Appearances

Do appearances count? Events of this past week lead me to think they really do.


Last Saturday, I visited the car dealership to look at cars. I was dressed simply with jeans, a jacket and shoes. The dealer concentrated on the mid-priced cars, just dismissed the basic car with few accessories. I just thought he was being a salesman and pushing the more expensive car.


Today, I visited another dealer. Because I planned on walking on a nearby track, I was dressed very casually with sneakers, and a knit exercise outfit. This salesman showed me the basic car which he seemed to be pushing. I received very little information on the mid-priced car, I even had to ask for his card.


He took my phone number, but so far I've received no follow-up in contrast with Saturday's dealer who called me Saturday evening to follow up and again give me his phone number and suggested a way I could buy a car before I hear from my insurance company. He called me again today, but that's another story for another time.

I guess the salesman today felt that I couldn't afford more than the basic car because of my more casual appearance, while on Saturday I did look more put together, more like I meant business. On Saturday, the salesman did seem more willing to deal, while today, there was no mention of special deals or discounts.

I guess the moral of this story is to always look your best and most put together when getting ready to make a deal.

Clouds

Today, as I passed the front door, I looked out the window and saw the sky. It's been a dreary, rainy day, but still I was surprised to see the clouds. I had never seen such a formation. It looked so ominous, I really expected a big storm.

We did get some rain a little while after I took these pictures, but it lasted only a few minutes. From the looks of the clouds and the columns of clouds, I really expected a downpour and thunder or worse.

I'm glad of course that it wasn't worse, maybe we'll have some sun tomorrow.

Cars

It's now been two weeks since my car was stolen. It's time to stop looking back and start planning for the future. I doubt I'll ever see that old car again, so, even though I have two weeks before it's considered lost, I went out to look at new cars today.


I've definitely decided that I'm going to get a Subaru again. That was a great car, I had 88,000 miles and other than normal routine maintenance, I've only had to replace the catalytic converter, the battery and muffler were original. My one regret is that, I filled the tank the day before.


I took a test drive in a 2009 Forester today. It was very comfortable and easy to handle. It has some nice features and it's available in a variety of colors. It has a moon roof which is nice, but I'm worried that that means one more way to get in.


When I got home I realized that the salesman and I never talked numbers, I have no idea how much this will cost. I have some other questions about it so I'm making a list for the next dealer.

I also hope to check out some other Subaru models. The dealer is anxious to sell cars by the end of the month, so I may be able to get a great deal if the insurance company declares the old car gone for good later this month.

Medications

Today I heard on the news that last year 51% of American children and adults were on some kind of prescription medicine. That's not at all surprising since sometimes it seems that every other commercial touts the benefits of popping one pill or another. Then they warn us that the kids are using their parents' prescriptions to get high.

Among seniors, 28% of women and 22% of men take five or more medicines regularly. The most common are for high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I had an 88 year old friend who lined up her various pills for the day. There must have been five or six bottles. She had pills for her heart, blood pressure, cholesterol, pain, vitamins, etc. which she took twice a day.

I once went to a doctor who on finding out that my total cholesterol was high, quickly said that a pill could take care of that. He didn't care that my good cholesterol was very high, nor did he suggest a change of diet, just pop a pill. Maybe that attitude is the reason so many people are on prescription medicines.

There is an upside to this though. Some prescriptions are for chronic diseases that used to be fatal such as aids, some cancers, hemophilia and sickle cell disease.

I guess there really are two sides to every story.

Wine Hints

Today I did a little channel surfing. While wandering around I found a program called, "Enjoying Wine" on WYBE, a PBS station in Philadelphia. It's fundraising time at this station, so the programming is a little different, and sometimes a little better than their usual fare. In this case, it was.

Mark Phillips, the host, was discussing wine. Unfortunately, I tuned in halfway through and missed a lot of it. His studio audience was seen sipping wine during the lecture. One of his points was that you should not feel awkward about returning a bottle of wine at a restaurant. If it's not as you expected, or bad, just return it. The restaurant won't lose any money, they can sell it by the glass at the bar, or if it's bad, return it to the company.

He had some other suggestions that I found very surprising. If you are serving white wine, take it out of the refrigerator 20 minutes before serving, if your choice is red wine, put it in the refrigerator 20 minutes before serving. If you happen to have a bottle of cheap white wine, transfer it to a carafe and serve fresh from the refrigerator. The cold temperature will mask the flavor of the wine.

He can't understand why anyone would have leftover wine, but suggested that if you do, transfer it to a smaller bottle such as a 16 oz. water bottle and seal it tight. Air is the enemy of wine. He also said that wine can be frozen. Fill a container 3/4 full and put it in the freezer. Light and heat age wines between 8 and15 times faster, so keep it out of the kitchen and in a dark place if you don't have a wine refrigerator.

The one thing that really surprised me is the suggestion that if your red wine is too cold, put about 5-6 oz. into a glass and microwave for 10 seconds. My guess is that you should not put it in your good crystal for this.

Million Dollar Challenge

Today was the first day of CNBC's Million Dollar Challenge. There's a new format, you can now have up to five portfolios starting at $1,000,000.00 each. I'm going with the maximum - five portfolios. Also, instead of selecting a certain number of shares, you select a percentage of your portfolio.

With all these changes, I had a little trouble making trades and got off to a late start. In fact, I couldn't make any trades until after the close of the market. I did get one of the trivia questions right for a little additional money. This should be a fun two months.

I just love spending money, even if it's not real.

Mystery Solved

The other night I woke up around 1:30 AM and heard a beeping sound. I couldn't figure out the source, so I turned on the TV so I wouldn't hear it and went back to sleep.

Last night around the same time I woke up and heard it again. My first thought was that that cricket had come back, but then I realized it sounded more like a truck backing up. I checked the phone, everything was OK there. I checked all around the room and found that it was louder near the door. I opened the door and sure enough it was louder. I went into the kitchen, checked the stove and then the phone. Everything was OK. Then I bent over the clock radio and discovered the source of the noise.

Somehow, the alarm had been set. Wonder which cat did that. I turned off the alarm and went back to bed and thankfully was able to get back to sleep.