a brand and demonstrate it’s values to a new generation of customers, customers who have not just money to spend, but also fucks to give. “People care about businesses that care about people,” said co-founder and CEO, Margaret Tung.

Read the rest of my piece on PareUp at Broke-Ass Stuart.

Get PareUp here. 

So much more than a graduation gift or banker’s front pocket accessory, the fountain pen is still the best way to write longhand. A fountain pen will tighten up your penmanship and loosen your grip, saving you from writer’s cramp.  Contrary to the marketing hype of a few high end brands, most fountain pens are pretty cheap. Here are the five best for under $30. You can find these in Japan Town, or at Jetpens.com.

The Varsity is smooth beyond its price point, I’d compare it to any gold-nibbed jotter on the market. It will pain you to throw it out, but that’s what you have to do since there’s no cartridge. The nib has just enough flex and never scratches. These go for $3.00 a pop at Rite Aid…

I’m what you might call a born-again luddite. There was a time when I believed that I owed my writing life to modern technology. I learned to type on Windows 95 with Mario Teaches Typing, I used right-clicking as my thesaurus, and I penned my first short story on a first-generation Macbook. I once was lost, but now I’m found. I got saved back in college when I picked up a pre-war Underwood Portable at an antique store in San Diego. The machine was in good shape, and its vintage suited my great-American-novelist pretensions at the time. I oiled it, bought a new ribbon, and got to work. The words I pecked out of the Underwood were better than the ones on my hard drive, so I never looked back. By better I mean warmer, closer to the reader, flawed in a human way–any vinyl collector or guitarist with a tube amp knows what I mean

My typewriter thing is more like a fetish than a work habit. Something you either get or you don’t. I didn’t need reasons to go analog, but here are few that might encourage you to unplug:

To read the rest of my piece, which includes a typewriter buyers guide, go to  Broke Ass Stuart.

My new Olivetti 22