no dog in this race

Well, I guess you can all rub it in now. Kucinich has left the race, and wants us to vote for...Obama or Paul maybe?

See, this is the problem with America. You never get a chance to vote for who you really want to. Aahhh, but this is what America wants, right?

Whatever. People have been scared out ov voting for the "right" candidate and instead for the most popular. It's like high school all over again. Geez.

the cost of gift receipts

So we received a bunch of crappy gifts for Xmas this year, and seeing as our relatives feel the need to purchase items from stores that aren't located anywhere near our home town, we usually end up taking a road-trip every January to return or exchange all of the reject gifts of Xmas past.

This year, we found ourselves driving almost an hour to visit stores like Target, Toys R Us, and Kohl's. Unfortunately, we quickly discovered that the gifts we were returning weren't even worth the cost of gas to get us there and back. Apparently, our relatives were all shopping the clearance racks, which is fine and dandy, but I wish they would have told us that the toy they bought my son was worth less than $2 at Kohl's before we ventured out there to return it. I would have donated it or eBay'd it instead.

As we are growing older, I just can't stand the whole gift-giving tradition of Christmas. I can understand getting gifts for the children, as they are fun to watch when they open them, but for adults - please.

So once again, we will have to try and reinforce with our relatives to please save their cash and only buy gifts for the kids next year, and that due to the expensive return/exchange trips, they are actually costing us money. Of course, they always like to chime in that they "included the gift receipt just in case!" Gee, thanks, but we've got enough paperwork to deal with during the holidays. Now I've got to worry about yet another store receipt during the great gift unwrapping frenzy that is likely to rub blank before I can get to the store.

I wish I could convince them to start shopping online like the rest of the modern world. After all, if they send me an online gift certificate, then I can not only pick out my own gift online (thereby saving gas and making sure that it is something that I might actually wear), but I can grab some nifty Kohls coupon codes to make that gift certificate value stretch a little farther.

i hate internet exploder

Okay, I'm just going to have to vent here a little. As a web designer, I am getting so sick and tired of having to tweak my CSS so that it displays correctly in Internet Explorer. It would be one thing if I was trying to create some sort of tricky drop down menus or other elite CSS effect, but I'm talking basic DIV styling and positioning, and IE can't seem to handle it.

On top of that, there's the old transparent PNG and hover issues that older versions of Explorer choke on, that I still need to consider whenever I am designing a new site. Sure, there's a big part of me that wants to say, "Hey, if you're on an old browser, that's just too bad!" But then the luddite in me understands the idea that if something ain't broken, don't fix it. But the problem is this...

Internet Explorer IS broken!!! And it has always been horrible. Aside from the headaches that it causes web designers, let's look at the security flaws. You have no idea how often I used to run into hijacking and trojan problems when using IE, at least prior to installing some serious anti-spyware and popup blocker software. And even then, it was hit-or-miss. Sometimes, you could surf clean and walk away knowing that when you fire up IE you'd still see your homepage show up. But at other times, your homepage would miraculously switch to some crappy search page that you'd never heard of before. You can thank Microsoft and their Browser helper functionality...ugh!

Of course, now I use Firefox...almost exclusively. Unfortunately, there's still that large portion of the population that surfs with IE simply because it is what their computer came with. And it is for those poor misguided souls that I have to retain a copy of IE on my computer so that i can cross-check every site I do in IE (and subsequently tweak all of my perfect looking pages in Firefox so that they look similar in IE). I just can't stand it.

People want to rally behind a cause. They want to "stick it to the man" - well, here's an idea: get yourself a better browser and quit relying on the virus fodder that comes preloaded on your PC.

add sprint to the spam hitlist

Last week, I reported that I was starting to receive tons of spam to an email address that I provided to ServiceMagic. On the bright side, I am not alone. I have already received two comments from individuals who are having the same problem after registering with that site. I have since deactivated that email address.

Well, guess who sold out my email address this week? Sprint! Now, you would think that a huge company like Sprint would have more integrity. However, I am now receiving spam at (not one, but) two separate email addresses that I had created specifically for Sprint billing correspondence. One was for for a Sprint PCS cell phone that we used to have with them, and the other was for Sprint long distance billing. All of a sudden, I am seeing spam at both addresses, which I think we can assume is more than just a coincidence.

So, I'd like to send out a big "screw you" to the folks over at Sprint for selling my email addresses. Sprint used to be a reputable company to deal with. Maybe it was the merger with Nextel that shattered their integrity. None-the-less, this is why, as consumers, we are forced to create separate email addresses when dealing with immoral corporations. It's the only way to keep the erectile dysfunction spam from infiltrating our real mail. Jerks.

small town safety

Isn't it nice to be able to walk around downtown after dark? That's what I thinking to myself them other night when I decided to walk home from town instead of driving. My wife had the car, we don't have cellphones, and I opted not to waste a dollar at a payphone. We live pretty close to town. Some of the streets were pretty dark, but I felt safe enough. I just had to make sure that approaching cars could see me. But the truth is that when I was a kid I would have *never* done this. Why? Because I grew up in New Orleans and the part of town that I lived in was pretty scary. So scary that I was too afraid to ride my bike outside, for fear of being jumped. That may sound totally irrational, but after getting jumped for my skateboard, I just couldn't help myself. My bicycle sure looked nice in the garage, though.

I've lived in a number of cities throughout my lifetime, and even the ones that seemed pretty "safe" could turn on you in an instant. I guess it isn't the city's fault, as there are bad people everywhere, right? But I at least know that when I'm riding the public transit in my town that I won't be approached by some thug trying to sell me stolen womens gold watches (true story). And I know that I can walk down an alley without having to look over my back every thirty seconds. AND...I feel comfortable going downtown without arming myself. Where I grew up, everybody carried handguns. It was like The Old West, but with racism and paved streets.

Here in small town USA, it is safe and quiet. We know most of the people in town and they know our family. Aside from the occasional repeat domestic violence case reported in the newspaper, crime is virtually non-existent. In big cities, there's always some gruesome crime case on the front page of the newspaper. Here, you'll see a big headline about a local hotel getting a new elevator, or on rare occasions, a canine may curiously make it onto the front page as citizen of the week. It's so nice when your "big" stories are only this big.

These are just some of the joys of living in a smaller town. I highly recommend it, and can't see myself ever living in the city again.

service magic sucks

Last year, I talked a little about my experience using a site called Service Magic. It was nice that I received a call almost immediately upon using their site, but in the end they only found one pre-screened contractor in my area. So much for them delivering multiple choices for me to pick from. None-the-less, I was willing to give them another chance and figured I would use their website again for the next big home improvement project that I didn't feel like doing myself.

HOWEVER...

I have just started receiving tons of spam at the email address I used to register with Service Magic, and considering that I created this certain email address JUST FOR Service Magic and haven't used it anywhere else, I would say that this is a pretty good indicator that they have sold my email address out to the likes of spammers. I don't see how else I would be getting spam to this dedicated email address.

Their privacy policy states: "We may share aggregated, non-personal information in any of the above situations and also with advertisers and others."

I guess that includes my email address, eh? As I've stated before, when it comes to so-called "free" services on the internet, they are rarely free. In this case, you're allowing your inbox to fill up with pharmaceutical spam and penis enlargement scams in return for someone playing the middleman between you and some contractors. What a deal...NOT!

So I have decided to change my assessment of Service Magic - they suck. I won't ever use them again, and I don't recommend them.

grey poupon - no rolls royce required!

How awesome is this? I was selected to do a product review for Grey Poupon mustard. They sent me two flavors for my family to try, and asked for an honest review in return. I was more than happy to oblige.



You know the name. You know the image - the old "chap" in the back of his Rolls Royce limousine experiencing the dilemma of the day, when his jar of Grey Poupon runs dry. It's only natural that he would ask the distinguished gentleman in the Rolls next to him to borrow a smidgen.

Honestly, this image is the precise reason why I haven't been purchasing Grey Poupon in the past. No, I'm not some reverse elitist who scoffs at high-ticket grandeur or "gourmet" delicacies. Rather, I'm a budget-minded cheapskate who never bothered to look at the price because I assumed it would be too costly based on the commercials. In fact, when I was selected to do this product review, I figured that I would be receiving the mustard equivalent of Taco Bell's hot sauce packets in the mail. Imagine my surprise (and penny-pinching delight) when two full size 8 oz. jars of Grey Poupon arrived at my doorstep. (Okay, so I'm easily excited, but this is GREY POUPON after all!)

Suddenly my family found itself struggling to devise a dinner worthy of this kitchen connoisseur's condiment. Not one to break too far from culinary tradition, we settled on a turkey, lettuce, tomato and bacon sandwich creation. I tried the Hearty Spicy Brown and my wife selected the Harvest Coarse Ground. The kids, weenies that they are, opted for the usual generic brand yellow. The "brown things" in the mustard frighten them. Talk about coddled kids, eh?

Anyhow, the Hearty Spicy Brown was scrumptious. It tasted like it had fresh onions in it, and the flavor was powerful enough to still stand out among the bacon grease and tomato juices. If there's one thing about mustard, I want it to be strong on my sandwich. Mustard is one of those love it or hate it condiments, and while it is easy to put too much on a sandwich, it's also not something that you use to add subtlety. In my book, mustard is for adding robust flavor, not just an accent. I guess that's why I chose the flavor with the word "Hearty" in the name. My wife really enjoyed the Harvest Coarse Ground. When Grey Poupon says "Coarse", they really mean it. It looks like it has whole mustard seeds in it!

So now we've got two full size jars of Grey Poupon to digest by July of this year (when they expire). It's difficult to say if we'll be able to purchase Grey Poupon regularly after that, as I still have no idea what it costs and if it will fit into our tight budget. However, I have to admit that the flavor may well be worth the extra dollar or two compared to generic brown mustard. I can think of all kinds of meals that this mustard would be complimentary with - sandwiches, brats, steak, even liver. Yep, I'm convinced that fried chicken livers would be awesome with Grey Poupon, assuming that you're not too much of a wimp to try chicken livers. My family loves them.

There are certain things in life that still support the theory that you always get what you pay for. As such, there are certain products that I will not buy in generic brand fashion, regardless of how much money it would save us. Toilet paper, orange juice and paper towels immediately spring to mind. By the time we finish these two jars of Grey Poupon, I may just have to add brown mustard to that list. Sometimes you need to live a little.

printer manufacturers contribute to waste

Of all of the large product manufacturers out there, I am shocked that printer and ink cartridge manufacturers don't come under fire more often, when it comes to environmental sensitivity. I recently got the dreaded "low ink" alert from my HP printer the other day, and found that the color replacement cartridge costs $35! Even a "remanufactured" ink cartridge would cost me close to $20, and I've had lackluster results with those in the past. Don't even get me started on the supposed "refill" kits, either.

So, just out of curiosity, I looked at the price of a new comparable printer - $70. So, let's see. I can keep my old printer, pay $35 for a new color cartridge and $25 for a new black cartridge (when that runs out), or I can purchase a whole new printer (with included ink cartridges, better drivers and a fresh new warranty) for $10 more.

So it comes as no surprise to me that computer peripherals have become such a throwaway product. It's sickening to think of what the mark-up must be for ink cartridges, too. Printer and ink cartridge manufacturers should be ashamed of themselves, or rather they should be assessed unique landfill impact fees for their price fixing and how it leads to wasteful consumer practices.

eyeglasses for eight bucks?

I had heard that shopping for new eyeglasses online was cheaper, but eight bucks? How can this be?

Honestly, it doesn't surprise me that much. When it comes to eyeglass frames, I've always found it ridiculous that vendors at the all charge upwards of $100 to $200 for a plastic frame that I can buy as sunglasses for about $10. I can understand the price of the prescription lenses being a little pricey, but the frames have always seemed overpriced to me. So now I find a place online that has the for only $8, and all of my suspicions about mark-ups at the mall stores seem to be true.

Now, you might be expecting these $8 frames to look like woodshop rejects, but they actually look pretty modern and stylish:


What's even more shocking is that the advertised $8 price is for *complete* eyeglasses - not just the frames. I had to do a double-take when I saw that. Can this be for real?

Great Discovery: www.ZenniOptical.com

I did some searching for reviews on Zenni Optical, and found a site with about 26 online customer reviews. They reviews were split about 50/50. Half of the customers had nothing but good things to say. The others had nothing but bad things to say - particularly about their customer service. So I suspect that is how they can offer such low prices. I'll have to check with my wife to see who her coworker went through, as she was quite pleased with her online order. Maybe it was Zenni. At only $8, I may go ahead and try them out. If it doesn't work, and they try to rip me off in any way, I can always do a chargeback on my credit card, right?

The only thing that I am going to feel like I am really missing are the adjustments that the eye doctor (or his assistant) usually does on the frames, which can make the difference between a truly comfortable pair of glasses and major headaches. But most places will do free adjustments for you if you just walk in to their store, whether you bought them there or not.

frightened of lasik?

I was talking to my wife last night about how much fun it might be to start a softball team with some of the other parents in our town..nothing too competitive. Just for fun, really. I was thinking co-ed...maybe even using a cabbage-ball so that nobody feels too intimidated. (It also makes things cheaper since nobody would have to buy gloves and gear.)

It's been a while since I have played any type of competitive sports, though. So long in fact that the last time I did, I wasn't wearing glasses. These days, I need my glasses for everything but close-up reading. If I get up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, I need to make sure that I'm wearing my glasses or I miss the toilet. Yep, it's that bad.

Si I've been toying around with having lasik done for quite some time. Every time I have gone in for new glasses, my eye doctor tells me that I'm a good candidate for it. But I haven't ever followed through. I'm not exactly sure why. It's not like I've heard a bunch of horror stories about it. I just have this problem with anything touching my eyes. In fact, I tend to have problems with thinking about surgery of any kind - it makes me feel nauseous. i can't really explain it. It even affects me with my children. For example, my daughter had to have an extra tooth extracted once, and listening to the oral surgeon when he was explaining what he was going to do make me sick to my stomach. I almost passed out.

So, now that I'm toying around with the idea of playing sports again, the topic of lasik eye surgery has come up again. It's still fairly expensive, with most estimates coming in at around $1000 an eye. But I guess that's not too bad if you figure the cost of new glasses every year or so. Of course, I'm one of those people who doesn't bother getting new glasses until I notice that my eyesight has degenerated extensively. Every time that I have gotten new glasses, it becomes this huge debacle.

Last year, I picked up new glasses at Sears and they screwed *everything* up. they got the prescriptions wrong, the lens coatings...even my bill was messed up. one of the women that my wife works with recently ordered her glasses online - I may have to try that next time, assuming that I am still chickening out when it comes to the lasik procedure.

I can always get those eyeglass straps for when we start our softball team, right?

tired of tech support?

For all of those whiny consumers who complain about their lackluster tech support experiences, I have a message for you: Your tech support people are tired of you, too! At least, that's how I was feeling the other day when my mother-in-law called asking me for help on setting up her DSL. Honestly, I used to get a sense of self-worth when I helped relatives with their computer problems, but these days I feel like they should just take their problems elsewhere. Hell, it took a week before the phone company could get my DSL to work properly and I know what I am doing. How am I going to help her over the phone? I know - it's rude and selfish of me, but my time is limited and every minute that I spend trying to fix someone else's virus-ridden PC is another minute that I could be spending with my kids.

This recent DSL experience was no different. She explained that she had just installed the software and plugged in the DSL mode and couldn't get it to work. She had tried calling the DSL provider's tech support but they were unable to resolve the issue, so she called me. She also stated that if I couldn't assist, she would just take it into Best Buy. Please do! Let the "Geek Squad" do their job - at least they get paid for it. She has the money, too.

Walking my mother-in-law through the steps required for troubleshooting her ethernet adapter drivers and internet connection settings is no picnic over the phone. I'd just drive on over and do it myself if she wasn't living nearly 1,000 miles away. It would at least save me the trouble of trying to explain how to differentiate between her regular phoneline and a Cat5E cable. In the end, she didn't have the drivers she needed and she had no way of getting online to download them, so we gave up. She took the PC to Best Buy the next day and they couldn't fix it either. So now I'm talking new computers with her instead. Her PC is still running Win 98 and is likely on it's last leg anyways. As much as our landfills don't need it, this is what those $300 throwaway computers are for. Or she can spend $500 and get a throwaway laptop. Either way, she'll be needing a new one in a year or two.

moving to canada to recover?

Speaking of health insurance, it's pretty sad, but my wife and I have decided that should one of us fall seriously ill, we will be heading up to Canada for treatment. I'm not talking common maladies like sinus infections and influenza, but nastier life-threatening diagnosis like cancer.

At least, that's what we think we will do. My mother-in-law is a Canadian citizen, and we have heard that my wife can get automatic citizenship because of that, which would make me a citizen as well. I know that the idea of hopping the border to receive free treatment may seem like cheating, but let's face it - I don't have the cash to pay for medical treatment of something major like cancer. Even with health insurance, the bills would pile up. And yes, I know that in Canada you sometimes have to wait several hours in a waiting room to be seen, but at least you don't get a bill several months later telling you that your claim has been denied because the doctor billed it incorrectly and they are sending you to collections. (Soooooo sick of that, by the way.)

Besides, if anyone in my family falls deathly ill, I'll make sure to move to an area of Canada with a higher doctor-to-population ratio to give us the best chance of having more efficient service. If for some reason we discover that we wouldn't be able to move to Canada for treatment, then I guess I'll have to stick around here and try my idea of posing as an illegal alien. After all, what good will my retirement savings do me if I have to blow them on bills for $7 hospital drinking straws and other overpriced medical supplies?

And for those who would cry the old "love it or leave it" chant, if my hands were tied and the situation was right, that's exactly what I will do! It's better than dying because you can't afford treatment.

tired of preparing

One of my New Year's resolutions this year is to live more in the present. I'm so sick and tired of living for the future, always planning ahead and rarely stopping to sit back and enjoy where I am at. It's quite ironic, because I made some pretty heavy decisions in my life over the last few years that have radically changed my lifestyle and my overall stress level - for the better. But it seems like we have spent so many years trying to get to this plateau of satisfaction that it becomes unreachable every time you get there.

I blame this phenomenon on society as a whole. We are constantly being bombarded with "what if" statements regarding our future. What if we don't save enough for retirement? What if we cannot afford health insurance when we retire? What if we discover that our 401k is worth nothing because the stock market crashes? Honestly, I'm sick of it.

It may sound naive, but I'm truly considering the laissez fair attitude when it comes to my retirement. I know it is going to happen eventually, but I'm not going to pend my entire life trying to plan for the future. I've got the basics covered - we've pared down our expenses, ditched our debt, and are concentrating on living simpler lives, which goes hand in hand with living frugally. I've got my old 401k from my last corporate job, which I am still thinking of cashing in. I don't trust the stock market with my hard-earned cash. I've got term life insurance which should cover us until our youngest child has moved out of the house. I don't know if we'll renew or get another policy beyond that. Once the kids are gone, we can pretty much live like Ghandi and be happy. As for health insurance, I'm praying that somebody makes it into office that will push for a national healthcare policy. If not, perhaps I'll just wander into the emergency room whenever I have an illness and act like an illegal alien.

I just think that we spend so much time preparing for the future that we miss what is going on right now. My family has so much to be happy about, but I'm rarely feeling it because I'm always worried about what's going to happen next. Who made us this way? Our parents? Television? "Snap out of it," I keep telling myself. Perhaps one of these days, I will.

genes that skip

It always amazes me how there are certain skills that my parents excel at, that I myself cannot seem to master. Isn't this an example of reverse evolution? If so, how does it explain that my brother or sister picked up on some of these skills, and I did not? Does that mean I am doing something wrong?

My brother is great with his hands, but I am not. So it's obviously not a 100% foolproof genetic inheritance. You see, my father is a custom home builder and has been building homes with his own two hands since I was a kid. You would think that some of his prowess at quality craftsmanship would have rubbed off of me, considering that I've been around his luxury homes for most of my life. However, you would be wrong. I can't seem to do any handy-work around the home and make it really look good. I've got the engineering part down, and I can build things that are functional and work well, but they rarely look nice when I'm done. It's frustrating. At first, I blamed it on a lack of good tools. After all, building something like a bookshelf with a handsaw is more strenuous and time-consuming than using a powered table saw. I've picked up a few power tools over the years, and they have helped me with my "craft" a little, but it's still nothing that I'm exactly proud of.

I think what bothers me the most is that I secretly would love to be one of those survivalist types of people, and I fear that my lack of skill will prevent me from ever attaining a sense of achievement in that arena. But then again, as I mentioned earlier, I do have common structural sense and basic engineering skills. I'm just not very good at making things look good. So I guess I've got the utilitarian aspect of it down - just not the aesthetics. Which is funny, because I was an art major in college. Go figure.

age appropriate gifts for xmas

One of the things that absolutely drove me out of my mind this Xmas was the fact that my parents felt the need to buy my son toys that included small parts - parts too small for a three-year-old. Hello! It says right there on the box that it is for "AGES 6 AND UP", so why are you buying it for my son? Am I supposed to put it away for three years and then give it to him?

The worst part about it is that I have no idea what they are giving him until he has already unwrapped the present, and then I see the age disclaimer, and by that time it is too late and my son is ecstatic about opening the gift and getting it out. So I get to be the "bad guy" and take it away, explaining to my son that he's not old enough to play with it.

The truth is that most of the toys out there still have small parts, even if they say that they are okay for children who are my son's age. And to be honest he is finally getting past that "stick everything in my mouth" toddler phase. But the last thing I need is for him to choke to death on plastic GiJoe missiles, or miniature car spoilers from some Hot Wheels collectible. Heck, even the wheels could fall off and end up in his mouth.

One of the gifts that he received was this GiJoe transport vehicle. I remember GiJoe vehicles - I had many as a kid. And every one of them had to be assembled and came apart easily. In fact, my father used to scream at me all the time for leaving chunks of GiJoe parts in the filter of our swimming pool. You would think that he'd remember all of that hollering at me, and how the GiJoe vehicles would break apart into a zillion pieces, specifically in the course of a "battle" with the evil Cobra.

Then again, maybe this is my father getting back at me. He wants me to have to sit there for two hours trying to assemble these things for my son, and then follow him around the house all day long picking up the pieces. Hmmm....

in fact...

I'll bet they can't resist, and comment on my last post.

beware the cult of ron paul

So what's the deal with Ron Paul supporters? They act like born-again Christians or something - almost like a cult. Sure, I like much of what he says, too, but the guy wants to take government control from the feds and hand it down to the state level of government. As much as I'd love to put the power back into the hands of the people, and I understand that he believes that moving it into the state's control is a step in the right direction, it scares the hell out of me to think what the state governments would get away with, if left unchecked by big brother.

Remember how certain states (like Louisiana) had counties that could seize your vehicle if they caught you speeding and you didn't have the $200 in cash to payoff the cop? Remember how bad racism still is in many areas of the South? The only kind of thing that is keeping them in check is the citizen's option to appeal to a higher court. Take that away and we're back to pre-civil wars days all over again. Then again, seeing where some of Ron Paul's campaign contributions are coming from (KKK and white power groups), that only makes sense to me.

That's another thing I don't like about Paul. He accepts money from some of the most belligerent racist groups in the country. Anyone with an ounce of integrity would tear those checks in half.

So who am I voting for? Good question. At this moment, I'm still leaning towards Dennis Kucinich. I like that he doesn't allow anyone to buy him out, and I like much of what he says he stands for. I like the idea of a national healthcare system, too. Call me a socialist, but it seems to work better in other countries than what we've got going here now. The idea of having an already corrupt government take over things like a national health care system is scary, but only if we can't instigate some major changes, and I think Kucinich will. The only thing I've read about him that I don't like are his stances on stricter gun control, and there are also some rumors that have been floating around about his lack of management skills under his previous mayoral terms in Ohio.

The gun control stuff bothers me, but not as much as I would have thought. Americans will never allow their arms to be seized, regardless of whether or not a president is behind it. As for his management skills, I'd rather have someone with poor management skills and god principles than the other way around. He'll have lots of support when in the white house to help brush up on management skills. You can't teach someone integrity, though. They either have it or they don't.