A day about town

Today was a normal Saturday, I made some calls, got a haircut, went shopping.

Before I get to that though, I have to say one thing: banks are evil. I am deeply unhappy about bailing them out in the way that we are. The last time things were this bad our new President had this to say:

"[T]he rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failures and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men."

-FDR

Hell, yes, and thank you, Franklin for saying that better than I ever could. That is exactly how I felt talking to Chase last week.

Two months ago I made a payment 4 days late. I got dinged with a $40 late fee, plus I had to pay interest on my charges for that month. Fine, whatever. The next month they charged me interest on my purchases again. Long story short, that is how it works. Miss a payment one month, pay interest for two months.

I don't know how that's not illegal, but it's definitely evil. Revolution is looking likelier by the day, so those that are gonna be first against the wall better watch their step. Do you really want to die in a blindfold because you screwed your own customers for a few measly bucks? Was it worth it? That's all I'm saying...

Speaking of new Presidents, the Acme Barbershop was all abuzz about the inauguration. Curt, my regular hair-cutter, told everybody that once Obama is inaugurated, gas will cost four cents-a-gallon and cars will emit perfume & flowers. Brian, my hair-cutter from today, muttered, "I don't know what the fuck that's about. Sometimes I wish I were deaf." Ah, topical banter in a barbershop--just like in the movies!

I don't do a lot of shopping, but it was more interesting with my iPhone. Borders often sends me coupons for 25% to 30% off an item, so I wandered around Borders trying to find something I want that is less than 125% of its price on Amazon. It was not easy. I bought a $45 book (Beautiful Code,) and an $11 CD (Fab Four Suture.) Then I realized that Amazon employees and most of the rest of the country don't pay sales tax on Amazon. Considering that, my net savings was $5. It took me about an hour in the store, and an hour in transit to save that $5.

I guess it's obvious that brick & mortar stores are hurting, but that really threw it into sharp relief. A lot of people have smart phones, and it's incredibly easy and cheap to shop online, so who will buy from these stores anymore? Only people who have time, an obsessive desire to save, coupons for a steep discount, and cheap public transit. (Gas and parking would more than cancel out my savings. Counting my bus fare, savings from today was $3.50.)

In addition to my $3.50, I also got a front row seat to several protests being held on the same block downtown.

There were Christians:

Zionists? (I couldn't get a good picture of the last flag, but I'm pretty sure it's a firefighters emblem, so I really don't know what this person was about.)

And Iraq war protesters. (Not pictured. I did give them a thumbs up though.)

It's ironic for someone to yell, "Jesus loves you!," very angrily at everyone who walks by. It reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw: "Lord, please protect me from your followers."

Frankly though I don't think they're any less effective than any of the other groups out there. I don't want to be mean to the Iraq war protesters, whom I sympathize with, but if massive worldwide demonstrations didn't prevent (or even slow) the war, then handing out fliers on the corner isn't going to end it.

That's okay. This year when I was in California during the Prop 8 battle, I decided that protesting isn't actually about convincing anyone. It's just an outlet for people who care about some issue or another, because they have a voice and they want to be heard. I totally get that. I do blog, after all.