Good ideas

It's very interesting to live in an age where change is happening so rapidly. I remember the fall semester of 2000 when I walked across campus on the first day of class and noticed that nearly everyone had a cell phone to their ear. The previous year, almost no one did. It seemed like nearly an overnight sensation. iPods seem to be the new thing; I think I had heard that CD sales will drop dramatically very soon as more people turn towards iPod technology for their listening interests.

I think this technological age has many drawbacks (cell phones being one), but I have come across some things recently that I really like, though few of these have much to do with cutting-edge technology.

To preface the following list, let me say that if I ever opened a business, I'd like to think that I would do my very best to make money by having very low prices, and turning a profit by selling many items, as opposed to having a huge mark-up and selling fewer things. Not wanting to discuss the economic side of this in great detail, let me turn to my list:

--Pizza Stores

Our family loves pizza, and we eat it often. Unfortunately, ordering out can get very expensive, as a large pizza with no coupon can run about 15 bucks. Two stores doing something different:

1) Papa Murphy's--They have a few huge selling points; they are very generous with coupons (at least one accompanies each order, not to mention many through the mail), they cut down their price drastically by letting you pick it up and cooking it yourself, and they use fresh ingredients and the pizzas are delicious! So we can order a family-size pizza (significantly larger than a "large") for 8 bucks! And as it is superior to something like a Pizza Hut pizza, it's a great value all around. Not to mention we usually have leftovers!

2) Little Caesar's--This company use to be a run-of-the-mill pizza place, trying to compete with the big boys about 15 years ago, if I remember correctly. They seemed to fade away at one point, but they have come back with a vengeance with their new gimmick: Hot-n-Ready large pizzas for only five bucks! You can drop by their shop at any time, walk in, and walk out about 30 seconds later with 2 large pizzas that cost less than 11 dollars. Now it's not the best pizza, but it's easily worth the money. They don't turn a large profit with each sale, but it adds up when they probably sell about 30+ pizzas an hour, if not more.


--Video rentals

We're movie lovers as well, but new releases at Blockbuster's for nearly five bucks is a huge turn-off. Far over-priced for a family with a meager income such as ourselves. Enter the following:

1) Family Video--FV has new releases for less than three bucks, all other titles for a dollar and get this, FREE KID'S MOVIES!!! The other day, I let Molly and Cavan get a movie in addition to the family movie I purchased. Three movies: one dollar. Can't beat that.

2) Netflix--Though we've never tried it, I'm sure we would have if it were around 3 years ago when we didn't have any kids. Netflix is a subscription service with movies arriving in the mail. For something like 20 bucks a month, you request all the movies you want to see, and they mail them to you, three at a time. They also give you a mailer to send the DVD's back when you're finished. No late fees either! If you love movies, you could easily knock off 20+ movies a month, which comes out to a dollar or less per movie! Not to mention that you never have to leave your home to do all of it. Maybe when all our children are out of the house . . .


--Choral Music

This is a much more specialized field, but let me quickly brief you on how this process usually happens. When I find a piece of music that I want my choir to sing, I must order the requisite number of copies (let's say 25) from a publisher for about 2 bucks a pop, give or take 30 cents. This comes out to 50 bucks for a piece I may sing once a year. It's gets expensive, no doubt, especially since publishers keep jacking up their prices. No wonder so many conductors buy one copy and then photocopy the other 24, an unethical practice that I don't condone. But one small publisher had a great idea . . .

--St. James Music Press

This publisher sells you a collection of pieces ("anthems") for about 50 bucks, and then gives you permission to copy them freely. With usually 30 or more anthems in each collection, you have much to choose from; if you only use two pieces, you've already come out ahead financially. I foresee many other larger publishers following suit in the near future . . .


One trend that I'm not extremely excited about: the extinction of print materials (newspapers, periodicals, etc.) in the foreseeable future due to the popularity of the Internet. With more and more getting their news from the Internet, fewer and fewer are reading items such as the New York Times. Well, I guess I'm not too sad about this trend, except for the news that my favorite magazine, Crisis, will be ending its run in print form and moving to an on-line publication. I just hate reading full-length articles on the 'Net . . . oh well, think of the trees that won't be whacked down in the future!