Pay attention you might learn something

I will leave names out of my blog today. I do not want to implicate anyone in any insider trading cases, or have anyone get upset that I'm giving away their money saving tips.

Today I had the opportunity to learn several things that in the past may have been otherwise overlooked or disregarded. But I've decided that old people are sometimes wise and sometimes not so much. I've heard and observed several things today and will ponder them to determine what is wise and what is not so much. In the mean time I will pass along the information that I've received and let you make the determinations on your own.

I've been know to volunteer to help people on occasion. For Christmas this year someone in my family purchased an item that would require assembly that the recipient would not be able to do on their own. I volunteered to help the gift giver assemble this gift when they wanted to go to the recipients house. They accepted my offer and this morning I received a phone call "I'm going to go assemble the (gift) are you still able to help?" I asked when they were leaving and they said I was going to leave right now but if you are going to make it I will wait for you and we can drive together." I said "I'll leave right now"

I arrived at the gift givers home and got into their vehicle. As we began our commute to Lakewood, California, I noticed that we were not taking the normal route. I said "where are you going?" The response, " I have to stop somewhere real quick"

• Lesson 1: when someone tells you they need to make a quick stop, it generally is the exact opposite.
  

The quick stop was to Office Depot to purchase a new printer. They had a special where if you turn in an old printer you get $50 dollars off a a new printer. The person I was with brought in an old printer and gave it to the workers upon entering. As we located the printer to be purchased we brought the tag up to the register and were told "it will be a few minutes we will have to get the printer out of the back." Another worker tried to state that the printer being returned didn't qualify because it was a mobile printer. I could see that the person I was with started to get upset but didn't say anything as one of the other workers quickly negated the other workers comment. we waited and then after about 10 minutes they brought the printer out. It was at this point that they workers decided to also inform us that you needed to fill out a bunch of paper work for the old printer exchange. (maybe we could have been doing that during the 10 minute wait) so after another 5 minuets of paperwork we finally were out the door.

back in the car I asked what kind of printer was returned for the exchange? I was told it was a mobile printer that was purchased for $2 at a yard sale, I was also then informed that "that lady was a jerk"

• Lesson 2: when stores have a promotion for exchanges of old items, it's a good idea to buy a cheap one at a yard sale(or craigslist or ebay)
  
• Lesson 2.5: The lady with the short brown hair at the office depot in the city of industry is "a Jerk"

we then made it to the gift recipients house. at which point we assembled the gift with little trouble. We took a few minutes to visit. During our conversation I was informed two possibly three times that AT&T is now the phone provider for the Lakewood area and that "they aren't worth a crap"

• Lesson 3: if you ever move to the Lakewood area, do not use AT&T "they aren't worth a crap"

The conversation continued and i was then informed that it doesn't matter anyways because the phone companies are going to do away with all home phones since technology and cell phones are taking over everything.

• Lesson 4: Check my portfolio and get rid of any stocks that have to with the phone companies they will all be out of business soon.
• Lesson 4.5 also get rid of my cell phone since all cell phone calls go through land lines and once the phone companies go belly up my cell phone will be rendered useless also.

The conversation then took a turn towards the local gardening service. Then next lesson is not for me but if you happen to be a gardener in the Lakewood area and have been using the leaf blower just to blow the leaves into the corner or behind the bushes, the next lesson is for you.

• Lesson 5: don't use the leaf blower to blow all the leaves into the corner or behind the bushes or the next time you do it you will be getting fired (again)

Shortly after that topic we departed. The gift giver surprisingly needed to make another stop at the local SEARS to check out their clearance items. "This Sears has a really good clearance section for their tools"

• Lesson 6: The Sears in Lakewood/Cerritos DOES NOT have a really good clearance section on their tools despite what others may lead you to believe.

We then continued the commute back to the gift givers house. As we exited the freeway the gift giver turned the opposite direction of their house. I asked "did you forget where you live?" and I was told "no I need to make another quick stop"

• Lesson 7: It's never too late to try and get the item you saw on sale at a yard sale 2 weeks ago.

as we made a few turns I was told "I think this is the street. This lady was selling a storage shed a few weeks ago during a yard sale and if she still has it I would like to purchase it" Gift giver got out of the car went to the door and spoke with the woman and returned back to the car. I asked "she already sold it?" and was told "no I need to go get the truck"

we went back to the gift givers house and got their truck and returned back to the ladies house. She had the storage shed already out in the driveway ready to go.

• Lesson 8: Don't be fooled by the term "Indian giver" It doesn't just apply to Indians. The very apparent Asian woman said " i hope you don't live to far away because I think I would like to keep it....."
  

Gift giver then handed the pre-determined amount of money to the lady and said "no you don't need to keep it you won't use it" and proceeded to start loading it in his truck.

• Lesson 9: maybe the term Indian giver does only apply to Indians because when Asians try to take stuff back you just don't let them and they are totally fine with it.

we loaded the unit and strapped it into the truck. We got back to gift givers house and began unloading it.

• Lesson 10: if you are transporting a storage unit from one location to another. you need to strap the roof of the unit down in addition to securing the unit.

we were able to find the roof a few miles away with little to no damage and brought it back to the house where we began to re-assemble the storage unit.

• Lesson 11: when putting the roof back on a storage unit, do not start pounding on the opposite side of the roof while someone else has their fingers pinched between the roof and the base.
  

we completed the assembly and I was on my way. All in a days work. Thanks for all the lessons.

If you ever need me to come help you with something feel free to call. Also, sorry for my blog being so long, I'm sure as time passes I will get lazy and my blogs will get shorter.