Life & Retail Store Report - from Sexy..
First Season's Greetings All. Life is chugging away for me. Not much time on the boards - I will be back like before - you can bet on that!
Over the summer I adopted the David Allen "Getting Things Done" system of organization. Most of the junk in my home has been filed and my basement (after 10 years) actually doesn't look like a fire hazard waiting to happen (and can you believe it - I actually HUNG up a fire extinguisher I bot years ago!!!!!) At any rate, the only filing left is how to figure out all the investment stuff. My Dec 1 deadline has passed on that - but still impressed with what I have done.
I ended up getting the Fundraising Chair position at our K-4 school this year. A few of us formed a subcommittee and sent out a fantastic 12 page document based on that meeting. The chair and her puppetmaster, shouted bloody murder - accused us of "secret meetings that are disrespectful to the council". Basically she has done NOTHING, and we have all the ideas - so out comes the (blow hard twice) the CONSTITUTION and the bylaws "12.1" and "8.1" were quoted - of course none of us have a copy nor has the chair herself followed it. All good fun. The "big" meeting is tomorrow night. LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!! (Not bad eh - 50th Anniversary of the school too...) Mind the fact that this is a SCHOOL COUNCIL - not a municipal body nor are we paid a dime to do any of this stuff..
As for the holidays and holiday spending - interesting...
A) I am looking at maybe getting a PDA through Costco.ca (Dell Axim x51v). Super good deal for $600 includes shipping and the rock solid (say it everytime I can!) 6mth Costco no quibble return policy!
B) Would like to update our Gamecube with a Wii - if not for the kid - I want at those games like Baseball and Golf with the new controllers that are just wicked cool!
C) Bot about >$300 in Rokenbok toys for our kids. (Ok me too!)
D) Need a car - found out my car (95 Sable) has had faulty springs since 92 model year (til the END!) and a secret 10 year warranty to replace them. Now I know why (after the 10 year period) when I took my car into the dealer to get my starter changed, they quoted me the cost to change the "broken front and rear springs" (and struts etc).
My initial desire was a car that was good on gas. After reading the much needed read "Phil Edmonston's Lemon-Aid Books" - we are leaning toward something like a Honda Odyssey or perhaps a Hyundai Santa Fe SUV. We want reliable - safe and to ensure the repair costs are not outrageous or tied to a dealer til it's death. In the end - I may take public transit more - but our driving is not more than 20,000Km/year so gas is less of a factor than the other points.
Now I bring up the above since I have heard so much about retail spending this year not being too good. I remember back around the winter of 89, after I started my first job that year, I went out and bot a TV, VCR, DVD player and Cassette deck. My brother figured I was out there trying to prop up the Toronto economy. Ditto now?
We went to Fairview Mall last night. Got there around 730PM. Quite a nice night out - not too cold, little wind. No snow on the ground. I pulled up to the mall parking lot - I swear the first thing I said was "Are you sure it is open?" Wife replied "Of course, it is Christmas" "Yeah, but there are NO cars - as if they were here just to watch the movies!" I parked the car (you always take a lot longer when there are more spots to choose from) and had to walk to the door to verify the hours. They were open until 930pm!
2 MORE HORRIBLE HOURS to pay employees to sit around and do abscalutely nophing!! (as my 4 year old would say). I mean literally NO ONE in the mall. And this isn't an out of nowhere place. The tax payers paid BILLIONS to get a subway stop right there at the mall!!!
At any rate, we will be sure to go to other malls - but so far it is pretty sad out there. Funny though, if I, like other parents can even get a Wii - by the time you get the main unit $280, plus a second controller set $44 + 25 plus an extra game $60, and a memory card $40 (unless you use the Gamecube card), how much money left do you have to buy other stuff????
On Fox, Cavuto on Business, the quoted figure was the average family (I think-not individuals but I could be wrong) spends around $800US at Christmas - a new record.
NEW RECORD - is that based on an assumption they will be buying a PS3? or what? I can't see that out there. Anyone else seeing this? Gary B. Smith (technician) on Bulls & Bears says short Mastercard (MA).
Last but not least - Love my Sansa 4GB music player. Love it. Love it. Listen to it all the time when I am not home. Do regret not getting an iPOD in the early days that is for sure. But happy with the Sansa.
Cheers all!
Blake
(TOU I am, I hate green eggs and ham!!!!)
"When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk."
Tuco (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly)
"An umbrella with holes is better than no umbrella at all."
Dr. Alexander Elder on using stops.
