Case in point:

I went to Costco this morning to try and find the High Sierra hydration pack they’ve been carrying for the last few months. I already own one, but the bite valve on mine leaks and has already caused a few “mini floods” in our apartment much to the chagrin of my wife. Little did I know that it’s a seasonal item that’s just gone out of stock for the year…

But I found myself at the Sunnyvale Costco, which is the closest one to our apartment. After wandering around looking for it, I decided to look for someone to ask, which was my first mistake.  Have you ever noticed that it’s nearly impossible to find any Costco employee to ask questions of?  I finally found a manager with a walkie-talkie and a Costco name badge, so I asked him, “Excuse me? Do you have those backpacks with the water pack built-in?”

“You mean the hydration packs from Sierra? Nope, we don’t carry those any more,” he replied as he turned around and walked off.

Uhh…thanks…I guess. Sheesh.

Not willing to take “No” for an answer, I drove a few minutes over to the Santa Clara Costco,  Hoping that I’d have better luck there. As it turns out, I was able to find two managers standing in the middle of the store chatting.  So I asked them the same question as above: “Excuse me? Do you have those backpacks from Sierra with the water pack built-in?”

“You mean the High Sierra Hydration Packs? No, I don’t think we have any of those. They’re out of stock for the season. But they might be coming back soon. If you go to the front and ask, they can look it up on the computer.  They can also tell you if it’s in stock at any of the other Costcos in the area.”

“Oh, cool. Thanks. You mean the membership center?” I asked.

“No, the Merchandise Pickup Area. They can help you over there.”

“Great thanks.”

That’s the spirit! Now we’re talking customer service. I was feeling much better, and quite grateful to Irma and her managerial colleague.

So I walked over to the Merchandise Pickup Area, and waited for a few minutes for someone to help me out. There were plenty of Costco employees standing around doing nothing, but none of them offered to help me. Finally, I approached one gentleman and asked him, “Excuse me, do you have the High Sierra Hydration Packs in stock?”

“No, those are out of stock.”

“Can you check your computer?”

“Well, they’re out of…”

Feeling a sense of impatience with him, I interjected, “Yeah, Irma told me that I could come up here and that you’d be able to look it up in the computer as to when they’ll be back in stock, or if any of the other Costcos in the area have them.”

“Oh…OK,” he replied as he turned and started typing on the computer.

“Yeah, see, we don’t have any,” he explained as he showed me the screen.

“What about the other Costcos in the area?” I insisted.

“It doesn’t look like it,” he said. As he flipped through the screens in rapid succession, I noticed that it said Mountain View had 10.

“What about Mountain View? I think your computer said they had 10.”

“Well, it says they have 10, but with that few, they may already be out of stock as well.”

“OK, thanks,” as I walked out.

So I headed over to the Mountain View Costco still in search of my hydration pack.  Upon arrival, I was grateful that at least this time I knew what it was called, and that I should head directly to the Merchandise Pickup Area.

I found a manager standing around in front of his computer and asked, “Excuse me, do you have the High Sierra Hydration Pack in stock?”

“Nope.” and he turned around and walked off.

Ugh! How dehumanizing!

All that to say, as much as I love Costco for their products and their return policy, their customer service ranks among the lowest.

At least the hot dogs and soda are still $1.50…sigh.

I know we’ve had some crazy weather this year, but this is absolutely nuts.

See you then.

Thankfully, I might not be totally wrong.  According to an article in the New York Times, for many people in this country, it makes much more sense to buy a home than to rent. But in certain locations, including San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle, housing prices are still high, and it might not make sense to buy…yet.

The gist of their argument is based on something called the rent ratio.  And I really like the concept.  The rent ratio is the price of a house divided by the annual cost of rent for something similar. The article indicates that if the ratio is greater than 20, it might not be a good idea to buy. (The rent ratio in the Bay Area is closer to 30.)  However, “when the ratio is well below 20, the case for buying becomes a lot stronger.” Well, it’s going to take a lot more of a drop in housing prices before we get to 20 around here.

I also like the sobering reminder that home ownership isn’t all a bed of roses:

But it’s worth remembering that the advantages of homeownership are frequently exaggerated. The mortgage-interest tax deduction doesn’t eliminate the cost of borrowing money; it merely reduces it. The freedom to paint your house any color you wish comes with the responsibility of paying for a new roof when the time comes. The $15,000 or $30,000 or $50,000 that real estate agents’ fees add to the price of a house can wipe out a lot of other savings.

So there you have it. I know a lot of our friends are settling down and buying houses. A couple of our friends have even bought, knowing that it wasn’t a good investment, but seeing it as the cost of living in a nice place. We’ll see what happens for us.

At the end of the day, I just have to remind myself that God will provide–Jehovah Jireh! He always has, and He always will.

I personally wasn’t quite ready to leave what is termed the “Workday Ecosystem”, so I found another firm that would allow me to continue doing what I’ve been doing. I also get to be a part of a rapidly growing company, which really excites me.

I had a great ride at PL. I gained some valuable skills, matured as a consultant, and had the opportunity to work with some really great people. I was especially blessed to work closely with (and for) my boss Lonnie for the past 18 months. He taught me some valuable lessons and was definitely a great support during my time at PL and Workday.  I’ll miss our conversations about meat and grilling/bbq as well as some of the mindless banter we shared.

Thanks Primitive Logic for a great ride. I’m sure we’ll cross paths again soon. The longer I’m in the consulting business, the more I’m finding that the world is a rather small place. So keep in touch.

Pretty hilarious.

Edit: OK, my bad.  Mulaz just reposted an image he found on 4chan.  (See the comments below.)

My dad loves biking.  For his birthday and Christmas, he usually requests a hike, or a bike ride with his family.  And now Google is happy to help him out because Google does bike trails. From the Google Maps “More” menu, it’s possible to pull up a bike paths overlay.

You can also plan a point-to-point trip by bike, and it will route you on the most bike friendly path.

It looks like there is some information on Bakersfield where my parents live.  But it is a tad sparse.  I’ll bet they add more information as time goes on.

There is, however, a plethora of information for the Bay Area, particularlythe South Bay where I live. Maybe I’ll have to dust off my bike and get out and ride, especially since the weather is getting better.

• 18 megapixels
• 3.7 fps
• Full 1080p video @ 30 or 24 fps
• Up to ISO 128000

And you get all that in a small package for the retail price of $899.  In many respects, it’s quite similar to the Canon 7D I have my eye on right now.

Digital Photography Review has a preview of the camera, so I won’t reiterate everything here. But it definitely is an interesting proposition.