Not Fitting in the Strategic and Tactical Plans

I was out shopping at the corporate bookstore I used to work at last night. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was that the octagon was gone.

The octagon was the large, eight sided display unit that held all of the new releases. The first impression the customer received of the store was that it sold books, and boom, here are the current ones.

It has been replaced by a kiosk that is promoting the store's electronic book reader.

I have nothing against the electronic reader. It is not something I am interested in using. Give me an iPod Touch and I'd be happy, I'm not that much of a technology hater, but the kindle/nook/reader has little appeal for me. Call me old and in need of paper, still.

I did have an item in mind to purchase when I went in there. Went into the music department and continue to notice that most of the music is being replaced with blu-ray DVDs. Looked around for the cd I wanted by Janelle Monae, looked at the endcaps, in the pop rock and soul sections - did not find it. Finally asked the clerk, who asked my how to spell her name (never a good sign) then told me the store did not have the item. It had one copy, but sold it and they were waiting for another copy to arrive.

This is why people have migrated to shopping online. When you go to a store, have to root around the displays climbing over the new Renee Fleming crossover record or special Celtic music displays and still do not find what you are looking for, why waste your time?

Age has caught up to me, time has passed me by. I have to lower my expectations of going to a store and actually finding what I'm looking to purchase to, well, not getting what I want and taking my money elsewhere.

Remember the days of shopping when you actually found what you were looking for, the first time? Man, those were good times, how long ago were they?

My Scottish Wife insisted on seeing the A-Team movie. I guess the original series was big in Scotland the way Anne of Green Gables is popular in Japan. So she was stoked to see it on opening night.

Seeing Liam Neeson kick ass on screen is worth the price of admission, and in that case, the A-Team delivers. If you like explosions over plot, this is the movie for you. It's a cartoon on film. There are no expectations of thespians showing up on screen. I never watched the A-Team series, but lowered my bar of film snobbery and had a good time, which made my wife happy - and isn't that what it's all about sometimes?