boon's log 3007.02: El loco bookstores and the elevator to "another world"

Have you heard? The el loco bookstores have finally "lifted" their ban for HP7. Well, just as we thought and expected, one of the reasons for the decision that was made mentioned by the CEO of MPH was having the readers in mind... bla bla bla...


"Okay, we give in..."

Apparently, there was a new deal between Penguin Books S'pore & M'sia and the book stores. Irregardless, we knew that the boycott could not last very long. I mean - who wouldn't want to hanve their hands in the Harry Potter Cookie Jar, right? Now they are back and they are even giving a discount to members and non-members...

As the old saying goes... "Why make war with Money", right? It's alright to make war against you competitors, but not money, else you are on the losing end. In this case, the 3 giants lost 3-days of easy-money. I'm very sure that even if they were to have kept selling the books at RM109.90 during the past 3 days - some folks would still prefer to buy from them than the hypermarts.


Because of our readers...

Well, it's all behind us now. Everyone's happy - especially the writer, "ker-chings" after "ker-chings". Hope some people (You Know Who) have learned a lesson from all this (You Know WHat). Sometimes it's the enemy within that we need to tackle first.

Oh yeah, on our way to see Ab on Sunday night, we bumped into this interesting elevator at our aunt's place in Sg. Dua. Check out the indicators. Seems like the lift actually went to "another world" - if you know what I mean. Either that, or we've taken the blue pill and entered into the world of the Matrix...


Elevator to the next world?

boon out...

boon's log 3007.01: Crazy about Harry...

21st July, 2007 - the day where certain group of muggles¹ were summoned to the nearest bookstand, or bookstore, or any store that sells the latest and greatest and last instalment to the Harry Potter Saga. Hoards of people came on broomsticks, flying cars and flying horses and submersible 14th century ships and invisible double-decker busses... and the likes. They came and they camped at the front door of the bookstores, brought half of their living room and half their kitchen together with them. Most came 3-4 hours prior to store opening hours. I was told that in London, folks began their outing as early as 2 nights before the clock stroke 12midnight - just to make sure that they get their "muggle-ish hands" on the "magical book" as soon as possible and then FINISH is as soon as possible so that when they arrive back the next day at their work place / classrooms, they can actually conduct a conversation with other muggles and provide their respective humble opinions on the last episode.

......

Dudes! Really...

What's more, there is a price war and the major bookstore giants turned out to be a bunch of cry-babies!

"Since you sell your books cheaper than us, we don't want to play with you anymore"

C'mon, for crying out loud! Where's their sense of competition. I believe if bookstores such as MPH, Times or Popular were to open in the States or the UK (with that kind of mentality), they would not have survived.

How would a US bookstore face up to this sort of challenge? Well, if Borders or B&N are really up to it for a sale, they would publish things such as "Guaranteed Lowest Price. We'll match the lowest price in the market." That's the way - healthy competition...

I mean imagine... if shops such as Tesco or Carrefour start selling books (similar titles to those found in MPH, Popular, Times) cheaper than MPH, Popular and Times and one by one, the 3 giants starts to whine and pulling those titles out of their shelves, soon, they'll find themselves selling only Newspapers (where price is pretty much controlled).

Then the newspaper uncles down the street start giving free ice-potong if you buy newspaper from them, then MPH, Popular and Times starts to merajuk again and starts to pull out newspapers from their shelves!

So, to MPH, Popular and Times: Stop whining like a baby and pick up your swords (or wands) and fight! Well, I told IL that eventually, these 3 jokers will come out and declare that due to "popular demand or request from our Priveledge Card Members, we will start to sell Harry Potter 7". To me, they just made a fool of themselves and a lot of the readers angry. What's more, they even canceled the respective Harry Potter promotional events. What a load of crap...

Anyway, one of the MPH representatives came out and say that they surveyed the market and is confident that the hypermarts will run out HP7 by noon on Saturday. But guess what? The papers reported that they were still packed with stocks and folks lining up for the books at 5PM on that very day! MPH - you sucked AGAIN!

Last night at 10-ish PM (this is D-Day PLUS 39hrs), IL and I decided to get some groceries at Tesco on our way home and guess what (again)? We saw racks and boxes of HP7 at the entrance going at RM69.90!

So, MPH, Sttttrrrrike Three! You're out!

IL and I stared at the rack in disbelieve. We did not even have to line up for the books or the counter to pay for the books - which by the way, Tesco Penang was very effective to open up a dedicated counter ONLY for HP7 customers. In fact, they even have a security guard to assist the Tesco salesgirl to ensure that everyone goes directly to the counter to pay for their books before they continue shopping!

IL started to call her rellies to see if they wanted a copy of the book. In the end we ended up buying 3 copies. When the security guard saw us taking 3 books, he felt compelled to escort IL to the counter and ensure that she does not run away with the books! Ha ha! Never before, have we felt so safe buying a Harry Potter book! Don't think any of the book stores have security to escort you to the counter from the bookshelves... ;)

Anyway, here are some pictures...


[22/07/07 22:21] Tesco Penang. High Volume Inventory - secured by a security guard...


[22/07/07 22:25] No need to fight for your own copy at Tesco Penang


[22/07/07 22:26] Dedicated Counter for HP7 customers only - no Queue at all...

My final say, I always believe in going for the best bargain for your money (duh!). Somtimes you may have to wait a little (i.e. like you have to wait for a cheaper bargain weeks (or months) after the official launch). I am not blaming the 3 giants for over-pricing - they can charge whatever they want. But they should take up the challenge to compete and fight instead of curling up like a spoilt brat and complain about it. Yeah, in a way, it is to show their fair-ness to the customers who'd already pre-ordered. But I believe there are other avenues to handle this situation other than what they have decided.

Some other reads:

Magic gone with Major Bookstore Chains
Price wars? Who wins and who loses
It's a Scramble!

¹ muggles. noun, non-magic folks. Refering to people who does not have magical abilities, according to J.K. Rowling.

boon out...

boon's log 2907.02: Randoms: Carnivall, Mickey Mouse, Ribs Rest., Ab, Transformers, Dragon-I

2707.06
Have been recuperating from a bad fall during the Company's teambuilding out in Sungai Petani, Kedah - the new Themepark called Carnivall - made me lose sleep for almost 2 nights. Went to see the Orthopedic at Island Hospital (and apparently this guy used to travel with Liverpool FC - You will never walk alone), X-ray, bla bla... and found that it was a badly bruised left tendon at the knee; internal, nothing cosmetic (except for the chin). That kind of put me out of action from the gym until today. The knee has healed quite nicely now and tried working the thread last evening - but only managed to half walk/jog for 20 minutes - barely hit 2miles. Dang! Will resume tomorrow.

2807.04
There's a rat in my cube! The rat(s) left some souvenirs at the bottom of my mobile-cabinet. Not sure how long they've been there, but discovered it this morning. There were biscuit crumbs, wrappers, Chicken Bones (!!!) and of course droppings. Pest control came in immediately, but until now still no signs/reports of any rats being caught in the office. It's still out there...


"Mickey" Mouse is in da house!

2807.05
We've finally checked out Ribs BBQ Restaurant, over at Burmah Road. [Link from Star]. Splendid choice! We were there for Lunch and the Pork Ribs were spectacular. I'd go back there any time. IL and I ordered the Ribs and Chic Set Lunch we were filled and satisfied. The ribs were tender and juicy, with the delicious BBQ sauce. So good, that it can compete with IL's all time fav - Tony Roma's.


My half-finished Ribs and Ribs BBQ Restaurant, Burman Road.

Highly recommended. There's a carpark reserved for customers right infront of the restaurant, if you're lucky, else, you can park along Nagore Road. There's a contact in the Star link, but incase the link's removed, here are teh details:

124-B, Burmah Road. Open from noon to 3pm and 5pm to 10pm. Close on Wednesdays. For details and reservation, call 04-2262523.

2807.06
Ab's down with quite a bad cold - so bad that Mom and I had to take turns carry her so that she can sleep better during the weekend. Again, anotehr trip to Island Hospital to make her feel better. She's still pretty much down last night - will need to check on her again later today.

We also think that Ab's discomfort maybe due to her teething process. Yeah, we noticed a little teeth growing from her lower gums. Momma and Papa were very excited about it! Our little baby's getting her first teeth! ;)

I also notice that the Council's been taking some actions to trim some of the trees following the strong winds we've encoutered recently, which uprooted some trees while some others had branches falling off them here and there. BUT I think they are taking it too seriously - check out the following pic. They were on a trim-spree that they did not leave anything on the tree except for the branches! What a sad sight...


Poor tree...

2907.01
Finally watched The Transformers last night - overall B+. The CGIs were fantastic - how it got married with the real life actions. But many parts of the movie were a little draggy - i.e. the part where Sam went home to to look for his grandfather's glasses. They tried to build in some humor into the movie, but I really think that it was unnecessary. Well, the movie was good enough to keep me in my seat, though I really needed to go to the gents towards the second half of the movie. One other thing that The Transformers was successful in doing - it successfully made me feel young again... ha ha!

Dinner after Transformers was lousy! The Rellies and us decided to go check out Dragon-I, down in Queensbay. Man, what a lousy experience it was. First of all, we were not given a number when we waited at the front desk. The waitress kept on saying "2 minutes... 2 minutes". Honestly, I was so ready to leave then. Anyway, then she came out and seated us. We waited for more than 15 minutes but no one came to take our order. We kept flagging the waiters/tresses but guess what? Yup, "2 minutes... 2 minutes" came the reply. I began to think that they were told to tell customers "2 minutes... 2 minutes" - as part of their job training plan. I told IL, let's go and have some hawker food instead - but the rellies wanted to stay and try the food...

I then stormed to the main counter and asked for a pen - told them I needed it to fill up the Comments Card. Went back to our table and started writing down the orders on the piece of paper that they lay down below the plates, chopsticks. And guess what? the moment i finished writing, the guy whom I took the pen from, at the counter, camne rushing to our table and then I just handed him the paper and said nothing. He did not even apologize! Aha... not until he saw me writing on the Comments Card when he left the table - only THEN he returned shortly and apologize.

Dinner after that improved tremendously! Food arrived in high-speed-Formula-One time, with waiters/tresses stopping by asking to remove plates, saying "Excuse Me", "Thank You" - one even said "Thank You" for removing my plate!

Apparently, the Comment Card had a phone number which goes directly to the Corporate Management in KL - I guess that's the "big Boss". Anyway, it's amazing what the Comments Card did. But of course, we never know what happens behind the scene - they might have added some "additives" into our meals...

Food on the overall was okay - nothing really to shout about. They kept boasting about their Siu Loong Bao (Dumpling with soup in it) - honestly, I do not see what the fuss is all about. AND I was told that it was 2-bucks a piece! Call me cheap, but for 2 bucks, I could have had a plate of WanTon Noodles with 3-pieces of WanTon (okay, fine, the soup is OUTSIDE of the WonTon, but err... so?)

I've also heard some pretty bad and disappointed comments from other patrons as well regarding their service, so I guess this is not really an isolated case, but something that Dragon-I, Queensbay need to improve.

Anyways, Dinner at Dragon-i? Never again - a Total Ban! I'd give them a lousy "E-" for service and effort and a "B" for food/taste.

boon out...

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boon's log 2707.03: Perak won the FA Cup

I totally lost track of time, buried deep with work that I forgot about the FA Cup Finals last weekend at the Batu Kawan Stadium. PLUS, I have not been following the local FA cup either. ;)

Anyway, I got the "BEST" result highlights on Monday morning when I got to work when we were discussing on the football match and one of the engineers, JT, said that Perak won the FA Cup! I was impressed - Perak winning the FA Cup! Being a Perak-ian, I was glad that they won...

Then that very evening, I was trying to catch more updates through the papers... I discovered that the Finals were ACTUALLY between Kedah and Perlis! And Kedah won 4-2 through a penalty shootout (!!!). I didn't really get upset because of the incorrect information from JT, but, rather I laughed when I saw that it was Kedah versus Perlis AND according to JT, PERAK WON! It was hilarious. Came back to the office the next day and told the office about it and everyone just broke out in laughter.

oh PLUS, did you know that the Sultan of Kedah actually had to take the Bus #11 (i.e. walk) to the Batu Kawan Stadium to watch the game? Yeah, apparently, a lot of incosiderate fans just double park, triple park and quadruple park along the road - so bad that the Sultan of Kedah and his escorts cannot pass through - and evidently, Sirens and Bobby lights did not help at that time, since all the car owners were already in the stadium! Koh Su Koon had to publish an public apology for that incident... ha ha! That's embarassing... So looks like Penang's already got 2 under their belt for Poorly Organized Public Events - first was the Penang Bridge Run, then now the FA Cup Finals. Way to go!

The next one that's gonna be another hell-raising event is the Sure Heboh event that is going to happen at grounds opposite Queensbay Mall this weekend. I tell you, that event is going to raise hell (and whatever's in there) this weekend - knowing the quality of the organizing committee that we've experienced so far. If you know what's best for you, I'd suggest avoiding that part of the island all together...

Well, it's Wednesday(!!!) and the we're almost reaching the mid part of the week... afterwhich, it's "Hello! Weekend!" Have a good one, folks.

... and Congratulations to Perak Kedah for winning the FA Cup!

boon out...