As you probably don’t recall, I got insurance on my EnV2 when I bought it last year. I’d never gotten insurance before. This past Monday, I managed to lose my cellphone. By Tuesday, I had hunted, called everyplace it might be, so I placed a claim through my insurance online.
Literally in minutes, I paid my deductible ($50), and my claim had been made. I was a little worried I might not get my phone in maroon again, but I was able to select that I wanted maroon (and being the ingrate I am, I was a little disappointed I wasn’t getting an EnV3, LOL). It was shipped over night, and I got it on Wednesday. Setting it up was a breeze. Its definatly worth the $5 a month I spend on it.

I’ve known Boston Market so long, I remember when they were Boston Chicken. I’m a fan of their side dish sampler (mmm, mashed potatoes, mac n cheese, and creamed spinach); however, the service at my local Boston Market is slower than molasses. When I had the opportunity as a BzzAgent to find out about their holiday catering options, I was curious. The catering options look very good, and I’m sure they are tasty, but the service at my local Boston Market is so darned slow (as I verified last night) I’m not sure I’ go there. However, I also received a packet of their Give Kids the World prootion coupons, and they are great-I highly recommend picking one up.

Yet another Friends and Family sale, this time from Lands End. It ends tomorrow, but drop me a comment with your e-mail, and I’ll forward it to you!

From November 12 through November 15, Gap (and its partners Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athleta) are having their Friends and Family sale again.  For those of you who are unaware of what this sale is, the Gap Friends and family sale is one of the best deals out there-30% off in store, online, and Gap and Banana Republic outlets.  If you are looking for this coupon, just leave a comment with your e-mail address and I’ll have one sent to you.

I’ve held an Amazon.com Visa for over six years.  I got a letter from them about two months ago saying I was being upgraded to a Visa Signature card-as far as I could see, the biggest bonus was two points for every dollar spent in drugstores, grocery stores and gas. However, the other day I was perusing a magazine in a waiting room, and I learned that   Fandango has a promotion where if you go to Fandango.com/visasignature, you can get a free movie ticket when you buy one.  Pretty cool!

November 11 (next Wednesday!) is Veterans’ Day.  My father served in the Coast Guard during the Korean War, so it was always a celebrated holiday in my house.  Were he still alive today, I’m quite sure he’d be plotting out the best way to take advantage of these freebies.

• Applebees is offering veterans and active military a free meal.


• Unos is offering a free meal or pizza to veterans with the purchase of another meal.


• Krispy Kreme is giving a free donut (any flavor) to veterans and active duty military personnel.


• On November 8 (Saturday) McCormick & Schmick’s is offering a free meal to veterans.


• Fire and Ice (a Boston area restaurant) has a coupon for a free meal for veterans via e-mail.  Leave your e-mail if you’reinterested and I’ll forward it.

As I’ve mentioned before, I am a BzzAgent, and as such I receive items to “Bzz” about.  I am currently participating in a Bzz Campaign for SoftSoap’s Nutri Serum bodywashes.  I myself opted to go with the Softsoap Bodywash Nutri Serums Replenishing with Omega 3 & 6, as I found the concept of getting something I should eat via my skin cool. Now, I’m kind of a shower gel diva, I usually stock up during the Bath and Body Works semi-annual sales.  I wasn’t terribly impressed with this body wash.  It didn’t moisturize any better than any other shower gel, and my skin still required the same amount of lotion.  It’s smell was meh, it’s one cool feature was the serum balls.  You know those Bath Oil Beads your parents put out for company? There are a bunch of those in the serum, which can be fun to smoosh.
If you’re interested in finding out how reviews of this have spread, log onto Chatthreads.com and enter my number of 101-763-271313.  Thanks!

I’m a fan of eBay, I love how easy it is to find what you need, and you an find anything there (I recently ordered a piece of china from a pattern discontinued in 2003).  So when I heard about eBay Bucks, I was very interested.  As you all know, I am a big fan of getting free money through rewards when I shop, so I was really hoping that I’d get a Beta invite.  I got one in July.  eBay bucks are fairly simple, as long as you pay with Paypal, you get 2% back.  Similar to their stipulations on most cashback sites, you can’t use in on eBay motors or other such areas.  Your earnings are summed up by quarter, and you get your bucks shortly after the quarter’s end.  Mine reached me today, and I have until November 9 to use them.

So, I’ve been stewing on a post on this concept for several months.  Sometimes it’s silly little things-on my graduation present trip to Disney World in 2002, my dad and I had been joking for months about getting our photo from the Tower of Terror.  We rode, we saw the photo, my dad decide it was too expensive.  Three years later, on my mom’s and my trip to Disneyland, I turned to my mother and said “I wish Dad had gotten the darn picture.”  Less than four months before he died, my parents went on a long-awaited silver anniversary trip to Paris.  When we were visiting with a family friend after the mass, she kept on perseverating on the fact “[my parents] were so smart to just go to Paris, as you never know.”  My mother tried to point out that while she was glad they went, they had their ducks in  row, so the cost wasn’t an issue.

Fast forward to 2008.  Said family friend’s husband goes through multiple cancer treatments (frankly, at the risk of sounding morbid, I was checking emergency flight fares to go to his funeral about weekly at that point) and comes out clean.  Then, his beloved Nittany Lions made it to the Rose Bowl.  They debated going with his fraternity, but decided the cost was too high.  In my opinion, they could have afforded it if the cut out some extras.  He died in May.

Now, I’m seeing it play out for a friend of mine. Her father died suddenly, and, in addition to all the other issues that came with death, she was worried about having to shoulder the burden of his debts.  Although it’s turned out that she doesn’t, she’s still left shouldering the physical manifestation of his fiscal irresponsibility.