That Blozzz

I posted a few days ago about the storm we had last week and how it did damage to the house. Now I am in the process of dealing with contractors and the insurance company. As if the storm was not bad enough, now I am having a hard time getting the insurance company to handle things.

They sent an adjuster last week and he wrote an estimate for the damage and now I am waiting for any payment so I can get the work done. I already spent $2100 out of pocket to pay for what needed to be done right away. I have to have the roof repaired and got two estimates and both are over $1000 higher than the adjuster estimated. I emailed both the insurance company and the adjuster. The insurance company wrote back that I need to contact the adjuster directly. The problem is that he does not reply to email and he does not return voice messages.

Anybody have any advice in this matter?

This is a bad time of the year for watching Television. Of course this year has been a terrible season with writer strikes and early series shut downs. Many of my favorite shows have been canceled for good. Gone are Moonlight, Las Vegas, and Kane. These were three of my favorite shows and the networks have decided to give them the boot. Every year the season get shorter even when they can’t blame the strike.

My wife and I have decided to join NetFlix the DVD rental service that sends you a new DVD every time you return the old one. Once I use it for two weeks, I will be updating my readers on the service by writing a review. We signed up Friday and so far we have watched two great movies instantly on the Internet. It is a great alternative to watching TV.

How do you feel about the television season and the networks who control the programs? Any of your programs canceled?

One of the things that many people do for enjoyment is dining out. For some it is convenient and others it is just a night out. However, people often times choice a eating establishment because of fancy commercials or because it is promoted as the newest coolest place to eat.

That is not the case for me. I am always looking for the best meal for the best price. I would prefer the local dive to the best chain restaurant  in the world. We have two local diners in our area where you get full for a fraction of the price of any of the fancy places. Recently when my sister and brother in law visited we all wanted to go out to eat. It was decided by vote and I lost so we headed to TGI Fridays. Five us ate a dinner and desert and it came to over $100. My brother in law, my wife, and I all left still hungry. The portions were small and the food was not that impressive.  The service was ok but we felt rushed by the waitress and did not really enjoy the whole experience.

The following night, my wife and I decided where to eat and we all headed to one of the local diners we like to eat. For the same five people, the meal came to $42 with tip and we all left with bellies full and belts loosened. Some of us even had doggy bags to take home. Besides the cheaper price, the food was better tasting and all homemade with huge portions. We was not rushed and we interacted with both the waitress and the rest of the people eating there.

Not only is this a great lesson in economics, we also support the local mom and pop who strive so hard to survive in this world of big chains. Next time you want a good meal, think about my story and find a local diner or dive to sit down relax and have a wonderful meal for a fraction of those big name places.

The play Wicked is coming playing in Rochester, NY and my wife and I really wanted to go. My mother in law bought us a gift certificate at the website Exclusive Tickets.com for $150. My wife ordered our tickets about 10 months ago from this site and they cost her $270 with fees. We just got our tickets for June 7th on the mail and they are the worse seats in the balcony and the ticket price on the ticket was $40.50 each.

This site charged over three times the value for what was suppose to be the best seating. They offer no refunds and if the show is canceled, they will refund face value even though they charged three times as much. My wife failed to read the fine print and it is partly her fault for not checking better. However, this company is ripping people off legally.

I highly recommend that people avoid these kinds of sites and only buy your tickets from reputable sites like Ticket Masters. The worse thing is, I found center front stage tickets on eBay for $120. Of course, my wife already bought these tickets so we are stuck with them.

This is just a warning that you should avoid companies like Exclusive Tickets.com and be careful when buying anything like this off the Internet. Research is key!

Anybody else been ripped off by this company?

The other night I was in the bathroom of the house and I heard what sounded like heavy rain. I said to my wife that it was raining hard. A couple of hours later, I heard it again and I looked outside and no rain. I ventured down into our old basement and found the rain. My water pressure tank had a split in the seam and it was shooting a huge stream of water as the pump was clicking on and off. We ended up without water for about a day.

We are lucky to have an uncle who is a retired plumber so at least the labor was free. However, it still ended up costing around two hundred dollars in parts. My back has not healed yet so the other cost was massive pain.

Well it is fixed now and it could have been worse. Some days it sucks being a home owner, it always seems like something is going wrong. I feel like Tom Hanks in the movie “Money Pit.”

Just wanted to vent a little. Feel free to share your home owners blues by leaving a comment or two.

My wife and I dine out a lot. We just get so busy that we do not always have time to cook. We try to eat cheap and so we spend a lot of time at our local diner. We eat there a lot and I am getting disgusted with the service. It seems to be a trend in the food service industry.

I can not stand having to wait forever to be waited on and then the waitress/waiter never comes back. I do not think I am over demanding and I always tip well. Is it too much to ask to have my drink refilled and to have my food done properly? I do not expect miracles but I do think good customer service and making sure your customer is satisfied goes hand in hand with running a diner or restaurant.

I  always tend to comment that this would be a great place to open a diner. I would love to think maybe it is just the area I live in. However, I have lived in three different states and I have visited many more and it seems to be a national trend to give bad service.

I feel bad not tipping but I am getting so annoyed that I might just quit tipping when I am not satisfied 100%.

Anybody else feel this way?