Shopping For A Tablet

I had some money I wasn't expecting show up, and before something else can wrench it out of my hand, I figured I'd look into Windows Tablets.

The tablet isn't a new concept. Bill Gates was pushing tablets back in the late 90's. Microsoft OneNote was designed for use on tablets. But, it's only been recently that the technology to make them good has been around, and price points are finally getting realistic.

I've had iPads for several years. My dad usually sends me his old one when he gets a new one. I've had the iPad 1, 2, and 3. iPads are cool, but every time I try to do something with it, I hit a brick wall and have to go to my laptop anyway. Lack of Flash support is a huge hindrance. It's a great consumption tablet, for the most part, but I can't get any serious work done with it.

I gave the iPad 1 to my ex-wife and children (she wasn't my ex at that point). I'm letting my girlfriend use the iPad 2. The 3 is OK, but what was my dad thinking when he only got a 16 GB?

I used to want a Mac. They were always way above my price range. I look at them now and can't get into them, even the Macbook Air.

I went out yesterday with my girlfriend to look at tablets. Not much to choose from. First we went to Best Buy. The Surface 2 is really cool, but I'm convinced I want Windows 8.1 Pro, not RT. I could do a lot with RT, but the Windows app ecosystem is still highly immature, so I need "legacy" apps like Google Chrome (Internet Explorer sucks hard. I hate it).  I also need a minimum of 64 GB, since Windows takes up a majority of the 32GB space available on those tablets. The Surface Pro 2 64 GB is $899, and then you need to pay another $80-$130 for the keyboard and they'll want to sell you a warranty.

HP has a convertible at Best Buy for $799, but it's as big as my 15" laptop and that to me defeats the point of a tablet. I'm not looking to replace my laptop right now; but to find a laptop capable portable.

We next went to HH Gregg. The only Windows tablet they had was the 32GB Dell Venue 8 Pro . The 64 GB is a contender, but not the 32 which can be bought in stores.

There is a Microsoft store in the area, but it's more than 50 miles away, near work. Didn't feel like spending my Sunday driving to work.

At least I got to see the size and form factor of the Dell. I'd wondered if an 8" tablet would cut it. I've heard a lot of reports from people that the iPad Mini finally makes the iPad portable. People say they're much easier to carry and still large enough to do what needs to be done. The Dell can be held in one hand and feels very sturdy and durable.

The tablet I'd really like is the Asus Transformer Book T-100. The price point of $399 for 64GB with a keyboard included is very tempting. It's not top of the line by any means, but for that price you get a lot for your money. But it's very hard to get. Amazon appears to have them, but for more than $399.

A final shopping mis-experience involved Staples. When we got home, my girlfriend found the Staples ad in her paper. It clearly shows a T-100 looking tablet with similar specs for $329. I ran back out to Staples. Turns out even though that tablet is in their ad, it's not in their system. They can't order it.

Staples, you fail so hard. Must be a bait and switch like car lots do. At least the employee helping me was very helpful. I hope he goes far.

At least I was able to handle the Dell. If I decide to go that route, I'll just order it from their site. I'm not giving my money to the big box retailers because they can't be bothered to stock anything I want to buy. With Dell, I can bundle a folio case and keyboard with the tablet. I might just go with the Dell.

Some Interesting Developments in eBooks Today

Today brought some very interesting developments in the world of eBooks. The information also came to me in interesting ways. My wife was sick, so I stayed home from work to take care of the boys. I was using my mobile devices heavily. First, because the iPhone and iPod Touch have Exchange server support, I was able to keep up with a few things at work because of my Touch, which is set up for my company's Exchange server. I have a work issued BlackBerry, but I was carrying my Touch around with me anyway to listen to my podcasts rather than let a bunch build up. I was also using my Samsung Epix heavily today. I'd let a bunch of email pile up lately, so I was bouncing back and forth between the two devices to get through my personal account. I like the larger screen on the iPod Touch, but some of my html mail reads better in FlexMail 4 on the Epix. Also, the Epix's keyboard is slightly easier to use than the touch keypad on the iPod Touch.

I was catching up on some Twitter traffic on my Epix in Twobile when I saw that Michael Hyatt had downloaded something called "Kindle for iPhone". I switched over to my Touch, brought up the App Store, and searched for Kindle. I found it and downloaded it. From what I've read so far, using this application, I can purchase Kindle formatted books WITHOUT having to buy the $359 Kindle, but if I buy the Kindle, my books will sync between the devices.

Don’t Tell Sellers at a Yard Sale That You’re Going to Sell on Ebay

I’ve written several posts about how the words we use and the way we say them can cause seriously negative consequences for us. I’m just as guilty as anybody of this, which is scary because I try to be conscious of it.

My wife and I have had a few yard sales over the years. We’ve also been to a lot. My wife loves yard sale shopping. I’m sure that within the next month, when yard sales start back up, she’ll expect me to get up on Saturday and start driving her around. I’ll do everything in my power to get out of it, including offering to keep both kids at home with me.

Rant: Valentine’s Cards and Men and Directions

This post is going to be little more than a rant. If you don't like rants, please read some of my other work. I appreciate good rants. If they're well written, they can be highly entertaining and they can make a point. Maddox is a master of the rant. I enjoy reading his rants.

Last night, my wife and I were at Wal-mart. I broke away to look at Valentine's Day cards. The first thing I noticed is that a bunch of women were blocking the small section devoted to cards for wives. I don't know why. I'm not aware of a high lesbian population in Deptford, NJ. I finally got an opening and went in to see what I could find. I like to go for the slightly humorous cards when I can find them. The first card I picked up sounded cool, except of course it had to make mention of "I get lost because I won't ask directions." I'm a geek. I love humor, but I also love accuracy. I have a phone with a GPS and Google Maps, so seriously, there is no need to ask anyone but Google for directions. I put the card away. I picked up another one. Same thing: it had some decent self-depreciating humor but also had to bring up the "men always get lost because we're too stubborn and stupid to waste precious time by stopping the car and getting out and waiting for some clueless gas station attendant who can't speak English to give us directions". I editorialized that line a little bit. I put that card away and picked up another one. Same thing: 3 good points, but the direction thing. By this point, I was getting frustrated and decided that now my ultimate goal was to find a Valentine's Day card that had nothing to do with men, driving, and directions.

No Spend January

My wife got the idea to go for an entire month without spending money. I think she got the idea from one of her blogs. At first, I was against the idea, then I didn’t believe it could work, but I decided that we had nothing to lose and agreed to do it. Here are some of my thoughts and experiences from our “no-spend” month.

Obviously, going into a no spend month requires setting some goals and boundaries. It’s  impractical to not spend ANY money whatsoever, so we had to restrict ourselves to the most necessary expenses. I needed to put gas in my car to get to work, and we allowed a $20 a week withdrawal for fresh fruits and vegetables. We figured this would be realistic. We also allowed cash withdrawals to give to church. My wife fueled her car up at the end of December. Since my car is the family car, hers is only used for errands and she can easily go two or three weeks without putting gas in her car.

Things I Don’t Like About Christmas

I know, what’s not to like about Christmas? Actually, I’ve developed several annoyances regarding this upcoming time of the year.

1) Generic and Unmentionable Holiday

This is by far the worst offender. I can understand the point of referring to a “holiday season” which can encompass everything from Halloween to Presidents’ Day, but when referring to one specific day as “holiday” strikes me as the worst kind of intellectual cowardice. Simply saying the word “Christmas” does not make one Christian and does not in any way acknowledge Christ. When I see commercials or advertisements or movies that specifically refer to Christmas themes but cover with the “holiday” word, I can't help but wonder if those behind it have ever seriously given this any critical thought. I hate when I go to a store that is decorated with Christmas decorations (lights and trees really don’t fit with Hanukkah or any other celebration this time of year) and I’m told by the cashier to “Have a nice holiday”, I often respond with “You too. You have a wonderful generic and unmentionable holiday yourself.” I’m not trying to be a jerk; I'm just trying to get people to think in the only way I can.

Don't think this whole "holiday" thing is purely secular. My church is going to put on a "Holiday" program involving the children. My wife asked if we should involve our boys in it. I wanted to respond "Only if they call it what it really is." I think it has to be a bad thing when a church reflexively refers to Christmas activities with generic unmentionable holiday terminology.

To be fair, it's possible that this could be a local thing. I notice in this region that during every holiday, people will say "Have a nice holiday." If I go to visit my dad in San Antonio, I'll hear "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Easter" and "Happy Thanksgiving" rather than "Have a nice holiday". It could entirely be that I live in New Jersey, a state that I can't speak of negatively enough even though it has somehow become my permanent home.

2) Christmas Music

97.5 FM in Philadelphia started playing Christmas music the first week in November. I'm already sick of it. Let's face it, the collective artistic talent of mankind is not focusing one bit on improving the polluted gene pool that has become our reservoir of Christmas music.To top things off, I'm pretty much burned out on everything BUT Trans-Siberian Orchestra. There are a lot of Christmas songs that I simply can't stand, and even if I once did like them, I've heard them way too many times in 34 years to tolerate them any longer. Most Christmas songs are not very good. The singing and the melodies are horrible, or the words are just plain stupid. "Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas". Hey, did that guy have a literature degree from Yale or anything? Wow, seems like "Don't Worry, Be Happy" had more intellect behind it than "Have a holly, jolly Christmas". "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree" is another song that I really don't like. The music starts out with an electric synthesizer that sounds like a small animal dying, then that woman with the raspy voice starts singing. I change the station or listen to music on my iPod when those start playing. I've heard "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" too many times and I can't take it any longer either. It's way too monotone for me. I lived in San Antonio for 7 years and spent the first several Christmases of my adult life going back there on leave, so don't get me started on "Feliz Navidad".

Every now and again, somebody actually does come out with a new Christmas song, but it goes into the rotation of limited selection and grows old fast. In 2000, the song "Christmas Shoes" was thought provoking and tear jerking. Now, it gets the station switched as fast as "Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas".

Believe it or not, I do like some of the classic or traditional Christmas music. Of course, those happen to be the songs that don't get played very often.

I have little use for Frosty and Rudolf and Santa is coming, but I do remember enjoying them as a child so I try to put up with them for my own kids, but I will change the radio station if I can at all get away with it.

To all artists and musicians, I appeal to you: please, write some new Christmas music. If the record labels are stopping you, then release it as indies. We'll find a way to get you the publicity that you deserve. If you have a new, Indy Christmas song, please send it to me and I'll share it with my readers (I must have at least 2). Just make it Christmas. There is a song that's been playing recently called "Happy Holidays". That's like writing a doxology to atheism. Seriously, it's a song about nothing. At least it's a little upbeat, rather than the monotonous "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire".

3) Traffic and Poor Planning

We know that Christmas is on December 25 every single year, and has been for every single year in recent memory. There are people, every year, who apparently as I'm getting ready to leave work on Christmas Eve, suddenly look at the calendar and say "Oh, crap! Tomorrow is Christmas! I have 800 people to buy for!" Then they proceed to take out a second mortgage and pile onto the highway right in front of me as I'm trying to get home from work to my family.

I married a woman who is good at planning for Christmas. It's November 14, and she's already done. She has me, the kids, her parents, and our extended family taken care of. She even has presents wrapped. She'll go out on Black Friday if there are some good deals, but we won't be stuck in traffic or crammed into the malls the last few weeks before Christmas. We also won't be thousands of dollars deep in credit card debt like a lot of you come January. We're done, and we did it out of pocket. I'm thinking about getting my wife a new laptop for Christmas (I don't think she reads my blog) and I won't have to go into debt for it either. I have time to research and find a deal if I go that route.

It's become a staple of the news to go to the mall the last few days before Christmas, and rather than actually report on anything that's going on in the world, they interview the people who looked at the calendar on Dec 23 and said "Doh! Christmas is coming!"

4) Christmas is Coming...

I've hated this one since I was a kid. There's a difference between a want and a need. Somehow after August, when I mention to my wife that I need a certain item, I'll hear "Well, Christmas is coming." Seriously, I'm a grown man (at least, by most definitions). If I mention in September that I NEED something, chances are that waiting until Christmas is not desirable. Just let me get what I need and I'll tell you what I WANT for Christmas.

Of course, I realize that Christmas is not about me. This blog, however, is. Have a merry Christmas, a happy Thanksgiving, or have wonderful generic, unmentionable holidays, whichever you prefer.

$10 to Pair a Bluetooth Headset? Ouch.

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/news/show/89981/best-buy-s-10-bluetooth-headset-pairing-service-includes-finger-pointing.html

Back in 1996 when I started becoming a computer geek, I was absolutely shocked to find out what stores like CompUSA were charging for simple services that I could do with my eyes closed. A friend of mine said he wanted to upgrade his RAM, but CompUSA wanted $50 to install it. I think I broke something in my brain trying to figure out how sticking a chip in a slot could cost $50. I told him I’d do it for beer and pizza. Even with Sam Adams and a Meat Lover’s, I still came out cheaper plus I fixed a few other problems he had while I was at his apartment.

I guess $10 to pair a Bluetooth headset is fair by comparison. This is a tricky and painful though quick procedure. You definitely have to be patient, and pairings don’t always stick. I’ve had some pairings, like the author of the article I linked, that inexplicably stopped working and didn’t easily want to start again.

I do feel for people who spend hundreds of dollars to computer shops to fix viruses and spyware. My neighbors spent $300 when they got infected. I could have fixed it with free software that doesn’t bog your computer down and nag you to death like McAfee.

Mike Rowe gets down & dirty with the HP tx2000z notebook

This is interesting. I do remember Mike Rowe, during the first season of Dirty Jobs, using a Mac. I assumed it was a white MacBook, but it could have been an older iBook. In any case, it looks like he's using an HP now.

Maybe this should be my wife's next laptop. She doesn't like Dirty Jobs. When I fall asleep with Discovery Channel on, she usually ends up laying awake listening to Mike Rowe say such witty  phrases as "I got poo in my mouth." She says the mere thought of Dirty Jobs makes her want to throw up.

If we had the money, I'd get this for her.

Mike Rowe gets down & dirty with the HP tx2000z notebook.

Technorati Tags: Mike Rowe,Laptop,HP

Would You Buy A Car From The Same Car Dealer A Second Time (Part 2)

Part 1 led up to this point, and I'm sorry for the delay in getting this written. I've had some big changes in my life this week. I'll post on those separately.

As I wondered whether the oil leak in my engine would be an easy fix or an excuse to trade the car in, as I wondered whether the car would cause me more problems later on, I also thought about my mechanic's specific recommendation to go to Burn's Hyundai. My wife and I talked about how we would work out the purchase of a car and decided to see what Burn's would offer.

As we walked on the lot, we were met by Steve. At the time we were thinking about the Hyundai Santa Fe, but he suggested we go inside as it was cold. We told him what we had available, what we wanted in a car, and what kind of payments we were looking at. At this point the script was followed to the letter as he said "I have the perfect car for you." He took us to a 2003 Kia Sedona. It was nice, but I expected the normal procedure to be followed: we test drive the car, like it, decide to buy it, then find out with trade-in and unreasonable down payment much higher than we already said we could provide, the payments will be more than twice what we asked for. Then as we bargain back and forth, the monthly payment will come down $10 to $15 at a time.

That actually didn't happen. After we drove the Sedona, we asked about the Santa Fe. The dealer said that if we wanted a $200 a month car payment, the Sedona was our best bet. Wow, that has never happened before! As we needed to get my Suzuki to trade in, we did test drive the Santa Fe. I thanked the dealer for that. I didn't like the Santa Fe as much as I thought but without that test drive, I would have spent the rest of my life wondering if I might have liked it better.

The trade in went well. They were clear about the whole process, the financing worked out, and we drove the car home. Based on this experience, I would highly recommend Burn's Hyundai to anyone looking for a car. If you need a car, new or used, and Marlton, New Jersey isn't too far for you, check out Burn's Hyundai on Route 70. They also have Pontiac and GMC.

Obviously, not everything about every dealer is perfect. I need to comment on the service department, which I did not find to be anywhere near as professional or competent as the sales department. During the test drive, about two traffic lights from the dealership, I noticed smoke coming up from the engine. It was a fairly clear smoke. None of the engine lights were on, and the temperature was normal, so I wasn't really worried considering how close we were. The dealer took the car to service right away and his manager came out to assure us that everything would be taken care of. She showed us the service record. Three tires had been replaced, as well as the belts, hoses, battery and brakes. Apparently one of the clamps wasn't put on right and anti-freeze spilled out onto the engine and burned up during the test drive. The issue was fixed.

I took the car to my mechanic, who wasn't quite as thrilled that I bought a Kia as he would have been a new Hyundai, but I told him a new car just isn't in our budget. We typically buy used cars that can be worked out to around a $200 a month payment. It's what you have to do to get by on a single income. We also get a lot of furniture for free on Craig's List. In any case, my mechanic found a few issues. The rear shocks needed to be replaced, a bolt under the car wasn't screwed back in properly, the spare tire was bald and dry rotting, and some connectors in the engine weren't properly mounted. Except for the spare tire there was nothing life threatening, but all of it shows a serious lack of professionalism and a lack of attention to detail and pride in the work of the service department. I've worked on equipment that could kill people if not properly maintained, so when I see attention to detail problems like this, it scares me. I don't see how a dealership can sell a car without an adequate spare tire. That should have been part of the inspection prior to putting the car out on the lot to be sold. If the data port connector was left hanging rather than remounted on the battery where it belongs, what else didn't this maintenance department screw back in properly? Also, remember that hose clamp that wasn't put on properly that caused smoke to come out on the test drive? They put a new clamp on OVER it, rather than taking it off and replacing it. I can understand being busy and overworked, but add all of these details up and I start to think laziness and incompetence.

I brought these issues up and was told to bring the car in. The spare tire and rear shocks were replaced.

Like I said, if you need a car in Marlton, NJ, check out Burn's Hyundai. Ask for Steve or Penny. The sales department is great, but the service department scares me. I might try to have any warranty work done at another dealer. I would buy another car from this one again.

Technorati Tags: Car dealers,car service,used cars

Would You Buy From The Same Car Dealer A Second Time? (part 1)

Since my post on Friday about finding that my car had been running with no oil, a few things have changed in my life. When my mechanic recommended a specific car dealer, it got my mind running. Car dealers are not normally businesses that you hear high recommendations of. Normally, when speaking of car dealers, a high compliment could be "they didn't screw me too badly." When my mechanic, Tim, told me to go to Burn's Hyundai, and that he had sent more than 200 of his customers there, I got interested.

I started asking myself how many other car dealers I would tell somebody to go to, and if I would ever go back to another car dealer again myself. I got my first car from Red McComb's Used Cars in San Antonio, Tx in 1992. I was a senior in high school. I had already quit my Kentucky Fried Chicken job so I had a few weeks off before leaving for boot camp, and I suddenly HAD to have a Mazda truck. My mom knew somebody at this dealership so we went there to see what was available. I bought a 1990 Mazda B2200 and drove it for 3 years. The experience was good, but probably because we knew somebody.

Next, I went to Westcott Mazda in National City, California, in June of 1995. National City has a string of car dealers known as the "Mile of Cars", literally right outside of the Naval Station. I wanted to buy a 1995 Mazda Protege. I was 21 and just found out that I made E-5. (It didn't occur to me that it would take 6 months for my pay to increase accordingly.) I made a big mistake going to Westcott Mazda, by myself, on a Friday night. I told the dealer that I wanted the Protege but could only do payments around $200 a month and if he couldn't do it, then I'd just have to save up and come back later. He assured me all along that it wouldn't be a problem. After I signed away my truck and completed all of the paperwork, I sat down in finance only to be told that my payments would be $350. I told them I couldn't afford that. The bastard (pardon my language, but I'm going somewhere) actually told me that I would have a nice car and my credit qualifies me. I told him I wouldn't be able to afford gas and insurance with those payments, and the dealer assured me all along that we could do $200 a month payments. He said the dealer was crazy, and I must be too for assuming I could get that car for $200 a month, and said again that I would have a nice car. Like that would do me any good if I couldn't afford to drive it. We looked around for used cars and found a 1993 MX3. I drove that car for the next 10 years until the gas pump went out. The moonroof seal was also going and rain was leaking into the car. Since I had an extra car at that point, I let the Mazda sit too long and it molded out so we gave it away. There's no way I would EVER go back to Westcott Mazda, although they did screw me into a decent and reliable car. They also somehow miscalculated the payoff on my truck, and I had to scrounge up $300 the next week to cover that. I guess the dealer's finance department took my estimated figure "I think I owe about $1800 on the truck" and ran with it, rather than call the credit union which was actually located right there in San Diego to ask for a payoff, which I thought was standard practice anyway.

Since I drove the Mazda for 10 years, I didn't buy another car until after I was married. I tried a few times to trade it in on a Saturn or a Subaru, but the financing never worked out just right. Once I paid it off, I got used to living without a car payment.

I went to Cherry Hill Subaru twice. The first time should have been enough, but I did go back two years later. The first time I looked at a 2000 Subaru Impreza. It was a nice car. For some reason the dealer was trying to push me into a 5 year lease with 12,000 miles a year. The dealer herself was new, and the sales manager was taking care of everything. She was tough. If the fabled Amazon warriors had a Psy-ops component, this woman would have been their head trainer. I was dating my wife at the time (we got engaged the next morning, actually) and we took her car. I try not to take the car that I'm planning to trade in to the dealer. I don't know why, but Cherry Hill Subaru really wanted to put me in that lease. They were going to give me $4000 for the Mazda, sight unseen, when the KBB was only about $2000. The sales manager kept asking me what part of the deal I wasn't comfortable with, and I kept saying "the part where I have to take the deal right now." She kept telling me "Well, all of our banks change on Monday, so we won't have the same deals then." Normally that line means they're lying, but who has time to verify those kind of claims? It took a lot of work to pry ourselves out of there, but we did leave and I kept the Mazda. I got 4 more years out of it.

Cherry Hill Subaru's "mixed test loop" was a joke. You took a right turn onto a highly congested part of New Jersey Route 70 where you have enough room, if the car has a particularly powerful engine, to accelerate up to 35 miles per hour before taking a right into a housing area. Then you can stomp the gas to get the car up to the residential speed limit of 25 before jamming the breaks for a stop sign. A couple of twists and turns later, you come out on a major road at a busy intersection, take a right onto 70, then right back into the dealership. What a joke. If the car you are test driving is a stick shift, chances are you wouldn't get to third gear on this test loop.

We went back to Cherry Hill Subaru in 2002. My in-laws loaned us their 1995 Ford Windstar for a trip to see my parents in Texas. They let us use it for a couple of weeks after the trip as well. At that point, we had my 1993 Mazda MX3 and my wife had a 1991 Ford Escort. Both were decent cars, but owning a house with two subcompacts was tough. If we went to BJ's, it seemed that one of us had to sit on the curb with half the stuff while the other ran home. I'm obviously exaggerating, but we often had to borrow a truck when we ran to Home Depot. Now that we have kids, whenever I hear somebody start in with comments about how everybody should drive sub-compact hybrids, I always ask them "Let me guess, you're single and live in an apartment?" They always respond with "How did you know?" You don't have to watch a lot of House episodes to gain that level of insight. Just have two kids and a Sam's Club membership.

After driving that Windstar for a couple of weeks, we really came to appreciate it and I wanted one. We got something in the mail from Cherry Hill Subaru promising a toolkit of some kind just for coming in. We figured, what the heck? You can never have enough toolkits. Long story short, we ended up buying a 1999 Windstar. Here is where the screwing really took effect: when we got home, my wife was poking around on their website and found the exact same car listed for $2000 less than we paid. I printed the page and ran outside and sure enough, the VIN numbers matched. I brought this up to the dealer, and was told "a third party manages our website, and we're not responsible for them posting incorrect prices." The windshield had a crack. When I asked them to fix it, I was told "we have to guarantee state inspection. Get it inspected, and when it fails, we have to fix it." I took the car to inspection and ASKED to be failed, only to be told "I can't fail it for that little ding." Go figure. New Jersey state inspections have failed me for some of the stupidest reasons, but the one time I ask them to fail me so I can get the dealer to fix something, they won't. The windshield crack finally spilt straight across on a cold day, costing me more than $300 to replace.

I was happy to hear that Cherry Hill Subaru went out of business. I should have marked the date on my calendar so I can have a drink once a year in celebration.

My in-laws gave us the 1995 Windstar, and at this point we had 4 cars between the two of us. That was weird. The 1999 was starting to develop some problems. The power steering was going, one of the rear vent windows was stuck open, one of the power windows didn't work, and I think the transmission was failing. What can I say; it was a Ford. Some of them seem to come from the factory that way. It was the first and the last Ford I will purposely buy. Then the head gasket on the 1995 blew. Every 3.8 liter V-6 engine Ford made in 1995 blew a head gasket, but because ours was such low mileage (as of this writing in Feb 2008, it's only 88,000 miles), the gasket didn't blow until 2004, 2 years out of recall. We ended up putting out $4500 for a remanufactured engine. My wife liked the 1995 Windstar better, so we put the money out to fix it but realized that we should get rid of the 1999 before it started to cost us money. We traded it in on a 2001 Kia Sportage at Woodbury Nissan. The experience was positive, and at one point I would have bought another car from Woodbury Nissan until this day happened. That one bone-headed salesman ruined it for me and I'm not going back there.

We traded the Sportage in on a 2001 Suzuki Grand Vitara XL-7, which I was writing about previously. We bought it from Mall Suzuki. The experience wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. They drove a hard sell but also worked it out within our requirements. Nothing about it would make me go back, but on the other hand nothing would keep me away if they had a car I was particularly interested in.

This post is getting long, so I'll continue in another. There is no sense in detracting from the story with all of the background.

Technorati Tags: Cars,car dealers,used cars,car buying horror stories,Would you buy a car from the same dealer twice?

The Biggest Problem With The Microsoft Zune...

...is that nobody seems to carry it, at least here in south Jersey. Nobody. Those who actually do carry it only carry the 4 or 8 Gig model but know nothing about it. The models aren't even turned on, so an interested buyer has no idea how the interface might work.

I have been considering a Zune lately, ever since the news that podcast support is now included. I settled last on the 80 Gig video iPod because podcast support was very important to me. At the time I was downloading several video podcasts and converting them to a format to watch on my Pocket PC was cumbersome.

Now my needs have changed. I record TV shows through my WinTV from Hauppage. These record into MPEG format, and converting MPEG into an iPod compatible format is very cumbersome. Now that the Zune supports Apple formats, my video podcasts are no longer an issue but my recorded TV is. Also, the screen on the video iPod is very tiny while the screen on the Zune is much larger.

We'll see what happens. I wish I could get a review unit. Anybody know how to do that? If anyone from Microsoft's Zune team reads this and wants to send me an 80 Gig model, I'll be happy to post a review for you.

Technorati tags: Microsoft Zune, Video iPod, digital Media

Thomas and Friends Wooden Railway Toy Recall

There has been a recall of some of the wooden components of the Thomas and Friends wooden railway set. I just thought I'd post this here for other parents. I'm sure my kids have chewed on these at one point or another, and they somehow got through with lead paint. I guess whatever communist country these toys are manufactured in hasn't gotten around to banning lead paint yet. If you have any of these toys, follow directions on the CPSC recall immediately.

How Your Family Can Survive On A Single Income

My wife and I, by the grace of God, have gotten by for the last two years on only my income. This hasn't been easy and my wife has been tempted several times to look for a job but so far things have worked out. Many families today either can't or aren't willing to get by without both parents working, but it is possible by making some sacrifices and planning. There are of course many situations where a family cannot or does not want to get by on a single income, and I'm obviously not writing to those situations. I'm actually going to keep this brief and focused on one thing that we do to keep an affordable lifestyle on a single income: free furniture. I'll probably follow up with other posts as we go along.

Now, don't get me wrong. Not all furniture comes cheap. We bought a Sleep Number bed last year on a 16 month no interest plan on the hopes that our tax refund this year would pay for the bed. Our gamble paid off. We've also bought most of the kids' furniture from Ikea for a good price. When it comes to living room furniture, however, we seem to go through that very fast. Diapers leak, sippy cups spill, and of course the kids want to jump on the couch as much as they can. Our last couch and chair had those buttons that held the upholstery in place, and the kids pulled most of those buttons off. Needless to say, after about six months, our last couch wasn't doing very well.

Our last couch came from Craig's List. My wife scans through there at least once a week to see what interesting things she can find. I got my now non-functional iBook from Craig's List for $100. I think the hard drive is dead, but I don't have time right now to check it. Since Apple doesn't ship their operating systems with a decent disk utility, I'm going to have to put that hard drive in another laptop and use Windows XP to examine the disk.

One day last week, my wife's sister was driving and called to say that she saw a couch on the side of the road. My wife sent me back with her sister to pick the couch up in our Windstar. You can fit a lot in a Windstar. I took the couch and went back later for the chair. The couch is in really good shape and is much more comfortable than our last couch.

When children are young and budgets are short, consider getting your furniture cheap or free. You'd be amazed at how much money you can save that way.

Need New Windows, Doors, etc?

Before I start, I would like to say that the purpose of this blog entry is not in any way, shape, or form to be critical of Window Wizards, but to share an experience. I haven't been ripped off or wronged. I'm a paying customer, and I just want to post some information for potential shoppers to consider. I won't be critical. I'm just a little frustrated and if you're looking for windows or doors then please read on if you're considering Window Wizards. I'm not even saying not to use them. I'll explain.

When I first moved to New Jersey in 1999, Bell Atlantic was the local POTS (Plain Old Telephone System) provider. They've long since been purchased by Verizon. When it comes to the incompetence of large corporations, I'm not sure if its simple bearocratic inefficiency or deliberately crafted business practices, but I literally had to call them three times to get anything done right. Each time they would promise to resolve the situation, and not do it. Twice they sent my Caller ID box to the wrong address and tried to charge me for it, for instance. That was back when not all phones came with Caller ID, and I liked the phone I brought here with me anyway. I had a problem with my voice mail once, and that required three calls to straighten out. I guess they hoped if they didn't fix it you'd go away and somehow their shareholders get rich. Kevin Trudeau, in his "Natural Cures" books, frequently points out how corporations have a legal responsibility to their shareholders to make a profit. If somehow you benefit with good service, it's sometimes an accident.

Anyway, Window Wizards is sort of like that, without the feel of a big bad corporation. I'm sure they don't mean to cause some of the frustration that they do. My house was built in 1950. My wife and I bought it in 2001. Half of the windows had been replaced with the dual-pane vinyl windows, the other half were original installs: wood frame single-pane. They let in cold and drafts, many were stuck in place, and those that weren't stuck in place were about one more cold season away from being stuck in place. The sliding glass door in my kitchen was about to disintegrate and badly needed to be replaced. That and letting the dog out was a major workout.

We were in the process of taking out a second mortgage, so we called Window Wizards. Because their office is in Pennsylvania, we didn't have to pay some tax or other for them to install across state lines. The salesman came out and worked with us for a few hours to decide what windows we wanted to replace and what to replace them with. Then the carpenter came out to make the measurements. After that, they scheduled the installation. I took the day off, the first of many.

The installation went very well and they carpenter and his workmen did a good job. It took about a workday to install 10 windows and a sliding glass door. They were good guys and didn't mind me watching them and asking questions. The trouble began when the carpenter noticed a small machine mark on the sash of one of the windows in my family room. It wasn't a big deal, but he said since we have a lifetime warranty we should have it replaced. We figured sure, why not?

When the worker came out to replace the sash, he accidentally cracked the glass. It wasn't a big deal; it was only one pane. However, it took several more weeks to get a window replacement, and I had to take the afternoon off again to wait for service. I seem to remember living in San Diego that you could actually get appointments for deliveries and service calls. One time I called the cable company late at night on a Sunday and I was told that the serviceman would be there at 10 AM the next morning. He showed up by 10:10. Here on the East Coast, you get a window of time, say from 8-12 or 12-5. That means you may have to wait 4 or more hours sitting around your house waiting for someone to show up. What happens if they don't show up? Well, that's happened to me several times. You call to complain and get another 5 hour window to take off work and wait for them to show up. (My wife is a Stay At Home Mom, but isn't comfortable with servicemen so I still have to take off and wait for them. She takes the opportunity, like this morning, to sleep in because I'm here to watch the kids).

Anyway, I took off again to wait for service. Because the window was broken, they had to bring a new one. Would you believe the new one was 1/2 an inch too small to fit? ARRRRRRG! When I called to reschedule for them to bring the right sized window, they began asking me if I want to blow a morning or an afternoon waiting for them, and I might have said that I've already used up me entire year's worth of vacation waiting for Window Wizards service department so I really need them to try to make it convenient for me. They said they'd call me with a time. Several months later, winter was coming and my wife was nagging me to call them, so I did. I asked why they never called me back and they said there was a note on my account that I couldn't get anymore time off. We scheduled the appointment, and I spent yet another afternoon waiting for Window Wizards.

This time the window was the right size and I was glad that's over with. Thus concludes 2003.

Not long after that, the 1950's window frames began to expand and contract and my wife complained of a draft. Two of the windows weren't fitting in correctly anymore, and one wouldn't even stay up. Then my wife left the dog out too long and he destroyed the screen for one window. The nagging started to build up (Seriously, why can't she make the darn phone calls?) and finally I had to call Window Wizards again about the middle of 2006. I got a voice mail and left a message. A week later, I had heard nothing back, so I called their warranty service department again and left a message. Two weeks later I called and left a message. Then I called their sales desk, because I know that HAD to be manned, asked for help, got transferred to service, and left another message. Then I called, demanded to speak to a live person, left my information, got promised a callback, and three weeks later still hadn't gotten it. I called again, asked for the person I had talked to, asked why I'm waiting more than 2 months just to schedule a service call, and finally get something worked out. They came out and adjusted my window frames. However, that lifetime warranty really isn't a lifetime warranty. They'll come out, but we have to pay $65. Maybe Hyundai should start selling windows. They have the best warranty in the cars business. While we were waiting for service, we also noticed a crack in the vinyl of our sliding glass door, so I called back and added that to the list of things to look at.

The service guy came. I couldn't get off work, so my wife had to handle it. They adjusted the window frames, said they couldn't fix the screen (again, what exactly does LIFETIME WARRANTY mean?) and promised to call us back about the sliding door. After almost two and a half months of waiting, I had to call them.

They came out last Thursday to replace the sliding glass door. My wife had to handle it again. It's not that I can't leave work whenever I want, but I was already flexing time for something else and this would have left me too tight to make up. I'm trying to build a decent vacation balance. When I got home, we found that the sliding glass door didn't fit right and it rocks back, leaving a gap in the top right against the frame. The only way to keep it closed to to rock it up and lock it. I called Windows Wizards and, even though it was still business hours, left a message. They called me back Friday to schedule an appointment for this afternoon. My wife now refuses to deal with them, so I'm sitting home, with work piling up, and they called just before I got the idea to write this entry to say they have to reschedule. They might be able to make it out tomorrow, but they'll have to call me back. That normally means I'll be calling them in six weeks to ask why I'm having to go through winter with a glass door that doesn't seal into the frame correctly.

Like I said, I'm not trying to bash Window Wizards. I'm not even saying not to use them. They make a good product, and they do sort of support it although you have to be very proactive and have a flexible job and a huge vacation balance in order to get that support. Chances are if there's a defect in the installation, you'll have to schedule that cruise for another year because you'll use the whole 40 hours of vacation waiting for Window Wizards. If you want to buy from Window Wizards by all means go ahead.

I'll leave you with this. My wife has an Averatec laptop that we bought from Circuit City. It's been sent in for service five times, four through Averatec's manufacturer's warranty and once through Circuit City's extended plan. I think the service is very good, very responsive, and I'm glad we got it. On the other hand, I have a Compaq V2414NR laptop. I don't have the first clue how HP's service department or Best Buy's warranty work. And you know what? I'm much happier that way. Warranties are good and nice, but I prefer products and services that are built well enough that you NEVER, EVER have to learn how good the service department is.

I can't say that for Window Wizards.

Steve Olson on Wal-mart and Target

I read a post at Steve Olson's blog about differences between Target and Wal-mart. I would love to have left a comment, but there are already 232 as of the start of this posting, and I'm sure Steve has better things to do than read an email from me, so I'll just post a quick thought here.



First, I'll start by saying that this is only my opinion, nothing more, nothing less, and it has only as much weight and authority as you the reader are willing to give it. I do agree with Steve that I prefer Target over Wal-mart. There are times when a trip to Wal-mart is warranted, and my wife and I recently joined Sam's Club rather than renew our BJ's membership, but given the choice I always prefer Target.



My mother in law works for K-mart as an HR manager, and will tell prospective employees that she is looking for serious workers (my paraphrase, not her exact words). She tells them that if they're not willing to work then they should apply at Wal-mart.



Steve compares the aisles in the two stores. Wow, he makes a great point there. One thing I hate about Wal-mart is that every time I need anything in an aisle, there is always a person standing right in the middle of the aisle in front of exactly what I need (like light bulbs) and has no intention of moving before I have to go home and put my kids to bed. Target, on the other hand, does have very long and wide aisles, wide enough for two shopping carts to fit in. I have enough room to keep my kids amused by racing the shopping card around while my wife takes too long to shop. I wouldn't try that at Wal-mart.



But yes, some trips to Wal-mart are required. I guess it's just the culture. Wal-mart has a model of the lowest cost at any price. Target seems to have a little more class.

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I Hate Ebay

I have finally come to the point where I do not see myself using Ebay again any time soon. I am most dissatisfied with what Ebay has become.

Some people are very good with Ebay. My wife is one of them. She used to get some very sweet deals on Ebay. She could scan the auctions, find what she likes, and come in at the last second to take the auction. When I have wanted things, she has in the past directed me to look for them on Ebay.

I'm not very good with Ebay though. I'm not that great with finding the best prices anywhere. Prior to meeting my wife, I would pay more for some items just for the convenience of buying them all at the same store and getting home to my computer faster. In the past, I have gotten in trouble on Ebay.

About two years ago, I decided that I wanted a Pocket PC. You may know from previous blog entries that I'm now on my second, but I had to start somewhere. I did a search on Ebay and found an ipaq listed for about $40. Sounds good, right? Well, I apparently misread the item description. The person said that he had access to a web site that puts you in a matrix after you buy some ebooks, and when you reach the top of the matrix in one to four months you can buy in HP (now Compaq) ipaq Pocket PC for $40. I somehow was under the impression that I would be paying him to handle the transaction. I'm not sure where I got the impression. I used my wife's tactics and won the auction, sparing all the people that I cut off the agony of what followed that morning. I logged in to Pay Pal, paid the person the $50 that I won the auction for, and watched my email. I received a URL. What? Well, it turns out that I had read the auction wrong, and what I actually paid this low life for was a URL to enter this matrix. I tried everything I could, browbeating, threatening, appealing to his sense of morality, but nothing worked. Finally I told him that I fell for his scam, and I am a man of honor, and I would honor my transaction, however, I was going to contact Ebay to see if they felt that was a legitimate auction. Now, Ebay does not make it easy to get in contact with them. You have to search through seeming Gigabytes of FAQ in order to find a form to contact customer service. I did. I received a Paypal refund with an email from this person that he "would not be dealing in this type of service any more". No kidding.

That's my Ebay scam story. Now on to my complaining. OK, reasons I hate Ebay are:

1) It is very difficult to contact Ebay, or at least it was the last time I tried. OK, I know there are a lot of morons out there, and a lot of other people who can dream up all manner of stupid questions, and Ebay would go broke if they had to pay someone to answer the same stupid question over and over and over again when it's already in the FAQ. But why should the rest of us have to suffer when we have a legitimate question or concern that is NOT covered by the FAQ? Therefore, I hate Ebay for this reason.

2) Item filtering. Try to do a search on laptops, for instance. How many power cable and accessories do you have to wade through just to find what you want? You have to seach through so much extraneous information you might as well use Yahoo.

3) Ebay is becoming a haven for con artists and scams. I hear all kinds of horror stories about auctions where the seller will only accept a service called "Bidpay". As far as I can tell, Bidpay exists for no other reason than to allow people to rip other people off. I haven't used it, and I won't use it, partly because I don't use Ebay anymore, but also because of the perception generated by the accounts I've read.

4) This is actually a part of 3, but still, people are using the term NOT to add their item to YOUR seach. I was trying to do a search for a particular cell phone model, and instead I got other models, listed as "NOT" my model. That's brilliant! I search for one item, and get their item which is NOT my item. I quit.

5) High shipping costs. The costs people are starting to charge for shipping are getting ridiculous. The Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil, and people who love money too much are taking over Ebay. Even my wife is not using Ebay as much any more because it's getting cheaper to just pay full price for items than to pay someone $20 to ship a $1 shirt.

Therefore, I hate Ebay and do not plan to use it any longer. If my wife really wants me to save money on Ebay, I will give her what I want and she can try it. I'm done. To the folks at Ebay, what was once a great idea has been perveted by the unscrupulous, and I would love to tell you this but you have made it nearly impossible for me to contact you.