Monday, July 31, 2017
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Barnes & Noble, We Have A Problem...
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Since I was over in the vicinity of Pittsfield anyway, I decided to stop in at the Barnes & Noble to see if they had some books I was looking for. Sure I could likely get a better deal on Amazon (and usually that's the route I take, since Prime gives me 2 day shipping on most items) but I also figured it was worth a few extra $$ if I could pick them up immediately and help keep B&N afloat.
Except of course they didn't have half of what I was looking for in stock. A while back I commented on this when I went looking for a couple of recently-released books and ended up ordering them online instead, and it seems like things have only gotten worse. The "new releases" section for the science fiction/fantasy section was nowhere to be found, and the selection was definitely smaller. The local interest section now seems to be mostly specialty books (historical photos of specific areas) and travel guides, with very few trail guides, and the martial arts section was virtually non-existent (three books, I think.) Bicycling, running, and triathlon used to fill multiple sections, now they don't even fill one.
I would imagine part of the strategy is to keep less stock on hand so that if the company fails it has less to sell at an enormous loss. But having far fewer books in a store that sells primarily books makes failure a self-fulfilling prophecy. People can't buy books that aren't there. I know, you can go to the help center and they will happily order books and have them shipped right to your home - but I've already got that capability at home, I go to a book store to have the pleasure of walking out with a bunch of books right now, and also to see if there's something I've never even heard of that I might want to buy. And Barnes & Noble is failing at least partially on both scores.
I suppose to some degree it's surprising they've managed to hold on this long - and it makes me sad to contemplate the day when they aren't there anymore. But not as sad as it once did, if going there becomes a waste of time because I can't find the books I want anyway.
Sigh.
JMH
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Since I was over in the vicinity of Pittsfield anyway, I decided to stop in at the Barnes & Noble to see if they had some books I was looking for. Sure I could likely get a better deal on Amazon (and usually that's the route I take, since Prime gives me 2 day shipping on most items) but I also figured it was worth a few extra $$ if I could pick them up immediately and help keep B&N afloat.
Except of course they didn't have half of what I was looking for in stock. A while back I commented on this when I went looking for a couple of recently-released books and ended up ordering them online instead, and it seems like things have only gotten worse. The "new releases" section for the science fiction/fantasy section was nowhere to be found, and the selection was definitely smaller. The local interest section now seems to be mostly specialty books (historical photos of specific areas) and travel guides, with very few trail guides, and the martial arts section was virtually non-existent (three books, I think.) Bicycling, running, and triathlon used to fill multiple sections, now they don't even fill one.
I would imagine part of the strategy is to keep less stock on hand so that if the company fails it has less to sell at an enormous loss. But having far fewer books in a store that sells primarily books makes failure a self-fulfilling prophecy. People can't buy books that aren't there. I know, you can go to the help center and they will happily order books and have them shipped right to your home - but I've already got that capability at home, I go to a book store to have the pleasure of walking out with a bunch of books right now, and also to see if there's something I've never even heard of that I might want to buy. And Barnes & Noble is failing at least partially on both scores.
I suppose to some degree it's surprising they've managed to hold on this long - and it makes me sad to contemplate the day when they aren't there anymore. But not as sad as it once did, if going there becomes a waste of time because I can't find the books I want anyway.
Sigh.
JMH
Slow Going 2017 - Race #29
Pedal and Plod Duathlon - DNF
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Got well and truly stomped this morning by the Pedal and Plod in Adams, MA. First I was the last runner in by a good bit (and the top two guys had already finished their first bike loops by the time I even got on the bike) and that was after running what for me is currently a decently quick pace, about 12 min/mile. Then I discovered that the first 3-4 miles of the ride went up and up and up - I never got off and pushed, but crawling up those hills in my lowest gear had me planning to stop after one loop of the bike course for a DNF. Once I was finally on Rt 8 things were going a little better - I was looking to wrap up my first loop in just over an hour and considering tackling a 2nd loop - until a mile from the start of loop #2 I ran over something that blew out my back tire. At that point I threw in the towel and walked the bike the last mile - I could have changed the tube right there but it was already taking me so long that I didn't want to add even more time to how long it would take me to be done riding. Clearly the duathlon gods did not want me doing a 2nd loop today.
Afterwards I took advantage of a park bench and changed the tube (I was hoping to ride on the Ashuwillticook Trail before heading home) and found out it was just as well I bailed because the burst tube had blown out the sidewall of the tire (ie. I need a new tire to keep a little bubble of tube from poking out) so I couldn't have safely kept going in any case. I also noticed that my front wheel seems loose (the bearing cones loosen up sometimes, maybe during yesterday's bumpy ride) - another sign that DNF also stands for "Did Nothing Fatal", since I was hitting 30 mph on some of the downhills and front wheel failure pretty much always means a crash.
Right now I don't know if this is one I have to go back to someday and beat it, or if this is one that's just too dang hard for someone of my abilities. Guess I'll figure that out at some point. Bloody shame that today was such a fiasco - it was just about perfect weather for late July (sunny but relatively cool.)
JMH
2017 Event Totals
Run 235.2 mi, 62 hr 15 min
Bike 43.7 mi, 3 hr 43 min
Snowshoe 30.0 mi, 10 hr 16 min
Kayak 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
states visited: CT, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT
Pedal and Plod Duathlon - DNF
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Got well and truly stomped this morning by the Pedal and Plod in Adams, MA. First I was the last runner in by a good bit (and the top two guys had already finished their first bike loops by the time I even got on the bike) and that was after running what for me is currently a decently quick pace, about 12 min/mile. Then I discovered that the first 3-4 miles of the ride went up and up and up - I never got off and pushed, but crawling up those hills in my lowest gear had me planning to stop after one loop of the bike course for a DNF. Once I was finally on Rt 8 things were going a little better - I was looking to wrap up my first loop in just over an hour and considering tackling a 2nd loop - until a mile from the start of loop #2 I ran over something that blew out my back tire. At that point I threw in the towel and walked the bike the last mile - I could have changed the tube right there but it was already taking me so long that I didn't want to add even more time to how long it would take me to be done riding. Clearly the duathlon gods did not want me doing a 2nd loop today.
Afterwards I took advantage of a park bench and changed the tube (I was hoping to ride on the Ashuwillticook Trail before heading home) and found out it was just as well I bailed because the burst tube had blown out the sidewall of the tire (ie. I need a new tire to keep a little bubble of tube from poking out) so I couldn't have safely kept going in any case. I also noticed that my front wheel seems loose (the bearing cones loosen up sometimes, maybe during yesterday's bumpy ride) - another sign that DNF also stands for "Did Nothing Fatal", since I was hitting 30 mph on some of the downhills and front wheel failure pretty much always means a crash.
Right now I don't know if this is one I have to go back to someday and beat it, or if this is one that's just too dang hard for someone of my abilities. Guess I'll figure that out at some point. Bloody shame that today was such a fiasco - it was just about perfect weather for late July (sunny but relatively cool.)
 |
| 4.3 mi run |
 |
| 10 mi ride + 1 mile walk |
2017 Event Totals
Run 235.2 mi, 62 hr 15 min
Bike 43.7 mi, 3 hr 43 min
Snowshoe 30.0 mi, 10 hr 16 min
Kayak 0 mi, 0 hr 0 min
states visited: CT, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT
Saturday, July 29, 2017
Friday, July 28, 2017
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Monday, July 24, 2017
Sunday, July 23, 2017
Saturday, July 22, 2017
Friday, July 21, 2017
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Monday, July 17, 2017
Sunday, July 16, 2017
Saturday, July 15, 2017
Thursday, July 13, 2017
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Monday, July 10, 2017
Sunday, July 09, 2017
Saturday, July 08, 2017
Friday, July 07, 2017
Thursday, July 06, 2017
Tuesday, July 04, 2017
Monday, July 03, 2017
Sunday, July 02, 2017
Saturday, July 01, 2017
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