day 28- the hunt for the laptop that does not exist and fresh chips.

i am a big fan of the corn chip. these guys to the right will help me keep my chips fresh, and from falling all over the floor and shelves when they are haphazardly thrown aside in the mad dash to rush out of the house. of course i will have to remember to put the clip on the bag. this will take discipline. spending the buck64aday and writing everyday is really helping me find it.

at a buck33 it was a bargin, though i will be hating myself as i lug my buck64aday treasures home on sunday. it seems i have once again packed a little to much stuff for this week long trip. i might have to make the rest of the purchases consumables just to save space. this will mean trips to the convenience store and possibly the dreaded fast food value menu. i really am trying to avoid that. i know it will be unavoidable at some point over the next 300 something days, but there is probably a whopper jr. in my future i am sure.

today was "hang out with dad" day. mom and dad just got their check in the mail. they are retired so they each only got 300bucks each. so did they decided to join their son in the buck64aday quest?



of course not.

they were happy to get their check and my father needs a new laptop for his computer repair business so we were off on a father/son tour of electronics in durham. i call this part.

"the hunt for the laptop that does not exist."

after picking up a clearwire modem at southpoint mall (dad's verizon dsl sucks.. it always has) we headed to circuit city to get the laptop. its in the sale flyer.. its great.. its on sale. its only available in the store.

and...

it's not there. never was. apparently there might be one in indiana the rep says. though when he thinks on it for a second he feels that it was never available anywhere. the circuit city is dead quiet at 4pm. the store has feel of a major electronics box store chain that is about to go under.

oh wait.. i think it might be.

me and c.c. have had our issues in the past,but to see them offer a top of the line laptop in their sales circular and it not actually make into the store is crazy, and of course.. no rain checks. remember those? those were good. who does those anymore?

retail electronics sales were up in may, up 7% from last year. people spent 5.4 billion on mostly laptop computers and lcd tv's. that's good for the electronics industry, but i saw a lot of what they were offering back then. i am still lcd tv-less and i am always looking to see if i can get a "good" one at a good deal. i could also use a laptop. i just did not really see anything out there that was truly worth while. the good stuff was still priced the same (a bit high for me) and the "crap" was priced to sell.

it still is.

when i make an electronics purchase i think long term. it's an investment and truth be told, for 600 bucks you can't really get a high quality lcd tv. the laptops, though cheaper, are still not a good replacement. my electronics shopping today showed me that the good stuff was unreachable and the mediocre to crap was right there in the "suck your tax rebate dry" price range.

one thing did puzzle me at circuit city today. they had 5 19inch samsung tv's on display, all slightly different models. for three different prices. all those price were within 50 bucks of each other. wtf? from a distance it looked like they had a huge selection for the tax rebate crowd.

really they were just on repeat. and offering me credit at no interest for 3-18 months.

still with money to burn, america has gone out and basically bought some mediocre free stuff.

when the second half of the year comes around i think i will seriously be in the market for a lcd tv. with all the money spent and the economic forecast quite dim for the second half of the year, electronics retailers are going to have to really bring prices down to get people to buy up their goods.

a little bit of patience on my part is, i think, going to give to me that big tv.

i do hope though for the electronics retailer's sake they do bring back the rain check. i can understand having a "limited supply" for black friday, but this has got to stop. if you want to gain some customer satisfaction and retention then have that item in stock. for the whole week or just order it and honor that price and i think you will see the sales go up. i know, i know.. you can order it on the web, but who wants their tv to be sent by mail.

in the end we came back empty handed except for the clearwire box (which works like a champ yeah for being able to blog without seeing the "internet explorer cannot find the page" message), and this picture that i was able to take at the macy's in southpoint.
while this is totally something i would do... someone else did it for me. its late june in durham, north carolina. the kids, ladies and gentlemen, are out of school.

my father is still on the hunt for his "choice" laptop. his rebate money has gone unspent. i did suggest that he spend the cash.. a hundred bucks a month for the next 6, but i don't think he is biting.

wrapping up
556.21 at the start
a buck33 spent
the kitty stands at 80cent

maximum spending tomorrow
2buck44

i can spend that tomorrow

you can't stop me.