Blockbuster Online - Good Integration

I went to go rent a movie from Blockbuster. As those who follow my blog know, I'm a Total Access member. I actually find the trade-in feature to be very useful, almost more useful than actually getting DVDs in the mail, so I tend to use it a lot.

Today, I traded in my DVD for a movie that was in my Queue. When I went home, and logged in to Blockbuster Online to remove the movie, it prompted me with a message that I had traded in a DVD for a movie in my queue, and displayed that movie for me to remove. I was impressed. It's not often you get really good integration like this,and Blockbuster has done a pretty good job in this respect.

I for one, am a big fan of Total Access as of now, so I would be very weary if I were Netflix.

Back from Cali

I just got back from my California trip. A few things I learned along the way.

1. Driving from Seattle to San Diego takes a REALLY long time
2. It really does rain too much in the Northwest. It was raining all the way down until I hit California, and then clear skies
3. Parking in San Francisco is a nightmare
4. I miss California, but maybe not enough to move back
5. Bringing your pet on the family trip is a real pain in the ass (even though I'm glad I did it)

Overall a good trip. Glad to have gone to the two weddings. Somewhat glad I drove, as it allowed us to take our time back up the coast and see things Like Monterey and Carmel. It made me miss places like In-N-Out and Sammy's. But then it reminded me of things I don't really care for like Traffic. Still, I think we are decided that we will at least look into moving back to California, but it won't be the first choice.

New York Home Prices

I was watching a financial show and they were talking about the housing numbers that came out today. The decline in housing sales is remarkable, but one city continues to buck the trend, Manhattan. They were showing off a condo, 1 bedroom, 1.5 baths going for $1.6 million. This was the typical New York apartment.

The reason I comment on this, is not because I think the price is ridiculous (which I do) but because of what one of the guest on the show said. They basically said that they thought the trend would continue because of Wall Street. You see, people on Wall Street get these big bonuses, and that means they can afford to pay a lot for their houses. Since Wall Street isn't going anywhere, it stands to reason that home prices in Manhattan must stay hi.

Wow, didn't realize that Wall Street was a new phenomenon. I figured it has been around for quite a while, a little over 100 years in its current form. People on the street have been getting insane bonuses for a little over a century, but I guess they were all living in boxes on the side of the road, because how else can you explain the recent insane home prices there?

When it rains, it ...

Causes me to get into an accident. Yes, if you can believe it, I got into an accident yesterday. Of course this is really really bad timing for two reasons.

1. I'm supposed to leave for a trip on Wednesday where I was going to DRIVE down to California.
2. I just became unemployed.

I think the universe must have a really sick sense of humor. I'm actually quite grateful that it didn't end up much worse than it was. I basically did a 360 on the freeway, and hit the side of the road. Lucky for me, I'm perfectly fine, and I didn't hit anyone else. Moreover, my car, cosmetically doesn't look too bad. Unfortunately, I messed up the steering column of my car and it's going to be a lot of money to fix.