Bogieblog

Are the Shoppers Back?

So I read in the news that 2010 was the year that the consumer came back for Christmas.

Really? I haven't seen it. Thursday, I went to Concord to get my oil changed. Traffic was light and I had no trouble or slowdowns. After the oil change, I went to Wally World to do some regular shopping. Without trying I parked about 5 spaces away from the door. There weren't a whole lot of cars there and anyone that came in after me was going to get close to the door too. The store certainly was dead - less people than when I've shopped on Tuesday evening (the least shopped day/time of the week).

Went to Petsmart after that - not many people. Stopped at a couple of other places - trafic, both auto and human was light.

Friday afternoon, I headed back to Concord for something that I had forgotten. Once again traffic was fairly light and I had no trouble taking left hand turns onto or off of the main streets. The place I visited, although busy, was no busier than a regular Saturday. Parking was easy, although not right next to the door (but not far from it - and certainly not in the north 40).

I must admit that I stayed away from the malls (had not need to go), but usually street traffic is a big indicator of how many shoppers there were. The local evening news reported that traffic was heavy with shoppers and the mall in Manchester was packed. Except, the live picture they showed inside the mall showed that although there were a fair amount of people there, there was plenty of elbow room and it didn't seem as if finding parking there would be a big deal. I have certainly been there when it was a whole lot more crowded.

Maybe it's just me, but I couldn't tell that the shoppers came back for this Christmas.

Christmas Day 2010

Hope everyone had a great Christmas, we certainly did! Cop Car called early so I got to talk to her and HH before things got to hopping here at the Bogie household (she seemed befuddled when I said I was just balancing the checkbook when she called. What? Other people don't do that on Christmas?). While we were talking, Karen dropped by for a couple of hours before going to her folks for dinner. Jimmy showed up about 1/2 hour into Karen's visit and he stayed thru dinner.

In the morning I baked a couple of pies (pumpkin and Bourbon Chocolate) then started the dough for rolls. I used the bread machine to do the kneading and then let the dough rest next to the stove as the ham baked. As an aside, instead of getting a smaller ham, we got a huge ham becuase it was literally cheaper in total price. We sent a whole bunch of it home with Jimmy so he should be set for sandwiches for the next week. Also made mashed potatoes early and put them in the crockpot to keep warm until dinner.

WS called one of his brother's, but nobody else got called - will have to do so today. WS did get the plow put on the 4-wheeler as we are expecting a decent storm tonight. It all depends on the storm track and the forecasts so far are for a couple of inches to 15-20 inches, all with heavy winds (blizzard conditions). Of course that is supposed to hit tonight into tomorrow morning so we'll have to get up early for the shoveling and plowing so we can get to work.

Cop Car sent us cookies and fudge. Even the box of cookies that she thought wouldn't get here until next week got here in time for Christmas. I had to sample everything, to make sure she wasn't trying to poison WS of course, and can testify that she did her usual outstanding job at baking. And, I'm still here, so no poison ;)

Hope everyone had a great Christmas, we certainly did!

Seasons Greetings

Merry Christmas everyone!

Another Author in the Family

Congrats to my cousin who is now the author of a For Dummies book! I really need to pick up Digital Photography Lighting for Dummies because I can't rally make a lot of shots with the camera because of lighting issues.

Just to be absolutely clear, I have been paid no consideration (monetary, or otherwise - except a Christmas card) for making this announcement.

White Christmas in the Cards

We will most likely have a white Christmas. Last Sunday, we had torrential rains before it got cold enough to turn to snow. The water that was on the deck and porch froze, and the snow froze into it (except the very top 1/2 inch). We have not had any thawing, and it doesn't look like any thawing is in the cards for the week.

So, even if we don't get any more snow, our Christmas will still be white.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas this year!

Doings at the New Place of Employement

A couple of Fridays a month we have a company meeting. Last Friday we had a couple of things of importance that we discussed.

Top of the agenda was a whole-hearted congratulations from everyone to an employ who had just become a citizen of the USA. We are very proud of that individual!

*               *               *               *               *               *               *

The second thing of import was to reveal our goals for next year; our goal for sales/instalations, goal for profit before certain expenditures and our goal for expenditures.

This is the first company that I have worked for in which the goal was to expend 2 million dollars more than we expect to profit. The benefits of working for a small company, that is owned by a huge company is that when they expect you to grow tremendously in the next 5 years, they also expect you to spend a lot in preparation for that growth (and, can finance that growth). They expect us to spend lots of money on R&D as well as hiring about 16 more people (putting us around 60 people).

*               *               *               *               *               *               *

This is the first time in 6 years that I haven't had 10-12 days off for Christmas thru New Years. At my last place of employement, it made sense to shut down as most of our largest customers shut down during that time, so we couldn't ship anyway. At this company, our customers don't shut down, and we don't "ship" anyway, so we stay oopen. A whole lot of people take off during that time, but I will be there for 3 days next week. Hey, I'll work 3 days, get 4 days off, work 4 days, get 4 days off, then work 4 days, before getting back to the regular schedule - so I'm not complaining!

*               *               *               *               *               *               *

So, the upshot is, that even though things work very different from what I am used to, and I am still learning the ropes here, I find there are some rewarding things about working here. And, everyone is happy to celebrate your successes - which is what a team should do!

Interesting Business Dealings at Play

There is a little breakfast and lunch place in the building I work in. I thought that they were brilliant in procuring the spot as they are close to lots of offices and colleges that are off the main drag in Manchester.

Today I found that they have been given 30 days to get out of their space by one of the business owners (he owns or controls that space – I’m not clear on exactly which)**. It seems the business owner allowed the eatery into that space rent-free in order to be available for his employees. It seems they expanded into opening to the public. The business owner does not want rent; he wants them to be available for a quick-turn meal for his employees. Being open to the public, the restaurant was no longer able to have the meals ready within minutes after a phone call. I also heard that they quit taking phone calls after 11 AM, so that made it even more inconvenient.

Now, I won’t get into whether it is actually viable for someone to only cater to the employees of a certain business (although it would be somewhat like a cafeteria, I would think), but that was the deal and the restaurateur broke it. The only way the situation can be salvaged is by closing the eatery to the public, which doesn’t seem to be likely, from what I hear.

Should be interesting on how it all plays out and if someone else takes the opportunity to cater to the business.

** This is all rumor and hearsay, so I may have all the facts wrong.

*** None of this affects me a bit; I always take my breakfast and lunch to work, so never buy my meals.

Sounds like it Will Bomb

Saw an add for True Grit the other day. No, not the classic True Grit, a new one.

No, No, NO - True Grit is a movie that ONLY John Wayne can do!

Chalk that up as another movie that won't make a dime off of me!

Supermarket Conversation Bloopers

Jim overheard a conversation at the supermarket that I found just hilarious!

That guy probably goes to (insert fast food joint of your choosing), buys the triple sized burger and fries and gets a diet drink to keep it healthy.

Weekday Walking

As mentioned in earlier posts, I walk during lunchtime and I thought I would take you thru a little tour of my walk. I pass several well known business headquarters such as Autodesk and Deka Research (inventor of Segway):

  This is most of the Autodesk building (not including the taller building to the right)
 

I also pass the Manchester campus of UNH:

 

I park behind the UNH campus (it's public pay for parking). I park way over at the top, left behind the smaller building that is close to the bridge. I have to cross the entire parking lot and pass behind another building to get to work. I could park a whole lot closer by parking on the street (or even parking in the lower right corner of the parking lot), but I get a really good walk in before and after work by parking where I do.

 

I pass by Rock 101 / WHEB offices - of course they are on the other side of the river: