Amir's Audio, Video, Technology, etc. Blog

[amirm]

My wife wanted me to pick up a piece of furniture for her workshop from Ikea. So I looked up their address and clicked on the map, and saw Google identify them as such:

Cheap furniture and swedish meatballs? Heaven knows where Google engines got those two phrases from but it sort of fits.

I can imagine Ikea corporate people not being too fond of that!

I did go there and managed to find a shortcut to get in and out of the place with her furniture in just 5 minutes! Usually takes an hour to get through that place. So having saved some time, I got some Swedish meatballs . Pretty darn good! Five of them for a dollar. Very moist and soft. Another buck for the coke and I was out of there for $2. The kitchen Island she bought for her workshop was just $399. Not bad for one with a solid butcher block top.

Definitely cheap furniture and Swedish meatballs....

 

[Ronm1]

I got some Swedish meatballs . Pretty darn good! Five of them for a dollar. Very moist and soft.

Definitely cheap furniture and Swedish meatballs....

Swedish meatballs are always moist and soft.

 

[amirm]

Swedish meatballs are always moist and soft.

Thanks. This was my first tasting of them .

 

[WLVCA]

My wife is of Swedish descent and she makes delicious Swedish meatballs. We have them every year at Christmas time so I'll be having them in a few days. She does buy lingonberries at Ikea (somewhat like cranberries but smaller and more tart). One Swedish / Scandinavian dish I don't like is lutefisk - its a cured fish that, to me, has a strong taste of ammonia. Not appealing to say the least.

 

[Ronm1]

One Swedish / Scandinavian dish I don't like is lutefisk - its a cured fish that, to me, has a strong taste of ammonia. Not appealing to say the least.

I have never understood how this dish could have even an acquired taste. It's use at Gitmo as a talking inducement seems more appropriate.

 

[amirm]

I have never understood how this dish could have even an acquired taste. It's use at Gitmo as a talking inducement seems more appropriate.

Reminds me of Andrew Zimmer's show. Seems like the trick is to cook it with gobs of butter:

 

[amirm]

So I keep marvelling at how hard brick and mortar retailers work to put themselves out of business. I get this email from Fry's electronics. For those of you who don't know this small retail chain in US, they specialize in having a ton of stuff in stock and on display, coupled with sales people who know absolutely nothing about them. And are hard to locate to boot! In other words, if you know what you want, you are in good shape. If you don't, then you are in trouble . The founder of the company is the sun of a guy who owned a chain of supermarkets so patterned the electronic store after that.

Until recently they had a web site that would ran 101 in the list of 100 worst web sites. They recently made it better but compared to amazon, it still gets an F. I signed up for their promotion emails and just go this cryptic email saying there is an in store promo code and a link to their weekly ad. I click on the link and get a couple of pages worth of electronics. But noticed the oddest thing:

Look to the right. The promo code gives a huge price break from the sale price of $349 down to $150. Now look to the left. The sale price for those batteries is $10 but if you use the promo code, the price jumps *up* to $25!!! The entire ad is that way with a bunch of items cheaper with promo code, but others more expensive!

I suspect some moron created the ad but didn't proof read it, nor did anyone else up the chain.

 

[MadFloyd]

So I keep marvelling at how hard brick and mortar retailers work to put themselves out of business. I get this email from Fry's electronics. For those of you who don't know this small retail chain in US, they specialize in having a ton of stuff in stock and on display, coupled with sales people who know absolutely nothing about them. And are hard to locate to boot! In other words, if you know what you want, you are in good shape. If you don't, then you are in trouble . The founder of the company is the sun of a guy who owned a chain of supermarkets so patterned the electronic store after that.

Until recently they had a web site that would ran 101 in the list of 100 worst web sites. They recently made it better but compared to amazon, it still gets an F. I signed up for their promotion emails and just go this cryptic email saying there is an in store promo code and a link to their weekly ad. I click on the link and get a couple of pages worth of electronics. But noticed the oddest thing:

Look to the right. The promo code gives a huge price break from the sale price of $349 down to $150. Now look to the left. The sale price for those batteries is $10 but if you use the promo code, the price jumps *up* to $25!!! The entire ad is that way with a bunch of items cheaper with promo code, but others more expensive!

I suspect some moron created the ad but didn't proof read it, nor did anyone else up the chain.

$24.99 is the savings value of the coupon. Original value $34.99, use the coupon ($24.99) and you have the final price of $10. Same for the vacuum: regular price $499.99, coupon of $150.99 for sale price of $349.

Maybe it could be clearer, but it made sense to me.

 

[amirm]

Well duh . I guess what threw me off is the discount being larger than the final price so it looked like the price with coupon. Or the way Amazon just gives you the deal price, rather the reduction.