American Shopping -- Random Note -- Nothing About The Bakken -- May 21, 2020

Sale:

• everything 60% off during the month of May, 2020
• an additional 20% off over the five-day Memorial Day "weekend"

So, question: if one buys something with a "regular" price of $100, what is the sale price over Memorial Day weekend?

Two ways to figure it, I suppose. The first way would be the simpler way but would be wrong: 60% off plus an additional 20% off could mean a total of 80% off. If so, one would pay $20 for a regularly-priced $100-item. But that would be wrong.

The correct way:

• regular price: $100
• sale price, 60% off: $40
• an additional 20%: $32 -- final price

What sale is this: the Swarovski Crystal store at the Grapevine Mills shopping mall on the northeast side of Grapevine, TX.

Arianna, our oldest granddaughter, and I drove out to the mall to see how things were going as the state of Texas starts "re-opening."

Crickets.

But, wow, talk about sales.

I've never seen such an incredible Swarovski sale as this one. My wife and I collected a bit of Swarovski when we lived in Europe many years ago:

• the dollar was very, very "strong," making Swarovski a "good" buy to begin with;
• we bought it in the military exchange where their prices were even better because they bought in volume; and, NO sales tax at military exchanges;
• decades ago, Swarovski was not yet an "item" and much less expensive then than now;

Since Europe, we haven't bought any more Swarovski crystal, but at 60% off with an additional 20% off (68% off, it appears), it was crazy not to pick up some items.

And we did.

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Steak

Over the past month or so, I've written on the blog and in private e-mails about my new-found excitement of grilling steaks directly on FOGO.

I have mentioned often on the blog that I am partial to Omaha Steaks when ordering on line, although I seldom order for myself. There are too many options here in Texas and at much better prices. I order for my son-in-law in Portland, OR, and my brother-in-law in Huntington Beach, CA.

A reader suggested Crowd Cow.

Today, of all things, that reader sent me a link to Forbes: "The Best Places To Order Steak Online."

And get this: the article was dated May 20, 2020. LOL. The writer must be reading the blog. 

The list:

• Porter Road
• FreshDirect
• Rastelli's
• Kansas City Steak Company
• Snake River Farms
• Crowd Cow
• FarmFoods
• Omaha Steaks

Interestingly, I first came across Omaha Steaks about thirty years ago when I had a subscription to Forbes. At that time, Omaha Steaks ran a one-inch ad in every issue of Forbes.

Another list, also very recent, 2020, at urbantastebud. Be sure to read the social media comments regarding this list.


Buying steaks on line is lot like buying wine, I suppose. Decades ago, Herb Caen wrote this in the San Francisco Chronicle:

It's not difficult to find a great wind; the challenge is finding a great wine at a great price.

I've always remembered that line, although Herb Caen probably said it a bit better.

From wiki:

"The secret of Caen's success", wrote the editor of a rival publication, was: his outstanding ability to take a wisp of fog, a chance phrase overheard in an elevator, a happy child on a cable car, a deb in a tizzy over a social reversal, a family in distress and give each circumstance the magic touch that makes a reader an understanding eyewitness of the day's happenings.

My hunch Caen would have a lot to say about the current state of affairs in San Francisco. 

Now that I am reminiscing about Herb Caen -- I would have been reading his column, 1977 to 1980, when we stationed at an Air Force base near San Francisco, before we were transferred overseas to Germany -- and reminiscing about seeing Omaha Steak ads in Forbes decades ago, it seems we lived in much simpler times fifty years ago and enjoying it much more.

I had a whole lot less disposable income then, but somehow those days seemed a whole lot more carefree. And even then I was working 100 hours a week.

Back then, the state of California had no rules/laws limiting the number of hours physicians-in-training could work. One-hundred-hour work weeks were not uncommon -- in fact, for surgeons, it was the norm. In 2011 that all changed; in 2017, it all changed again. See this story in The Los Angeles Times.

But before 2011, let's see:

• Monday - Friday: 0600 - 2000 (14 hours x five days = 70 hours)
• Saturday: 0600 - 0600 (24 hours)
• Sunday: 0600 - 1400 (8 hours)
• 102 hours

Of course, that was the hours at / in the hospital.

I must have done a bit of reading at home before I went to bed, looking up cases, etc.

We were younger then.


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