Stupid, Ridiculous Prices for Stuff

[CHAZ]

Originally Posted by jwing

I'm not one of the cool kids so I don't understand the term "pajama people.' Who are they and why are they called pajama people?

I guess these are the people that tread the mill day -and often- nights in their "Scrubs" (aka pajama to work in). After (medical) work, when they are sweaty and a little dirty they leave their workplace to go shopping and often have an after work drink in their pajama uniforms.

It's looking like they need help too

Man, we are on a bad run, may the winds help us all.

Martin

[smj]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Lets face it, US healthcare is nuts. And I'm getting a small taste of it right now as we travel through this wonderful country. Anywhere else in the world I'd be comfortable self-insuring (paying as we go), but here in the USA a broken arm could bankrupt me. So we bought emergency travel accident insurance.

Your right but don't tell the American capitalists this.


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[Boatguy30]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Lets face it, US healthcare is nuts. And I'm getting a small taste of it right now as we travel through this wonderful country. Anywhere else in the world I'd be comfortable self-insuring (paying as we go), but here in the USA a broken arm could bankrupt me. So we bought emergency travel accident insurance.

Ken will get you a good cash discount. Only $18,000 Canadian plus exchange fees.

[smj]

So Kenomac, your telling us you own and maintain an Oyster 53, you cruise 3-6 months a year in the Med on your Oyster, you pay dockage the other months your not cruising on your Oyster, your "tossing" around the idea of buying a large power cat and you pay over $53,000 per year on insurance and you and your wife are both RN's making approximately $22.00 an hour? I call BS. Plus your complaining about paying a measly $270.00 for a dental procedure? And that pisses you off? Now we need to review your tax statements:-).


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[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Lets face it, US healthcare is nuts. And I'm getting a small taste of it right now as we travel through this wonderful country. Anywhere else in the world I'd be comfortable self-insuring (paying as we go), but here in the USA a broken arm could bankrupt me. So we bought emergency travel accident insurance.

Of course you like the healthcare system anywhere else in the world because the local yokels are subsiding your cheap healthcare costs with their high taxes! I wish somebody would subsidize my healthcare costs too! In the US, it's sort of the opposite where those of us who can afford (supposedly) to pay for healthcare are forced to subsidize those who can't afford to buy their own by paying inflated prices for both insurance and healthcare itself. So, you apparently don't like the idea of having to pay a small fortune for something as simple as a broken arm to subsidize other deserving peoples health care? I sort of thought that would be something you'd think every citizen should embrace.

[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by smj

So Kenomac, your telling us you own and maintain an Oyster 53, you cruise 3-6 months a year in the Med on your Oyster, you pay dockage the other months your not cruising on your Oyster, your "tossing" around the idea of buying a large power cat and you pay over $53,000 per year on insurance and you and your wife are both RN's making approximately $22.00 an hour? I call BS. Plus your complaining about paying a measly $270.00 for a dental procedure? And that pisses you off? Now we need to review your tax statements:-).


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He didn't say what his wife makes per hour, only that she's a nurse. I have no idea what she makes or how long she's been at it but I know nurses who make very close to $100K/year. Apparently he's relatively new to nursing compared to his wife, and he's chosen a less high paying area within nursing because it allows him the freedom to do other things he wants to do. Several times in this thread alone, he's mentioned a commercial building that he owns and leases out. Do you have any idea what commercial space leases for in Massachusetts? So, in no way has he implied that his lifestyle is paid for on $22/hour and if you read his posts more carefully instead of being so eager to be argumentative and "call BS," you already know that.

[smj]

Originally Posted by jtsailjt

He didn't say what his wife makes per hour, only that she's a nurse. I have no idea what she makes or how long she's been at it but I know nurses who make very close to $100K/year. Apparently he's relatively new to nursing compared to his wife, and he's chosen a less high paying area within nursing because it allows him the freedom to do other things he wants to do. Several times in this thread alone, he's mentioned a commercial building that he owns and leases out. Do you have any idea what commercial space leases for in Massachusetts? So, in no way has he implied that his lifestyle is paid for on $22/hour and if you read his posts more carefully instead of being so eager to be argumentative and "call BS," you already know that.

I call BS. To do what he's doing requires I would say a pretty substantial income. Let's see the tax returns:-). By the way, I'm the prince of England, why? Because I told you so on the internet.


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[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by StuM

Merkins or Septics seem to work quite well!

Internet search for " merkins " do you really want to go there?

[weavis]

Originally Posted by smj

I call BS. To do what he's doing requires I would say a pretty substantial income. Let's see the tax returns:-). By the way, I'm the prince of England, why? Because I told you so on the internet.


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NO your not.

Actually, What I know about Ken is that he never stops working. Even on holiday, he is either doing something on the boat or a reasonably price job for someone else. Both Ken and mrs Pammy mac have huge energy and dont waste a second of their lives.

In Mallorca, Ken was moored a long way from my previous restaurant and both him and wife cycled half way across the West side of the Island for lunch. Ken had spent the previous week doing jobs for cruisers.
So while you might not agree with him, I can vouch for a puritan work ethic and what he does makes me tired just thinking about it.

Ken had some financial rain in his life like we all have had, and worked himself back up the ladder to reap the rewards of getting it together again.

There may be validity in criticism over his internet communication skills, but there is nothing I will accept against him for sheer determination and willingness to tackle anything. He earned the Oyster, with his own hands and in adverse conditions.

He built his own life. twice.

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

My friend insisted on stopping at McDonalds for an Egg McMuffin on our way up to Maine the other day. $3.95 each!. Another good example of a Stupid, ridiculous price for stuff.

He was buying... we were both hungry and very thirsty within a half hour.

It wasn't that long ago there was a McDonald's ad which featured a hamburger, coke and fries with change from your dollar.


Whaddya mean, no inflation?

[Cap Erict3]

Originally Posted by jtsailjt

...........
My most recent pet peeve as far as expenses is the cost of maintaining used cars. The service engine soon light on my wife's car recently came on so I took it in to the local repair shop. According to the manual, that light means that something is wrong with the exhaust system or the gas cap is loose. I checked the gas cap and then dropped the car off. They plugged our key into their special machine to read the codes ($150) and learned that the knock sensor had a transient fault, and the thermostat sender also had a transient fault, and the battery was low so needed charging, and they recommended that we replace the electric water pump because even though it was working fine, they tend to go around 90K miles and that was the approximate mileage of our car. Total cost for all this, just over $4000!!! When they reported all this to me I asked what exactly had turned on the "service engine soon" light and they couldn't narrow it down beyond saying it was one of those things. It turned out that the 2 faults were probably nothing more than a manifestation of the "low battery" which was caused by the terminals needing to be tightened and cleaned. So, the only thing wrong with the car were some battery terminals that needed cleaning and tightening and to learn that it cost me $150 and would have cost $4000 if I hadn't said no. I've always had used cars and worked on them some myself and bought used part and saved a lot of money that way. But it's getting almost impossible to do that and to understand what needs to be done so you are at the mercy of the guy who owns the computer that reads the codes. So, instead of paying the $4K, we went to the BMW dealer and traded in our car and signed up for a lease on a new X1. It'll cost $6K per year but we aren't tying up $45K of our money up front and we will have zero maintenance costs except for 2 oil changes a year, zero cost for new tires, brakes, etc. and since we don't own it we aren't losing money on depreciation. $6K per year is our total cost. After comparing that with the total cost of maintaining a used car, I decided it sounded like an attractive option, at least for my wife's car. But I intend to keep my pickup truck for at least 10 years and drive it into the ground!

It sounds like your mechanic is a scam artist. An OBD Scanner is not very expensive.

Btw, an O2 sensor fault is often caused by the catalytic converter needing replaced but move the sensor to confirm.


------------------------------
Looking for another pretty place to work on the boat.

[smj]

Originally Posted by weavis

NO your not.



Actually, What I know about Ken is that he never stops working. Even on holiday, he is either doing something on the boat or a reasonably price job for someone else. Both Ken and mrs Pammy mac have huge energy and dont waste a second of their lives.



In Mallorca, Ken was moored a long way from my previous restaurant and both him and wife cycled half way across the West side of the Island for lunch. Ken had spent the previous week doing jobs for cruisers.

So while you might not agree with him, I can vouch for a puritan work ethic and what he does makes me tired just thinking about it.



Ken had some financial rain in his life like we all have had, and worked himself back up the ladder to reap the rewards of getting it together again.



There may be validity in criticism over his internet communication skills, but there is nothing I will accept against him for sheer determination and willingness to tackle anything. He earned the Oyster, with his own hands and in adverse conditions.



He built his own life. twice.

I think that's great, yet he lives the life of a millionaire on $22.00 an hour. I'm sure we would all love to know his secret.



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[Hard Rock Candy]

Ok Ive read all the letters in this subject. I heard a lot of gripeing. I have a different take on things. Where in the world can a person that never made over 18000 in one year retire on SS of 860 dollars a month. Fly to florida and pay cash for a thirty ft Morgan and sail away to foreign countries for 6 months or longer, and do that for ten years and then sell the boat for more than i paid for it. During that time I lived quite high on the hog. food in all the countries I went to was cheap and very wholesome. My debit card worked good wherever I went and never cost me to use it, or if it was charged it was only a couple bucks. Rum was my prefered drink and it cost me 320 cents for a 1750 ML bottle. I could always make some extra change repairing peoples out boards or something else on their boat. The other cruisers were alway friendly and partying was the normal a couple nights a week or more. I had really bad teeth because here in the states they want an arm and a leg to work on them. In Guatemala it cost me about 500 dollars to get them all pulled and dentures made to fit. of course after ten years my teeth are about worn out but the cheapest dentist around here wants about 1800 dollars to make a new pair. so Back I go to get new teeth. Cancun here I come. Mac

[Boatguy30]

Ok, here's the thing. Being conservative with money is conservative right.

Not in bizarro 2015 land. Case in point: NPR interviews a Toyota dealer in Portsmouth NH. Big time republican hates Obama, etc, etc. Thinks full professor at the university of NH should make $60,000 a year tops.

So he's birchin about not selling enough new cars. I believe car sales are quite robust lately, but he goes on about all the cars with over 100,000 miles coming in for service. Now, what the f*** don't you buy a freaking Toyota cause you think it will go 300,000 miles? Plus "conservatives" like to save right? They even used to like to buy American!

Also what you want to bet he's sold a bunch of late model Prius to university professors far more than could be bought on $60,000 a year no doubt!

Seriously this **** has got to stop. The amount of hypocrisy seems to have reached unbelievable levels!

[StuM]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

Internet search for " merkins " do you really want to go there?

To those of us who were already familiar with the word, it was always a source of amusement to hear one of your previous presidents apparently say "My fellow merkins, ..."