Health Insurance Sucks - Benazir Bhutto was assassinated

Pakistan opposition leader, ex prime minister, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. Bhutto was a women who was prime minister. But the country is Islamic and there is no hope in today's world for freedom in an Islamic environment. But nobody cares.

I just did an evaluation of Cigna Health Insurance for 2007. We paid over $15,000 for 2007 for a family of 3.
If we had just paid what the doctors charge, our costs would have been $12,000. The negotiated rates our costs would be $4000. So the doctors are out $8000 and it goes to the insurance company. That pisses me off. If we just split the difference between the doctors and patients we would save thousands of dollars.
The problem is nobody cares. It's sort of like school taxes. It's cheaper to send all children in the Nyack district to private schools instead of the mediocre public schools that spend $23,000/per child with a 44% of students not reading/math levels at grade level in 6th and 8th grade. It's probably higher in high school but they move all those who won't pass into another school program so they don't count.We just pay. Nobody cares.

Foreign Transaction Fees on Credit Cards

I just found out that credit cards charge a foreign transaction fees in addition to the conversion rate on purchases. Visa charges 1%. The banks add on to that. Most companies are 3%. Discover and Capital One does not have this charge.

December 25

Cutie is getting cuter. We discovered a new toy Playmobile and I want a Wii. I've wanted it since I saw it at my brother's house around thankgiving. I played it at my sister-in-laws house today. Gotta love a new video game that's cool.

Club Penguin, Webkinz and Facebook

I've been avoiding Facebook and Linkin for a while now. I finally succumbed to Facebook. I wanted to see what all the hubbab was about. I can see possible applications for PTA, soccer and other secretarial duties one has with children. I can see the appeal with students. Facebook has legs.

Now Disney has an online game, Club Penguin for children. Cutie Face is 3yo and is navigating and playing the games. She can't acumulate friends and communicated with them yet because well - she's only 3. The online game is free the start, but if you want more functionality and the ability to buy things for your penguin, you have to pay about $5/month. I would sign up except I have know idea how long this game will keep her interest with the ability to email and collect friends.

Now Webkinz is a better model for the consumer. You buy a stuffed animal (or more) and it has a code that you enter into the website and you now can play games, collect points and buy things for your Webkinz(s). A Webkinz must be feed, clothes and entertained. The longevity is 1 year from sign-up. If she doesn't play - at least you have the stuffed animal.

It's only a matter of time before we sign up for club penguin. But the price must drop to $1/month.

The Problem with the Internet

So I'm looking for a book that I read a review about a month ago or so. It's by a popular writer (can't remember the name) and it's about India (I'm going through an India phase right now). I end of focusing on Physics lectures from MIT. This is the problem with the Internet I'm interested in almost everything. :)

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Dolly and Rod and a Free $25 Gift Card for my Mail Delivery Person.
I'm in the Dentist today getting a scaling when Baby,It's Cold Outside starts playing on the radio. The Hygienist says isn't it odd that Rod Steward and Dolly Partner teamed up for this Duet. Since I can't talk I get to think about that for a while.

Finally I had a moment to share. As true artists get older they like to try and do new things - to stretch their range of experiences. It helps them grow as people. Both of them can sing. They probably met one another at a party and said wouldn't it be fun to sing a song together. Because both are famous and are blessed with iconic status they can pretty much do what they want. And as long as it's good, it will be successful. They are now cross pollinating their brands and telling the world that we are comfortable with who they are. They achieved a sort of wisdom and are having fun with it. The funny thing is I never really liked either singer. But today I recognize them for the true artists that they are.

Commerce Bank opened up in New City today. I stopped by and opened an account for $250 and get a free $25 gift card. Since I didn't have time to finish the process, I told them to complete the application for me and I'd be back later to sign what needed signing.

I came back with Cutie Face. She had loads of fun at the bank. There was a "C" (their logo) mascot. She didn't understand why he couldn't open his mouth. But figured out it was a person inside. She also got candy canes, and "C" bank, change purse, teddy bear, t-shirt, santa hat, bandaids, tissue pack, magnet, and tree ornament. All is crap and still they don't charge fees for things.

Maybe I can team the bank up with Cutie's school.

New Job

So I finally found a Brand Manager job in Nyack listed on the web. Unfortunately it is through a web job site called careerbuilders.com which is not exactly a brand that I trust. There's also the added component of going through a placement company where you get to talk to people who are clueless.

I'm not sure this job is for real - we'll see.

On Eating

There's no enjoyment for me to stop what I'm doing and eat breakfast, lunch or dinner. I'm a snack all day while doing things kind of person. Eating for me is just a BIG waste of time. Plus, I only like to eat when I'm hungry - not when the clock says 6pm. I prefer foods at 3pm and 10pm in front of the TV or computer.

This causes some contention with hubby. He's a stop whatever you are doing at noon to eat at the table kind of person.

So now we have Cutie. She also thinks eating is sort of a waste of time and only likes to eat when she's hungry. Her favorite words when called to the table are "I'm not hungry" or grabs the food from the table and brings it to the computer. Hubby makes her sit at the table to eat. It's painful to watch her cry as she sits at the table. She won't stop crying and won't eat unless you give her something else to do. Usually talking about a picture book or playing a game will help.

When growing up, I remember hating to eat at the dinner table. Mom used to threaten us with no food. I opted out many times. I couldn't wait to leave home so I could eat what I wanted, when I wanted. I have the same problem when working. I don't usually like eating with colleagues.

LOVE THE INTERNET

On Thanksgiving weekend we went to Paulo's father's house in WDC. I had the opportunity to read the Washington Post. There was this little article about an Indian writer who has written chick lit for the single Indian girl. Since I still love Sex and the City (can't wait for the movie this summer); have a fascination with India since I did a report on India in 7th grade with Hope Kirk; and finally visited India in 1992; I thought I'd get the book. "Almost Single" by Advaita Kala.
http://www.advaitakala.com/ak/

I forgot about the book for a few weeks. I needed to pick up a few books for our visit to the Carribean. First stop Amazon. Almost Single hasn't been released in the US and when it does get released it will be with a different title re-marital Syndrome but I'd like to read it in the original. I found the book on an India website for less than $5/book and $5 shipping. It will be here in 15 days or so. I bought 5 to give as gifts.

You can find the book here
http://www.oxfordbookstore.com

If you are a friend who is actually reading this - let me know and I'll give you a copy. : )

I Hate Holidays

I'm not a fan of Holidays - any holiday, birthday, or special occasion annoys the crapola out of me. This year it's the worst ever. Cutie face is three and we have to light candles every night, wrap and open presents, and we have so many parties to go to. I actually say no to most of the gatherings and only do the ones I should go to.

I don't like getting presents (or writing thank yous). I don't like giving presents (wrapping paper destroys the environment.) I don't like cooking or eating at a table with people. I'm happiest doing things that I want to do when I want to do them. The amazing thing is that some of the things I want to do actually does make people happy. Yes, this is childish and it has served me well.

One of the reasons I never really wanted to get married or have children was because of my dislike of celebrations. Paulo also is not a fan of the gift-giving. Although he does like the whole family thing.

As for seeing cutie's face light up when she got Singing Princess Barbie, it is priceless. I would have given it to her last month when she said she wanted it.
We have a point system and ended up using her points to buy "King Barbie" with the little boy. So now she has a whole family.

As for taking off from work during the holidays - I always preferred to work when nobody was around and take vacation when everyone was working.

I'm the Chanukabuster.

New Car, House and Website

Our lease is up on the Nissan Murano. I didn't like driving that car. It was hard to drive and had limited visibility. We just bought a Jeep. (We're planning to install solar panels as a trade.) They honored my old company discount. The Jeep is better than we thought. That's good business. Why a Jeep - Well, our new house is on the top of a mountain and a Jeep will help us get there.

Cutie's website is a hit. Just set it as your home page when your child is on the computer and they are busy for 2 hours - only asking you to see their work.



Cutie is doing well. She officially sleeps in our bed. We don't even fight it anymore. When we move into the new house we'll get her a "pretty bed" and then she said she'll sleep in her room. That of course, won't solve the "I'm lonely", but it's a start.

Kill the Farm Bill

$288 billion for crops for processed food are in the top 2% of the country is welfare for the rich and keeping everyone else unhealthy. It's time to end this practice. We can keep the food stamp and school lunch portion of the bill. But with bills in congress you can't pick and choose. So kill it and start again.

Prediction

In cutie face's lifetime we will see the growth of Islamic extremist and the demise of the Western Culture. They will do it from inside out and outside in. The rich will buy western companies, telling those who have little that the reason they are poor is because of the west and Israel. They will blaming the west on the reason th
KHARTOUM, Sudan - A British teacher in Sudan was convicted Thursday of the less-serious charge of insulting Islam for letting her pupils name a teddy bear "Muhammad," and was sentenced to 15 days in prison and deportation to Britain, one of her lawyers said.

Kohls

Today I went to Kohl's for the first time. It sort of reminded me of the old Alexanders. I can see the appeal. It was pretty crowded for a 10am on a Wednesday. Unfortunately, I didn't like the way the sweaters looked on me. There were made for people who had rounded shoulders and I'm more square. And they didn't have pants in size 4. Most of the clothes seemed to be in size 12. But it was clean and pleasant experience. There were six cashiers and a line of about 10 people. The cashier I had was very nice.

I really should be talking about the high taxes in Rockland County NY or the fact that someone is actually proposing that we spend money on more little league fields. I was supposed to go to a town meeting this week and forgot. Next month.

Our New House

Thanksgiving came early. We have a signed contract on the house we are going to buy and our current house. It was touch and go for a while because it went the sealed bid route. Our house sold for asking price which was more than we paid a little over a year ago. We even had 2 bids at asking price. I guess the decline in housing prices hasn't hit here yet. Or, perhaps it's the unique properties that will always attract attention.

Anyway, I love the way our new house looks. I didn't know houses like this existed. It has almost 4 acres and sits on top of a mountain. It's surrounded by 25 acres of open space with 2 bedrooms/2 baths but can be made into 3 beds/3 baths. The design is modern - think dwell house. At some point we hope to install solar panels. The bad part is that the house needs a lot of work. I guess the work part was a big turnoff for most people. The funny thing is that we will be doing some of the same work that we did on our beach house.

Brin a Turkey

A few days before Thanksgiving my brother through a 40th birthday party for his wife. He asked me what we were doing for Thanksgiving and I said I'm going to try to brin a turkey and bring it to Paulo's family in DC. Not missing a beat he said - "You saw how to do that on the food channel. I wanted to try that".

There's something about siblings that put you on the same wavelength even if you spend little time together. I'm very happy with my family. We love each other so much we don't have to talk to one another four times a day - Once every few months is fine.

Cutie had a great time on Thanksgiving. Her new found joy is legos. Paulo's sister had an old box of legos from 20 years ago. She played to legos before, but not with trees and flower legos. I hope they still make them.

The next time we will get together is on Chanuka. It's only a few weeks away.

Turkey Brine
Big Garbage pail cleaned very well.
Empty fridge that the pail fits into.
2 cups kosher salt
1 cup sugar
juniper berries (T)
pepper corns (T)
whole allspice (T)
Bay Leaves (3)
Place all ingredience together and put in fridge for 12 hours. Remove, clean and cooks as usual.

Sweet Caroline

It's not only me who admires Caroline, but also Neil Diamond. He wrote Sweet Caroline after seeing her photo as a child.

What's With 3yo still Peeing and Pooping in Diapers

This is amazing to me. Cutie Face just turned 3 and is writing letters and beginning to read. It's the age the Talmud tells us to begin teaching these skills to children.

I've been taking her to the toliet since she was about 10 months. Everyone thought I was crazy but would be amazed when at 18mo she would go. At 2yo she was 50% trained at 2-1/2 95%. 2-3/4 100% and could go without help.

But I figured the whole thing out. Parents dress their little ones in clothes that are difficult to take off. The child never has a chance to go it alone. I realized this early and got rid of all the cute hand-me-down clothes like STUPID OVERALLS (EVIL) and bought her Circo yoga pants from Target. It's funny. All early-trained children wear the Circo yoga pants.

The message here is that if your child is still peeing in their pants at 3 - Yes - it's your fault. Screw what the doctors say - They just want to make you feel better. There are many parents out there who just don't get it.

I Just Don't Get It

Several years ago was my first encounter with Facebook. I didn't get it then. Why would I want people to know what I'm doing? OK I blog. But it's not really to let other people know, it's to remind me of my thoughts. Maybe it's the Age Factor. Blogging is like making lists. You do that as you get more busy in life.

I will go and try Facebook again. I need to know if it's worth investing in when it goes public. I loved email when I first used it on Prodigy. When we got the internet in the office, I was hooked. But my personality is not a social one. I have no need for virtual friends. I love dabbling in many computer programs - Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, etc. I can do yahoo shopping and miva merchant. I can learn pretty much any new program.

I just don't understand why someone wants Facebooks. I will try it and report back.

Nannies And Moms

Wow. At the library last week I saw a young boy wanting to sit at a computer and his mother saying how much she hated computers to every one around her. Computer games require listening skills. The computer tells you what you need to do next. Many parents have no patience to listen to gaming instructions. I think this usually hits moms around 35. Personally, I don't like kid computer games either, however, Cutie does and I feign interest.

About a Nanny. There's a nanny in town who really doesn't like her care. Her English verbal communication skills are limited. It's OK for an infant. But for a 2yo who asks questions and talking - it's painful to watch. There's another nanny who watches a little girl and is great. She obviously respects the little girl and vversa

School Taxes

I'm obsessed with the cost of school taxes. They seem outragously high. There are approx. 3000 students in the Nyack school district. It costs $22K with 18K coming from property taxes, to educate each student. The average cost to educate a student in New York State is 18K with 9K coming from property taxes. Something seems unfair. if you don't believe me - see for yourself.
What's wrong with this picture and why is it so expensive to educate a child. You could pay 1 person $100,000 to educate 5 students. Hell, I'll do it for $100,000 for 6 hours a day. It supposed to be cheaper when working with quantities. Our school system must be flawed.

Rockland Bakery

Since I moved to the burbs, I'm not getting the kind of exercise I used to just by walking around the city. The car is amazing. Just zip here and there and do all your errands in a jiffy. Leave house at 9:15, Drop Cutie at school (9:30), meet friend for coffee (10), go to dentist (10:45) leave dentist (12n), Go to Rockland Bakery for bread right out of the oven (12:10), returns at Target (12:30), Bathroom (12:32), Shoprite (12:37), Leave Shoprite with 6 bags of groceries (1:15) pick cutie up from school (1:30).

In the city, you can't schedule all this stuff in that amount of time even in a 1 mile radius.

Someone told me about the Rockland Bakery when we moved here. I couldn't find it on the GPS. The GPS was asking too many questions. On my way to meet my friend I passed it. The Rockland Bakery is pretty amazing. You just go in the back and pick out your bread. It's HOT right out of the oven. It's pretty amazing. Now i know how people get fat. I always thought it was because they weren't busy enough (who has time to eat) - Now I know it's cars and ease of life.

Grandmothers, the Library, and Caroline Kennedy

I keep meeting grandmothers watching their grandchildren at the Library. I'm so jealous. They are great with the grandchildren.

Anyway, I dropped Cutie Face at library storytime. It's a great storytime with a fabulous librarian and a crafts project that reinforces the weekly book theme. It's While Cutie was in the special children's storytime room, I was browsing and came across Caroline Kennedy's "Family Book of Poems". It's perfect for holiday gift giving. When I got home I purchased several copies on Ebay. I also picked up her "Profiles in Courage".

I always had a thing for Caroline Kennedy. When I was around ten my parents brought home a lithograph by Margeret Kane (I think.) I never liked the litho even though I was told that Caroline had the original in her room. As I got older I admired the way she appears so balanced. Low key, perfect family life with a career that produces things. There's just something about her. She's the perfect famous.

I Love My Car

I love my car. It's a Subaru. This is surprising because I used to hate cars. To me, cars killed people and I never wanted to drive one. But now that I live in the burbs and I love my Subaru. I still don't like other cars - mainly luxury models. You can't see or feel the road. They make you feel indestructible

I love Target. It's opened late and has stuff you don't need but sort of think you may need in the next few months. So you buy it and store it because you have so much storage space in your less than 1500 square foot house.

I saw this commercial on TV for an Oil of Olay product that diminishes dark spots on your face. I'm all over it. Just bought some OOO products and will report back in the next few weeks. I think the ad ran on Mad Men. If it did it's a perfect media buy. Most "Mad Men" watchers are old ad women in need of looking younger.

Mad Men and Advertising

Just saw "Mad Men" on AMC for the first time. So true to life. It's one of the reasons I went into advertising. The main difference was that I entered in the 80's and there were just as many women in the middle management roles. Men at the top had perceived wisdom.

The other reason advertising appealed to me was because my dad's cosmetic company did some TV commercials. Every time I saw an ad on TV I was proud. Also that year, his annual report design won an award. It was all very exciting. I was ten years old when this all happened. I thought that one day I would run his advertising department.

The cosmetics company didn't survive the early 70's oil crisis. At 16, I knew my dad's cosmetic company, which BTW was named after me, was not going to be around. That was also the time when the senior year assessment counselor told me that I should be an architect or orthodontist and stay out of the field of communications. (I only went to high school for 3 years and graduated at 16.) I remember thinking how dare they tell me I can't do something.

When I graduated college the advertising bug was still with me. Since I didn't go to a top school and didn't know anyone who knew anyone in the business, I found a job as a receptionis. was soon fired because I couldn't pronounce the Japanese client's names. Found another job as a copy typist even thought I could only type 30 words a minute with mistakes. (I went to the same college as one interviewer and majored in Poli Sci as did the other interviewer. I convinced them that I knew how to operate computers and they just got a WANG.) That's a story in itself. Within 2 years I was at another agency as an Account Executive.

Life as I lived in Advertising is very similar to Mad Men. The girls got together to bitch, moan and bond. Both sexes did drinks after work. I remember my famous line "the first martini is hard to get down. The second martini goes down like water. The third martini you go down with anyone."

I don't remember how I managed to get home to Queens. But one late night I was a potential victim of a crime. I managed to escape the perp and left for the Upper West Side of Manhattan shortly thereafter.

Still Waiting

We gave them our highest offer two days ago. It was much higher than asking. We still haven't heard if we will get our new house. My mother always said no news is good news. Of course she was always thinking of her children.

I'm already trying to see the silver lining. But we won't really know what that will be until time has past.

Too Fast and Easy

I thought the whole selling and buying thing was a little easy.

The house situation is starting to get a little tense. We have two offers on our house with no conditions. Since we already said yes to one we are not doing the "highest offer" thing. I find that annoying even though you can get about 1% more for your house. If the first people have any problem after their inspection, we will do the highest offer thing.

The problem is the house we want to buy. They gave us the highest offer thing. So we had to go back and figure out exactly how much this house was worth to us.

Something similar happened to us when we bought one of our beach house a few years ago. Someone come in and offered 20% more than we did on the house. They gave us the option to match. We declined and bought another house.

If we don't get the new house we will stay in this house. The only reason we are looking to buy another house is because we can't agree on what we should do to renovate to this house.

Also since the real estate broker company has both houses they loose if we don't sell and buy the other one.

Change is Good

I love my husband. I never changed the clocks before we were married. I lived with the wrong time 6 months each year. I was either early or late - who cared. Now i have the correct time all year. He changes the clocks without even being asked.

We have an excepted offer on our current house (did we price it too low??) and one on the house we want to buy (are we paying too much??).
THAT WAS EASY!

Happy Halloween and the Holmes Comet

We live in the burbs. However, as the real estate broker said last night when she came over "your house seems like it's in the country". Yes I know. You can't see our little house from the road. And yes, we didn't get any trick or treaters.

You read correctly. We just put our house on the market. It's an almost dream location. Our beach house is an almost dream location. I once wrote a play "Three blocks from Bloomies". It's about getting close to your dream, but never actually finding it. I found my dream house and my location dream house has now changed from the beach to the country. The reality is that an "on the beach" house scares me. This country house sort of scares me. But the smallish house architecture and the property is my dream.

Paulo hasn't seen it. He said he's fine with moving but we have to sell this house first. You see the house we are in is Paulo's dream location.

A few days ago we saw the Holmes Comet through the telescope. That's his new hobby. My dream house is on the top of a mountain. We will be that much closer to the stars.

Good Neighbors Bad Neighbors

Yesterday I went and introduced myself to the neighbors we share a driveway with.
LOVE HER. Last month our mailboxes were knocked down. She wondered who fixed hers. (We did)
Unfortunately there's another set of neighbors who have loud barking dogs who bark from the time they arrive until they leave. (This is their vacation home.)
We should our house to a real estate broker who will come back with a price she thinks she can sell it for. If the price is right, we will give it a few weeks and make an offer on the mountain house. If this doesn't work out, we'll do something with this house. Either way it will be fine.

Rockland Taxes

I'm trying to figure out the political structure in our new land. We live in Rockland County. However, I'm not sure what Rockland County does for us. Most of the stuff comes from Clarkstown, our town. So on Friday, I called the tax assessor, Cathy Conklin who was very patient with me as she explained the process. Her office follows state rules to assess properties. These assessments where done in 1985. Your assessment is always the same and as the taxes go up it is a relative value to the assessment number.

So I'm compiling a spreadsheet with addresses, assessment numbers and tax rates. I'm then getting a percentage by dividing the taxes by the assessment number. Behold - the percentages so far after doing 20 addresses range between 7.3% and 14.4%. I hate to bother Cathy again. But something is wrong.

I have to check with her to find out if the data I'm using from is correct.

Saw a New House

I check the real estate section each week. I found a house I must have. I don't really want to live in it. But it's like a painting you want on your wall. I just want to own it.

Paulo has to see it. He likes the satellite images of the property. We are not going to be too anxious. I'm figuring noboby will want this property. It's too unfriendly.

Life In Burbland

I started "To The Burbs" last year while we were buying our new house. It's time to make the formal change of saying we are burblandites. (yes, bland was intended) If you want to catch up on what happened before, feel free to go back to http://totheburbs.blogspot.com/

It's been 6 months since we moved here. We are now suburb people with zero intention of going back to the city. Life is so much easier here in the suburbs. You just go and do. No planning. No waiting. Just Be.