two weeks
3881 miles
highest pass: Soldier 7,000 + feet
snow in the passes, none on the road
sunny days
starry nights
ancient ruins
excavated pueblos
desert gardens
quail coveys
doves cooing
zillions of song birds
a stray road runner
little lizards
giant frogs
bunnies
great friends
a dozen novels
the Superstitions
saguaros
orange trees on city streets
hot air balloonists
horchata
copper mines
no computers
farmer's market
restored old towns
Beau as traveler
30-38 mpg, the windshield needs cleaned way more often than the car needs fuel!!
cheap gas: $1.77 gallon
expensive gas: $2.49 gallon
no alarm
mid-day meals
Cracker Barrel
Mission Royale
Hong Kong
In n Out
Sonic
Church's
Mexican Water milkshakes
Navajo Nation memories
tumbleweeds
flowering cacti
flor de Jamaica
Pinal County Fair
190 pictures
best of all: undivided time with my sweetie!!!
I'll explain all this and post pictures later!!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Lessons in retailing
So Ralph needed new jeans, he went online to Penney's saw they were on sale, ordered three pair shipped to the store. In the past, shipping to the store had always been free and he just ordered as he had before.
When we stopped in to pick them up he noticed they charged him $9.20 to ship the jeans and when he inquired the woman told him they always charged shipping, which we knew for a fact was not true. After a couple more questions she said, well no, they don't always charge shipping, they often have free shipping, but its usually for a limited time, just not now. So he inquired about refunding the shipping since he'd never been charged before when shipping to the store, she told him no. Even if he returned the jeans he'd still be out the $9.20 for the shipping.
As she was speaking she went on to explain how Penney's works. The online, catalog and stores are all treated differently, even so far as different prices depending on which catalog you order from. Say the Fall or Spring book or any one of more than 30 "specialty" catalogs that they produce. The same merchandise could be priced differently online, different in any of the many catalogs or even different from store to store. Their pricing is not uniform based on even the region the stores are in. What?
Then she said the prices in the store are sometimes less than online or the catalog. A light bulb went off in Ralph's brain and he asked her to check and sure enough, the jeans were cheaper in the store than what he paid online. After much debate she said she could give him the store price (since we were actually standing in the store), and eventually said she'd also throw in the shipping cost to make him happy. It amounted to over $33. in credits on an $81. purchase. Wow.
As we were leaving the store I said you have to really wonder about a retailer who maintains all these separate price schemes and what the upkeep on that must be. Ralph said its really marketing genius! If he wouldn't have noticed the difference in price he never would have questioned it and would have paid the extra $33 and been none the wiser. Guess that's how they can afford it, they rely on people assuming that their prices are the same throughout the system and the off-again on-again shipping charges all keep people unaware and ultimately paying more.
It was an education for us, and Ralph will certainly keep a sharper eye out, particularly purchasing online, but Ralph's already said he won't be shopping there anymore because of it all. He wants to know why stores just can't charge a fair price for what they have without a lot of flim flam. Good question!!
When we stopped in to pick them up he noticed they charged him $9.20 to ship the jeans and when he inquired the woman told him they always charged shipping, which we knew for a fact was not true. After a couple more questions she said, well no, they don't always charge shipping, they often have free shipping, but its usually for a limited time, just not now. So he inquired about refunding the shipping since he'd never been charged before when shipping to the store, she told him no. Even if he returned the jeans he'd still be out the $9.20 for the shipping.
As she was speaking she went on to explain how Penney's works. The online, catalog and stores are all treated differently, even so far as different prices depending on which catalog you order from. Say the Fall or Spring book or any one of more than 30 "specialty" catalogs that they produce. The same merchandise could be priced differently online, different in any of the many catalogs or even different from store to store. Their pricing is not uniform based on even the region the stores are in. What?
Then she said the prices in the store are sometimes less than online or the catalog. A light bulb went off in Ralph's brain and he asked her to check and sure enough, the jeans were cheaper in the store than what he paid online. After much debate she said she could give him the store price (since we were actually standing in the store), and eventually said she'd also throw in the shipping cost to make him happy. It amounted to over $33. in credits on an $81. purchase. Wow.
As we were leaving the store I said you have to really wonder about a retailer who maintains all these separate price schemes and what the upkeep on that must be. Ralph said its really marketing genius! If he wouldn't have noticed the difference in price he never would have questioned it and would have paid the extra $33 and been none the wiser. Guess that's how they can afford it, they rely on people assuming that their prices are the same throughout the system and the off-again on-again shipping charges all keep people unaware and ultimately paying more.
It was an education for us, and Ralph will certainly keep a sharper eye out, particularly purchasing online, but Ralph's already said he won't be shopping there anymore because of it all. He wants to know why stores just can't charge a fair price for what they have without a lot of flim flam. Good question!!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Will this winter ever end?
Snow again overnight last night, just a bit, but sheesh. More predicted over the weekend. Sheesh again. Everyone you talk to here is so OVER the snow and winter in general. Can't wait to get to the warmth of Arizona and thaw out a bit.
Welcome baby Valera!
Our friends Art and MerrieLynn have a new grand, Valera! Here's her picture:
Enjoy the new little one you guys!!
Enjoy the new little one you guys!!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The Ranch House is BACK!!
There's a rather famous BBQ restaurant here that gets rave reviews from everyone who eats there, and it's been featured on the Food Network and in magazines and has gotten lots of coverage in our local paper. Ranch House BBQ. We'd never been there, but Ralph's friend Steve really wanted to go and see if it lived up to the reputation it had for fabulous BBQ.
Before we could get ourselves organized to go the building was wiped out during all the rain and mudslides we had in December of 2007. Bummer. They struggled along with a temporary location in downtown Oly, but it was just that, a struggle. They longed to get back to their original Kennedy Creek location and quit the downtown location in December of 2008 to get organized to return to their newly rebuilt original location. But...they had a fire! Talk about lack of luck.
Good news though, rather than opening in January as planned, the fire just set them back a few weeks and they reopened on February 9th! We let Steve and his wife know right away and made plans to visit before any other drama ensued.
This place definitely lives up to it's reputation. I LOVE good brisket and this was the absolute best I've ever had. Steve and Patty had combo platters that were huge and delicious. They took about half of the food home to savor later. Their grandson Zack had the pork chops and thought they were fine. Ditto for the garlic fries! Ralph had pulled pork and said it was amazing. We were stuffed! The server came by to offer boxes to take home our leftovers and offered up mudslide pie for dessert! I don't know if that was on the menu before the mudslide that nearly wiped them out or not, but I thought it was pretty funny. We declined, but next time we'll save room for dessert!
They still have a giant wall of sandbags between them and the creek, but the location looked pretty stable to us. Here's hoping they'll be fine from here on out!
If you are traveling to or from the beaches on Highway 8, this is definitely worth the stop for a meal!! We will be back for sure!
Before we could get ourselves organized to go the building was wiped out during all the rain and mudslides we had in December of 2007. Bummer. They struggled along with a temporary location in downtown Oly, but it was just that, a struggle. They longed to get back to their original Kennedy Creek location and quit the downtown location in December of 2008 to get organized to return to their newly rebuilt original location. But...they had a fire! Talk about lack of luck.
Good news though, rather than opening in January as planned, the fire just set them back a few weeks and they reopened on February 9th! We let Steve and his wife know right away and made plans to visit before any other drama ensued.
This place definitely lives up to it's reputation. I LOVE good brisket and this was the absolute best I've ever had. Steve and Patty had combo platters that were huge and delicious. They took about half of the food home to savor later. Their grandson Zack had the pork chops and thought they were fine. Ditto for the garlic fries! Ralph had pulled pork and said it was amazing. We were stuffed! The server came by to offer boxes to take home our leftovers and offered up mudslide pie for dessert! I don't know if that was on the menu before the mudslide that nearly wiped them out or not, but I thought it was pretty funny. We declined, but next time we'll save room for dessert!
They still have a giant wall of sandbags between them and the creek, but the location looked pretty stable to us. Here's hoping they'll be fine from here on out!
If you are traveling to or from the beaches on Highway 8, this is definitely worth the stop for a meal!! We will be back for sure!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Another cousin visit
Ralph's cousin's came to lunch on Monday and we thoroughly enjoyed visiting with them. I cooked lunch and we just sat around and ate and talked and caught up with one another. It was a wonderful thing.
Seems like we are all so busy but it was truly a blessing to just spend a quiet afternoon together!! Thanks guys for coming down!!
Seems like we are all so busy but it was truly a blessing to just spend a quiet afternoon together!! Thanks guys for coming down!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
