Over-the-Top Advertising of the Day

In today's sensationalized media reports, you have to expect overblown claims in advertising, but I just love the e-mail I just received from Heartland America describing their 72 Hour Off-Lease Computer Blowout!  I have purchased electronics from them in the past, but not computers since their prices always seem quite a bit higher than places like Geeks.com, Micro Center or Intechra (the old Retrobox). Plus they put phrases like "Huge 40 GIG HD" on their ad, which may have been true several years ago, but sure is not true today. They are selling a Dell "Optiflex" (love the typo) with a 2GHz P4, 512MB of RAM and, yes, a "HUGE 40 GIG HD" for $184.99. I also love the "Orig. MSR" of $499.00. Was that perhaps in 2003? In comparion, Geeks has an IBM ThinkCentre M52 with a 3GHz P4, 1GB of RAM and a 40GB drive (they do not claim it is huge) for only $114.99 and that includes free shipping.  Why past $70 more for a slower processor with half the memory? That sure is some blowout all right! I checked our local Micro Center online and found prices more inline with Geeks as well, with a 3GHz P4 based HP EVO DC7100 with 512MB of RAM and a 40GB drive going for $119.99. Their site says there are three of them sitting in the Brentwood store ready to be purchased. That system you could even pick up today and have running on your desk by this evening! So whereas I could see someone deciding between mail ordering from Geeks to save on tax and avoid the retail hassles versus buying at Micro-Center to have it same day and see it in person, I can not understand any reason for buying from Heartland America. Unless you want to be the one person with a genuine Dell "Optiflex" computer! The only place cheaper to buy a computer around here is to buy a surplus computer from the university's own business school the day it gets posted. If only Scott had any good computers for sale right now!




Speaking of local computer stores, I just heard they opened a newly revamped Apple Store at the Saint Louis Galleria. It is supposed to be the largest mall based Apple Store in the country at over 6,000 square feet. I even found some photos somebody took of the opening on flickr. Wow, so now I live about a mile away from the largest mall based Apple Store in the country as well as a mile from the only Micro Center in the state of Missouri. I am truly living in Geek central in the midwest. Hey, if you want to live just a mile from both the Apple Store and Micro Center, there is actually a house for sale on our street you could purchase. Unfortunately, is it a completely rebuilt mega-mansion (definitely not a McMansion) that is more than twice the size and three times the price of anything else in our neighborhood (with the exception on one other recent teardown a block away). I cannot imagine paying that much to live on our street, and I am quite glad I did not!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BMI & BMR Calculator (Body Mass Index and Basal Metabolic Rate)

Image
My wife has been researching type 2 diabetes and recently checked a book out of the library which included a body mass index (BMI) chart much like the one pictured here. Whereas it is fairly easy to follow, I, of course, think it must be converted to an online calculator! However, when I checked the Internet, there were already a billion of them so I had to make one that was different. So my lovely BMI BMR calculator accepts either inches or centimeters for your height and pounds or kilograms for your weight and calculates not only your BMI, but also your BMR (basal metabolic rate) which determines how many calories you should consume! So I made a spiffy "all in one" healthy body indicator calculator which not only determines how underweight or overweight you are, but also tells you how many calories you should consume to maintain or improve your ideal weight. 
Read more

Trying out the L'Ecole Culinaire Presentation Room restaurant

Image
We had been seeing the ads for the restaurant at L'Ecole Culinaire and since we live so close by we thought we would try it out. We had always enjoyed dining out at cooking or hotel schools like the CHIC in Chicago and the Statler at Cornell where we went to college. Since we still love to go out and eat here in St. Louis , we ventured over to their restaurant on the first day they were open for lunch. The first thing we noticed is that they do not have much parking! They really need to let patrons know where they are supposed to park. The restaurant itself is small but very well attended. There was one fellow who kept straightening all the centerpieces and place settings on the tables, and we always saw one or two student workers milling about. The lunch menu was small and the choices did not appear overly "gourmet". The special of the day was a bison burger stuffed with cheese, and other choices picked by my group included a club sandwich, a "margherita" pi
Read more

Not all Frosted Window Films are the same!

Image
We live in an older home with a lot of issues and one of them concerns our back door to our patio from our sunroom. The door has double paned glass on it, but unfortunately the seal has broken so you can see moisture collect inside of it. We decided the easiest way to "remedy" the problem was to cover the window with some "frosted" film so we did not have to see the moisture condensing between the panes. But the question was, what film? There are a bunch of them available so we had to select something to try on the door. The first place we tried was our nearby Lowe's store which had a bunch of Gila brand film. We selected what seemed like the typical adhesive based door sized  film that cost about $25 after tax. We thought it could not be that hard to put up and look nice on our door. So one day my wife ran out and purchased it at Lowe's and we commenced to install it on our door window. We made our own soapy water solution and followed the directions
Read more