Heheh, I got a couple of decent chuckles this
morning when I got your messages guys.
Rick will be happy to hear that in the mere
40 miles I put on the Explorer during my test
run, the water pump started squeaking badly.
That spoiled everything. I think it is Zoltan!
on the Car Nut thread who is the Honda freak,
he would have got a kick out of that.
So, I remain, SUVless.
fwiw...Renee took the bus to work before Miss M was
born. I commute a short distance to work--which
is bikeable in the dry season, so I do have to get
in the habit of biking again--my heart, nay, my
big fat ass, needs the exercise badly.
In other news...
Nibbled a little HGSI at 11-something.
*rant alert*
I'm starting the process of firing my broker--
will probably send 2/3rds of my powder off to
my retirement savings (treasuries) and put
a third back into a deep discount broker for trading.
When I broke up my trading account awhile back,
a third went to Edward Jones. I test drove them
for two years, and have nothing much good to say
about them. Nice people at my branch, but a total
rip off.
They mainly just push blue chips, which helps
disguise the fact that they know nothing.
Also, they charge for CD's, basically that
ends up stealing all your interest. The hide
the charge, by "pricing" your CD, so phoney,
theives.
The EJ guy used to cut the commissions down,
so I would only flinch when I bought something.
But then he left the company, and they brought
a new guy in to my local branch. Anyhoo, the
new fellow yesterday charged me $400 to buy
a lousy 1500 hgsi. I am embarrased to say that
these guys probably made $5k off me in the past
couple years, maybe more. Of course that is less
than etrade has made off me, but at least I made
800k while I happened to be with etrade.
But...I've lost 200k since going to EJ (which is
of couse Mr. Market's fault, not Edward Jones)
but high commissions in a down market still don't
feel so good... And why share the wealth with these
full commission guys? I did think he would eventually
pay for himself with a tip (you would think somebody
who does this 40 hours a week would eventually trip
on a great idea!) but they are totally out of touch--
they don't even have an internet connection (I guess
too much surfing for porn a few years ago, so they
had to cut them off from it). Anyway, all the boys
at EJ do is pump the picks of the home office, lame.
Well, for some people who have a thing for blue chips,
maybe they are okay--I suppose if somebody needs a lot
of hand holding....but not for me.
Whew, I feel like I'm at an AA meeting, heheh. |
