Depending on your point of view, Wal*Mart is either this evil corporate multi-headed firebreathing monster exploiting the toiling masses of the lower classes or they are the greatest discount retailer that's ever been on the face of the earth. I'm not either pro-Walmart or anti-Walmart. I don't personally like it when they open up a store in Benson (population 4600) or wanted to open up an outlet off the freeway exit in Portland where Ken & Gillian live (the locals were able to stop them), but I'm not going to waste mental energy hating them either.
Every now and then, a situation emerges where I will be in one. One such situation emerged yesterday, when I needed to purchase an item from them that I could have gotten at Target. I don't know about your area, but the Target closest to my house has exceptionally bad service, and I just won't go there. I'll drive the extra few miles to Walmart in order to get certain items.
I was in there, and not only found my item, but they also saved me several shillings with the annual obligatory purchase of Halloween candy. In years past I have made those purchases at Safeway while there for other food items, but I happened to notice that Walmart had better prices and so I ended up getting the candy too. The express lane was open (which doesn't happen at Target) and so I was out of there quickly. For me any visit to a store is a military mission. Get in, get it done, and then get out. Walmart lets me do that.
As I was walking back to my truck in the parking lot, something suddenly hit me.
The cashier at Walmart didn't hassle me about whether or not I had a "rewards" card or wanted one. Think about it for a minute. Most other places you go, they want you to sign up for a rewards card, provide your email address so that they can flood you with spam about their rewards card deals, and in some cases they insist that you sign up for a Rewards Card Credit Card Rewards Cash Back Card, with points redeemable for frequent flyer miles valid for places like Rawalpindi or Blagoveshchensk exclusive of holidays and days that end in "y".
Walmart didn't do that to me. They don't bother with these rewards cards. They pass along a low price to you in the first place, and you're out of there quickly most of the time (days like Black Friday excluded, of course).
I have to give them praise on that one.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Saturday, October 27, 2012
I've Got Some Catching Up to do......
Well now, I know it's been a while since I've last posted. One of my goals for my blog this year was to be a more prolific writer than I was last year. We can pretty much throw that one out the window, though maybe with the cooler weather about to set in I might make some more time for this.
As you might have guessed, I have pretty much remained a busy guy these past few months. Things at work are on the intense side as we try to meet aggressive schedules with limited manpower, and I've had to stay late on some nights and go in on weekends. This is my first full weekend off since......crud, I can't remember when, and when I was having full weekends off before things got busy the weather was either really nice and/or I was busy doing yardwork as that the condition of the yard was irritating me. My yard still irritates me, but not as much as it was before, although I still have three diseased prickly pear cacti to dig out as well as that damnedable desert verbena which is growing around my palm tree in the front. Fortunately I have one healthy prickly pear and I can harvest some pads off that one and get some new prickly going where the older ones were removed.
I haven't forgotten about that "money" series of posts that I had started, and the next two articles will need some further research on my part before I post them. I do hope that you find them interesting reading when I post them. There will be at least two more articles after that that will be money-related. Meantime, let's move on to the odds and ends.
I never thought I would ever hear myself (read myself?) saying this here, but I'm going to announce my formal endorsement of Mitt Romney for President. Yes, I have had serious misgivings about him in the past, but as I have watched him and his campaign, I'm going to admit that he's won me over.
I was all prepared to vote for one of the third party candidates, but Mitt captured my attention when he named Paul Ryan as his running mate. I would have been tempted to bet half my coin collection that he would have picked someone like Rob Portman, but he didn't. When the speculation was building, Mr. Ryan's name came up, and I was thinking, that's the guy he should pick. Paul Ryan knows more about the budget process than most folks on the Hill, and plus, I think the biggest national security issue right now is government spending. We are fast approaching a point where the interest on the national debt will overcome defense and entitlement spending. At that point it doesn't matter squat if you have government-provided health care as that when your debt goes past the $20 trillion limit the government's going to have a hard time financing the debt as that the credit ratings are well down the commode.
But there have been a few other considerations coming into play here. Mitt Romney is coming across to me as a class act. I read an article in the American Rifleman some time ago which examined Governor Romney's stance on the Second Amendment. Massachusetts firearm laws are draconian when compared to most of the other states, and I read details of some needed reforms to those laws that he was able to get into place while Governor.
Mitt Romney's also has several years experience in the private sector. I personally don't have a problem with him being in charge of Bain Capital. I see that as an asset. I also see his experience with the Winter Olympics as being an asset. Now there are some out there who might have an issue with him being a Mormon, but personally I would rather have a Mormon in the big chair as opposed to someone else who worships himself as his own God.
But what's really driving my endorsement of Mitt Romney is this: we can't afford four more years of Obama. He ran on a promise of cutting the deficit in half and he failed miserably in this. Sixteen trillion dollars of debt greatly concerns me. We have to do something about it. Step number one is getting people back to work, and increasing tax collections by adding taxpayers as opposed to adding taxes.
One pursuit that I have enjoyed years past has been songwriting. After I got married in 1991 I stopped writing lyrics and upon moving to Arizona in 1999 after my marital breakup, I found that I had writer's block and couldn't write lyrics anymore, and my ability at musical composition had gotten away from me too.
I think that's about to change. I have spent the past few months on and off working on a new song, inspired of course by life, which will be called "Get Me Out of Here". As is the case with some songs as well as this one, I have found myself going back over and over again trying to get the lyrics where I want them. When it comes to writing lyrics and music, you either have something put together in ten minutes or you find yourself putting a year into it.
Last Sunday I finally got the lyrics polished and refined, and just maybe tomorrow I might pick up the guitar and start working on a chord structure. I see this one as being a rocker.
I also want to write a waltz sometime, and I've already got the title of that song picked out and I've thrown down some lyrics. I'm not going to give away what that song will be about, but it will be a funny song.
That's going to be it for now. Don't forget to pet a dog or a cat. This will do you more good than you think.
As you might have guessed, I have pretty much remained a busy guy these past few months. Things at work are on the intense side as we try to meet aggressive schedules with limited manpower, and I've had to stay late on some nights and go in on weekends. This is my first full weekend off since......crud, I can't remember when, and when I was having full weekends off before things got busy the weather was either really nice and/or I was busy doing yardwork as that the condition of the yard was irritating me. My yard still irritates me, but not as much as it was before, although I still have three diseased prickly pear cacti to dig out as well as that damnedable desert verbena which is growing around my palm tree in the front. Fortunately I have one healthy prickly pear and I can harvest some pads off that one and get some new prickly going where the older ones were removed.
I haven't forgotten about that "money" series of posts that I had started, and the next two articles will need some further research on my part before I post them. I do hope that you find them interesting reading when I post them. There will be at least two more articles after that that will be money-related. Meantime, let's move on to the odds and ends.
* * * * * * *
I never thought I would ever hear myself (read myself?) saying this here, but I'm going to announce my formal endorsement of Mitt Romney for President. Yes, I have had serious misgivings about him in the past, but as I have watched him and his campaign, I'm going to admit that he's won me over.
I was all prepared to vote for one of the third party candidates, but Mitt captured my attention when he named Paul Ryan as his running mate. I would have been tempted to bet half my coin collection that he would have picked someone like Rob Portman, but he didn't. When the speculation was building, Mr. Ryan's name came up, and I was thinking, that's the guy he should pick. Paul Ryan knows more about the budget process than most folks on the Hill, and plus, I think the biggest national security issue right now is government spending. We are fast approaching a point where the interest on the national debt will overcome defense and entitlement spending. At that point it doesn't matter squat if you have government-provided health care as that when your debt goes past the $20 trillion limit the government's going to have a hard time financing the debt as that the credit ratings are well down the commode.
But there have been a few other considerations coming into play here. Mitt Romney is coming across to me as a class act. I read an article in the American Rifleman some time ago which examined Governor Romney's stance on the Second Amendment. Massachusetts firearm laws are draconian when compared to most of the other states, and I read details of some needed reforms to those laws that he was able to get into place while Governor.
Mitt Romney's also has several years experience in the private sector. I personally don't have a problem with him being in charge of Bain Capital. I see that as an asset. I also see his experience with the Winter Olympics as being an asset. Now there are some out there who might have an issue with him being a Mormon, but personally I would rather have a Mormon in the big chair as opposed to someone else who worships himself as his own God.
But what's really driving my endorsement of Mitt Romney is this: we can't afford four more years of Obama. He ran on a promise of cutting the deficit in half and he failed miserably in this. Sixteen trillion dollars of debt greatly concerns me. We have to do something about it. Step number one is getting people back to work, and increasing tax collections by adding taxpayers as opposed to adding taxes.
* * * * * * *
One pursuit that I have enjoyed years past has been songwriting. After I got married in 1991 I stopped writing lyrics and upon moving to Arizona in 1999 after my marital breakup, I found that I had writer's block and couldn't write lyrics anymore, and my ability at musical composition had gotten away from me too.
I think that's about to change. I have spent the past few months on and off working on a new song, inspired of course by life, which will be called "Get Me Out of Here". As is the case with some songs as well as this one, I have found myself going back over and over again trying to get the lyrics where I want them. When it comes to writing lyrics and music, you either have something put together in ten minutes or you find yourself putting a year into it.
Last Sunday I finally got the lyrics polished and refined, and just maybe tomorrow I might pick up the guitar and start working on a chord structure. I see this one as being a rocker.
I also want to write a waltz sometime, and I've already got the title of that song picked out and I've thrown down some lyrics. I'm not going to give away what that song will be about, but it will be a funny song.
* * * * * * *
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