My Comcast bills have been redonculous, which I absolutely accept full responsibility for. I rarely ever go to the movies and am therefore tempted by the onDemand feature that offers full length films in HD at $6/pop. After wasting 2 hours of my life (not to mention the $6) watching Tropic Thunder, I knew that I needed a more fiscally responsible option. Enter Red Box, stage left.
Red Boxes are located at many supermarkets and McDonald's, and allow viewers like us to see horrendous films for only a buck. Take for example last night's feature film, Private Valentine. I have a pretty high threshold for terrible movies, but Jessica Simpson's latest debaucle made Grease 2 look like an Academy Award winner. Other films that I'm dying to check out (but totally not willing to pay more than $1 for): Changeling, The Family That Preys Together, and Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist.
By setting up an account at redbox.com, you can check out what's in stock at your local box as well as reserve films online. There's also a link for a free rental if you register your e-mail address.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades
Circa 1967. If I get married someday, I hope my husband lets me get one of these.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Sales Contests and TARP
I perused the comments section of MSN yesterday regarding the 12 day Vegas trip for top performing sales reps at Wells Fargo and they were quite scathing. After accepting billions in bailout money (which was basically forced upon them by Secretary Paulson - Wells never outright asked for the greenbacks), the powers that be didn't 86 the annual trip. Their spokesperson went so far as to explain to the media that the sales contest was part of the "Wells Fargo culture". After a huge media backlash, the Vegas trip was abruptly cancelled earlier this week.
A few years ago I won a sales contest and got an all-expense trip to Las Vegas. My previous two employers both rewarded their top performing employees with elaborate trips to Vegas, Hawaii, and the Bahamas. Sales contests are designed to motivate and almost encourage employees to pull a couple of fast ones in order to hit the numbers required to win these trips. To be clear here, not everybody is eligible to go on these trips. The Vegas-bound employees of Wells Fargo represent the top performing salesmen in the organization.
Companies like Wells Fargo stay in business because of sales people. If they're not out there doing their jobs, Wells simply does not have the money to pay their other employees. While booking an elaborate 12 day trip at the most expensive hotel in Las Vegas may have been in poor taste, these employees won that trip fair and square. For spectators who have never so much participated in a candy bar fundraiser to complain that these top earners are "lucky to have a job" is ludicrous.
I may be biased, but sales is one of the toughest jobs on the planet. One salesman at Wells Fargo probably supports a dozen other employees. Letting the uber-competitive salespeople have their contest only benefits the bottom line. A lot of people make their livlihood off this one sales person. If all it takes is a trip to Las Vegas to keep this key person motivated then so be it.
A few years ago I won a sales contest and got an all-expense trip to Las Vegas. My previous two employers both rewarded their top performing employees with elaborate trips to Vegas, Hawaii, and the Bahamas. Sales contests are designed to motivate and almost encourage employees to pull a couple of fast ones in order to hit the numbers required to win these trips. To be clear here, not everybody is eligible to go on these trips. The Vegas-bound employees of Wells Fargo represent the top performing salesmen in the organization.
Companies like Wells Fargo stay in business because of sales people. If they're not out there doing their jobs, Wells simply does not have the money to pay their other employees. While booking an elaborate 12 day trip at the most expensive hotel in Las Vegas may have been in poor taste, these employees won that trip fair and square. For spectators who have never so much participated in a candy bar fundraiser to complain that these top earners are "lucky to have a job" is ludicrous.
I may be biased, but sales is one of the toughest jobs on the planet. One salesman at Wells Fargo probably supports a dozen other employees. Letting the uber-competitive salespeople have their contest only benefits the bottom line. A lot of people make their livlihood off this one sales person. If all it takes is a trip to Las Vegas to keep this key person motivated then so be it.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Wine, Wine, Wine, In My Belly
Q: What kind of jerk drives 12 miles in the middle of the snow storm for a bottle of wine?
A: Really? Do I need to answer that????
Bin Ends Wine in Braintree opened last spring to much fanfare. Dubbing themselves the "Filene's Basement of Wine", they offer everyday low prices on upscale wines with an automatic discount system reminiscent of the old Downtown Crossings Basement. Intrigued, Andrea and I just HAD to check it out. We certainly weren't going to let something as minor as a half foot of snow get in our way.
Bin Ends Wine is located on Wood Road in Braintree, just before F1. Bin Ends is set up warehouse-style with hundreds of labels of wine, many of which I had never heard of. Bin Ends buys up surplus wines from incorrect orders, restaurants who went out of business, and distributors extras, which is how they keep their prices so low.
John The Owner came out to introduce himself and asked us about the type of wine we enjoyed so he could make suggestions. While John was very helpful and gave me a bunch of great suggestions (which I can't wait to try!), it was pretty obvious that Bin Ends was not the type of place that wine drinkers such as myself would frequent. I'm not exactly a Neanderthal when it comes to wine, but I generally wouldn't be inclined to spend more than $15 for a bottle of it. The majority of the wine at Bin Ends is a great deal if you're used to drinking the finest high end wine money can buy.
John took our e-mail addresses so he can alert us of different events and specials they have coming up. His computer is some how programmed to e-mail us wine suggestions based off past purchases, which somewhat intrigues me. Bin Ends is the perfect place to shop if I'm picking up a bottle of wine to impress someone, or I'm just feeling like a high roller and want to drop $20+ on some vino.
A: Really? Do I need to answer that????
Bin Ends Wine in Braintree opened last spring to much fanfare. Dubbing themselves the "Filene's Basement of Wine", they offer everyday low prices on upscale wines with an automatic discount system reminiscent of the old Downtown Crossings Basement. Intrigued, Andrea and I just HAD to check it out. We certainly weren't going to let something as minor as a half foot of snow get in our way.
Bin Ends Wine is located on Wood Road in Braintree, just before F1. Bin Ends is set up warehouse-style with hundreds of labels of wine, many of which I had never heard of. Bin Ends buys up surplus wines from incorrect orders, restaurants who went out of business, and distributors extras, which is how they keep their prices so low.
John The Owner came out to introduce himself and asked us about the type of wine we enjoyed so he could make suggestions. While John was very helpful and gave me a bunch of great suggestions (which I can't wait to try!), it was pretty obvious that Bin Ends was not the type of place that wine drinkers such as myself would frequent. I'm not exactly a Neanderthal when it comes to wine, but I generally wouldn't be inclined to spend more than $15 for a bottle of it. The majority of the wine at Bin Ends is a great deal if you're used to drinking the finest high end wine money can buy.
John took our e-mail addresses so he can alert us of different events and specials they have coming up. His computer is some how programmed to e-mail us wine suggestions based off past purchases, which somewhat intrigues me. Bin Ends is the perfect place to shop if I'm picking up a bottle of wine to impress someone, or I'm just feeling like a high roller and want to drop $20+ on some vino.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Allergic to the South
I went back to my favorite region on Friday - south of the Mason Dixon line - to Norfolk, VA to meet with a prospect. If I'm just having lunch I normally prefer to fly in and out in one day but since I was flying US Air, I figured I could grab a layover in Charlotte and use it as an excuse to visit my friend for the weekend. Anyways, not to be whatever, but I'm pretty sure that I hit it out of the park as far as my business meeting went. Not bad for being severly sleep deprived and hopped up on Tylenol Cold.
My friend Adler relocated to Charlotte with her then fiance a few years ago and recently moved to a gorgeous house in the south side of the city. Aside from having five bedrooms, it also has an outdoor kitchen complete with a kegorator, which is the coolest thing. Ever. She also has the second and third cutest dogs on the planet (aside from Minnie) who woke me up everyday by jumping on my bed and licking my face. I'm really proud of Adler and her husband for creating such a wonderful life for themselves down in NC. Oh, and the trip to Chic-Fil-A was pretty fantastic, too.
Work is going great, bless it's little heart. I've got a lot of wheelin' and dealin' going on. This afternoon I'm set up to close my first of what I hope will be many deals at one of the largest companies in the free world. I go through these love/hate phases with my job and right now I'm loving it. I'm going to ride this for as long as I can.
It's Tuesday and I'm *finally* over this horrendous cold and the timing couldn't be better: I just learned that I have to go to Raleigh at the end of the month.
My friend Adler relocated to Charlotte with her then fiance a few years ago and recently moved to a gorgeous house in the south side of the city. Aside from having five bedrooms, it also has an outdoor kitchen complete with a kegorator, which is the coolest thing. Ever. She also has the second and third cutest dogs on the planet (aside from Minnie) who woke me up everyday by jumping on my bed and licking my face. I'm really proud of Adler and her husband for creating such a wonderful life for themselves down in NC. Oh, and the trip to Chic-Fil-A was pretty fantastic, too.
Work is going great, bless it's little heart. I've got a lot of wheelin' and dealin' going on. This afternoon I'm set up to close my first of what I hope will be many deals at one of the largest companies in the free world. I go through these love/hate phases with my job and right now I'm loving it. I'm going to ride this for as long as I can.
It's Tuesday and I'm *finally* over this horrendous cold and the timing couldn't be better: I just learned that I have to go to Raleigh at the end of the month.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Hump Day Updates
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Sweet Home Massachusetts
A conversation I had with my cab driver in Birmingham, AL yesterday:
Cabbie: You sound foreign. Where ya from?
Pahkcah02: I'm from Boston.
Cabbie: Boston, Ireland or Boston, England?
Pahkcah02: Actually, I'm from the Boston that's located in Massachusetts.
Cabbie: See! I knew youse was from somewhere in Europe.
Pahkcah02: Massachusetts is in the United States.
Cabbie: (blank look)
Pahkcah02: It's in the northern part, kind of near New York.
Cabbie: (another blank look). Yeah, but aren't y'all from Ireland or something?
Pahkcah02: (realizing that I'm not going to win this argument) Everyone in Boston is Irish. That's why I talk like this.
Somewhere in Alabama there's a cabbie that's convinced that Boston is over-run with tiny leprechauns pounding back Guinness's and looking for pots of gold. I either deserve a jury of my peers or an award from the Massachusetts Dept. of Tourism for perpetuating a stereo-type. Either way, next time our public schools are in need and there's a vote for Prop 2 1/2, it's got my whole-hearted support.
Cabbie: You sound foreign. Where ya from?
Pahkcah02: I'm from Boston.
Cabbie: Boston, Ireland or Boston, England?
Pahkcah02: Actually, I'm from the Boston that's located in Massachusetts.
Cabbie: See! I knew youse was from somewhere in Europe.
Pahkcah02: Massachusetts is in the United States.
Cabbie: (blank look)
Pahkcah02: It's in the northern part, kind of near New York.
Cabbie: (another blank look). Yeah, but aren't y'all from Ireland or something?
Pahkcah02: (realizing that I'm not going to win this argument) Everyone in Boston is Irish. That's why I talk like this.
Somewhere in Alabama there's a cabbie that's convinced that Boston is over-run with tiny leprechauns pounding back Guinness's and looking for pots of gold. I either deserve a jury of my peers or an award from the Massachusetts Dept. of Tourism for perpetuating a stereo-type. Either way, next time our public schools are in need and there's a vote for Prop 2 1/2, it's got my whole-hearted support.
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