A Bargain Goes Overboard

It's not every day that a coupon gets passed around at work.  I had been out at a conference for most of the week, and was just catching up on email etc before the weekend, when someone came into my office with a coupon.

It was for a $1 meal at Boston Market.  Chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy and cornbread.  For a dollar.  Now I had to answer another question - "how many copies would you like?"  I said a modest "two," thinking it's enough for me and my wife for the weekend while the kids were out.  Then I put it out of my mind.  And the coupons remained on my desk.

On the way home, I discovered that my wife had been given the same opportunity, and took several more copies of the coupon home.

This was followed quickly by our first of four visits to the Boston Market, about 1 mile from home:

1. Friday at 4:15 - We got in line behind about 10 people.  The restaurant staff was clearly worn out, made worse by some grumpy customers.
2. Friday at 6:30 - We returned, still a little hungry.  The line was about 30 people long, and we came out with two meatloaf dinners.  Total cost: $2.22.
   
3. Saturday at 3:45 - With two more coupons in hand, we were seeking another buck meal.  This time there were signs on the door - "Sorry we had to close early, but we're out of food!"  There was someone inside, giving rainchecks for our two coupons, along with a letter of explanation.
4. Saturday at 5:30 - Thinking the four of us would come together to cash in on the raincheck, my wife and I came back with two more coupons.

While the promotion was aimed at taking business from KFC, I don't think Boston Market was prepared for the onslaught of bargain-seekers (me included).  While the BM coupons left them without food, I'll bet they also made a serious dent in the KFC sales for the week: we passed a KFC on the way home and there wasn't a customer to be seen.

I wonder, if this economic slowdown keeps up, what will be in store for us.  While in line for the 2nd meal, I was reminded of what I imagined it must have been like to be in a bread line in the Soviet era. 

Are we all that desperate for a bargain - free stuff that 18 months ago we would have been happy to pay cash for?  Is this where our society is headed?

Shaking off those thoughts from my head like cobwebs, I took my wife and our raincheck coupons to the local Taco Bell, which was giving away free Black Jack Tacos for Halloween.  Both of us got a free one and paid for another.  Total cost:  $1.98.

So I went from one restaurant - one free line - to another and ended up saving 24 cents.

And since the Taco Bell promotion is just today, and Boston Market is out of food, I will have to look elsewhere for tomorrow's bargain meal.  Just hope I don't go overboard.

The Golden Age of the Web

My favorite puzzle website just changed from free to pay.  I suppose the economy is bad for everyone, but this really discourages me.

It's hard to talk to anyone without talking about the recession.  I hear recent war stories of friends and acquaintances and how they have had to tighten their belts.  Very few will escape this economic downturn without a few bruises.

I love to work puzzles.  Sudoku is on my list, but I enjoy any number or logic puzzle.  My favorite site has 50+ puzzles they post every week.  So far, it has been free.  But now they are transitioning to a pay website.

Don't get me wrong - the puzzles are great.  But there is just something wonderful about how the web is a resource of free things.  Think about it - open source applications, open courseware from universities, free puzzles.

I recently heard a radio story about getting things for free.  A free meal tastes better, a free movie is more fun, etc.

I really loved Mind Aerobics (now extinct) and zone.com, which is kind of a source of online arcade games.  But I guess things are destined to change.

Now, except for the easiest puzzle in each category, I must pay about $4 a week to play the same puzzles I used to get for free.  Perhaps it is evidence of the passing of an era. 

Like my friend, neuralman, used to say 10 years ago about eBay - warning me that one day the sales would be taxed.

I will stop playing the games - not because I can't affort them (the economy is bad but not that bad) but because I enjoy the free games and I feel like pouting a bit.  And I suppose with a few less free puzzles to work, I will actually have a more productive life.

Building Excel Files the Easy Way - A Little Sleight of Hand

Anyone who has created a data store has needed, at one time or another, to prepare or deliver a summarized report in a professional-looking way.

For instance, while I worked as a consultant, I was asked to create an excel file of financial data in a way that the financial system didn't support.  At the time, I used a LotusScript agent with OLE objects to the Microsoft Visual Basic Excel objects.  That is great, assuming that you can run the process on a machine that already has Microsoft Office installed. 

Sometimes, manipulating those MS objects also meant that Excel actually opened on the machine.  That meant that the user could interrrupt the process, change the data, etc.

For one project, I needed to run the process on a server.  When I explained to the admins that I needed to install MS Office on their dedicated Domino box, needless to say, I met with some resistance.

Then I stumbled on a solution that eliminated the need for extra installation or DLLs. 

I found that if I created my nicely-formatted report in HTML, then named it with an "xls" extension, Excel was more than happy to open it and display all the HTML formatting. 

There are a few limitations.  First, I haven't found a way yet to create a multi-sheet workbook - all the data appears on one page.  Second, it doesn't support javascript or editable fields. 

Give it a try - I think you'll like the possibilities that this new tool opens up for you!

Stumble Upon

I saw a link for stumbleupon.com while catching up on reading today.  I tried it out, and found this link.  It made me laugh out loud.

http://www.linuxkungfu.org/images/fun/geek/project.jpg