[bearishgurl]

[quote=FlyerInHi]The whole point of the smog program is to get old cars off the road so we can breathe better.
Go with the spirit of be law. Unless you’re poor, why insist on keeping an old polluting car?[/quote] Because the CA BAR (in this case, Bureau of Automotive Repair) has been overreaching for the last 10+ years in its efforts to get what they consider to be “older vehicles” (um, 16 years is a 1999-2000 vehicle and still fairly young) off the road (or registered as non-ops). It’s to the point where the stupid (STAR directed) excessive rigamarole (over and above smog checks) that these vehicles are put thru is nothing but a profit center for “Test and Repair Stations” statewide. Its’ likely that only 5-15% of these vehicles are actually “gross polluters” and the vehicles that are either originated from MX (or another state which doesn’t have biennial smog checks), are in excess of 35 years old or have never been maintained in any way, shape or form. In short, it’s a scam.

Joe and Suzy 6pack need to be able to get to work and back. This group is HUGE in CA and the $4K to $8K vehicle suits them just fine! They can’t run out and buy a late model vehicle because the monthly payments on it would essentially prevent them from feeding their families.

[bearishgurl]

I agree with Hobie in that a bar complaint in this instance will go nowhere and cause you to use your precious time filing crap with them instead of addressing your problem. If you can prove you truly have a legal easement, I would ignore the letter and stay the course (not legal advice).

If Mr. Wacko sues YOU, then you can answer it.

It sounds to me here like your neighbor paid his (relative?) PI lawyer $50 to write a “mean” letter to you based on what he was told without doing any research (since if you truly have a legal easement and you did NOT try to remove his fence or threaten him, he has no cause of action). Believe me, stranger things have happened.

Sometimes I wonder if most of these ambulance chasers even know how to conduct legal research or draft a complaint without checking boxes on a preprinted court form (or have ever even done so since they got out of law school), lol. PI attorneys mostly operate on volume (and contingency) so don’t really spend too much time on any one case unless it is a vehicular homicide, wrongful death or egregious med mal case.

Have you had your 1-2 hr paid consultation with a qualified RE attorney yet?

[bearishgurl]

[quote=spdrun]It should be a test-only station with good rep. I’ve heard of “test-only” stations “recommending” a mechanic to fix “problems,” where there might be some kind of kickback relationship.

This being said, check online reviews. Sleezy mechanics usually get bad ones.[/quote]

flu, use your trusted mechanic who has been taking care of this car (or your other cars) for years.

You have to give your mechanic cash to pay their trusted “Test Only” smog station because by law, auto repair shops are not allowed to have anything to do with “smog checks.” They’ll bring you back a receipt with your name on it.

[bearishgurl]

I’ve been down this road with a few vehicles. Make sure your smog check station is a Test Only station, NOT a Test and Repair Station! As you know, “Test Only” stations have no incentive to attempt to get “make-work” from older vehicles brought to them because they think they have you over a barrel (esp if it is your only vehicle). Take it to the regular mechanic you use who has a fav “Test Only” station they send their client’s vehicles to and pay them cash so they can take it there for you and pay cash for your retest. After your oil change (to thicker oil), fill the gas tank and add this to it:

Then go on a short road trip (ex: to LA and back). Drive the car until it is empty and then refill the gas tank. Then make an appt with your regular shop and take it there in the morning before you go to work and have them drive it on the freeway for 20-30 mins before they take it for a smog check. You should pass smog.

It’s possible that your shop can check your car over and find something else to do to make it pass smog. During your failed smog check, what did your OBD II readings say were the problems?

[bearishgurl]

[quote=spdrun]Regardless, private insurance rations care. If we could replace the whole mess with national insurance with a decent level of coverage combined with supplemental plans that act more like old-fashioned insurance but operate across state lines, we’d do much better than right now.

Problem in NY is that the firm with the highest level of coverage (Health Republic) was forced to close due to startup funding (aka Risk Corridors) available to it being cut by Congress in 2014. Which was a dirty trick — allow cooperative health plans to start selling insurance, cut their startup funding last minute, than have the GOP waving willys gloat that “Obamacare exchanges are failing.”[/quote]

Interesting, spd. Did “Health Republic” offer plans on your exchange? Who is “Risk Corridors?” I’m not quite understanding your post.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=FlyerInHi]BG, you may see the bills AFTER. What’s the point after when you have no choice but to pay, or the bill has been paid already? Patients don’t think of costs, and don’t get to consider costs/benefits before using services. That’s perverse.

The difference between you and me is that I have no problem separating my own personal situation from policy.[/quote]

It’s not about me, FIH. That’s the way indemnity plans and PPO plans are. I just happened to have those kinds of plans (as well as Tricare Std) all of my adult life so have experience with them.

As a member of one of these plans, you already KNOW what your deductible and co-insurance ceiling is and what the percentage will be of each bill that you’re responsible for.

If you know if advance you are going in for a procedure, you can ask the provider directly in advance if their anesthesiologist is part of your plan’s network so you won’t have any surprises on your bill. You can also ask them for an estimated total cost of the procedure and how much of it you will be responsible for. Better yet, you can go online to your (PPO) plan’s website in advance of your scheduled procedure and look up ALL the providers (dr, facility, anesthesiologist, etc) to see if they are in-network as well as see what they perceive is a “typical cost” for that procedure in your region.

Obviously, if you get carted off in an ambulance to an emergency room, you won’t know in advance what kind of treatment you will need when you get to the hospital. A PPO planholder will have to go with the flow and let their carrier hash the bill out with the hospital. They already know what their emergency room copay will be if they aren’t admitted and all of their deductibles and coinsurance as mentioned above.

It’s not rocket science and it’s not a surprise.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=spdrun]For the majority of Americans, it is, whether it’s called rationing or a high deductible. I’m not sure if a baseline level of public coverage (or public option replaceable with private coverage) would actually make our system worse.

And I’m still frustrated that my aunt needed to wait quite a while to have a PET scan approved for a form of cancer that can grow pretty rapidly if untreated.

It’s almost as if her private insurer said “meh, it would be cheaper if she died in 6 months rather than us paying for treatment.”[/quote]spd, I think if you call her and drill down to the facts, you will find that your aunt has an EPO or HMO.

It is precisely for the reason you mention here that I won’t accept one of those plans. I’ve seen too much already in this regard and can tell you with certainty that in your aunt’s case, time is of the essence. I’ve known too many people who had to wait for approval for a procedure or wait too long to be diagnosed properly by an incompetent set of mishmash unrelated providers across town from one another who effed around for weeks with their (piecemeal) medical records before even setting an appt. These debacles took place all the while these patients’ short window of opportunity to travel to a decent integrated cancer center (with their own in-house lab/scientists) passed before them leaving them only one choice …. hospice.

I’ve seen this scenario play out over and over with those patients who either had an HMO/EPO or lived in an area without an good integrated cancer center for their type of cancer … or both. It’s a really sad situation all around which I feel didn’t need to happen in the way that it did. None of them lived six months and 3 of them lived 3 months or less.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=spdrun]Exactly. If universal health care is adopted, you’ll be able to sign up for a supplement as well. Universal + supplements as opposed to universal, same for all, would be the way to go.

But the basic services will be roughly the same from state to state. You’d be basically part of a larger “network.” So if you get sick out of state (non-emergency) and need to see someone, it would have a reasonable chance of being covered.[/quote]spd, if that “larger network” is “nationwide” then I’m all for it. Right now, plans with a “nationwide network” are far and few between in CA (and prohibitively expensive if not purchased on the exchange). There is only ONE offered on Covered CA and that is Blue Shield of CA (BSoC).

[bearishgurl]

[quote=FlyerInHi][quote=spdrun]Sanders is rising because public health insurance for all (with additional private insurance) is a good idea compared to the jumble we have today. Health care is not a free market anyway, since it’s often bought under duress. So is bringing college costs in line with historical norms. The rest of his ideas are nothing all that special.
[/quote]

I agree.

Young people know and because we are becoming more of a gig economy; and they want to be freed from health insurance premiums altogether. Young people are healthy so they don’t really care about rationing which is inevitable under a public system.

But older boomers with insurance who are used to unlimited health choices (paid for by others) will not like it. These heavy users of the health care system don’t care about costs because they don’t see the bills.

I’m mystified why conservatives who believe in rationing (after all, we are not entitled to everything and anything we want) don’t want health care reform to force lower health costs (abstractly speaking to mean a smaller share of the economy), and to incentivize people to ration their own uses of health services, all the while providing universal coverage.[/quote]

FIH, I’m in that group you speak of here and have never been a “heavy user” of healthcare. Many “boomers” are into holistic practices and alternative (other-the-counter or homeopathic) medicine in place of narcotics for pain and the whole gamut of SSRI’s that so many people of all ages rely on to get thru their day. I don’t know about you but I have personally seen ALL my medical bills (and the EOB’s which paid all or a portion of them) my entire adult life. A policyholder of a medical indemnity plan or member of a PPO will see ALL their bills. A member of an EPO or HMO will not. Even an eligible beneficiary using Tricare Standard (a Federal govm’t funded healthplan akin to a PPO) sees ALL their bills.

But you’re damned straight that I don’t want my “choice of providers” taken away from me, nor do I want a “gatekeeper” calling the shots as to whether I can have a certain kind of care …. or not. If the US adopts universal healthcare before I turn 65, I will waste no time in signing up for a supplement to give me greater control over my own care and a greater choice of providers, just like those Medicare recipients do who sign up for PPO supplements for their MC Part B and D coverage (as opposed to the urban MC-recipient sheeple who sign up for an [HMO] “Advantage Plan”).

[bearishgurl]

[quote=yamashi1]I’ve never been to Oklahoma but I have some friends that went there. Those houses look gorgeous! I have never seen something like that in California except some places in San Marino and Pasadena. Wish they had something like that in SD.[/quote]I quite agree . . . but were they frat/sorority houses?

[bearishgurl]

[quote=yamashi1][quote=deadzone]By the way, for most undergraduate majors, there is practically no difference between any of these large universities, big time football or not, in terms of curriculum, resources, etc.

For example, to suggest that a UMich undergrad is going to receive a superior education versus MSU is utter non-sense. UM may be more “prestigious” for whatever reasons and it is more competitive to get in primarily due to increased competition from out of staters (mostly east coast jews as a matter of fact). But that proves nothing about the actual curriculum or quality of education.

It annoys the hell out of my how much people overrate the value of higher education these days.[/quote]

Agree. Higher education means different things for different people. Personally, I studied a lot in HS and could have went to a more prestigious academic school (top 5 schools by US News) if I wanted to, but based on what I wanted to get out of college I couldn’t have made a better choice. For me college was learning about being away from my parents and having fun, but also able to get a job once I got out. Now that it’s been 15 years since, I’ve learned that success isn’t about what your undergraduate college was ranked (#27 vs. #52). Also to be honest with you, I don’t think it ever mattered. I got my first job from connections I made and have gotten each subsequent job based on referrals. Quality employees and employers don’t base merit on a # spit out by a magazine, they base it on you.[/quote]

yamashi1, I’m assuming here that you meant “I got my first job from connections I made [while in college]…”

My kid(s) did as well. To be frank, it was their “connections” made through business dept internships and their respective Greek organizations which landed them their first (and subsequent) jobs.

On another note: I browsed the OU Greek system web pages yesterday and noticed the gorgeous, well-maintained off-campus all brick behemoths which housed the entirety of their (upper-classmen/women) members (those not required to live on campus). All I can say is “wow!”

More than 5,000 current students have chosen to take advantage of the many benefits of fraternity and sorority life here at the University of Oklahoma and beyond. These benefits include academic assistance, leadership development, close friendships and community involvement. Each of our 58 active chapters is a member of one of our five Greek councils and each offers unique opportunities for personal growth and meaningful experiences to 25% of the University of Oklahoma student population.

http://www.ou.edu/content/studentlife/get_involved/fssl.html

For example, click on a symbol and then their local website to see the houses:

http://www.ou.edu/content/studentlife/get_involved/fssl/panhellenic/chapters.html

Likely due to the prohibitive cost of land, for the most part, CA-based chapters of same organizations don’t have these fantastic benefits for their members … even where Greek organizations are numerous and well-entrenched such as at “Bezerkely” (Cal), UCLA and USC. CA’s frat/sorority houses are much smaller and tend to be more run down, typically housing just 8-20 members. Many of them I’ve seen online and in person are just garden-variety 3 to 5 bdrm tract homes turned frat house (with a paved over front yard for parking). In several CA jurisdictions (with antiquated zoning laws still left on their books) a “sorority house” is still considered a “brothel” and is therefore “illegal.” (Not so with frat houses, lol.) This causes the membership to be scattered over a large area surrounding the university as opposed to residing together (which I feel would be more cohesive).

I still have a few (older) relatives who live in Norman (or very near there). And yes, one had to recently rebuild their entire 10 AC homestead (with ins $) due to being decimated by the record tornado in 2013:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Moore_tornado

In spite of being partially in the path of the (infamous) “tornado alley,” Norman is a really nice city and the university is absolutely first-rate, inside and out and gorgeous to look at.

[bearishgurl]

I may have posted here before that one of my kids let a bedroom and attached bath out of their SF flat using AirB&B for about 2-3 years. They had a pushbutton combo lock on the front door which got changed after every “guest” checked out. They had housekeeping come in every time a guest checked out and put everything back together in there like a hotel room. They didn’t do anything special to the rest of the house and left laptops and other valuables sitting around the living room (though I’m not sure they did while at work) and never got anything stolen. AFAIK, they never got any “crazies” …. only grateful guests who were able to get a room and a bath for at least 30% less than a local hotel room (with cooking facilities if they wished) and sans the TOT. Of course, it helped that they were on a bus line and a 1.5 block walk to another busline and less than a mile from SoMA, which is a big transportation hub in SF (and SF public transportation is very cheap).

I think they netted +/- $70 per night when all was said and done (they gave discounts for a week’s stay).

You have to be willing to tolerate someone coming and going in/out of your house at all hours of the night due to being out partying like the tourist that they are.

[bearishgurl]

Over 10 years ago, I joined a ride-sharing website to meet people who regularly traveled to the same states that I did. I DID meet a couple of nice local (SD County) people (one was a senior couple) who had relatives in the same states and frequented cities nearby to the ones I do.

I think I would have tried this out with one or both parties that I met and conversed with on the phone. But as it turned out, shortly after that, I lost two more close family members to death (whom I had been staying with when I traveled to those cities) so I never ended up traveling with them.

I know this is not the same as “couch surfing,” but one DOES have to trust the person(s) with whom they’re putting their luggage in their trunk and and driving cross-country with (or vice versa) . I mean, after all, I could easily have been shot and my body dumped in the desert between Deming and Lordsburg (NM) and no one would have been the wiser :=0

[bearishgurl]

[quote=yamashi1]Paramount your points are well taken and most likely true. Personally, I went to Michigan State and decided to not go to UofM (despite getting offered) for the reasons you stated earlier. When I was 18 my priorities were partying, and meeting new people (most of my friends were going to UofM). I was one of those people that chose business as my major because I really didn’t have a true passion for anything, although I excelled at most. Looking back, picking MSU was one of the best decisions of my life. MSU is where I met my wife, made my most important business and personal contacts, and continues to give me a team to root for on the weekends. In addition, each time I meet a fellow Spartan it gives us something to talk about. This being said, such as most things in life, the choice of a university is a personal choice which is neither right nor wrong. I also believe that your negative opinions are not warranted, ignorant and heavily biased.[/quote]

yamashi1, I agree that university is the best place to meet business and personal contacts, especially those which would be useful in landing a (future) job in your field.

However, I don’t think the choice of a university (for today’s applicants) is a “personal choice.” It may have been in the past but the entrance bar is very high now in the vast majority of both public and private colleges and universities, ESPecially in CA.

The reality is that a HS student-applicant (or soon-to-be CC graduate-applicant) must be chosen by one or more schools they apply to. It’s nothing but a numbers game which is a crapshoot in the CA public university systems unless the applicant has a legacy in a particular school, is a member of a group or nationality which that campus is seeking to admit more of or has a minimum 3.9 cumulative GPA in HS (or a 3.5 GPA for two FT years of CC). And the first two “admission criteria” don’t always pan out for the applicant attempting to use them on their application.

Gone are the days when the solid “B” HS student could easily get admitted as a freshman to a CSU campus. I suspect Michigan’s admission bar has been raised (possibly multiple times) since you attended it.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=paramount]A few facts to consider (although slightly off topic):

*Most D1 football programs actually operate at a deficit

*Not uncommon for students at these football schools to pay excessive ‘athletic fees’

*College football is big business at many public universities, and has no business being so – when many are non profit to begin with. Why should tax payers have to support a semi-pro sports team when the purpose of a university should primarily be academics.

In many of these schools, it’s football.

As I’ve said before: Jonathan Gruber was right.[/quote]Football (and other college sports) is the only thing many residents in the HUGE community surrounding OU live for. Yes, even the senior citizens! Football season tix are always sold out months in advance (when they first become available).

http://www.soonersports.com/

I would have loved it if my kids could have qualified to apply for this school but at the time my youngest was submitting college apps the entry GPA for OOS students averaged 3.67 and my kid only had a 3.1. The bar is higher now, mainly due to its desire to admit deserving in-state freshman hailing from rural areas (who didn’t have the AP/IB offerings of urban HS’s). OU has a deeply-entrenched Greek system as well.

http://www.ou.edu/studentlife/get_involved/fssl/ifc.html

The rent there for a decent nearby off-campus apt is about $400-$550 for a 2/2 (with 2 assigned pkg spaces). That’s so much cheaper than CA, esp in the big cities. If my kids qualified for acceptance, they would have been required to pay only 25-30% of the OOS tuition premium (over and above in-state tuition) due to family legacies and their heritage.

Of course, their CalVet waiver wouldn’t have been accepted but due to the low, low COL there, it would have been worth it to pay slightly more OOP for them to have a diploma from prestigious OU. Especially since they have a few nearby relatives with pickups at the ready if they need to move, family to “rescue” them if their vehicle breaks down or make phone calls if they land in the hospital. Or if they just wanted to visit a real home with family for Sunday dinner and/or holidays and/or take a break from their studies with a bit of horseback riding on a Sunday afternoon 🙂 (Having nearby family was a benefit of my kid(s) attending university in SF as well.)

As deadzone and others posted, lots of “football schools” have a fabulous selection of academic programs, some of which are very highly rated and prestigious.

It doesn’t really matter if your Native Cali student attends college OOS. They can always return to CA to accept a job after graduation if they so choose to. The quality, prestige (and cost) of the educational programs of the institution matter a lot, whether or not it has a big, well-known athletic dept …. or not.

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