CafeNeves

Yeah, yeah, there are a million guides out there on how to get the best deal for a car. I know, I read most of them. I made a deal on a 2011 Kia Sorrento LX V6 FWD with the Convenience Package, Remote Start, and a few other extras that was pretty good. Well, I think it was.

Debbie and I went to the Kia dealer on Saturday to check out the Sorrento. We test drove, looked at  a bunch, selected a model, and got a price. A price that have a monthly payment that was $85 more than I wanted to pay. A little back and forth and it was looking better, but no dice. We left.

I did some more research and went back tonight. Keep in mind, it is the 29th, tomorrow is the end of the month AND the 2nd quarter. Deals are in the air. I showed him an add from another dealer that had a slightly cheaper model ($1,500 less) for a monthly payment of $159 + taxes. I asked why the car I wanted, which after all incentives wasn’t much more, was so much more a month? It didn’t make sense. He agreed. I showed him the print out from Edmunds with the pricing. He got the invoice and showed me that their invoice price was actually a little higher due to advertising fees and other BS, but that they would give me the car for the Edmunds price.

After a little more back and forth on the details I told the sales guy here is the deal. I have $X cash for the down payment, tags, etc. And want a monthly payment of $Y. These are the same numbers I told him I wanted on Saturday, that he said he couldn’t do. The difference is I told him if he could do it, the car was sold. Now. Tonight.  And it is the end of the month.

He goes to talk to the manager. Come back a few minutes later with a huge grin and BAM! congratulations.

It comes down to three things: I proved the first time that I was willing to walk away. I had ammo for getting a better price. And I went the end of the month. You can’t lose with that formula.

As part of the photo package we got when Marissa was born we get a free sitting for 5 years. Here are some of the results of this year’s sitting….

As most of you who have read this blog know, I work part time at the local Staples as a Resident Tech. I am the lucky one who get’s to fix everyone’s computers when they break, or more commonly, get a virus. Lately there has been a large spike in one particular type of infection, rogue security software. Simply put this is an application that looks like a legitimate security application such as Norton, McAfee, Windows Defender, etc. but it isn’t. They warn you that your computer is infected with tons of virus and malware applications and then ask you for a credit card to remove them or to download the application. Some of the common names are things like AntiSpyware 2009, Antivirus 2010, Security Essentials 2010, and hundreds more.  Here are a few screenshots to give you an idea of what they may look like.

People typically realize there is a problem when these windows keep popping up on their machines that are scanning and finding virus and malware infections all over their hard drive, and not matter what they do, the windows won’t go away. When they bring their computers in to me, once we are done discussing their options for getting rid of it, the next two or three questions are usually something like “How did I get infected?”, “I have <Norton/McAfee/AVG/whatever> antivirus, why didn’t it stop this?”, or  ”What is the purpose of these things?”

So let’s take a look at these questions and see if we can’t shed some light on the subject, and possibly prevent you from becoming the next victim.

Continue reading Beware the Rogues!

There are a lot of excellent websites out there that have lists and lists of quotes about Friendship. They range from the really funny to hardcore serious and everything in between. This past year has been very, um, “interesting” for me on the friendship front. As I have become re-acquainted with old friends from high school via Facebook and made new ones while working at Staples. There are hundreds of quotes I could post here that would be appropriate, but I will just put a few of my favorites.

Best Friends vs Regular Friends

A friend will bail you out of jail at 2am. A best friend will be sitting next to you in the cell saying “Damn!!! That was AWESOME! Next time we just gotta make sure we don’t get caught.

General Friendchsip

“A friend will be there for you when things are good…but a TRUE friend will be there for you when things are good and also when things are very bad…and just when it feels like you will never smile again…they can put a smile on your face with just with a hug!”

“In loneliness, in sickness, in confusion-the mere knowledge of friendship makes it possible to endure, even if the friend is powerless to help. It is enough that they exist. Friendship is not diminished by distance or time, by imprisonment or war, by suffering or silence. It is in these things that it roots most deeply. It is from these things that it flowers.”
-Pam Brown

“A friend with break your heart, a friend will mend it, a friend will provide you with every feeling in the world, good and bad. A friend is emotion incarnate.”

“If it hurts too much to look back, but you’re too scared to look ahead, just look beside you and I’ll be there.”

“If I could give you one gift my friend, I would give you the ability to see yourself as others see you, so you would know how very special you are.”

And finally, a really funny and truthful set of rules… (thank you for sharing this Kathy)

WARNING: This is going to be an angry, frustrated, rant about the state of the health care system in this country and New York State in particular. If you don’t want to read a rant, then close your browser or click a link to go someplace else. In 2006 New York State passed a law called the “2006 Mental Health Parity Legislation” or “Timothy’s Law”. It is called Timothy’s Law because it was the suicide of Timothy O’Clair in March 2001, seven weeks prior to his 13th birthday, who was discriminated against by his parents insurance company that started the movement to get it passed. It is, in concept a great law. Simply stated it requires private health insurance to cover mental health issues at the same level they cover regular medical issues. Here is a quote from the Timothy’s Law website

:

Timothy’s Law mandates that insurance providers covering any health care services must also provide coverage for mental health and substance abuse services, and that coverage and cost must be ‘on par’ with all other health care services covered under such policy.

Since the majority of insurance policies do not offer this type of coverage you would think it was a wonderful and great thing they did, and it is. Except as with any law, especially ones in NY and ones dealing with the insurance companies, there are loopholes. Big, huge, gaping ones that you could march an army through. Here are the two biggest ones as far as I can tell. It only applies to group health insurance or school blanket insurance that is obtained through an employer or association. What the hell does that mean you ask? It means that if you get your insurance through a group policy from work, it *might* apply to you. If you get your insurance through an association, such as a Chamber of Commerce, union, etc., it *might* apply to you. However, if you buy insurance on your own or use one of the publicly funded or subsidized programs such as Healthy NY, Child Health Plus, Health Care Plus, etc, you are screwed. No mental health coverage for you. Now, if you make it past that first obstacle and have a policy that meets those requirements there is one more HUGE loop hole that you have to get past. The law only applies to policies that are WRITTEN in New York. Now I am not an expert, but from what I have been told and found out the state that the policy is written in has nothing to do with the state the people covered live in or the company buying the policy (ie: your employer) is located. Case in point, a company headquartered in Massachusetts has and insurance policy for residents of New York state that is “written” in Florida and administered by a company in Kentucky. Now some of you who live in other states or know about these things would say “But Rich, if the insurance coverage is mandated by your state law, the insurance company has to abide by that mandate.” And you know what, in many cases you would be correct. However, there is apparently some national level reciprocation agreement that states have the option to participate in. Sort of a “you wash my back and I will wash yours” thing. If the state where the person lives and the state where the policy is written both participate in the program, you are covered. Guess what, New York State doesn’t participate. So you can join the other people who are screwed. Now there is one other option for those that do not want to be completely at the mercy of the system, and that is a program called Family Health Plus. A program that to get into you need to do an hour long in-person interview, provide financial data on every member of your household, and wait 2 months for approval. Oh, and you have to pick one of the plans that has the coverage you need and there are income requirements that anyone who makes more money than Unemployment pays probably exceeds. So in a nutshell, if you live in New York State and have medical insurance that doesn’t cover mental health issues and it was written in a state other than New York… you better hope you never have a mental health issue. Like anxiety and stress related to the fact that you don’t have mental health coverage….. UPDATE: A friend posted this link over on Facebook and I thought it timely…. http://awesome.goodmagazine.com/goodsheet/images/goodSheet_002_BillofHealth.jpg

Bill of Health Goodsheet from Good Magazine

Just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a very happy, healthy, and safe New Year. Here is to 2010, may it have none of the sorrows and twice the joys of 2009.

And for those that have helped me get through what was one of the most difficult years I’ve yet to see, THANK YOU! You know who you are.

If you want to see a video of a bunch of fools sledding down a 20+ foot high mountain of snow in a dark parking lot, click the link.

Sledding Mount Staples

I am thankful for my family and friends, all of who make putting up with all the crazy stuff in this world worthwhile.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

As we prepare for Black Friday and the holiday season, I thought I would update you on what’s been going on at Staples.

Danielle loves her Dunkin Donuts coffee

Jeff and Danielle cracking under the pressure

Okay, so Back To School was two months ago, but hey, I’ve been busy. And so was the store. It was crazy! We did almost double the business that they expected. It was so busy that some of us were starting to crack under the pressure, as you can see. Some of use became very close with our coffee, which some nights when you are cleaning up until 1am, is the only thing that keeps you going. The days leading up to Labor day week were hectic. We were stocking stuff left and right, working 2-3hrs after closing just to get the store ready, and cleaned up after the early birds who didn’t wait until the last possible minute to do their shopping.

Francessca trying to clean up the folder section

The Binder Wall after the first night of BTS

Then it was showtime, the Tuesday after Labor Day when several of the local school districts went back. It seems that the grade schools give out or post lists, but high schools don’t. I got to work at 4:30 and the line was to the back of the store and along the wall. And it stayed that way until 9:30. It was crazy! The good news is that the line moved. Several customers said that they only waited on line about 15-20 minutes tops. And while the store was extremely busy, it seems mostly organized. Most people were able to find what they were looking for and we had enough of most items. We ran out of some items quick, and the binder wall got decimated, but overall it was a good day. However, the store closed at 10 and we didn’t leave until 1:30am because we were cleaning up the mess.

The BInder Wall again... it was completely filled.

Yea, more binder wall

Yes, the binder wall was empty. By Wednsday night people were looking for binder, particularly the 1.5″ ones and going away unhappy. We probably could have sold another 200-300 of them it was had them. Oh, and in addition to that wall we had a full end-cap and about 4 other locations in the store with a dozen cases of binders on display. All gone.

We also sold out of the TI-84 calculators that they use in the high schools. They had to send someone to another store to pick up 4 cases (6 per case) on Thursday and those were gone by the weekend. It was quite impressive.

Overall we did about double what corporate expected on each of those days for back to school. It was crazy, but also kind of fun.

Things are moving along here in Levittown as the seasons march forward. Fall is here and the air is getting crisp, school is in full swing, football season is already into week 7 and the World Series is getting ready to start. Earlier in the month I celebrated my birthday with a nice dinner at TGI Fridays with the family. Dyaln and Marissa loved it and are still using their “Fridays Cups.”After dinner we came home and had some choclate cake from Dortoni, because we all know that it is not a birthday without the cake!

October also saw the annual pilgrmiage of Mamr and Poppy back to the warmer climes of Florida. They stopeed by one last time early in the month before heading south. Apparenlty Dad was by the pool before the engine in the car even cooled off. But they didn’t stay for long as they then headed off on a cruise which they just got back from.

Dylan has been doing excellent in school getiing high grades on every test, though he did, for the first time, get less than a 100 on a spelling test. He got a 93 because he mispelled the word “though”, which is one I am sure many of you have problems with. Marissa is also in school, she goes to nursery school at Wee Friends where Debbie works and she is doing awesome. Very much like her brother, she is too smart for her own good. She understands and picks up things very, very quickly and has a vocabluary that most 6yr olds would envy.

Also in October Dylan achieved the rank of Little Dragon “Black Belt” in Karate. He has been taking classes with Sensei Nick and Sensei Stacy at Epic Martial Arts in Hicksville for 3 years and loves it. He will now be moving up to the older class and working on his solid Yellow belt. Finally, we went to the pumpkin patch this past Sunday and picked out some pumpkins for decorate the house for Halloween. Dylan is going to be Indiana Jones and Marissa will be a 50′s Girl, poodle skirt and all. We will post pictures when we have them.