I was born in 1970, I grew up in the 1980s.
Those years are distant memories, sadly. In many ways life is so much better now. But like everybody who grows up, there's nostalgia for the past, a sense that things were better back when.
I grew up playing video games. It seems like video games and the 1980s go hand in hand, but as I have been reminded recently, video games made a huge splash in the early 80s. They didn't completely disappear in the late 80s, but arcades were already falling by the wayside long before 1990.
By the time I was in high school the first Nintendo game system was finding its way into homes nationwide. Home video systems had never held a candle to the arcade experience, but Nintendo narrowed that gap significantly. The arcade industry quickly became irrelevant by the late 80s.
What I was surprised to learn recently was that pinball -- which suffered mightily at the success of Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and the rest -- experienced a renaissance of its own in the early 1990s. As video games nudged pinball machines out of bowling alley game rooms, pinball manufacturers had to improve their game if they were to hang around. Ramps, multiple playfields and other innovations made pinball a complex game. The premise remained the same, but the complexity of it grew.
Despite the pinball renaissance, the 90s saw the same downturn in the pinball industry as the video game industry saw in the 80s.
Here we are in 2010. Both are down, but not out. How much longer that will hold true is anybody's guess, but I don't like the odds.
I can't speak for video games. I'm not interested in anything that passes for a video game, and I haven't been for a long time. But given that I was a kid who loved video games, and didn't care much for pinball, it's ironic that I have a great affection for pinball at this point in my life.
Pinball has been almost nonexistent in my life during the past 15 years, yet it fascinates me far more than video games of any kind. I haven't purchased a video game system in more than 10 years, and I'm doubting that I'll buy one again. It's more likely that I'll shell out $2,000 in the years to come for a secondhand pinball machine. I"m convinced it's not a question of if, but when.
There have been a number of pinball machine manufacturers throughout pinball's history, but for the past 10 years, it has been down to one, Stern. Stern is producing a few new machines each year, most of which are tied to a movie, TV show or other licensed entity. The days of building a machine around a simple, generic theme seem to be gone. Machines today are tied to blockbuster movie franchises and popular television shows, primarily. Even so, there's evidence that the last manufacturer standing is having a tough time selling enough machines to keep going.
There may be plenty of bowling alleys and bars willing to host a pinball machine or two, but how many people are going out of their way to play pinball? Not many, I am sure. Kids today are growing up with sophisticated video game systems in their home, they don't need to go to a bowling alley to play games of skill and chance. Between video game systems and Internet gaming, there's little need for arcade cabinets or pinball machines.
Those who love the thrill of playing pinball are few and far between, and there's little chance of another pinball renaissance, it seems.
Pinball enthusiasts, sometimes referred to as "pinheads," are a dying breed. I'm no pinball historian, but from what I do know, pinball has a long, colorful history. Today's pinball, with flippers, traces its roots to 1947. It's a game that has at times flourished, but today is languishing worse than ever. There are too few pinheads and too many factors working against 21st century pinball. I think it's only a matter of time before the final chapter in the history of pinball is written.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Squeaker convention, epilogue
I'm greedy.
I'm all about saving money, and I have learned how to save money in a variety of ways thanks to the Internet, including how to maximize coupons and rebates thanks to Keri's website. I use her site every week, but I don't promote the incredible deals I score.
People take pride in noticing that there's an unadvertised deal at Target, determining if there is a corresponding coupon in their stash and telling everyone else via Keri's site that you can get a bottle of mustard for a dime. Occasionally I have noted a coupon matches a sale item, but I don't make a habit of sharing my ways and means. Why? I'm greedy.
The way I see it, the more people realize there's free toothpaste to be had -- and that you can occasionally earn a buck credit toward your total bill by using a coupon -- the more likely the product is going to vanish from the store shelves before I have a chance to nab it. That's a common occurrence at Walgreens, a store that is lousy at stocking products it essentially gives away through its frustrating "Rebate Rewards" program. Therefore I'm not interested in promoting Keri's website, I don't need additional competition for the free toothpaste.
Keri, however, wants everyone to know about the great deals at Walgreens. Why?
For starters, she's aggregating information from multiple sources, I am convinced. She doesn't sit down for hours each week and start from scratch, categorizing the weekly coupons into a database, then searching it to match products on sale at the grocery stores to coupons in her database. I'm sure there's some of her own research involved, but the information she posts is similar to information posted on sites around the country. It doesn't take an eye doctor to see the similarities between the lists. Nonetheless, she takes time to compile such lists, add her own recommendations and knowledge and present it in an easy to follow format.
She started this, she says, to educate others about how to save as much money as she has. I don't doubt that. But I think she also saw a way to fill a niche locally, and reap some benefits from it. She makes money from her website. How much? I have no idea, but she gets thousands of hits per week, without a doubt, and she makes money off of ads on her website, as well as for referrals from her website to select Internet sites. She's very forward about what she does and doesn't do for financial benefit, and is probably more forthcoming than many sites on how she might benefit from use of her site. It's refreshing to see.
Bottom line, she makes money by sharing her tips with a growing online audience. I'm all for that, but I don't make money off of promoting her site, so I don't, because I'm greedy.
I'm all about saving money, and I have learned how to save money in a variety of ways thanks to the Internet, including how to maximize coupons and rebates thanks to Keri's website. I use her site every week, but I don't promote the incredible deals I score.
People take pride in noticing that there's an unadvertised deal at Target, determining if there is a corresponding coupon in their stash and telling everyone else via Keri's site that you can get a bottle of mustard for a dime. Occasionally I have noted a coupon matches a sale item, but I don't make a habit of sharing my ways and means. Why? I'm greedy.
The way I see it, the more people realize there's free toothpaste to be had -- and that you can occasionally earn a buck credit toward your total bill by using a coupon -- the more likely the product is going to vanish from the store shelves before I have a chance to nab it. That's a common occurrence at Walgreens, a store that is lousy at stocking products it essentially gives away through its frustrating "Rebate Rewards" program. Therefore I'm not interested in promoting Keri's website, I don't need additional competition for the free toothpaste.
Keri, however, wants everyone to know about the great deals at Walgreens. Why?
For starters, she's aggregating information from multiple sources, I am convinced. She doesn't sit down for hours each week and start from scratch, categorizing the weekly coupons into a database, then searching it to match products on sale at the grocery stores to coupons in her database. I'm sure there's some of her own research involved, but the information she posts is similar to information posted on sites around the country. It doesn't take an eye doctor to see the similarities between the lists. Nonetheless, she takes time to compile such lists, add her own recommendations and knowledge and present it in an easy to follow format.
She started this, she says, to educate others about how to save as much money as she has. I don't doubt that. But I think she also saw a way to fill a niche locally, and reap some benefits from it. She makes money from her website. How much? I have no idea, but she gets thousands of hits per week, without a doubt, and she makes money off of ads on her website, as well as for referrals from her website to select Internet sites. She's very forward about what she does and doesn't do for financial benefit, and is probably more forthcoming than many sites on how she might benefit from use of her site. It's refreshing to see.
Bottom line, she makes money by sharing her tips with a growing online audience. I'm all for that, but I don't make money off of promoting her site, so I don't, because I'm greedy.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Squeaker convention, chapter 4 (unedited)
How big is this church hosting the squeaker convention? They have their own kitchen, naturally, and baked hundreds of cookies fresh that day for the convention. It's a compound.
Most of the squeakers were in the big conference room when we got there. I think it was eight to a table. Fortunately the open seats were closest to the front. I wanted to be able to get video of the event conveniently. I wasn't there in a working capacity, but I produced a short video, very similar to what I would have done had I been producing video for the newspaper. I used my company-issued camera, and edited the video late one night at the office, but the video has no visible connection to my company. The event even took place in one of our coverage areas, featuring a woman from another one of our coverage areas, but given how ridiculous our online presence is these days, I opted to do it independent of the company. Again, another story for another time.
Much of the convention was Keri's stories about herself. How she and her husband were $50,000 in debt, but made conscious choices that made them debt free in less than three year, how she decided to start a website devoted to coupon clipping, how she became a media darling.
There was a short interactive bit where we chatted with somebody we didn't know at our table. Afterward a couple of us at each table won a prize bag from a salon chain. The prize bag had a bottle of shampoo, which I'm sure is far more expensive than I'd ever pay for a bottle of shampoo. If you don't require expensive hair products then you can get bottles of shampoo and conditioner pretty cheap on a regular basis. This is assuming you're will to spend more than $1 for a bottle of Suave.
A bunch of door prizes were given away toward the end of the night. There was nothing spectacular, but there were a bunch of nice things. We didn't win any. Such is life. Keri fielded questions a couple of times during the night, and people had plenty of them. Some of the squeakers would have gladly made a six-hour night of it if they had the chance.
At the conclusion of the convention a number of people approached Keri. I expected this. People thanked Keri for all her work, which didn't surprise me. (To hear a few people talk, Keri isn't saving the squeakers money, she's changing their life. You'd think these people had joined Amway.)
What I didn't expect was people seeking pictures with Keri. Several people wanted their picture with her. Yes, she's a public figure in the Twin Cities, but the thought of getting a picture with her would never have occurred to me. Who knew telling people to clip this coupon for a discount at that store would garner rock star treatment? Not me.
Most of the squeakers were in the big conference room when we got there. I think it was eight to a table. Fortunately the open seats were closest to the front. I wanted to be able to get video of the event conveniently. I wasn't there in a working capacity, but I produced a short video, very similar to what I would have done had I been producing video for the newspaper. I used my company-issued camera, and edited the video late one night at the office, but the video has no visible connection to my company. The event even took place in one of our coverage areas, featuring a woman from another one of our coverage areas, but given how ridiculous our online presence is these days, I opted to do it independent of the company. Again, another story for another time.
Much of the convention was Keri's stories about herself. How she and her husband were $50,000 in debt, but made conscious choices that made them debt free in less than three year, how she decided to start a website devoted to coupon clipping, how she became a media darling.
There was a short interactive bit where we chatted with somebody we didn't know at our table. Afterward a couple of us at each table won a prize bag from a salon chain. The prize bag had a bottle of shampoo, which I'm sure is far more expensive than I'd ever pay for a bottle of shampoo. If you don't require expensive hair products then you can get bottles of shampoo and conditioner pretty cheap on a regular basis. This is assuming you're will to spend more than $1 for a bottle of Suave.
A bunch of door prizes were given away toward the end of the night. There was nothing spectacular, but there were a bunch of nice things. We didn't win any. Such is life. Keri fielded questions a couple of times during the night, and people had plenty of them. Some of the squeakers would have gladly made a six-hour night of it if they had the chance.
At the conclusion of the convention a number of people approached Keri. I expected this. People thanked Keri for all her work, which didn't surprise me. (To hear a few people talk, Keri isn't saving the squeakers money, she's changing their life. You'd think these people had joined Amway.)
What I didn't expect was people seeking pictures with Keri. Several people wanted their picture with her. Yes, she's a public figure in the Twin Cities, but the thought of getting a picture with her would never have occurred to me. Who knew telling people to clip this coupon for a discount at that store would garner rock star treatment? Not me.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Squeaker convention, chapter 3 (unedited)
So what happens at a squeaker convention? Considering I had never been to an organized gathering of squeakers, and Keri had never held a social gathering for squeakers, your guess might have been as good as mine.
The convention was held at a sprawling church in the north metro. It's our local version of the PTL Club, evidently. It's a well funded ministry that has yet to build a theme park, but that's probably next. I have no idea who plays the role of Tammy Faye Baker/Messner, but the figurehead of the ministry sure fills his pews, and the coffers. The church is a sprawling campus with all sorts of amenities. And although I didn't see the "church," I've seen it, on local television. This church has a Sunday program broadcast locally, which I think is live. And the production is slick, from what little I've seen of it on TV. This is no community access cable operation. The king of the castle has been scrutinized for the lavishness, of both his church and his lifestyle, and if I recall correctly, he hasn't shied away from the fact he lives extravagantly. It's a fascinating story, for another day, perhaps. I've read about the church, and I'd like to know more about it.
Keri is a member of this church, so she was able to secure a large conference room with tables to seat 250 of us. We all checked in upon arrival, receiving a swag bag with coupons that were of little value to me, unfortunately. If you brought donations for a local food shelf, they were collected at the door, and you received up to 15 raffle tickets for the prize drawing. My girlfriend and I donated about 40 items, including several cans of fruits and vegetables, several bottles of hot sauce, several cans of dog food, several peanut butter cups, four tubes of toothpaste, a box of girl scout cookies and a pack of disposable razors.
I'm sure many of us squeakers donated things we got free, or nearly free, at the grocery store. Toothpaste is easy to get free, or next to free, and it's easy to get lots of it. I bet there were hundreds of tubes of toothpaste in those bags.
I donated a bunch of hot sauce because I got them all free with a coupon from the Sunday paper. It's not the most logical thing to donate to a food shelf, but if people need help buying groceries, there's a good chance they'd like a condiment for their food, be it ketchup, mustard or hot sauce.
The dog food might seem like another illogical choice, but some food shelves take pet food. Just because you can't afford groceries and rent doesn't mean you don't have a pet. If people with pets lost their job and started getting behind on their bills, should they immediately get rid of the family dog? Pets are part of the family for many, and when I had a chance to get eight cans of dog food free, I did, knowing I'd donate them to a food shelf.
I stock up on cheap razors and deodorant whenever I can. I've recently amassed a good number of nice razors, some of which are disposable. I paid a buck for each pack of the disposables, and I included one in the bag. Did I need to in order to reach the 30 items necessary for us to obtain the maximum number of raffle tickets? No, but I didn't want to simply donate free stuff I had no use for. I wanted to include a few things that were of value to me.
I would have gladly eaten the eight packages of peanut butter cups I donated. If they weren't free, I paid 10 cents or less for each package. Without Keri's website, I never would have figured out how to get them for little or nothing using coupons, so instead of keeping them, I donated them. Just because you're broke doesn't mean you have no interest in a candy treat once in a while. And I'll bet it's harder to justify spending 89 cents on candy at Walgreens when your income is zero. I hope those peanut butter cups brighten up the day for eight people.
The girl scout cookies cost me $3.50. There was no coupon for them. I buy them and eat them each year. I didn't have to donate a box, but again, just because you're broke, does that mean you shouldn't enjoy a girl scout cookie? It wasn't exactly a grand gesture on my part, but I wanted to do more than donate 30 items that were obtained for next to nothing. It may not matter to the people who receive groceries from their local food shelf, but it mattered to me.
The convention was held at a sprawling church in the north metro. It's our local version of the PTL Club, evidently. It's a well funded ministry that has yet to build a theme park, but that's probably next. I have no idea who plays the role of Tammy Faye Baker/Messner, but the figurehead of the ministry sure fills his pews, and the coffers. The church is a sprawling campus with all sorts of amenities. And although I didn't see the "church," I've seen it, on local television. This church has a Sunday program broadcast locally, which I think is live. And the production is slick, from what little I've seen of it on TV. This is no community access cable operation. The king of the castle has been scrutinized for the lavishness, of both his church and his lifestyle, and if I recall correctly, he hasn't shied away from the fact he lives extravagantly. It's a fascinating story, for another day, perhaps. I've read about the church, and I'd like to know more about it.
Keri is a member of this church, so she was able to secure a large conference room with tables to seat 250 of us. We all checked in upon arrival, receiving a swag bag with coupons that were of little value to me, unfortunately. If you brought donations for a local food shelf, they were collected at the door, and you received up to 15 raffle tickets for the prize drawing. My girlfriend and I donated about 40 items, including several cans of fruits and vegetables, several bottles of hot sauce, several cans of dog food, several peanut butter cups, four tubes of toothpaste, a box of girl scout cookies and a pack of disposable razors.
I'm sure many of us squeakers donated things we got free, or nearly free, at the grocery store. Toothpaste is easy to get free, or next to free, and it's easy to get lots of it. I bet there were hundreds of tubes of toothpaste in those bags.
I donated a bunch of hot sauce because I got them all free with a coupon from the Sunday paper. It's not the most logical thing to donate to a food shelf, but if people need help buying groceries, there's a good chance they'd like a condiment for their food, be it ketchup, mustard or hot sauce.
The dog food might seem like another illogical choice, but some food shelves take pet food. Just because you can't afford groceries and rent doesn't mean you don't have a pet. If people with pets lost their job and started getting behind on their bills, should they immediately get rid of the family dog? Pets are part of the family for many, and when I had a chance to get eight cans of dog food free, I did, knowing I'd donate them to a food shelf.
I stock up on cheap razors and deodorant whenever I can. I've recently amassed a good number of nice razors, some of which are disposable. I paid a buck for each pack of the disposables, and I included one in the bag. Did I need to in order to reach the 30 items necessary for us to obtain the maximum number of raffle tickets? No, but I didn't want to simply donate free stuff I had no use for. I wanted to include a few things that were of value to me.
I would have gladly eaten the eight packages of peanut butter cups I donated. If they weren't free, I paid 10 cents or less for each package. Without Keri's website, I never would have figured out how to get them for little or nothing using coupons, so instead of keeping them, I donated them. Just because you're broke doesn't mean you have no interest in a candy treat once in a while. And I'll bet it's harder to justify spending 89 cents on candy at Walgreens when your income is zero. I hope those peanut butter cups brighten up the day for eight people.
The girl scout cookies cost me $3.50. There was no coupon for them. I buy them and eat them each year. I didn't have to donate a box, but again, just because you're broke, does that mean you shouldn't enjoy a girl scout cookie? It wasn't exactly a grand gesture on my part, but I wanted to do more than donate 30 items that were obtained for next to nothing. It may not matter to the people who receive groceries from their local food shelf, but it mattered to me.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Squeaker convention, chapter 2 (unedited)
So as noted, Keri is a local celebrity, and it's quite impressive.
She started her website barely a year ago. As she tells the story, she started it as a way to help others, not to create her own Internet company. In that time she has become a media darling, appearing regularly on Twin Cities television stations, and getting mentions in the Star Tribune. She has also been featured by several national media outlets, all in less than a year.
Her website was the latest step in her family's personal journey. The website is a result of her family's attempt to get out of debt. The story is a bit involved, but basically Keri and her husband have two young daughters, and they had a ton of debt. They stopped living beyond their means, started finding ways to cut costs and within three years got out of debt. It's an inspirational story.
Keri's website provides information on how to maximize savings at the grocery story by taking advantage of coupons, rebates and other incentives, links to freebies on the Internet and tips about deals and benefit available through the Internet. She isn't doing anything other sites aren't doing in some way, shape or form. There are national forums where people share advice about how to save money at Walgreens or how to get stuff free from online retailers through discount codes and rebates. Keri isn't ripping off this information and passing it off as her own research, but there's a certain amount of plagiarism that goes on in squeaker circles. She is probably best described as an aggregator, a term that is all the rage in online media circles these days. She gathers info from multiple sources and adds her own two cents.
Her website, however, is easy to follow and use, and it's targeted for the Twin Cities audience. She didn't invent the squeaker site, she simply created one that has a lot of appeal in the Twin Cities. And she does have a national following for some of her content, without question. Sales at Walgreens vary by region, but they're relatively similar, so a reader from Nevada could benefit from her website.
Keri explained at the convention how her rise to media stardom happened. Part of it was luck, part of it was self promotion. She is a TV person, meaning she plays well on TV. That helps.
Bottom line: she put a local spin on websites that have served a national audience at a time when everybody and their mother was trying to save an extra buck or two. What better time to launch her website than during the greatest recession of my lifetime.
One of her regular gigs is a local chat fest called Twin Cities Live. She appears weekly. The show, on our ABC affiliate, is patterned after a show that was popular in 1980s called Good Company. The shows are very similar, and that's by design. And back in the '80s Good Company had a "bargain hunter." The Internet hadn't been invented, but the bargain hunter reported on deals around the Twin Cities. Keri is the 21st century version of the bargain hunter.
How did I find Keri's site? She had started promoting it here and there, and I stumbled across her through a plug for the site. I was instantly hooked. I had already been clipping coupons, scouring the Sunday ads and taking advantage of the Walgreens deals. Keri's site took my bargain hunting to the next level.
There are other sites locally doing the same or similar things Keri does. I don't have enough time to track all of them. Keri's site keeps me busy. And it keeps her busy, too. Even though she has recruited help, she is quite busy running a website, a website that uses Facebook and Twitter to promote itself. A website she promotes regularly through her media appearances, as well as through community education classes she is now teaching about how to save money, with and without coupons.
It's quite an empire she's building, an empire she has managed to build in less than a year.
She started her website barely a year ago. As she tells the story, she started it as a way to help others, not to create her own Internet company. In that time she has become a media darling, appearing regularly on Twin Cities television stations, and getting mentions in the Star Tribune. She has also been featured by several national media outlets, all in less than a year.
Her website was the latest step in her family's personal journey. The website is a result of her family's attempt to get out of debt. The story is a bit involved, but basically Keri and her husband have two young daughters, and they had a ton of debt. They stopped living beyond their means, started finding ways to cut costs and within three years got out of debt. It's an inspirational story.
Keri's website provides information on how to maximize savings at the grocery story by taking advantage of coupons, rebates and other incentives, links to freebies on the Internet and tips about deals and benefit available through the Internet. She isn't doing anything other sites aren't doing in some way, shape or form. There are national forums where people share advice about how to save money at Walgreens or how to get stuff free from online retailers through discount codes and rebates. Keri isn't ripping off this information and passing it off as her own research, but there's a certain amount of plagiarism that goes on in squeaker circles. She is probably best described as an aggregator, a term that is all the rage in online media circles these days. She gathers info from multiple sources and adds her own two cents.
Her website, however, is easy to follow and use, and it's targeted for the Twin Cities audience. She didn't invent the squeaker site, she simply created one that has a lot of appeal in the Twin Cities. And she does have a national following for some of her content, without question. Sales at Walgreens vary by region, but they're relatively similar, so a reader from Nevada could benefit from her website.
Keri explained at the convention how her rise to media stardom happened. Part of it was luck, part of it was self promotion. She is a TV person, meaning she plays well on TV. That helps.
Bottom line: she put a local spin on websites that have served a national audience at a time when everybody and their mother was trying to save an extra buck or two. What better time to launch her website than during the greatest recession of my lifetime.
One of her regular gigs is a local chat fest called Twin Cities Live. She appears weekly. The show, on our ABC affiliate, is patterned after a show that was popular in 1980s called Good Company. The shows are very similar, and that's by design. And back in the '80s Good Company had a "bargain hunter." The Internet hadn't been invented, but the bargain hunter reported on deals around the Twin Cities. Keri is the 21st century version of the bargain hunter.
How did I find Keri's site? She had started promoting it here and there, and I stumbled across her through a plug for the site. I was instantly hooked. I had already been clipping coupons, scouring the Sunday ads and taking advantage of the Walgreens deals. Keri's site took my bargain hunting to the next level.
There are other sites locally doing the same or similar things Keri does. I don't have enough time to track all of them. Keri's site keeps me busy. And it keeps her busy, too. Even though she has recruited help, she is quite busy running a website, a website that uses Facebook and Twitter to promote itself. A website she promotes regularly through her media appearances, as well as through community education classes she is now teaching about how to save money, with and without coupons.
It's quite an empire she's building, an empire she has managed to build in less than a year.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Pocket those dollars, baby!
I'm too tired to chronicle every last detail tonight, so perhaps this will become the first of a new series I will subtitle "squeakers convention."
I've written about how I have a mild obsession with coupons and retail deals, and how I inherited that from my mother. Since last summer I have been using a Twin Cities based deal finders website. The woman, Keri, started her website as a way to share the things she was learning about how to get great deals on retail purchases. She didn't intend to turn it into a full-time business, but that is what it has become.
I have taken advantage of Walgreens deals for a long time. And I tend to jump through too many hoops to get free shampoo, toothpaste, pet food or candy bars when the opportunity presents itself. So when I found a site that details how you can get a wide array of things at Walgreens and the grocery store free, or at a fantastic price, I was hooked.
Less than a year into her venture, Keri has become a local media darling. She appears on several local news/chat programs every month, talking about the deals available in any given week, be it an online deal, a grocery store deal or something else. She is good at selling her website, and herself, so it's not a surprise that she has become a local celebrity. She's not the first such local deal guru, and thanks to the internet, we have more than ever surfacing on local gab fests, but Keri's ascension to local stardom is pretty impressive...more about that another day.
Tonight she hosted her first squeakers convention. A squeaker, according to my girlfriend, is a coupon maniac. She didn't coin the term, it came from a clerk at her local Rainblow grocery store. I'm not sure how reducing your out-of-pocket costs is squeaking, but I like the term nonetheless, so I go with it.
Keri's site is not an online forum, it's an information source that allows users to comment at the end of her articles, much like a newspaper website. I don't pay attention to the names of the users who respond on her articles, but there are plenty of people who do so. Some of those folks wanted an opportunity to gather together and/or meet Keri, who they've all seen on TV, but otherwise have never met personally. So Keri decided to hold a "meet and greet."
She considered posting a first-come, first-register invite, but many people freaked at the thought they'd miss the opening of the event registration, which was limited to 100 people. So Keri opted to draw names from online entries to determine who would get an invitation. She had planned to limit her event to 100 people, but interest exceeded her wildest dreams. She had more than 1,000 entries for tickets, and was able to increase her event size to 250 people to meet the demand.
I entered the drawing and was picked, so my girlfriend and I attended the squeaker convention earlier tonight. On another night I'll detail more about what we saw, heard and received, and what my ulterior motive was for attending the convention.
What I learned from attending the convention: I'm quite the anomoly. I didn't expect every married woman to drag her husband along to the convention, but I didn't realize that coupon shopping was still predominantly a woman thing. There were at least 250 people in the room, and although I didn't attempt a head count, I don't think there were more than 10 men attending. One of those men was Keri's husband, another appeared to be the husband of a woman who assists Keri with the website. I didn't expect half the audience to be male, but I expected more than 4 percent of the audience to be male.
I'm not sure what that says about me, but perhaps now I know why cashiers are occasionally impressed by my coupon acumen. I'm not one in a million, but I'm not far off, either.
I've written about how I have a mild obsession with coupons and retail deals, and how I inherited that from my mother. Since last summer I have been using a Twin Cities based deal finders website. The woman, Keri, started her website as a way to share the things she was learning about how to get great deals on retail purchases. She didn't intend to turn it into a full-time business, but that is what it has become.
I have taken advantage of Walgreens deals for a long time. And I tend to jump through too many hoops to get free shampoo, toothpaste, pet food or candy bars when the opportunity presents itself. So when I found a site that details how you can get a wide array of things at Walgreens and the grocery store free, or at a fantastic price, I was hooked.
Less than a year into her venture, Keri has become a local media darling. She appears on several local news/chat programs every month, talking about the deals available in any given week, be it an online deal, a grocery store deal or something else. She is good at selling her website, and herself, so it's not a surprise that she has become a local celebrity. She's not the first such local deal guru, and thanks to the internet, we have more than ever surfacing on local gab fests, but Keri's ascension to local stardom is pretty impressive...more about that another day.
Tonight she hosted her first squeakers convention. A squeaker, according to my girlfriend, is a coupon maniac. She didn't coin the term, it came from a clerk at her local Rainblow grocery store. I'm not sure how reducing your out-of-pocket costs is squeaking, but I like the term nonetheless, so I go with it.
Keri's site is not an online forum, it's an information source that allows users to comment at the end of her articles, much like a newspaper website. I don't pay attention to the names of the users who respond on her articles, but there are plenty of people who do so. Some of those folks wanted an opportunity to gather together and/or meet Keri, who they've all seen on TV, but otherwise have never met personally. So Keri decided to hold a "meet and greet."
She considered posting a first-come, first-register invite, but many people freaked at the thought they'd miss the opening of the event registration, which was limited to 100 people. So Keri opted to draw names from online entries to determine who would get an invitation. She had planned to limit her event to 100 people, but interest exceeded her wildest dreams. She had more than 1,000 entries for tickets, and was able to increase her event size to 250 people to meet the demand.
I entered the drawing and was picked, so my girlfriend and I attended the squeaker convention earlier tonight. On another night I'll detail more about what we saw, heard and received, and what my ulterior motive was for attending the convention.
What I learned from attending the convention: I'm quite the anomoly. I didn't expect every married woman to drag her husband along to the convention, but I didn't realize that coupon shopping was still predominantly a woman thing. There were at least 250 people in the room, and although I didn't attempt a head count, I don't think there were more than 10 men attending. One of those men was Keri's husband, another appeared to be the husband of a woman who assists Keri with the website. I didn't expect half the audience to be male, but I expected more than 4 percent of the audience to be male.
I'm not sure what that says about me, but perhaps now I know why cashiers are occasionally impressed by my coupon acumen. I'm not one in a million, but I'm not far off, either.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
"Telephone tiger!" (unedited)
Perhaps someday I'll explain why the phrase "telephone tiger" brings back such fond memories. The short version of the story: it's the result of stupid collegiate prank phone calling.
Thanks to caller ID, the old prank phone calls of the past are all but gone. I'm not particularly proud of it, but I use to enjoy the occasional prank phone call. I never got into serious trouble because of it, fortunately, but I was one of those annoying punks who use to make prank phone calls now and again. Yes, I've long outgrown the joy of the prank phone call -- even before caller ID -- but there's still a part of me that enjoys a harmless prank, especially if it involves the telephone.
Chip has a wacky habit of screening his phone calls. Unfortunately his telephone technology is stuck largely in the 1980s. He has a mobile phone, but it's not his primary phone, as he still maintains an old-fashioned home phone. Not only does he have a cordless phone wired to the wall of his condo, he has an answering machine attached to it. So when his phone rings, he sits there and waits for the answering machine to answer, his greeting to play and the caller to leave a message before determining if it's a call he wants to answer. I'm not sure who he's hiding from, but he has been doing this for years. I know he gets telemarketing type calls periodically, but most of those are when he is at work. And for the life of me I can't get him to tell me who it is he doesn't want to speak to unexpectedly, or admit to me there's no reason he should be screening his calls.
So years ago when I was visiting Stinktown for a weekend Chip screened one of his phone calls while I was there. I don't recall the details, but as I recall, he was having a minor problem with his phone. Or perhaps he was simply perplexed that his phone rang, the answering machine kicked in and the caller opted not to leave a message. Whatever the circumstances, the light bulb over my head illuminated. As we sat there watching football one afternoon, I had my mobile phone discreetly at my side, out of his view. Yep, I dialed his home phone number and we sat there as it rang. And sure enough, once the answering machine kicked in, I disconnected the call. I did this several times, all while keeping a straight face, even as Chip got increasingly frustrated. I think he was convinced there was a problem with his phone line rather than somebody calling and hanging up.
He became so perplexed that he decided he had to answer the phone before his answering machine kicked in. And of course I managed to hang up before he did. I'm sure the stress of it raised his blood pressure even higher than usual.
Of course the punchline should have been speaking to him through my phone when he answered his, but he was in one of those pissy moods. Sometimes he can appreciate a good laugh or practical joke, other times he acts like you've spit on his grandfather's grave. I wasn't in the mood to deal with the latter Chip, so it's one of those jokes I had to appreciate silently...until now.
There was a similar game I started playing recently. My bingo hall has a pay phone, which has a quieter-than-standard ring. A while ago it started ringing on a nightly basis, usually at the same time of the night. I think it was doing it at two set times, as if the phone number was on an automated dialing list. Whenever anybody answered the call, there was no sign of anyone on the other end.
It didn't take long before I realized that I could have fun with this. Yep, I added the pay phone number into my contact list, and would occasionally dial it discreetly while at work, usually when I was nowhere near it. Sometimes I'd do it once, sometimes I'd do it a few times in a row. It was amazing how frustrating it was to a few of my co-workers.
When I'd dial the number, I immediately put the call on mute, so that there would be silence on the line if somebody answered it and listened for a response. (More often the person answering the phone would quickly hang it up.)
I didn't expect anybody to notice the phone was only ringing when I was working, but I quickly deduced I needed to call it on nights when I wasn't working, too, just to change it up. Yep, that's right, I'm too easily amused by the stupidest things.
Unfortunately for me the fun and games are over. At work tonight I noticed the phone was missing from the wall. I asked the manager where it went. She explained that she called the service provider to report the periodic ringing. The service provider looked at our account and determined the phone wasn't generating enough income to justify it being there at no cost to the bingo hall. That's not a shock, but it did get used occasionally.
It's amazing how the pay phone has nearly become obsolete. There are still plenty of them around, but you don't see them everywhere any more. You're just as likely to see an empty wall or stand where there use to be a pay phone as you are to find one that is working.
The bingo hall had two choices, pay to keep it on the wall or have it removed. The bingo hall wasn't interested in paying to keep it, naturally.
So thanks to my tomfoolery there's one less pay phone in this country. And this makes me sad. How am I supposed to amuse myself at the bingo hall now?
Thanks to caller ID, the old prank phone calls of the past are all but gone. I'm not particularly proud of it, but I use to enjoy the occasional prank phone call. I never got into serious trouble because of it, fortunately, but I was one of those annoying punks who use to make prank phone calls now and again. Yes, I've long outgrown the joy of the prank phone call -- even before caller ID -- but there's still a part of me that enjoys a harmless prank, especially if it involves the telephone.
Chip has a wacky habit of screening his phone calls. Unfortunately his telephone technology is stuck largely in the 1980s. He has a mobile phone, but it's not his primary phone, as he still maintains an old-fashioned home phone. Not only does he have a cordless phone wired to the wall of his condo, he has an answering machine attached to it. So when his phone rings, he sits there and waits for the answering machine to answer, his greeting to play and the caller to leave a message before determining if it's a call he wants to answer. I'm not sure who he's hiding from, but he has been doing this for years. I know he gets telemarketing type calls periodically, but most of those are when he is at work. And for the life of me I can't get him to tell me who it is he doesn't want to speak to unexpectedly, or admit to me there's no reason he should be screening his calls.
So years ago when I was visiting Stinktown for a weekend Chip screened one of his phone calls while I was there. I don't recall the details, but as I recall, he was having a minor problem with his phone. Or perhaps he was simply perplexed that his phone rang, the answering machine kicked in and the caller opted not to leave a message. Whatever the circumstances, the light bulb over my head illuminated. As we sat there watching football one afternoon, I had my mobile phone discreetly at my side, out of his view. Yep, I dialed his home phone number and we sat there as it rang. And sure enough, once the answering machine kicked in, I disconnected the call. I did this several times, all while keeping a straight face, even as Chip got increasingly frustrated. I think he was convinced there was a problem with his phone line rather than somebody calling and hanging up.
He became so perplexed that he decided he had to answer the phone before his answering machine kicked in. And of course I managed to hang up before he did. I'm sure the stress of it raised his blood pressure even higher than usual.
Of course the punchline should have been speaking to him through my phone when he answered his, but he was in one of those pissy moods. Sometimes he can appreciate a good laugh or practical joke, other times he acts like you've spit on his grandfather's grave. I wasn't in the mood to deal with the latter Chip, so it's one of those jokes I had to appreciate silently...until now.
There was a similar game I started playing recently. My bingo hall has a pay phone, which has a quieter-than-standard ring. A while ago it started ringing on a nightly basis, usually at the same time of the night. I think it was doing it at two set times, as if the phone number was on an automated dialing list. Whenever anybody answered the call, there was no sign of anyone on the other end.
It didn't take long before I realized that I could have fun with this. Yep, I added the pay phone number into my contact list, and would occasionally dial it discreetly while at work, usually when I was nowhere near it. Sometimes I'd do it once, sometimes I'd do it a few times in a row. It was amazing how frustrating it was to a few of my co-workers.
When I'd dial the number, I immediately put the call on mute, so that there would be silence on the line if somebody answered it and listened for a response. (More often the person answering the phone would quickly hang it up.)
I didn't expect anybody to notice the phone was only ringing when I was working, but I quickly deduced I needed to call it on nights when I wasn't working, too, just to change it up. Yep, that's right, I'm too easily amused by the stupidest things.
Unfortunately for me the fun and games are over. At work tonight I noticed the phone was missing from the wall. I asked the manager where it went. She explained that she called the service provider to report the periodic ringing. The service provider looked at our account and determined the phone wasn't generating enough income to justify it being there at no cost to the bingo hall. That's not a shock, but it did get used occasionally.
It's amazing how the pay phone has nearly become obsolete. There are still plenty of them around, but you don't see them everywhere any more. You're just as likely to see an empty wall or stand where there use to be a pay phone as you are to find one that is working.
The bingo hall had two choices, pay to keep it on the wall or have it removed. The bingo hall wasn't interested in paying to keep it, naturally.
So thanks to my tomfoolery there's one less pay phone in this country. And this makes me sad. How am I supposed to amuse myself at the bingo hall now?
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