Archive for April, 2008

A store full of over-priced kitsch and over-sized furniture

At lunch today I stopped by the Circa Home Furnishings store to browse their going-out-of-business sale. And as I wandered around I couldn’t help but think, the reason your store is closing is that it’s full of over-priced furniture and accessories that nobody really needs.
Oh, and really tacky accessories like elephant statues made of […]

Bugs cause greenhouse gas

I just heard this story on NPR and it’s kinda ironic. Human-create greenhouse gas has increased the pine beetle population, they in turn are killing forests in Canada. As those trees die, they release all the carbon they’ve stored up back into the armosphere, thus increasing even more the greenhouse gasses in the […]

Why are my shoes $15 more expensive online?

I thought online stuff was supposed to be cheaper. But the running shoes I wear (Brooks Adrenaline) are $15 more expensive on Zappos.com than when I bought them last year at Fleet Feet in Louisville. And Fleet Feet is not exactly a discount sporting goods store so their price should be among the […]

Zyrtec isn’t working for me

I’ve tried Claratin in the past and it wasn’t working either, so this season I decided to try Zyrtec. So I’ve now been taking it for the past two weeks and it’s still not working that well for me. I’m still stuffy and my eyes are itchy. I suppose it might be […]

Blockbuster / Circuit City doesn’t make any sense

Today’s announcement that Blockbuster is making a $1 billion bid for Circuit City doesn’t make any sense to me. You’re taking two struggling companies, with entrenched competitors in both spaces, and trying to make one really strong competitor out of the combination. If it goes through it would no doubt wind up being […]

REI almost got me to buy camp cookware

I stopped by the REI yesterday to look at their bicycle inventory. We did not have an REI in Louisville, it’s kindof like a Dick’s Sporting Goods. But while Dick’s is the Chevrolet of sporting goods, I’d say REI is maybe the Volvo or the Saab. Not really a luxury brand but […]

Bad days ahead for us rice-eaters

Those fine folks at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines (my Mom used to work there back in the day) are predicting that prices for rice will continue to rise. Not good news for rice lovin’ fools like me.
At least they aren’t blaming it on ethanol. I’ve read that corn prices […]

The French over-do the protest

Look, it’s one thing to use the media attention surrounding the Olympic torch relay to voice a political viewpoint. But the French have taken their free-Tibet protests too far, causing parts of the torch relay to be cancelled.
Come on, the people running the torch have been looking forward to this moment for quite some […]

Finally have an offer on the house

Well, about six week after putting it on the market we finally have a concrete offer on he house. It’s not a great offer, but we’re going to make a counter-offer and see how it goes. I can live with it, if it goes thru at this price.
But so far, real estate has not […]

Interesting that UPS is not shipping to me thru Worldport

I bought what I hope is a good bargain off eBay — a PCCard modem for the Clearwire service. It was $50, versus about $230 if I buy it from Clearwire. I’ve already got the Clearwire service at home, I just want to be able to use it while I’m out and about […]