Mom got a picture she took published in the newspaper.

written by cybercjh

I love when I get hilarious responses to the e-mails I send. Especially when you can tell the person I sent it to didn’t even bother to read my e-mail before they respond. Check out this e-mail conversation I’m having with Melissa, a SquareTrade Care Specialist.

I’m thinking of buying a Whirlpool 17.7 Cu. Ft. Upright Freezer (Color: White) ENERGY STAR from Lowe’s. The price is $548. I tried to get a quote for a warranty from your website, but it seems Refrigerator is the only option. Could I buy this Refrigerator warranty for my Upright Freezer?

Melissa responds …

Thank you for contacting SquareTrade.

Please accept our apologies for the confusion regarding your item.

SquareTrade covers hundred of thousands of electronics items sold by eBay sellers. The process of correctly identifying items depends largely on each seller properly categorizing the items they are listing.  Rest assured, we are currently working to improve/refine this process.  We do apologize for the confusion.
Thank you,
Melissa
SquareTrade Care Specialist

So, I reply with …

OK. Now, maybe you could actually READ my e-mail and then respond with something INTELLIGENT? Who is talking about buying something from eBay? Certainly not me. I am asking about a freezer from Lowe’s. Please re-read my original e-mail, consult a dictionary or perhaps someone who speaks English for assistance and try to come up with some sort of coherent response. Thanks.

Let’s see what happens …

written by cybercjh

Christina’s 31st Birthday

written by cybercjh

 What’s your plan?

“What’s your plan?” If I hear that one more time, I’ll probably have some sort of mental breakdown. “What’s your plan?” “What’s your plan?” “What’s your plan?” “What’s your plan? That’s what I’d like to know.

It drives me nuts when people pick up a few glib phrases in meetings and then use them to the point of farcicality in their management-speak. GMAFB.

In preperation for my eventual departure, I cleaned out my desk today and in place of my ‘The Office’ calendar, I hung a copy of the Serenity Prayer. I figured that will come in more useful in these last days then the wisdom of Steve Carell. Although, Steve Carell does have a good grasp of what life is really like in these windowless walls.

written by cybercjh

Seriously, it doesn’t matter if you visit Wal-Mart at 2pm or 2am, you’re pretty much guaranteed at least a 20 minute wait at the cash registers.

Tina and I stopped at Wal-Mart Friday night to buy breakfast sausage. We had already bought the rest of the groceries we wanted at Publix in Tradition (where there was no lines, by the way). But, Wal-Mart sells a certain type of breakfast sausage we really like and can’t (unfortunately) find anywhere else.

So, we pull into the Wal-Mart parking lot and wade through the Sea of Gray Carts in an attempt to find somewhere to park.

We go into the store, proceed directly to frozen breakfast foods, grab two bags of the sausages (so we wouldn’t have to come back for a while) and go directly to the cash registers. Of the 30 cash registers, numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30 are closed. The lines for the few open registers are enormous. The shortest line was 6 carts deep.

So, we chose register 1. The Speedy Checkout line. We were the 9th person in line. So, I’m sure you can imagine our checkout was anything but speedy.

God, forgive me, but I hate Wal-Mart.

written by cybercjh

written by cybercjh

It drives me absolutely farking insane when people compare the price of a gallon of gas in the USA to the price in the UK. They are two totally different things. Yes, I understand that they pay about $7/gal for gas in the UK and we’re still only paying about half that. But, based on information I could find on places like CNN and MSNBC, I made the chart below that shows you what percentage of your gas dollars go where.

In the UK, the majority of what they pay at the pump is taxes, about 75% (vs only 20% in the USA). In the UK, they use that money to fund programs like National Healthcare. Who reading this wouldn’t mind paying $7/gal if it meant you, your family and your kids would get free healthcare forever? No more paycheck deductions for a health insurance scam (oops, I mean scheme) that ends up costing you hundreds if not thousands in co-pays and deductibles only to be told that the life-saving procedure you need isn’t covered anyway. In the UK, if you need it, you get it. Period. You need a certain drug? No problem. Need an operation? OK. There’s no such thing as ‘not covered’ in the UK when it comes to healthcare. In some hospitals in the UK, there is a cashier that refunds you the cost of getting to the hospital. In the USA, some health insurance scams (oops again, I mean plans) don’t even cover the cost of getting to the hospital. Need an ambulance? Let’s see your credit card there, partner. This ain’t a charity mobile, ya know.

The government in the UK knew gas prices were going to go up and stay up, so they started taxing the hell out of it. That kept demand down but kept prices high. They figured people were going to pay high gas prices no matter what. So, why not make the majority of those high prices taxes that benefit society instead of profits for the oil companies.

But in the USA, our situation is the complete opposite. Gas prices are going up and will stay up. But, the majority of what we pay at the pump does nothing but line the pockets of some of the most evil people on earth. And, our government is either too scared, too stupid or just too lazy to do anything about it.

By the way, did you see the recent black and white TV commercial with Nancy Pelosi and Newt Gingrich sitting on a sofa? Cute.

written by cybercjh

I am bored today.

Today is very boring. Even more boring than usual. I can’t follow up on any of my specs because everyone is either on vacation or away from the office today for one reason or another. I guess I’ll go read The Onion.

written by cybercjh

I just got done reading an interesting article about how people who try to plan their meals so they only spend a certain amount of money each day. Made me wonder how much I’m spending on my food today. I didn’t eat out or buy anything from the vending machines.

~ : estimated.

BREAKFAST
  Coffee w/ Half & Half : ~$0.20
  Cinnamon Bagelful: $0.25
AT WORK
  Campbell’s Select Roasted Chicken w/ Rotini & Penne Pasta Soup : $2.00
  Yo-Plus Blackberry & Pomegranate Yogurt : $0.25
  Can of Pepsi: $0.20
  Bottle of Water (x2) : $0.40
DINNER
  Baked Chicken Breast w/ Bacon : ~$2.00
  Rice : ~$0.25
  Yo-Plus Cherry Yogurt : $0.25
SNACK (I know, I should have had fruit or something…)
  French Fries : $0.50
  Peanut M&Ms : $0.05
TOTAL = $6.55

Hmm, not bad. The Grocery Game seems to be saving me quite a bit of money especially since I got two big bags of Peanut M&Ms for 15¢ each at CVS last week.

Let’s compare this to a typical day I used to have before I turned into a Grocery Geek.

BREAKFAST
  Dunkin’ Donuts or Starbucks Coffee : ~$2.00
AT WORK
  Arby’s or Wendy’s or Obee’s : ~$6.00
  Candybar from vending machine : $0.60
  Bottle of Pepsi from vending machine : $0.75
DINNER
  Something from Publix : ~$7.00
TOTAL = $16.35

Based on that, grocery gaming and brown bagging looks worth it to me.

written by cybercjh

The Price of Gas

Gas has recently hit $3.50/gal here on the Treasure Coast. These high prices really make you think about the cost of driving when that really wasn’t something I ever thought about.

For example, I recently wanted to go to Denny’s for a plate of their scrumptious nachos. But, the Denny’s is 10 miles away (20 miles round trip). It would cost almost $4.50 in gas alone just to pay for the privilege of eating out. So, I had cereal (I got on sale) for dinner instead.

MPG will be the biggest deciding factor on my next car purchase. And, it’s not like I drive a gas guzzling SUV; it’s a Taurus for crying out loud. How the Expedition and Excursion people do it with today’s gas prices, I don’t know.

The Price of Rice

We normally go to the Filipino store on Federal Highway to buy the rice that Tina’s mom likes. It looks like the bag of rice pictured above except that is has three green elephants on it, not one big yellow one. I call it 3 Elephant Rice, but that’s not its official name. I forget what is. Anyway, Tina’s mom says that type rice is considered first class in the Philippines and is very expensive there. She said it costs about 55 PHP per kg.

Here, it comes in a 25 lb bag. It used to cost $16, but the price has recently went up to $22. Since 25 lb is equal to just about 11 kg, the cost would be 605 PHP. The exchange rate is currently 38 PHP to $1. It used to be 50 PHP to $1. The dollar has fallen significantly. So, 605 PHP is about $15.

So, the same 25 lb sack of rice that cost $22 stateside would only cost $15 in the Philippines. How then at dinner last night I determined the cost was $65 in the Philippines by doing the math in my head speaks volumes to my mathematical skills or significant lack thereof.

written by cybercjh