The Captain's Files

The Cost of Things

2011-02-20T21:45:00.000-08:00

So I'm out having dinner with my Dad and we're having a chocolate brownie fudgecake explosion for dessert and he says to me, "You know, when I started working, this would have cost me a whole week's wages." And I said - "Seriously Dad? Where did you grow up that they'd charge 600 bucks for a piece of cake?" "Moreover," I continued, " who would pay 600 bucks for a piece of cake? What kind of twisted place did you grow up where they get off charging 600 bucks for a piece of cake and people bought it?" We didn't even get to how far he had to walk to school.

That got me thinking about how the price of other things had changed price wise. This week, I bought 50 recordable DVD's for $8.99 which makes each recordable DVD about 18 cents each.

When I used to buy cassettes to record tunes on, I paid $6.99 for each tape!

Each DVD can probably fit about 1,000 songs. Each cassette held maybe 20 songs. Then, in order to get 20 songs on the cassette I had to own the 20 albums, based on one really good tune on each album. I generally paid about $6.00 per album. So to put 20 really good tunes on a tape, the total cost for a compilation tape was $127!

Now, of course, sometimes I'd borrow someone else's records, but to be honest, we all owned many of the same records and recorded our own records on our tapes. Weird eh?

So now - what's the cost of making a compilation of 20 tunes on a DVD R? Well, anywhere from 18 cents if you bogart all the tunes, or $19.88 if you bought all the tunes from iTunes.

The cost of 1000 tunes on a DVD R? Maybe 18 cents - maybe a thousand bucks.

Crazy.

I'm a Bad Social Mediaphyte

2010-05-05T22:57:00.001-07:00

I'm not "connecting". I'm not wishing people an "awesome night" as I sign off my computer today. I'm not re-tweeting (very much). On occasion, I think I'm going to Tweet and instead I twart. I rarely throw out an LOL. Today, however, I uploaded a bunch of pics of me me to Facebook. Perhaps I'm a narcissist. Perhaps I`m a narwhal. Hard to tell. My nose seems to get larger with age.

So, to make it seem as if I am one of the social media cognesenti, I shall re-post my favourite blogs from times gone by. They are fantastic and insightful. I told you I was a narwhal.

NOTE: Wrote this post in July, 2007

Over the past few weeks, there's been a bit of controversy over Avril Lavigne allegedly stealing The Rubinoos I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend and using it as the basis of her hit, I Wanna Be your Girlfriend.

Well, there are certainly similarities , but I gotta wonder where Avril picked up that album, because it's been out of print for years - except it's now on the Best of Rubinoos 3 Disc set. Good for them - make hay while the sun shines.

But this blog isn't about plagiarism. It's about how I came to own The Rubinoos album close to 30 years ago. Every Saturday morning, my friend Ben and I would meet up fairly early and head down the to the Sam the Record Man store on the main drag of our city. Every Saturday Sam's had their major album sales - but not only that - as an incentive to come into the store and browse, they would pepper the racks with free albums. If you found one - it was free. No purchase required. I found The Rubinoos, and I think Ben found Lynx (crappy Can-Con - know for having included within, a full size poster of a hot chick wearing a leopard skin bathing suit).

The store was full every Saturday.

On other Saturdays, a gang of us would drive to Montreal and spend the whole day buying albums - then we'd come home and play them on a massive basement stereo and read the album covers - for hours.

This Saturday morning, I walked by the local HMV. It was empty. One person was browsing video games.

Now, I know the bricks and mortar record stores are tanking, but apart from the issues faced by the record industry, why aren't they even trying to help themselves? When was the last time you heard of an artist doing an in-store (for me - it was Pulp, 1997)? How much money do they expect to make off deletes? Throw 'em in the racks as a bonus for buying something else.

Now, this is predicated on people even caring about buying physical manifestations of music anymore. At the radio station where I work, we just recently took tally of our unclaimed prizes. Fully 65 per cent of the CD's we gave away were unclaimed after three months. For DVD's it was about 35 per cent unclaimed. All of our Tickle Me Elmo's from Christmas were claimed and we get huge redemption for movie premieres.

And to be honest, very few people I know sit in front of their stereos reading the CD cover. Stereos? That's anachronistic now too, isn't it? I think my stereo is in the storage room under the Christmas wrap. And I sure don't sit in there.

ADDENDUM - THIS STORE CLOSED IN MARCH, 2010. I hadn`t been in there since I wrote the blog above.

A BLOG FROM JULY 2007

How to Determine the Veracity of an Email CC:

2009-09-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick personal exercise to conduct before you send your next e-mail with multiple cc:'s (or 'carbon copies'). If the subject was important enough to copy dozens of people, would you call a meeting, get them in the same room, and then say your piece?

To wit: You wish to bring someone's attention to the fact that a particular piece of research material was not brought to a previous meeting.

To: Doug Von Modrigal Sales Representative

From: Theresa De Snorph, General Sales Manager

cc: Bill Perkins Vice President, Genevieve de Mornay Division Retail Sales Chief, L. Vaughn

Philkins Terminal Velocity Supervisor, Sharon D'Espirit Telephonic Services, Ted Mail

Room Guy, Sharon Marin The Coffee Company, All Staff

Doug, I invite you to please join me in the boardroom this afternoon at 2 p.m. as I ask you about the dispensation of the most recent research report on T1 Markets. As you'll note from the cc: list a number of our colleagues will be in attendance as I ask the question, which while asked in this note will also require an e-mail response and a meeting with all in attendance, whether or not they have a vested interest in the results. I am positive that this note will lay the groundwork for any further investigations into this matter.

Regards

Theresa

So figure the average cost of an hours staffing in a 50 person business is, say, $4,000 an hour`and you gathered all these people in a room for the time it took to address the issue.

E-mail has made it easy for us to be indiscriminate in the way we include people in the communication process. Everyone will attend the meeting, just in case they`re affected in some way - because we no longer have the filters to prioritize. The time cost is increasing every day.

Think about it next time you write a business e-mail at work.

And just so it doesn`t seem like I`m on a soapbox, I`ll end with a suggested e-mail signature which I think everyone should include to lighten the mood.

``Hey - How`s She Hangin Eh``

Fred Art

Manager of IT Services

DorkOrp Int`l

Five Things I Wanted When I was in Grade Six

2009-09-11T15:53:00.000-07:00

I wrote this list in the back of my Social Studies notebook in May of the year I was in Grade Six. They were things I was determined to acquire when I had the cash.

1. A 1973 Buick Riviera. My Grade Six teacher Mrs. Page drove one and it was COOL.
What did I eventually ended up with? A 1976 Chrysler New Yorker. It was BIG.

2. A Sony Portable Video Tape recorder. I thought it would be so cool to be able to video stuff and watch it back immediately. My Dad was a big Super 8 film guy - but he would film three minutes and send it off to the developer. It would come back in three weeks.
What did I eventually end up with? Well, just like you, some kind of smart phone that does everything.

4. An electronic organ.

What did I eventually end up with? A 1988 Roland S50 second generation digital sampler - albeit at the end of its working life. Still have it - you have to load samples into it one at a time from single density discs.

4. A Sears triple pick up electric guitar.

What did I end up with? I got a single pick up electric for Christmas in 1975.

Then when I grew up I bought a Washburn knock off of a Gibson 335. Still have it.
5. I also wanted the US out of Vietnam, an American Bicentennial and the Olympics in Montreal. Those things worked out

How To Redefine Price Point

2009-09-09T16:25:00.000-07:00

This car dealer seems to use the placeholder "N" to indicate the cost of this Mazda 3. You'll have to reach back to to Grade 11 math to define what the value of "N" is.

(and here, if I were writing one of those marketing blogs that ended with a rhetorical question I would say...)

Can you define YOUR "N"?

(because of course it's that undefined "something" that will make your brand stand out. In this case, however this is just a funny newspaper misprint - and luckily enough - for the hated Mazda 3.)

How to Form an Irrational Opinion

2009-09-02T09:40:00.001-07:00

I don't like the Mazda 3. I don't know why, I just don't like it. Never have.

How to Bump Start a 1994 VW Golf

2009-09-01T09:26:00.000-07:00

This technique for "bump'starting" a 1994 VW Golf works best under these conditions:

a) You're on a slight downward incline.

b) You're by yourself.

c) Obviously, your 1994 VW Golf must have a standard transmission.

1 - Open the driver's side door of the Golf.

2 - Put the transmission in NEUTRAL.

3 - Release the parking brake.

4 - Turn the ignition to ON.

5 - Standing outside the car, with your shoulder to the door frame, give it a push to get it rolling .

6 - It should start rolling down the incline.

7 - Jump in, depress the clutch and ram home the gear shifter into 2nd gear.

8 - Come on - jump in now, or you`ll never catch up with it.

9 - Jump in - quick! Quick! Jump....

10 -The car will stop when it hits that tree whether you are in it or not.

11 - Call a cab - they will jump start your Golf for $20.

How to Smash a Car Window from the Inside

2009-08-28T14:11:00.000-07:00

1. Decide to build a backyard deck.

2. Go to Rona and buy 8 ten foot lengths of pressure treated lumber.

3. Very carefully wrap a towel around the ends of the lumber so you don't damage the vehicle seats or scratch the windows.

4. Lift up the lumber and slide in the rear of the vehicle. Watch out - they're heavy!

5. Go over the back row of seats. The towel should help the lumber slide over the seats.

6. Rest the front of the lumber carefully on the dashboard. Again, the towel will prevent scratching.

7. If the lumber is still poking out of the back of the vehicle, put your shoulder to it and dig your feet into the ground. This should generate about 200 foot pounds per square inch of pressure and easily buypass any obstacles.

8. Push lumber through front windshield.

How To Define Irony

2009-08-27T14:06:00.000-07:00

New station in Sudbury, Ontario.

How to Drive a 1985 Merkur XR4Ti While on Fire

2009-08-27T12:27:00.000-07:00

1. Buy a 1985 Merkur XR4Ti. Pay around $1700.

2. Ensure the area where the radiator hose attaches to the radiator is degrading. It should be almost completely rotten.

3. The Merkur XR4Ti is turbopowered so you shouldn't have any problem getting the engine up to flaming speed. It's best to be on a 6 to 8 lane highway doing about 120K.

4. Wait for the radiator hose to break loose. At this point, the engine will begin to heat up nicely.

5. Keep your eyes peeled for cool looking flames shooting out of either side of the hood. You have a limited time to pretend you're in a Batmobile so make the best of it.

6. Scout out an exit where you can coast into an isolated parking lot when all the wiring finally melts (about 3 minutes).

7. Coast into the parking lot, remove your briefcase and lunch. Sit on curb and call fire department from cel phone .

Note: As cool as this is, it's generally a one time thing, so make sure you're really committed.

How to Prevent Transmission of H1N1 Virus

2009-08-26T22:51:00.001-07:00

Garlic scented hand sanitizer. And not just fresh garlic scent, the smell of garlic the morning after the night before, when you hold your hand up to your mouth and breathe out and then quickly inhale through your nose - and it's the smell of public transit and liquid natural gas. That kind of garlic smell. 'Cause that's stinky.

Keeps hands clean and people away.