Thursday, February 15, 2007

Overdue, as Usual

Been too busy to post lately; work has been a madhouse, the weather has been less than wonderful, so I've been inside, wrapped in blankets, and reading or stitching. I'll leave the stitching details to my Multiply site. I, for one, am ready for Spring, though really shouldn't complain since it didn't get below 60 until the end of December, and, oh yeah, I'm not under FEET and FEET of snow and ice! Man, I so do not miss that kind of weather.

There's something that I want to get off my chest. What is the deal with packages having to change every 6 months now? You know, I have a shampoo that I use all of the time. I went to get a new one a few weeks back, and I went right to where they ought to be on the shelf, and there were none! So I poked around. Come to find out that they were right there, but the packaging is a completely different color, the verbage is completely different, and now I'm having to read them all again to find out which variety is the one I want. And I'm still not sure I got the right one. What the hell? What weenie did a "marketing study" and came to the conclusion that doing a complete overhaul of the packaging - colors, style, verbage - would sell more stuff? If I can't find it, after buying the same product for years (it has slightly morphed a few times before, but definitely never on this scale), how will that sell you more? I do not understand this "New and Improved" thing that goes on all levels now. You know, Coke has had their bottle shape since the inception of the product; it is known the world over. Would Coke dare to do away with it entirely, and scrap the swoosh thing they have under the word "Coke", in favor of a style and color never before associated with Coke? I don't think so. Speaking of marketing studies, I've been on this planet for 40 years, and I'm pretty sure no one has ever asked me my preferences - just who the hell are they asking, that they would arrive at the above conclusion?

Okay, I'm being picky, I know, but just the plain amount of time I spent looking up, down, left, right, and then when I found what appeared to be the same product line, the amount of time I spent having to research the choices on the shelf, and now not feeling confident that what I have is the same or similar to what I have been accustomed to; gee, was it worth it, marketing weenie? Bloody hell, I hope so. I'm sorely tempted to go on a new product search, but how much more of my time would that waste? If the stores can't keep the product in stock, then that might be your indication to NOT MESS WITH IT. Yeah, if it expires and not one has moved, you might rethink the packaging.

Okay, enough of that. I was hoping to feel better after that, but it didn't work. On to other stuff. DH got a new car; the poor old Intrepid was on its last leg/tire/shock - whatever, so he traded it in on a slightly used Magnum. He's wanted one of those since they came out, so now he has one. Not the big Hemi, of course, but big enough. So now we are going to be two-car-payment-poor for the years until my Mazda gets paid off. That sucks. But, what are you going to do? He had to get something, and there's no point in trading a PoS for another PoS, so it had to be something decent. If nothing else, it will be nice to haul soccer players in, MIL can actually take all of her junk to wherever we go for vacation this year (if we have $$$ to go now), without threat of riding on the roof. It's a big freakin' car, let me tell you. It's kinda like steering the Titanic, and we see how well that worked out. Yep, guess I'm really not cut out for driving urban assault vehicles. Like the damn DWA or Hispanic in her Suburban the other morning on Breckinridge, who had no idea she was driving up the middle, taking up half of each lane, thus almost wiping me out 3 times, since she couldn't maintain a constant speed, either, and I couldn't get away from her. She wasn't even on a phone, as far as I could tell - just bloody clueless.

On the soccer front, indoor ended for both boys, with both of them getting to the Finals, and then both losing in the final minutes. Man that gets old. We seem to go to the finals all the time, but other than the Big Kid winning that Chevy Cup or whatever it was 3 years ago, they just can't get to the end, either kid. Outdoor is now beginning, amidst all this crappy weather. Big Kid has ended up playing for school only; that Select coach that he went and did conditioning with, who promised us a spot, just never got back with us; if there was a problem, he should've been man enough, nay, professional enough, to call us and tell us, but he just didn't bother. I really hate when people do that. Granted, I'm the last person to pick up a phone and call someone when I'm hesitant to say something, but when he was sent all kinds of e-mails and had messages left, he had ample opportunity to just simply reply "thanks, but we've decided to not open up the roster", or whatever. To ignore 2 months of waiting and wondering what was up, and not be held responsible for doing so, just floors me. Guess I'm glad now that we aren't involved with the group, if that's what we could have expected. People kill me. And the bastard gets paid! How exactly does that work???

Well, that's enough for now. Trying to stay warm, make it to spring. Busy, busy, busy.... C-ya!