My Warby Parker Experience

Review of my experience buying my first pair of Warby Parker glasses

If you don’t yet know who or what Warby Parker is, they are a new and quickly growing eye wear designer. The quick rundown is that they design and manufacture fashionable glasses for vision and sun, for men and women. Because there is no middle man, you can get designer looks without paying the high prices found in most stores. They offer a wide range of styles and have an interactive process for trying on frames and ordering your prescription online. Their prices are well below half of what I’ve seen elsewhere, their styles are up to the minute and they even donate a pair of glasses to someone in need for every pair you buy. Sounds pretty great right? Well, I wanted to find out for myself and I did.

First off, this is a completely objective review and is only based on my own personal experience buying from Warby Parker. I have no connection or affiliation with the company and your experience with them may be different. If so, please leave a comment below and tell me how your experience differed from mine. With that, I’ll begin by saying I heard about WB through a friend and decided to look for myself. After visiting their site I loved what they did, and what they stood for. I must have read every page on that site and looked at almost every style. They know their product well and their mission statement is clear. To me, it seemed too good to be true. I mean they though of everything. The styles look good, the site is easy to use. The photos of most frames are shown stand alone and on a model whose face rotates as you scroll across the screen, allowing you to view the frames on a face at multiple angles. They even thought of the fact that it sounds “too good to be true”.

Possibly the coolest part of Warby’s experience is their try on feature. Yes, they do have a digital try on feature on the site and it’s actually quite easy to use, especially if your computer or tablet has a web cam. However, we’ve seen tools like this before. WB’s is good but the idea of this is still flawed. You never get a true feel for what the frames will look like on your face. Proportion can be off, as well as lighting and other small details that add up to give you an inaccurate depiction of what the frames will look like on your face. Let’s face it, glasses can be one of the hardest things to buy online, even more than most apparel. Especially because you need to pay for prescription lenses, making them hard to return. So, how does Warby Parker handle this? They will send you up to five frames of your choice to try on at no charge. I couldn’t believe it! It really is as good as it sounds.

I picked 5 frames and placed the order. I was required to enter my credit card info but was never charged. This was just in case I never returned the frames. The order arrived in about two days and came in a nice box with its own slot for each pair of glasses, they came wrapped in plastic and I felt each pair was clean. If you’re a super germaphobe you may want to wipe down the arms with alcohol. I’m super glad I got to wear them. To me, this experience beats trying on frames in a store. You not only get to take your time but you can wear them around. I wore my favorite pair to work for a day to see if I got any compliments, I did. This also gives you a feel of how comfortable the glasses will be over time.

Now you simply send all of them back and order the pair you wanted. You can really order your pair of choice at anytime but you’ll want to make sure you send back the try-ons after 4 or 5 days. When ordering your glasses you’ll need to send a copy of your prescription. I found the easiest thing to do was to take a photo with my phone and attach it. The cameras on phones are high res enough for this now, who needs a scanner? Just make sure it’s bright enough and that the flash doesn’t wash out any of the info, including the signature. They also require you to provide your pupil width, which is the space between your two pupils. This will help to prevent eye strain. Most optometry clinics hold onto this info to prevent you from buying glasses elsewhere. If you don’t have this info, WP has a cool feature that uses a web cam and credit card or any card with a magnetic strip on the back. Follow the directions carefully, but it’s easy and worked great for me.

I chose to upgrade the lenses to the premium poly for about an extra $30 which was a great deal. Most of the styles can be purchased with a prescription for $99, with free shipping. To me, that price is insane and I don’t know how they do it that cheap. I opted for a pair of titanium frames which cost a bit more. Even so, I got a great pair of unique frames that I love, with premium lenses for about $170 total.

The glasses took about 10 days to arrive but they shipped fast once they were completed. You’ll find that 10 days is standard unless you go somewhere like lens crafters who has their own lab on site. several emails followed the purchase that kept me posted on their progress. I never wondered where my glasses where and as soon as they shipped there were literally at my doorstep in 2 days.

My only real fear was that, because of the low price they wouldn’t hold up. I’ve been wearing them for a few weeks with no issues but I’ll be sure to update this post if they begin to fall apart ahead of their time. I’ve looked at the construction up close and feel like they will hold up. If you can’t tell, I strongly recommend Warby Parker. The experience was great from start to finish, which is hard to find these days. As a side note they also sell sunglasses with or without prescriptions.

If you’ve bought from them, or decide to based on this post please let me know about it in the comments section below.

www.WarbyParker.com

Making the Perfect Burgers

Guide to Grilling and Building the perfect Cheese Burger

For starters this is not a recipe, not exactly anyway. This will serve more as a guide on how to grill burgers like a man.

Basic Essentials: Ground Sirloin 90/10, Good Buns, Good Cheese, fixins and a Grill (any grill).

Start with the meat. You want a good burger? You need to buy good meat. You can vary what you get but buy it fresh and cook it the day you buy it if you can. Never buy frozen patties. Sure, it’s convenient but so is running through the McDonald’s drive thru. This is a guide for building the perfect burger, not the easiest burger. Also, avoid buying pre-made patties, even if they are fresh. Most grocery store butcher shops will make the patties quick and make them look good and plump int he display. These are not necessarily good for grilling. You’ll see why in a minute.

I recommend making quarter pounders. It’s good patty size, not too big and not too small. When you dress up your burger with cheese, pickles, lettuce, tomato etc. you’ll get a good meat to fixin’s ratio. I find that meat typically comes in packs right around 1.25 pounds. that means you can get 5 patties out of each package, this size. You’ll need to form up the patties ahead of time. To me, this is the most crucial step. It determines the size, shape and thickness of your meat, all things that contribute to how enjoyable it is when you finally chow down.

Step 1. Lay down plastic wrap, and keep some handy. You’ll need a couple more sheets of it as you go.

Step 2. Divide the meat up into 5 balls of equal size. (I’m assuming you know hands should be washed before and immediately after touching raw meat)

Step 3. To form the patty, flatten the ball in the flat palm of your non-dominant hand. Spread it out evenly, then pinch the outside edge with your finger and thumb to make it uniform. Cracks or breaks on the edge don’t look good but they can also cause the burger to tear when putting it on the grill. your nicely formed patty should be roughly 1/4 inch larger in diameter than the bun. Hold it near the bun package for comparison if needed.

Step 4. Lay your patty carefully on the plastic lined cookie sheet. Continue forming the remaining patties. Lightly sprinkle salt and pepper over the top of each patty. You can use other seasoning, but I recommend you try plain salt and pepper if you have good meat. A good burger doesn’t rely on heavy seasoning or additional flavors.

Step 5. Repeat and place a sheet of plastic between each layer. Place a final piece of plastic over the top and store in the refrigerator. Keep refrigerated until you’re ready to grill.

Tips: Try not to do this more than an hour or two ahead of grilling time, and don’t handle the meat too much. As you learn what works you’ll get faster and need to handle the meat less. The more it’s handled the harder it is to keep the patties together.

Now you’ve got your perfect patties and they should look something like this.

You’re ready to Grill!

Place the raw patties on the hot grill and close the lid. Wait for about two minutes, depending on the heat. I go for a medium-high heat. Too hot and you’ll char them and over cook them before you can get them all on and off again. As soon as the juice starts to rise out of the top, they are ready to flip. As the meat cooks the burger shrinks, which is why you made them bigger than the bun. This process forces out some of the juice. Flip immediately, but only flip the patties that have started to expel the juice. Some parts of the grill are not as hot as others.

Now the top side is cooked, but juice will still come out of the cooked top. It may be harder to see though. Once this happens pull off the grill. Some may still need longer though. I usually either bring them all the way to the front of the grill, just before they are ready to come off. They’ll cook a little more on this cooler part of the grill, but I can keep them hot without overcooking them. If you don’t have a cool spot open, place them on a cookie sheet and keep covered with tin foil.

If you’re adding cheese, do it on the grill, not after. The best time is just shortly after the first flip. I should say “First and only Flip!”. Flipping dries out the meat, you lose a lot of the juice. Remember what happened on the first flip. Juice came out of the top and you flipped it. You lost all that juice. Imagine if you keep doing that. Keep it down to one flip and you’ll hold on to that juicy goodness. The cheese on top will lock in the remaining juice before it can come out of the burger.

Now your meat is done and ready to serve.

Everyone likes their burgers fixed a different way. If you’re serving people I recommend having all the fixings out and ready so they can make their own while the burgers are still hot. The best items to have out for a classic burger are crisp lettuce, juicy tomatoes, red onion (raw), dill pickles, mustard and mayo.

This piece is really intended to tell you how to make great burger patties by hand and how to grill them. I know everyone likes to dress burgers their own way but I’ll finish by telling you how I dress mine. This varies from time to time and I’ll often thrown on things like bacon or jalapenos. This order from bottom to top is great for a classic burger. Bottom bun, mustard, pickles (3 slices), meat, cheese (melted on the grill), red onion (2-3 rings), iceberg lettuce, tomato, light salt and pepper, mayo, top bun. Don’t mash it! Mashing forces the juice from the meat into the bottom bun, which is not where you want it. If you have your own way of dressing up your burger and you think we should know about it please put it in the comments section below.

Shop From Your Own Wardrobe

Tips for cleaning out your closet and ending up with more options

Your closet has got to get cleaned out every once in a while, if for nothing more than to just make more room. Even if you don’t shop very often, it’s certain that new items are added to your wardrobe more often than old clothes are removed. Don’t just look at this activity as a chore though, use it as an opportunity. It’s a chance to find things that you forgot you had and a great way to piece together new outfits you never though of before. If you feel the need for some new threads, but are watching your wallet closely this can be a great way to get that fresh feeling without ever touching your wallet. Even if you plan to shop, prepping this way can be a great first move. You’ll make room for new items, take note of what you have so you can add matching items more successfully and you’ll find entire new outfits limiting how much you actually need to spend on new clothes.

First tip is to research. If you want to rush through this, don’t bother. You can easily just grab some old clothes you won’t wear or can’t wear anymore and give them to goodwill. That shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes. If you want to do it right, take your time and do some reconnaissance first. Check out your favorite stores online and see what styles are out. If you have celebrities whose style you like and emulate look at recent photos of them to see what’s trending. Since fashion slowly evolves, you can often just add an accent or accessory to items you’ve worn in the past to update them. Find some looks you like and make a note of them.

Now, empty your closet. That’s right! Empty it. Pull everything out so it’s bare. Sorting them out on the bed is best. Throw anything that doesn’t fit or you won’t wear anymore into a pile, put everything that’s questionable into a different pile, then start organizing the rest so you can see everything. Any items you find that are particularly interested, like an old scarf you forgot you had or shirt that still has it’s tags, should be put where you can see them all. As you go, hold things up next to each other. See how the colors work and remember what items you might want to wear together in the future.

I recommend only keeping things you really will wear. You should also make two segments if you have the room. One is your top-level inventory, these are the items you will wear most often. The other will be items you love, but that won’t get much wear. Keep them in the closet but they can go to the back. Try keeping a fairly small bench. Because of the way men’s clothing works, most men don’t need that many items. A Good sized everyday wardrobe would consist of approximately (4 slacks, 2 dark jeans, 10 or so dress shirts, 10 or so ties, 10 or less t-shirts, a few sweaters and a few jackets) This varies obviously depending on what you wear to work but for most men who wear business casual that’s more than enough. You can literally go months without ever needing to wear the same thing twice.

Now figure out what you need to update your look. I find that ties go out of style faster than anything else in men’s fashion. Tie patterns and widths tend to vary greatly every few years but a lot of men get to a certain age and stop buying them. If you’re good in the shirts and pants department, you might just need to go out and buy a few new ties to update your look. The right tie can completely change the look of an outfit so choose wisely. Odds are most things for sale in the stores will be current but stay away from heavy patterns and super bright colors.

Try stuff on. Most men change size in their 20s and 30s, for bigger or smaller. So try things on. Some items may have shrunk and some parts of you might have gotten bigger. Look in the mirror, see what looks good on you and get rid of anything that doesn’t. I’ve bought plenty of items over the years that I loved in the store but that I never wear because I hate the way the look on me every time I decide to put them on. If you’ve been fortunate enough to lose weight, keep your nicest items and get them tailored. There’s no reason to threw out a perfectly good pair of pants when they could easily be tailored for a fraction of what new pants would cost. Trust me taking your pants to get them taken in is even more satisfying than buying new ones. If you’ve “out grown” your clothes, it might be time to work your way back into them. Fitting back into a pair of pants you love can be a great motivator for losing a healthy amount of weight.

The last time I cleaned out my closet, I had planned on going shopping after. I canceled the shopping trip and I wore all new outfits for weeks after. I just found a few prize items in the pile that worked great and I took time to figure out what pieces worked together while I had everything in front of me. I saved $100s of dollars that I would have otherwise spent, and I couldn’t have been happier with the result. I will say though, that you won’t be as successful the second time around. You’ve already culled everything out so this isn’t something that will work well year over year but you can certainly do it every few years.

Establishing Your Own Personal Style

Your personal style says a lot about you. It’s often responsible for your first impression because it’s what someone sees when they approach you or when you approach them. Someone, anyone, can immediately tell if you’re a slob or not, they can also tell how much you care about your appearance, how creative you are or how traditional you are. At least they think they can. People are making assumptions about you all the time. Don’t believe it? Pay attention to the voice in the back of your own head the next time you’re people watching. You make up little stories about people all the time. If it’s people you haven’t met, you’re only basing your assumptions on their appearance. This also happens when you meet people socially or in business. This article is not about how to make a good impression though. It’s simply about figuring out how to let your outward appearance speak to who you are as an individual.

The older you get the more important it can be to develop a personal style. This doesn’t mean you need to wear outlandish clothes to get noticed and it doesn’t mean you need to buy outfits you see in storefront displays. Neither of those options are genuine and neither can really say something about you. Also, this isn’t something you’ll pick up right away, and it shouldn’t be. This is something you should slowly develop over time. Ultimately what you should have are garments and accessories that work well together, look good on you, that say something about you and that stand out just the right amount.

My primary recommendation is to allow your style to develop and evolve over time. Don’t try to change your personal style in one shopping trip. If you don’t go broke trying that, you’ll at least be tired of what you bought within the first year. If you take your time, you’ll be slowly acquiring items that you love, rather than what’s in style at the moment. The following recommendations below are good things to keep in mind.

Fit – Buy clothes that fit well. Not too tight and not too loose. Baggy clothes can send a variety of messages, but most of all poorly fitting clothes tell people you don’t know how to dress. Consider a size down approach. That simply means you buy clothes one size smaller than you normally would. For this, you’ll want to make sure you’re still getting the right fit in the sleeve and torso length. If you’re like me, tall and thin, this can be difficult. Often times, clothes with the right fit on my body have sleeves that are just a little too short. Another option here is tailoring. A nice shirt can be taken in just a little so that it fits your body well. This adds to the cost of the garment though. I often find great dress shirts and jackets at my local thrift stores. Not old outdated ones either. I’m talking about new clothes that are barely worn. The only thing is that they tend to be on the bigger size. If I get the sleeves, length and neck right I can have a shirt tailored and still be way under the cost in store.

Match – Know your wardrobe well, and only buy clothes that will add to it. I have a bad habit of buying a nice tie only to never wear it because it doesn’t look good with any of my shirts.

Observe – Take notice of styles and elements that appeal to you. In most cases, something that really stands out to you in a positive way, is something that you’ll enjoy wearing. Watching movies and TV can be a great way to adopt aspects of your own style but don’t copy anyone entirely. I say this because you don’t want to look like you’re wearing a Don Draper costume, but you can pick elements of his style if they are appropriate for you.

Bold Accents – My recommendation is to avoid really bold clothes unless that is what you’re going for. Bold shirts and wildly patterned pants say a lot, maybe too much. So be careful here and really consider whether those elements are for you. Instead use a bold accent. If not a sharp-looking tie, something as simple as a tie bar or pair of cufflinks and personalize a standard black suit and white shirt. Maybe you adopt and wear something regularly that no one else you run into wears, like a nice pocket square. Even the fold of your pocket square says a lot about you. Pay attention to Mad Men the next time you watch it. Each main character has a different way of folding his pocket square. Don’s is typically a traditional fold. Cooper, who loves traditional Japanese culture like removing your shoes, wears his and an intricately folded design that resembles origami.

More than clothes – Your look is not restricted to your clothing. Your hair, face and nails also show how well you take care of yourself. A messy hairstyle can say something different about you than a clean-cut look. So consider which one is best for you and who you are. I prefer a convertible style that I can wear messy, or clean-cut depending on the occasion.

Everything – Let your style creep into everything. Not just what you wear and how you look, but what you carry and how you carry yourself. Everything from your wallet to suitcase to phone cover can say something about you and your own style, or lack of it.

Finally, don’t put too much pressure on yourself for this. All of these notes are simply thinks to adopt and keep in mind. Not things to obsess over.