Ants near railroad tracks
A colony of ants by some railroad tracks. They didn’t have an above ground mound like other fire ants in the area and were definitely much bigger.
Ants near railroad tracks
Whatever happened to Comp USA?
Back in the 90’s, electronics was the new plastics, and CompUSA was deep in the game with other big-box supercenters like Incredible Universe, Circuit City, Best Buy, and Frys. Everybody wanted a piece of the dot com pie, and CompUSA was no exception. Every CompUSA I visited back in Dallas was always busy, and not too surprisingly, always overpriced. But since reliable websites specifically selling computer parts and supplies were still a few years away, the supercenters dominated all the shopping plazas along the freeways.
Then the juggernauts tripped. Dot com went dot gone. CompUSA stopped opening new stores, then cut off some underperforming stores, and eventually went bankrupt. But that wasn’t the end of CompUSA. A small number of stores were resurrected, and now CompUSA has 25 locations still open across the United States.
I live near one of them.
I stopped by the local CompUSA because I was curious. Had they changed? Were they the same overly-expensive mega store from Dallas?
As I pulled up, the store’s logo and white product badge displays on the glass looked familiar. I didn’t notice any NO PHOTOGRAPHY signs, and besides, it is a public location. But I made it a point not photograph any customers in the store with me just to be nice.
Check out the slideshow below to see the photos and click on any of them to enlarge.
Right off, things were different than I remembered from Dallas. There was an actual “greeter” at the door who handed me a sales flier and welcomed me to the store. This same person doubled as the “mark your receipt with a yellow marker as you leave” person at no extra charge.
Walking down the isles, there were more products for the build-your-own computer group than the original CompUSA ever had. Gone were the gaudy blue strobe lights and laser-cut chrome frag-u skulls. Instead, there were dozens of specialized, functional products that I am used to seeing on websites specifically catering to the PC do it yourself crowd. There were a good range of power supplies, video cards ranging from the too-cheap “hope it works” to the “I need a second mortgage” variety, and tons of blank media stacked everywhere.
For the most part, everything was priced very reasonably.
Near the checkout, there were boxes and boxes of miscallaenous product, stacked 3 or 4 high, with the top box cut open for you to peruse. Some items were no-name brand, but most items were quality brands that I had heard of. Every stack of boxes had a sheet with price comparisons to their previous commercial sparring partners.
The biggest sign of improvement I saw was their game selection. It was very sparse and only had a few popular games to choose from. I think that’s brilliant. You can’t compete with a mega-superstore that buys product by the warehouse. They can outprice, outperform and outstock you without even knowing you are trying to compete with them. Plus the multitude of videogame trade-and-sell and even rent-and-sell stores have the gaming market pretty much sealed off to newcomers. So why fight the goliaths if you can go around them?
The laptop selection was decent and the perhiperal accessories had two retail-rows more to offer than WalMart, BestBuy or Target. In the back of the store was a wall of TVs that were setup much like you see at every BestBuy, Target, WalMart and Sears stores. There must be a high markup on TVs for everyone and their Aunt Petunia to have the same setup going.
I have to admit, I was impressed at the overall change. I still think Fry’s is the king of brick and mortar tech stores, but this CompUSA was lean, sharp and focused. It was miles better than the Dallas supercenters that tried to be everything to everybody. And I do think they finally got the right idea. Carry a few things, a few specialized things, and focus on what gets people into your store. Focus on a specific consumer type and let the multipurpose juggernauts go on their way.
I did hear that in the process of rebirth, CompUSA is really affiliated with Tiger Direct now, and even their sales fliers are identical in how they look. Apparently that was not just a superficial change.
Will I be back to CompUSA? Maybe. Having purchased most computer gear online for the last few years, the feeling of walking into a computer-specific store seems pretty old fashioned. But in a pinch, when I cant wait for FedEx or UPS, this reborn CompUSA isn’t bad.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman : Mini Book Review
American Gods
10 words or less : Overrated. Unbelievable situations. Good sections, but twists visible miles away.
Long version : I need to preface this by saying I am not a fan of deep-end fantasy books. Magic, enchanted objects, and out-of-the-butt mystic speak?
No.
Characters who are supposed to be gods relating to humans with the equivalent of “Oi m boyo! C’mere and have a beer!”?
Hell no.
Having said that, I picked up American Gods by Neil Gaman based on the multiple four and five star reviews on Amazon as well as critical praise on the jacket cover. General fiction is fine with me, so I thought I would give this book a try.
The book is about the “American Gods”… gods that were brought over to America by the immigrants who believed in them. As the people who believed in these gods blended into America’s culture (or flat out died), the transplanted gods withered and turned mortal-ish.
Que Joan Osborne.
Anyhow, some “new” gods eventually appear on the scene, and they were (off the top of my head) the god of computers, credit cards, TV, media and “Mr. World”.
Wait! It gets better!
The “new” gods are tired of the old gods hanging around taking their mojo. So a “storm is coming”… as every single character says over and over and over and over.
The main hero, Shadow, is the chosen one. He has a hobag of a woman who keeps showing up for him a lot like Jack Goodman did for David in the movie American Werewolf in London. Except this character is played seriously.
On a side note – Shadow. Who the hell names their kid Shadow?
Anyhow, fantasy ensues. A few plot twists and pages and pages later, “the storm is here”.
Not to ruin anything, but the book didn’t have Mohamed or Jesus in it. Every other god with a popular identity shows up throughout the book, and most get to fight in the big finale, so where were the top two representatives of the current religions? If the god of computers can be a card carrying member of the almighty god club, where the hell were the big players in this book? Where was THE big capital-G God in all this? If gods exist just because people believe in them, shouldn’t the capital-G God, Jesus and Mohamed have been in this book putting the smack down?
See, stuff like this is why I can’t read these kind of books.
The book has the main character travel through America as part of him finding himself and his allies, but you’ll get more “real” America from Alton Brown’s road trip series.
It was entertaining in sections, and the writing style flowed fairly well. A few chapters were really imaginative, but most of the chapters were tedious and overly detailed. I see the author was going for a slow buildup over the 600 plus pages of the book, but I could see the “twist(s)” coming five chapters away. Even in the dénouement.
I recommend reading the first few paragraphs of the Wikipedia page on “American Gods” that summarize the book to see if it’s for you. American Gods won the Hugo and Nebula awards (among many other sci-fi specific writing awards), but it was nothing more than moderately entertaining summer-like reading for me.
Three out of five stars.
News stories the mainstream media missed 09/26/09
Here are some news stories from this week that I think the mainstream media completely missed out on. All links are from legitimate news sources and not the fringe / wacko sites.
* Dannon to reimburse customers for misleading advertising. Turns out statements in its marketing and advertising materials for Activia, Activia Light, DanActive and DanActive Light were deceptive. As in completely made up. Ain’t the truth a pain in the ass? [FOOD BUSINESS NEWS]
* Mandatory H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine for the military are imminent. Oh, good. Because on the off chance something is wrong with the untested and very-rushed to production flu vaccine, we want to infect those with the automatic weapons and heavy artillery first. [US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE / MILITARY HEALTH SYSTEM]
* FDA issues strong warning about those “fallen and I can’t get up” lifeline pendant buttons. Turns out they may be a choking hazard if they get caught on something. If only there was… some way to call… for help… when that… happens! [FDA]
* Google approved sub-group now shows you how to completely delete and remove all of your personal data from…. everything Google. Looks like they are really standing behind their “don’t be evil” mantra! But couldn’t they still have a backup copy somewhere? The details are all in the FAQ. [GOOGLE / DATALIBERATION.ORG]
* The french want bold printed notices on all photoshopped images in print advertising stating they have been digitally enhanced. Finally! I seriously think this is long overdue! The only problem I see is that advertising agencies are about to get a big kick in the nards on this one. [TELEGRAPH.CO.UK]
* Al Gore has just gotten a $529 million U.S. government loan to help build a hybrid sports car in Finland that will sell for about $89,000. Clever, manbearpig. Very clever. [WALL STREET JOURNAL]
* USA Network has announced the departure of star Vincent D’Onofrio (Robert Goren), Kathryn Erbe (Alex Eames) and Eric Bogosian (Danny Ross) from Law and Order : Criminal Intent. You know. The main stars. Julianne Nicholson is also out for good measure. Everybody got killed at once? I’m not buying it. Someone get CSI on this. [THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER]
G.I. Joe figure in disguise
I was at the local WalMart a few days ago to get some toys for my nephew when I saw this.
G.I. Joe figure in disguise
You just gotta love WalMart. A little re-tape and it’s good to go!
Unless, of course, Hasbro did this on purpose. It does say “intelligence officer” on the box.
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel : mini book review
10 words or less : Incredible. Fun and entertaining. A very moving and symbolic story.
Life Of Pi Book
Long version : The Life of Pi by Yann Martel is a wonderful read. It’s the kind of book that will raise the bar on the kind of material you will want to read afterward. It’s a relatively short book, around 300 pages, but it works on so many levels… both as a superficial “look-no-deeper” story and as a very, very symbolic multi-layer opus.
The top-layer story is basically about a shipwrecked boy who is stuck on a lifeboat for 227 days in the Pacific Ocean with a tiger, hyena, zebra, and an orangutan. The pacing is so well structured you will be halfway through the book before you know it.
The Life of Pi won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, the South African Boeke Prize, the Le combat des livres reading competition, CBC Radio’s Canada Reads, and the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction. It won all these awards even though it was only the second book from the author at the time.
There’s almost 2,000 reviews for it on Amazon.com at this time, and even a new deluxe illustrated version that I’m going to have to get for the bookshelf. Be careful on Amazon, though. Many people posted the entire story in their review, which ruins the thrill of reading the book for the first time.
Supposedly Ang Lee is going to make a movie about the book for release in 2011. I’m not sure he can pull it off, but I’ll be in line to see it on the big screen.
Five out of five stars.
Dark Blue Rain Clouds
Dark ocean-blue clouds rolled in this week. It’s wonderful to finally have the temperature drop below 90.
Dark Blue Rain Clouds
Moving Clouds
A few clouds moving in before the big storms hit.
Moving Clouds
World Boxing Association’s heavyweight division fight
Nikolay Valuev, a Russian heavyweight boxer, and David Haye, a British heavyweight boxer, are going to go at it for the World Boxing Association title on November 7th in Germany.
According to Nikolay’s Wikipedia page, his total number of fights is currently 52. Of those, 50 were wins, 34 by KO, 1 no contest, and only 1 loss.
According to David’s Wikipedia page, his total number of fights is currently 23. Of those, 22 were wins, 21 by KO, and only 1 loss.
David Haye is 6′ 3″ tall.
Nikolay Valuev is 7′ 2″.
World Boxing Association Title Bout for Nov. 7
Oh yeah. I gotta see this one.
And, uh, David? You might want to pack an axe. Just sayin’.
Michael Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story”
I just saw a quote from Michael Moore’s site about his new movie “Capitalism: A Love Story”
“…the ‘love’ refers to how the wealthy love their money, except this has a new twist: They not only love their money now, they love our money. And they want our money.”
Right.
Sooooo Mike. Quick question. You planning on giving away the tickets to see your movie?