The Power of Choice

Place: Huddle House
Lunch: Chili, strawberry shortcake, Pepsi

Waitress, acting as cashier, says "Yah ate that Strawberry Shortcaike pretty fast."

Me: "Yeah, you have to eat fast around here."

Waitress: "That shore is true."

Busy place.

So as I'm pulling into my driveway, there's a big piece of trash sitting in it. I run it over, park in the garage, and walk out to investigate. It's the big city newspaper, wrapped in plastic. With my tire print on it.

I don't subscribe to the paper. In fact, I once considered suing them. My wife used to subscribe years ago, and let the subscription lapse because we weren't reading it anymore. They continued to deliver anyway. One day, the paper guy shows up at our door asking for payment.

"We don't subscribe anymore," we said.

"Oh, but you didn't call and cancel, so we assume you want to keep the subscription active. Please pay. I have to pay for the papers, so you're really not sticking it to them...you're sticking it to meeeee!"

WOW.

I blew my top. Absolutely went off on the guy. Told him I was contacting the Attorney General's office.

Which I did. And they questioned the paper about this practice.

The paper ended up reimbursing the guy for the papers. Then they called our answering machine and left a message explaining their right to do this. The message was so long, the answering machine hung up on them and they had to call back to finish it.

The satisfaction for me was that it was clearly written by an attorney, and that meant they had spent far more money on this problem than they EVER made from us in subscription fees.

So anytime a stray paper would show up on our doorstep, we'd either call and complain, or my wife would stop by their office (which neighbored hers) and complain.

They'll be getting a complaining e-mail tonight.

Anyway, the first thing I see in the plastic under the tire tread is "Are we a nation of distractions?"

The subtitle is "Freedom to have unlimited choices in life may not really be a freedom at all".

OOOH. My blood got going right there.

The (Associated Press) article first focused on a shop dedicated to sodas in California...how they had 500 varieties...then went to the dramatic expansion in cable channels. A sidebar called "Too many choices?" laid out other examples, from the number of available books on Amazon, to the number of menu items at Taco Bell.

The ultimate target, of course, was politics. "In a universe of unprecedented static, how can an American leader lead?"

The rest of the article didn't really matter...it gave examples of how too much choice makes us "short-circuit" and make no choice at all, and it didn't really draw any conclusion. It kind of collapsed under its own weight. I think the point was "how do our leaders get our attention", or "how do we get everybody involved in politics". My opinion on politics is simple...There's too much of it, and it's far too deeply rooted in our lives. I DO vote, and my vote is made on one simple factor...Who is most likely to butt out of my life?

Nothing has improved my life more over the years than the internet. I have instant access to the world. The expansion of knowledge and creativity is unprecedented. If it weren't for the internet, I probably would have died of boredom years ago.

Twenty years ago, I was working in a radio format known as "AOR", or "Album-Oriented Rock". The concept was to go deeper into rock albums than whatever was deemed the single at the time. A station might be playing two or three tracks from the latest U2 release among their current music rotation, which played alongside what was then considered the classics...the roots of hard rock. And even THEN we had people complaining to us for being to narrow-minded in the music we played.

The format, the last little bastion of creativity on the FM dial itself, died almost universally overnight when a single program director with a lot of clout invented "classic rock". New music was no longer relevant. A simple list of "test-proven" tunes from fewer than fifty artists played over and over again was better for the mindless masses.

And so it has been ever since.

And my love for radio pretty much died.

At the time, there were two mediums for discovering music...Radio, and MTV. New artists had already long since been complaining they couldn't get exposure to their music in the corporate-driven industry. For people who actually liked hearing new things, it was a horribly stifling time.

Today, the music world has turned upside-down. Radio is completely unnecessary anymore. Finding new music is as simple as listening to samples online, searched by genre. And for artists, recording your own album is relatively easy and much less expensive than it used to be

That's just one example of the power of choice.

Let's go back to that soda shop. The guy carries the variety he does NOT because he expects people to come in and sample a lot of it (though there are those who do), he does so because he knows people will come to him for that one specific soda they know only HE will have. And if enough people do so, he will be successful. His empire is built on the fringes. And God bless him for it.

It's wonderful that all these choices are out there.

But the most significant point the writer of the A.P. article doesn't get is that the vast majority of you don't take advantage of any choices at all.

There may be a large variety of sodas out there, but if you go down the aisle of Joe Average supermarket, you'll find them all divided the same way...1/3 Coke products, 1/3 Pepsi produts, 1/4 Dr. Pepper products, and 1/10 everything else. And that little "everything else" section isn't exactly stocking 500 other brands. And you stopped after the Coke section anyway.

You're all STILL blissfully ignorant of any recording artist not broadcast on the local classic rock or "Lite FM" station. (Country fans may be the exception, but the very idea of creativity in Country is absurd anyway).

You may have 150 cable channels, but you're only watching ten of them, if that many.

There may be 22 varieties of Doritos, but I'm thinking about 9 out of 10 of you never even think about buying any flavor but Nacho Cheese.

And you all know there's exactly two real choices in politics...Democrat, or Republican. And it doesn't matter who the face of the party is and what smoke and mirrors they throw up as an agenda (isn't it ironic how often THEY throw the word 'change' around?)...the end result will be exactly the same. Policies will change to benefit the same old agenda of the party in power, and the money that buys them.

THAT is a choice we need to expand upon.

Comfortable Seating

Place: Original Pizza
Lunch: Slice of pepperoni, Pepsi

A couple of months ago, I bought a new love seat. I'd been thinking about replacing my furniture for some time. I wanted lower height arms with better cushioning, like the microfiber stuff that's out there now. In the case of the love seat, something that would be easier to flop (lay) over without getting a stiff neck.

Behold the power of Big Lots, who I discovered were selling the perfect love seat in a dark green color called "Fern" for an incredible $219. Furniture Sales Manager: "I've got like FOUR of these things but I can't move them because I don't have the matching pieces. But it's a WONDERFUL sofa and I'd LOVE for you to take one home! I'd take one home myself if I had room for it!" Yes, they were desperate. And I snagged it.

(BTW - Those of you who have claimed to love the old one...it's in the garage in perfectly good condition awaiting a new home.)

Ever since, I've been looking for a chair and ottoman to go with it. It doesn't have to be an exact match...it just has to fit ME exactly.

So here I am in this old shopping mall (same place I'm eating at) that is going through a major remodel. Most of the ceiling is stripped to the frame joints, some sections are blocked off with temporary drywall, and about half the parking lot is fenced off. Some of the stores, including this fabulous pizza joint, look like refugees from the eighties. I'm having memories of the old Jantzen Beach shopping center here. I suppose they'll ruin that as the new look is phased in. (Did I mention about how they ruined the Jantzen Beach mall when I was in Portland? Oh, never mind...)

But the stores are open for the most part, and one of the anchors is a furniture store. So I wander in.

And what do I see but my love seat. The very same one I got at Big lots. Right there practically as I walk in the door. Same manufacturer, same color. Slightly higher price...okay, WAY higher price. On sale for $400-plus. Their regular price was north of $450.

But the big deal is, they have the exact matching chair and ottoman. On sale for...oh...I think it was close to $600 for the pair.

So I sat in the chair, briefly dreaming of the bliss of matching coordinated furniture.

VERY briefly.

The chair was AWFUL.

It sat your back straight up and stiff. There was no way I could relax in this thing. It was horrible.

Elderly Sales Lady approaches and explains how these are on sale, and how they could knock off even more if I were a cash buyer. I thanked her and advised I was just browsing.

I HAVE found the perfect chair and ottoman in terms of comfort, but the store was out of stock and they wouldn't have fit in my vehicle anyway. They were the right price too, about $329 for the pair if I remember correctly. The color was a lighter green, which probably wouldn't look too good against my existing love seat. I think I'd be better off with a dark brown or maybe even sand colored solution.

Maybe if time and space converge and I happen to be in that area again with the right vehicle, I'll get it anyway.

Or maybe something else will come up at Big Lots.