Confusing economy

My prediction is that on-line retailers will be the next to seek a federal bail out.

I placed an order on Amazon.com a few weeks ago for 3 items…….Christmas presents.  They shipped the $45 order via USPS.  When I received an email that the package had been delivered, but never showed up, I emailed Amazon.  They simply just re-shipped the entire order, this time UPS.

As it turns out, both packages arrived on my desk the same day.  When I contacted Amazon that I received both packages, they declined to have me ship back to them one of the packages. 

I’m guessing that the  cost of freight and personnel (and benefits) to process the return outweighs their cost of the product.  So either they pay alot for shipping and personnel, or not very much for their product.  Either way, it just seems counter-intuitive to me to decline to get the product back.

P.S.  I sold the duplicate items on Ebay for more than I paid for the originals!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 A clip from my favorite Thanksgiving film.

Women are silly

Here’s my observation.

If I want to go out with some friends and have some cocktails, I’ll call them up and invite them out.  We’ll meet at a bar, have some drinks, watch some sports, shoot the shit.

But it’s a different story for  women.  When my wife gathers with friends for the same reason as above, there always has to be a “cover”.  Last week it was Bunco.  In the past its also been Ornament Exchange, Cookie Exchange, Scrapbooking, Pampered Chef, Tupperware, etc.  It seems there always has to be a reason for getting together other than just having some drinks and conversation.

Once she had a Pampered Chef party, for which she spent the day cleaning the house and shelling out $150 for food, booze, prizes and the such.  When I asked why they just didn’t “go out somewhere”, I got that look.  You know which one I mean, the one that says ” I must have married the dumbest person in the world”.

Upside-down Priorities Part II

A few weeks ago I blogged about our elementary school’s efforts to raise funds for a new playground surface.

I’ve since learned that a  group at another elementary school went through the same process.  When they discovered how much money they would have needed to raise, over $70,000, they brought in a consultant to study their play area and make recommendations.  Guess what the second safest playground surface is?

You guessed it…….WOOD CHIPS.

Dish Network Subscribers Get Screwed!

If you have Dish Network, you know you’re getting screwed by not getting the Wisconsin Region of FSN North.  I’ve been frustrated with this for years now, and finally decided to do something about it.

Today I spoke with Jodie at FSN North here in Milwaukee.  Apparently, when FSN split into Wisconsin and Minnesota regions, the sattelite providers decline to create a seperate channel for FSN Wisconsin.  Instead, the sattelite providers chose to show the live broadcasts of Brewers and Bucks games on alternate channels. 

The problem is that we here in Wisconsin miss all the local programming, like the weekly Brewers show and the Classic Brewer games that are now being featured on FSN Wisconsin.

Jodie says the only recourse is to provide feedback against this policy that FSN Wisconsin can take to the sattelite providers as ammunition to create a seperate channel.  She said we are welcome to email this feedback directly to her at jodie.mittelstaedt@foxsports.net. 

I will be sending my feedback today, please join me and pass this on to your friends.

Gas Prices

Ok, I filled up this morning and it cost me almost half of what I was paying 6 months ago.  I understand that gas prices should fluctuate due to the supply levels of crude oil, but by 100%?  Obviously the fat cats at the oil companies are getting fatter (enjoy it while you can, fellas.  Obama is coming for you!).

Forget Palin……

Paul Ryan, congressman from Wisconsin, gets my nod for new face of the Republican Party.

Check out his interview on CNN last night, and his philosophy here.

2008 Presidential Elections Results…….

Obama won.  Nuts.

Mug Shots

Time for another installment of The Smoking Gun mugshots.  Check out the creative genius on page 4.

Nice to see

Jenkins get his………