James Collier

Alright, it’s the end of week one and I’m started to get into the spirit of buying local. I get that it’s not always convenient—I knew that going into this—but I’m really starting to enjoy it. A quick rundown of all the places I visited today:

• Newsroom Cafe: it wasn’t my favorite cup of coffee, but I was able to leech the City’s wifi for a bit before heading to…
• Spacio Design: I spent the day working in the space Spacio shares with Socient—Spacio is an architecture and design firm, and Socient is creative firm focused on social enterprise.
• Central Valley Community Bank: I spoke with a bank employee about moving our funds over from Bank of America, and received all the necessary paperwork to set up checking and savings accounts for Kim and I, and for my business.
• Ribs & Tips: I lunched with Kiel (of Spacio) and Barry of Rotary Storyland & Playland. The food was good.
• Iron Bird Lofts: Stopped by for ArtHop and took a tour of the live/work spaces. Ran into Luke, who recently moved in and offered a tour.
• Oggi Cosi Si Mangia: Kim and I were joined by several friends (Sarah, Kendall, Geoff, Katrina and Kiel) at Oggi’s (pronounced “O-G”). Thanks to Layne for the recommendation!

I’ll expand on some of the food in review format for TasteFresno, and in another post I’ll share my story about switching banks and talking to Huffington Post (they’re related, I promise). Again, I’m starting to have fun with this.

I’m also picking up on a few key themes. I’ve covered convenience a bit, and relationships are highlighted in today’s activities (I find that my friends are not only supportive, but wanting to experiment with me). I’m also learning that when buying local, it’s good to bring cash.