1. catdynamics
  2. seasonal observations

seasonal observations

By catdynamics on December 18, 2007.

little things noticed in the last few seasonal shopping time units...

as someone who perused "stocking stuffers", it is very noticeable that the "under a dollar" li'l knick-knack, that is actually mildly functional or amusing, is no longer available - almost everything under a dollar is pure crap, and anything of any functionality is up in the $3-5 range.

anecdotally, groceries are getting considerably more expensive.
Good thing groceries don't count in terms of "core inflation", eh?
But cheap knick-knacks do.
In a pinch we can always eat flat screen TVs (or CRT TVs if you're a starving student).

while in town yesterday, I saw the car next to mine getting a ticket. As I rushed to the meter, I made some ingratiating comment to the officer, who smiled and showed me the "ticket".
It was a christmas card from the borough, and the officer then went and added credit to the meter. All cars who run over their meter get a christmas card and free parking extension. First time. Ticket second time. (I checked, he was doing this for all the cars).
Life in a small town can be rather nice on occasion.

On-line shops with which I have a "pre-existing relationship" are getting extraordinarily frenzied in their last-chance-order-now-special-discount-free-shipping special e-mail offers.
Like several per day. Per store.
I'm inferring the whole retail thing is not going so well.
Haven't been to the mall for at least three months.

Ok, only 200 or so more pages of essays to go through...

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I feel your pain. 80 finals with very few multiple choice questions makes for a sucky couple of days. However, for me it was perfectly timed with a bout of flu - I haven't really been good for anything else today!

Grocery prices to be expected - given how much ground transportation is involved, they must correlate with gas prices.

Just give it a little time. Increases in the cost of fuel and the (extremely misguided) diversion of much of the corn crop to ethanol production are already having their effects on the futures markets.