Case of the Missing Gift

Little Kat is away visiting his grandfather for Christmas. Kit Kat's boyfriend came over to eat Christmas dinner with us. My brother went to church in the morning. When he came home, Momoko thought we should proceed to gift opening.

We went round robin. Kit Kat had the most gifts. Finally my brother opened all his gifts. But he had not opened the one I gave him. I went over to the Christmas tree and tore it up. No gift for my brother. I went downstairs to my study. No gift.

I figured maybe I gave his gift to another friend by mistake. Later my brother stood up to take his gifts to his room. There on his chair was my gift. Somebody must have placed it on his chair and he sat on it.

Thank goodness. I thought I was going crazy there for a second. I knew I wrapped my brother's gift. It was a keychain with a heartfelt message inscribed on it. I doubled wrapped it in an envelope and then some wrapping paper because it was small.

The Passing of Latte

Latte was the last of the trio of gerbils we bought. She has been getting old. I noticed she had a bit of spunk left in her. She would climb up to the top of the couch and try to get to the front window. Kit Kat said she has been weak recently.

Today at lunch, I saw Latte moving about in her cage. She was walking funny. It was if she had a bad hip or something. She moved from one side of the cage to the other. Then she stopped. She seemed like she was still alive. But there was something definitely wrong with her.

Little Kat said he saw her laying on her side, and was hardly breathing. Kit Kat stopped by from work before going out to happy hour today. She said Latte was not doing very well this morning. And she confirmed that Latte had died this afternoon.

The kids will probably bury her outside tomorrow. The only consolation is that Kit Kat inherited two younger gerbils from a friend of hers. Those two are Morgan and Baily. Not sure how old they are. Maybe one year old. They have a lot of life left in them.

Lunch at Burger King

I normally eat Chinese food for lunch. However today I wanted some burgers. I like the double cheeseburger from Burger King. They sometimes have coupons for $3 double cheeseburger meals. I used the coupons up already.

Instead I opted for a $4 two bacon cheeseburger meal. I dined in to eat the food hot. The guy at the counter told me the onion ring sauce cost 20 cents apiece. I had him ring me up for two of them. Brought one home for future use.

Even with the sauce upcharge, you can't beat the deal. Lunch for under $5. Pretty tasty too.

The iPhone SE

My current iPhone is started to have some problems. When I am making calls, random digits are inserted into the phone numbers I dial. This is problematic as I make business calls daily. My solution is to get a new phone.

I am not going to be like Little Kat and get the latest phone from Apple. I want a phone that still has a home button. And I want one that has the old style plugs for old headphones. I found the perfect fit - the iPhone SE.

The iPhone SE seems to be a rebranded older phone. It is either an iPhone 5 or an iPhone 6. But the form factor is smaller. I like that because it can fit in my pocket easier. I really only use my phone for phone calls and texting. I take an occasional picture. Hardly ever browse the web with it.

Momoko controls our cell phone plan. I asked her to upgrade my current phone to an iPhone SE. At first, our provider only listed assorted newer iPhone models as possible options. Drat. But Momoko somehow did a search that uncovered the iPhone SE as an option. Let's hope it is everything I dream it to be.

Getting Momoko's Car Serviced

Momoko is off on vacation visiting her dad for the holidays. She left Little Kat and I in charge of getting her car serviced. She said we should take it to the dealership to ensure the warranty remains in effect. I scheduled a time with Little Kat to drop the car off.

We got to the dealership. You are supposed to pull into the service bays. There were cars parked in front of each bay. I parked on the side and walked in. A single service guy was there. He diagnosed the car and said we needed an oil change and tire rotation. Cost would be $200++.

Service guy said the car would be ready in an hour or so. He said he would call me. I asked him what should I do if I don't get that call within an hour. He gave me his direct line to call. After 2 hours, I did not receive a call. I tried calling the service guy a few times. He never picked up the phone.

The next day, Little Kat and I returned to the dealership. Momoko's car was out front. I paid the cashier. The service guy went running to find our car. After a while, he realized it was in the front. This dealership advertises that it washes your car with every service. On my receipt it said, "Car not washed".

Essentially this dealership is a service fail. Normally I don't take Momoko's car in for service. But if I ever do again, I will chose another dealership. Even better, I hope she can go to our local mechanic.

Nissan Versa Acquired

Little Kat and I called a couple Nissan dealers that had 2019 Nissan Versa sedans for sale. We targeted those that had the SV trim with Apple Car Play. The first few dealers seemed disorganized. They could not tell me the full costs to buy their car. They needed to get back to me.

Then we called a guy who I thought was named Rick. He knew the costs down to the penny. Initially, the sale price of his vehicle listed online was highest. But he had the best walk out pricing. Little Kat and I drove towards the Bay to visit the dealership. There I found out the sales guy's name was actually Ray.

Took the car out for a spin. It had a keyless start. Acceleration was weak. The seat seemed narrow to me. The Apple Car Play screen was smaller than our Chevy Spark's one. One the test drive return to the dealership, I took a wrong turn and got on the highway. Next exit was 5 miles away.

We decided to buy the car. Seemed strange that they did not ask for payment until just before we drove away. The sales guy thought it would take an hour to finalize the sale. Then he found that a mandatory recall service needed to be performed. A few hours later, Little Kat missed out on happy hour. But he drove home in our new Nissan Versa.

Bonus Drinks

This weekend, Momoko and I went to breakfast. I had a coupon ready to give us a big discount. Normally the coupon entitles you to drink coffee. We prefer soft drinks. So Momoko told them to substitute Coke for coffee. The usually add a $1 surcharge to each of us for the drink "upgrade". For some reason, they did not charge us extra this time.

At the drive through window, the girl tried to give us 2 large orange juices. I was excited, because I consider that a premium drink. Momoko refused them and told the girl we needed Coke. We got some medium sized Coke soft drinks. I would have preferred the delicious orange juice.

Today I was really hungry in the morning. Unfortunately I had a lunch time conference call. No problem. I took the call from a restaurant. I got there early to place my order. The soda machine was out of order. My meal is supposed to come with a fountain drink. So instead I was allowed to choose a bottled drink from the fridge. Aha. Now I get the premium drink I deserve. I opted for a Fanta grape drink.

Trash Bag Economics

We use 13 gallon trash bags with handles for tying them shut in our kitchen garbage can. These are easy to secure. However I found that putting those bags in our outdoor bins results in stinky trash cans. So I decided we should double bag our trash when setting the bags out in our trash cans.

I choose a 30 gallon bag for the outer wrapper. I like when I can tie the top of the bag stuff. Don't care much for the "cinch sack", where you pull a plastic string to shut the bag. These days I buy the bags from Amazon.

Previously I could buy 4 boxes at once and save money. Probably because I was buying in bulk. Shipping was free with Prime. The only problem is that bulk deal is no longer available. Next I tried multiple smaller boxes when they were cheap. That deal is gone too.

Today I had to use Amazon Prime Pantry. You pay a flat $5.99 fee to ship up to a certain amount of weight. I bought bigger boxes of my trash bags. There was a 5% off bonus if you purchase 5. I found for some reason Amazon waived the shipping fee also when I bought 5. It turned out to be cheaper to buy 5 than 4.

Dresser Handle Repair

I have a couple bookshelves in my study in the basement. One of them has a drawer at the bottom that is pretty big. I store a lot of items in there. Always opening and closing the drawer. One of the handles broke off. It was metal, but poorly made. For a long time I have been suffering with just one drawer handle.

Now I could have replaced that bookshelf. I have a ton of books on it. I need that drawer too. Seemed like just too much work. Then it hit me. I could just replace the handle. Of course Amazon had plenty of styles to choose from. I decided against the cheap ones that came with the bookshelf. Instead I got some circular ones that looked old.

The tricky part was that the bottom drawer did not want to come out of the bookshelf. I emptied the contents of the drawer. Then I felt around the back of the plate with the screws to figure out how to remove the old ones. Once that was done, the new ones were easy to install. Now we are back in business.

Branch Disposal

There were high winds during a recent storm. Lots of branches fell into our back yard. Took over an hour to collect them. There was a mix of small and large branches. Previously I had put them in metal trash cans so the county could take them away.

Recently I started putting the branches in tall 30 gallons paper bags that the county also hauls away. These bags cost $2 for a pack of 5. So it runs me 40 cents to send out a bag. Not a huge cost. But I had a lot of branches recently.

Another problem is that the county does not want branches that are too thick. What is a homeowner to do? Well I took a cue from my own dad. I decided to burn the branches. For my first run, I lit newspaper plus dry kindling in our fire pit. Then I put the large branches (logs) on top. Problem solved.

Now I am taking it to another level. When I collect sticks, I put them all in the fire pit to burn. The only think I will send to the county are fresh branches that I think would not burn well. The only thing I need to do now is dispose of the ashes after the wood is burned. There is not too much of it. I just throw that in the trash.

To Catch a Cricket

I have heard crickets chirping down in our basement for a few nights in a row. Decided it was time to take action. I bulk purchased a bunch of traps from Amazon. They are just cardboard with sticky glue on one side. They are supposed to be able to be folded into a box. But that proved too tricky.

The first night, my brother and I set the traps all around the basement. We hugged the walls with them. There were some places too tight to put the big cardboard. But I thought we laid some good traps. The next morning, we catch our first cricket. I thought that might be the end of it.

Last night, I was on the main level eating and reading the newspaper. I saw a cricket out of the corner of my eye. Put the newspaper to good use and swatted it. Might have to lay some more cricket traps upstairs now.

Auto Renewal Scam

Last year I subscribed to a bunch of fashion magazines. The subscription rate is heavily discounted compared to the cover price. The only magazine that continues to be a slam dunk is Marie Claire. The other ones are just meh.

Today I got my monthly copy of Elle magazine. They slipped in a notice that I was enrolled in their "continuous service program". That means they automatically renew my subscription each year and charge me. What a scam.

I logged into their customer service web site online. It took a long time to find a way to opt out of their auto-renewal. I actually don't trust them one bit. So I need to try to be vigilant, and reject any future fraudulent charges. I really ought to just cancel my subscription to avoid the hassle.

Magazine, as well as other print media, are on the downward slope. They are losing subscribers. I suspect it is because everything is online these days. Now is not the time to turn to cheap tricks to try to keep readers. I wonder if it would do any good to write the editor.

Arrival of 2 New Gerbils

Kit Kat's friend had two gerbils. But the friend did not have time to take care of them. So she asked Kit Kat if we could take them. We have one old gerbil. The kids were thinking about eventually getting some new gerbils. So we agreed.

Little Kat and Kit Kat got the gerbils yesterday. They came with their own two story cage. There is a metal ladder leading up to the second floor in the cage. However this cage did not fit well on our gerbil book shelf. It was also difficult to get the gerbils out of the cage. So Kit Kat went and bought a new cage.

They gerbils had names. But we renamed them. They seem pretty energetic, as they are about 1 year old. They also seemed to interact fine with our family. Our existing older gerbil Latte was on high alert due to the new gerbils in the house. We keep them in separate cages for Latte's safety.

The new gerbils came with a wheel that they love to run in. Unfortunately the wheel is defective and keeps falling off its stand. Time to purchase a new gerbil wheel I guess.

New Lunch Hangout

I have been receiving really good coupons for Burger King in the mail. They have a sale for a double cheeseburger, fries, and drink for $3. You can't beat that. I actually like their double cheeseburger. The fries are fine as long as I can dip them in Burger King onion ring sauce.

They try to charge you 19 cents for a packet of onion ring sauce. Seems strange as it is a dressing for their side. But I learned from Momoko to just ask for it when you pick up your food. Most of the time, they just hook you up for free.

Today I did not have any great coupons. But I saw online that they have a King Meal for $5. It has two cheeseburgers, a small fry, and a small drink. I just put the 2 burger patties together to make a double cheeseburger. I was pleasantly surprised when the local Burger King only charged $4 for this meal. No coupon required.

Trash Collection Troubles

The other week, we had a lot of trash. It filled up the container from the county. Also filled three other trash cans that I have. I set them all out the night before trash pickup day. When I went to bring the containers back in, I was troubled. The main county container was empty. Every other trash can had one bag in the bottom of the container.

I know our trash men work fast. They are always hustling. So I hoped that this was just an oversight. This has happened before. But usually it is just one can. This time almost all cans had a bag left in the bottom.

The following week we had a bunch of trash. One reason was that we had a lot of leftover trash not collected in the prior week. Luckily, the trash men took all the bags from all containers. Let's hope that trash left behind is not a trend.

Claiming my Bonus

I had some big dealings with the bank. They had to send some people out to my house multiple times to get me to sign a document. Then I figured I was done with the whole transaction. Nope. My original sales guy had told me that I could get some free gift. I had forgotten about it. Now it was time to choose a gift.

There were a lot of options. Most of the stuff seemed to have an MSRP between $150 and $200. I was thinking about getting the Google Home, which is their version of Alexa. There were a lot of bad reviews for it though. Then I thought maybe I could get a Dyson hand vacuum. Again there were a ton of bad reviews.

I have wanted to get the ability to watch DVDs in my study. When I hook up my external DVD reader to my computer, it just does not play the DVDs correctly. I think it is a Microsoft Windows issue. My solution was to get a TV and a DVD player. Well one of the gift choices was a 32 inch TV with Roku built in.

Not exactly sure what Roku was. I thought it was a box that let's you run apps. Well the TV itself runs apps like Netflix or YouTube. I got my TV delivered last week. Now I just need to get that DVD player, and I am off to the races.

Bugs in the Fan

I started noticing some thin protrusions coming from the new exhaust fan in our bathroom ceiling. It is high up. Used a towel to swipe them away. But then they came back. I took a closer look. There were some bugs up in the fan. I thought maybe they were spiders based on the legs poking through the grate.

It was time to get rid of whatever was up there. I got some bug spray, a newspaper for swatting, and a step stool to reach the grate. I layered up with a hat, mask, long sleeve shirt, and rubber gloves. When I pulled down the grate, a hornet came flying out. Smashed it with the newspaper. Then another one came out. Smashed it too.

When I took off the grate, a bunch of dead hornets fell out. Not sure if they were just lost brothers or lunch. It was a messy job cleaning all this up. I hope I got all of them. Never had any such problem with the old fan. Maybe the lid covering the vent to the outside is defective?

Couch Pickup

Yesterday I got a message that our new couch had arrived at the store. I asked Little Kat today to help me pick it up. He said he was busy with multiple items for school. So I had to go pick the couch up myself. Luckily my brother had left his truck at home. I did some prep work like moving out all the furniture and vacuuming the living room.

I arrived at the store. The sales guy told me to pull the truck up to the front door. I backed the truck right up to the sliding doors in front of the store. Some guy came by and said I could not park on the curb. So I parked really close. The wheeled the couch out and put it in the back of the truck. It was a snug fit between the wheel wells. I still tied the couch down.

On the way home, I stopped by Taco Bell for lunch. Little Kat was not there when I got home. When he did come home, I asked if he had time to help move the couches. He did. We moved the old love seat outside onto the front lawn. I backed my brother's truck up to our front door. Little Kat could not get a grip on the back of the couch (it was wrapped with a lot of protective padding). So we dragged the thing into the house.

It was a big affair unwrapping the couch. There was a plastic outer covering over the whole thing. Then there was some other protective material underneath. The edges and bottom were covered with cardboard. And for some reason, there was some wood attached to the bottom of the couch with screws.

Let's see what the family thinks of the new couch. If it is good, then it is time to take the old love seat to the dump.

Couch Shopping

The love seat that Momoko sits on in our living room has seen better days. We talked with the family. Our plan is to replace the love seat and recliner chair with a couch. Momoko, Kit Kat, and I went shopping for the new couch this weekend.

Momoko had located a store in our city. We did a drive by on our breakfast run and confirmed it was there. Kit Kat joined us when we later returned to go inside. There was a family sitting on some of the furniture. It did not look like they were purchasing anything. Nobody talked to us. All the limited couches were bunched together so you could not sit on them. We left pronto.

I received a circular from another furniture store in our city. The prices seemed really good. It was in the South section of town, in a strip mall we hardly ever visit. I was disturbed that there were no cars parked in front of the store. But it was open. A sign said that the store was open to the public. LOL wut.

When we entered, I figured we were at the right place. There were tons of couches and loveseats in a warehouse sized showroom. They were all easy to get to and sit on. The biggest surprise was that the prices were really low.

Momoko and Kit Kat narrowed the selection down. They settled on a couch that was displayed in a red (Salsa) color. Luckily we could order it in one of nine colors. We decided on black. I placed the order. It will arrive at the store in 14 business days. Let's hope this place was not too good to be true.

Refinancing

I am half way through paying off my home mortgage loan. Back when I bought the house, mortgage interest rates were around double what they are today. For a long time, I did not sweat this. I wrote off the interest paid on my taxes. Recent Trump laws are capping what I can write off on my taxes. It is time to refinance this high interest loan.

So I called up 3 lenders when I had the time. They all varied in closing cost fees and interest rates. I thought I would just go with the lowest cost option. I called up my sales dude a few times. He never answered his phone. Not a good sign. Eventually I almost forgot about refinancing.

Then my lender sent me something in the mail, encouraging me to refinance to save money. I called up my lender and decided to bite the bullet. Interest rates had fallen a little since the last time I looked. It was weird that everything could be handled electronically, even the signing of documents. The only in-person activity would be closing. I chose a title company that would send somebody out to my house to do the closing here.

Civic Duty

Got called to serve jury duty. Packed my bag the night before. Printed directions to the court too. The GPS suggested a lot of other routes. There was an accident on the highway close to my exit. So I was delayed a bit. Still got there so early, had to wait outside the building until the guard let us in.

Waited again inside to enter the jury room. Some woman named Bug spoke to us during orientation. She liked talking too much. Got selected for a case on the blue team. Somebody took my seat when I was to the bathroom. Finished reading my Anne Rice book as I waited to be called.

The pink team was dismissed first due to a plea. The judge decided my case would be heard tomorrow. Luckily that would be by a different jury. I ran out of the building. There was a bus to some distant location in front of the court. Waited for a bus to the parking lot. A kid gave up his seat to a woman who flew into the seat during a quick bus turn.

Drove home and stopped by to get some Chinese takeout. I am safe for another 3 years for jury duty.

Bathroom Exhaust Fan Troubles

The exhaust fan in our bathroom was starting to make a lot of noise. I called my handyman. Asked if I should just buy a new fan. He told me to hold off. Instead he tried cleaning the motor. No help. Then he looked to order a replacement motor. I thought he got one, but I was going out of town on vacation.

When I returned home, I found that my handyman had some trouble obtaining a motor. My handyman had taken the motor out of the fan to try to get a suitable match. So we were without a bathroom fan for about a month. That gets real problematic when I bleach the shower to clean it.

Eventually I told my handyman that I just wanted him to install a new fan. Momoko and I got the most powerful fan with the least amount of noise we could find at Lowes. Today our handyman installed the fan. It is smaller than the old one. So he is still patching up the ceiling.

Third Party Sellers on Amazon

Need some new paper towels. Searched on Amazon. The cheapest was from a third party seller. He only had one review. But since he was the cheapest, I gave him a try. The shipment came. They were the wrong type of paper towels.

Amazon did not let me get a refund or return on this order through their web site. So I called Amazon. They contacted the seller, who said he would work on a replacement ASAP. When I inquired when exactly that would be, they said one week.

I am now not too confident in this seller. Luckily Amazon has a A-to-Z guarantee. I might be making use of that guarantee to get a refund if I get the run around from this seller.

Back From the Con

Momoko and I attended an anime convention this weekend. I took Friday afternoon off so we could drive up. We stayed at a hotel that was close to the convention hotel. We caught a panel on Voltron. All the paladins were played by girls. They had a lot of insider meme jokes. We bolted two thirds through the sessions.


We slept in a bed that had a slope down towards the ground where our heads rested. Breakfast was a cook to order meal from the hotel. One elevator was out of service the whole weekend. We left out car parked in the hotel parking lot the whole weekend due to overcrowding.


I went to a panel on Sheera by myself. It was a whopping one and a half hours long. Catra had organized the thing. Glimmer was a star. Sheera was played by a friend of Catra and did not offer much. They answered every question I could think of asking.


We finished up the panels with one on Saiki K. I thought we were doomed because there were two lines to get into the small room. The real doom was the presenter. She could not offer any compelling reason to watch her presentation. Almost everyone left early. We persevered to the end.


After leaving the hotel and conference, we drove a ways to the vendor exhibit at the old Hobby Lobby. I found a super deal of two prints for $5. I purchased a total of 4 prints from Jonathan Miller. Momoko loaded up on buttons. We drove my McDonald's for sweet tea, large fries, and McChicken before driving home.

Anime Convention

Momoko and I are out visiting her dad. It just so happens that an anime convention is being held a few hours away. We were excited that we might be able to attend. Unfortunately the hotel hosting the convention has long since sold out of rooms. We checked back to see if anyone cancelled their reservations. No luck.


Today I just happened to notice that a part of the convention is happening in a nearby hotel. And they had a few vacancies. The price is a little higher. And we would have to walk over to the main hotel. However Momoko and I decided we would do it.


We went outside in the oppressive heat today to practice what it would feel like to walk the distance between the hotels. It was hot. But it was doable. We are now booked for a room with a king size bed. I am getting off early from work on Friday so that we can get on the road for the trip.

Little Kat the Chauffeur

I drove the family up to Kit Kat's old theater to see a Miyazaki film. It was an old one. The theater was showing it for one day only as a special presentation. Some lady on our row was chatty with us prior to the movie starting. Then some other lady in the front row kept talking aloud until she was shushed.


Little Kat drove us home. I was hungry for a snack, hoping to swing by McDonald's. Little Kat took us to Burger King instead. I got a double hamburger for $1.79 off their value menu. The next day, Little Kat drove Momoko and I to the airport. We got there in plenty of time to check in. Some lady was holding up the fast security screening line with all her belongings taken out of her luggage. Momoko was also delayed because the screener wanted to know about the inhaler she packed.


Once through security, I wanted to eat breakfast at Chick-fil-A. Momoko thought the line was too long. So we went to Arby's instead. The guy in front of me was short a French fry. So I checked out order diligently to find we too were short a fry. We refilled our drinks and headed to the departure gate. There Momoko and I played head-to-head Scrabble.


I barely made it in the A-section of boarding. The flight was not full. We made the trip to Momoko's dad's house in record time. The stewardess asked if I wanted a second drink. Of course I needed an extra coke. Took a long time for me to receive it. The passengers had to shut all the windows on the plane to keep it cool in the hot summer weather.

Concert Ticket Prices

I watched a video of the band Live playing life in the 1990s. They rocked hard. Recalled that I saw them perform as an opening act for Blink-182. Great music. Speaking of Blink, they are coming back to a venue close to my house. The seats I had the last time I saw them run $180+ now. Oops. That is just too high.

The real problem is that there is only one original member of Blink-182 left in the band. And I think he is washed up. Things fell apart when his partner left the band to pursue other non-music related endeavors. Old school fans are poking fun at the band, because they are touring with Lil Wayne now.

Are there any old school bands worth seeing any more? It might not be hard core, but I would love to see the Backstreet Boys. Believe it or not, they are on tour now. They are coming to a city near me next month. They have a huge venue here lined up. But tickets for the highest nosebleed seats, furthest away from the stage, also run $180+.

Access to Boxing Matches

Today I found out that my brother subscribes to ESPN+. It is a streaming service for assorted sports events. He uses it to purchase MMA pay per view fights. Apparently they also cover heavyweight boxing. Today, lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury defended his title.

At first I got confused. I thought the boxing match was a pay per view on ESPN+. I had no interest in that. The pay per view fights sometimes run around $50. My brother found out that the fight was included in his subscription.

So we set up our family room firestick as an authorized device for my brother's ESPN+ subscription. Then we watched the fight. There were a lot of pre-fight shenanigans. Fury is a Brit. But he came out in an Apollo Creed USA outfit.

Fury's challenger was some no-name guy from Germany. Fury jabbed him for the whole first round. Fury did not even sit down on his stool after the round. In round two, Fury went on the offensive and the fight was stopped. Fury won via TKO.

Last time Fury fought local favorite Deonte Wilder, it was a draw. I am ready for the rematch.

In Search of Looper

Momoko has been watching K-dramas religiously. She just binge watches them. Sometimes I join her for a few episodes. I want to watch other genres with her. So I proposed we also watch some movies. We started with "See You Yesterday". It was a time travel flick. That got me interested in other time travel movies. Watched the movie Primer again by myself. We talked about watching Looper. I bought a digital version from Amazon by mistake. Luckily I cancelled the order and got my money back.

We spent a lot of time searching for a good movie tonight. Scoured through the B-movies available on Amazon Prime. There were a few that were okay. I think we found a gem in Morning Glory, a movie about an executive producer for a morning show (think a low budget Today Show). Figured that there has to be a better way to find good movies quicker. Netflix has B-movies online like Amazon Prime Video.

I did recall the great days of Netflix DVDs in the mail. So do you know what I did? I signed up for a Netflix DVD collection by mail again. The biggest plan seemed to be 2 DVDs out at a time. Can't wait for my first movies to arrive. I hope this plan gives us enough movies to watch. Otherwise I will have to inquire about any other special plans, or maybe even purchase a second plan.

Wooden Platform

I work out in the yard and generate a lot of yard clippings. Also collect a ton of leaves in the fall. I bundle all this stuff up into tall 30 gallon paper bags. The county comes to pick them up once a week. While I am waiting on the county, I keep the bags behind my house.

Initially I put together a makeshift platform to store the bags on top of. This was placed under the overhang from the house, just outside our sliding glass door. It was a bit tough as the hill slopes down there. So I piled up some 4x4 wood to level a piece of plywood. This was only 2 feet deep. So not a lot of room for anything.

My makeshift platform was in place for a surprisingly long time. This past weekend I decided to put in the permanent replacement. I got a couple of cinder blocks to level out the slop on the hill. Then I nailed together two halves of a platform I saved from my dad's house. This used to be the platform that Christmas decorations would be displayed on top of. It is repurposed now.

Finals Week

It is time for final exams for Little Kat at school. This is the semester where he has a lot of oversight from Momoko. He has to. Last semester he has to sit out of school because he was suspended due to poor grades. Time to make up for past failures.

Film class has been giving Little Kat the most trouble. People he knew allegedly said film was an easy class. They must have had a different instructor. Momoko was on top of things, forcing Little Kat to start his final project for film early. It still required an assist from Kit Kat to get her friend to star in Little Kat's final project story.

Today Little Kat took his final exam in film. He is treading water, trying to maintain a B average. He is barely hanging in there. Last week he was at an overall grade of C. The final project helped some. But a lot of points rides on this exam. Little Kat came down to us multiple times during the exam complaining about difficult questions. Not a good sign.

Robinhood Stock Trading

I had made a ton of stock option trades with my traditional broker. The problem is that they charge a commission per contract. Sometimes I want to buy a boatload of contracts. This has cost me as high as $300 in fees. And that is just on the buy. You got to sell and pay again as well.

So I am wondering about this company called Robinhood. They claim to offer stock trades with no commission costs. Sounds too good to be true. Of course they have to make money somehow. I am thinking they might not give me the best trade execution price.

My broker always tries to get my the best price when I buy or sell. That saves me money, especially when a lot of shares are at stake. So I just got to make sure I put in the right limit prices with Robinhood. Then in theory, I should be able to spend less money in transaction costs. That should result in bigger gains.

The only drawback is to get the free trades, you got to accept electronic confirmations of your trades. I like getting paper confirmations in the mail. It is not that Robinhood won't provide you with those. You just got to pay. That defeats the whole purpose of trading for free.

Webtoons

I read an article about Korean webtoons taking over the manga world. This is surprising as Japan has be the dominant player in manga. The webtoons are online versions of manga. They are always in color. And they are read vertically so as to make reading on a mobile phone or tablet much easier.

So I checked out a popular webtoon called True Beauty. The main character is a girl who things she is ugly. This leads to her not being popular at school. She learns to use makeup to maximize her look. All of a sudden, she gets friends and starts to gain attention with the boys.

I read through 39 episodes of True Beauty. The graphics were good. Story and character development were on point. Only problem is now I have to wait for new episodes that are only released once a week on Wednesdays.

Celebrating Kit Kat's Birthday

Kit Kat wanted to go to an all you can eat buffet for her birthday. On her actual birthday, she went to a concert. So we went this weekend instead. There was some question about who was going to drive there. Needed 2 cars because the whole family went. Little Kat said if he had to drive, he would not go. What a punk. Me and my bro ended up driving.

We tried to each pay our own way (with Momoko covering Kit Kat's bill). Got a round table so we could all see each other. Initially I could not find the pot stickers. I did discover a big container of white rice. The Chinese food seemed cold. However the sesame balls were awesome. I thought the egg rolls were pretty good for a buffet.

A bus pulled up and dropped off a mob for the buffet. I hurried up and got my last plate. The fried shrimp here was just okay. Tried some buffalo wings. Also just okay. They did have Chinese donuts covered in sugar. Lots of delicious sautéed mushrooms too. We really don't go here that much due to the high price.

Back Home

Momoko and I returned home from our spring break trip. My brother picked us up at the airport. We took a secret exit from the gate to get to luggage pickup. My brother parked in a weird section of the garage. We had to walk a long way to get there. Back at home, a lot of the weeds had grown due to the rain.

I cut the grass with the lawn mower. Used up all the gas. Since it was only weeds rampantly growing, it all fit into one lawn clippings bag. By dusk, the county had not come to pick up my bag. As I was putting away my tools, some car was honking his horn from the street. I presumed he had a package to deliver. I motioned for him to get the heck out of his car and deliver the package. Slacker thought I would come to him. Do your job already.

The top piece of plywood on my outdoor work bench had rotted through. I had a good sized piece of plywood from my dad's house that I planned to use to repair the bench. After I pulled off the top piece of thin plywood, I found the sheet underneath it was rotted as well. I had to spray all the ants. Then I removed the middle beam in the bench. Cut the new piece of plywood as good as I could (the bench is crooked). Moved the bench out a bit. Added a backsplash to prevent wood from falling behind the bench.

Next outdoor project is to build up a platform outside the sliding glass doors to hold all the trash cans and yard clippings bags during the week. I have two sets of platforms from my dad's that I plan to use for this. Just need to level out the ground on the hill.

On the Road Again

Kit Kat and I dropped off Momoko's car at the collision center. Some fool crashed into the back of Momoko's new car and smashed the bumper. Kit Kat and Little Kat took a road trip in my new Chevy Spark to see their dad. The Apple car play app in my car allowed them to use their phones to display navigation on the big car screen.


Momoko and I flew out to see her dad. The plane was 100% full. Luckily a little kid sat between Momoko and I. Momoko was able to drive the car I bought to leave at her dad's house. Sometimes I took the wheel when Momoko was tired. I could not locate the registration slip anywhere. So we visited the tag agency and purchased another copy so we could drive legitimately.


We were going to see a Japanese anime at the theater. But severe storms were anticipated. We tried another day, but Momoko's neice was too tired from work. We visited Arby's a couple times to eat. The second time I got two roast beef gyros for $6, complete with fixings and cucumber sauce on the side.

Erecting a Birdhouse

I had previously bought a bird feeder pole to mount the birdhouse I gave Momoko. It seemed too difficult. So today I borrowed my brother's truck and went to Lowe's. Momoko accompanied me. The parking lot there was very full. Momoko thought we should turn around and go home. I charged on.

There were no flat bed carts available. Instead I got a lumber cart. First I picked up some drainage gravel. Then I got some quick dry cement. They had no Quick-Crete. Had to settle for Sak-Crete. Finally I picked up a 10 foot treated 4x4 piece of lumber.

I dug a deep hole on our hill. Filled the bottom with draining rock. I mounted the birdhouse on a ledge. Then I nailed the ledge to the 4x4. Stood the 4x4 up in the hole. Poured in water one-third of the way down. Then dumped in concrete.

We can now view the birdhouse from our bay window. I hope some birds come to live there. Before throwing it out, I read the directions for the birdhouse. It said not to create a ledge. Oops. Other birds like ledges. But bluebirds don't need them.

Easy Returns

I had bought some slippers from Amazon. One of the selling points was free returns. The slippers hurt my feet. So today I decided to return them. Amazon had many options for doing the return. I decided to drop my slippers off at the UPS Store.

Here is the new deal. You print out a code from Amazon. Bring your merchandise to the UPS Store. No need to put it in a box or even have an address label. UPS does all the work. They provide the box and label. You just hand over the stuff.

With this new found freedom, I felt confident to order again. This time I am trying a sandal. No way my toes should hurt in an open toed sandal. Good luck to me. I chose the most expensive sandal from the best Amazon offered.

Comfy Slippers

The last pair of slippers I wore were very comfortable. Had them for what seems like forever. Since they fit so well and felt so good, I was apprehensive of ever getting rid of them. Eventually they wore out and fell apart.

I had been purchasing other slippers when good deals came up. I have a couple pairs of new slippers. Tried them all on. None of them were as comfy as the old ones. However there was a pair that did have the advantage of having some gel soles. So while the overall fit is not as good, when I walk on them, it feels nice.

Luckily I seem to have bought two pairs of these gel soled slippers. So I think I am going to be set for a really long time in terms of slippers.

Red Hot Chevy Spark

Little Kat and I sat in a lot of cars while we waited for the car place to give us an estimate on our current cars. In the end, he liked the Nissan Versa sedan. I liked the Jeep Renegade. Then I got down to business using an online car aggregator to research deals.

Must have called up 7 car dealerships. I am starting to get good at finding out what the actual costs are. Some dealerships have weak salesmen. They tell me I have to come in so I can see what kind of deals they will offer. I just tell them I already see the deal online, and want to find out if I qualify for that deal.

The first 6 dealerships told me I did not qualify for all the deals. That resulted in upwards of a couple thousand more in price than the one they listed online. Apparently it is a game that a lot of dealers play. It just means I have to do a lot more work to find out who is actually selling a car for a great deal.

Today I found a dealer with a low price that actually would sell me a Chevy Spark for the advertised price. They were upfront that their freight charges were high ($1200 versus the standard $875 listed on the invoice). That was actually fine by me as their discounted price was so low.

Momoko and I drove to the dealership. I took a short test drive. Then I bought the car. I signed all the documents on a big desktop that had a computer screen on it. Momoko drove the new car off the lot. I drove my old Fiat 500 to the car shop to sell it. Now I have a new car with a color called Red Hot. No lie.

End of the Monte Carlo

My Chevy Monte Carlo has been out of commission for over a month. The could would not start. I thought it was because the trunk kept popping open turning on the interior lights. Little Kat thought he could jump the car given sufficient time (30 minutes or so).

I scheduled to take the car to sell it Friday morning. Little Kat tried to jump the car. No luck. We ate some McDonald's breakfast. Then I called the car company. They said they would buy the car even if it did not start. I called a tow truck.

The tow guy came an hour later. He pulled the car up onto a flat bed pickup truck. Then he peeled a wheel out of here as I tried desperately to keep up. Had the car place give me an estimate on the Monte Carlo as well as my Fiat 500.

I ended up selling the Monte Carlo. Then Little Kat and I went to lunch. I had to take a work call on the road. We ate at an Italian joint. I finally got to work late in the afternoon. One car down. Not I need to find my next car so I can offload the Fiat 500 as well.

Stories of a Barber Shop

I was scheduled to attend a morning meeting at our customer's site. The parking there is terrible. So I got up early and was the first one out of the house. Traffic was not bad. I headed directly to the cafeteria upon arrival. The worker just filled up a new cheesy scrambled egg container at the buffer. Helped myself.

The meeting was held in a large auditorium. The ice breaker was to get into a group of about 15 people. Everybody shared some short idea. The next person needed to build off the idea. By the end, we would have a collective story to tell. This is our STORY:

Went to get a hair cut. The barber took off too much hair. Still gave the guy a tip. To console myself from the bad hair cut, I went to get lunch. At a bunch of pasta. Paid the server with a gift card for the tip. Stood in line at a another barber shop, only to find that it was closed. Cut my own hair. Injured myself in the process, causing a scar. Recalled that I got a scar on my leg when I was 3 years old can fell down.

Bird House Pole

So I got Momoko a bird house. Now I need to mount it. Found a kit that has a base you put in the ground, and a pole that connects to it. I want to install this thing on the hill directly behind our house. I worry that other animals like squirrels will jump onto the bird house and harass the bird. So I need to get rid of any nearby branches.

Started by chopping down some vines and small bushes where I want the birdhouse. That was only a start. It filled up a few trash cans worth of sticks and vines. Next I raked up all the leaves on the hill. They were not previously raked because it is hard to get to. Then I figured I would get a ladder in there to chop of big branches that hang over the area I want to mount the bird house at.

I had to clear a way to bring in the ladder. Chopped some more small bushes down. Then I brought the long ladder by the tree. Oops. I could not stand the ladder upright. The branches prevented it. Therefore I went and got a smaller ladder. Climbed up and chopped down a big branch. Let it dangle and went to the ground to pull it down.

The branch was connected to some healthy vines. I pulled on those until another branch fell down. I had a huge piled of branches and vines. That filled another couple trash cans. Luckily the county will come and haul away these branches and vines next week for free. There is still a whole lot more chopping to do.

Registering a Car out of State

When I got my new car, I received 30 day temporary tags. Unfortunately I left the state the next day. The car remained parked in Momoko's dad's carport. Was not sure how I was going to register the car. Worst case, I would have to fly back to do the paperwork in person.

Luckily I called up the Department of Motor Vehicles there. They said I could have a relative register the car for me. I just had to get the original title from the dealership. Could even pay by credit card. But that would invoke a number of surcharges. Fine by me.

The jokers at the dealership misspelled my name on the title. They caught it, but did not generate a new title for me. Instead they just provided an addendum (an affidavit) indicating the correct spelling of my name.

Today I gathered all original documents from the dealership, added proof of insurance, and sent it all to Momoko's dad via US postal mail. I hope he gets it soon and takes care of the car registration for me. Hopefully all future DMV work will be done by me in person while on vacation out there.

Tree Blocks Street Access

Yesterday the weather service called for high winds at night. At lunch today, I drove off to get some Roy Rogers for lunch. Did not make it far. The cul de sac was blocked by a tree that had become uprooted this morning. A sign on the tree stated that the county had been alerted.

Momoko and my brother needed to park on the other side of the tree and walk down the street to our house. The yard clippings truck could not make it down to our house, leaving 3 trash cans full of sticks that I am stuck with. Surprisingly the mailman walked down our street to deliver the mail.

My brother and I ventured out when he got home to buy the family some pizza and subs for dinner. Little Kat normally cooks on Mondays. However he went to class. So it was a fend for yourself night. I hope the county comes soon to cut this tree. Tomorrow is trash and recycle pickup at the curb.

If the county comes later in the week and cuts a path through the tree, I might need to borrow my brother's truck and make a run to the dump. We cannot hold all this trash for 2 weeks. Yikes.

The Passing of Karl Lagerfeld

Karl Lagerfeld died yesterday. He was reportedly 85 years old. I only knew of his signature look. Always wore very high collars. Usually had a fat tie. Always had his sunglasses on. People say he also wore fingerless gloves a lot.

Lagerfeld was of German descent, but moved to France to be near fashion. He won a contest early on by designing a coat. Yves Saint Laurent won a prize in that contest as well for a dress design. Lagerfeld eventually became the creative director of Chanel in 1983, a position he held until his death.

Karl reminded me of my prior interest in high fashion. So I went to the store and picked up a bunch of magazines. I thought W magazine would be the best. It seems a lot thinner these days. I was surprised that Marie Claire had the best pictures and articles. Both Elle and Vogue were thick magazines, but I found them lacking. Nevertheless I subscribed to them all.

Vacation Car Purchase

I had decided I wanted to buy a new car instead of renting one every time we visited Momoko's dad. Had some bad run ins with the local Kia dealership. Then my mind turned to the Hyundai Elantra. I fit pretty well in the back of it. I called up the dealership. Turns out they have a ton of rebates I do not qualify for. No need going there to pay full MSRP on the thing.

Was running out of cars that had a large back seat. Then I thought I might just find a little car that only has good front seat room. I decided to go with the Chevy Spark. Kit Kat and I had tested a manual transmission Spark a couple years ago. I liked it except for the price and the back seat.

This time around, I found a dealer close to Momoko's dad's house. I called them up. They said the only rebate I did not qualify for was the local buyer's one of $500. Their discount was so deep I decided to go check it out anyway.

They had a black 2019 Chevy Spark on sale for just under $11k. I had to pay an extra $500 because I was out of state. The thing was Spartan - no power locks/windows/mirrors. But it did have a backup camera. The acceleration was decent for a small car.

The real deciding factor was the attitude of the salesman and his manager. They were low key. No high pressure sales. It took 30 minutes for me to decide to buy the thing. This dealership did not have the ability to do an electronic transfer of funds to pay for the vehicle. And I had left my checkbook back home for my brother to pay my bills. Therefore I financed the thing.

I decided beforehand that a 3% APR was good, and that I would not settle for more than 5% APR. When the sales manager came out with some sample monthly payments that I had to sign for, I did the math and found them to correspond to almost 9% APR. No way. I had excellent credit.

The sales manager said he only wanted to know how long I wanted to finance the car for. I chose 48 months because that is the period I have always used to purchase cars. When I got to the finance guy, he told me he could get me a national bank to fund me under 5%. Perfect. That sealed the deal.

I did have some problems trying to obtain insurance for the car. That is a long story, definitely for another post.

Rental Versus Owning

I have become tired renting cars when Momoko and I visit her dad's house. This became especially tiring once the last company charged me for damage to the vehicle. I am pretty sure the damage did not happen during my rental. I just did not check the car before renting it.

So I thought I might buy a lightly used car instead. Had my eye on a 2016 Nissan Versa Note. It only had 2k miles on it. Price was a reasonable $12k. It was a repo. Unfortunately it was being sold 2.5 hours away.

Then I thought I might buy a fun car. Saw a 2007 Mercedes Benz S550. It had 100k miles on it. But it was going for $11k. I read an article that said, "For the love of God, do not buy a 2007 Mercedes S550". I heeded the warning.

Next I decided I might buy a cheap car. I fit well in the Kia Rio, even in the back seat. Found one for sale just under $13k. I called the dealership to make sure there were not tricks with the price. They said there were not. Once I went to the dealership and was test driving the car, the saleswoman started mentioned all the good things the dealership does to customize the car.

When we got back to the show room, I wanted to confirm the bottom line for the car was as expected. Nope. Turns out the customizations were an extra $1800 they tried to sneak in there. Nope. I told them I might come back and make an offer on the car. The engine was weak. The mirror manual adjusters were broke down. And the dealership seemed like a bunch of crooks. Skipped.

Cashing in the Jewelry

Momoko and her sister went through her mom's jewelry. There was allegedly one piece that got appraised for $4,000. They needed to find a way to sell the jewelry. Momoko called around. We ended up going to the jewelry store the family has been going to for ages.


The store was far away. We drove there with a bag full of the best jewelry. I said that if they offered $10k, they should sell it immediately without even a second opinion. A lady helped us. She looked through all the jewelry. Most she immediately set aside as worthless.


The jeweler used her eyepiece to get a good look at a couple pieces. Turns out the top item was only worth $250. Another was worth $200, and another maybe $100 to $150. The smaller items were maybe worth $50. In total, the lot was about $500 to $600. This was based on the scrap value of the gold.


They recommended we try to sell the items on Facebook Marketplace. They thought we could get lucky and maybe get upwards of 50% of retail value. However we might have to let buyers bargain us down to 33%. They emphasized that we should conduct the sale at the police station. Yikes.


I did like the Seiko wall clocks they had for sale there. There ran a few hundred dollars each. But they looked really cool.

The Demise of Grannie Kat

Momoko's mother has been in the hospital for a year. She was on a ventilator to breathe. They tried to wean her off, but she could not do without it. In fact, she sometimes had trouble breathing even with the ventilator. This resulted in her feeling like she could not breathe. The doctors declared that they could not cure her. She decided to have them administer her some drugs, and take her off the ventilator. She died hours later.


We had planned to visit her again during spring break. She said she wanted us to come much earlier. So we planed a trip for this month after science fair at work. Grannie Kat did not live that long. We decided to go forward with the trip to visit Momoko's father. I got one day off work for travel. We left for the airport at 5am.


The airline steward said there would be some bumps on the plane ascent. I learned that was code word for rough turbulence ahead. After a treacherous 5 to 10 minute ride, the weather and flight calmed down. I tried a new rental car company this time. Inspected the car thoroughly and found prior damage that I made sure to report. I am now pondering buying myself a new car to leave at Momoko's dad's so I don't have to spend all this money renting cars.

Super Bowl 53

Momoko, Kit Kat, and I went to get some Hibachi to go for lunch today. Little Kat was too poor from buying Korean food all weekend. Kit Kat tried the bento box. Momoko and I opted for the Hibachi. Normally we just eat snacks for the Super Bowl. However Little Kat decided he was cooking us spaghetti for dinner.

During the game, Kit Kat baked some pepperoni and sausage pizza rolls. She also baked some jalapeno poppers. There were some small salami slices, as well as an assortment of cheese slices. We did not even get into the different salsa and chip varieties we bought. Probably due to the full dinner.

This was a boring football game until the forth quarter. Not much scoring by either the Rams or Patriots. Half time show was decent due to many popular Maroon 5 songs. Little Kat was unhappy that there was not more Sponge Bob songs.

Commercials were drab this year. None really stood. out.

Buying Heavy Duty Gloves

I have been clearing the leaves from the property. Put another 25 bags of leaves on the curb yesterday. The county came and picked them up this morning. I use cheap heavy duty gloves to pick up the leaves. Sometimes they are wet and/or cold. The heavy gloves really help.

My current heavy pair of gloves has holes in them. That's okay. They are cheap gloves that cost around two bucks each. I figured I would go to the store and buy some more. There was a bunch of medium sized gloves available. They were too small. They were also pricey at $4 per pair.

I found two pairs of large gloves just sitting on top of the glove rack. No sticker or pricing on them. I decided to take them both. The cashier could not find a barcode. He searched through the system and said it looked like they were $12 per pair. Oh hell no. These are the cheapest gloves they had.

I told the cashier that the medium sized ones were $4 each. Even that was double the normal price. But I figured they were worth at least $4 per pair to me. But not a whopping $12 per pair. For that I could have got some more fancy gloves easily. The guy went to the display and confirmed that these style gloves are currently $4. So that's what I paid.

Since I got two pair, I should be good in the yard through spring/summer.

Leaves Frozen to the Ground

I have long since collected all the leaves in the yard. But that is just the fenced-in portion of our property. Then I go rake the leaves on the hill in our back yard. It is a somewhat steep incline down to the creek at the end of our property. I save this chore for last. Can't just run the lawn mower over these leaves. The hill is just too steep.

I had made a dent in this task. Then I went out after the snow had melted. Turns out it was so cold that the leaves stuck to the ground. I wrestled some free with the rake. It was tough work. The high temperature for the day was 20 degrees. My ears were cold even though I wore a hood. My legs were frozen through my pants too.

The next day was a bit better. Some leaves still stuck. But I could rake them up a bit easier. Then on the third day all was well. I actually got a bit hot with my lumberman plaid jacket on. Unfortunately I only had a little time at lunch due to all my meeting at work. I think this third collection will have to do for the week. Tomorrow it is scheduled to rain.

I am also planning to go meet my buddy for lunch tomorrow. That usually takes a couple hours total. No time left over to rake leaves. I was happy this past week where the yard collections team came and hauled away 25+ bags from the curb. I also had a couple trash cans filled with tree branches that they took. This is our tax dollars hard at work.

Secure Login

I have to log into some payroll system to see my pay stub from work. I print it out each pay period. Like to have a hard copy of it. Some time ago, the company set up some security. I had to use this little device that had a changing number on it. It served as my password to log into the payroll system.

Well, my device expired last year. I got some emails about that. Was supposed to sign up for a new type of password generator. I went through the motions. Said I wanted to access the site from my Windows computer. Apparently Windows was not supported.

I asked for a new device. Never got one. So I was stuck. I called my company. They told me I had to download an app for my phone. Well I don't want to access the site from my phone. I want to access it from my computer. Apparently a new app serves the purpose of the old device.

Tried to download the app. My iPhone has too old of an iOS to run the app. Tried to upgrade the iPhone one generation forward in iOS. Did not work. Tried to jump two generations forward. Did not work either. I need this access. So I had to download the latest iOS.

Now I can generate the password to get into payroll. But there are all these weird changes in the iPhone that bug me. Maybe I should have asked my company to provide a work iPhone for this purpose.

True Vacation

Momoko and I went to visit her mom and dad for Christmas and New Years. We decided to make this trip a true vacation. We had to catch up on a lot of movies. Here is what we saw in the theater:

• Aquaman
• Fantastic Beasts the Crimes of Grindenwald
• Spiderman Into the Spiderverse
• Bumble Bee
• Mortal Engines

We also watched a bunch of movies at home:

• The Happy Time Murders
• Sorry to Bother You
• White Boy Rick
• Replicas

I caught a few films on Netflix too:

• Samson
• David and Goliath

Momoko's dad added another Amazon Echo to the house. Trouble getting it to recognize devices and understand commands all the time. And that is before the power went out and it got hosed.