Friday, February 29, 2008
Kate drew this awesome picture for me.
Does she think I'm a fat alcoholic? :)
Does she think I'm a fat alcoholic? :)
Monday, February 18, 2008
Jim Cramer is totally right (see post below). The Olive Garden rules. I just got back from dinner with my mom, my second time eating at Olive Garden (both times in Torrance). The food, service, drinks are all great, and it's cheap!
We walked in and right off the bat they always offer you a free sample of wine. Can't complain about free alcohol. Then we got unlimited salad and breadsticks. I had 3 bowls of salad, no joke. My entree was a chicken pasta that had 2 chicken breaks, my mom got chicken marsala that was 3 full chicken breasts! And they were both very, very good.
After all the salad and breadsticks we took nearly our entire entrees to go. Our server was super friendly and really took care of us. $15 per entree for all this is a steal.
I had always clumped Olive Garden in with restaurants like TGI Fridays, Coco's, Marie Calendars, Applebees, etc. But it really is a huge step up.
I don't know if I'd actually go to the Olive Garden in New York, but i'll consider it.
We walked in and right off the bat they always offer you a free sample of wine. Can't complain about free alcohol. Then we got unlimited salad and breadsticks. I had 3 bowls of salad, no joke. My entree was a chicken pasta that had 2 chicken breaks, my mom got chicken marsala that was 3 full chicken breasts! And they were both very, very good.
After all the salad and breadsticks we took nearly our entire entrees to go. Our server was super friendly and really took care of us. $15 per entree for all this is a steal.
I had always clumped Olive Garden in with restaurants like TGI Fridays, Coco's, Marie Calendars, Applebees, etc. But it really is a huge step up.
I don't know if I'd actually go to the Olive Garden in New York, but i'll consider it.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
I love watching Mad Money with Jim Cramer. The guy is so hyper and worked up all the time. I wonder if that's how I seem when I get all passionate about something.
His entire segment on Conan was great, but I especially loved when he talked about going to the Olive Garden for the unlimited breadsticks and salad.
"Every time I go to the Olive Garden, they take a beating. I hurt their earnings per share."
I love it.
His entire segment on Conan was great, but I especially loved when he talked about going to the Olive Garden for the unlimited breadsticks and salad.
"Every time I go to the Olive Garden, they take a beating. I hurt their earnings per share."
I love it.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
I have mentioned this before. STOP USING DEBIT CARDS. The past couple weeks I've been eating out for restaurant week and I see which credit cards people are using. At Nougatine on Monday two people were using debit cards so I went off on my little rant.
DEBIT CARDS ARE SCARY. Debit cards (ATM cards with Visa/MC logos on them) can be used like credit cards, except they pull money from your checking account. So if you drop your debit card, someone can pick it up and use it. And when they charge a bunch of stuff to your account, YOUR RENT CHECK BOUNCES. So scary.
Why you shouldn't use debit cards:
1. Cash is instantly pulled from your accounts.
a. this means if you lose your card, someone can really mess with your finances
b. you aren't making interest on the money like you would with a credit card that gives you a month+ to pay
2. Disputing charges. You get a credit card statement each month where you can look over your charges and make sure things are ok before paying. If there's a bad charge, call the credit card and they will pull it INSTANTLY. Then you can deal with the paperwork or questioning to see what happened.
With a debit card, you have instantly lost that money from your account. They say you are protected BUT YOU ARE NOT. YOU MAY NOT GET YOUR MONEY BACK. I can quote sources here, but just google debit card fraudulent charges. Even if you want to believe your bank will help you, why take that risk? Why not see a statement before you pay?
A good credit card like Amex or Citibank will always side with you when it comes to a credit card dispute.
3. Credit cards offer protection on items you buy. This has always included protection against you being scammed by a merchant. But now it includes protection against accidental loss, theft, or damage to items. Some cards double warranties on items. I would never buy anything valuable on anything but my amex card. I broke my iPhone, and I got a new one for free with a single phone call.
4. With credit cards you get points. Use them for miles, cash back, gift cards, whatever. Anytime you use a card with a visa/mc/amex logo, that card company gets 2-3% from the merchant. Companies like Amex are giving you part of this back through their reward programs (and the other protection they offer). Using your debit card means your bank is getting this extra money and giving you nothing in return (and even less protection).
STOP USING DEBIT CARDS. Get a couple free credit cards and use them. Be safe. You can call your bank and get ATM cards that are not debit cards. They only work with pin numbers. That's what I have from BofA. I have never had a debit card and I never ever will.
DEBIT CARDS ARE SCARY. Debit cards (ATM cards with Visa/MC logos on them) can be used like credit cards, except they pull money from your checking account. So if you drop your debit card, someone can pick it up and use it. And when they charge a bunch of stuff to your account, YOUR RENT CHECK BOUNCES. So scary.
Why you shouldn't use debit cards:
1. Cash is instantly pulled from your accounts.
a. this means if you lose your card, someone can really mess with your finances
b. you aren't making interest on the money like you would with a credit card that gives you a month+ to pay
2. Disputing charges. You get a credit card statement each month where you can look over your charges and make sure things are ok before paying. If there's a bad charge, call the credit card and they will pull it INSTANTLY. Then you can deal with the paperwork or questioning to see what happened.
With a debit card, you have instantly lost that money from your account. They say you are protected BUT YOU ARE NOT. YOU MAY NOT GET YOUR MONEY BACK. I can quote sources here, but just google debit card fraudulent charges. Even if you want to believe your bank will help you, why take that risk? Why not see a statement before you pay?
A good credit card like Amex or Citibank will always side with you when it comes to a credit card dispute.
3. Credit cards offer protection on items you buy. This has always included protection against you being scammed by a merchant. But now it includes protection against accidental loss, theft, or damage to items. Some cards double warranties on items. I would never buy anything valuable on anything but my amex card. I broke my iPhone, and I got a new one for free with a single phone call.
4. With credit cards you get points. Use them for miles, cash back, gift cards, whatever. Anytime you use a card with a visa/mc/amex logo, that card company gets 2-3% from the merchant. Companies like Amex are giving you part of this back through their reward programs (and the other protection they offer). Using your debit card means your bank is getting this extra money and giving you nothing in return (and even less protection).
STOP USING DEBIT CARDS. Get a couple free credit cards and use them. Be safe. You can call your bank and get ATM cards that are not debit cards. They only work with pin numbers. That's what I have from BofA. I have never had a debit card and I never ever will.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
I've been going to the offices of Nick Infantino for my dental work for the past 5 years. Even after moving to New York, I still scheduled my dental cleanings during my visits to Apple. My last cleaning was in October, 2007 and was pretty normal (no cavities, yay)
In November I received a letter saying they were no longer accepting my dental insurance. No problem, I'll find another dentist, maybe in New York. In December, I received a bill for $120 for my October visit. They had billed my insurance $300 for the cleaning, but for some reason my part was $120.
Of course there was no way I would just pay this bill. If they had stopped taking my insurance in October, they should have told me when i stepped in the door. They should not have rendered services (including a new set of XRays!) if they knew they were dropping (or already had dropped) my insurance.
So I called them and complained. The receptionist said she would relay my thoughts to the dentist. I threw away the bill. What garbage.
This week I received an updated bill for $20. I, of course, called to complain some more. While I appreciated the $100 savings, at the end of the day I was being charged for something I had received for free for 5 years, and I was not told of this in advance. The receptionist was very difficult to understand. It wasn't her english, she was just incapable of explaining how they had arrived at the $120 and then $20 bill.
I called Metlife Dental who was able to explain to me the bills to me. Initially the dentist had billed his full price to the insurance, $300. But the insurance would only authorize up to $200 for the services. And since the dentist was now out of network, they would pay 90% of the $200. Leaving me with a $120 bill.
The $20 bill came from the dentist reducing his $300 charge to a more reasonable $200 charge (what the insurance thinks they should be billing) and so I was just left with 10% of that. Metlife also said, not officially, that it was ridiculous the dentist had not told me my checkup would not be covered.
I called the dentist one last time. The receptionist still didn't understand my point about being charged anything at all. It's the principal now, I don't care about $20. She was complaining about all the paperwork she had to do because of this.
I had one last point, the strongest in my mind. I am fairly certain that if my mom had received this $120 bill back in December, she would have just paid it. How many people check their bills like I do? Check credit card statements? Balance their checkbooks? Call billers and question charges? Not many.
People like my mom would have blindly sent the dentist the payment they had requested. Unbelievable. And if there was an adjustment to their bill (like mine was adjusted) do you think they were sending back refund checks? I doubt it. I wanted to ask the receptionist this, but again, she didn't really understand my point.
Argh.
In November I received a letter saying they were no longer accepting my dental insurance. No problem, I'll find another dentist, maybe in New York. In December, I received a bill for $120 for my October visit. They had billed my insurance $300 for the cleaning, but for some reason my part was $120.
Of course there was no way I would just pay this bill. If they had stopped taking my insurance in October, they should have told me when i stepped in the door. They should not have rendered services (including a new set of XRays!) if they knew they were dropping (or already had dropped) my insurance.
So I called them and complained. The receptionist said she would relay my thoughts to the dentist. I threw away the bill. What garbage.
This week I received an updated bill for $20. I, of course, called to complain some more. While I appreciated the $100 savings, at the end of the day I was being charged for something I had received for free for 5 years, and I was not told of this in advance. The receptionist was very difficult to understand. It wasn't her english, she was just incapable of explaining how they had arrived at the $120 and then $20 bill.
I called Metlife Dental who was able to explain to me the bills to me. Initially the dentist had billed his full price to the insurance, $300. But the insurance would only authorize up to $200 for the services. And since the dentist was now out of network, they would pay 90% of the $200. Leaving me with a $120 bill.
The $20 bill came from the dentist reducing his $300 charge to a more reasonable $200 charge (what the insurance thinks they should be billing) and so I was just left with 10% of that. Metlife also said, not officially, that it was ridiculous the dentist had not told me my checkup would not be covered.
I called the dentist one last time. The receptionist still didn't understand my point about being charged anything at all. It's the principal now, I don't care about $20. She was complaining about all the paperwork she had to do because of this.
I had one last point, the strongest in my mind. I am fairly certain that if my mom had received this $120 bill back in December, she would have just paid it. How many people check their bills like I do? Check credit card statements? Balance their checkbooks? Call billers and question charges? Not many.
People like my mom would have blindly sent the dentist the payment they had requested. Unbelievable. And if there was an adjustment to their bill (like mine was adjusted) do you think they were sending back refund checks? I doubt it. I wanted to ask the receptionist this, but again, she didn't really understand my point.
Argh.