yeah, same around here. I think between deliveries costing more to do, less disposable income from clients in general and other energy related increases, their margin for survival just becomes nil.

I don't know about the Bitter East Coast, but out in Southern California, there is some law that says that oriental rug dealers must be gong out of business from the day they open.

Or so it would appear from the advertising.

Besides major furniture stores (Wicks, Levitz) I haven't seen any going out of business. But what I have noticed is the sales are getting better as retailers try to drive business.

There was a guy on NPR (local NPR, I think) yesterday saying that 7,000 retail stores will close this year with several medium and large chains closing all or a significant number (hundreds) of locations.

Since I don't shop I wouldn't notice. He said that while dropping consumer spending is a problem for some of them a bigger problem is that the credit crunch is hitting them hard. Stores buy inventory on lines and letters of credit. If those instruments are hard to come by a lot of them don't have the cash on hand to keep going.

Wow, Almost Live. Now that's a show I haven't thought of in a very long time and usually only when I'm caused to think about Bill Nye or Soundgarden.

I bought Michael Giacchino's "Roar!" on iTunes yesterday, the only bit of scoring written for the movie Cloverfield. What a great tribute to monster movie soundtracks! Here's my Michael Giacchino playlist (not everything I own by him, just what I assembled into a nice 45 minute playlist):

Space Mountain: Mission Two, Paris Disneyland
The Incredits: The Incredibles
Le Festin: Ratatouille
Remy Drives a Linguine: Ratatouille
End Creditouilles: Ratatouille
Roar!: Cloverfield
Space Mountain Anaheim and Hong Kong
Space Mountain Anaheim and Hong Kong exit

I also bought the restored soundtrack to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, unfortunately not released on CD, only on iTunes. What a spectacular score by Disney great Paul Smith. Mr. Smith was also responsible for the scores of the True-Life Adventures.

I am now the proud owner of a set of Club 33 china. :D

(It's white with blue and gold trim.)

I figured since we didn't have a set of nice china, it would be a good home purchase. So, we have a place setting for six that cost only $24 for everything. Not shabby.

According to the CM there, we missed out on the Club 33 logo charger plates by just a couple days. :(

I also got some cute $38 retro-style pants for only $9 per pair. (Still sold at the parks for full price, btw!)

As long as they don't say GOODY on the ass, you're good.

Noooooooooooo! Augh! I LOVED those chargers! :(

Drat, shoulda gone.