Xpression.v2

Sunday has seemingly become journal entry day in the world of blogging for me.

Before I get to the personal life issues, I have a question: Why all the ads? All over the web, people like me host their own blogs. However, it seems a larger and larger amount of these people inundate their pages with ads (usually Google ads). Why? First of all, it’s cheap to run a site like this. I spend about $10 a year for the domain name and $48 for the hosting. That’s hardly a large expense in the grand realm of things. To further negate the value of these ads, most blogs get few hits. Unless you’re a popular tech blogger, you’ll probably get a few thousand hits a month (I usually hover between 30,000 to 50,000) and a number of those hits will probably be search engines indexing your site and such. Then, to top it all off, these people put their valueless ads in the middle of their blog entry so it now takes up valuable screen space. It just makes no sense. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve thought about it a few times, too. However, I’m just grateful that people are willing to stop by and read what I have to say. The last thing I want to do it annoy people with ads. That said, if you click this link, many girls will want you and your penis will grow by inches!…..;)

Back to the less technical, more complicated side of life otherwise known as reality. Work has been kind of cool lately. My store is just finishing up a complete revamp of Home Theater. The new department, renamed HEET, is much more cleanly laid out and really makes me feel like I actually have a semi professional job. Almost all of our flat panels are hanging on a wood paneled wall. The aisles were opened up to allow you room to step back and really take in all the TV’s. To top it all off, the audio equipment has all been put into a studio room that is controlled entirely by a touchscreen computer monitor. With the touch screen, you can choose which receiver, front speakers, rear speakers, center channel, subwoofer and source you want to test out. All of it is interchangeable so the number of possible combinations is staggering. To complete the room, there are 3 big screen, flat panel television and a retractable projector screen. I think I need to brush up on my audio and spend my days in that bad boy.

Besides looking cool, the new department also makes me feel much more comfortable. I find that I’m much less frustrated and depressed while working the floor. It’s a great change from the old catacombs we used to work in. Best Buy did a good job. I have to give them credit.

But, as does God, I giveth and I taketh. I’m taking credit away from the person who decided my work ethic and productivity deserved more work. It seems I’ve once again been thrown to the wolves and have become the official Home Theater cycle count guy. Basically, every Tuesday, I go in from 7 - 4 and spend most of my day counting every single non-accessory item in the department. Luckily, there’s a 2 or 3 week cycle, so I can get the counts done by 2:30pm or so and then take my lunch. It’s just a bitch, though. All I spend my day doing is counting, filling out the paper work, climbing mountains of boxes to find product, and running to every corner of the store trying to track missing items down. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the break from the customers (I refuse to sell and count at the same time. I’d never get done), but it’s stressing because I seem to actually give a damn and really want to make sure those counts are accurate. For such a lazy, unmotivated bastard, those counts really do something to me.

To finish things off here, let me say that the holidays are upon us and you should expect me to be a bit moody, at times. The company figures that my store will have about 80,000 customers between the months of November and December and it can get very stressful. If you see me cursing or distancing myself, just let me be. I’m one of those guys who needs his time in peace and the holidays tend to take away from that a bit.

Filed under: Journal