TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Highlands Today

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like …

ADVERTISEMENT

By Norm Cukras | Highlands Today

Published: December 15, 2007

Christmas is a week from Tuesday. Wow, that means just 10 shopping days left. One if you put things off til Christmas Eve.

Considering the increase in the junk e-mail I've been getting, it looks like the 10-day count is just about right. By the way, is it my imagination or is the mailperson-delivered junk mail on the decline as e-mail usage increases?

If you haven't already done so it's time to get out all those Christmas movies you have stored away on DVD and VHS. My favorite, I think, is the classic "The Bishop's Wife" with Cary Grant, Loretta Young and David Niven. Those are two guys that the word suave was coined for. The movie, in my opinion, is much better for the season than "It's a Wonderful Life."

Getting back to e-mails, a friend of mine told me that when he returned from a week's vacation recently he had over 800 of them waiting to be opened. I told him I haven't received 800 messages since Al Gore invented the Internet.

"Well," my friend then admitted, "half of them were checking to see how adequate one of my body parts was." Really now.

Lately a lot of the e-mail I've been getting are trying to entice me into the field of law enforcement or nursing. It seems to me if I wanted to be a policeperson I'd simply apply at some cop center and not through an Internet ad. And if I'm going to go into the business of jabbing needles into people I'd rather have learned how in a good accredited school rather than in a virtual operating room.

Get Rich Quicker

Another mess of my electronic missives has to do with stock tips. "Similar stocks have grown 1,000 percent," I'm teased.

I guess I have to ask if these stocks are so good why are the pushers willing to share them with a stranger like me. They don't even know who I am yet they want to share their good fortune with me. Christmas must be near.

Now if they were selling stock in battery companies I might be interested. Just think how many gadgets we have today that need a battery. There are so many needed for toys and remotes and other devices even the Energizer Bunny was seen talking to hooded figures in a dark alley trying to buy a couple. Which probably isn't true since 58 billion replaceable batteries were made worldwide in 2003 alone. With the alkaline battery, the type that drives the furry drum beater, accounting for 32 billion of them. If they were all AAs and laid end to end they would stretch over 2 million miles. That's almost as far as the snowbirds travel to get here.

What Happened To It

It tis also the season to convince shoppers to buy a certain product by offering them a rebate on their purchase. This apparently is a good marketing tool because manufacturers continue to offer them. There seems to be some kind of an injustice wrapped up in the program however.

When I buy something I have to pay tax on it. Seven percent here in Highlands County. But since the rebate reduces the amount that I paid for an item I should only have to pay tax on the final purchase price. But when I get my rebate where is my 7 percent tax refund?

He Hit The Big Time

Did you see where Julio Perez, the nonpareil Cuban sandwich maker, was mentioned in Steve Otto's Tampa Tribune column? Thanks to a Brett Dowden who apparently agrees with me on Julio's penchant for building the Latin favorite Julio's hat was included in Otto's search for "the best Cuban in these parts." If you want to try it out for yourselves, you can buy one of his creations at his Latin store in Peddler's Mall on U.S. 27.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT