IKEA Mar 12, 2006
IKEA is a weird place.  When you go to IKEA, you don't just run in and get something quick.  You spend several hours there.  And that's how they get ya.  It's laid out like a maze.  When you walk in, you don't see registers or an exit.  You see the first line of products, which is usually something like couches and other living room things.  Then you follow the magic arrows that point you to the supposed exit.  But in reality, these arrows point you to the next line of products.  This same pattern continues for hours, even days, until you finally hit a set of stairs.  You think, "Thank God.  There's an exit and we're just about to reach it."  And then you realize it's the same pattern as before, except you're on a different floor.  So you walk through another endless maze of products and furniture until you finally come to the end.  And it's really the end. 

But how does IKEA benefit from this sadistic game?  They go to sleep at night with the knowledge that you've walked past just about every product they make.  You're pretty much guaranteed to have looked at, and perhaps bought, just about everything in the whole entire store.  So even if a person came to "just buy a couch", chances are they bought something else. 

And by the way, the Swedish billionaire who owns IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad, drives a 13-year-old Volvo station wagon.  I just thought that was kinda cool, even though he has a lot of my (and my friends') money. #business
Crying church babies Mar 12, 2006
Sometimes when I'm at church, babies cry.  They're known to do that, so it's not that big of a deal.  But how long should a mother wait before she leaves the church service because of her crying baby?  My lack of children (and understanding) forces that number to be about 10-15 seconds.  If the baby doesn't stop crying or making noise in that amount of time, the parent (not necessarily the mom) should leave.  And lots of churches have "crying rooms", which are sound-proof booths that have a view of the pastor and speakers piping in the sound.  Unfortunately, many parents have a different point of view.  They try their unsuccessful techniques, like saying "Shhh shhh", rocking the baby back and forth, or forcing objects into its mouth.  Most of these techniques fail because the baby knows it'll get what it wants if it just keeps making noise.  It's worked in the past; it'll work again.  So the parent waits around for a while and hopes that these noises will stop. 

I hate to sound selfish, but I pretty much am.  When babies make noise, it's distracting both for me and for everyone in the room, including the pastor.  I suppose some people can block out this noise, but like I mentioned, I lack children and understanding.  So I think the parent should take the baby out of the church service for the benefit of everyone else in the room.  Maybe it's just not a good idea to have young children in church services.  Or maybe these people should take advantage of the almost always prevalent "child care".  Whatever the case, the number is 10-15 seconds, and that's what I'm sticking with. #religion