Epstien Dies – Welcome Back Kotter

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When I was growing up, one of my favorites shows on TV was “Welcome Back Kotter“. One of the funniest characters on that show was Epstien (The Jewish Puerto Rican Character).  In real life his name was Robert Hegyes. What hit home for me was that Mr. Hegyes was only 60 years old and lived in my old home town of Metuchen, NJ!

When I think back to this show, I always think of the name  “Sweathogs”.  Kotter was the show that launched John Travolta to the orbital fame he achieved as the character “Vinnie Barbarino”. What about Arnold Horseshack? Where is he today?

What still sticks in my mind from this hit show  show was the theme music that sticks in my mind to this day! Sung by John Sebastian, this was a song that always sounded great no matter how many thousands of times you heard it on the  radio.

What I didn’t know:

• Robert Hegyes was a Metuchen Native and was educated at Rowen University in NJ.
• After Kotter, he continued to shop up on television on “Diagnosis for Murder” and “Drew Carey”.

We will miss you Mr. Epstien  or as he said on Kotter “My name is Juan Luis Pedro Felipo de Huevos Epstein”. Try saying that with a straight face on camera!

Related articles

• Robert Hegyes Epstein From Welcome Back Kotter Dies At 60 (onlineupdaters.wordpress.com)
• Robert Hegyes, played Epstein on ‘Kotter,’ dies (pbpulse.com)
• ‘Welcome Back Kotter’ Actor Dies At 60 (huffingtonpost.com)

New Year Musings

Every year, I think to myself, what can be some of my New Year’s resolutions that I know that I will (not) keep? So this year, I decided to write some resolutions that I will not be able to attain in 2012, but will try to..

• Lose weight. The more the better. Every year I say, I’m going to lose 10 to 15 pounds and this year I went the reverse direction and gained.  Not Good.  I guess the “See Food” diet just doesn’t work. Either, I change this pattern in 2012, or, I’ll be facing more medical bills and ailments than I did this year..
• Be Debt Free: This year, financially was better than 2010, but I’m no closer to being debt free than I was last year.. It’s not like I spend more recklessley this year on credit cards, but chasing the moving target gets harder and harder. I’ve tried different stragegies to reduce debt, but it’s like I keep floating in the same pool of debt..  In 2012, I gotta think of a strategy that will really make a dent in my credit card balances, or I’ll be writing about it AGAIN next year at this time. Gotta figure out how to use less plastic and/or pay off what you buy… Both are good ideas in theory..

 

• Have 6 month cushion of Money – Yeah right.. Refer to “Be Debt Free”. Only difference now is that my household income has gotten a spike upwards, but that doesn’t mean, my savings to debt ratio has gotten better.. Sad but true. I guess the motto “the more you make, the more you spend” applies here”.
• Reduce my Medical Bills by taking care of my health.. Refer to bullet 1.. “Lose Weight”. It seems if I can’t do this, my medical bills will continue to go up every year..
• Make my other passion BharatBeat successful: In 2011, my partner and I made some progress by setting up a dedicated page on Facebook .. but getting people “LIKE” us continues to be a challenge. In 2012, our goal is to finally step out of our comfort zone and go all out… maybe people will “LIKE” us then?? We shall see
• Make strides in my Day Job - Actually 2011 was pretty good here for me… Enjoy my job, have a challenging position.. yet the rise to a higher pay scale continues to elude.. Yes, I know.. “Work hard and you shall succeed”..

Even with my cynical outlook, I do realize that what I have far exceeds my expectations of where I thought I would be as I hit the half century mark as well as well as 2011 draws to a close.. Now the question is what 2012 resolutions should I write that are actually attainable goals?

 

Related articles

• New Year’s Resolutions. . .or just screw it! (misleadingtonowhere.wordpress.com)
• The Only New Year’s Resolution You Need for 2012 (socyberty.com)
• New Years Resolution! (wordsfromusa.wordpress.com)

Latest post is on BharatBeat Blog

Dad went with his family  to see a Bollywood Blockbuster on XMAS day… Of course, you gotta see his unique take on what happened at the movie theater…

 

Half Century – Getting Older

Dad celebrated a major milestone birthday yesterday with great fanfare and a party.. Yet somehow I really don’t know how to feel. Should I feel like belong as an eligable member for AARP or do I continue to act when I hit the big 40?

I really don’t know. Fortunately for me, the milestone was overshadowed (I hope) with the 50th wedding anniversary of my in-laws. Now that is a milestone that deserves recognition!

Typically, I reflect on my birthday, my accomplishments and where I am during that day. Yesterday, when I did this, I felt a quiet sense of achievement for the first half century of my life. I’m financially stable (almost), have a wonderful family (inner circle and my extended family), and I’m somewhat healthy. Of course there is room for improvement and enhancing my quality of life, but over the past few months, I’ve done just that.

My finances are starting to stabilize (debt anyone?). This continues to be my obsession of course, but I’m taking steps to address this ongoing issue which I’ve written about in the past. I’m also  addressing my nagging health problems and paying attention when my body is giving me warning signs.

So when I think about my first half century of life.. I do feel good about myself. I’ve made it this far with my survival senses intact. I’ve persevered and achieved success (as I see it) and my wife and kids are my achievement. Seeing them succeed and continue to succeed, is my achievement. Yes, I’m not that wealthy financially.. but I’ve laid down the foundation for future wealth.. Only time will tell (over the next decade) if I’ve made the right decisions.

I’ve been persistent is achieving some level of a comfortable life for my family. Of course it’s never been easy to maintain this sense of persistence with the many obstacles life throws in your “road of life”, but hey who doesn’t face these?

So as I sit here writing, I’m thinking I’m doing fine. I just need to work on improving my mindset to be more optimistic and less sarcastic.. Maybe reducing the sarcasm will be a bit harder than being more optimistic..

I had a great day yesterday.. I felt the love of my wife and kids, and my extended family. They gave me a wonderful party and I felt truly blessed that my friends that I made when I was growing up in NYC were there to share this day with me.  Isn’t that what life is all about? Accepting the love your friends/family gives you and giving it back?

TTFN Dad..

Direct Buy – Are you a member?

A few weeks ago, I received a nondescript bulk mail saying this was my last chance to get a free “Microsoft computer or touchpad”. I was in jeopardy of losing out on this great deal! So instinctively I called the phone number on this mailer as I did not want to lose out on the deal of a lifetime. Everyone that knows my mantra, “If it’s free, it’s for me“.

This mailer was of course for a DirectBuy sales pitch presentation in Edison NJ.. Here’s my review of my visit..Of course your mileage may vary and all that legalese.

Today my wife and I went to a Direct Buy Showroom in Edison NJ. We were drawn in by the promise of a “voucher” for a laptop/netbook or touchpad. Of course to get this you have to endure an hour and 45 minute presentation and the gratuitous heavy sales pitch. Even after knowing of this up front, I convinced my wife to go with you to check it out. Hey  my wife and I had some time to kill on a Friday night and how bad could it be? BTW, those are famous last words that have haunted me in many situations in my life..

Of course even before the date of the presentation, you speak to a really nice agent, who assures you that you are not going to be pressured to buy anything.. They just want to provide a presentation.. yeah right..

Direct Buy is a catalog shopping/ordering showroom where a sales rep from DirectBuy helps you order everything for your home (Except Computers) at wholesale or “manufacturer’s prices”.  Sounds good right? Here’s the catch.. The Membership fee is outrageous. The membership fee is almost $6,000 for a period of 5 years and $190 for each year for years 6 – 10.

Why is the membership fee is so high?

How do you get the best value for this $6K membership?

First you get your “guide” who tells you how much you can save for about half hour and then you get the other “Peter” who  spends over an hour talking about DirectBuy and how much you have to be a member of this buying service by showing videos of some low-level TV starts to show how great DirectBuy is for your home purchases. During the presentation, me being the skeptic was googling on my smart phone, reviews of the DirectBuy experience.  I personally felt some level of brain washing going on during these videos which automatically turned me off. Many say DirectBuy is a scam, but I don’t think it is. That is if you can afford this expense in your life!

In my opinion, this is a great deal if you have major renovations in your home (Kitchen, floors, windows, furniture) over a short period of time, you can recover your 6K membership fee in the savings you get from the wholesale prices. If you are not planning on this.. you are in for sticker shock at the membership price! Membership is truly a case of “use it or lose it” with your finances.

In my opinion:

DirectBuy is  simply mathematics and economics. If you USE the Direct Busy service for major home purchase for a repeated period of time (5 years)  you will save money. If you don’t, you will lose money!

Of course the heavy sales tactics is in play once you finish your “presentation time”.  As soon as we said “NO” to our guide (“The Other Peter”).. he promptly got up without even a word and  opened the entrance to the showroom door for us to leave the premises.. No “have a nice day”, just opened the door and was escorting us out of the presentation.. I felt cheated and angered at the same time. Needless to say, I won’t be part of this happy place as a paying member anytime soon. We had to remind “Peter” that we were here with the Gift and he acted like he knew nothing of this.. hmm. He stormed behind the desk and reluctantly gave us the voucher for the laptop or the TouchPad..and gave us a nod and looked the other way as we left the showroom..

Now onto the process to get the “freebie”:

Even the procedure to get this freebie using the voucher is beyond belief.

Go online with your “authorization number” on a non-Secure site and activate your voucher! The site you go to is nondescript and you are not in a secure HTTPS environment!

Follow these steps exactly or you don’t get the gift and nothing is refundable:

Print out an “activation claim Form and within 5 days send it to “Electronic Claim Center”.

• Send in the form with the voucher, proof of ID in a certified self-addressed envelope within 5 days of printing out the activation
• Then you will get back a “certificate”  with which you pay an activation” fee and plus pay shipping and handling via Money Order (Right Money Order Only!)and within 2 to 4 weeks you may or may not get your laptop or your tablet.

Somehow the whole process above sounds fishy to me.. I don’t think I’ll bite on this bait… What is to prevent this company from my using to perpetuate credit fraud since now they have my license!

I gotta admit that this whole experience left me annoyed to say the least. Why would I do all of the above when I could go on-line and get a tablet for less than $100? Thanks but no thanks.. Not gonna do this..

If I ever need to have a bare home and need furnish every room and want to save hundreds of dollars on thing I absolutely need, DirectBuy will easily cover the heavy 3 or 5 year membership fee. Otherwise.. I’ll take a pass on this offer!

Oh by the way.. don’t forget the secretive nature of DirectBuy.. They constantly tell during the presentation that you are part of the secret society that knows bargains and you should not tell any retailer that you are a member of DirectBuy.. This is actually the line that was said during the video presentation and by the presenter!

What’s your experience with DirectBuy?

What I learned is that If I want an affordable discount I can still rely on my $50 membership to Costco to give me the best value bang for my buck!

• I don’t need to increase my debt to savings ratio by going into instant debt by the membership fee nor the instant billing that occurs when you buy from this membership only club.
• I don’t want to pay thousands of dollars in upfront membership fees if I don’t plan on having large home purchases..
• I like to touch and feel my purchases, and not buy from a catalogue.
• I don’t want to be a member of a secret society of shoppers that pay for the price of secrecy..

I could go on and on… but I think you get my point.

Doctor’s Office Waiting Annoyance

I don’t know how many people have this gripe, but last week, it really hit home for me.

I went to my primary care doctor for a visit and I arrived on time. As a mater of fact I arrived early.

I sat and waited and waited and waited patiently (no pun intended) for over an hour before I even went to the next phase of waiting for the doctor’s office in the examining room. Before I got to the doctor it was at least an hour and 20 minutes after my scheduled appointment. To me this was unacceptable and I mentioned this to the doctor and his staff. Of course, their answers were terse and barely sensible.

What really got to me was that the office claimed that they were implementing a new computer system and that was the cause of the delays.. but hello.. computers are supposed to make things more efficient not increase delays exponentially.

While I got under my skin was that as soon as I walked into the office.. I had to sign a form that says, that if I have an appointment and don’t show, they can charge me for the visit.. So that means, unless I have a valid reason for not showing up to wait.. I can be charge for the anticipated wait and missed visit..

Now if that is the case shouldn’t I put together a form and have them sign off on it that for every minute beyond 15 minutes (I think that is reasonable), I start billing them at my work rate? Somehow I don’t think that will fly…

The funny thing is what happened above seems to be the norm in most of the doctor’s offices these days.. Delays without apology or an attempt to give concerted effort to stay to schedule. Don’t these doctors offices know that just as their time is valuable so is the patients? Many of us, like me come during lunch hour for our appointments.

How difficult can it be to call a patient and forewarn them that the doctor is running late and they should anticipate an extended  wait time or reschedule.. Nah.. that’s almost too logical and patient centric.. I guess the “patient bill of rights” doesn’t apply here.

A few days ago.. I had to go to a local hospital for some tests.. and believe it or not.. there was a sign posted that “if you are waiting for more than 20 minutes, please speak to the desk”. At least that’s somewhat patient centric.

I’ve heard that some people have been sending bills TO The doctors for the delays, with some level of success.. what do you think?

What’s the longest you have waited in a doctor’s office? for me the hour and 20 minutes continues to be the number to beat.

Gift Cards

As we start the Holiday season, I know many of my readers search for gifts that won’t break their budget. How about gift cards?

I liked this site where you can find out of about discounted gift cards. Of course my normal advice is buyer beware. There are many details on Gift cards (expiration, usage, etc.. ) you have to watch out for.

At Gift Card Granny you can buy discounted gift cards and it’s worth the visit if you want to save some money!

I also put this link on my side links for Coupons and steals

uggs and Spam

It’s a good thing I moderate my comments.. otherwise, all my comments would be about Uggs.. Where to buy, why they are great..

Don’t worry the spammer is now being reported to WordPress.. maybe that’ll  discourage.. Probably not…

Gas Money

Last night I had an extensive and animated conversation with my older daughter about gas money. Specifically whose responsibility is it to pay for Gas for the car SHE drives to and from college and to drive her BFF’s around in. Needless to say.. Dad was the bad cop because he insisted on that his daughter pay for gas since he payed all the other expenses related to the car..

What do you think? If Dad pays for everything (maintenance, insurance, registration) isn’t it fair to ask the her of the car to pay for Gas? Especially when the driver does have a job which can pay for gas? Yes she doesn’t make a lot of money.. but as I remember, when I was growing up (in the ancient 70′s), I financed my car including all maintenance! Yes that 1972 Plymouth Duster should could eat up gas!

Of course many people can say “That was then, this is now Dad”, but as part of a parents responsibility is to teach their children fiscal responsibility and being able to properly determine which are fixed expenses (gas, utilities, RENT) and which are discretionary (Gifts and entertainment).

Don’t get me wrong.. my daughter is a great kid, but when it comes to money..the buck stops there. Literally!

See when she was unemployed, I paid all the expenses for my car which she uses. Now that she has some income coming in, I felt it’s time we had some equality with expense sharing.. Again, Dad is the bad cop for even asking for this!

What do you think? Am I being unreasonable? I won’t ask this question in my household in near future as my daughter now has gotten her gas funding from her… Mom..

 

NYC Day tripper

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Yesterday,  my family and I went to NYC for a day trip. I gotta tell you something, it was one of the most tiring, fun,

and enjoyable day trips I’ve taken in a long long time.

Our goal was to see the play “Wicked” by buying 1/2 price tickets from TKTS.. Of course that plan fell to the wayside when we found out that play is NEVER available via TKTS. We ended up buying tickets to “Mary Poppins“.  An Excellent decision.

We drove in to NYC and went to the TKTS location near South Street Seaport. I even got lucky by finding FREE street parking! This was itself worth the entire trip. Considering that I had spent most of my young my 20′s and 30′s working in NYC.. I continue to be amazed at the transformation of NYC to be the tourist capital of the world. In 2011, NYC everywhere you look in NYC, the tourists rule! From South Street Seaport to Midtown, you can see the tourists as they see the sights of NYC.. Now I am one of them as I really

can’t recognize NYC anymore with the transformation that has taken place over the years!

I used to work downtown for a few years and the South Street Seaport was where I hung out. Of course Ground Zero for me was the World Trade Center Site where I commuted from to/from NJ.  Of course I digress

I would have been happy hanging out at the South Street Seaport, but we had an agenda! We were in NYC to see a Broadway play! We drove to Midtown and parked our car 2 blocks from where I worked on 6th ave and 44th street! OMG, this area has transformed into a tourist’s paradise.

We went to the famous Shake Shack for lunch and let me tell you the burgers at this place are just amazing.. I personally prefer to the 5 guys chain but the Shake Shack’s burgers, fries and the shakes are just too too good!

After lunch came the highlight of this trip! We went to Times Square to Toys R US.  This has to be the happiest place in the world for any child.. 4 to 5 floor of toys of every possible shape and size.. I particularly loved the Jurassic Park T-Rex! The indoor Ferris Wheel was unbelievable.. I wanted to ride.. but I would never heard the end of that.. so I didn’t say a word and a waited while my kids went on this amazing indoor Ferris Wheel!

We still had a few hours to kill, so we went into Times Square and we found seats! I sat in the middle of Times Square with my feet up on the table and couldn’t help but say to my self.. “Oh my, I’m king of the world!”.  Thank goodness, my wife didn’t hear me say that! I could not help but smiling for over an hour as I sat there.. Of course I got the nasty passing remark to me when they saw me with my feet up on the metal table! Me being a New Yorker at heart.. thanked them for their kind remark!

After having my “Chai Tea” which my older daughter got for me from Starbucks, we were on our way to the New Amsterdam Theatre for our Play! The theatre was magnificent and the show was absolutely marvelous.. I did fall asleep before the interval, but that was because I was getting bored with the silly songs in the Play.. The play itself was unbelievable after the interval and I thoroughly enjoyed it! All of us did.. I know now that what I had been missing all my life. To think it took me almost 40+  years.. to see my first Broadway Show.. what a shame!

To see NYC at night is something you must experience!  The life, the lights and Broadway!

My day trip to NYC was something that I will remember for a long long time.. Now I have to plan the next one to see the Phantom of the Opera!

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