The Comcast Scam 6-28-11

Apparently, it's becoming epedemic. Not only are newspapers charging much more for much less, but so is my soon-to-be-former cable company. Scamcast...I mean Comcast, shut off most of my channels. They claimed that they were going to improve my service, and I needed a new box. I had basic cable, don't watch much besides CNN and Cool TV (the video channel) during the summer, but let's face it, football season is coming up and I need to get this all squared away by then. When I called for the box, a rep from Scamcast declared that I would need to pay more per month for basic cable...a LOT more. They figured they deserved a $49 a month raise! No need to do the math, I shall do it for you. They wanted another $600 a year to give me the same thing I already had! My next call will be to Verizon to do something I should have done last year...get a quote on Fios.   

Herald Tribune cont... 6-17-11

As I mentioned in the last post, I placed an ad in the fitness section of the Sarasota Herald Tribune and it was a dud. Natually, I then felt a need to do some basic research. First, I wanted to know if anyone was actually reading the paper. I checked circulation figures for 2007. The Herald Tribune, circulation wise, was one of the top 100 newspapers in the country. It had a daily circulation of 118,000. That seemed fairly healthy to me. Four years later, in 2011, the paper's circulation has fallen off a bit. It is down to 83,000! OUCH! That is a 30% drop in 4 years. I think it is safe to say that this is not going to end well. I know what you are thinking...how did my ad rep explain this HUGE rate increase to me...despite the big drop in circulation? It was simple. He said that the advertisers on the weekend were already paying these high rates, and the paper wanted to bring my rate "more into line" with the weekend rates! I asked him if it would have been just as easy to lower the rates of the weekend advertisers, especially given the precipitous drop in readership. He replied the paper had not elected to go that way. I would like to reveal that I read the Herald Tribune on a regular basis and think it is, for the most part, well written and insightful. Unfortunately, like a growing contingent of people, I only read the online version. Next...the balance   

Sarasota Herald Tribune 6-15-11

I used to advertise my business in the fitness section of the Sarasota Herald Tribune. This section came out every Tuesday. A quarter page ad was resonable. It cost me $225.00 and I ran it two or three times a month. For two years, the ads consistently got great results. The ad did not do too badly during this past season, either. In April, I received some bad news from my ad rep. The paper had raised my rate from $225 per insertion to $350!! This amounted to a mind-numbing 64% increase. Did I receive an ad that was 64% larger? Well, no, I did not. Did they propose to place the ad on the front page of the fitness section? No, it would still be buried in the back somewhere. While I pondered this new pricing structure, I okayed one more ad. It came out on a Tuesday morning. Nothing happened, no calls...nada, zero, zilch...just crickets. I decided I had better begin to do some research and find out why...to be continued 

My New Yacht 6-13-11

Since the entire west side of Sarasota is bordered by the Gulf of Mexico, not a week goes by without driving past the ocean or the intracostal waterway between the Keys. I have yet to bring my boat down here, but on a whim, I am thinking of inquiring about the selling price of a used yacht I saw.  The astute Sarasota resident will recognize this angle. It was taken at the park across from Marina Jacks. Why is this gossip? I'll tell you why. What new couple decided to consumate their relationship aboard this ship when it wasn't too busy? Hint, it took place behind a door on the middle deck that said Employees Only. Hint, he is recently divorced and one of the best known high-end real estate agents in town. She still stars in plays locally and nationally. See below.

The boat in the background is the famous
rolling art gallery that everyone was talking
about.

Another restaurant bites the dust 6-11-11

Here in Sarasota, the competition is fierce. There's a restaurant on every block, and sometimes ten on a block! Everybody knows how to cook, right? Well, no, not everybody. My ex mother-in-law was a terrible cook. You would think that a woman who could pass for an National Football League tackle would know something about whipping up a meal. She did not. But I thought the fine folks at The Serving Spoon knew what they were doing. I ate at the one at Clark and Beneva a couple of times. I will not eat a pancake unless it is multigrain, and the ones I ordered there were heavy and grainy. I thought business was booming for them. Apparently I was wrong, one of my people just reported to me that the one on Clark has closed down. Have the other two as well?  Stay tuned.