Archive for January, 2006
It was a very good year.
But now the days grow short
I’m in the autumn of the year
And now I think of my life as vintage wine
from fine old kegs
from the brim to the dregs
And it poured sweet and clear
It was a very good year
I’m in the autumn of the year
And now I think of my life as vintage wine
from fine old kegs
from the brim to the dregs
And it poured sweet and clear
It was a very good year
Fitness Resources
http://www.johnstonefitness.com/
http://www.fatlosstips.com/
Two great fat loss sites. I wonder…
Paginator – Achilles Heel of Ruby
The Paginator command is the biggest annoyance in Ruby. Without a doubt.
I would like to Paginate a subset of a database table. (Everything with attribute “Phi”, for example.) I can create a variable to store everything with “Phi”, but the Paginator can only point to the table itself; not the variable holding what I want. Damn annoyance.
Update I found an answer for the Pagination headache here:
http://rails.techno-weenie.net/question/2006/1/10/passing_specific_records_to_the_paginator
The real deal on digital photos (in Canada)
Gotta love how hard it is to find prices online. Most websites bury them on FAQ pages which aren’t easily found – and are really annoying to go through. Canada doesn’t have the awesome economy of scale one finds in the States, so you will probably find the prices are a bit inflated compared to what you get in the US. Thought I’d post some of them here so anyone can do the comparison quickly.
The price listed is for one. If there are special offers for bulk, it will be mentioned at the bottom.
| Product | Futureshop | Loblaw’s | Costcot | Easypix | Rexall | Walmart1 |
| 4×6 | 25c** | 24c | 18c | 29c* | 29c | 24c |
| 5×7 | $1.19 | 99c | 59c | $1.79 | $1.99 | 97c |
| 8×10 | $3.49 | $2.99 | $1.99 | $2.99 | $2.99 | $2.97 |
| 8×12 | $3.99 | N/A | N/A | $3.99 | $3.99 | $3.97 |
| 11×14 | $6.99 | 7.99 | N/A | $7.99 | $7.99 | $7.97 |
| 12×18 | $8.99 | 10.99 | N/A | $10.99 | $10.99 | $10.97 |
* Easypix customers can get their first order (maximum of 100 pics) developed for 19 cents / order. The maximum value of this deal is $10 (0.10 * 100)
** Futureshop customers get 10 free 4 x 6 pictures. The maximum value of this is $2.50 (10 * .25)
t Costco customers must bay a membership fee. Unless you have a corporate deal, this is $50. I have spread out this cost over the number of pictures you order in the next table.
1 Walmart, Costco and Rexall use the same service, pnimedia.com
| Pictures Ordered | Premium | Total @ Costco | Total @ Futureshop* |
| 50 (4×6) | $1 | $59 | $12.50 |
| 100 (4×6) | $.50 | $68 | $25 |
| 250 (4×6) | $.20 | $95 | $62.50 |
| 500 (4×6) | $.10 | $140 | $125 |
| 715 (4×6) | $.07 | $178.70 | $178.75 |
| 1000 (4×6) | $.05 | $230.00 | $250.00 |
Premium is calculated as the amount you have to pay extra, per pic, to make up the $50 you need to pay Costco for a Costco membership. The price @ futureshop doesn’t include the 10 free pics; subtract $2.50 if you want to see what it would be in that situation.
If you are only going to use Costco for 4×6 photos (ignoring any other deals you can make) you break even with Futureshop at 715 pictures (and 834 pictures with Loblaw’s). This is not an entirely fair comparison – the $50 can also be reduced through the purchase of other discount merchandise at Costco. Regardless, If you take that many pictures in an year (like I do; I have more than 5-6 thousand this year alone), there is one other factor I didn’t take into account above; the fact that you’ll want some good pictures in larger sizes. Let’s try that again, with 20% of our pics being 5 x 7s and 5% being 8 x 10s.
| Pictures Ordered | Premium | Total @ Costco | Total @ Futureshop* |
| 100 | $1 | $85.25 | $60 |
| 250 | $0.20 | $137.34 | $148.38 |
So that’s the scam – Even if 1 out of 5 pics are 5 x 7s, and 1 out of every 20 are 8 x 10s, your price at Futureshop jumps significantly. Nice. For hardcore photographers, you can pretty much tell Futureshop, Loblaw’s and Rexall to take a hike. However there is one last twist – for lower volume photographers, the cheapest option right off the bat is, if you don’t have a membership at Costco, is Easypix. You can take up to 190 pics and print them out at Easypix for less than you would pay at Loblaw’s and Futureshop.
As for myself, all my main development will be done at Costco – since I got a membership when I bought my digital camera before going to Japan. If I want to make any poster prints, I will probably take them to Futureshop (althoughI believe only Walmart can produce very large prints, like 20 x 30).
Update: I accidentally left out Best Buy. They have 19 cent 4 x 6 prints; but their 5 x 7 and above are all average priced. It evens out with Costco at about 1000 prints if you only do 4 x 6s. I’m too tired to do the other calculations for it right now.
Arrest this man!!!
From Edmonton. Some people sure don’t get it eh.
