Buying Local vs. Amazon

This question stumbled upon my brain the other day as I received a box on my porch. You know, the box with the arrow on it. It's fun and cool to order things online today. It makes your friends look old fashioned and you, twice as lazy. But being lazy by buying things online isn't really a bad thing. Except for one thing, your local shops are losing money. And you love being local, because you constantly talk about how cool this clothing store on 2nd is and that one coffee shop no one seems to know about.

But then there's that thing you bought off Amazon that makes your life so much easier. Also that cool desk toy that probably cost twice as much at IKEA. Oh, and did I tell you how cheap these things were? Very cheap. It just took a while to get here from China.

But everyone has their reasons. Christmas shopping on Amazon is easier than going to the store and going to the store gives you a better look on what you're about to buy. Or if you have coupons and it's 29 of one thing you're buying, shipping would've cost a lot more. But buying online is quicker and most of the time shipping is free.


It's tough to decide.

So here's a list of things you can and just cannot buy from Local shops in Austin and stuff I've bought from Amazon that isn't too common in the shops downtown.

        Can't buy from Amazon.                                                                        Can't buy from Austin

Austin, TX Snowglobe  $25                                                           Cycling glasses from China  $7.50
Thundercloud Subs Sandwich $4                                                    Decent smelling cologne  $3
Weird Clothes from SOCO $30                                                     Cheerio's $1
Weird toys, somehow in every store $10                                        Overpriced backpacks  $60
A little overpriced eco stuff $50                                                      iPhone cases  $2
Dogs with rabies next to Hopdoddy's $70                                      Stuff cheaper than Brookstone $50 off
Cool handmade shoes $65                                                             More Cycling Accessories $100 off
Breakfast Tacos $1.50                                                                   Almost everything  - pretty cheap
Traffic $20 (gas)                                                                             3D Printer $1,299
Live Music - Priceless                                                                     Local Deals (working together) 50% off
Exercise from walking - FREE
Turtle Racing @ Little Woodrow's - 10 likes
on Instagram


There's a lot of things you can't buy from Amazon, and sort of a lot from them. We'll just use Amazon for the lazy days from now on.

At least get the name right.

So many times, every day, all day, anywhere, your name is mispronounced. There is no cure for this common sickness. Unless your name is Bob Smith, then you can stop reading this post.

It all started in PreSchool. Well, maybe not PreSchool, it started earlier than that.

It all started when we were born. But I started to notice as I got older. It would happen the most when our classes would have substitute teachers and there would be seconds of silence and then they would say, “Okay I’m sorry if I get this wrong, Elisa? Eleus? Elieus?”  The class would then blurt out “Elias!”.

I remember the first day of school when I would be waiting to correct the teacher as they would say my name. That feeling went away around freshman year. It didn’t bother me anymore that someone would get my name wrong. Except for this one time when someone thought my name was Tobias. Not even close.

I think my name has gotten around a lot more because I’ve been correcting people less and less. This is because of  all the hipster parents naming their babies Levi, Jett, Lennon, or Thelonious; yes, Thelonious. Or maybe it’s because I look so white, no one would call me Elias, as if I were a true Hispanic. Although I am, I’m not so true to it.

It’s even worse when the person can never get it right. For example, I’ve been running almost every 5k, 10k, and everything that ends in K and M in Austin ever since I was 3. Even numerous cycling events. There’s only one man who get to talk on the mic all day and he’s been doing it since 1992 and still hasn’t gotten my name right. I’ve even had to correct him as I crossed the finish line once. Robert “Evil” Evilsizer has only one job and can’t even do it. Even last Sunday at the Schlotzsky’s Bun Run, he said “2098: Elisa Huerta... Elisa?”. I laughed and finished. No big deal, he’ll never get it.

Anyway, you'll just have to deal with it for the rest of your life. It's not that big of a deal, but it's something. Even last names that people can't pronounce make you sorta cool. It's like the people who can pronounce your name are a part of this exclusive club that no one else is in.  Cool clubs are cool. Even when they're not real.