"Arafoo" and "Gu~!" Win First Prize

Asahi Shimbun
December 1, 2008

On December 1 the "2008 You Can Neologism and Buzzword Contest," presented the words that best represented social trends this year, which were chosen using the survey, "Basic Knowledge of Modern Terminology." Among the winning words were "arafoo" (short for "Around 40"), which refers to women around 40 years old, Comedienne Harumi Edo's joke "gu~!," and the special-award winning "Ueno's 413 balls," created by softball player Yukiko Ueno who pitched powerfully in the Beijing Olympics.

At the award ceremony in Tokyo, actress Amami Yuuki from the drama based on "arafoo," said, "Everyone, let's be happier and brighter. If women become great, the world will be a beautiful place." Ueno told the crowd, "I'm grateful for the cheers from all over Japan at my back when I stood on that mound," while Edo commented, "This is like a dream. Thank you very much."

Former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's "I'm different than you," which he said during his resignation press conference, also made the top ten, but it seems he refused the award. Former Chief Secretary of the Liberal Democratic Party, Hidenao Nakagawa also won in the top ten for his "buried treasure." Nakagawa told reporters, "Gu~! Gu~! Gu~! [Buried treasure] should be steadily returned to the people."

Link to Original

Neologism and Buzzword Top Ten

「phrase in Japanese」my English transcription "my English translation"
(winner's name)
definition/origin to come later

「アラフォー」 arafo- "around forty"
(Actress Yuuki Amami) = First Place
"Arafo" stands for "around forty," which refers to women in and around the age of forty. The term was popularized by the show "Around40," which Amami starred in.

「グ〜！」 gu~!
(Comedienne Harumi Edo) = First Place
In Japanese, English words ending in g are transcribed to have the sound "gu." For example: running>ranningu. Edo exploits this in sketches to turn those "gu"s into the expression "gu~!," a shortening of "good." In this sketch, Edo recommends smiling when one feels down and says "smilingu~!" sumairingu~! According to Wikipedia, Edo created the phrase after noticing that most comedic banter was based on putting people down.
Ridiculously Cute Kids "Gu~!"ing

「上野の４１３球」ueno no yonbyaku jyu san gyuu "Ueno's 413 balls"
(Softball player Yukiko Ueno) = Special Award

「居酒屋タクシー」izakaya takushi- "tavern taxi"
(Lower House member Akira Nagatsuma)

「蟹工船」kanikousen "crab-canning boat"
(Bookstore employee Hitomi Hasegawa)

「ゲリラ豪雨」gerira kouu "guerilla downpour"
(Weather News Co.)

「後期高齢者」gouki koureisha "final seniors"
(Masters track and field athlete Hideya Yamazaki)

「名ばかり管理職」na bakari kanrishoku "management in name only"
(Store manager for McDonalds Japan, Hiroshi Takano)

「埋蔵金」maizoukin "buried treasure"
(Former Liberal Demoratic Party secretary, Hidenao Nakagawa)

「あなたとは違うんです」anata to wa chigaundesu "I'm different than you."
(award refused)

Suspect Koizumi "Sent a Letter" to Father, His Phone Call After 10 Years of Silence

**Hi kids, this is the first in (hopefully) a series of my own, personal English translations of Japanese newspaper articles. Feedback is appreciated.**

Asahi Shimbun
November 23, 2008

In his family home in Yanai City, Yamaguchi Prefecture on the 23rd, the 77-year-old father of suspect Tsuyoshi Koizumi, unable to hide his shock, said "Even though my son hated violence. I saw the subtitles (on television) and thought, my God, I hope this is a mistake."

According to Koizumi's father, even though he had no communication with his son for ten years, Koizumi called and talked with his father on the 22nd from 4:30-5:00 p.m., saying "I sent you a letter. It'll probably arrive tomorrow. Please read it." At the time, the father thought the letter might be a wedding announcement. But once he had seen the evening news broadcast, and no one answered his call to Koizumi's Saitama-City home, the father said he began to think his son was the one being held at the police station.

Regarding the doubt around his son's participation in the repeated attacks on the home of the Vice Minister of Welfare Ministry, Koizumi's father said, "I didn't think he would do this kind of thing. I want to tell him, 'kill yourself' because he snatched away two precious lives. I'm extremely sorry."

Link to Japanese Article
**P.S. I hope this isn't illegal in any way.**

These Are a Few of my Favorite Things

I recently moved to the southernmost edge of the Maple Leaf neighborhood. As well as being a refreshingly residential area, it has a surprising number of animals. Let me show you just a few of them:

My roommate's ridiculously cute rats. The one on top is named Beers, the other is mini Beers.


The cat that stalks through our yard and stares into my bedroom. I suspect he came in once too. I found dirty paw-prints.


The spider that protects my tomatoes. His web forces me to pick very carefully.


A hummingbird that visited today. My parents spotted one last weekend, in a yard a couple blocks from here. I take their presence as a good sign.

Cute Photo from Yesterday II

Columbia City Farmers Market, Girl watching bellydancers, around 6p.m, September 3.

Cute Photo of the Day (that day being yesterday)

Shot on the second floor of Bauhaus on Capitol Hill around 3p.m, September 2.

Random Bits and Pieces

Search for "qurdity" in Google, and you'll probably find around 292 results. Stop, don't go look it up in the dictionary—it's not a word.

It appears that, for many results, the actual PDF displays "quality," but the text Google displays as a result mis-scans the word as "qurdity."However, if you restrict your results to only PDFs, Google finds 119 results, and a search for "qurdity" and "pdf" returns 275 results.

The University Community Urban Center Plan actually displays the word "qurdity" in the PDF, but it seems that the originally scanned text has been replaced by a digital version, so it may reflect the same problem I proposed initially.

Curious.

Just for fun, see if it makes sense to replace "qurdity" with "quality" in the follow excerpts from search results:

• Proposed Water Qurdity Standards For Interstate and intrastate Streams in New Mexico
• enhance the qurdity of renewable resources

And here's one that has many more problems:

• blending sites qn site infrastructure, water resources, air qurdity and noise, socioeconomic resources,. waste management, public and occupationrd health

But what's really puzzling is why a scanner picks up one "quality" but not the other, as shown here:

• Currently, the definitions for Quality, Qurdity Assurance...

SHHHHH! Secret Bumbershoot Entry

So I'm here writing to you from the Bumbershoot Press Room in the Alki Room, tucked way in the corner of the Seattle Center. I'm using the Onereel intern's Apple to boot. I feel so illicit. I am here volunteering as the Media Room Assistant, which means I get a walkie-talkie, staff badge, staff shirt, and achy feet.

But never mind that minor discomfort, the real value is in the access. It's amazing to be able to walk backstage almost anywhere and schmooze with stage managers, sound guys, and if you're lucky, artists. The one place we can't get backstage is the Samsung Mobile Mainstage. In fact, I'm almost bored of being "backstage" because it means either that the band isn't playing to you, you're busy doing something, or you have to keep an eye on the clock. Then again, when I'm not attending a concert, I stay dutifully in the Press Room and restock and clean the free grub table all the members of the media chow at.

Bananas are quite popular, as well as York Peppermint Patties and Clif Bars. Oh, and never have I seen bagels disappear quite like this. And the given, coffee.

It seems like many of the journalists are eating breakfast, lunch and dinner off of that table. It makes me think that writing must really pay badly. At least the photographers occasionally wandered in with some booth food.


Just a block and a half from Bumbershoot, Moxie's Backyard Barbeque dished out pulled-pork sandwiches on a folding table. At first the woman running the stand joked that pictures would be $5, but then let me take some. As I walked away in my official-looking Bumbershoot staff T-shirt and Walkie-Talkie, she wondered out loud if she would "get in trouble." If she only knew how little power I actually had.

These impressions are just a backdrop for the real attraction: the bands. Though I've been tied to the smallest stage all day,I've enjoyed the Wells Fargo Stage—though I thought I'd be doomed to kids music and polka.





A young father reads the Bumbershoot lineup with his daughter (right) next to the Wells Fargo Stage during the Matt Jorgenson set (left).












Yesterday the stage was all jazz, all the time but the sets were different enough to fend off monotony. One thing did stay the same, though: crowd demographics. Middle-aged couples, young parents, and the elderly sat and smiled pleasantly, looking like they hadn't felt so relaxed in months.

The Whigs play their second set of the day at the Rockstar stage.

The Whigs were another story all together. They rocked the tiny Music Lounge in midafternoon like they were on a megastage, but KEXP DJs broadcast the event from a table onstage and lucky fans sat mere feet away, only a few feet away from them and the beads of sweat flying off the three musicians. Lead singer Parker Gispert sprang around the stage, a performance style that Sons and Daughters later mocked backstage at The Whig's 6p.m. concert at the Rockstar Stage. Despite the thrashing, Gispert hit every cue at both sets and the band ran like a well-oiled, rock machine.

Glasgow-based Sons and Daughters wait for their set and watch The Whigs perform at the Rockstar Stage.

Sons and Daughters charmed the crowd with their Scottish accents and touristy awe after The Whigs (they were so excited to be playing next to the Space Needle). Lead singer monopolized the stage presence with her bright blue and gold outfit, long jet-black hair, and emotive croons and shrieks. Their songs were usually some variation of a simple, slightly funky riff with stylized vocals and occasional bursts of speedy percussion.

The band came off stage nine minutes early, but someone in the crowd caught on and started an "encore" chant, which succeeded after the Stage Manager went out and encouraged the timid crowd.

And so ended my 12 hours of volunteering, but I still had to get to Capitol Hill to get my credit card from a bar I went to on Friday night. (I was unable to do earlier because of a charming English accent and some photo lessons—don't ask).

Here are some sound clips from my journey up Pike and along Broadway. Can you guess where each was recorded?

1. The bar
2. A store
3. An intersection


Last but not least, here I am after about 16 hours on my feet, away from my comfy bed:

That Other International Sports Competition

The final celebrations of an international athletic contest filled with drama, sportsmanship, and record-breaking were held right in the Hagget Dorm on the University of Washington campus last night.

Teams from as far away as Switzerland, Japan, and Australia and representing more than 10 different countries, celebrated after five days of competition in the World Boomerang Championship, organized by the International Federation of Boomerang Associations.

During the competition, the teams left their dorm rooms early every morning to return, exhausted, in the evening from a long day of throwing at the fields next to the Intramural Activities Building. Both Team and individual competitions were held.

Though the boomerang may be better know for its recreational or hunting uses, the IFBA Web site explains just how intensely athletic it can be as well. Take the Team Endurance Relay as an example:

Each thrower sprints 20 meters to the bullseye of a circle. Throw and catch a boom as many times as possible for one minute. Sprint back and tag the next teammate.
- IFBA Web site

Winners took their trophies yesterday evening, with the German team B-motions taking first place in team competition, followed by Americans Rad Revolution in second place and the Swiss Team Skandal in third.

The dorms stairs and elevators filled with a mix of languages as the revelers made their way to a ively and alcohol-infused party in the third-floor lobby of Hagget Dorm's North Tower.

The lobby itself was permeated with a feeling of success and the smell of beer as people mingled and joked.


Everyone seemed to be holding some sort of brightly colored award—the "default" awards after the real ceremony—explained Arnaut, a member of one of the French teams.


Almost no one wore their own team's shirt, and a few people seemed very intent on getting everyone's signatures on their World Championship T-shirts.


Peter Hansch, 38 (left), came with one of the three German teams and won the "1988-2008 Vacation from Boomerang Award" for coming back after 20 years away from the sport. Hansch said that he played for one year but then quit in 1988 because other things got in the way.

He's glad to be back now, he said, and he likes the the Boomerang community because, even though it is small , it is also tight-knit. Most throwers also make boomerangs, and recently, only the children of well-established throwers and returning throwers have been joining, so the sport is not really growing, explained Hansch.

The Italian team, Young and Old, were a perfect example of this trend with a 57-year age difference between the the youngest, 13-year-old Alessandro Scarpellino (pictured right, far right), and its oldest member, 70-year old Valentino De Chiara (second to left). Alessandro came with his father, Antonio Scarpellino (third from the left).


The IFBA was also well represented, with President Maurizio Saba and Treasurer Andrea Sgattoni (far left and second from right) also participated.

Several times the noisy room quieted to hear happy announcements, like one young woman's birthday, and also to watch a young man's team initiation ceremony (pictured left).


Today, the teams are scheduled to attempt to beat world records at Greenlake until 6p.m.


They will return home August 27 and 28, after a solid 10 days of boomerang, and will have to wait until the 2010 World Championships to compete again.


To find out more about competitive boomerang or to view videos and information about the 2008 World Championship, visit: http://seattle2008.ifba-online.com/smf/

Hempfest Moments: August 16, 2008

The way was long and dusty, but the weary pilgrims trudged on. After what seemed hours under the hot August sun, they finally reached the entrance. Hempfest 2008 had finally arrived.

Read on to see the oddities and wonders Hempfest had to offer...

Just beyond the gate, a smiling woman offered faux-weed leis in return for donations.

Calm men with angry signs stood stoically under the hot sun.

Deep inside the festival, a man spoke passionately in support of the magical substance that drew the crowds to Hempfest.

"It's a civil liberty to enjoy a little marijuana if we want to," declared Rick Steves, famous travel guide and marijuana advocate.


He then called for unbiased treatment of the herb:

"We've got to take the crime out of marijuana and the the lies out of marijuana."


Of course, he ended with a little bit of travel advice, saying, "I want to wish you all happy travels, even if you're just staying home."

One couple even chose to marry on stage, just before the auspicious time of 4:20.

And then there was much rejoicing...

and enjoying of music...


and refreshments.

And even the hounds found respite from the heat.

Concert Diary: Blanket Truth, Da Bears and James Rabbit at Dog City on August 12

Though there's much to be said for the bone-rattling power of huge amps and stadium speakers, sometimes it just can't compare to the intimacy of a house show.

Despite the limitations of their performance space — a tiny, messy basement in the University District — the three bands performed with impressive energy.

The show began with a friendly and endearing set from Blanket Truth. Jon Manning sang lead and played the baritone ukulele, which was surprisingly sonorant for such a small instrument. Manning also runs the Seattle-based, lo-fi tape label Lost Sound Tapes.

Eli Damm brought the beat with a softer, indie-rock version of vocal percussion while Craig Salt Peterson complemented the songs with his sweet flute. The small crowd joked with the band between songs. like "Do You Love Me?" which wonders "do you really love me/or are you just crazy?" A few people even meowed on command for the chorus of "The Cat Song."

Da Bears, who had been listening to Blanket Truth just minutes before, reentered for their set in matching fringed leather vests with winged teddy-bear patches sewn on the backs.

The San Diego natives filled the smal space with a precocious poppy-punk rock, accented at times by lead singer Ryan Solomon's nasally sneer and EJ Binns' reedy Melodica.

By far their most catchy song is "Lindsey Lohan," whose lyrics seem to poke fun at the singer/actress' lip-synching slip up:

"just don't forget the words/when you're feelin' more absurd/chance you need to take/but I know you'll break/cause you're a child/just a little child"

Halfway through the set, the band rewarded one lucky fan with a VHS of Jungle 2 Jungle for correctly naming Abraham Lincoln as the tallest president ever.

Next came James Rabbit, who drove up from their hometown of Santa Cruz, Calif. on their West Coast tour with Da Bears.

Frontman Tyler Martin charmed the crowd with animated chatter and a whirlwind of dancing. Da Bears and Blanket Truth all watched with smiles, hinting at the tight-knit nature of their music community.

"Coast to Coast," epitomizes James Rabbit's vibe. The song, which focuses on the difficulty of traveling and maintaining a relationship, starts off with a short, spoken introduction performed by their guitarist and devolves into a chant-able chorus:

"Oh/you know/that I will go/anywhere you are/coast/to coast/and heart to heart"

The band continued to spread the love after their set, giving out CDs out for free as Manning collected gas money in a large plastic jar. He explained that the high price at the pump is a problem for low-budget bands.

Though James Rabbit's blog indicates it planned on heading back down south after their Seattle show, Martin said the band was considering playing in Port Townsend. Blanket Truth should have already left on their own East Coast tour, driving from Seattle all the way to their first gig in Athens, Ga. on August 17.

To see dates and locations for more local house shows, visit seattlediy.com's calendar here.

Seattle Surveillance Society?

Jarmick, in blue on the left, talks with a photographer at the Camerahead Project
demonstration in Cal Anderson Park July 26. On the right, KOMO 4 interviews a volunteer.

Some call the media the fourth arm of the government because of its ability to check the government with investigative reporting. In "You're On Camera," Martin Jarmick captures Seattleite reactions to the emerging policy of anonymous public surveillance with his own video camera. The five-minute video features a representative from the ACLU, artist Paul Strong Jr, and Seattle residents.

Jarmick is part of a growing trend in journalism towards internet publishing. He films for SeattleIAM.com, a site devoted to news and feature stories produced by independent photojournalists in Seattle. He also contributed to the Camerahead story that ran here a few weeks ago.

Citizens Assess SLUT Service

The results are in from the feedback forums on the extension of the South Lake Union "streetcar" to the University District, Central District, Fremont/Ballard, and Capitol Hill/First Hill.

Road width and traffic disruption seem to be the most common concern. Many questions asked for very specific routes—indicating that some attendees wanted to cater their own commute.

But possibly the most important questions are:

1) How does a streetcar compare to other modes of transit (e.g., buses, electric trolleys, rail in exclusive right of way)?
2) How will a streetcar affect the zoning around stations?
3) How can we integrate the system to avoid redundancy?

This comes courtesy of Ann Donovan from capitolhillnews, via James Kelly of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle.

Who's Laughing Now?

"I submitted the budget today to Congress -- it's on a laptop notebook, an e-budget. It saves paper, saves trees, saves money. I think it's the first budget submitted electronically. And it's a good budget. It's a budget that achieves some important objectives. One, it understands our top priority is to defend our country, so we fund our military, as well as fund the homeland security. Secondly, the budget keeps our economy growing." — President Bush, Cabinet Meeting, February 4

The New York Times published an article today revealing that the Iraqi government expects a surplus as large as $79 billion for its 2008 budget.

www.thewhitehouse.gov projects the 2008 budget deficit to be $389 billion in a mid-session review of fiscal year 2009. The site assures us that the budget "Introduces a new culture of accountability on wasteful earmarks."

Which brings us back to the Times article, and what it tells us about Iraq's surplus:

The figures could be used to argue that because the Iraqi ministries still do not have the capacity to spend their own money, further assistance from the United States is called for, Ms. Alexander said. Or the huge oil revenues could be seen as proof that Iraq has the resources to solve its own problems if it would only use the money.

And in an even more ridiculous twist, the United States has payed Iraq at least $435.6 million in interest on the money because it is held in the Federal Reserve Bank.

Let's Try This Again...

The City of Seattle has put its five automated public toilets up for auction again after the first round received no bids. The minimum bid has changed too — from $89,000 to a mere 99 cents with a $2.50 minimum increase.

The bidding could turn out to be a popularity contest, which toilet do people desire the most? Bidadoo Auctions has even uploaded dozens of high-resolution photos to entice the reluctant toilet fancier.

The standings are:

Hering-Bau WCmatic Automatic Public Toilet #1 - Seattle **CITY OF SEATTLE - APT #1 - PIKE PLACE MARKET**

13 Bids

$205.38

Not specified

9d 1h 49m

Hering-Bau WCmatic Automatic Public Toilet #3 - Seattle **CITY OF SEATTLE - APT #3 - PIONEER SQUARE**

7 Bids

$112.72

Not specified

9d 1h 46m

Hering-Bau WCmatic Automatic Public Toilet #2 - Seattle **CITY OF SEATTLE - APT #2 - ELLIOT BAY WATERFRONT**

9 Bids

$105.83

Not specified

9d 1h 44m

Hering-Bau WCmatic Automatic Public Toilet #4 - Seattle **CITY OF SEATTLE - APT #4 - INTERNATIONAL DISTRICT**

5 Bids

$102.50

Not specified

9d 1h 47m

Hering-Bau WCmatic Automatic Public Toilet #5 - Seattle **CITY OF SEATTLE - APT #5 - CAPITOL HILL**

12 Bids

$100.00

Not specified

9d 1h 42m

Message From our Sponsors

Hi loyal reader(s),

Sorry for the gap in coverage, your tireless writer is a bit, well, tired. However, in the meantime, please take the time to visit Interweb Travels a quirky blog from a man who knows his interweb. You might even find a picture of me from Saturday night when I was completely... anyway.

Also, please be sure to pay my dear sister a visit, she's been gathering articles and comment pages on the senseless violence that broke out at a Critical Mass ride two Fridays ago.

Justin Roeser is probably the hardest working singer/songwriter I've met. He is trying to break into the Seattle music scene, and even drove to South By Southwest to distribute his debut album for free. Give the guy a break and take a listen at his MySpace. He will perform next at an outdoor concert at The Station in Ballard on August 16 (time TBA).

And lastly but not least-ly, Central District News has some great photos from the Central District's lively Umoja Parade.

Thank you, and we will return after a short break. Expect photos.

Sunset from Red Square

George really has a great view sometimes.

Behind Deadline?

As far back as May 28, the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce was supposed to have submitted a report to the City Council's Cultural Overlay District Advisory Committee that would "inform [the committee's] process for establishing the City’s first Cultural Overlay District," according to the committee's Web site.

But neither the committee's Web site nor the Chamber's Web site has a copy. As of two weeks ago, Dennis Sellin of Lunde Consulting, the company hired to facilitate the committee, had never seen the report or heard its status.

Is it possible that the Chamber is still working on it? This Craigslist ad, posted July 30 suggests so:

Clickable

It's Not Just a Bagel

Bear with me folks, I've been sitting on this article for a while. Food and gas prices are still high, so consider this when you go to a cafe next...

International trade disputes , famine, and droughts have brought food production to the forefront of global consciousness. Gas prices remain high, and senators continue to call for approval of off-shore drilling.

These problems may seem far-flung, but local cafes and bakeries have noticed too. Wheat product and fuel prices are affecting business relations in surprising ways as local companies adjusts to the price increases.

The U-District's Cafe Allegro decided to change bagel suppliers when their original supplier — Noah's Bagels, a national chain — added a $15 delivery surcharge on top of earlier bagel hikes.

"It would have more than doubled the cost," says Chris Peterson, Allegro co-owner, explaining that they only order $12–$15 of bagels per order. "I think they just decided that wholesale bagel sales were not profitable."

Cafe Allegro now buys from Blazing Bagels, distributed without surcharge by Little Rae's bakery in Rainier Valley — at less than half the cost of Noah's.

Cafe Solstice, also in the U-District, switched from Noah's Bagels to Bagel Oasis, distributed by Essential Baking.

A couple of weeks ago Bulldog News & Espresso, the tiny espresso stand operating out of Bulldog News on University Way, stopped buying bagels all together. Barista Arielle Kloss says there wasn't enough demand to keep buying their usual 10–15 bagels from the Seattle Bagel Deli.

"It's hard, it's very hard," says Dennis Ballen, owner of Blazing Bagels in Redmond. "Gas is killing us." His business had to raise the price of their bagels in March, when wheat futures spiked and the cost of a 50-lb bag of flour nearly doubled to about $24. Ballen says his bakery has been able to deal with rising flour prices, but it's the gas that really worries him.

Fuel costs are pinching Blazing Bagels and other bakeries who distribute their own product as their wholesale distributors add or increase delivery surcharges. Ballen noticed one day that the surcharge for one delivery had jumped from $1.50 to $6 — an increase he says really builds up because he receives several shipments a week from several different suppliers.

Ballen has tried not to pass it on to his wholesale customers — he delivers anywhere in the Puget Sound area for $1.50 — but at this point, “The more companies that want to distribute my product, the better," he says.

"A lot of small bakeries go out of business because of the distribution. It can really hurt ya," observes James Morse, owner of Little Rae's, a bakery that distributes Blazing Bagels. Morse says when he tried to add a delivery fuel charge a few months ago, "people didn't really like it and accused us of being a part of OPEC."

Morse doesn't quite understand why Noah's increased their prices so much, explaining, “the bigger you are, the easier it is to keep your cost down.” He says smaller bakeries have to strategize to reduce costs.

“One thing we have a good system for, is we do our deliveries in the middle of the night. We get to move freely throughout the night,” Morse reveals, which serves the double purpose of avoiding traffic and getting bagels there early in the morning. Blazing Bagels delivers then too, from 1am-7am in the morning.

Not all of Noah's customers have switched, however. The owner of Cafe on the Ave, Song, who did not give his last name, says that he debated changing vendors a few months ago after a 10–15 cent price increase per bagel, but in the end decided not to.

"I'd rather carry Noah's because their quality is better," Song explains. He accepts the delivery surcharge too, pointing out that other distributors just incorporate the cost of fuel into their product prices, instead of keeping it separate.

Song says that he and other cafe owners are trying hard not to pass the buck on to their customers, but at some point they'll have to.

“Historically, we have never had to [make] two price increases in a year,” says Anna Li, Director of Sales and Marketing for Essential Baking, which bakes pastries and distributes for Bagel Oasis. Essential is particularly vulnerable to price hikes because of their commitment to organic flour and biodiesel, which are at least 50 percent more expensive than regular flour and gas.

Li sees both businesses and individuals adapting to increasing costs, and that means finding ways to work smarter, not just pass the hikes down the line.

"I think honestly, it’s just an adjustment,” Li contends. “Americans are very lucky to spend so little on their food.”