BlairBlog

adventures in shopping.

Posted on 30. Nov, 2008 by Blair.

a very sad thing happened a few weeks ago… my sony receiver gave up finally. the amp had been shorting out and going into protector mode for a month or so, but usually would fire up. it finally got to the point where it would not run at all. it was going into protector mode with nothing plugged in… not good.

I searched out a repair facility for the amp and discovered that i was in for no less than $149 and could go to the flat rate service price of $275. all of this with no guarntee that they could even get it working at all. so the search for a replacement under $150 began. logic here was that was how much the old one would cost to fix.

so thanksgiving weekend seemed like a goof time to look. I jumped online and found a great amp at Circuit City for the right price. hopped in the car later in the day to make the purchase only to find that the site had been updated since I viewed it and that the price had gone up $60… and no they would not honor their yesterday price.

so off I went to try and find that amp at the price I saw online at Amazon.com. I checked at Best Buy… no luck… they did not carry the amp. I checked at Costco… also no dice. I made the fateful error of visitng Fry’s electronics.

they had the amp in stock. cool. they had it for a price $60 over the amazon.com price, but I know they price match… so I asked what the process was for price matching. the kid who worked there informed me that they only match local competitors. i reminded him that if amazon ships me a product and I can order it at home that they are local. he just looked at me when I said that. I asked him why they would not match. he said, “well they have advantages over us since they don’t have stores or employees”. at that moment I laughed. he asked if there was something else I needed, I muttered no and headed out.

so here is the thought that I am left with… until retailers are willing to recognize that amazon IS their competiton, then big box retailers are doomed to fail. seriously… does anybody really enjoy going to Best Buy… or do you just do it because you can get a good price. eventually I think these stores will only exist as the place where you can go and look at a product before you order.

at the end of the day… Fry’s lost out on a decent sale by not offering a discount to be even somewhat competitive with amazon.com.

Continue Reading

on politics.

Posted on 28. Sep, 2008 by Blair.

there are technical requirements to run for president. one must be a native u.s. citizen of the age of 35 willing to swear an oath to the constitution. there are pragmatic requirements as well. one must be a leader with a strong ability to understand and manage a great amount of complexity. one must also have flawless judgement of character, as the president is responsible for choosing people to run the various departments in the executive branch.

while policy debates and stances on particular issues are important as a part of this political season, it is just as important I believe to measure the character of the choices that are made with relationship to a vice president and a staff. history has shown that most modern presidencies have been defined more by the people who surround the president than the policies he stands for upon entering office. doubt that? heard of h.r. halderman, john dean, henry kissinger, michael deaver, james a bakker III, janet reno? if you have heard of these people it is because of actions that they took on behalf of the president who selected them.

so why the rant? because I am disappointed in the choices that have been made so far. i am disappointed by both men running, but for very different reasons. i believe that mr. obama picked a very qualified candidate to be his vice president. he is intelligent, hard working & very service oriented. he just was not the candidate who had proven that people desired him to be president. over many previous attempts, mr. biden has been very unsuccessful at getting the support of the american public. mrs. clinton, however, did. she should have been the choice. mr. mccain in my judgement made a choice based purely on political theatre. while I believe that mrs. palin may be a wonderful christian woman, I do not believe that she is ready to stand the test of the presidency.

so where does that leave me? still wondering. still pondering. still processing. still listening.

what could candidates do differently? how about discuss who they would choose to lead in their cabinet. most presidential candidates spend so much time discussing plans and policies that rarely ever get passed. I would rather talk about how they will make choices and how they will lead.

oh… and one more thing. this is just really really really funny.