If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Affordablelamps.com and Mylamps.com

After four years of separation, our two web stores are merging into a Super Store! Affordablelamps.com will now be joined with Mylamps.com and all our products will be together under one banner. Most of you didn’t really know about Mylamps.com unless we told you about it over the phone but we feel our customer base is sophisticated enough to order the Rotaliana, Zaneen, Tech Lighting, Modern Fan Company, Bruck Lighting , CSL Lighting, and LBL Lighting systems without having to go through a lighting designer to specify the system. However, if you do need help in ordering, then please contact me at Alan@1800mylamps.net and either I or the owner will specify the necessary parts and accessories for a complete system. These include track lighting, monorail, cable lighting and Freejack systems in LED, halogen, and fluorescent versions that are great for offices, retail, wholesale businesses, and new modern construction. Also, you may combine these systems with the lamps on www.affordablelamps.com for an even bigger quantity discount. So check out the debut of our new fusion powered super store: www.affordablelamps.com and get ready for some serious illumination.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41080442/ns/business-oil_and_energy/

The phase out begins. The incandescent bulb its way on the way out, dead as the Dodo, soon to join eight trak tapes, reel to reel and antenna TV in the scrap heap of technology. In the name of the Green Revolution and in the interest of humanity we decided that is a must go, go-go, go-go. Don’t say I didn’t warn you about this. I wrote blog after blog on the subject preaching to the vox populi of lighting suppliers that they have to get it together and get rid of the Edison bulb the way MSNBC just got rid of Keith Olberman. And now, the green police are coming for you, knock knock knocking on Kovac’s door. (With apologies to Bob Dylan).

Mama, put that lamp in the ground,
I can’t use it anymore
It’s getting dark, to dark to see.
I fell I’m knocking on Kovacs door.

But what about the MSNBC article and the fact that these new bulbs aren’t dimmable? And the color is all wrong?

Get over it. Just like you got over lack of privacy,outrageous gas prices, the high college tuition, “Where’ the beef?”, Octomom, that Charlie Sheen will always be a lush, and the Oscars are fixed, etc, etc, etc. Most of you out there never really liked the yellowish tint that the old Edison bulb gave off in the first place and have gotten used to the CFL even though no one is bothering to mention the Mercury issue when it comes time to discard these toxic little green wonders. LED’s are coming. But the price is too high! So, write your congressman, alderman, city councilman, and tell them to give out tax credits for LED’s. The next time they start handing out CFL’s at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank, I’m going to ask them, on the record, what about LED’s? I said it once and I will say it again, get the price down to $9.99 a bulb and then you will see a real revolution, and it will not be televised. But it will be illuminated.

By Alan Williams © 2011

Tattered sails and dusty roads
Cobblestone streets with urchin feet
Monday festivities with a warm summer breeze
Tuesday’s brunch with a hangover punch
All day at the beach, with fish to eat
Washed down with beer, life seems so clear
Artisans ply their crafts all day
Parasails dot the sky up high
Daring jumps off sandy dunes
Plunge straight down into the valley of doom
Cocktails await to calm your nerves
Back on the road, through blistering runes
A moon and star denote the land
A perfect place amidst the sand
Canoa Quebrada, um beijo, amor
I shall return for evermore.

© 2009 by Alan Benson Williams

You ever have one of those magical nights? The kind that forever linger in your memory? Well, I have been blessed to have several on my last vacation from Affordable Lamps, and this one I will share with you. My wife and I returned to Canoa Quebrada, after nine years, to see the dusty roads paved with cobblestones, and the price of the Pousadas triple, but that mattered little. This seaside town with the Moon and Star etched into the sand still had a mystical quality unmatched in the Northeast of Brazil, and was in my muse and my heart. Lifted from a Cat Stevens Song (or perhaps Cat was inspired by this beach village first?) Canoa Quebrada welcomed tourists and vagabonds from all over the world, and many ended up in the bar aptly named Tudo Mundo. We were there after a marvelous day at the beach, sipping Antarctica Cerveja, and conversing with fellow tourists from Fortaleza. At 8:00 pm, the light went out, all over the town. A total blackout. Being the lighting guy I am, I never leave home un-prepared, so I popped out my pocket LED flashlight (as featured in my summer blog: LEDs in the Wild by Alan Williams), and then I proceeded to sing, very loudly. I belted out my old karaoke hits from Salsa 2000, original songs and Beatles covers, Ray Charles and Chuck Berry, one after another. The crowd went nuts, and joined in. Brazilians really know their music, and they know the lyrics to many Americans songs, better then me in some cases. The beer kept flowing, and with the help of my LED light, plus other glow sticks that emerged from other patrons, the Tudo Mundo bar partied like it was 1999, for over three hours. Like something out of James Michener novel, only it was real, and we were at the center of it. Their was a famous Pagode singer named Netinho holding court at the bar, and after my voice gave out, I asked him to sing, and he obliged, and the crowd went crazy. Finally, at midnight, the lights came back on, the gang dispersed; we said our farewells, and headed out for food, and the comfort of our hillside Pousada.
The next morning, a tropical storm with winds up to sixty miles an hour pummeled the village, and we cut our trip short, and drove back to Fortaleza. Only one day and one night, but with the help of an LED light, a few beers, a willing crowd, and the cover of darkness, we experienced a kind of magic that rarely repeats itself.

© 2009 by Alan Benson Williams

Some of you may have noticed that I have not been at my desk here at affordablelamps for the last three weeks. After nearly six years, I finally took and extended vacation from lighting sales, RGA’s, and blogs to clear my head, visit my family, and soak up the sun of the Brazilian Northeast. I traveled through five states in Brazil, and spent Christmas, my birthday, and New Years reconnecting with the family, most of whom I had not seen in seven years.  Needless to say, I had a great time, but even a vacation can wear you out and after we missed our return flight back to the USA, I spent two days in Manaus, Amazonas pondering if I was going to make it back at all. Due to a TAM airline delay, they were obligated to put us up at the Hotel Tropical, a four star resort on the bank of the river Negra. Meals were included, and this hotel has been featured on the Travel Channel and Discovery, due to its amazing Teakwood interiors. Rooms for this paradise start at R$649.00, about $394.00 in USA dollars, and the food was spectacular as well as the service, view, pool, bars, and entertainment. One thing I noticed there was the lighting; the interior fixtures were traditional style sconces, chandeliers, and table lamps, while the exterior were decidedly more tropical in design. Throughout my travels in Brazil, I visited many homes and one thing I noticed is that lighting was not a big factor in their décor. Most of the apartments and larger homes all had the same bare bones socket with a screw in compact fluorescent bulb with hardly any table lamps, and outdoor fixtures that were just standard flood lights. Brazil has a huge economy that is growing at a 10% annual rate, but you don’t need an economist to tell you that; just go out to the stores or the main streets, and you can see the crowds of people shopping like it is going out of style. I saw a few fancy fixtures at a couple of shops, but nothing on the level that we have here in the USA or on our site. Also, Brazil uses both AC 110 and 220, depending on what province you reside in. Fortaleza, for example, has outlets for both. Piaui uses 220, while Rio is all 110. Adaptors are commonplace, and it does not take a rocket scientist to rewire for AC 110. So what am I leading up to, you ask? With a huge growing economy, a need for better lighting, and surplus of lighting fixtures here in the USA, don’t you think it’s time to set up a real lighting store in Brazil? Let me know if you need a traveling sales guy, with experience.

Tchau.