I think that oil companies were charging 97¢ a gallon in 1999 due to Sadam selling oil at below market prices on the black market (maybe some extra with that UN "Oil for Food" deal). He sold oil this way after Gulf War I to rebuild his cheesy palaces and buy Uday more sports cars. I believe that this is one factor why we went to war in Iraq a second time. The Saudi's were mad that Saddam had been messing with the prices for so long and needed to remove him.

Anyone ever wonder why oil went -UP- after the US took over Iraq? If Saddam had not been underselling the oil we probably would have seen $3 per gal (USA) back in 1999 or 2000. And why Saddams undercutting affect everyone by lowering prices? Well, the other "legal" oil guys then have to lower prices or else they don't sell any oil because everyone flocks to the lowest seller. A while back I read that the bulk oil business is pretty shady with oil trading hands and being sold several times even while it is the tanker on the way to the refineries...

Now the banking people realized that there is more money in negative penalties such as over-limit credit limit fees, changing account debits to biggest first versus in order of presentation inorder to statistically bounce more debits, etc, etc.- than there is to be made making positive investments. So they then change the game around and also institute items like "bankruptcy reform", credit card divisions in usurious states like South Dakota, etc...

That said, if amnesty is granted for illegal immigrants, then the floodgates of wage lawsuits will open up. This is one thing the business owners do not realize...

While this club seems to be secretive the conversations that really need to be reported on are from the annual "Renaissance" deal down on the beach (Hilton Head maybe) where all the big wigs get together to actually discuss business and the future...

The sad thing I never ever wanted to check was whether the one rotary wall phone in the home was still being rented from what ever company inherited Ma Bell's business. Best to not be informed on that cost plus the living grand uncle commonly used some crappy free cordless dial pad phone he got from somewhere...

That said it seems like this lady was way over the conversion period for retention by Sears into her own card. They should have dealt with it when the husband died.

That said it is also telling about how different generations view customer service. Now we figure that customer service stinks and is adversaral. Back when the couple was raising kids, customer service really meant customer service not just a cost center. The same applies to banks- banks used to make money by creating positive growth- bring in money, new customers, loan money on positive projects; now banks make money via negative consequence billing- flaky deposit/credit vs. debit/withdrawl schedules, over limit fees, monthly fees, giving minimal interest on savings, etc...

Based on your written prose, you do not strike me as the target market Krystal's is trying to attract...

I expanded on this by initials, date, mileage, and weight of oil so I will never forget what I previously put in the car/truck.

My family also had a family friend lose his Honda Accord engine when a dufus didn't refill with oil...

He wrote this:
"But all of us want to provide excellent customer care. At Comcast, we're listening to the blogs and engaging on FriendFeed and Twitter to learn where the areas of opportunity are. We try to put out the fires but at the same time seek to understand the root causes.

And we're making progress. Over the last 12 months, we've made significant investments in additional human resources, training and technology, all focused on improving customer care. Our customers have asked for more price points, more HD and faster Internet speeds. We're delivering on all of those promises and there is more on the way."

How about customers asking for techs to show up when promised...

I personally don't see how customers can ask for "faster internet speeds" yet Comcast limit (or "throttle") the download quantities. IE- your speed is superfast ONLY as long as you want to download a small-sized file, if you want to bust a huge file, well that might slow ya down...

1995 Dodge Neon- 5speed, 4 door, no a/c- combined city/highway mileage 35-39 mpg on 89 octane (due to knock), also it has over 200,000 miles

Believe me that this driver not only is on the hook for their belongings but he just totalled ($20-50,000 worth)the van (enclosed box area) body if the truck frame is not bent also...

(rant on....and while not really wanting to tangent on the inheritance tax issue, I will contribute my 2¢ that most of the folks wanting the inheritance tax (on high dollar money) repealled just want it to cut out the planning costs to accountants and involving their heirs before death. These folks want to CONTROL their money/businesses up until the last minute before they croak and then let their heirs get it. With some decent planning and succession techniques, such as this insurance method, they can reduce the inheritance tax liability to almost nil. BUT, they have to plan, involve accountants, and involve their heirs by passing the business on in a sequence while they are alive. Most of these control freaks don't want to do this work and only want the gov't to let them off tax free... rant off)

"Comcast had 100,000 employees in 2007. You want to take away the CEO's life insurance and give them each an extra four bucks a year, and you think that will make a difference in their lives?"

But what about the shareholders whose profit per share is reduced by X¢ per year because of the policy cost? That is unfair if the policy is only going to insure the exec's life to his family and not some sort of loan he is taking from the company...

Or as a perk it is taking the cost of insuring a high worth individual from his own pocket and putting it onto the companies overhead. Another form of the execs negotiating the company to pay (just like an auto or country club allowance) versus having to pay for it themselves.

Heaven knows how the printer fared from the internal pressure but it sure wasn't getting damaged by UPS...

He would have had to call and wait for the techs not to show for at least two separate appointment window times along with the one appointment-cancelled-by-phone-scheduler appointment before actual Comcast technicians would show up to fix something.

I love Kmart for the clearance toys they have -some stores even had clearance toys during Christmas time!!! I usually have both my sons birthdays and christmas gifts handled by 6 months out...

Best Junkyard find to date:
Back in '89 I found the following from a '75 Plymouth 2door for my '76 Dodge Charger slant 6:
a color matched fiberglass front end header panel, ultra rare manual vent cables for it, a slightly soggy but fixable OEM owners manual, and with the owners manual in the glove box a red white and blue BiCentennial flag tie tack which ended up pinned in the dash board for the next owner in '98.

Next best is finding the first year issue for my university's affinity license tag in the state which I live. That one was on a moldy primered 'Yota pickup truck and went out in the bottom of my tool box.

F_munk & petersterncan: yes, very few made 301 (or 328) and you can count one less via the US Army in Iraq testing an IED defense wall with Uday Hussien's LM002 which they didn't know what it was. Boom!

I saw my first LM002 (red) in 1988/89 in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. It was a complete freak show back then- remember no trucks (or cars) had 17" rims back then plus the hard angle design in a truck. Plus the tires were $1000 each at a time when a decent 15" tire cost $59-$69.

I recently (last week April 22-24) saw 1987 LM002 #HLA12048 (silver) in Prospect Heights area of Chicago. It was a little worn but in decent condition with some funky square profile stainless steel front and rear bush bars . Sadly the Hummer/CXT/Ford Tonka's designs etc have eclipsed this great vehicle due to the LM002 now looking like some sort of a kit-truck with it's old school 7" round DOT headlights. In fact the non-enthusiast group I was with didn't believe it was a Lamborghini until I went to the LM002 section of the Lamborghini Registry on my laptop to proove it.

danielm26: you are right about the prices rising, probably since everyone with $ can get a Hummer or clone. Actually I also read that the price for specialty cars usually falls in the first decade after production ends and then value begins to rise 15 years after end of production if it is destined to become a collectable. This was from a muscle car collector or such... Makes sense with the LM002 as production ended in '93...

The LM002 is the vehicle I have always wanted if I struck it rich on the lottery... just to piss off the 4x4 redneck crowd.

Best deal ever was a free beer party I attended in 1988 paid for by a couple of high school guys I worked with at a grocery store. They purchased a rusted out '74 Super Beetle for $200, spent about $100 on an insurance down payment, another $50 on tag= $350ish plus put some free plywood into the front pans which were gone. They drove it around very lightly as they were waiting for one of their brothers to weld up the badly rusted front suspension. Only on the road for two weeks, when a lady ran a stop sign at low speed, hit the Bug and the front suspension collapsed. Insurance write off for $800 which they used $200 to buy the beer party!!!

Another grocery store guy back in 1987 - college student- bought a '71 Impala 2dr w/ 400ci for $200. Badly rusted etc. He boosts oil, washer fluid, trans fluid, spark plugs, etc from the store and I help him tune up the POS. Driving through a rich part of town a Jag driving lady pulls out of her garage and creases the hugemonously long driver door with her front bumper. He then extorts her rich husband for $100 for a junk yard door which he never purchases...

Same cousins as first story: I junked a Dodge Omni which had a newish pair of tires and a used pair of tires which I had found abandoned in a closed autobody shop. I pulled the wheels and brought to the cousins. They were working on a later model Pinto which they bought for $100. It was a white ex-Ma Bell phone company car of unknown miles. Still had the blue/olive green tape stripes inside the doors. They proceed to re-use the tires, tint the windows, clean it up and sell it to some guy for his teenage daughter. Who then flipped it over in the rain 4 months later.

Worked with a guy who bought $125 Subaru 2dr POS w/ bad 3rd gear. He put gear saver fluid in, uses bungee for assist, and props seat with 2x4. Drives for 8 months and then sold to some Mexican guy for $500.

Above should have said: Where is the "FAA/Governmental regulation cost recovery fee"?

As for the converter box I use a set of fresh rechargable AAA batteries and have a hot and recharge set. These are used in my recorder also...

Like ChuckECheese, definitely get a recorder with downloadable ability. I have a Sony now but had used a piece of shit RCA without adownload port, etc and it flaked with a software error and I lost about 70 hours of recordings.

We were trying to buy $500 worth of tires- already installed, etc. I wanted to write a check to document the purchase- lame answer but I don't care. CERTEGY denied us but we were able to use a different account which we had a card for along with us. Pep boys helped out and bent over backwards but I did some research into CERTEGY.

In a nutshell CERTEGY is another credit reporting bureau of sorts plus the company is affiliated with sister companies which data mine big time. Big red flags but you should be able to request a free credit report from these yehoos each year...

[www.freewebs.com]

Enzio Ferrari piloted by drunk Swedish scam artist business man, possessing semi-fictional California law enforcement paper work, wrecked at 160mph on California coast road.

VERSUS:

Aston Martin DBS piloted by low wage English stuntman for delivery to film set wrecked at speed into a deep Italian lake while hooning it up to be like James Bond.

I had basic (no theft/fire/collision)
Proressive Direct motorcycle insurance with them for about 8 years no claims and with my wife (now ex-wife) added for 4 years. I had 4 old street motorcycles insured for the two riders for about $250 per year. When me and the ex split I tried to take her off but they needed her to do it. She was less than helpful in this matter (and many others). So I scheduled the old policy to run out and called (way before the old policy was up) to get a new policy started on the same exact day the old one ran out. Wellll, now the policy effectively doubled to $500 for one person on 4 motorcycles and absolutely no consideration for the 8 years prior of a no claims policy. They kept defaulting to the line "it is a new policy". Plus they used a new technique of using credit record stuff to justify the raise in rates also- supposedly changed for everyone in my state.

They once also tried to jack my rate $10 when I removed a larger CC motorcycle and replaced it with a lower sized CC motorcycle - both early 1980's cruiser motorcycle of the same style. I got them to remove the fee but come on - just call it a transfer fee or something rather than trying to convince me that a 550cc motorcycle costs more than a 650cc motorcycle to insure.