boo hoo retail

a colleague e-mailed our entire company the following list of retails stores that are either closing all stores, a specific number of stores, or just some unknown number of stores between oct. '08 & jan. '09.

closing *all* stores: linens & things, cache, wickes furniture, bombay, levitz, talbots, wilson leather, sharper image, j. jill, piercing pagoda, whitehall, movie galley

closing "x" many stores: the gap (85), ann taylor (117), footlocker (140), eddie bauer (27), zales (82), ethan allen (12), home depot (15), pep boys (33), disney (98), sprint/nextel (133), KB toys (356)

closing "some" stores: loews, dillard's, circuit city, lane bryan, fashion bug, catherine's, JC penny, pacific sunware

the e-mail was to serve as a list of retail stores that we should avoid buying gift cards from during the holiday season as gifts.

it is evident from some of the names in this list (see linens & things, the gap, ann taylor, footlocker, lowes, home depot) that things aren't right side up in the economy. luckily everyone i know still has a job & for the most part it sounds like everyone's company is doing well. so kudos to those of us in austin for now at least.

of course you didn't need this list of retail stores to realize something wasn't right in the economy. unless you've been living under a rock you know what i'm talking about. think freddie & fannie, the $700 billion bank bailout, & now the BIG 3 detroit auto manufactures are on their knees looking for $25 billion from the government. lucky for me & kris right now mortgage rates are looking good & we are hoping to lock any day now.

i've digressed to far from where i wanted to go with this one. back on topic.

so my initial thought when i saw the list was wow, the ripple of effect of a down economy is just beginning. my other thought was what little value these stores added to begin with & how i wasn't going to miss any of them.

when i drive between austin & dallas (almost once a month now) it's evident to me that there are way more BIG box stores than we need. hell, it's evident when i drive to & from work each day that there are too many BIG box stores. it drives me nuts to see so many of these stores. the stores take away from the personality of a city/town in my opinion. many will argue that they offer convenience & low costs. convenience is one of the last things i'd suggest that the offer. shopping in my opinion is one of the most inconvenient things we could do with our time. internet shopping, that's convenient. too many folks are running around shopping after work & on their weekends versus spending "real" time with their family & friends, traveling, going to the park, exercising, cooking, enjoying a nice meal, reading, drawing, you get the picture by now. as i walk through most department stores & grocery stores the isles are packed with 5 or more of the same item. take for example laundry detergent. there is an entire isle in the store full of detergents with 15 or more scents, some with bleach added, some powder, some liquid, different sizes, etc. --- give me a break --- i just need laundry detergent. do we really need that many choices? does what type of laundry detergent we buy say something about "who" we are?

maybe i'm a bit of a socialist but i'd be just as happy as i was when i was a kiddo in school. remember when you got a list of what you needed for school? i'd be more than happy if i got my home supplies determined for me based off the square footage of my home, number of rooms, bedrooms, pets, number of people living in the space, etc. just ship me my supplies once a month & let's call it good. does anyone really enjoy shopping for groceries, cleaning supplies, or anything at stores like walmart, target, etc.?

i think what's happening in the retail market right now is more than just some economic disaster. it's a sign of excess being cleaned up. we never needed so many retail stores to begin with. it's urban sprawl to the extreme.

what scares me most right now is what will come of these big & empty stores (warehouses). will our strip malls begin to look like ghost towns? how long will these building that don't have any architectural character sit emtpy? if i had my choice i'd like to see them all torn down & have them replaced with parks & the wild/natural areas they once were.

i could go on & on about this. so many parts of retail frustrate me. maybe i should just say, oh goodie thanks for the e-mail b/c now i won't buy a gift card (what kind of gift is that anyway - tis this season to be shopping versus finding something that will have some meaning to someone) from one of these stores.

while i'm hating on shopping for the holidays for a moment. has anyone else noticed how quick the retailers have moved to hang christmas lights, reefs, etc.? can't we wait for thanksgiving to pass before putting this stuff up? if you are a UT fan you have to wonder if the UT/ATM game was moved this year from the day after thanksgiving (black friday) to thanksgiving day so no one (to include men) have an excuse for not being out shopping.

bah humbug :)

banana republic can't make socks

this past sunday, september 14th, kristin helped expand my wardrobe by buying me some new threads for my birthday. yes, last sunday i turned 31 & no I will not forgive "you" for forgetting to wish me a happy birthday.

one of the many new additions to my wardrobe that kristin showered me with were socks (4-pairs) from banana republic. she got me two brown pair & two black pair with fancy blue patterns on the black pair & fancy orange patterns on the brown pair. OK, the colors don’t matter actually. what matters is that i get it across to everyone that these fancy socks from banana republic suck.

initially i thought that they were great. i liked the style, how they looked, & how they felt. of course after wearing a pair for the first time i realized very quickly that the quality in these socks were crap. the diamond pattern on the pair i wore was already fraying after one wear. the threads had come apart almost entirely & i’m sure after one wash in the washing machine these socks would be in complete shambles. i’m not even going to bother trying to wear the other three pair that kris got me. instead i am going to return all four pair to banana republic & let them know how disappointed i am in their quality, especially given the $8.50 price tag per pair.

banana republic may offer great shirts, pants, & other items of clothing, but when it comes to socks they really suck (i could have written stink things up instead of suck, but i can’t bear to sink that low in my writing, not yet anyway).

lloyd dobbler

this past weekend kristin & i ventured into a best buy for the first time in probably a year. those stores make my skin crawl. you walk in & there is music blaring on 20 different radios, 10 TVs all with something different on screaming at you, & kids running around playing video games. it's not my ideal shopping experience.

about the only reason i ever visit one of these stores is to purchase a DVD which i've been caught saying is such a ridiculous thing to do. kristin & i subscribe to netflix so rarely do we have a need to rent, let alone buy a DVD. of course this weekend the "gotta have it now" bug hit us hard & we both wanted to see 'say anything.'

about two weeks ago, ben, updated his gTalk message with an oh say famous quote from one of my favorite movie characters lloyd dobbler. the quote was, "i don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. i don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. you know, as a career, i don't want to do that." for a great list of 'say anything' quotes visit IMDB. ever since reading that quote i've been wanting to see the move again. i have it in a closet at home on VHS, but i no longer have a VCR to play it on...

anyhow, we rushed in & out of best buy as quickly as we could. we coughed over the $10 bucks for say anything & kristin couldn't resist from buying the love story & tear jerker, the notebook. in total we spent just under $25 bucks. that's almost two months worth of netflix. whatever you do, don't tell our accountant that we splurged.

if you haven't seen 'say anything' you were either born in the 80s or you've been living on another planet. go & rent it now. it's such a great flick & i assure you that you too will become a fan of lloyd dobbler. you'll also never be able to hear the song, in your eyes by peter gabriel, without thinking of lloyd dobbler.

when did i become so yuppie?

if we can't laugh at ourselves, who can?

a couple of weeks ago i was introduced to the blog stuff white people like by my friend trevor. trevor sent a link to this blog to a group of us "white folk" & the e-mail responses from all of us whities were absolutely hilarious. i recall our friend walt saying he had to stop reading the blog after about 5 posts because he was scared his name would show up any minute.

yesterday i myself experienced what should be the next post to the stuff white people like blog. what should have been a long bike training morning for me turned into a shopping extravaganza at the yuppie domain right here in austin. kristin wanted to meet-up with the team-in-training staff who were recruiting for the nike women's marathon in san francisco later this year (kristin signed up folks!) at austin's very own betty sport run shop. after hanging at betty sport for a bit & me binging on the free luna teacakes (i must have eaten 7 of these luna bars) being advertised at a booth in the domain atrium we decided to do a bit of clothes shopping for the new VP of business development as i'd soon be needing some new threads as i travel the world obtaining new business for my company!

eventually i find myself in a leather chair at cole haan trying on new dress shoes. i'm wearing a pink t-shirt that kristin insisted i buy a few weeks back, i've got my starbucks coffee right beside me, & the free pelligrino sparkling water the sales assistant (lyn - she's a chemist during the week) offered me. i felt like such a yuppie king & at that moment i handed kristin the camera (iPhone - jeez, how yuppie am i?) & said you've got to take a picture of this... how yuppie white can i get i thought to myself. the sad thing - none of this was staged! oh, & if you are wondering i did not buy the $200 shoes lyn was so kind to fit for me :).

new kicks

i picked up my new asics nimbus 9s this afternoon. it's either a great move or a *really* bad move to be running in new shoes for my upcoming & first half ironman this weekend. trust me, i tried getting them before last weekend but timing & posted store hours for the new rogue run store (really cool place - glad to see some competition for run tex) didn't jive well. anyhow, i'm returning to the nimbus 9s after a couple of years of bouncing between mizunos & brooks running shoes. i bought my first pair of nimbus 9s back in 2004 just prior to running my first 1/2 marathon (the 3M) & they rocked & were the best pair of shoes ever. i'm really not sure why i switched to something else after i wore those shoes out. i think i was looking for something cheaper & for a support shoe versus a comfort/cushioning shoe. anyhow, the mizunos that i have now have really done a number on my feet & ankles so i'm looking forward to being back in a pair of nimbus 9s - they even match the t3 colors - white/grey/blue!

i took them for a test run as soon as i picked them up today. i had just finished lunch at casa with kristin & i needed to burn off my 4 plates worth of food. plus the sun was out & i could use a bit of a tan. they felt great, however, like breaking anything else the 4-mile run resulted in a small blister on my right foot. i figure i'll wear them on the plane tomorrow & around san diego prior to the race & they should be fine. plus i plan on getting in a short jog tomorrow or friday so come race day they should be good-to-go.

regardless, i'll berunning in them on race day - it can't be any worse than what happened at the austin tri last year when i ran without socks & zip laces for the first time. i've still got the scars on both feet & the blood stains on the mizunos to prove that it wasn't a pretty sight.

a pink shirt

kristin says that every guy should own at least one pink shirt. while shopping yesterday for some new shorts at the one store that wasn't closed on easter sunday (both costco & the rogue run store were the other stores we were hoping to get some shopping done at) kristin insisted that i purchase my first pink shirt. while not totally objecting to the purchase of a pink shit i am a bit leery to say the least. rather than going "all in" i'm starting off with a cheap cotton pink t-shirt prior to spending the big bucks on a nice pink dress shirt. i'll take my chances & wear this bad boy into the office today just to see how much grief i get from the guys. i'm not really sure that fashion statements coming from software engineers is a really good test though... what do you girls & guys think about the pink shirt?

droids of starbucks

sometimes it is hard to believe that starbucks is having financially difficulty. while their falling stock prices & the firing of their CEO end of last year clearly points this fact out it's still hard to believe given the perception one sees when visiting a starbucks. especially if you are visiting one in the yuppie suburbs of dallas, TX one morning on your way into the office for all day meetings.

there must have been 15 cars lined up around the starbucks drive thru & at least 10 people deep in the line inside. these people weren't just stopping in because it was friday (this picture was taken on a wednesday morning) & they wanted to treat themselves to an expensive morning treat - they were regulars for sure. i noticed 3 women in their cars putting on their make-up - just part of their morning routine while waiting for their caffeine fix. you'd think that starbucks is putting crack in people's coffee given the way that these people get so excited when they get their order served up too. oddly enough, i rarely leave the house in the morning without having coffee.

it surprises me that so many folks do get up & get ready at home but don't actually have their coffee until on their way into the office or when they get in the office. coffee is part of my morning wake-up ritual. to each his own obviously. oh, & this week i started ordering soy caffe lattes & i even going as far as adding a bit of soy milk in my cup of joe at home - just looking to add a bit more protein/calories to my diet plus i like the way it tastes :)

so not moving to san fran

i think san francisco is one of the best cities in the US. the views are amazing, the restaurants rock (i love avocado on everything), the wine country is a short drive away, the weather is pretty constant, & the city supports an active life-style like mine. in fact, san francisco is number 2 in my list of top 3 favorite US cities.

1. austin

2. san francisco

3. chicago

it's the cold weather without a doubt that keeps me from considering actually living in chicago. as for san francisco - it's simply the cost of living! just as i'm posting this past friday about gas prices here in austin my good friend trevor who is vacationing in san francisco this weekend (following a speaking engagement at eComm highlighting some awesome new & free technologies released by jaduka) sent me a pic from his iPhone of the current (03/14/08) gas prices in san fran.

- $3.93 unleaded plus

- $3.99 performance plus

- $4.09 high performance

that's almost a dollar more a gallon than here in austin. sure, i know that *most* folks living in san francisco get paid more than those of us working in austin, but my gosh that's a lot for gas. it's almost as if they are marketing the gas there too. note that the sign doesn't read $4.09 for 93 octane... they call it "high performance" gasoline. i suppose if i'm going to shell out $4+ bucks for gas i too would want to think i'm getting something more special than just 93 octane gas.

87 - 89 - 93 - $$$

oh my! i've been listening to NPR & i realize oil is at its highest selling price per ever - $107.88 a barrel - but damn i didn't realize the impact to us (the consumer) until i was at the pump tonight.

*** 87 - $3.139, 89 - $3.269, 93 - $3.399 ***

it may be time for me to consider riding that new shiny bike to & from work & if kristin wants that honda fit then i'm going to support that decision all the way. is it possible that we may see the price for a gallon of gas reach $4 before end of year? at this rate of increase i'm afraid it's actually possible.

plenty mag

not to far away from that rolling stone magazine with obama on the cover that i referenced in a previous blog lie another magazine titled 'plenty' that caught my attention. i thought it very cool that there was a magazine that focused solely on "going green." its pages were filled with articles about environmentally smart ways to go greener. topics included hydrogen cars, clothing made from recycled materials, the right foods to eat based on how they were grown, etc.

i thought to myself for a moment - what a great magazine & how wonderful to see something like this. then i pondered, if this is all about going green why am i looking at a magazine filled with pages & pages of paper? shouldn't this magazine be in digital format if the creators behind it really mean what they say about being green?

when having some time after work today i took at look at plenty's website to learn more. while happy to see that they do produce a magazine that is environmentally conscience - see statement below regarding how plenty takes their mission seriously & practices what they preach. but isn't it still wrong that this magazine isn't in digital format only? if plenty was distributed via digital format only there would be so much less machinery involved to develop the content in this magazine, there wouldn't be bounds & bounds of paper (recycled or not) for printing, there wouldn't be any printing or print machines running that use energy & require A/C for cooling. let's not forget the distribution involved in getting this magazine to the many different retailers - mail planes, trucks, etc. burning all types of fuel.

when i think more about how the digital age can help reduce so many negative things affecting our environment i'm frustrated to think about why we don't enforce such approaches. all music & movies should be downloaded, all software should be downloaded too, all magazines, bills, books, etc. could all live in soft form & require little to no paper, manufacturing, & the delivery to get these products to market. the digital age we say we are in could bring such relief to a number of things that negatively impact our environment every day - so why aren't this approached being enforced?

comments from plenty magazine:

"we take our mission seriously and practice what we preach. we offer a digital version of the magazine. our paper is 85-100 percent recycled and contains 20-30 percent post-consumer material. we also offset our carbon footprint (the energy used to print the magazine and run our offices) with green mountain energy. oh, and our website is carbon neutral as well."

obama in the mix of magazines

while avoiding the high prices of all the junk food in the airport & waiting for my connecting flight from dallas to austin on wednesday of this week i roamed through a magazine shop where i was delighted to see obama on the cover of this month's issue of 'rolling stone magazine' with a title that read "a new hope."

while i was delighted to see obama on the cover looking all "god" like i was ammused with the other magazines that surrounded this one. to the left there was 'playboy magazine' - quite fitting for a scandal down the road. to the bottom left was 'esquire magazine' with a picture of mr. republican governor arnold schwarzenegger with a caption that read "what obama, mccain, clinton, & the rest can learn from arnold the president of 12% of us." just below the rolling stone issue was a copy of 'the source magazine' which is referenced as being the bible of hip-hop culture & politics. to the bottom right was a copy of 'mac life' for the nerd/yuppie in all of us.

i'm suprised there isn't a product placement guideline for a magazine with a cover of a presidential candidate on it. anyhow, i got a good laugh from this one - i hope obama's campaign manager did too :)

price gauging at airports

i'm bias to airports to begin with. i can't stand them! i rarely find anything worth eating, if i'm not running for a plane i'm sitting for hours waiting for one, the never ending security lines, & to top it all off the price gauging that takes place inside of airports makes me sick.

while i can fill my bag with cliff bars & trail mix you aren't allowed to bring your own water. if you buy a water outside of security you are then forced to throw it away or drink it before you can enter an actual terminal. granted, i understand the need for security... security is actually at the bottom of my list of things i can stand about airports :) everyone knows or should know that while in the air your body gets seriously dehydrated. airlines all recommend you drink plenty of water while flying, yet the airport stores price gauge you on water - $2+ bucks for a small (20oz) bottle of water. the airports should enforce a price cap on water in my opinion so that anyone with a dollar can get a big bottle of water because we all know if you order water on a plane you get a small cup of water & nothing else. isn't it odd that if you order a coke you get a full 12oz can, but if you order a water all you get is a cup filled with about 4oz of water?

as for the food marts, coffee shops, etc. they price gauge on everything. the same coffee that you'd get at starbucks (which is already over priced) costs you double in an airport. i ordered a smoothie from smoothing king while at the airport earlier this week & the same smoothie was three dollars more than what a smoothie king in town would charge (note: don't get a smoothie from smoothie king, especially while in the airport - this deserves it's own blog post). i'm suspect that the overhead costs for the smoothie king in the airport are way less than a smoothie shop that has to maintain their own brick & mortar store, AC, heating, security, etc. so the margin these chains are making on the items they are selling must be astronomical.

checkout the attached pic. that south beach bar is being sold for $3.49. you can find that same bar in a grocery store for less than a buck. probably not the best example, but you get the point about the type of price gauging taking place at airports.

the 1.7 cent penny

i heard this morning on NPR that due to the current cost of copper it costs the U.S. mint (really costs the american tax payer - you & me) almost two cents ($0.017) to create the penny.

once again this has sparked discussion about eliminating the penny altogether. the U.S. mint has already drastically reduced the amount of copper that goes into producing the penny. pick up a penny created in 2008 & one created a few years ago & you'll notice that the 2008 penny is much lighter & thinner than the previous generation of pennies that were manufactured. in fact, the existing penny is only copper plated & the percentage of copper used is only 2.5% & it still costs more to create the penny than it is actually worth.

i for one would be a BIG fan of seeing the penny disappear. i've felt this way ever since my first trip to australia 8 years ago. items that you purchase still ring up in pennies but this is where rounding comes into play. if an item rings up as a $1.77 - you pay a $1.75 & if an item rings up as a $1.78 you pay a $1.80. doesn't it just frustrate the crap out of you when something rings up for a $1.71 & you know that when you hand that cashier a $1.75 you are going to get back 4 dirty old pennies?

i can't stand carrying coins - let alone nasty corroded copper plated pennies. outside of items ringing up for values not easily divisible by 5 what good is the penny? can anyone name something that you can buy with a single penny?

i just don't get the fascination folks have with the penny. is it some significant artifact in U.S. history that we really need to hold on too?

heading to CDA on the b12

i just bought a new bike. the felt b12 is finally mine! it is gorgeous & will make me go so fast – it damn well better… good thing we sold the audi when we did :)

since december of last year i’ve taken 7 really nice tri bikes for test rides. if you are going to spend some serious cash on a bike & you plan to be on that bike a lot (say for 5+ hours at a time) you want to really take it out & ride it; not just tool around a stores parking lot.

while i love the folks at bicycle sport shop & i think they do a great job at what they do they can’t compete with a store like jack & adam’s when it comes to setting you up & getting you on the right tri bike. if you need a good road bike, mountain bike, or service on your bike definitely head to BSS – they’ve saved my butt a couple of times.

i did start at BSS back in december. i road an ’07 specialized transition e5 comp. it was a nice bike but it wasn’t carbon & it just didn’t feel all that hot. specialized has actually totally redesigned the transition for ’08 & according to bicycling magazine it’s a sweet ride. given that the transition is the only tri bike that BSS sells i headed over to J&A's put myself in the hands of the pros. right off the bat i knew i found the right shop – there’s no tooling around in the parking lot with the bike – they fit you & give you the keys to take it out as long as you need. need it for a couple of days to get some time in on it – sure thing!

my first ride was on a quintana roo kilo. i like the QR & since my current tri bike is a QR (a really old ’01 QR that i bought off craigslist – got a great deal actually) i figured i would see where seven years of technology/development had brought the kilo. the kilo has an aluminum frame, not a carbon frame & while this bike retails for $1,600 it is still considered an entry level tri bike. i got out on the kilo & while the fit on this bike was much better (J&A’s sized me for a 54 – my existing QR is a 56 (way too big)), the bike itself didn’t feel all that much different than what i’ve got. so after one long ride on the kilo i passed on it.

*** note: just like car manufacturers, bike manufactures change things up from year to year & most new bikes don’t arrive until late Q1 of the new year since in majority of states folks can’t ride their bikes outside because it’s too cold (doesn’t apply to us in texas). so J&A’s inventory was low & they, like me, were just waiting for the new bikes to arrive. ***

given that the racks in the shop were mostly empty jack set me up on a kestrel talon that had a carbon frame. kestrel is a damn good brand & a number of ironman championship races have been won on a kestrel. however, i wasn’t digging the frame or the look of this bike at all. while looks aren’t everything, when you are shelling out BIG bucks for a bike you want to enjoy looking at it. kristin has already warned me that whatever we buy i need to keep for the next 3 – 5 years so i can’t afford to make any mistakes on this purchase.

once i jumped on that kestrel with a carbon frame i knew there was no turning back to a bike with an aluminum frame. a carbon frame is just so much more forgiving on your body & so much lighter too. i told jack (owner of J&A’s – damn cool cat) that from this point forward i only wanted to ride carbon. we had a problem though - that kestrel was the last carbon bike in stock that was in my price range & until the newer bikes were to arrive there was nothing for me to test ride.

after doing some internet research & talking to friends i narrowed my search down to three carbon tri bikes that were in my price range: the kuota k-factor, the cervelo p2c, & the felt b12. all are damn fine bikes with their own little perks.

of the 3 bikes i was now shopping, J&A’s only carried two of them. they don’t have the distribution rights for the cervelo. the folks down the road, austin tri-cyclist, are the only guys in town with the distribution rights to the cervelo (jack, from J&A’s is working on this). while i am no doubt a huge fan of J&A’s, I needed to see what the cervelo p2c was all about. so i ventured down to the austin tri-cyclist shop & i have to say the cervelo p2c is damn sweet. the folks at cervelo hit a home run with this puppy. not only was it sweet, the guys at austin tri-cyclist were offering it below MSRP & they even were throwing in a package deal to include wet-suit, new shoes, new clips, & helmet for a $100 bucks over what the MSRP was on this bike. at this point i hadn’t ridden the kuota k-factor or the felt b12 (because they hadn’t come in yet) so i didn’t just want to move on the p2c without giving these bikes a chance.

the kuota k-factor was the first of the two bikes to arrive at J&A’s in january. jack called me up & that saturday we scheduled a fit & a test ride. when saturday rolled around i couldn’t wait to get down there & pick-up the k-factor. i ended up taking the k-factor on the 360 loop & back. while a nice ride, i wasn’t impressed. it was the cheapest of the three bikes i was now considering & while it had a carbon frame it just was lacking in so many other spots. i returned to J&A’s & told jack that i’d hold tight until the b12 was in.

at this point i was really getting sick of riding my QR. it didn’t fit me & i now knew what a real tri bike was supposed to feel like.

when the b12s finally arrived in early february i reserved the first available 54 (my size). i scheduled my fit for a friday night; that way i could take the b12 on a long ride with the t3 the next saturday. after work i gave jack a ring & told him i was on my way in to get my fit down. he had bad news – one of the guys goofed the scheduled & let someone else take out the one b12 in my size. i was devastated & a bit pissed because i’ve been waiting almost 3 months for this bike to arrive & when it finally did i still couldn’t get my hands on it. jack could tell i was bummed & that i was getting sick of riding my QR.

jack & i talked later that night & even though they were closing he told me to come down to the shop & he’d hook me up with something very fun to ride the next day. when i got there he had pulled the top of the line kuota kalibur off the rack for me. this was a very high-end tri bike - $4,000+ & if you add race wheels you are easily looking at a $6,000+. this bike was hot & i was looking forward to hopping on it in the morning. i ended up talking to jack for about the next hour while we dialed this bike in to fit me perfectly – no reason to ride a bike this sweet if it didn’t fit me just right. i learned a lot about J&A’s, jack, & the whole austin tri/athletic scene.

needless to say, the ride on the kalibur the next morning was awesome. i was riding the audi (i’m an audi guy – what can i say) of bikes. i was almost nervous that after being on this nice of a bike that the b12 wasn’t going to be all that i had expected it to be. it didn’t matter though – neither kristin nor i were going to spend $4K+ on a tri bike.

that third weekend in february it finally happened; another b12 in my size arrived & jack had it reserved for me. i was pumped to get out on it. unfortunately it rained the saturday & i my first “ride” was indoors on my trainer. the next day was the AT&T marathon & i crashed that race to get in my 15-mile long run. however, later that afternoon i did a recovery ride on the b12 down south with kristin around the veloway & the s. mopac loop - while only a 19-mile ride it felt good. i called jack & he told me to hang on to the bike until the following weekend so i could get a real ride on it. that next saturday the weather turned bad & i found myself indoors with t3 on the trainer for 3-hours – again, not how i wanted to spend my time on the b12. the next day, prior to our long run, ed, noah, i got in a 20-mile ride & we spent a little time on bee caves (fast, hilly, & good turns) & the b12 felt awesome! i called jack right away & told him i’d take it.

it took almost a full week until i was able to make some time after work this past wednesday to make it to J&A’s to get my official fit & actually hand over the cash for the b12. jack gave me a great deal on the accessories that i purchased with/for the new ride along with some other additional goodies for both kristin & i.

it took almost 4-months to find the bike that worked for me. never before has buying something involved so much work, yet so full of fun along the way. a BIG thanks to jack & the guys at J&A’s for working with me on this one. i am one happy client & i’ve got one kick ass bike! coeur d’ alene – here i come & i’m coming on a b12!

you get what you pay for...

i’ve commented before that kristin & i do the majority of our grocery shopping at whole foods & central market; probably 75% at whole foods & 20% at central market. the other 5% of grocery shopping is done at HEB & just recently we ventured back to costco.

last week i made a quick pit stop at the HEB in the arboretum after a workout & prior to picking up firebowl for dinner. it’s never a good thing to send me into a grocery store for just a few things especially after a good gym workout because i’m super hungry & i start making impulse buys left & right. the normal trip to HEB includes cat litter, cereal, a particular type of oat meal, a particular type of figs & prunes (can get the prunes at costco now), protein shakes (can also get at costco now instead) & a handful of other canned goods & pastas that are the same ones at whole foods & central market but about a 1/3 of the cost.

where i feel the most pain of going to a grocery store like HEB is at the check-out area. lines are long, people look miserable, cashiers are not friendly or very intelligent, the check-out lines are laced with trash magazines & candy crap, & what really got me the other night is their inability to bag your damn grocery somewhat correctly!

my first taxable job was sacking (call it bagging if you want) groceries at a tom thumb page grocery store (same store is called randalls here in austin) in garland. we weren’t called baggers or sackers either – they called us courtesy clerks :) anyhow, i was a damn good courtesy clerk too! we were allowed to accept tips back then & i would pocket $20 bucks on most days. back then it seemed everyone wanted their groceries taken to their vehicle for them – these days i rarely see someone having their groceries carried out for them. i knew who the BIG tippers ($2 bucks) were & i made it a point to take extra special care of those customers. i would tell all the ladies how great their dresses, hair, shoes, etc. look. most of the time i was actually being honest, i wasn’t just saying it to say it. if you look hard, you can find something nice about anyone :)

regardless of what i said or didn’t say i was a damn good bagger. i’d square up the bags whether paper or plastic, frozen foods were bagged with other frozen foods, cold with cold, can goods with can goods, products like soaps, bleach, tooth brushes, etc. were bagged separately. always treat the eggs, breads, chips, etc. with the utmost respect for care. not only was i diligent about my bagging, i was fast.

these kids at HEB are just a mess. they go right to the plastic 90% of the time without even asking what type of bag you prefer. they don’t attempt to talk to you at all – normally they are chatting with the cashier about homework or something, they throw things in the bag in the order they come down the line with no regard for colds, dry goods, chemicals, etc. hell, i go out of my way to put things on the conveyor belt to make things easier for them & still they F it up!

when i walked out of HEB the other night with my groceries one of the bags i was carrying ripped in half & spilled all over the parking lot – talk about me being pissed!

in the end i just shook my head & reminded myself that you get what you pay for.

choke chains for shoppers

kristin & i finally viewed the infamous cesar millan (the dog whisperer) in action today. by this evening we had applied many of the techniques that cesar suggests in his program. we both admit everything we’ve tried thus far has been quite effective. it’s pretty simple & that’s the beauty of it – show the animal who is control, remain calm, don’t reinforce bad behavior, & most importantly use that choke chain :)

speaking of choke chains; kristin & i could have used some constraint this evening when visiting costco for the first time in over a year. we started to shop at costco when the first one opened in austin over 5 years ago. our once weekly visit for 3 years straight almost always resulted in a bill greater than a $100 bucks. given the size/quantity a purchase resulted in it really is tough to get out of there for less than a $100 bucks.

when our membership expired over a year ago we decided it wasn’t worth renewing. while we rarely let anything we purchased there go to waste we simply decided that shopping there was almost always hectic, we purchased way too many things that weren’t grocery related & that we often didn’t need, & in an effort to not let things go to waste we would sometimes find ourselves consuming more of something just to get rid of it or prevent it to going to waste.

so why did we go back to costco today? for 2 items: paper towels & toilet paper. while we can obviously purchase & do purchase these items at central market & whole foods they are priced sky high in comparison to costco. so i borrowed a co-workers costco card before leaving the office on friday & this evening we made the journey. when we arrived we should have skipped even grabbing a basket/cart. to note, the costco basket/cart can haul more than most full-size trucks. it’s designed to hold more than any of us actually need to purchase.

as soon as we walked through those giant front doors (both the entrance & exit are garage size openings – they actually close like garage doors) the “deals” attacked us. after an hour of shopping we left with a full basket/cart & the goods inside consumed every inch of space in the 4runner. luckily we did get out with our paper towels & toilet paper - $200+ dollars worth :)

in all honesty we weren’t that bad. we bought a lot of fish & chicken, fruits, olive oil, oatmeal, protein shakes, & tortillas so our normal grocery shopping bill should be way less for the next few weeks. we also needed a new dog bed for payton as he’s just went over the 70 pound mark! the *only* thing that we splurged on was a new shirt & pair of jeans for me & kristin bought a couple of tank tops for her.

the moral of the story: as long as cesar millan isn’t brought in to do something about it consumerism will remain alive & well in the USA.

lover's day

over the past few week’s my e-mail account has been flooded with advertisements from various vendors from whom i subscribe & many that i do not subscribe with ads promoting valentine’s day “deals.” restaurants in the area, flemings, vespaio, asti, fino, & roy’s for example, have sent me their menus & prices for Vday, 800flowers & proflowers have both sent me at least 10 e-mails saying order now, last chance to get flowers there on time, special savings, etc., grapevine market e-mailed me on special “savings” on wines, even apple e-mailed me with an ad for a Vday iPod (color red) or iPhone gift idea, & to top things off good old hugh hefner sent me ad titled “make any of these playmates your valentine.”

so you tell me, is this the day of love or just another BID day for business to take advantage of folks by bullying them into making purchases & spending cash on dinners/flowers/etc to show their “love” for one another? kristin & i have always joked that Vday is the day for “lovers” who have yet to have or will never have an anniversary to go out & celebrate their “love.” as if it wasn’t difficult enough to get good dinner reservations on a friday & saturday night… do you really think i want to head out tonight when all the other “lovers” who never go out & tonight who will be out – most of whom will be playing it up big in comparison to their normal dinner for two at olive garden or chili’s?

anyone who is in love knows that love is not made of money, it is not wrapped in a box, nor does it appear in a vase. love has no face – it’s an emotion that lives deep within us & is expressed in so many different ways. love isn’t a material, it’s expressed with actions.

do as you will today/tonight – but do it because you truly want to do it – not because of what the ads in your e-mail tells you to do or what the commercials on TV suggest you do. when you are in love, you’ll know what the right thing to do is – trust me, because i am in love.