Believe it or not, it’s almost Thanksgiving Day! At the beginning of this month, I bookmarked an article on CNN.com that I wanted to blog about and I just haven’t gotten around to it until now - so forgive me if this information and my opinions are dated!

Over at CNN.com they posted an article talking about how major retailers are luring in holiday shoppers with huge discounts. Well, I combined this article with the great information that I found over at one of my favorite holiday websites - BFAds.net - to come to a general realization: today’s retailers have no idea what the public wants! I’m sure anyone can come to these conclusions on their own, but looking at the “deep discounts” that are listed on the Black Friday advertisements is appalling.

I guess what really gets me is that while there are discounts on a variety of items in each of the stores, you don’t see any of the stores really cutting prices on items that people in my age group would want. For example, Circuit City has great DVD discounts, but not really on the programs that I’m looking for on Black Friday. On the same token, all of the stores have some semblance of a sale on the next generation of video games (Wii, X360, and PS3), but none of them are going out on that limb and reducing the prices $50 or $100 below the competition. Granted, there are some restrictions in terms of how much money the various companies expect to receive with each sale, but isn’t that a basic premise of marketing and advertising? Draw the customer in with a blockbuster, financially-bad deal for company and then make up the difference (and then some) with other sales during the customer’s visit.

Looking through the Black Friday ads it just doesn’t appear that retailers understand this concept. What will it take for a profitable Christmas season? Deep discounts on quality items that will bring shoppers into your specific store. Simple, right?

Well, let’s see how it goes on Friday…

Earlier today a news brief was posted on the Daily Record’s website that spoke about the increase in students attending county colleges. Below is an excerpt of the release, which I’m sure will be made into a fuller article in the coming days:

The New Jersey Council of County Colleges says there are 158,152 students taking classes this fall. Nearly 81,000 are full-time, a 4.6 percent increase over last year.

County colleges previously had more part-time students. But the group says that trend has changed as tuition climbed at four-year schools.

Tuition at New Jersey’s county colleges averages about $2,500. It’s $9,500 at four-year schools.

This is great! Not only are New Jersey students saving some money by attending the county colleges, but as more and more of them make the 2-year pit stop at “county” before heading off to the larger schools, there is less and less of a stigma attached to the schools. County colleges often get tagged with the “13th Grade” moniker or other derogatory nicknames. I’ve never attended classes at a county college, so I wouldn’t know what the classroom atmosphere is like though I can’t imagine it is too much different than attending a smaller class at Rutgers, Monmouth, Rowan, or TCNJ.

As a side note, if this means that more New Jerseyans are going to college, then that is another great outcome of the county colleges!

USA Today had a great article a few days back that talked about the rapidly declining PC and laptop sales in the Japanese technology market. It’s a pretty interesting read so you may want to check it out if you get a few free minutes.

The article makes a great point regarding the growing internet capabilities of handheld devices like cell phones and video game systems. It also points out the new abilities for digital cameras to connect directly to televisions and to printers without having to go through a computer.

Again, it’s pretty interesting so take a read if you get a chance, but from my view - I don’t think that the PC is going the way of the dinosaur any time soon. There are too many uses for the machine for it to become obsolete. I do, however, think that prices of new computers need to drop dramatically. And I’m not talking about paying $250 for a personal computer with a 15 inch LCD screen and substandard parts, either. I mean when Dell announces a new XPS and HP announces a new high-end laptop, these things can’t be priced at $2,000! There’s no way to keep the larger home computer market sustainable at that price range - it just can’t happen.

Granted, there are increased costs with creating a higher-end computer and that is understandable, but when computers that were high-end 3 or 4 years ago are still priced out of the general consumer market, that’s a problem. That said, Best Buy is offering a $200 computer for Black Friday, but the specs on it don’t look all that exciting.

First of all, it’s an eMachines computer. I know many folks (old college buddies) that have had problems with these computers, though I also know fewer folks who have not had a problem with them. As the article linked above says:

Don’t expect the world though. The PC is rumored to be powered by an Intel Celeron running at 2.66 Ghz (meaning no efficient and powerful ‘Core’ for you), comes with 512 megabytes of RAM (which is the bare minimum for doing just about anything on a computer these days), has a measly 80 Gigabyte hard drive, and it has no DVD burner.

No DVD burner? It’s 2007, right?

Anyway, check out those articles - they are pretty interesting reads.

Today’s Daily Record is carrying an article about the Chief Financial Officer in Mount Arlington stepping down from his position. The article is written such that the “story” is how the expected replacement does not have a Master’s Degree nor has she finished the required training classes to assume the position yet. Alright, maybe there is some type of story there, but I’m not really interested in that.

My interest, as many of you know, is with unnecessary government expenditures. The article in the Daily Record lists out the remuneration of the current CFO:

Dickinson was paid $15,000 a year to work about one day a week as the borough’s chief financial officer. He also earned an additional $10,000 this year for extra work overseeing the borough’s bond offerings and an additional $12,000 for acting as an internal auditor.

The salary the next chief financial officer will earn has yet to be determined, Ondish said.

Dickinson will retire from his internal auditor and bond service roles in addition to retiring as chief financial officer. It is expected that Rinaldi will be appointed only as chief financial officer, although she would also retain her current duties as assistant administrator.

Does anyone else see a problem with paying a guy $15,000 per year for “about one day a week” of work? I do. For a municipality as small as Mount Arlington there is no need to spend more than $5,000 per year on such a part-time employee. The $10,000 for overseeing the bond issue is about in the right range, but I have another issue with the $12,000 for acting as the internal auditor.

No, it’s not the expense (which seems about right for doing a municipal audit) - it’s that in a state where “double-dipping” is seen as a major issue and the word “corruption” is thrown around as a catchphrase, I wouldn’t want either of those negative stigmas to hit my good hometown. Of course, my concern might be borne of the fact that I live in Monmouth County a.k.a. Corruption Capital of the Jersey Shore!

In any event, I think it is high time for taxpayers to create independent, VOLUNTEER councils to review municipal expenditures. If such a council can operate on a volunteer basis and remain politics-free, then they would be major benefits to the entire municipality. That is, of course, a pipe dream!

Anyway, check out New Jersey Carpet Cleaning for the best carpet cleaning in the Garden State!

The folks at MSNBC took a break from producing complete garbage for a change and posted an editorial by Chuck Todd that talked about today’s electorate. He specifically cited the failure of New Jersey’s stem cell research referendum to pass in this past Tuesday’s elections.

His point is an interesting one - what is it that could take a generally left-of-center electorate in New Jersey and have it defeat a generally left-of-center funding concept (this is not about the topic - stem cell research - which has bipartisan support in this state)? In other words, what is eating away at the electorate that they are against these types of programs? Another one of Todd’s examples is the failure of a private school voucher system in Utah - where it should have been a shoe-in.

This all comes down to an electorate that is dissatisfied and distrustful of government leaders. Who would trust the government to run any of these programs effectively? I sure as hell wouldn’t! I would trust a private company to be more efficient about certain programs, though, since they have a bottom line to worry about. Politicians are generally part of a bloated bureaucracy that doesn’t need to be concerned about fiscal responsibility. Everyone is guilty here - Republicans and Democrats. In New Jersey, though, the Democrats are really bad at fiscal responsibility as is evidenced by our ridiculous state budget and its many shortfalls. The stance that these shortfalls were all Republican produced is garbage. There have been more than enough Democrats controlling this state for a prolonged period of time that they could have cut the fat if they wanted to.

And this is an essential part of the problem in Trenton and why the New Jersey electorate is mad. The Democrats are just doing a bad job in this state with half-promises and go-nowhere policies…and the Republicans are not a viable option right now! What is the electorate to do in such a situation where you don’t trust your Democratic government and you aren’t excited about the Republican candidates? Simple. You vote “no” as many times as possible.

This is what the New Jersey electorate did on Tuesday and I, for one, am excited about what the electorate will do come Election Day 2008!

Early results show that there were no more than 35% of the New Jersey electorate that actually got out there and voted today. You can count me as one of the 65% that did NOT vote today. I did not go to the ballot box in some form of protest - I didn’t vote because I have to drive an hour and a half to Mount Arlington to cast my vote and then an hour and a half back. Not happening…especially when there are no national or statewide candidates on the ballot!

That said, it looks like nothing new happened in New Jersey. Of course, I am writing this about 30 minutes after the polls have closed, but it looks like the exit polling shows no major change in any of the races. My hometown of Mount Arlington had no change in local elected officials. My State Senator (Anthony Bucco) won re-election, too.

The only two folks that I hope did NOT win tonight are Senator Ellen Karcher, a Democrat from Monmouth County (my current place of residence) and Candidate Joe Hughes, a Republican from West Long Branch. Hughes is the gentleman who is dead set against Monmouth University advancement in any form that imposes on his concept of what their boundaries should be. And Karcher waged what I believe was an unethical campaign in 2004 to win her seat from then Senate President John O. Bennett - someone (who I consider a friend) that was thrown under the bus in that election by a biased media.

In any event, it seems that there are just fewer and fewer people who are voting in these local elections. What a shame. The following is from an Asbury Park Press article on this topic:

Why the disconnect between prospective voters and actually voting?

“Life is complicated and this is not important to me and I’m busy,” said Ingrid Reed, director of the New Jersey Project at Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute of Politics, describing some of the reasons why people don’t vote.

Reed said the Garden State’s well-deserved reputation for political corruption is turning some voters off.

She added most voters don’t know which legislative district they live in, making for very little interest in an election topped by the state Legislature.

Turnout tends to be higher in elections with a statewide or national office up for vote. In 2003, the last time the Legislature topped the ballot, only 34 percent of eligible voters cast ballots.

It’s generally believed that voter turnout is higher when the weather is good. Tuesday’s morning showers probably did not help.

This article, written by the Associated Press, is probably right on here. Who wants to partake in a system that really doesn’t help the end-users equally around the state? That’s how it is in New Jersey - you vote for a candidate that you think will bring change and then you get more of your tax dollars pumped into Newark, Camden, Trenton, and other areas where it is apparently needed more than your pocket.

Ah…New Jersey.

Since I haven’t had time to put together a coherent post in the last few days, here are some random thoughts from the last 5 - 7 days. As you’ll see, this is about as disjointed as you can get for a blog entry, but hey - if millions of other blogs can do it daily, then why can’t I do it once in a blue moon?

• You ever watch a football game and the wrong team wins? For those of you who have played football at any level - have you ever been in a game where you are obviously the better team, but you don’t win the game? I watched the Colts take on the Patriots last night and even though the Patriots had a 24 - 20 victory over the Colts, Manning and his teammates are obviously the better football team. At least in my view, that is. And I take nothing away from the Patriots (who are amazing), but after watching yesterday’s game it just seemed clear that the Colts are a better team. I could be wrong, though…
• On the subject of sports, I’m still baffled that the baseball season is over. You know when the football season is over because there is this massive Super Bowl where over 100 million people watch. It just seems like baseball ended this year and no one took notice. How many people even know that the Red Sox won the Series? How many people even care?
• You may recall that I went out over the summer and bought myself a Nintendo Wii. I have a lot of fun playing it, though I certainly don’t play it as much as I used to play video games when I was a little kid. But still, a quick game or two of bowling before I go to bed at night is fun. Anyway, part of the excitement of owning a cutting edge video game system is getting the new game as soon as it’s released. I really don’t have the time for that any more, but I figured what the hell and bought Guitar Hero III the other night. Wow. Talk about a fun game! You get to use this guitar controller to play all of these rock songs. It’s a lot of fun! Though I do take issue with the “Legends of Rock” subtitle…some of the folks in that game are brand new to the music industry and are by no means legends yet. Hell, some aren’t even footnotes yet!
• Last weekend I went up to Roxbury and while I was there I tried to play his XBox 360. Lucky for me, the machine was just having all types of problems. Think about it in terms of how your computer gets all goofy on you when Windows doesn’t work correctly. We eventually got the problem handled and I played a little Halo 3 (which lasted all of 20 minutes because the guy on the screen was hard to control). I just found it funny that Microsoft has managed to not only bring a high-tech gaming system to the masses, but they brought along the bugs and bs with it!
• I don’t know if you heard, but the Hollywood writers went on strike. I’m heartbroken…
• There were a lot of reports this weekend of King Tut being on display to the public for the first time ever. I really don’t like this move. Besides the fact that Tut’s body is petrified at 3000+ years old, putting him on display is just inappropriate (in my view). How many of us would want our petrified, blackened bodies put out on display in the year 5007? I don’t think this is the right thing to do at all.
• Have you guys seen the female wrestler named Awesome Kong? She’s in TNA right now and she’s a beast! And she is easily one of the best aspects of the show right now.
• Finally, I watched the Giants and Dolphins go at it in London last weekend. I understand the NFL’s desire to spread their market and to reward those NFL fans who ARE in other countries, but I wasn’t the biggest fan of the atmosphere. Besides the rain and crappy field, the fans weren’t the typical, rowdy American football fan. All you had to do was watch the extra point and instead of fans standing up and cheering so the kicker sees them going nuts behind the goal post, you had a group of a very nice, very proper Brits sitting there awaiting the result of the kick. Very proper, indeed!

I just wanted to share those random observations and thoughts with you. Have a good one!