Monthly Archives: August 2011

Change of plans

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A couple of weeks ago I decided to cash out some of my IRA funds that are invested in stocks and put them into a couple of different annuities instead.  One of the reasons why I decided to do that was a news story that I saw about how the stock market is likely going to suffer again probably next year when the commercial real estate bubble bursts.  The story was a bit confusing at first, but it did seem to make some pretty good sense to me after I had the chance to digest what it was telling me. 

 I thought well, you know what; I think we’ll take some money out of the stock market and put it in some annuities.  I had no idea that while me tell you it’s a real pain in the butt to get my money -  the companies that had my money did not want to let me take it out – they said they had mailed it to me but I didn’t get it so I had to go through all kinds of hoops to get my money and it was very aggravating (but that really wasn’t the point of this post today.)

 I was noticing that the paperwork for the annuities arrived yesterday and I was reviewing them and found out that they had made a mistake on the beneficiaries so now I have to get the change beneficiary form, fill it out mail it in and hope that I don’t die between now and the time they get it.

A racket

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Sometimes I think it’s a racket with the cell phone companies and requiring a two year contract when you upgrade to a new phone.  About a year and a half ago I accidentally dropped my cell phone in a puddle of water and caused it to die. I did all the wrong things you can do for drying it out and didn’t realize until after the fact that I had done all the wrong things.  So I have a ruined cell phone on my hands and I was not a happy camper.

 So I went to the cell phone store in search of a replacement telephone that was not going to cost an arm and a leg.  Well I got talked into a Garmin Nuvifone that had several bells and whistles but I thought they were kind of interesting and fun, so I went ahead and bought the phone.  Now the phone is out of warranty and the battery is completely dead and needs to be replaced – it won’t hold a charge anymore.  So I took it back to the cell phone store that I got from and they told me they don’t sell the batteries; I have to buy the batteries from the manufacturer so I went to the manufacturer’s website and ordered a replacement battery.

What they sent me does not fit into the phone so I’m quite aggravated and have not decided whether not to send the battery back and ask for refund (which is what I really should do but it’s an aggravation.) I’m tempted to buy an inexpensive replacement phone the kind you can buy at Walgreen’s for about $15.00 and just use that until my two year contract expires and then upgrade to a better telephone.  What would you do?

Not covered

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I was upset when I went to the eye doctors and discovered that I did not have the health insurance coverage that I have had in previous years.  When they submitted the claim they said they would were no longer covering me!  Well, I thought it was a mistake and told them to go ahead and do the checkup and I would go ahead and put the office visit on my credit card and straightened out with insurance company later.  Yes I did need new classes; I picked out a new pair and gave them my credit card to go ahead and order the glasses for me.  Well much to my dismay that charge was like $900.00! The office visit itself was $100.00 and the glasses were $800!  I knew the classes were going to be expensive but I didn’t think they’re going to cost that much money!

 So I was not happy when I got home I called the insurance company and discovered that the insurance provider for my vision had been changed without my knowledge.  I was given the information on the company that I needed to call to get insurance forms, the claims and all that good stuff.  Long story short the insurance program that I have has participating providers and my eye doctor is not a participating provider.  I got the list of participating providers from the Internet and called up my doctor and canceled the order for the eye glasses and asked them to fax me a copy of the paper prescription so I could take it to the place that does participate.

 The new classes were still a couple hundred dollars but I wish I could take advantage of the online eye class offers from places like zenni but they don’t do prism prescriptions.  I require prism lenses, so I am stuck paying the extra money on glasses.

I love rebates

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One of the things that I look forward to every Sunday is getting the sale flyers out of the Sunday newspaper. I like to turn to the sale flyer for the Staples store because they almost always have a few really good items on sale where after you send in a rebate form you end up getting it for almost free.

 I know and understand that a lot of times people might have to go out of their way to get to Staples and because of that is not a good deal for them to go there just for those particular items, but I like to do my weekly grocery shopping at the grocery store that’s in the same shopping center as Staples so it is usually in my best interest to go ahead and go to Staples and scoff up those good freebies, put them in my car and then proceed to the grocery store to do my grocery shopping.

I really like how staples rebates have become very easy to do; they have the ability to go online and put in all of the information from your receipt and have the rebate money sent straight to your Pay Pal account and that’s really awesome because it only takes two weeks to get the money to your PayPal address and I really enjoy getting all of these free office items that I really do use a lot.

Machete – On Demand

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Guest post written by Arnoldo Acevedo

One of the newest movies available on Demand on Satellite television, that I got after seeing info on direct tv, is “Machete.” Machete was directed by Robert Rodriguez and is reminiscent of the Grind-house double feature that he and Quentin Tarrantino directed a short while before. Machete started off as a trailer between the Double Feature, but was later made into a feature length film. This was made from the trailer more than likely because of all of the over the top violence and action which is what main stream media is missing today. Several other movies are being made from Grind house trailers and Machete is paving the way as the first to be released.

Machete may seem a little bit silly and over the top to some people. But, just consider the fact that actors like Michelle Rodriguez and Robert De Niro The A-list cast and crew helps to lend validity to the film. It’s got some of the best action that contemporary society as seen. Danny Trejo punches into a mans stomach and uses his intestines as a rope when jumping out a window and crashes through a window that is a floor lower. The only people that will not like this are the kinds of people that go into it expecting something completely serious. If you’re into the kind of film that isn’t full of meaningless story and are more about high definition explosions then you will not be disappointed by Machete.