Archive for the 'Miscellaneous' Category

Word to the Wise – Don’t Buy a Futon from Target.com

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My girlfriend and I recently tried to buy a futon online from Target.com. It didn’t work out so well. Taking a page from the Cluetrain Manifesto, we thought we’d share our experience so that other consumers don’t have to suffer the same mishaps at the hands of Target. Here below is my girlfriend’s story of our futon debacle:

Target’s Abbey I Futon

DON’T BUY THIS FUTON!!!! I bought it, and the first time it was delivered one of the arms was broken. After calling Target three times in one morning, they finally told me I needed to call the manufacturer– they could not help me directly! So I called the manufacturer who promised they would send me a new arm. Two and a half weeks later, no new arm had arrived. Furious, I called Target. They responded quickly and sent me out a new one directly (why didn’t they do this the first time???). Meanwhile we’ve had a broken futon sitting in our living room for three weeks. We got rid of the futon boxes figuring we would send the broken futon back in the new futon’s box and because we did not want the clutter anymore. Of course, we did not count on the new futon also arriving BROKEN! In the same exact place so we could not even make one good futon out of two! Now Target is insisting that to get a full refund we have to set up a return with UPS and BUY a new 8-foot-long box. The whole reason I ordered online was because I live in DC without a car. I have no way of getting a new box. The whole process was a fiasco and a big waste of wood.

A Vision from the Future

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I saw the man pictured here while waiting in line at a Burger King at the Philadelphia airport. Maybe it was just my weariness after a long week of gettin’ my strategic sourcing savings assessment on for ATK, but this guy struck me as out-of-the-ordinary.

In the year 2000, people will order BK value meals while talking on Bluetooth headseats and riding on Segways…

Pindyck & Rubinfeld Microeconomics Text Notes

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I used the sixth edition of Pindyck & Rubinfeld’s Microeconomics textbook when I took microeconomics at the Harvard Summer School in 2005. I recenly compiled an outline with notes on most of the textbook’s chapters as I prepared for a waiver exam at GPPI. Maybe my notes will prove useful for you.

What Should I Do With My Life?

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A couple of years ago, I read Po Bronson’s book What Should I Do with My Life? While I can’t claim that reading his book changed my life, it does contain some useful insights. If you’re considering reading the book or are interested in hearing some of what Po has to say, this file contains some excerpts from the book that I found interesting.

Kaplan GRE Test Prep

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While between full-time jobs, I have lately been teaching GRE test prep courses for Kaplan. In my experience (and that of some of my fellow Kaplan trainees), Kaplan was less than forthcoming and not at all straightforward in disclosing their wage rates. Here below is what I know now (this applies only to GRE and GMAT instructors in Boston/Cambridge):

- All out of class prep work pays at $7/hour
- Proctoring pays $10/hour
- Teaching pays $14/hour for your first complete course and $17/hour thereafter

Pay raises are considered every 6 months, and you are eligible for a maximum increase of $3/hour and will likely receive much less.

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