81 degrees this morning. I intend to enjoy the hot weather as it is supposed to cool down this week.
The digital Commerical Appeal “replica paper” wins hands down as the best “replica” paper. I don’t know which program they use, but their replica paper is so much easier to use than any other replica paper I have tried to use. The others are all basically impossible to use.
This didn’t use to be a problem, but now that where I live the newspaper delivery is either non-existent or arrives so late as to be useless, the replica papers are much more important and I continue to struggle with the digital newspapers. I actually prefer the digital USA Today to the printed one, the Wall Street Journal is good on the iPad, the New York Times has an excellent “alternative” format, although it misses some of the news I like. So far, I haven’t found a good digital format for the newspaper where I live, although really haven’t tried on the iPad that much.
Spending the weekend meeting with friends, it has been wonderful and it is just starting! Unfortunately, (or maybe fortunately) it will end on Monday with a dental appointment as I start the last stage of my “dental implants’. I still will need to make an appointment with a dentist for the last phase, which is basically two crowns as “permanent teeth”. By the time I finish, it will have been a year long process, but well worth the effort as opposed to redoing the bridge which was getting longer and longer.
The dental bridge dates back to when I got out of the Air Force. I had one year to get “free” dental care and the dentist I saw pulled my tooth and poured in the gold on the bridge. It did last at least 25 years, but I expect today they would do a root canal rather than pull the tooth. It would have saved a lot of problems and expense over the years. That was one of the (if not the) most expensive “free” things I have ever received! (Other than “free” advice.)
Actually, while I have received plenty of “free” advice, both with good and bad consequences, I have found some of the “advice” I paid for has frequently been “bad” advice in the long run (or short runI) to the point that I depend more on my own thinking and “free advice” than I do advice from “professionals”. Obviously not always the case, but I have become very suspicious of “professional” paid advice. Of course, you never actually know until you either reject or take the advice, but I have learned to do my own research and depend on my gut feeling, or perhaps I should say a “reasoned, decision making procedure”.
Our car is reaching that point where the original warranty is expiring, and since we plan on keeping it for a while the question of “to or not to” purchase an extended warranty is upon us. (We quit buying one when we bought the car, it seemed rather redundant.) Our car has been very reliable and it is likely it will make it to 100,000 and beyond without any problems, you just never know, which is why they make so much money with extended warranties! We would only buy it only from AAA or a reputable business, not the scammers that send you the “official” looking documents about extended warranties.
Speaking of scammers, the gasoline stations where we live have a real scam (in my opinion). They advertise the “!0% ethanol” for (say) $3.19, but when you get to the pump, all they have is “all” gasoline (with no ethanol) for $3.69 on up to premium (which unfortunately we need) for $4.09 etc. A real scam. 7-11 stores thus far have been the only station we found who doesn’t have this scam, so we buy all our gas from 7-11 in the town we live in and I boycott all the others who practice this scam. Oddly enough, no other stations in any city, including Memphis, seems to practice this scam. 7-11 is also probably the only convenient store chain which does not sell lottery tickets.
Premium gas at 7-11 can be as much as 50 to 70 cents cheaper per galloon than the scams.
When we are traveling, we have found Love’s County Stores and the Fiesta Convenience Stores (only a couple of these, at exit 278 & I-40 and exit 221 & I-40 in Kansas and the “Doublebees” at exit 175 & i-40 in Arkansas are the best for buying gas at decent prices. Oddly enough, both of these also have a McDonalds, which may be why they are honest. We even found one where it appears they set the pumps so they will overflow with a large sign saying “customers are responsible for overflows”. Guess what, it overflows every time.
I have developed a lot more respect for McDonalds since we moved. The little McDonalds where I went for the free internet, great coffee, music and parfaits was wonderful, and I have found the McDonalds are usually more than willing to “make fresh coffee” if I request fresh coffee. McDonalds has the best fresh coffee, next to Starbucks and the only cup I can drink out of while driving without spilling it on my shirt! Wonderful!
That’s it for today, Sunday, July 24, 2014.
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