Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.
You should really go see this movie. I’ve been wanting to see it for a while and Constantine just got it on Netflix, so I watched it.
Amazing and moving.
There’s a part about some grocers in northern Missouri, not far from my grandparents house. Really reminded me of what happened to my dad’s store back in the mid-90’s when Wal-Mart moved to Ankeny.
So go rent yourself a copy and view it.
So this Christmas was great, once I got to Iowa!. Lots of snow, lots of family, lots of food!
I got some great gifts,
Constantine got me a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses, a new wireless keyboard and a blender.
I got a ton of DVD’s, a new comforter for my bed, a cake stand/punch bowl, a new logitech remote for my tv stuff, and lots of other random stuff.
I had a great time, but I’m glad to be back in Cali.
Sorry for such a lame post, but not really in the mood! Adios!
The other day I started trying to install Oracle on my home computer… I didn’t quite realize how old those suckers were.
Neither of my two servers have enough RAM to run Oracle server. How sad is that! I have both an AMD 64 3200+ with 512 Megs of RAM and a Pentium 4 1.6ghz with 1 gig of RAM. Both of which are RIGHT at the minimums for Oracle to run. Later that day, I was doing one of my FAVORITE past times of Stumbling. And I found this great site with a list of all the processors and the associated benchmarks. My oldest computer is the 5th from the bottom at 221 and my other computer is at 401! :'( I gotta upgrade those suckers! They are sooo slow!
I can get a Dell $500 computer which would be rated at 1,400 on that list! :'( Too bad I can’t afford SHIT anymore!
Speaking of, I was looking over my finances the last couple months and there’s about $900/month that I can’t account for. I know I’ve been spending a lot more lately then normal, but MY GOD! $900/month worth! That’s fucking insane.
I have taken actions to rein in my spending today. First, I changed my direct deposit so that savings money is AUTOMATICALLY transfered to my savings account. Second I have changed banks so that my spending and my bills account are at SEPARATE banks, the direct deposit change also changed so that these will be AUTOMATICALLY funded with the correct amounts. And lastly, I have paid off my Amex card (which thanks to the new car had ballooned to over $7k!!) and will not be using it anymore except for in emergencies and buying stuff online.
I am also creating a new rule for myself, any purchase which must be funded by a loan, must be kept and used for twice the length of the loan. IE. I financed the new car for 3 years, it must be kept for a minimum of 6 years. Although I am personally shooting for closer to 10 years, unless gas prices go crazy high.
In gas news, Congress passed the new CAFE requirements, so the average vehicle will be getting 35mpg by 2020. Personally, I think it should be 2015 at the latest, but at least it’s a start in the right direction… uhoh! There I go with the whole Pot, kettle, black thing!
This past weekend was really great, Saturday night we had the last dinner party of the year. Constantine bought the group UNO Attack. It’s SO much fun! Everyone should go out and buy it! Jason of course cooked an amazing dinner of Chicken Catchatori and I made Eggnog CheeseCake. Delicious! I was so fat buy the time the night was over!
Sunday I had a business meeting at 9am and then Constantine, Jason, Erick and I went out to Noah’s in Manhattan Beach for breakfast. I did laundry the rest of the day and cleaned the house, I emptied out all my cabinets and washed every dish I own, washed the cabinets themselves, and some other stuff.
Monday I started cooking our dinner for Wed, I made the dessert and the noodles. I’m making Constantine a traditional Black family holiday meal. Although, not as CRAZY as our real family gatherings with all the candies, and side dishes, the 800 pies and what not. Just the standard main fair of Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Noodles, Corn and one dessert! 🙂 It’s going to be delish! I can’t wait!
I also bleached basically everything in my house last night, the counter tops, the stove, the floors, the bathroom. It’s almost as if my cleaning lady had come again! Oh how I miss her! :'(
Tonight we are going to the Charles Phoenix Holiday Jubilee and before that we’re going to dinner at Philippes the ORIGINAL home of the french dip! Should be a wonderful night!
Tomorrow Constantine and I are having our holiday festivities with the previously mentioned meal, and then present opening! I can’t wait to see if he’ll like what I got him! I sure hope so, because that boy doesn’t give ANY hints about what he wants… And he’s seen how my family does christmas shopping.
“Hey mom what do you want?”
“Oh, an all in one printer”
“Do you have any models in mind”
“Not really”
“Ok, I’m going to go out and get it”
So shopping without hints was hard for me! But I feel that I got him something he’ll really like. 🙂
//begin ranting….
GOD! I’m so fucking Indecisive about this SHIT!
Like I said, I’ve been wanting a new car for years! I keep looking and looking. I bargain them down to great prices. But I just _CAN’T_ actually buy anything!
This has to be the MUST FRUSTRATING thing in my life! All over a fucking car!
I just always feel that no matter what, I’m getting ripped off in some way.
Cars are just money pits, no matter how you look at it. They go down in value, they cost soooo much to keep moving in gas and maint and registration and insurance and who knows what else might happen to them! I may as well just throw my money in a black hole!
Jason brought up the excellent point the other day that. “What if you were still in Iowa, what would you do”.. I’d probably have bought a USED Ford or something by now. But my mind is being tainted by the California consumer culture that I’ve fallen victim to.
I keep trying to fight it off. But it’s a losing battle. The only reason I want an entry level luxury car is because EVERYONE else has one. It’s the whole Keeping up with the Joneses shit!
But I’m not going to be able to get over it and move on till I have a new car myself, I’m so sick of everyone making fun of me because my car is such a POS! I make a GREAT living. I’ve saved TONS more money then anyone else in my age range, I could EASILY pay cash for this car and STILL have enough left over for the down payment on the house my dad and I are trying to buy….. Why can’t I just treat myself to this!
AHHH!! And to top it all off, Constantine is just an amazing boyfriend and is supporting any choice I make he says. Which doesn’t make the decision any easier, because if I simply go with the best/most car for the price, that’d be the one that I would hate myself for buying.
Ahhhhahahhahhahhahhahhhhahhhaaaaaaaahhh. I’m gonna go crazy over this!
Why is this one of the hardest things for me to make a decision about. Usually I’m so fucking opinionated that it gets me in trouble, but when it comes to buying my own car, I can’t make a decision if I had a gun to my fucking head.
//end ranting.
Sooo, everyone knows I’ve been car shopping. I have been doing that for like the last 2-3 years! Well I’ve been at it again. It seems that everyone I know has either already gotten a new car, or is looking at getting one. And they all have WAY newer cars then mine already! So I feel left out. Plus my car has been acting up lately. The Check engine light keeps coming on and then going off, and it’s been making really funny sounds after I get off the freeway.
Anyways, I also talked to my mom about buying one and she was like. “Just do it already. One of these days your car is just going to die on the freeway”. Another big factor is that this is the last year you can write off the sales tax on a new car purchase, plus I _think_ that the laws this year still allow me to write off the 50% depreciation as a business expense. (I can’t remember if it was this year or last year that the laws changed on that) This year I could really use all the write offs I can get.
Well I’ve been out test driving basically anything and everything that catches my fancy, here’s the list:
1) Honda Civic Hybrid – It’s a great car, don’t get my wrong. But I don’t think it’s what I want any more. A year ago, I would have bought it. But after driving it a few times, there’s just to many little things that would annoy me. The same as with my current Saturn. There’s these wierd little bumps and cubbies that make no sense and the seats just aren’t comfortable enough for me since I spend 2 hours a day in my car.
2) Saab 9-3 – Don’t get in this car… As long as you stand on the outside, it’s great. Great looking, Great warranty, great options and free maintenance for 3 years.. Just so fucking ugly once you get in. It’s like most great looking things… Nice on the outside and ugly on the inside. And plus why did they link the ONLY way to connect your phone to the car to be that you HAVE to have verizon wireless? WTF is up with that. So once I switch away from Verizon, there’s no point in having the OnStar shit. Though they did make me a great offer. A 2007 9-3 with 4,000 miles for only $23k. A demo car that is still basically new, never even been registered.
3) Saturn Aura Hybrid – Yes. I looked at another Saturn. I thought I’d give it a try and see how they’ve done in the last 7 years since I bought my car. The Aura is pretty nice overall. But it just still feels SO CHEAP still. And I’m not sure I could trust Saturn (aka GM) to build a hybrid that will last. Plus, for the price you’re paying for a “hybrid” you really don’t get THAT much better gas mileage.
4) Toyota Camry Hybrid – Another great car. I really like this one, however, I’m just not sure I could see myself driving it. It’s so big and feels very “old man”. Also, for the premium you pay for the hybrid, it’s really not worth it. I thought I had found a GREAT deal on a slightly used one, but the dealer… HUTCH wouldn’t fucking budge on the price. So I walked away.
5) BMW 3 series – The ultimate driving experience. That’s exactly what it is, but it’s just too much for me. Plus it seems like everyone here has a BMW. I want something at least a little different
6) IS 250 – I’ve loved this car since it came out in 2006. Back then, I was nearly ready to walk into a dealer and get one. But I just couldn’t bring myself to buy one at that point because I was making a lot less back then. I went in and talked to my local Lexus dealer and got them to come down $6,000 on a fully loaded IS 250 with navigation. Which would bring it into my price range that I’ve set and at 4.9% interest. I just can’t bring myself to spend that much money even though I could easily afford it.
7) Infiniti G35 – Yes, even though I gave Constantine sooo much shit for this car. It’s amazing. I went and test drove one the other day, just to see it and play with it for myself. I have to admit, I love this car now as well. I was never planning on even seriously looking at one after everything I said to Constantine. But my local Infiniti Dealer had an IS250 listed for sale on Cars.com or one of those sites. So I called him about it. We got to talking and he was like. “We also have a brand new G35 with navigation”. The deal is though that it’s anothe demo car, 3,000-4,000 miles on it and it’s a 2007. The final price he quoted me was under $30k which is exactly what I was looking for a year ago for a price range. 2.9% interest…. It’s the exact same color as Constantine’s too. I just can’t do that, I would be the biggest asshole ever. But it’s SUCH a fucking deal too.
8) Audi A3/A4 – I’ve loved the A3 since it came out, and the A4 is just a great car. However, I have a few friends who have A4’s and they say that once they hit 50k miles they just eat money in Maint. Which ever car I’ll buy, I’m going to keep for another 7-10 years. And the more money I spend on it, the longer I will probably keep it. Plus other friends are telling me that they are coming out with a new more fuel efficient engine “soon”. So I’m not sure how I feel about these.
9) Toyota Prius – Another great car and again, I probably would have bought one a year ago. But now they are just getting so old, they are in need of a major redesign.
10) BMW 1 series, A1, etc. – Oh! they aren’t out yet! But they both look like GREAT cars!
Edit:// Sorry forgot one:
11) Volvo C30 – It’s a great little cute car.. But really? It gets the SAME MPG as the Lexus or BMW, it’s smaller, and it costs about the same with fewer options… Are you serious Volvo? Comon! I know you _think_ you can compete, but you really can’t.
12) VW Jetta – This is another car I’ve heard lots of mixed reviews about. So I’m a little leary. Though I really did like it when I drove it.
13) Acura TSX – Another great car that is tops on my list. I don’t know how I forgot it! Really nothing wrong with it!
Ugh. Ultimately, I’ll probably keep the car I have for a while longer now… I’m just too indecisive about this, I need someone to just go out and buy it for me!!
So don’t be surprised when a blog post comes out about how I’m really pissed that I was stuck on the side of the I-405 for 2 hours waiting for someone to come pick me and my busted ass car up! 🙂