My Review of Roku HD Streaming Player

Originally submitted at Roku

The best value in HD streaming, using less power than a nightlight! Includes built-in wireless, and works with almost any TV.

Roku HD Streaming Player

Where is YouTube?

By firebyrd58 from Tallahassee, Florida on 10/3/2012

 

4out of 5

Pros: Simple Controls, Fast Setup, Improved Audio/Video, Wonderful Picture, Attractive Design

Cons: Need More Channel Options

Best Uses: Movies, Home

Describe Yourself: Enthusiast

Was this a gift?: No

Absolutely a great product for those who are trying to wean ourselves of high cost and poor service of satellite and cable providers (I'm talking to you, Comcast!). Especially, given the fact that they continue to shove the majority of the channels we don't want to justify their pricing scheme just so we can get those few channels we love rather than provide their services in an A La Carte fashion.

(legalese)

The Super-Lube Scam

I'd like to start with the most recent incident when I took my daughter's 2005 Honda Civic to the local Super-Lube here in
Tallahassee, Florida for an oil change. I purchased this car six months earlier from a private dealer here in town after getting the
screws from the local dealers here on "the strip". This being her first car, she wanted to take it to the beach for her first Spring
Break being legally able to drive. I told her before she left that it would have to have an oil change before she hit the road
because it had reached 75,000 miles on the odometer. My axiom regarding oil changes is to change it every 5000 miles using the
odometer as my marker...5000, 10000, 15000, etc., with an air filter every 15,000 miles in city/highway driving. That was what my
dad taught me when he bought me my first car and it has done me well ever since, particularly considering the fact that the quality
of lubricants has improved considerably in the last thirty-five years. Businesses like Super-Lube who specialize in oil changes like
to put a sticker in your windshield to "remind" you that you will need to change every 3000 miles. That's a bogus claim that is part
of their scam to get their damn hands in your wallet more often than necessary, but once you are there, the real screws are turned on
as I found out more than once.
As I rolled in and parked over the bay, I specifically told the attendants as I got out of the car that all I wanted was an oil
change and a new oil filter. I knew that they like to pad extra services onto your bill if you let them. I took my newspaper over
to the bench and sat down to enjoy a quick read while they worked away. Soon, one of the attendants mentioned that my car had over
75,000 miles and that they had a new "high-mileage" oil that would be perfect for it. Against my better judgement, I reluctantly
agreed after discovering that the oil was only about $6 a quart. Being a semi-synthetic, I thought that it couldn't hurt and I was in
a good mood for the moment...my mistake. Just as I was getting into a good news story, my air filter was shoved in my face with one
hand by an attendant who was also carrying in the other hand a checklist of other "problems" that my car suffered from that needed
immediate attention. All of sudden, I began to see a bill surpassing $300 for a quick trip to get my oil changed. I told him to
just change the air filter and I would get to the rest when I got back from vacation if I had any money left. Well, you could have
hit me in the face with a rabid badger after getting a final bill of $88 just to change the oil and two filters. What really
infuriates me is my own complicity in this scam as I'm well aware that they are taught these tactics by corporate to squeeze as much
profit out of each customer that rolls through. How do I know? My son used to work for them. I've also had it done to me before
which is why I never go to Super-Lubes. Yet here I was in such a hurry, I thought I could bully my way through with just a simple
oil change. Why I didn't push back when the "hard sell" began infuriates the hell out of me to this day. Lesson
learned...again...don't go to Super-Lube if you value your hard-earned paycheck.

I never would have thought that I would find myself blogging, but here I am dessiminating my thoughts into the ether for anyone to inhale. In this case, I have a focus for this blog and that is to record the events in my life that compel me to warn and/or educate others when I feel that someone or something is trying to get what loose change they can grab out of my pockets...which is why this blog is named thusly. And that seems to be getting more frequent as hard time press down on all of us. The true character of an individual, or a corporation for that matter, seems to be revealed when external pressures are applied. It's not that these people are evil-minded with evil intentions. Getting through this life is a tough nut to say the least. There is only so much money passing through each other's hands to go around. Some like to have just enough to get by, some like to share it with others and then there are those who would like to horde it in order to make themselves happier; but, in the end, we've all got to have it to live. That's just how it works on Planet Earth. So it was this blog that I hope to provide some insight and information about how others try to obtain their piece of the pie at the expense of others.