Leelanau Whippersnapper

The Northwoods Is No Place For A Pink Flamingo

Good Lord it’s been a long time since I’ve written anything here.  This summer has been pretty crazy for me so far and I’ve been doing nothing but working.  Today I am going on day 19 now and I’ve had 1 day off.  To say the least, I am tired, my body aches, my head is filled with the HORRIBLE music they play at work and I’ve had no motivation to write about much of anything.  On the upside, I have a vacation starting at 1PM on Friday and I’ll be off work for 10 days during which time I intend to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to strain my body any more than necessary.

So I’ve got one thing I want to bitch about tonight and I’ve written about it before.  Michigan is really a fucked up state.  The reason I’ve been working 60 hours a week for the past 3 weeks is because of an archaic law called the Michigan Consumer Protection Act which was passed with very little explanation some years ago to “protect” consumers from companies who might try to rip them off, primarily retailers.  Michigan is the ONLY state in my company’s region that has to deal with this law, no other states have (or will ever) even consider it.  It consists of 2 parts.  The first part deals with price discrepancies.  If a consumer exits the store and then identifies a price sticker that disagrees with the price rung up on his receipt, he is entitled to return to the store to receive back the difference times 10.  That means, if you buy a candy bar and that candy bar has a price sticker for $1.00 but the cash register rings it up for $1.10, you are entitled to come in and the store must pay you 10 times the difference up to $5.00.  In this case you would receive back $0.10 x 10 = $1.00.  The rule is that before that is paid out, the transaction must be complete and you must have left the store and returned with your receipt and the item in question showing the incorrect price sticker.  People routinely take advantage of this law and as a result, stores pay out.  The second part of this law has to do with price stickers themselves.  In Michigan, EVERYTHING that is for sale in a retail establishment (with some exceptions) must have a price sticker affixed to the product in addition to signs indicating what the price is on the shelf.  We are the ONLY state that requires this of retailers and really, it does nothing other than prove that consumers are incapable of basic observation.  If a shelf sticker below a can of soup says that can of soup of whatever flavor is $1.00, than that can of soup is $1.00!  Really quite simple to look at the tag, look at the soup, and reach a logical conclusion that it is in fact that price.  If you are paying attention at the cash register and find a problem, no retailer is going to ignore you, they are going to fix it and adjust the price right there to match the tag on the shelf.  MOST stores in the country price sticker their products.  This is a GOOD BUSINESS PRACTICE and I don’t disagree with doing it.  HOWEVER, I  must inform you that this practice is extremely expensive to the retailer which in turns makes YOUR products more expensive.  EVERY DAY when I go into work, I spend the first 2 hours of my day doing price changes.  These changes are necessary because the price of EVERYTHING is fluid.  Need I remind you that you do NOT pay the same for gas today as you did 10 years ago!  Because we price sticker items, and because prices can and do change very often, I spend a great deal of money paying my employees to remove old price stickers, put new ones on and then make new signs.  I’m not talking about 1 or 2 changes a day.  I can have over 200 a day depending on the products that change when the market changes.  THIS is the concept that consumers do not understand and this RESULTS in the payouts described in part one.  Things get missed, signs don’t get updated quick enough etc. etc.

So what am I getting at.  This law sucks for retailers and does very little to enhance or benefit the consumer.  REALLY, what are you planning to do with that extra 5 cents?  When you sell 6 million items in a store, humans miss things and there are really very few retailers interested in taking advantage of consumers.  Whats in it for the retailer to do so?  Why would we want to willingly piss off a potential customer?  I’m sorry folks but THINGS COST MONEY.  I’m sorry that you have to pay for your goods and services and I’m sorry that prices go up and down on a regular basis but thats how life works.  Why not do YOUR part and simply pay attention when you are shopping?  Why is it that EVERY OTHER STATE is permitted to simply use proper signs and shelf tags to sell their products and you don’t hear about issues with pricing in those states?  Why are we paying out money to someone who happened to pick up one product in a bucket of 50 items where the price sticker has fallen off, and how is it that we must pay out because of DISHONEST customers who ROUTINELY peel off price stickers and replace them with stickers for a lesser price?  Think this doesn’t happen?  Think again.  I see people do it on a regular basis, they will sit there in the aisle, remove price stickers and drop them on the floor and then go find a cheaper product and put that sticker on the item they want.  Who’s being taken advantage of here?

OK, thats enough.  In the end folks, this is a law I can’t change but just like you can bitch about stuff not being priced, I can bitch about those of you who find it perfectly acceptable to take advantage of the law and I can bitch about those you too simply to lazy or incapable of being and observant shopper.

Sometime this summer I will write a bit more about some different subjects if I can every get my ass out of work for any length of time.  I WANT THIS SIGN for my store.  Get OFF your fucking phone if you want my attention.

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For those who don’t have to work anyhow.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted an update on this blog.  Life is crazy for me right now.  Work, Work, Work, sleep, sleep, sleep.  It’s a redundant cycle that won’t end until late August it seems.  All things considered, this is turning out to be a pretty decent summer.  The weather has been SO much better than last year, temperatures have remained fairly consistent in the upper 70′s to 80′s.  Right where it should be.  The boat is in the water at the cottage and the folks are keeping very busy building fences, making cookies, and keeping up with the neighbors (as much as they can stand it anyhow).  Looks like sister Sarah and nephew Christopher are going to be making a trip up to the northwoods as soon as this next week.  Sounds like Sarah might need a break even before their road trip in August.  Looking forward to seeing them, especially Christopher.  I’ve only seen pictures since last Christmas, I’m sure he’s growing fast and will eventually be in shock to discover a new sibling draining some of the attention away from him.  First born’s tend to get the best and the worst of things.  They are of course always FIRST, but the loss of devoted attention when a new family member arrives is a big step for any child to deal with.  Most do just fine and I’m sure Christopher will too.  He’s got great parents.

Things have been fairly busy on the national news front lately.  Of course the BP oil spill is the consuming story.  It has been interesting to follow things as they have developed.  It sickens me that our government as well as BP seem to think that an escrow account with 20 billion dollars in it is going to help solve this massive environmental disaster.  It doesn’t even matter any more when they eventually cap the flow of oil out of the hole in the ocean floor.  The damage has already been done.  Millions of gallons of oil and thousands of tons of methane now displacing what once was crystal clear waters in the Gulf will be killing us slowly for decades.  News came out today that oil and gas is now seeping up through the ocean floor near the well which is presenting another issue.  Could it be creating a sink hole due to pressure?  Nobody knows but if that is occurring, the worst of this disaster is not even close to being over yet.  We’ll see what happens.

In other news, the Prop 8 trial held closing arguments this past Wednesday.  Once again, proponents of the ban on gay marriage in California sputtered and shouted but in the end produced absolutely NO evidence to support their position.  This is a hugely significant case that will eventually make it to the supreme court.  A decision is expected in a few weeks and then it’s off to the appeals process.  I don’t have the energy to recap the whole thing, if you want to know about it more than visit the Prop 8 Trial Tracker web site for a full re-cap of all the arguments.  It really has been a pleasure watching one of the most successful lawyers in this country defend my right to exist and it amazes me that in a courtroom, where politics is NOT the key element, all those who are so intent on upholding discrimination against the GLBT community simply fall flat on their faces.  It’s been amazing to watch.

I have been able to keep up a little bit on my photography.  I’ve uploaded a few new galleries to leelanauphotography.com since my last entry.  Please be sure to check them out.  I’m looking forward to eventually having some time off this summer to really do some exploring with my camera, perhaps in places I’ve not been.  So, until my next entry which might be tomorrow, or several weeks from now, enjoy this picture of early summer in Leelanau.

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As you can likely see, I’ve chosen a new theme for my blog.  I don’t have much to write about lately, mainly because I’m being kept so busy at work but also just because there is next to nothing going on in my life or really in politics right now.  I’ve been spending my time off either playing around my yard or floating around out on the lake, writing has sort of taken a back burner to those 2 very important things!  Never fear, I will write more eventually.  For now, I’ll share a newer picture from my late spring gallery on leelanauphotography.com.  I am really impressed by my new camera and it’s ability to capture some really stunning pictures.  This summer I will need to start branching out a bit more from Leelanau County and start taking some pictures of other areas.  I mean, I have enough pictures now of the Sand Dunes to publish another book.  Speaking of which, maybe I’ll make that my summer project!

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Got an email from my Realtor tonight telling me that the owners of the house I want to buy have dropped their price another $2000 as of this morning.  It’s killing me because I have to wait until at least June 7 before I can run my credit report again which will then indicate whether or not I can obtain a mortgage.  I’m stressing about it because it’s a great little house that would be perfect for me, in a great location very close to work and no further from the folks than I am right now.  It’s a 2 story (something hard to find up here in the northwoods) Colonial styled but contemporary home on a corner lot in a nice area and it’s just the right size for me and Gavin the Wonder Dog.  It’s been on the market now for 89 days and has not sold yet although at this point I am starting to ask myself why but that might be beside the point.  My Realtor continues to tell me they are very motivated, the short of it is, I want this house but I have about 3 weeks yet before I will know for sure if I can get a mortgage for it and I have made the decision not to pursue anything until I have a guarantee on financing, something I still realize may not be possible at this time.  Stay tuned, you can be sure I’ll be writing about it here if I end up buying a house this summer.

On that note, with this pursuit of home ownership, I have in many ways now officially committed myself to living in this area for at least the next 5 years or more.  This of course makes the parents happy but at the same time they are not necessarily the reason I’ve chosen to stay up here.  Regardless of all the bitching I do about the people around here, I do actually like this part of Michigan.  It has done amazing things for my photography skills and I like the fact that pretty much my entire extended family lives up here even though I don’t get to see them all that often.  I’m not the type of person that just randomly goes out and makes friends with people and knowing that, it’s important to me to have family near me so that I don’t cocoon myself which I would be very prone to doing if I lived in a city where I did not know anyone.  That’s not saying I don’t have friends, but it is saying that I place more emphasis on my immediate and extended family than I do many of the other random people that I know.  I deal with the public 50 hours a week which is more than many people have to deal with people in a month.  It’s nice to be able to go to my folks house and not be forced to make small talk about stupid shit.  I can have quality conversations when I feel like it.  So, even though my boss at work has started pushing me again to promote with Menards and move into store level management, at least for the next 5 years I’ll be working on my management skills here in Traverse City.  I refuse to buy a house and not live in at least long enough to make a little money when I sell it. Lord knows, I’ll need a profit if or when I decide to take that next step at work which I think can happen any time I want it to.  It’s a nice feeling knowing that you have a steady job with very little chance of loosing it unless I fuck up in a big way and I’m just not the type of person to do that anymore.  I’ve become old and careful before my time and it’s paying off.

So tonight is Saturday night and I’m home enjoying a couple of cold beers and a little internet time before I head off again to work tomorrow.  It’s going to be in the upper 80′s for most of this week which means it’s going to be CRAZY busy at work.  Tuesday is my day off and it promises to be the hottest day of the week.  It’s of course the day I am acquiring new furniture from the relatives but oh well, free shit is worth a little sweat.

Anyhow, just a short update, you know in the summer it’s very hard to find time to write or post things.  Most of you reading this follow me on Facebook anyhow and thats about all I have time for right now.  I’ll leave you tonight with a recent picture taken this past week.

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From the latest episode of Glee.  Kurt, playing a gay high school sophomore disillusioned by his own drama and his relationship with his dad.  In real life, the actor is 19 year old Chris Colfer.  His character reminds me quite a bit of myself but nearly the entire point of Glee is to identify with the underdog, something I very much feel I was growing up.  I wasn’t the popular kid, the football star, or the kid who got all the attention.  I had my moments for sure but I had to work my ass off in a lot of different ways to get those moments and 90% of the time I busted my ass without letting other people know I was struggling.  Kurt very much represents me in that way.  I regret nothing, and being that singer geek truly turned me into the reasonably well adjusted adult that I claim to be now.  So the clip below is why I like Glee.  Not because I have some self loathing desire to experience teenage drama again but because as an adult, I can witness the effect that this show and others like it can and will have on young people watching it today.  Kurt, because he is openly gay and unashamed about it is important, so is Rachel, the starry eyed unpopular girl with the amazing voice.  Each of the main characters represents something that all of us experienced growing up and that makes this show one of a kind.  Not to mention, the songs they are choosing to sing are some of the best ever written.

I expect to see Chris Colfer on Broadway once his run in Glee is over.  His voice is simply one of a kind.

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What a busy fucking month!  So for those of you not in the know, I’ve spent the past several weeks actively pursuing buying a house while at the same time putting in over 50 hours a week at work!  Talk about stress.  There is a lot to do and a LOT to think about.  At this point in the game I’ve decided, along with the advice of my Realtor, to put things on hold until June.  I had a few things that I had to clean up on my credit report and at this point it’s a waiting game for my score to reset.  Should happen within a month and then I should be able to get my financing in order.  So, stay tuned.  Sarah and Brian, you might get to lend a hand helping ME move this time.  You owe me one from your stint in Jackson!  Christopher can help too.

In other news, I’ve recently become a HUGE fan of the Musical Sitcom “Glee”!  I have pretty much fallen in love with this show for a couple of reasons.  Primarily, this show pretty much sums up my entire High School career minus some of the glitz and glamor.  In addition to that, they have taken and re-done a whole shit load of some of the most popular songs from my adolescence and then combined them with some pretty spectacular show tunes.  I would not be a qualified gay man if I did not melt over a good show tune and the kids in this show hit the mark every time.  I imagine, had I actually gone through and finished school, this is the sort of choir I’d be directing at this point in my life.  At the very core of the show though it is about a high school Glee club filled with geeks, nerds and a couple of jocks from the football team mashed together to demonstrate the complete drama of high school, and the triumphs of each of the kids as they work through that difficult time in their lives.  I relate especially well to Kurt, a kid struggling with his sexuality (he is openly gay) and a kid not afraid to excel using the upper range of his voice.  In the clip below (sadly there is no video, just audio), he is singing a duet with one of the leads in the show (Rachel) singing the incredibly awesome ”Defying Gravity” from the musical Wicked.  I can’t help but remember my experiences with my good friend and regular duet partner Rachel as we both swam through the cesspool of adolescence together.  It is VERY rare that I get sucked in to shows like this but this one has really hit the mark for me and I’m sure many other choir geeks out there in the world.  I hope they can get a few more seasons out of it before it runs it’s course.  Enjoy.

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You be the judge.  How might you have voted had you been seated in the jury box?  I think you know my answer and it’s not what the jury said.  (note, the black screen at the start of this is part of the video).

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54 million Americans over the age of 18 do not believe in evolution.

And this is acceptable?

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Ok, I know I rant and holler and bitch and whatever else all the time about Charter, my Internet provider and yet I continue to use them.  Well, I’ve finally had it with them.  I won’t say where I’m getting the connection right now to write this blog post but it’s not coming from Charter, all I’ll say is there are some pretty dumb ass people living around me.  So, likely this next Tuesday I will be making phone calls to AT&T, Verizon, and any other DSL service provider I can locate in town to see what kind of deals I can get for Internet.  Any way I look at it, the new service I find will mean shittier speeds meaning I won’t be able to watch as much video in as high a quality, and I won’t be able to download things as fast, I won’t be able to stream music as flawlessly and it will just all around suck donkey balls.  The cable TV is going away entirely at this point, perhaps if I decide that I really do need TV in the future I will get satellite service.  The folks down at the Charter office are going to get an ear full from me, I’ll say my peace and just be done with them forever.  I suppose if living up here means being able to sit on a boat in the summer, it also means putting up with the fact that this town is not set up for geeks like me who actually understand how to utilize technology to our advantage rather than just putz around looking at porn and reading blogs.  It’s no wonder at all to me why there are no significant tech companies located in Northern Michigan.  They would simply collapse given the lack of understanding people have about the Internet and how it works and how it could work SOOOOOOO much better up here than it actually does.  Charter has this region by the balls and they are not going to let go for any reason.  My best choice is to rid myself of their horrendous services before it just drives me fucking nuts.

To top off my day today, I came home and received a summons for Jury Duty.  This is just the qualification questionnaire at this point so I’ve not actually been selected but shit, this could not be a worse time to have to do that.  I am buried up to my eyes at work right now and my team is a mess mainly because of their inability to live up to my standards.  I’m pissed off at most of them right now for various reasons and they know it which makes working with them rather tense at times.  All I want them to do is do their fucking jobs.  I want them to work the hours I schedule them, sell things to people when there are people there to sell to, and put stock away when there are no customers.  The job could not be simpler.  I can’t leave them for a single day without walking back into a disaster.  Thank GOD it’s just an internal one and they are so far not pissing off customers.  The sad thing is, most of them are so comfortable in their positions that they don’t understand they can be replaced at the drop of a hat….for that matter so can I.  300 applications a week STILL coming in from people looking for a job.  It’s unbelievable how big the prospective employee pool is at this point but yet, those who are applying?  Out of 300, maybe 5 are potential candidates AT BEST.  When you aren’t even qualified to work as a stocker in a big box store there is a problem not only with the economy but with the entire job pool.  I digress.  So lets all hope I don’t get called to sit on a jury right now.  I really just don’t have the time or the patience to put my life on hold in order to determine someone else’s fate.

I have been able to do a little photography lately.  So click on over to leelanauphotography.com and take a look at the gallery.  I’ve been adding to it recently.

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