Johnnie Does – Really Right

You never remember the story you told…..

This is an update to my last blog about Covid never going away.

90-day guy is a special creature. The guy will tell you to your face one thing, then decide he is neutral when confrontation hits. He likes to fancy himself as Switzerland then right afterward claim he had your side the entire time, but it’s about harmony. Make love not war right? He is also one of the most gullible people on the planet… but then again what do you expect from a guy who views as much as 12 hours of tv a day at least?

So, he claims he called my colleague to discuss the Covid situation last night, a call that lasted 10 minutes, I highly doubt this to be true. He proceeded to text me saying “we all need to do a better job of staying home when sick.” All of us? Why me?

The following morning my colleague wanted to speak with me about the incident. I simply stated if you know we both got it at Chipotle, I need to file a complaint, we cannot have a business that allows people to flaunt the Covid 19 laws regarding restaurants. (For those not in the know, you CANNOT under any circumstances come to work in food service with any symptoms of virus/illness). I could tell by the look on his face, he knew I was on to his BS, and unlike the 90-day guy, I was going to actually make him prove it. When he said “we both felt sluggish” yep, but I said how did you know to test for Covid in the AM with no symptoms? He tried a retort, but I once again called him out saying “if you were Covid positive, why wouldn’t you demand I test? Or warn the other two (he has a temp replacement who comes in when he is out) about me likely being a Covid positive…. Because you know we both got it at the same time, right?

The look on his face said it all, it’s the same look a married man gives his wife when he states “sweetheart this is the only times you cheated on me right?” and her “well honey….” Response.

He knew the gig was up, and it was time to come clean. He told me he was exposed to it via friends over the weekend. Not a crime, it happens. Parties/events etc. It’s a thing. He said symptoms started Monday afternoon, he simply ignored them, figuring this would just go away. Tuesday it was worse, so he was downing the Robitussin to suppress his coughing symptoms. He took me to lunch to try to place the blame on me. When returning to work, he could no longer hide his cough because I sat in the breakroom the entire afternoon so he couldn’t grab said Robitussin. He tested positive Wednesday morning early, and decided he was going to take the day off. He continued throughout the day texting me asking if I had any symptoms, since I didn’t, his master plan wasn’t going to work. You can’t say we both got it at Chipotle when I’m not sick yet.

He told me that he told 90-day guy the lie simply because he knew he would believe it, much like the second time he gave me Covid and he said I got it at the gym. He thinks 90-day guy is stupid, I think he is just very gullible.

The real lesson he needed to learn was not that he got Covid and was not exactly forthcoming, it’s that he created chaos. When you give a very contagious virus like Covid to someone you are also exposing their entire network. By not being forthcoming you allow said network to be exposed when you are likely highly contagious. I have always lived by “its better for ask for permission than to ask for forgiveness” having to explain to folks you may be exposed to covid is a hard thing to do. As a result, I had to burn a day off work, and am out of pocket around $600 for doctor visit, official covid test from a pharmacy, and Paxlovid. All avoidable. His temporary replacement was supposed to go to a 1-year-old’s birthday and a family party the following day, out of abundance of caution he stayed away. He got lucky, he was briefly exposed and did not test positive over the 5 days.

If there is a lesson to be learned here, I will say this, Paxlovid works. Really well. I was over this in about 3 days, as I started feeling better Saturday night. He on the other hand, waited until the symptoms were so bad Paxlovid didn’t work. It must be taken at the first sign of symptoms, which I did. I lost about 7 lbs. over those 3 days, but I came out alright, he did not.

It could have been a lot worse.

Johnnie Does

Editor’s Note: This was submitted right after I went to Europe, but I couldn’t post it until today.

Why Won’t Covid 19 go away? Ignorance

If you are wondering when the covid 19 plandemic will go away, the answer is likely never. It’s our own damn fault too. What was the saying during the height of the lockdowns? We are all in this together or something like that? Well turns out some of us are serious about infectious diseases, others do not give a rip.

I will give you a run down of my now 3^rd exposure to covid by the same person and explain why this will never go away.

Tuesday last week, my co-worker basically guilt tripped me into going out to lunch, I’m talking like he had a gift card he wanted to use up, in the amount where 2 would be required to do it. We went to Chipotle. There was no line, and we took our order “to go” please remember those facts.

Tuesday afternoon he develops a loud barking cough within minutes of eating his meal, he also appeared to have a fever as he was sweating profusely. He left a little early but felt a need to declare he “didn’t have covid.” Upon him departing I noticed a half-drained bottle of Robitussin cough suppressant in the break room that wasn’t there until that day. Immediately I had a feeling something was up.

That following 7am he texts me that he is positive for covid. Yep. He claims “we” got it at Chipotle. I guess that Chipotle didn’t smear the chik-fil-a sauce above the door like the Babylon Bee said to do way back when. It was weird, as I had zero symptoms at all.

Fast forward to Thursday, he claims he “had two bad days in a row.” I was fine, until around 3pm when I started sweating, and had a gnarly sore throat, I’m talking like a large piece of glass cutting my throat each time I would take a breath, or swallow. The pain was unbearable. I tested at a pharmacy, and viola! Positive! A full 2 days after eating and being “exposed” to some mystery person at Chiptole who doesn’t exist. Friday was a rough day, even after taking government mystery drug Paxlovid, and copious amounts of NyQuil (the sore throat and barking cough were painful, sleep was at a premium. Finally on Saturday around 6pm I began to come out of this. Sunday I was back to being a fully functioning adult.

As mentioned above this was now my third bout with this highly contagious virus that attacks your lungs…. Did I mention I race obstacle courses competitively and rank 12000 in the world? One would think your co-workers would at least give half a damn about that but no. Oh did I mention my father is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer? Guess who I was with Monday and Tuesday last week? Yup.

Monday at the office he stuck to his Chipotle story. So, I guess there is now a wild variant of this virus, one that has a time lapse of 2 days prior to releasing, while simultaneously having on that impacts instantly? He also denied any symptoms on Monday or Tuesday, yet had the presence of mind to test himself Wednesday early morning? Maybe Warren Buffett has competition when it comes to predicting things? Makes no sense. The only people who we interacted with were each other, for 2 straight days, Monday and Tuesday.

That’s when it became abundantly clear. He was exposed over the weekend.

He likely developed sore throat symptoms on Monday circa lunchtime, and that part is easy to hide. He developed the cough symptom I’m guessing Tuesday mid-morning, hence the downing of cough suppressants to “fool” those in the office. If you do not cough, and don’t complain of throat soreness did it ever exist? The gig was up Tuesday evening as he likely had such a bad cough, throat and fever that he knew he could no longer hide it. So he pulled the Chipotle excuse. By doing that he could say we both got it at the same time. Timelines do not lie though.

Covid will never go away due to the actions of the above culprit. Rather than staying at home or getting tested at first symptom, he waited yet again until it was too late. The bigger issue is by doing so he rendered any sort of isolation pointless and moot. The virus very likely could have impacted my father, or anyone I play basketball with ay the gym, or interact with at church or my extracurricular activities. It’s not just about yourself. People like him are the reason we keep needing new boosters/vaccines. I am not sure what is so hard about isolating/distancing when sick, but obviously that’s too much to ask.

I have permanent damage to my lungs from this virus and being exposed 3 times to it. I do not want to have to pay for this in my 60s and 70s but I fear I will. While I do not think my racing career will be affected in the near term, it likely will be if I plan to keep it up after 50.

On a serious note, I am making a big change. I will be telling the head man in charge here next time I get any virus form my colleague I am quitting on the spot. Yep, I have had it of the gaslighting and prolonged exposure to communicable diseases, my father is in immunocompromised state (Jesus, I sound like Fauci) and I am sick of burning vacation days when I get sick form a colleague. Oh yeah, the covid 19 test, subsequent doctors visit (required for a prescription mind you) and Paxlovid has run me about $600. I do not mind exposure to a common cold/flu due to seasonal nature, but folks all 3 times I was given covid the early symptoms were enough to know something serious was wrong, I am too young and energetic to have to worry about long term health effects.

I guess we will see what next poo-poo platter of viruses my coworker tries to hit me with.

Johnnie Does

Cancer… Serious or Not? Who Knows

So, on Sunday last week, while over for dinner, my father told me his cancer was back. Prostate, that he had treated 13 years ago. He shared that the survival rate was 13 years so it was kind of expected that it would return. I was told it was very treatable, and it was caught early enough that essentially it would be defeated again. This is not to say that things can’t go horribly wrong. Again, reference the timeline, it was this past Sunday.

Thursday comes around, and prior to dinner my mother (who appeared 10pm drunk at the early hour of 6pm) while my father was on the phone told me, “The cancer is very aggressive and chemotherapy treatments are starting Saturday, as in the immediate weekend.” Maybe it’s just me, but why start ASAP when it’s not serious? Like really serious? You would think most starting ASAP likely have extremely unfavorable diagnosis and likely are fighting Father Time. My father then declared he wasn’t going to let anyone know who wasn’t an immediate relative… well, I guess that’s his prerogative, but leaving people in the dark doesn’t seem smart, and likely causes more stress later. My father also said he doesn’t want people crying here or calling him with wild and whacky things to try to remedy the cancer. What? I thought it was very treatable? Hair on fire treatments and fringe internet “cures” are what happens when hope is lost, I thought?

Fast forward to Saturday, he heads off for chemotherapy and my task was to cook. I received a text message early that afternoon saying my sister was in route from Southern California. Seems odd she would make this trip if everything was Hunky Dorey fine right? Oh, she is in town for 3 weeks, again something seems very off here. My father also said he will not be telling his mother as he doesn’t want her to worry about him… yet he told his 5 siblings? Does he think they won’t spill the beans? My father’s side of the family has more drama than all major networks carrying soap operas have combined.

Sunday was a whole different experience. My phone was blowing up as word had spread like wildfire. Folks I haven’t spoken to in my family for years suddenly wanted to know about his condition and since I live 3 minutes away, I was the one to call. I obviously had zero info, but it sounded like the story they got was completely different from the one I got. Now its chemo through the month of November, a far cry from “7 treatments.” Also, my mother who accompanied him to said treatment started oddly using strange “legal disclaimers” after each question she was asked by me. “Your experience may vary” “Every person is different.” “We sincerely hope we caught it early, but things happen.” It sounds like a whale of a tail I was told.

To put a bow on this, I feel strongly I have been given a best-case scenario, with the hope of “he will run with this info and do my bidding for me!” I have been asked over the last 3 months if my father was ok as he was losing weight. He is wearing shorts/pants that are a good size or two too big for him, and his belt now appears as if he got it at Goodwill for a buck and they only had one size, XXXL. He still has a large appetite, but that could just be a front when I am coming over. He has traveled outside the country for the first time in his life. 2 months ago…. He never had a desire to leave the US. Could this be a “bucket list trip?” I’m not sure. What I do know is he is suspiciously silent and somehow everyone knows what is going on except for me. It seems odd he wants no one to know yet tells his siblings that essentially act like the world’s megaphone, everyone within earshot will know. Then I am being forced to tell a favorable story that is also likely not true. Summoning my sister was a warning sign that things are not what they seem. My mother’s “drunk person’s words that night, were a sober one’s thoughts.” I got a version of the story run through a filter several times to make sure it put me at ease.

I have a sneaky feeling that the next update may be planning for life after my father. I am not sure why they would not be honest to their oldest offspring, but such is life I guess. I hope I’m wrong but sadly things are not lining up that way.

By Johnnie Does

Johnnie Does: Queso Taco Kit

With Covid now in the rearview mirror (except for some). the food/meal reviews are back.

I came across this “Old El Paso” Stacked Queso crunch kit at my local grocer. It was on the “closeout rack” marked down to $2. I bought it for a couple reasons. First, I was going to cook tacos and secondly, I had no shells or taco dirt (aka the spices) so I decided what the heck.

The taco kit contains, 6 soft taco shells, 6 hard taco shells, a packet of taco dirt, and a packet of nacho cheese sauce. The point of this kit is to essentially to make a hard shell taco (you must buy the meat, and fixings) and then put the nacho cheese on the soft shell and wrap it around the hard taco. The hard shells are flavored with nacho cheese dust, quite similar to the Taco Bell Doritos Nacho Cheese Loco Taco. I cooked the meat, seasoned it with the dirt, got my fixings ready, and made a few of these for myself.

Honest assessment? Not great, ok at very best. The nacho cheese sauce was a garden variety high school basketball/football game melted plastic type cheese. There were some pepper flakes in it, so it had a vest. The soft shell was fine. The taco dirt was your garden variety dirt, nothing special. The hard shell was an odd choice. The shells have a flat bottom so you can “stand and stuff them” a nice change from the old, you have to hold it and stuff it, but the flavoring was odd. I would describe this meal as eating nachos but with nacho cheese Doritos instead of tortilla chips. 2.5/5

Price point: $2 is a steal, I went back to the scene of the sale and found the item on the shelf a week later (likely this had to do with expiration dates) retailing for $6.99. Yikes. Based on $2 4.7/5. Full retail? Even a Biden voter would say this economy is causing these shells to be a rip off. Seriously? 12 taco shells, a package of taco dirt and nacho cheese for $7? That’s whack. Hell, a pound of ground beef cost me just $3.

Aftermath: This was not great. I ate the entirety of the shells. They were not large, think basically fast-food sized tacos. The meat, fixings, and shredded cheese were not an issue. The nacho cheese and hard taco chemical shell caused some issues. Let’s just say I haven’t seen a blow out that bad since Tampa Bay played the Raiders in a Super Bowl about 20 years ago. The processed cheese product and the hard shells I would definitely pass on in the future.

Johnnie Does

PS I was able to report back to my doctor that I am able to delay my colonoscopy another year because this taco kit cleaned everything out down there. If you’ve ever considered a cleansing routine and like mildly spicey food this may just be your ticket to better health.

My Foreign Policy Takes

Chief and I were at the same Thanksgiving table and broke bread with a group of other readers of this blog. Two leaned left, two leaned right, all of them had issues with the foreign policy takes on this blog. Specifically, Israel and Ukraine. Simply put they feel the blog staff here are nationalist, isolationist whackos. This could not be further from the truth!

I believe we had a lot we could have learned from the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, but we did not. Other countries do not like to be occupied. Outside of Afghanistan, we have NEVER left a country we have invaded. While keeping troops in Iraq and Afghanistan like we did, we lost numerous additional troops. For zero reason.

We normally go to war/invasion over false pretenses … weapons of mass destruction anyone? How many missiles/bombs/drone strikes have we lobbed at another country in the Middle East simply over “we think they are responsible for such and such attack on one of our bases there”. It makes no sense, in most of these regions we have no reason to be there.

We even enter wars via proxy when we have no real connection to the invaded country. Take for instance Ukraine. They are not a member of NATO or the EU (European Union). They never wanted to join either! So now that they are attacked, we need to step in? Why exactly? Think about this, we are sending our munitions to a country who is not an ally in any way!

(Editor’s Note: Obama, Biden, and Soros did finance and coordinate the overthrow of the government in Ukraine in 2014. In a sense, we started this mess, but Johnnie Does is correct; what business did we have getting involved in the first place?)

Despite my best efforts, I didn’t land any punches with this group.

In the case of Israel, they are technically an ally, but they are surrounded by countries who have been/are hostile towards our foreign policy. Egypt kinda blows hot and cold with us, Jordan as well. Lebanon doesn’t like us. Iran wants our country wiped off the earth and Syria, Yemen, and Oman like our money but could care less about us. Israel, simply put, will not be helping us much in any war we engage in because they know they are on an island geo-politically.

When asked my opinion I gave the following regarding both “conflicts.”

On Israel: We get our navy/ships out of their ASAP and back to their normal positions. We do not need those strike groups in that region, we have NATO allies and troops stationed not far away. To be fair, Israel has stated they don’t want, nor need our help. Regarding the numerous, (yeah check it out) numerous bases in Syria and Iraq, it’s time to pull up stakes and leave. We have a massive airbase in Qatar, another country that in my opinion tolerates us, not really likes us. That should be enough. It’s time to bring our young people back home. Just remember we believe Iran is funding the groups attacking Israel via proxy….

This brings me to my next point.

On Russia/Ukraine: How come it’s ok for US/NATO to provide Ukraine with money, weapons, planes, vehicles, etc. but not ok when Iran does it? On that topic, how much has NATO really given to Ukraine? I read an article stating that the weapons we promised (NATO) will fall short of the goal. Why must we arm them? It seems like NATO really isn’t giving much; Germany gave some helmets, France has sent a few tanks and guns. Seems like the countries sending the most are Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland. Each of these countries are small (the 3 Baltic states) or share a border with Russia and I would argue should be stockpiling not donating. Why aren’t the other member nations stepping up? If they don’t want to donate from their stock, they could purchase from US and give. If the member nations who are not directly neighboring Russia are giving very little what does that tell you about this alliance? Hate to say it but they are counting on us to bail them all out. I would be ok with donating outdated weaponry such as missiles, bombs, and guns. Tanks, planes, and other toys? No chance. By the way check out how much money the US and other countries have donated that is flat out unaccounted for… think we could be using that to solve the homeless issue a little? Ukraine is corrupt, and has a very weak military, we are simply propping them up. Sucks they got attacked but at some point, we may wish we had those weapons.

Let us address the real reason we are involving ourselves … the military industrial complex. Raytheon, Boeing (yeah, they make war ships too), Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and others spend millions to lobby congress each year. In return they get billions in defense contracts. Over time we accumulate a stockpile of military products. As such we feel we must use/sell them to other countries. As a result of this stockpiling, some of our leaders–think Bush’s, Clinton’s, Obama, Lindsay Graham, John McCain types feel we must invade or bomb anyone we do not like. As you can see it’s a bi-partisan issue here, or I guess one issue both parties can agree on. Buy me an expensive steak and lobster meal each time I want one, and you will get a blank check for defense spending. Just look at how hard it is to get a slot on the defense committee in either branch of congress. These folks are smart and know where the lobby money hits hardest. As such we have decades of pointless involvement in the Middle East and now Ukraine. While the conflict in Israel has an end or goal, the Ukraine conflict shows no signs of stopping which is exactly what the military industrial complex wants. They want continued war to get extra contracts. Notice how some are sounding the alarm about us running out of vehicles and weapons? Again, why are we in these wars?

How would I fix these? Let’s say I am king for a day. I am calling Israel and saying what is your end game here? How about kill the folks leading Hamas who ordered this brutal attack and demand all hostages released? What they are doing now amounts to borderline genocide. I am sorry but Hamas is a terror group, they don’t wear uniforms, they have no real military. Israel looks like it’s going door to door and blowing up whomever appears to be a terrorist, so I guess all males aged 17-60. This is not a strategy. Kills those responsible, anyone in the direct way/tunnel etc. is collateral damage.

After this I am calling the president of Turkey, Tayyip Erdogan and telling him here is the plan from Israel, and the US is pulling its warships out of the Middle East. I am telling him stop dialoguing with Russia and Iran…. Yeah, he recently started trying to thaw relations with both adversaries of ours. He has always had the ear of Putin, but Turkey has been one of the countries supplying Ukraine fairly heavily with drones and equipment. Turkey has the second largest army in NATO. Speaking of NATO, we cannot lose Turkey, as they control the Black Sea, and are a bridge to the Middle East. By the way check out the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict; Turkey picked Azerbaijan, apparently, we are picking Armenia. Doh!

As far as Ukraine… they aren’t in NATO or the EU, as noted earlier. I would call the president and tell him the stockpile is thinning out and he will need to fill the holes elsewhere. We can send the old things, but the flow is slowing, and he gets no more money! I do not trust this country or any of their “leadership.” They are very corrupt and frankly I don’t think they really care about their people. Ukraine is out gunned and outmanned. It’s time to re-trench. Our goal in NATO is to defend those in the alliance, not those who feel they want to be after being attacked. It’s time to fortify Finland, the Baltic Countries, and Poland, as they directly neighbor Russia. Actions have consequence and Ukraine never wanted to join either group. Russia is being made fun of right now militarily, but those making fun do not understand, Russia can lose 10 million people in this war, Ukraine cannot. Look to history, even when fighting on our side in WW2 Russia has always been a meat grinder militarily.

Final thought: An isolationist policy isn’t what I am advocating. I am saying our days as being the world’s police force are over. If we are being honest and looking at this rationally, Russia will take Ukraine, and maybe Moldova, they won’t go farther that way. Perhaps they also have designs on Georgia and maybe Armenia since Armenia was a former ally of Russia. Outside of that they do not have many options. If they attack a NATO country, it’s on. Then we get involved. Israel, they have proven they can defend themselves; the show of force was dumb. Also, we need to think about our military’s sustainability, not in a “green” way but in a numbers way. No one wants to sign up for the military now. We have been in pointless conflicts for my entire life, I am 37. We continue to send our young people to die and for what exactly? Move our troops back, and bring them home, if things get even more dicey, we can always re-deploy.

Johnnie Does

Credit Cards and Dave Ramsey Way

Credit cards, they are a polarizing thing. Some will tell you never to obtain one, others will declare you need one, or you won’t be able to rent a car/house/apartment, buy a house or car, or what if some emergency comes up. I will examine both ways in this blog.

Personally I have 3 credit cards. I use all 3 for different things, one is all my auto-payment bills (utilities, internet) one for work expenses (reimbursement), and another for literally emergency/pleasure use (think going out etc.) I track all purchases when statements come in monthly. I receive a paper bill each month… never auto pay with a credit card. I do not open or use a card simply for earning “points” or “miles” as I think and believe both are a scam. I cash in my “earnings” each year and do something with them, usually buying items off Amazon as that tends to be the best use. I tried to use it for airfare, and quickly found out the price of a ticket in points was unreal compared to just booking as usual. With my method I am able to track my expenses by category and find out exactly where I spend too much, and adjust as necessary. I always pay the bill in full, and have never paid a fee or interest. Don’t feel good for me as the credit card company still makes money off me, as the swipe and usage fees charged to the merchant on each swipe are not avoidable.

I bought my house in large part due to my 820 credit score and got a lower interest rate to boot. I was also able to lease a brand new Toyota Tacoma after my old vehicle finally kicked out again due to said credit score. (I have since paid it in full, and owe nothing on it.)

This isn’t to say you should go get a credit card, many get by without, quite a few by choice, and you can still buy houses/cars and rent houses/cars without a credit card. It’s just a longer, tougher, nerve wracking process. The point of this blog isn’t to whack anyone without a card, it’s a choice, I live my way, you are free to live yours.

Now for the folks who need/needed or understand Dave Ramsey’s advice.

Some do not need a credit card, nor should they own one. Credit cards create a false euphoria when used, you simply swipe it, and are worry and carefree until the bill is due. Even then they offer a convenient “minimum payment option” of a nominal amount say $40. In addition each time you log into the website to view/pay bill you get a prompt saying sign up for paperless billing, quite literally every time, there is no way to opt out. Mess up and click on the link, well good luck getting taken off paperless billing. They bill it as a “green initiative….you are doing right by the environment.” Give me a break; a paper statement of roughly 3 pages, and a mailed envelope? That isn’t causing the ice caps to melt Al Gore. These are corporations and while they make money each time you swipe the plastic they make even more when you opt out of a monthly paper statement. But wait there is more…

You forgot to pay the bill this month…. just by a day darn it! Well, you get hit with a late fee, your interest rate goes from probably 17% or so to about 38% which, oh by the way, they can do since that is the agreement you agreed to when you applied. Of course, you didn’t read the fine print, you needed the card to earn miles or points. Oh, they also report that missed payment to the 3 credit bureaus, watch what happens to the interest rate on your other cards, suddenly that 17% turns into about 30% But that’s ok, you only missed one payment and you will make it up next month.

It not just fees and extra interest, it’s your entire buying pattern that changes. Suddenly you find yourself going down each aisle at the grocery store, you only went there for 8 things, but your basket turned into a cart full, which turned a $25 total into about $175. But you had to get 3 more bags of chips because they are on sale, and you earned “points.” Ditto for those spices in the spice aisle that will migrate to the back of the pantry, but hey you earned a few points, and they were on sale… the cool red tag said so. Now you are swiping so freely you lose track and forget how much you spent… hello, surprise bill. You make the minimum payment but keep spending, you do so because, well you always get a bonus in December, so you will pay it off then. You don’t get the bonus, or even if you do the interest compounds daily, and is on your bill monthly. All of a sudden that 1-3% cash back doesn’t look so great on 19% interest charges now does it?

The last and most worrisome is deferred interest charges. And yours truly almost got caught in this. I had just bought a house, and my down payment took every dollar that was not in my retirement account. I know cry me a river! At my house I had no washer, dryer or fridge. The dishwasher was quite literally on its last leg, and the oven/stove and microwave had been through a lot. In fairness the family I bought it from had moved out 3 years prior and let their grandson live there rent free. Everything else was fine, but I needed appliances, using my parent’s wasn’t going to cut it. Enter Pacific Sales, conveniently located inside the local Best Buy. They had a big sale going as it was a three day weekend, and to be fair I shopped around and for all seven appliances I needed it was the best deal by far. The total came to about $3,500 I reckon, then after the installation and “other” parts required for said appliances we were at about $4,000. Obviously I didn’t have the kind of coin, and right on cue they had a financing offer. No interest for 1 year! Just get the store branded credit card. Even better I was told 3 months of no payments applies as well…. how great 1 year and 3 months of zero interest! There’s a catch, I will get to it later. 2 months later, the tires needed to be replaced on my Explorer, about $1,100 worth. Of course, they have you by the proverbial balls, since they can pull the “your car isn’t road worthy so we cannot let it leave card.” Again, they pulled a great offer, 1 year no interest, and $200 off. I didn’t want to do it, but hey… why not right? If you are keeping score at home, I now have 2 store cards, and about $4,800 in monies owed. I was making minimum payments on the balances each month, $100 on the appliances, $50 in the tires… because…. Well, time value of money, right? I was going to pay them off later, but had other things to worry about.

Well at the bottom corner of the statement, there is/was a box, it stated deferred interest. This box was the way the store makes money. You see the store likely is losing on the deal offered up front, but they stand to gain a large amount from these deferred charges. Luckily for me, in both cases I caught this before it became a problem at all. To give you an idea, had I been a month late on the tires, the interest would have been $350, on top of the $900 I would have paid. Had I had just paid in full that day, $1,100 would have been the damage, instead I would have paid about $1,250. The appliances would have been far worse, deferred interest would have been about $1,500. Again, look at the deal upfront, and the deal had I not paid in full in the “promo-time.”

Don’t believe me? Check out these quotes from the earnings reports of Macy’s and Nordstrom

Macy’s executives disclosed on Tuesday that rising delinquencies cut credit card revenues to $120 million in the second quarter, down $84 million from the previous quarter. While Nordstrom’s credit card revenues rose 10% in the first half of this year, company executives said Tuesday that delinquencies are now above pre-pandemic levels and could “result in higher credit losses in the second half and into 2024.”
US department stores see higher credit delinquencies amid strained spending

Credit cards are big $$$ for these corporations, and a large part of the earnings numbers. Keep in mind interest earned is basically “free money” to these groups. They only have to mail out a statement each month.

The last item I wish to address is when you pay with plastic it truly is “buy now, pay later.” Items purchased may or may not show up on the next bill. Take this for example, I paid for a tank of gas Tuesday this week, in the amount of $80, I used my trusted cash back card. Well, my statement closed Monday night, so the gas I bought will not be on Septembers bill, it will be on Octobers. Let’s just say in September I owe my house insurance, in addition to my other utility/recurring expenses, well my October bill will be higher thea I likely budgeted. This is another trick the credit card companies do not want you to know.

In closing I do not hate credit card companies, nor do I completely agree with Dave Ramsey that you should not have one. I will agree with him on the fact it creates bad buying habits, and unsafe financial practices.

Use my example, if you are not careful, those appliances, or tires quickly become very expensive. Dave doesn’t need me shilling for him, he offers and does good things, especially for folks who find themselves not realizing the pitfalls of “2% cash back.” If you don’t carry a card… more power to you. I don’t judge, if you messed up previously… I don’t care, just don’t do it again.

As far as renting a car goes, yes, if you have no credit card it may be tougher, may even need to check a couple of companies to rent you one, but you will find one. As for buying a house/car, sure there will be more hoops to jump through and you may need to shop around for a bank who will “manually underwrite you” but if you qualify for the loan, you get it. Federal law.

Johnnie Does

PS check out the value of those “points” thepointsguy.com I think is a good site, it will show you the best/worst uses for them, and you can see firsthand how some banks…cough…Citi… cough, devalue points if you use them certain ways.

Two Reactions to the Same Type Disaster

The purpose of this blog is to show the affect television and internet have on people’s lives in regard to natural disasters. These are the reactions of one man I work with.

First, we start with the Oroville Dam spillway several years ago in 2017. The CA Dept of Water Resources, when there was first reported to be trouble, downplayed it, or put out very odd press releases to re-assure the public there were no issues. DWR had to shut down the spillways due to damage, but continued to put out press releases that all was well. I do not know about you guys, but I have never heard of any government organization putting out a press release essentially saying “all is ok” when something bad isn’t brewing. When it comes to a dam, common sense says, if the spillways are closed, water is building up behind it. Put into English, the water will need to go somewhere, and the object standing in its way is causing it to build higher.

Oroville Dam emergency spillway on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017, the day officials warned that the spillway was in danger of failing. More than 180,000 people downstream were told to evacuate. (Gonzalo “PeeWee” Curiel/For the Chico Enterprise-Record)

I casually mentioned this to a colleague, he shouted me down saying he saw on the news all was well. I Googled and found the clip on YouTube that he referenced. It was a man who claimed to be in charge of emergency services, not DWR, also the interview was taking place in Sacramento, not Oroville where the dam is located. But hey, “Honey we are fine, the man on TV says so.” “He is from the government, and he is here to help!”

Over the next 7 days, stories would appear on my Yahoo.com feed. The biggest was one saying “DWR was evacuating the fish from the hatchery located at the dam’s base. But again, nothing for us to worry about, this is normal…I guess? On February 10^th crews began removing trees from around the emergency spillway. Seems really fishy because in CA I believe cutting down a tree may make you eligible for the death penalty. Also, the environmentalists were dead silent on this tree removal operation, telling me something was really not good. Not to worry, Alfred E Newman at my office said he hasn’t seen anything bad reported yet.

Two days later, evacuation orders were made for the counties surrounding the area near the dam. This happened on a workday around 10 am. The colleague of mine took a call from his spouse, in the breakroom, said “oh my God, we need to head for safety.” He walked out, and declared everything was ok, and he was going to work from home. On his way out, I said “hope you survive this Armageddon predicted by me earlier.”

Keep in mind readers, Oroville is 1.4 hours away from our headquarters by car. Moreover, the land between here and Oroville is literally flat, spread-out farmland. I dated a girl in college who was from that area, and when I visited it was yeah, flat farmland, it could easily flood and barely anyone would notice. Another pro tip, her father like many others in the area grew rice, a crop that quite literally can sit in flooded fields for months. My point being by the time the water reached Sacramento, let alone my office or house, the stream would be moving at a glacial trickle pace.

He freaked out, got into a car and decided to drive. Yup, Mr. I ain’t never scared, booked it out of town. Nothing ever came of this situation by the way.

The second scenario involves the “atmospheric rivers” our area has experienced since New Year’s Eve. There have been 3 in total. Prior to the first storm, my colleague made it clear he was very scared of the storms. As I tried to explain, the storm they are describing is mostly wind, the rain happens in large amounts very quickly, but it’s nothing our systems cannot handle. Of course, I’m not on TV so my words were not taken at all. Instead, he relied on meteorologists and articles written online, aka news. The news is supposed to do 1 thing, mostly like a shock jock of yesteryear, its job is to stir people up and create panic/ratings. If it bleeds it leads is still true today.

On all three occasions he freaked out, spouting cable news BS of the levees could fail etc. etc. etc. Keep in mind he is about 32 years older than me, yet he reacts like a toddler who dropped his ice cream cone. He packed his belongings, and headed to Patterson, yes as in an area that usually floods each time there is heavy rain and runoff. But its ok, the news people on TV told him to flee.

On all three occasions, we did get rain, but not too much. Yes, the normal areas flooded, Wilton, Discovery Park, and some other creeks in the area. The bypass area flooded, but all these scenarios happen each time we experience significant rains. The areas ordered to evacuate are very very rural and surprise, they have to evacuate every time this happens. Wind damage occurred, and yes trees were toppled, fences were downed, but no massive loss of life or damage.

My point here is the same one I have made quite a few times. Ditch cable. Look at the two scenarios again, in the first, TV said all was well, it was not. The second? Made it seem like we were in Biblical times and an ark was needed to survive this. Nothing happened. The freak out that occurred was unfounded and unnecessary.

Keep watching TV and the next thing to freak out about will get you scared. Anyone remember the “murder hornets” during the pandemic? I’m still waiting for them to show up.

Johnny Does

How to Stay in Debt

A friend of mine does very well for herself, she makes $125k a year. Keep in mind that is double the MEDIAN US income per person. So, she makes more than double the average worker. She informed me Sunday that her spending on her credit card is unsustainable. One would think this is a good thing, a wake-up call of sorts. Negative ghost rider.

Her biggest issue is she tries way too hard to fit in, for someone in their mid-20s to mid-30s this is understandable. You are likely in an apartment, a small one and hanging out with colleagues after work, and the like. You may also be going on dates/parties etc. However, this behavior needs to be grown out of, it’s a sign of a maturity process. It hasn’t stopped in fact it got worse.

I do not care what part of the country you live in, a 6-figure income should be more than enough to sustain the life of a couple/family, let alone a single person. This is where budgeting, and expense management comes into play. In addition, knowing needs vs wants as well. This person has shown repeatedly they are not capable of doing this.

Interest rate on car loan? Yeah, it’s over 30%, that’s not a good rate, that’s a good loan shark rate. The credit card rate is likely about the same mind you. You wreck your credit in this country you will pay at every turn.

Student loan debt? Sure, just make a minimum payment like your other loans. This person is checking all the boxes.

Her biggest problem? It’s not her debts believe it or not, it’s her lifestyle. She refuses to be an adult, instead opting to a college fueled party life. For someone closer to 40 than 37 mind you.

As hard as this may be to fathom, it is not hard to correct this, but it’s not a diet she needs, it’s a lifestyle change.

First? Knock off the happy hour and late-night partying. You are an adult not a college kid anymore. Happy hour is famous for the “I’ll have a couple drinks, well better get an app, well another drink please….aw shucks I better order food…. maybe dessert too?” Next thing you know that cheap mixed drink turned into a bill of around $100. Instead of this being a one-time thing, you have made it into a daily thing with your friends.

Second? Learn to cook at home, you have cable shows, YouTube, and cookbooks. Cooking at home costs a fraction of going out. You can even grab a bottle of booze/liquor/wine for a fraction of going out. Don’t believe me, look it up for yourself.

Third? Pay your bills first. Every paycheck. After paying rent, pay your bills. Your credit score will thank you later. Do not save money, extinguish all debt as humanly possible.

Til next time

Johnny Does

Naiveté like you read about

Had a client of mine come in this week; specifically, to chat about his 22-year-old son. This son has had 5 moving violation/accidents in 3 years of driving. The average is about 1 incident per decade by the way. So as you can imagine his insurance is very expensive and the parents have been paying it. Usually when you encounter this, it’s the parents saying “get Jr. off my policy, he is too expensive” or they grin and bear it while paying. In this case they wanted to keep the cost the same, make excuses for Jr. and try to get us to find a solution.

It was insane. The father (the one who came into my office) complained how his son has not worked for over 4 years. He then circled back with “He has a job with Vector but I do not know what he does.” He says the company is so secretive his son never talks about it, but he works from home. Obviously, my BS sensors went off quickly, so I Googled them. Vector marketing…LOL its CUTCO knives. AKA an MLM Pyramid scheme. So much so a link provided on their website explains how Vector is not a scam.

El Oh El!

So, Jr. got a sales job with a pyramid scheme company. His son, according to his dad when he confronted him, could not produce a pay stub (what are those?) so he doesn’t believe him. Well Vector makes all of its money off new recruits, not so much actual sales. The new recruits like his son pay a fee, and then get told, “Here’s your knives. Go get it.” MLM pyramid schemes are famous for marketing to young people and single mothers.

Enough about scams.

He went on that his son is a good kid, but smokes weed with his buddies every night after he and his wife go to sleep. They sneak off to a local park and basically eat all the snack food, and smoke weed. This seems to be normal behavior for these types. He spends a late night out and sleeps till around noon. The parents can’t figure out what gives, and he is unmotivated. They speak of how he plays video games all hours of the day, but again he is a hard worker and a good kid.

They kept saying how can we help motivate him.

My thoughts were simple, lay out all of his “costs” i.e., insurance, car payment, phone plan, gym, etc. and make it known if you want this lifestyle, he needs to contribute. He shot that down saying he tells his kid he we’ll pay till age 26. So, I guess Jr. has 4 more years of freeloading?

Fatal Error

My business partner said he has a son just like this other fellow’s son, problem is the correct word would be “had” not “has.” Make no mistake the son is still alive but he has been making a great living for the last 23 years, he was also 22 when he experienced this growth. The error is now the client felt he was “on a journey” with my business partner.

The client continued to filibuster, and as far as I am concerned, hope is lost. He wants to be a “cool parent” not a father. He just doesn’t want to admit it. Allowing your adult child to sneak out of the house, engage in drug type behavior (I don’t care that CA legalized it) while living in your house is dumb. It’s your house not theirs. As far as work goes; if they don’t want to work, they pay rent or move out. Sorry, this is not a vacation resort, restaurant, nor a hotel. At a certain point, you must be a parent again, even if the kid is 22. He lacks motivation and is gaming you. Sorry, not to be mean, but every move you make, he is 3 steps ahead.

Get a job……Got one at a MLM deal that doesn’t pay

Get your own bills paid for yourself…..sorry I’m good till 26, your words pops.

If you don’t put your foot down, the kids don’t grow.

I can guarantee this kid aint doin nuthin until 26, and calls his father’s bluff, his father won’t budge. Book it!

Johnnie Does

Johnnie Does Sky River Casino

Avoid. That’s the one and only word. Your humble correspondent has not and will not visit after hearing and seeing several trusted sources review our new shiny casino.

Sky River is a brand-new casino that opened in the same town as this blog’s world headquarters. We have always been skeptical as this is a small town, and do we really need another casino here? In a short driving distance, we have, Jackson Rancheria, Cache Creek, Thunder Valley, Red Hawk and a couple of card rooms downtown. All of them are far more exciting than our new casino. Sky River Casino is very small, and no frills at all. For now, it’s just a gambling floor and food. I guess long term they have plans for a hotel, we shall see.

As for the casino part, I have had 4 customers/friends attend the casino multiple times since it opened, of course they aren’t degenerate gamblers, they just like to play a bit. None enjoyed it at all. Some even won money and still would not go back. They said it was smoky as heck, so bad they had to go outside to get fresh air multiple times over the course of 30 minutes. This is a bad look for a casino who said they have state of the art filtering systems in place.

The slot and table play got decent marks, but it was very crowded, this is a good thing for the casino. But again, the smoke…. yikes.

The food was a major let down. Full disclosure they do have a standalone steak house coming soon, which would be a good addition to this town in my opinion, but the food otherwise consists of just a food court. Pretty lame. You order from your phone and sit and the workers bring it out to you. Prices were just ok. Food was high school cafeteria quality. Avoid.

In summary, this place is average, but it fits this town perfectly. If you think about it, we have lots of chain restaurants here, nothing special. Our casino fits that. We have people who are always hunting for a deal, this place fits that. We are a no-frills town… this place fits that.

Recently, I went out to eat and happened to be seated near an elected official from this area. I overheard her telling a colleague we have a Walmart quality casino, for our Walmart quality town. (We have 4 Wally Worlds in and around Elk Grove.) If you are looking to blow some cash, this place will allow you to do that, but bear in mind, it has no sports book, no quality food options, and no hotel. Also, no golf course or amphitheater. Suit yourself, but I am not going to partake. Like usual, this town would rather be adequate or average than have anything nice.

Johnnie Does

Editor’s Note: I checked Yelp just to see if Johnnie was being too hard on the place. Here’s what I found.

After trying to go here and eat more than Ice Cream, it was disappointing. Most of the Marketplace Food Court is surpassed by your local Shopping Mall Food Court in Selection, Quality and Service.
Yelp Reviewer Wanugee N. 09/17/22

Beautiful inside except the cleanliness. A casino of this size should have at least 5 people on the floor all the time just picking up and cleaning everything. It’s dirty.
Yelp Reviewer Marianna B. 08/21/22

There was no non-smoking area. I brought a mask but it didn’t help. There were also no hand sanitizer stations around. There are germs on every machine!
There was a long line to get into the food court area. It took awhile to get in and once I saw the prices I immediately went out… Too bad there is no buffet, whenever I go to a casino I expect a buffet.
Main question, did I have fun? My answer is not really. I did get some exercise though from getting lost in this casino and then getting lost again in the parking lot. I guess I at least got to experience this but I don’t think I’ll come back.
Yelp Reviewer Scott F. 09/03/22