… the Health Care Reform bill has passed. And the crazy has been flying from both sides overnight.

Me, I think the bill has been neutered and isn’t going to really help anyone the way it’s written now (except the insurance companies). The good stuff has been tempered with corporate bullshit and the bad stuff (like restricting a woman’s reproductive rights) has been added or not removed. Bravo, Congress, for making this an epic fustercluck.

Popularity: 18% [?]

So here’s a little quiz for you. Read these four scenarios and figure out which one is a genuine rip-off.

A. You are at work and the siren call of saturated fat hits you. You hoof it down to the nearest McD’s and order a Quarter Pounder value meal. You open the bag at your office, you realize your french fries aren’t in there. When you call the store to complain, they offer to replace your meal for free.

B. You are at Target and see an adorable place mat on an endcap and there’s the telltale orange clearance tag on two of the price tags. You grab four. When you get to the front, the cashier rings up your purchase but calls over her manager because your place mat rang up as socks. The manager says she’s sorry, but some unscrupulous customer tried to switch the tags and put the items in the wrong section. She says she’ll give you the first one for the price on the switched tag, but the rest will be full price like they’re supposed to be.

C. You are returning an ugly sweater that you got as a gift. The CSR asks you for your receipt, but you don’t have it. The CSR apologizes profusely, but points to the big sign behind her that says she can’t process a return without one. After several minutes of you complaining, the manager comes over and offers to give you store credit for the current sale price, just to get you out of the store. This isn’t going to to do you any good because you wouldn’t shop in the store, anyway.

D. Your coffee machine starts spewing water all over the kitchen counter. You call up the number on your instruction manual to get a replacement, but your warranty expired 3 weeks ago. No amount of pleading or threatening to speak to a supervisor will get them to make an exception.

The answer, of course, is E: None of the Above.

I’m sick of people whining about ripoffs which, frankly, aren’t ripoffs. Employee human error (assuming the company works to correct it) and disclosed, reasonable company policies that you just don’t like are NOT ripoffs.

It’s your responsibility as a consumer to make sure you are aware of return policies, shipping charges, warranties, etc.  Occasionally you run into a company with truly illegal policies or outright scams, but the vast majority of ‘ripoffs’ could be avoided if the customer didn’t have their heads in their behinds.

If you’re not sure that ‘Final Sale’ item will fit, don’t buy it. If the return policy says you need a receipt, then keep your receipt. If your warranty is for 90 days and it is now day 109, you’re so out of luck. Save your outrage for real corporate abuses.

Have you ever been truly ripped off by a company?

We’ve been fortunate so far. While we’ve had some really crappy situations with some companies (see the Lowe’s Disaster), we usually have our wits about us and refuse to do business if we smell something fishy.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Couponing is an Extreme Sport (WSJ)

We’re not talking about the people who come out of the grocery story having saved 75% or the Walgreens shoppings doing 3 purchases to roll their rewards. We’re talking about the guy with 1,142 packages of Jello or the woman who freezes months and months worth of eggs.

It scares me when I read about people using their bedroom closets and coffee tables as food storage, because that’s when I think it  starts to switch from being a savvy shopper and stockpiling food when it’s at its lowest price to hoarding. What the heck are you going to do with that much Jello? And these people don’t stop with massive amounts of one just one item.

If you’ve been reading for awhile, you know that I am a stockpiler, so it’s not like I don’t understand the purpose or impulse of buying when things are low. I also think that my house is a home and not a warehouse and I should be able to open my bedroom closet and find clothes, not canned peas or be able to store my video games controllers in the living room instead of pasta. Fortunately, I know that Mr  wouldn’t put up with that much stuff (he already gets antsy when I buy a single box of tomato sauce)  no matter how much money we’re saving.

A lot of people defend the practice by saying that they donate items to food pantries and shelters, which is well and good,  but they’re also preventing normal shoppers from getting good deals on products. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve needed to get a rain check on 80% of the items on my list because someone else cleared the shelf already. (If I show up 20 minutes after opening on stock day and the shelf is already empty, I can almost guarantee it was hit by one of these shoppers.)

So what do you think? Are extreme couponers hoarders, savvy shoppers, something else?

Popularity: 16% [?]

This story pisses me off for several reasons, not the least of which is that the mom’s trying to blame it on the Wii controller.

For those who don’t feel like reading the link, a dumbass step-father leaves his loaded gun on the table where his 3 year old can get at it. Unfortunately, the toddler shot herself and not the idiot father.

The mother claims that the child had been playing with a 3rd-party wii-mote which looked like a gun and she probably got confused. First off, what kind of complete numbnut buys a toy gun that doesn’t have the appropriate toy gun parts (orange tip, etc.) Secondly, it wouldn’t matter if she had been playing with a regular wii-mote, a Dora doll or herself, there was an interesting new object on the coffee table and that’s reason enough for her to investigate.  She was 3, that’s what 3 year olds do. The problem here is that these idiots left an unattended, loaded gun where a toddler could get her hands on it.

Your gun belongs in one of two places: Properly holstered on your person OR properly stored in a locked gun case. It should not be left loaded on the coffee table while you wander off to do god knows what. They might have well as left a big ol’ glass of poison on the table for Jr to drink.

What really infuriates me are the people I’ve seen blaming it on the gun (the gun is an inanimate object, it doesn’t fire itself) or the Wii-mote (irresponsible to have a toy gun without toy gun indicators, but still not the cause of this), or whatever game she was playing (a little odd to let your 3-year old pretend to shoot things with a handgun, but I used to play Duck Hunt at age 6). The problem here is irresponsible parenting and complete lack of gun safety, not toys or video games.

Popularity: 24% [?]

No really, I hate buying household products. Not just because of the whole ‘killing tree, chock full of chemicals’ aspect, but because they’re so flippin’ expensive. We usually buy in bulk, so every couple of months when we do have to restock, it tacks another $50-75 to our grocery budget that month.

The worst part is that all the household coupons now are buy 2 get $ off. I don’t the space to store two gigantic bottles of dish soap and two gigantic bottles of dishwasher detergent and so on and so forth. Even if I did, it’s usually a savings of about $.50 on $20 worth of product when you buy in bulk. If BJ’s has a mailer out, then sometimes you can find a good coupon, but they expire in a month. Sometimes, if I’m super lucky and willing to wait/search, I can get good deals at the grocery store on smaller bottles (I got my Mr. Clean Magic Erasers essentially free that way) but we’re very specific about the products we can use thanks to allergies and environmental concerns.

Are  there any necessary items that you just hate to buy because of the price?

Meat also makes me mad, especially since I’d happily eat a mostly vegetarian diet if Mr wasn’t such a picky eater. I love all the variations of rice and beans that his family cooks, but he’d rather eat a big bowl of mealworms.

I do buy meat in bulk for savings except on the rare occasions when the grocery store meat is on a good sale and is actually decent quality (Bloom around the corner, I’m looking at you. Your meat is nasty.) But again, I can only store so much at once.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Two interesting articles from two days ago: one is on the push for ‘Cloud Computing‘ and the other is about a woman who’s annoyed at having to download her photos one by one from Sprint.

If anything, the second article is  a fantastic example as to why I’m not interested in cloud computing or external storage of my information. Yes, I’m a geek and yes, I like gadgets, but I’m very picky about what information gets stored where. I want total control over all my data. After all the stories of info pilfered from stolen phones, naked pictures being uploaded on Facebook, indentity theft and other hijinks, you would think people would be wary about where their info goes, but they’re not. For some reason we think that information that we send somewhere out of our control will be safe and always available.

For example, my websites are hosted by a company in California. If their server goes out and my website goes *poof* there’s nothing I can really do about it. Sure I can complain and if I’m lucky they might keep monthly backups of the data on their servers, but if that data is from the 1st of the month and it’s now the 30th, all my work in between is gone. Consequently, I need to keep a local backup of my databases daily if I’m really concerned about it.

Same thing with cell phones. How many people have lost their cell phone and realized that they’re a) helpless without their contacts list and b) they don’t have all those contacts backed up anywhere. Every other week I spot a frantic “please sent me your #” messages on Facebook. You don’t even have to go low tech with your contacts backup. My main ‘address book’ is a password protected document on my computer (although yes, I do have a physical address book because I’m old school like that.)

So yeah, back up EVERYTHING locally that would upset you if you lost it. That includes priceless pictures of your kids, important documents, contacts, software, music… One of the best investments you can make for your computer is an external hard drive to store items on long term. But don’t forget that those can fail too, so if it’s truly important (digital wedding photos, tax files, etc), either burn it to a disc or make a hard copy a.k.a. print it.

Popularity: 11% [?]

I know a lot of people are worried about the cost of health care and the effects of modern medicine. I see many people turning to ‘natural’ cures like herbal concoctions instead of going to the doctor and that honestly scares me.

I’m actually a big believer in healing from within, but natural cures shouldn’t be done willy-nilly without consulting a health professional. Just because it’s “natural”, doesn’t mean it’s safe. Herb and supplements ARE medicine too, they’re just not regulated by the FDA like Big Pharma’s are. Not to mention that many common supplements can actually interact with life saving medications.

For the love of Pete, do some real research before you start popping any pill, including a supplement.  And I do mean real research, not just looking up any old article on the intertubes. Look for real scientific studies done for peer-reviewed journals and ask an honest-to-jebus medical professional about it. No, that hippy chick at Whole Foods doesn’t count. There are many natural things you can do for your body that are extremely helpful and there are just as many that are toxic and potentially deadly.

In any case, here are 5 Cheap (or Free), Natural, and SAFE things you can do for yourself to improve your health:

1. Get enough sleep. How much is enough depends on the individual, but 7-8 is a good guideline. Lack of sleep seriously affects many aspects of your life, including your general health. If you aren’t getting enough sleep and you’ve already tried the usual remedies, it is time to talk to a health professional.
2. Drink enough water. Again, how much is enough depends on the individual. In general, 64oz is a good starting point, but remember that too much water can actually be dangerous, so don’t go guzzling several gallons a day. Dehydration affects a whole host of body functions, so get into the habit of bringing a refillable water bottle around with you.
3. Eat a healthy, balanced diet. Vitamin supplements can certainly help, but getting your nutrients from your food (where they’re usually most easily digestible) is preferable. You can consult your doctor for more information.
4. Get some exercise. 2-3 hours a week of moderate exercise is the current recommendation. You don’t need fancy equipment or an expensive gym membership. Go outside and walk briskly. Or play tag with your kids. Or climb up and down some stairs. Pop in an exercise DVD. Just get your butt in gear. As always, talk to your doctor before starting any exercise regimen.
5. Brush and floss your teeth properly. You should be brushing at least twice a day and preferably after every meal. Poor oral hygiene has been linked to everything from bad breath to heart disease, so take 5 minutes a day and brush your teeth.’

If everyone in America did these 5 things, our health care costs would drop dramatically as our general health improved.

Got any ‘natural’ tips for staying healthy?

Popularity: 15% [?]

Is America ‘over-reacting’ to the Toyota recalls? In my opinion, absolutely.

Don’t get me wrong, if you have one of the recalled vehicles, you darn well better get your butt down to the dealership for the fix. However, it seems like the media is just plain over-reacting to the Toyota recall. I have to agree with Ed Wallace here, it feels like a witch hunt.

Go ahead and run some searches on ‘Ford Explorer recall’, I’ll wait. Check out some of the ‘safety’ recalls, some of them are pretty scary. Why are we not still outraged by something like t his? And how many people forgot about the outrage over the rolling SUVs? Be honest. I’m not trying to crap on Ford, just pointing out serious safety recalls happen all the time. They’re just usually not so dramatic or announced by the media.

And I absolutely don’t think Toyota handled this as well as they should have. At the first signs of trouble, there should have been better communication and investigation of the problem. I’m not saying they’re blameless or that I’d run right out now and buy a 2010 model, fixed or no. I’m just tired of hearing about it.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Mr and I spent well over $2,000 this weekend. There were no frivolous purchases and we have more than enough to cover them, but we’re both still feeling the sticker shock.

I hate the guilty feeling you get when you buy something big. In this case it was a very good quality kitchen table set and Mr’s glasses (we have vision insurance, but it’s made of fail and rabies) plus smaller purchases at Lowes and the grocery store. All were needed items and the table was ‘the one’ that we’ve been looking for since we knew our roommate was moving out, but I’ve still got that ‘what did you do?!?’ feeling.

I think it’s partially because we didn’t do a good job haggling for the table. I’m too big and too tired to deal with that BS right  now. We ended up getting free delivery, which wasn’t too bad, but I have a sneaking suspicion we could have gotten another $200 knocked off it we were really willing to play hardball. The problem was that we weren’t wiling to walk away from the purchase since we’ve been looking for a table for over a year with no luck. Salespeople can tell when they’ve got you buy the metaphorical cojones.

Popularity: 11% [?]

If you didn’t know already, I’m a hard core Nintendo Fan Girl. How hard core? Well,  you’re likely to find me wandering around geek conventions dressed as various Nintendo characters. That kind of level of dedication. So for me to say that I’m unhappy with Nintendo is akin to me announcing that I don’t like food anymore. It just doesn’t happen.

Until now.

50lbs ago...

My DSlite has died. Or more accurately, Mr’s DSlite has died. I had the original DS but played it to death by using it 3-4 hours a day between classes and on the bus back and forth to PSU. Then I started on Mr’s DSlite and it lasted a lot longer because it was a better build and an improvement on the original. I had my eyes on getting a DSi for my birthday in April until I learned of one little fact.

The DSi isn’t backwards compatible with GBA games.

What the hell, Nintendo?

I loved my DS because I could buy up the older GBA games used. We got a ton of really good games (Metroid Fusion, Castlevania Aria of Sorrow, etc) for the system for dirt cheap, but I sold my GBA a few weeks after I got it because the screen was too darn hard to see.

Now I’m looking around for a new DSlite instead of jumping on the new technology because Nintendo apparently decided backwards compatibility isn’t cool anymore. They even came out with a larger DSi (supposedly for older players who  have trouble with the screen) and there was still no room for the GBA slot. Gah!

So, when you buy a new system, is backwards compatibility important?

Way back when, the leaps in technology were so huge that nothing was backwards compatible. You know the different Atari systems weren’t going to play each others games or that the SNES wasn’t going to play regular NES games because the cartridges were so different. Now that we’ve entered the world of discs, things are a little different.

We generally don’t get rid of our old systems until they completely die, but it’s still obnoxious to realize that once the old guy goes, you’ll have to track down and buy a new one.  We actually got our new PS2 around the same time as our PS3 thanks to Sony deciding not to include compatibility.

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