Thoughts and opinions from an otherwise uniformed schmuck!

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I've been pretty silent this weekend, as I've had a good amount of time to reflect on the past week (the election, the Holiday movies, the state of my life, Ed Bradley, Palestine, John Bolton's hopeful unemployment, and the Rock, Paper Scissors Championship in Toronto). Maybe, its the weather that has me so blah lately, but for some reason I can't seem to concentrate nor think about anything at all. So rather than sit and play Fight Night Round 3 anymore I decided to share my general malaise with the rest of the world.
Election - yeah you already know I'm happy.
Holiday Movies - Why would a studio release Santa Clause 3 before Halloween? It'll be gone by the time anyone actually is in the mood to see it. (ok, fine the mood will never come - but heck why not release it in August then).
State of My life - I don't know you people... I'm not saying a thing to y'all

Ed Bradley - This is way too tough for me. Last Year after losing Peter Jennings I swore off cigarettes (which lasted a whole two maybe three days). Even though I never met Ed Bradley as I did Jennings, I still feel frozen in shock at the idea that he's not around anymore. As a 60 Minutes viewer since I was a kid, I always had a secret wanting to be interviewed by Mr. Bradley. The idea that I could one day be cool enough to have him knock on my door, while a pipe-dream it was MY PIPE-DREAM DAMMIT! Truly a shock and not the sort of thing I need to deal with nowadays.
Palestine - Yeah Jimmy Carter, That's My President!

In General Thoughts - I have two things I need to explain to y'all. Yes, It has to do with my chosen affliction of Consumer Electronics. and the sales floor. My mother was suckered into something the other day and even though she knows her son owns a frigging CE company, she seems to forget this when it comes to prove it (and LOVES ME!).

Spiff Salesmanship - Spiffs - Spiffs are Cash “rewards” that manufacturers or retailers use to “facilitate” the moving of stale or soon to be discontinued product. Commission Sales = I’ve never starved so much in my life. Every commissioned sales person knows when they sell an unsuspecting old lady into a 63” Old style BIG SCREEN television (so she can watch the President make speeches) because they make an extra 15 bucks on the sale, they are making a deal with the devil.

Sales floor Hyping - This is something that is much more blatant and devious that the good old “salesperson I trust selling me something, I don’t need”. Sales Floor hyping is when a manufacturer ships products what I’ve always called Blaring mode. This means televisions that come out of the box “burning hot”. Brightness- Cranked, Contrast - Juiced, Sharpness - Off the Charts. While this is plain to see to anyone with two working eyes, many shoppers see this and sprout wings to the P.O.S (this normally happens in places like a Circuit City or Worst Buy where Lil’ Johnny the High School Dropout makes $7.75 an hour selling TV’s and “Stereos”). No matter what you call it, it’s bleedin’ dishonest.

There you are - my requisite 900 words.

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