Dog Lovers vs. Michael Vick

Dear NFL Players:

I very much enjoyed the preseason Chiefs v. Eagles game at Arrowhead Stadium last night. Fun place, nice crowd. The only really jarring moment was when the announcer reminded me that Michael Vick, Mister "I'll strangle a dog for a buck--or just for the heck of it," was on the field.

If some of the players and fans have forgotten (oh, how fast Americans forget things they don't like to face), you can review the aftermath of his participation in one of the bloodiest, most abusive pastimes in the world:
"Dogtown: Saving the Michal Vick Dogs" (National Geographic Channel, avail. on Hulu)

http://www.hulu.com/watch/158422/dogtown-saving-the-michael-vick-dogs

Now, I would never ever condone random violence against any of the universe's creatures.

But if one (or more) of you NFL players who are also true animal lovers were to accidentally do on the field to Vick what he did to some of those poor dogs, well . . .

I'd probably let my dog send you a box of chocolates and a bouquet of flowers.

That's all! Have a good season (all of you except the nasty animal abusers -- you know who you are).

Dear Sears

You need to get serious with your stores and actually stock what you're trying to sell.

No, seriously. You blew it, you lost the sale, and here's why:

1. Your store in my town puts very expensive items on its sales floor, but tells customers "Sorry, we don't have that in stock." The mower I chose was not in stock, and for some bizarre reason you would not sell me the floor model. 
2. I asked for a rain check, to get the same price when the sales person told me they would be in stock "in a week or two." The sales clerk took my name and contact information. On a scrap of paper. 
3. Which did not surprise me, since she was barely, minimally competent, showed no enthusiasm whatsoever when I expressed more interest in the new models than the used 'returned' machines parked on the sidewalk outside the store.
4. Not only that, her mouth kept saying, "Uh, yeah, that's a good mower. They're all good," while her face was saying, "Please just go away, I have no interest in selling this crap."
5. When I finally chose a fairly high-end self-propelled mower, saying "Wrap it up, I'll take it," she said, "Oh, okay, ummmm... I'll go back and see if we have that one..." (WTF???! Don't your employees know what they are doing at ALL?)
6. I had even brought friends to help me shop and load/unload the machine into my truck. They were NOT impressed with your store or the personnel, so you've lost two rather wealthy local residents as customers in the future.
7. Needless to say, I was never contacted, and made the decision not to ever shop at your store for a high-end item (for me, 'high-end' means over $300...so possibly you don't care).
8. Another local resident told me he and his wife had the same exact experience at your store--they bought the really expensive washer and dryer set you didn't have in stock from LOWE'S.
9. Come to think of it, Lowe's has every appliance and motorized lawn care product you have, only they really do know how to serve customers, deliver, install... well, you get what I mean.

Here's my advice (and it's worth every penny you've paid for it). Either get your store into shape, or you're out of our town.

And come to think of it . . . we probably won't notice if your store leaves--except for the big UGLY SPACE it hogs up in our little mall (it looks OK from the outside, but inside it looks like a sad, understocked outlet store).

In this economy, I think you need to make a better effort. Sell products your people can believe in, and make sure you stock what you show.