The Big Picture

Shedding light

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It started a few months ago …

It began as a simple search for the perfect lamps for my bedroom. Not a hard thing to do. Just go to a couple of stores, check out their inventory, compare prices, pick one, and done.

Five stores later …

So, now I’m online and looking for a bargain on a great looking pair of lamps. But not just any old lamps will do. I’m pretty picky when it comes to lamps. Okay, I’m picky about a bunch of stuff.

Anyhoo, after wading through a gazillion websites, I narrow the field down to ceramic lamps with cylindrical shades. Easy, right?

Wrong. If i like the lamp, it costs too much. If it’s priced right then it’s not quite right or even just plain ugly.

The quest continues …

Just when I’m on the verge of throwing in the towel (but, don’t get me started on towels), I walk in to J. C. Penny and there it is. The lamp of my dreams. In two colors – ivory or the perfect green. On sale!

Guess how many they had in stock?

Yep, one is ivory and one is green and of course I need two the same color.

So, back to the Internet …

Found ’em. Bought ’em. Got ’em in three days. Not a chip or dent anywhere.

Who knew the JCP I grew up with, the store where my mom bought all our school clothes eons ago, has such nice stuff — and so reasonably priced, especially when on sale.

Perfect!

Full disclosure …

I realize this sounds like an ad for JCP but it isn’t. I do not work for or have any association with JCP other than as a customer. Though I love the lamps I found there, their store service could be improved. If they’d been on their toes, the store clerk would have at least offered to order them online for me.

Not so perfect.

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So, what to do?

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31st Academy Awards Presentations, Pantages Th...

31st Academy Awards Presentations, Pantages Theater, Hollywood, 1959 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s Oscar night and here I sit trying to decide whether to watch the Academy Awards show. Downton Abbey‘s season is over for this year and the new season of Game of Thrones hasn’t begun. Enlightened comes on at 8:30 but that’s only a 30 minute excursion. So, what to do?

I had the silly notion that if I sat here and typed drivel long enough, eventually, I’d come up with some sort of life altering epiphany, but no luck. So, what to do?

I should be diligently studying the manual for the next module in my quest for a CCP (Certified Compensation Professional) but, come on, it’s Sunday evening and work can wait until tomorrow. So, what to do?

I could pay bills! Nope. Not in the mood. So, what to do?

I could eat cashews and drink Dr. Pepper. I have both in my kitchen.  But if I went in there I’d see how messy the kitchen is and load myself up with guilt because I should be cleaning it right this very minute. So, what to do?

Yep, you guessed it. This is me being bored. So, now I’ll say ‘so long’ to all you nice people and apologize for taking up your valuable time. Assuming, of course, you’re foolish enough to still be reading this nonsense.

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Green is good!

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I was commenting on a post from When all is said … and I had an idea. Not necessarily an original idea, but it’s the first time it popped into my brain so I’m calling it my idea.

You see, I read a lot.

Not only do I read a lot but I buy a lot of books, mostly from Amazon.com. As a result I pretty much always have a stack of empty cardboard shipping boxes piled up in a corner, sometimes in my home office (mostly), sometimes in the kitchen (at the moment).

Reusable-MailerMy idea is that Amazon should provide a reusable shipping carton that we can swap back and forth.

They could send me my monthly fix of books (aka, my regular order) in the reusable plastic carton then I could fold it down and return it empty just in time for the next month’s shipment.

Just think of all the cardboard, and the trees, that would be saved.

Even better, Amazon could provide the cartons printed on the inside with the “postage paid business reply” stuff needed so when returned to them empty it wouldn’t cost me a penny. But would they just up their shipping charges or the cost of books? Maybe, or maybe not. Anyway, the failing Postal Service could also benefit because they’d be getting paid for the mailing costs going both ways. Which is one more than they’re getting paid for at the moment.

Amazon would save tons of money because they wouldn’t have to keep buying loads of cardboard boxes. They would have to keep buying the reusable plastic cartons, though, because, let’s face it, even plastic wears out eventually. But, not as often as cardboard!

They wouldn’t have to send my books in my carton either. They could just send them in any old reusable plastic carton from anybody’s last book order. I mean, why would they want to have to keep up with which carton belongs to which customer?

The cartons would be printed on one side with the Amazon logo and a place to slap a shipping label. The other side could have the standard business reply mailer stuff. You know, the bar code, etc.

Now, if I could just figure out how to make reusable packing tape.

Hmmm …

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