Dan from Madison

Freakonomic Based Real Life Story

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I am a middle man.   I run a business that sells HVAC products and equipment to contractors.   We do not do any retail.

In my world, it is common for the manufacturer of the equipment that I am selling to set up factory direct stores that welcome contractor business.   It makes it interesting, to say the least.   Imagine you are doing your best you can to sell a company’s products, then they set up a store down the street a few blocks and sell directly to your customers.   It may sound weird to some, but it happens all the time in my industry.

We sell service, delivery, no damage, taking care of problems, and basically do everything that the factory direct stores can’t, or won’t.    The relationship is more complex than this, but for this post that is all  I need to  explain about it, as that is the nuts and bolts of it.  

The  huge problem with this situation is that  as a reseller, you  are obviously at a price disadvantage to the factory direct store.   There is only so far you will go with this line.   That is fine with me, you either take it or leave it.   But something interesting happened a few weeks ago.   I received a call that this particular manufacturer was shutting down its operations in my state.   That is awesome news for me.

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Love Song?

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Lex and I have been having a friendly back and forth here about love songs. I think this is one. You may or may not…Death Cab for Cutie, “Grapevine Fires” (I particularly like this version because it is live):

When the wind picked up the fire spread
And the grapevines seemed left for dead
And the Northern sky looked like the end of days
The end of days

The wake-up call to a rented room
Sounded like an alarm of impending doom
To warn us it’s only a matter of time
Before we all burn

Before we all burn
Before we all burn
Before we all burn

We bought some wine and some paper cups
Near your daughters school when we picked her up
And drove to a cemetery on a hill
On a hill

And we watched the plumes paint the sky gray
But she laughed and danced through the field of graves
And there I knew it would be alright
That everything would be alright

Would be alright
Would be alright
Would be alright

And the news reports on the radio
Said it was getting worse
As the ocean air fanned the flames
But I couldn’t think
Of anywhere I would of rather been
To watch it all burn away

To burn away

And the firemen worked in double shifts
With prayers for rain on their lips
And they knew it was only a matter of time

Good Karma

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I got slagged like never before in my posts about copyright infringement here and here.   Eventually I came to the realization that I was wrong in my practice, no matter how hard I wanted to justify it.   It killed me, but I decided to stop watching the show through the illegal means.

Well, I see today that one of my favorite networks, Versus, is going to be airing the very show that I never thought I would get to see, Contender Asia.   They will call it Contender Muay Thai over here.   Unfortunately I  know who the eventual winner is,  from my normal surfing in the  Muay Thai and fighting forums.   Sometimes maybe there is good karma to be had.   I can’t wait.

Fell In Love With a Girl

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In response to Lex Green’s post, I give this video of what I consider a love song from one of the few bands I would pay to see if they play anywhere in this hemisphere, the White Stripes:

Lyrics:

Fell in love with a girl
fell in love once and almost completely
she’s in love with the world
but sometimes these feelings
can be so misleading
she turns and says “are you alright?”
I said “I must be fine cause my heart’s still beating”
She says “come and kiss me by the riverside, bobby says it’s fine he don’t consider it cheating”

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NFL Economic Bizarro World

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Carl and I have pounded practically everyone we know with the total economic sense shown by Billy Beane, GM of the Oakland Athletics mapped out in the outstanding book Moneyball. If you haven’t read it, you should. The book is a very easy read and quite entertaining even if you are not into baseball. Perfect summer reading.

I don’t want to ruin any of the book for those planning on reading it, but past this point will reveal a few spoilers to help me make a larger point.

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