Indiana residents bought flat panel TVs off the street, only to find out they were oven doors.

Investigators in South Bend, Ind., said there has been a rash of oven door thefts recently, and now they know why.

Oh man. When I first read the story, I thought people were crazy (aka stupid). Turns out, there were some level of sophistication involved in the scam. Check out the story over at Wesh.com, and take a look at the slideshow.

I hate doing repost, but yeah this one is too wacky to pass up. Story from the Consumerist.

My brain must have been on vacation during March.

Spring break and all. Too much drinky-winky (just kidding I don’t drink).

I paid my Citi Dividend card late by two days (it was due 3/20), so it was hit with a late fee. See, I was fiddling around with my money by opening a new checking at my credit union, and they were ACHing around—blah blah—and in the mist of things I forgot to schedule payment to the new checking. Poor excuse, I know.

Man, $39.00 is a lot of money. That’ll buy 15 boxes of Cap N’ Crunch. Hmm…

I think I’ll ask them to remove the fee. Because if you want to get rid of fees, just ask!

Update: Citi refunded the late fee. Woot!

It’s not like I just got up today and went to the dealership to buy the car, okay?

But yeah I probably could have waited longer, maybe till November when prices drop more, as next year’s model roll out.

My new 2006 BMW 325i 6MT:

It was a really tough decision, I’ve been debating over it for the past few months now between the new 3 series versus the new 06 Lexus IS line-ups, specifically the BMW 325i versus the Lexus IS 250. After many debates, I went with the “Ultimate Driving Machine.”

The lowdown on Invoice:

• 2006 325i 6MT: $28,300
• Premium Package: $2,640
• Metallic Paint: $430
• The silly iDrive Navigation System: $1,820
• Invoice Total w/ destination: $33,885

What I paid:

• Negotiated $35,300 for car
• 7.75% CA sales tax + fees
• Out of the door: $38,140
• $24,000 down, 5.49% APY
• 36 months loan, monthly payment of: $427

Not really a spectacular deal or anything, but at least I didn’t get rip off.

So, can I afford it?

Who cares!? It’s only a little bit more than the previous ride’s monthly payment. No biggie! Insurance adds up, but eh I’ll worry about it later. It’s not so bad really, first 3 year’s regular maintenaince is on BMW.

Already found a buyer for my old 2001 Honda Civic, gonna see if I can get rid of some small dents and scratches before I unload it, otherwise my other car’s in pretty good condition. (Oh man, always wanted to say that).

Yeah it’s a poor man’s M3, but hey it’s 5 years already, time for a new ride!

Went to the grocery store to pick up some salmon for dinner…

Came back with extra goodies.

Couldn’t help it. They were going 3 for $4.50. It’s a steal.

Aw geez. So I not only bought something I can live without, I pre-ordered it.

Remember how I had to call Best Buy to cancel my pre-order? It was because I want to get it faster; so I went straight to the store and picked a pre-order copy of Guild Wars: Factions.

Anyway the purple chick on the cover told me to buy it. It’s not my fault.

Wasted money? $53.82

On a flip note, if you and your buddies were really good at the game, you’ll get a free trip to Taiwan and have a shot at $50,000. The game world’s crazy these day, I tell ya.

Feeling the need for some Crunch Berries, I opened up my fridge and found something weird.

Uhh.. SunMilk?

Oh no, my mom bought more wannabe milk.

That’s what I thought at first, till I looked closer.

SunMilk is fat free milk with sunflower oil. It has the taste of either 1% or 2% reduced fat milk, with claims of better health benefit than fat-free milk. SunMilk is made by replacing saturated fat found in milk with sunflower oil, which contains monounsaturated fat.

Health claim aside, I’m happy to report that it does taste like 2% milk—maybe even better.

No, I’m not being paid to say this. True story. (Taste is a subjective thing anyway).

It has a few quirks though. One of which is the requirement to shake well before serving, resulting in the milk being uh… a little bit bubbly. Another thing is the unusually long expiration date. The SunMilk was purchased around Jan. 18 2006 and it has an expiration date of March 26, 2006. Interesting.

According to its website, SunMilk is currently only available in Southern California and Las Vegas. Because I didn’t buy it myself, I’m a bit curious on the price… I have a feeling it cost more than regular milk.

So. Is this another gimmicky product from the ever evolving “healthy food” market segment? Or are its claims the real deal?

Even if they are, does it really matter?

I think I’ll try to just keep things simple. Milk is milk. There’s already plenty of decisions to make in life; for the most of us, choosing what type of milk to buy shouldn’t have to be one of them.

“Healthy food” be damn. Eat right and exercise. Case close.

P.S. Found out the price. They’re about $3.50 per carton of half gallon.

Update 5/28/2009: To all SunMilk lovers, unfortunately it looks like SunMilk has been discontinued.  It appears the company has went under due to mismanagement, and the recent economic woes was probably the nail to the coffin. If you know more about this, feel free to give everyone else an update via the comment section. Thanks!

You know, I really think I have a problem.

I’ve been looking at the “Woops, Bought Crap” category… and it looks like I’m transitioning from buying material goods to consumable food products.

Sometimes I justify it by thinking, hey I’m eating it, so it’s not a waste of money at all!

Yeah right.

So anyway, after a visit to a new supermarket in the area, I noticed a brand spanking new bakery shop next door. Let me tell you, I was giddy like a little kid in a candy store.

For the past few weeks, every time I get out of class, I’ll head over and spend about $3-5 in baked goods. Of course, I had plenty of food back at home.

I’m glad school’s over, because now I can try to shake off the addiction.

- – - -

Image stolen from “meet me at the corner of third and fairfax.”

The site’s full of contradiction. I probably post more stuff to buy than stuff not to buy.

If you’re ever in California, or select locations in Arizon and Nevada, you must blow some money (& health) on In-N-Out burgers.  If they ever go public, I’m blowing my life savings on them—even if their balance sheet is a joke. Now that’s brand loyalty!

Related Post:

• A Cookie Story
• Wasted 22 Cents