Sunday, August 28, 2011
Comparative Shopping - Part Deux
Bought a cantelope for $1 each at Maxim Supermarket the other day. Today... cantelopes at my local supermarket chain was $4 each.
Comparative Shopping
Is it really worth it to do comparative shopping? I'm never one to drive across town for the sake of saving a few bucks. But today... we saved almost $200 because we held fast and did a little more research.
In the morning, we went to a mattress superstore. The quoted us a price that was already $100 off the marked price cuz "they helped us out." We left to another superstore... who had the exact same price, but wouldn't even try to lower it. So we went home for nap time... and on our drive home, we found a different mattress that was a lot cheaper! Calling the first store... the salesman told us they'll not only match the price, the mattress we found is one grade up from what he showed us in the morning.
In the end...we saved more than $150 on a mattress that's better in quality. Which begs the question.... how much are these mattress superstores marking up their prices for a profit.
Comparative shopping... still not a big fan.
In the morning, we went to a mattress superstore. The quoted us a price that was already $100 off the marked price cuz "they helped us out." We left to another superstore... who had the exact same price, but wouldn't even try to lower it. So we went home for nap time... and on our drive home, we found a different mattress that was a lot cheaper! Calling the first store... the salesman told us they'll not only match the price, the mattress we found is one grade up from what he showed us in the morning.
In the end...we saved more than $150 on a mattress that's better in quality. Which begs the question.... how much are these mattress superstores marking up their prices for a profit.
Comparative shopping... still not a big fan.
Friday, August 19, 2011
The Pain is Back
After a two year hiatus... the tendonitis is back.
One in twenty men get this pain - mainly attributed to overstress of the tendon from lifting, carrying and overburdening. This time, it's occurring two days after I began weight training again. Curls and lifts are just as much to blame as fruits of my loin.
Oh well...back to wearing a cast and answering, "No, not carpel tunnel. It's tendonitis."
One in twenty men get this pain - mainly attributed to overstress of the tendon from lifting, carrying and overburdening. This time, it's occurring two days after I began weight training again. Curls and lifts are just as much to blame as fruits of my loin.
Oh well...back to wearing a cast and answering, "No, not carpel tunnel. It's tendonitis."
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Where have the blogs gone?
Went through my bookmarks today and found a folder called "Blogs." So I slowly went through each and every blog / xanga only to find a broken links, deserted sites and abandoned lives once traversed by hundreds if not thousands.
Still remember the days when I had to beg for an invitation to LiveJournal. Then I migrated to Blogger only to find it in battle with xanga. There was a time when Xanga sucked away everyone I knew away from blogger - mainly because it allowed people to know when you last updated your posts. So many people used the excuse "more features" or "ease of use" for the migration. I think they just wanted the attention. Especially when they would update their xanga with "I just updated my blog! Go check it out!"
Slowly and surely... people enjoyed the ease of 140 character updates...or Facebook status updates over coherent thoughts and ideas. And as less and less people paid attention (or cared)... people were attracted to the next means to gain attention. Nothing wrong with that... merely an obeservation.
Since 2005, I remained loyal. Mostly because my blog wasn't written for anyone in particular. It's a place for me to vent... a place for me to verbalize... a place for me to capture my thoughts for that moment in time.
Still remember the days when I had to beg for an invitation to LiveJournal. Then I migrated to Blogger only to find it in battle with xanga. There was a time when Xanga sucked away everyone I knew away from blogger - mainly because it allowed people to know when you last updated your posts. So many people used the excuse "more features" or "ease of use" for the migration. I think they just wanted the attention. Especially when they would update their xanga with "I just updated my blog! Go check it out!"
Slowly and surely... people enjoyed the ease of 140 character updates...or Facebook status updates over coherent thoughts and ideas. And as less and less people paid attention (or cared)... people were attracted to the next means to gain attention. Nothing wrong with that... merely an obeservation.
Since 2005, I remained loyal. Mostly because my blog wasn't written for anyone in particular. It's a place for me to vent... a place for me to verbalize... a place for me to capture my thoughts for that moment in time.
Sunday, August 07, 2011
Insecurity
One of the biggest insecurity of men...husbands and fathers in particular... is the ability to protect and provide for your family. Today... I experienced that first hand.
At our church nursery... Joyce was chatting with some other moms when Nui-nui saw one of the boys in there open up a Rice Kripies treat. Her eyes were bigger than a vinyl record and credit to that boy... he chomped on that rice krispie like it was his first meal in days. I did all I could to distract my daughter... but almost magnetically... her eyes will be drawn back to that treat. I hungrily searched our diaper bag for anything... anything resembling a snack...a treat... sustenance. Nothing. Failure. Utter and total disappointment. With a last resort... we asked the nursery for a cup of stale, tasteless...HEALTHY!!!... Cheerios.
Nui-nui reluctantly took it. She stared at the cup of round lifesafers. They seemed to be tasteless... un-crispy... and nothing at all like that rectangular piece of sugar rush that the boy has now inhaled.
Nui-nui will surely experience more of these as she grows up. Heck... every time someone speeds by my Civic with a 3-series or a Lotus... I go through it too! But as a father... as a provider... as a typical, old fashion male.... I am the one that feels like a failure for not being able to make my daughter happy.
I don't even want to think of the day when I'll have to resort to force to protect my loved ones... it won't be pretty in all accounts.
At our church nursery... Joyce was chatting with some other moms when Nui-nui saw one of the boys in there open up a Rice Kripies treat. Her eyes were bigger than a vinyl record and credit to that boy... he chomped on that rice krispie like it was his first meal in days. I did all I could to distract my daughter... but almost magnetically... her eyes will be drawn back to that treat. I hungrily searched our diaper bag for anything... anything resembling a snack...a treat... sustenance. Nothing. Failure. Utter and total disappointment. With a last resort... we asked the nursery for a cup of stale, tasteless...HEALTHY!!!... Cheerios.
Nui-nui reluctantly took it. She stared at the cup of round lifesafers. They seemed to be tasteless... un-crispy... and nothing at all like that rectangular piece of sugar rush that the boy has now inhaled.
Nui-nui will surely experience more of these as she grows up. Heck... every time someone speeds by my Civic with a 3-series or a Lotus... I go through it too! But as a father... as a provider... as a typical, old fashion male.... I am the one that feels like a failure for not being able to make my daughter happy.
I don't even want to think of the day when I'll have to resort to force to protect my loved ones... it won't be pretty in all accounts.
Thursday, August 04, 2011
Regrets
Every now and then... I'll go into a "What-if" trance and imagine different right turn vs left turn scenarios. Though I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason... one of the biggest regrets I have in my life is not joining the Navy.
I have the utmost respect for people of the service. Those cheesy commericials of service men and women coming home to family always gets me. I can't help but silently salute those in uniform when I bump into them at the airport. Stories of folks travelling the seven seas and seeing the world floors me every time. The discipline of naval academy can probably be topped only by the Marines. And who did the Command-in-Chief call to disarm bin Laden....? The Navy Seals.
Will this be a case where I'll want my children to live out my dream?
I have the utmost respect for people of the service. Those cheesy commericials of service men and women coming home to family always gets me. I can't help but silently salute those in uniform when I bump into them at the airport. Stories of folks travelling the seven seas and seeing the world floors me every time. The discipline of naval academy can probably be topped only by the Marines. And who did the Command-in-Chief call to disarm bin Laden....? The Navy Seals.
Will this be a case where I'll want my children to live out my dream?
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