The Most Dangerous Retail Job of All!

What's the most dangerous, and costly, retail job today? Why being the designated television hanger of course! Have you ever seen how these big, flat screens have to be mounted? Have you ever seen one drop from the mounting? I have and it was pretty cool to see, mainly because I didn't do it. When these big LCD and Plasma sets first came out a major retailer that also sells great tools, that shall remain nameless, would not warranty the purchase unless their own installation people came to your house to install it. I believe, if I'm not mistaken, the price was around $250. What a racket they had. Unless your completely inept at even hanging a mirror or picture you can do this. The instructions that come with the mounting kits are very clear and detailed. The LCD and plasma mounts are either flush to wall or free standing stands, some with very nice woodworking. There are a few things to remember when purchasing your wide screen set. The warranty that comes with the set is most often the only one you'll ever need. The extended warranties are a pure profit sale for the retailer, that's why they always ask at the register if you'd like it. They want you to start worrying that something bad will happen. The cables are another high profit sale for the retailers. You don't need the ultra gold coated cables. Standard cables will work just fine and you will never be able to tell the difference unless the cables you use are very old. The mounting of the set. Make sure you know where you want the set to go before purchasing it. I know of a few people that spent a lot of money on wall mounted brackets and then had no rigid support in the walls for the set they bought. Doing a little homework before spending this hard earned money is time well spent. Shop around for the cables and mounts to get the best quality for the money. The stores only offer a limited assortment of these items and they're not going to be the most affordable for you, but will be the most profitable for them.

What is With Flo?

I've been watching the steady flow of Flo-isms on the insurance commercials over the past few years and they're getting stranger and stranger. I'm still trying to find out where this surreal insurance market is they keep showing us. All that open area with pretty empty boxes and cans that represent policies you can buy. The price gun is quite interesting in itself. If you got caught anywhere else using the stores price gun you'd be taken away by the police for stealing. The big board they use shows what people were quoted for policies? Or is that what they were charged? I'm waiting for Flo to tell the viewers what number they could call for an auto insurance quote but I don't think they want you to do that since they are one of the more pricier companies out there. If they're not, they must have done some drastic cuts to lower the prices. I don't understand how all these top companies are going to save me up to 15% off by going with them. Why can't I get a bidding war to get them to keep beating the other big name companies by 15% and maybe get 45% off on the quote. Who are they using for the standard that doesn't vary? I don't know. If they're all giving 15% off I guess I really don't need Flo's big board of savings then, do I? Or better yet, I don't need top hear her demented words of pseudo wisdom either!

Web Site Hosting Issues

The hardest thing about running your own website isn't the actual creation of the site but rather getting word out to people, worldwide, that it exists! There has been an awareness in things like Page Rank, which is Google based which means if they give you a high enough rank you'll show up on the first page of someones web search and probably get looked at, if not purchased from! On the other hand, if you have no rank at all you're lively hood will be dependent on word of mouth, which isn't always the best way unless you just opened the best donut shop in town. Search Engine Optimization can get you visible to thousands right away because you get listed with other sites through a service that uses seo software. I put my 4 websites out to several seo sites and I got results, some good, some fair but results none the less. It's up to you to show the balloons and sparklers to your audience and once you get them you want to keep them. Often, you can get free seo sites that will promote you to different degrees, paid and free. It all depends on what you seek out of the hits that will follow, an audience or paying customers.

A Trip to the Dentist is No Longer Easy

It's not easy going to the dentist nowadays because they don't deem to do as much in one office as they used to. I had one dentist that I saw for a 'short' time who started taking care of a cavity and then stopped what he was doing to tell me I'd have to go see one of his associates in another city because I needed a root canal, he didn't do that type of procedure in his office. I went and got the root canal and never went back again to him. I found a dentist that finished the crown work and became my new regular dentist. The cosmetic dentistry field has become so full of professional players that prices for appearance work have started to decline. Whether you're looking for a Boston cosmetic dentist, a Plano cosmetic dentist, or a Los Angeles cosmetic dentist you'll have an easy time of it right now. The economy has had a negative impact on consumer spending but there is a bright side as well, services such as these are finding new customers by offering attractive pricing for once very expensive services. Do some homework and find your dentist and smile.

The Best Consumer Protection is an Educated Consumer

Why do television marketers cater to stupid people? They must know what they're doing and maybe there's a good reason they tend to talk down to the viewers. I think what's going on is that they're targeting the people who don't tune them out and actually believe what they're being told, no matter what, like a best friend would! I like to hear many opinions on products I'm considering either buying for use or to ingest, like vitamins or fat burners. What I said in the title of this post is so true. If you want to keep from being taken advantage of you must educate yourself to what the particular industry is doing and what they're making. I like to read the consumer reviews on things to get the consumers perspective, people like me, what they have to say. I get my data and digest it like diet products and who likes/dislike them. I've gotten herbal fat burner reviews, cortisol reviews, lipozene reviews, generic fat burner reviews, and exercise equipment reviews and try to determine the honesty of them and the results others have obtained with them. It's a long process but I think it's worth it in the long run.

Bad Scale Equals Bad News

I thought there was something odd about my weight. I've been checking it regularly for a while now and it hasn't changed since last July and I could live with that. What got me suspicious was the fact that my clothes were fitting snugger than they were before and that didn't make sense, till I weighed in at the supermarket scale in their lobby. That's where the bad news was, I was 10 pounds over what my home scale said I was at. It lied to me when I didn't want it to! Water under the bridge and all that. I started looking back into my archives for articles I wrote about weight loss products that were a scam and the better ones in the herbal fat burner class. I don't want to use the 'medical' supplements because if they worked my doctor would have recommended them a long time ago. I'd much rather use a natural product while I increase my physical output because I know the risks of supplement interaction and know which ones I have to avoid because of my blood pressure meds. When in doubt, go to a pharmacy store and ask the pharmacist's opinions on various products, it's their business to know these things. If they don't knbow about a product, research it some more online before you buy.

New Year, New Policies

It seems like every year about this time I get these notifications that there will be a change to a policy or an increase in premium due to ...whatever! What I can't figure out is why every year your house gets older and your cars get older but the premiums always treat them as brand new, but when used to their fullest, you never seem to getr enough back to buy new to replace them.This year I think I'm going to change my strategy, except for the house, I'm happy with them no matter what the cost. However, for my other needs I'm going to turn to the Internet. My wife and I are going to get some online dental insurance quotes, online car insurance quotes, term life insurance quotes online, and short/long term disability insurance quotes online. I want to see if shopping around will afford me the best price with the best carrier. When we find the best matches, which may not even be online, we'll research their histories for problems and compliments, then make our decisions. I'd rather be on the beach in Tahiti!

Watching TV - Late Night Style

I had a few days off recently and was up rather late writing some articles for my political and environmental blogs and I guess I had a bit too much coffee. I was wide awake and then some. There's only so much Internet you can do before your eyes get bleary so the television was the next best thing to do. What a mistake that was. My channel surfing adventure began with a woman telling me about her incontinence and how this super duper diaper held so much more than her old ones did. Channel change! Then there was that old fart from the cocoon movies talking about his diabetes products and how they send them right to his door, so he can continue to eat the oatmeal from his other commercial no doubt. Maybe if he ate less and lost his huge fat reserves his diabetes may not be such a problem. I guess the only time he eats the oatmeal is when the camera is on. Channel change! I ran into the usual infomercials with the has been actors and actresses trying to hawk their "beautiful" jewelry (crap) and perfumes that smell like an un-neutered dog in from the rain in the summertime! The newest infomercials are more health and wellness related and don't spew the big names that endorse their weight loss, anti aging products, anti wrinkle and collagen replacement therapies. The ones that I really don't like are the ones that are solely intended for women but are marketed to men as well, knowing they'll be ineffective for men to use. There's one popular weight loss product like that which shall remain nameless. No more channels to switch to until 3:30 a.m. when the news comes on. I wonder what's going on with the Internet right now?

I Don't Peddle the Cold.

Peddle my bike that is. I have a deep aversion to cold air surrounding me and making my face cold. I think it's a side effect from the many, many years of growing up in a cold weather state, most of my life actually. You hear people say they love the winter and all it provides. These people are whacked out on mescalin or PCP or something. The winter gives you more darkness than daylight, cold, sloppy snow and slush, cold, bad driving conditions, cold, potholes, cold, high heating costs, and did I mention the cold! I'm getting smart these days because I started looking up alternate forms of exercise, specifically fitness equipment to use with my bike. I want to ride my bike any time I choose, mostly right now for the benefit of the exercise it provides. I did find and adapter for my bike at a leading sporting goods store, actually three stores. It's a stand that you attach the rear tire to and the rubber sits on top of an adjustable roller that can set various degrees of resistance to your peddling. The prices start at about $99 and can go up dramatically, depending on how fantastic a unit you want to get. I think the basic is good enough because it's only for the off season and it warms up early here in Florida. With that said, it's time to spend a little Xmas money on a bike stand.

Sandpaper Skin?

I have sandpaper-skin hands! That's right, sandpaper, or at least that's what it feels like. I live in Florida, the land of sunshine and orange trees, sand and the gulf breeze, and now sandpaper skin! What we never expected is that we'd get temps into the teens that would freeze water pipes, crack radiators in cars without anti freeze, kill long standing citrus trees, and suck the moisture out of our skin just being out in this cold. What is the effect of skin exposure to very low temps with those gulf breezes? Sandpaper skin hands! Field trip to the local pharmacy store was in order. I had no idea what to look for for in hand creams, the best night creams, the best day creams, deep moisturizing creams, whatever! I took the path of least resistance and went for names I knew from childhood, that had the words "For Men" stamped on the front and DID NOT smell like a field of pretty flowers! No flowers! I did find a suitable product that boasted skin softening FOR MEN without a floral nightmare surrounding me. I was happy and sandpaper free finally, but for how long!

Plan the New Year Right.

What many people are doing right now is collecting unemployment for lost jobs. It's a sad state of affairs that brought us to this situation but not uncorrectable. There are a number of employment advocate sites and, believe it or not, the unemployment offices across the country are doing their part top put people back to work. In fact, the majority of these offices have hired additional people to help the rest of the people find positions in order to shed the unemployment stigma. Unemployment is not a disease but rather an unfortunate side effect of rampant government spending and complete lack of financial control by the private sector. I think the best thing for these folks that are currently un-situated from their jobs is to think of what careers they may be interested in. Why not? It's a good possibility that the career they were parted from will not be open again for quite some time, or even not at all. Start thinking about what you would really 'like' to do for work, not what you have to do. There are many educational programs available to the unemployed that should not be brushed aside. Do you know when you'll get a job? No? Why not get some new employment education into something you may actually enjoy doing. Get off your butt and get back to school and form a cemented career WHILE YOU HAVE THE TIME! Many of these programs are free for the unemployed so take advantage of it and go do it.

Surprise Visit to a Friends House.

My wife and I made a visit to our friends house to pay them a visit and got a pleasant surprise when we went in. They had completely remodeled their kitchen and replaced the flooring throughout the entire house. The kitchen was very nice and very updated with some of the gadgets we saw at the home show such as pull-out lower storage and a large pantry. They also did the granite counter-tops with tile back-splashes. The back-splashes were free because the contractor dented their stove while moving it for the next thing they did, the flooring. They did the kitchen, living room, dining room, bathrooms, and half of the master bedroom in 16" porcelain tile. I never knew they made porcelain tile for flooring. I thought porcelain wasn't strong enough for anything besides wall treatments and the like but these were different. The tiles were considerably thicker and heavier. They said that between the cutting of the counters and the floor tiles that it looked like it had snowed in the house and outside. The counters made a lot of dust even with the plastic sheeting from floor to ceiling. The tiles made the outdoor snow.The master bedroom looked quite nice with the 50/50 split between tile and carpet but I think all carpet to the bathroom would have been more user friendly in the middle of the night in bare feet.

Don't be Late Paying Bills

I'm so happy for the ability to pay my bills on-line. I hated the days when a bill would show up after sitting at a neighbors house after being delivered incorrectly and there would be like 2 days to send the check in. In situations like that I'd have to do a phone check or go to the store or branch office of the company or utility and make the payment in person. What a pain in the neck with all that running around. In the early days of the Internet you could make a payment and there would be a grace period before the payment updated. Now, with the speed of online banking and electronic transfers you can make a payment this morning and it's updated by the afternoon, or sooner! I was on-board from the beginning with the online banking idea, I thought it was better than sliced white bread and direct deposited all my paychecks except for the times when an employer was not on-board with it themselves. Today, if it wasn't for the vast majority of people going out to work most would stay home and do everything from their pc! I won't get into exercise at this point!

Air Travel IS Better Than Before.

That's all I hear from people is how expensive and unsafe air travel is today. I think that's far from the truth. I know they've had to make some cutbacks like food and snacks on flights, not to mention the increased security. The airlines need to show a profit and the increased expenses they have to now show require a compensation, higher costs to the consumer. Okay, the cost of flying from Boston to Tampa has gone up a few dollars, carry on bags are costing you more, and bring a sandwich if you want to eat! Try driving the same route in the same time on the ground! You can't, not even in a train, which you can't right now. Flying is now medically safer than driving with things like the AED(Automated External Defibrillators) onboard most jets, better trained stewards(esses), and more accountability for long waits due to government intervention. Yeah, the little things that can keep you alive where breaking down on an empty stretch of road in South Carolina at 2 a.m. won't! Also, how many flights go up without somebody on-board not knowing something about first aid or medicine in general?

Time to Stay Away!

This is the time of year that I'll hit the stores one more big time. No, not to get any late Xmas bargains, just to get things I need for the winter months that I don't want to have to run out on a chilly night to get because I didn't get them before. You know what I mean. Have you ever just wanted to 'bum' around the house in some sweats with a mug of coffee and watch television, then realize your sweats don't fit any longer? That's right, you understand now. The Hallmark company has made sure that we do get out, unless you're a hermit, and get some gifts for her for Valentines Day and Easter or food for Passover. There's no end to it. That's why I say Thank Goodness for the Internet Stores! I can shop in the comfort of my slippers and robe and still be a 'great guy for remembering'.

The Local Area Home Show

My wife and I made a tour of the area builders showcase homes for sale for the coming year. I think we do this to depress ourselves looking at all the cool gadgets, kitchen extras, and bathroom works of art. This year the pantry and spa clawfoot tub were in the top few additions to the somewhat usual fare with a sprinkling of true imagination thrown in for good measure. All the homes are in a private subdivision of our city. Actually, the city is a subdivision of another city but bigger than the home city, if that makes any sense. The community we live in used to be a piece of a larger city but with growth and all we have surpassed the home city to be bigger than what we are a division of. I'm still no used to Florida's county style government. It's like a lot of little states within a state and they control the state. Most states control the counties directly. I digress, sorry. We arrive at each open house, sign the guest book, receive the builders promotional products, get an intro to the salesperson, and walk the house while drooling at the newness of it all. Until we see the base price! Wow, some things never change, except for newly built home prices. We still enjoy the tour and have gotten some pretty good ideas from the builders like slide out storage for lower kitchen cabinets as well as lazy susan gear for the corner cabinets. We even got a great retrofit idea to install a pantry in the kitchen without losing that much space. Until next year!

I Spoke Too Soon

I spoke too soon about the insurance issues, specifically health insurance issues. I was just going through the mail and I noticed a bill from our doctor for an unpaid balance. I asked my wife what the bill was for and she told she called the doctors office and was told the insurance didn't cover the entire cost of the doctor visit. Didn't cover what part of the visit? It was just a routine check-up like all the others I'm required to get just to get a prescription for my medicine. In, take weight and BP, sit, 30 second dialog with doctor, get Rx, hand over my insurance card and leave. Simple. It used to be until his rates went up and over the 'reasonable fee' the insurance company pays. Don't get me wrong, I think that's fair for the insurance companies and I don't begrudge them that. It's always worked that way and the doctors accepted the fee in order to maintain their customer base, er, I mean patient base. Why then has the fee gone up? Well, as my wife was informed the cost of medical equipment has risen, of course it has due to the economy, and payroll has gone up, as well as a number of other expenses that they felt were non of our business. That's right, it's non of my business except that I can always give my business to another doctor. Which I was going to do anyways. My doctor's two sons took over his practice and I think they both need a lot more practice. Cost's go up and that's understandable. My company provides medical products and I see the costs rising and I also see the raw material costs rising as well. You do the best you can with what you have. Did I mention my doctor is having a new house built in an exclusive part of town? I guess I didn't.

New Year and New Decisions

Oh joy, it's another new year and it's time to do all the lovely things we all need to do all over again, only this time there aren't as many companies to do them with. Before the Christmas break at work we all had to sit down and go over our health insurance coverage to make sure we know what we're paying for and what we will be paying for now that we didn't before. Good times! We were told that our rates would not be changing this year! Great! Wait! Remember the old adage that you follow the honey with the vinegar? The vinegar here is that we now have to pay for more at the providers than we ever used to pay and that the insurance would be paying less. An example that effects me personally. A Colonoscopy, a visual inspection of the colon with a scope to check for potential cancer done with a mild general anesthetic. A diagnostic exam right? Wrong, it is now considered a procedure, not a diagnostic exam, because an anesthetic, that is not a local anesthetic, would be used. My out of pocket cost just jumped into the thousands, but my premiums didn't go up! The stock market. How's that for a segue? The market is over 10,000 and it's probably a good time to think about releasing some of the protected retirement money back into some good investments since the protected accounts make almost no interest. I need to get some insurance quotes for the car because my auto insurance company is making sounds like they may pulling out in the near future. Joy. What's next? The bathroom paper companies will start using recycled sand paper for us to use in the bathroom? May as well! If you don't laugh you'll go crazy and you can't do that because it's no longer covered!