Great Restaurants' Discount if purchased by end of 10-31-07

Here is a great deal I found on the internet at Restaurant.com But you have to act fast. This coupon must be purchased by the end of October 31, 2007.

Go to their website and put in your zip code. Scan for restaurants in your area that appeal to you. You will see coupons such as $10 off a dining bill of $25, or something like that. Put the quantity in your "cart". At the checkout page, input the coupon code "TREATS" in capital letters. You will get 70% off your coupon purchase.

For example, we love Lighthouse Fish & Chips in Simi Valley. To get a $10 off certificate for a purchase of $25, the charge for the certificate is $3. Inputting the coupon code brings the charge for the certificate down to .90 cents.

The certificates are good for whenever you go, however you must use the code to purchase the certificate by the end of October 31, 2007.

Buon appetito!
Karen

Thousand Oaks Street Fair

The Rotary Club's Thousand Oaks Street Fair is scheduled for Sunday, November 4, 2007. From the Rotary Club's website there is the following information:
Sunday, November 4th, 2007
9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
The Thousand Oaks Rotary Street Fair continues as the premier Arts & Crafts Fair of Ventura County with over 25,000 attendees and 245 vendor booths. It is a great showcase that continues to grow and offer new exciting events.
NEW! "Rodeo Drive": a new area specifically for artisans displaying their own hand-made products.
NEW! in the spirit of Oktoberfest, a Beer and Wine Garden joins the
Whole Foods Taste of the Conejo Valley
The Domino's Pizza Kids Playground with games, crafts, jumpees, soft drinks and pizza.
Two stages will have music, dancing, singing and reptiles for the kids.

Notary Public

Notary Rates

Did you know that our rates are the most reasonable in the Ventura and Los Angeles area? They are! Just call around and ask for a rate quote. Not only will you find that we are the most affordable, but you will also notice that we are the most experienced in our area. We are also a private service company with the California Secretary of State. Because of this, our apostille service is quite successful and fast. That's the reason we have so many corporate clients. Next time you need a notary or apostille for an international document give our Notary Service a call.

California Fires

It is incredible to see such a beautiful day today after so many days of destruction. This weekend we had light showers, so today the sky is clear and there is moisture in the air.

For those who haven't seen Malibu Canyon since the fire, everything is charred from after the last tunnel down to Pacific Coast Highway. The "castle" is destroyed.

If only we had this rain last week, things may have been quite different. The smoke, ashes, and orange skies are gone.

My heart goes out to those that lost their life or family possessions through these fires. There are so many stories of loss...

San Diego County figures:
Residences destroyed -- 1,588
Residences damaged -- 320
Commercial properties destroyed -- 2
Commercial properties damaged -- 0
Outbuildings damaged -- 720
Outbuildings destroyed -- 25
Evacuated residences -- 640,000
Firefighters injured -- 93
Civilians injured -- 23
Civilian fatalities -- 7
Total firefighters assigned -- 8,324

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the art of mindfulness

Gold Star Events Half Priced Tickets

Our partner,Gold Star Events
has half priced tickets to events in the following metropolitan areas:
Los Angeles
San Francisco
San Diego
Orange County
San Jose
Chicago
Washington DC
New York
Boston
Las Vegas

We can not speak highly enough about their outstanding prices, convenience, and personal service. Many events are cheaper than going to a movie. Just sign up for their free weekly email of current events, and you will have a weekly listing sent to you of tickets available in your area. You must put in your local zip code to browse events close to you. Also, consider them when traveling to Las Vegas or New York City. You can get tickets ahead of time for your vacation stay. Simply browse with the zip code that you will be visiting for available events.

I love finding great money saving bargains. I would appreciate knowing the shows you've seen. Drop me an email or post on this blog. Thanks,

Have fun.
entertainment and tickets for things to do

California Notary Law Change January 1, 2008

Beginning January 1, 2008, notaries will no longer be able to use "personal knowledge" of an individual's identification as sufficient to perform notarizations. What this means is that friends, neighbors, repeat business clients, family, will have to provide current acceptable identification to obtain a notarization. This must occur even when the notary is familiar with the signers identity.

As an alternative, the use of two credible witnesses that can swear to the individuals identity will still be a possibility. However, the two credible witnesses will have to provide their current identification, take an oath, and sign the notary journal. Both witnesses wil be acting as the signer's human identification cards.

To avoid difficultues in obtaining notarizations when identifiying witnesses may not be available, this would be a good time to apply for a California Identification Card. This can be obtained through the local DMV office.

It is good for seniors that are no longer driving to obtain a California ID Card, and the ID Card if available for all individuals at any age. I have noticed, extended care facilities are frequently reluctant to act as witnesses for their clients due to the mistaken belief that if they are involved in the notarization, they could be financially responsible. In fact, most employees in extended care facilities and nursing homes refuse to state the identity of the individual that is requesting a notarization. And if families members are somehow named in the document, or stand to benefit by the document, they can not be used as identifying witnesses.

For these reasons, if you have a senior in your family that no longer has a current driver's license, I strongly recommended that you assist them in obtaining the California ID Card at this time. The card is good for ten years and will be helpful anytime the individual must sign legal, financial, or insurance documents. Here is a link to the Department of Motor Vehicles which will answer questions about obtaining the ID Card. Making an appointment at the local DMV, producing a acceptable identification such as a birth certificate, providing a social security number appears all that is necessary. For further information on this process, check with the DMV link above. The card is free for seniors 62 and older. There is a fee for all other individuals.

Karen
Notary Public

नोतार्य लव चंगेस

Now that is an eye catching title. There is a hindi tranlation option on blogger. I had the button checked by accident while I was beginning to post about changes in notary law. I thought I'd leave it as it looks interesting.

So....who is going to be our next President?

I have been watching the debates with interest, both democrat and republican. It seems the republicans are maintaining a low profile and there is much more "news" about democratic candidates lately. I can't imagine that a republican would be successful given what has gone on in Washington for the last 7 years. I think perhaps that is why the low profile. They are in a tough position - support Bush and be associated with disaster or rail against Bush and loose their party's support.

I think for the first time in history we may be looking at a minority president, either Female or Afro-American. It sure would be nice to find a reasonable exit plan for the middle east conflict as we need to focus on issues at home, as well as rebuilding our international reputation that has suffered so much in the last 7 years.

Your thoughts are welcome.

Sources for Consumer Complaints

consumer-advocacy
Since my difficulty with Circuit City, I have found several outstanding consumer complaint websites. I feel they are wonderful sources as not only do they give the consumer a venue to spew their difficulty out to the world, but it provides a forum where others may provide suggestions toward resolution. Some of these resolutions include obtaining contact information for corporate executives, information that is not easily found on business sites these days.

Here they are:

• My 3 Cents
• Clark Howard (consumer advocate in Florida serving the nation)
• Planet Feedback
• Public Citizen Protecting Health, Safety, and Democracy
• Consumer Affairs

Through one of the above sites, I was able to terminate, without fees, a cingular account for three phone lines after I had gone through a period of time getting double billed from both AT&T and Cingular during their transition. Since they are now going back to AT&T, I imagine the double billing from both companies names is going on again. I can't believe there hasn't been a class action suit pertaining to that as yet.

Clark Howard is a radio consumer advocate that focuses on saving money and finding the truth about products and services. The neat thing about his website is that you can either email a question or call to speak with a consumer advocate. These folks are volunteers under the tutorship of Mr. Clark and they will answer your questions for information as to the best course of action to take. They were key in resolving my difficulty with Cingular. I had a corporate executive, yes a top brass individual from Cingular call me within 3 days after my consultation with the "team Clark" folks. Clark Howard starting out in the travel industry. He is a self made millionaire. I remember once reading on his site that he is a frequent Coscto shopper. The email to contact "team Clark" is teamclark@clarkhoward.com. They are wonderfully helpful folks.

Another individual I highly recommend is Harold Cameron of HaroldSays. He has a blog - HaroldSays - that you can visit for assistance. Harold has devoted his full attention to helping folks with problems with business or government agencies. He does not charge for his assistance. Because this is all he does, he has gathered access to many corporate and government office contacts. His focus is positive and he will post a praise on his blog when he gains the cooperation of a business or agency when attempting to help someone. Because of Harold, I was able to get the attention of Circuit City executive offices, however we are still working on resolution at this time.

If you have any information about further consumer agencies that are helpful to consumers, please feel free to post them on this blog.

On another note, in the course of my billing problem with Cingular, I did find out that the FCC, which is supposed to be a watchdog for wireless phone companies, really does nothing. When the FCC receives a complaint about a wireless provider, they refer the complaint back to the wireless provider to investigate themselves. There is no investigation by the FCC. Wireless companies have free reign on what they choose to do to consumers. Basically the fox is watching the hen house on that one. I did write to our elected officials with respect to wireless phone companies during the time of Cingular double billing and threatening, however that did not go anywhere. I hope that someday, wireless providers will be regulated by the government. I'm sure this will do a lot to bring down the steep costs and improve customer service. There are just too many folks with a "hate" relationship with their wireless phone providers, however they are locked into service agreement with providers that know they have a captive audience.

Have a Nice Day?

I was just thinking today, after someone said "Have a nice day", how now it's part of accepted social salutation. It's like "Nice to meet you". There are so many things that we say unconsciously as a beginning or ending to a social interaction. But when I stopped to think about it after this person said to have a nice day, I took a moment to actually take that in. I mean, I made an intent to have a nice day. I also thought that next time I use this phrase to someone else, I will say it consciously. I don't think I've done that before. It just sort of drops from my mouth unconsciously.

I think that in this busy, over-crowded, telephone voice menu laden, information crazy world, I think it's important to take a minute and look around. I find that with all the running around that I do, I have to make an effort to stop and see around me, ie. really be alive. This morning, as I was thinking about having a nice day, I thought I would use this for myself as a reminder to stop in the day, and use this as a cue for when others tell me to have a nice day. Each time I hear that or say that, I will put the conscious thought in my head to really have a nice day and find all the things in my day that support that thought. Heck, this isn't a dress rehearsal.

Have a wonderful day.

Karen
the art of mindfulness

Ceramics and Hatz?

I'm wondering how many of our clients blog? This is something I have just discovered and wow it's fun.

Did I mention that I'm taking a ceramics class at Moorpark College? This has been great fun and I plan to take the second semester class as well. I love the pottery wheel. It is my goal to get one for my home. Next will be the kiln. If anyone knows of any used equipment available in the Ventura and Los Angeles county areas, please let me know.

I recently went to the Ventura County Harvest Festival just to see the ceramics vendors. I was a little disappointed that very few actually showed up for the fair. I was told by the "Jax - Hatz" lady that the Pomona Harvest Festival, during the first week of December, is much bigger and has many more vendors. I'll be there.

Speaking of hats, I bought one. It is so wonderful that I wore it around the house with my pajamas. Needless to say, I looked ridiculous with that combination, but I loved the hat so much....well I just had to. If you do take a look at the website I posted for Jax, the one I purchased is the Cortland, but mine is brown and tan ribbed. It looks quite 1930, my favorite design era. Here is a picture of the hat on one of the models. Another interesting note about Jax Hatz is that they don't seem to crush the hair - the main reason I usually don't wear hats. I was very impressed as you can see. I highly recommend checking out their website. Enjoy.

Karen

Thousand Oaks Circuit City has got to be the worst company we have ever encountered

consumer-advocacy
I didn't want to use this blog for a complaint board, however I am considering the following as a community service message with the sincerest integrity.

I mistakenly purchased a laptop from the Thousand Oaks Circuit City store last year. I also mistakenly purchased their City Advantage Warranty. It was the most expensive warranty I have ever purchased. $500. In fact, I don't usually purchase warranties at all. But for an expensive laptop, I thought it was worth taking the warranty.

I have had nothing but problems with Circuit City, the laptop, and their warranty. There is no way to contact the corporate office. They shield themselves quite well from consumers as all calls are routed to Manila Philippines. When asking the folks in the Philippines for their corporate contact, they simply state, "I do not have the means to contact the corporate office and can not share that with you". Interestingly, the Circuit City in Thousand Oaks, where the laptop was purchased also states that they have no means to contact corporate. I am wondering what they do if their paycheck is missing? Oh well....maybe next month.

The laptop in question repeatedly shuts off without warning. It could be after 5 minutes or 2 hours. The keys either fall off, or when pressed, type multiple unwanted letters through out the document. This necessitates a second round of proof reading to fix all the errors.

Did I say this is the second time in one year that this has happened? Did I also say, this is the second laptop doing the same things? The first was returned the second week of service. Although this one is a year old, it has now been gone for repair a total of 2.5 months, so I guess it is less than a year in service.

The "store director" of the Thousand Oaks Circuit City informs me that there is nothing he can do to assist me. He states that warranty service is handled separately although the purchase is made through Circuit City. Warranty calls always go to either Manila or India. The warranty company is Assurant Solutions, although Circuit City calls it their City Advantage warranty. Although I have a warranty in hand, Assurant seems to change what is covered at each phone call. Kinda like random statements. Although the replacement laptop is supposed to be provided for repeated problems, replacement is at their discretion and arbitrary. Of course there is no way to contact Circuit City corporate. I did get the email of their legal counsel, however a similarly rude and unhelpful response was found there as well.

So, it seems that with Circuit City, one has no other recourse other than small claims court. I have done extensive research on Circuit City on the internet and found many similarly frustrated customers, as well as numerous lawsuits., and no one is able to contact corporate. One would wonder why they are so protectively shielded from consumer contact?

We have all had dissatisfaction with cell phone carriers, but somehow we move on. Perhaps changing carriers and grumble about our experiences along the way. However I have never encountered such rude, sales hungry no matter what they have to say to get the sale, and purely worthless warranty as with Circuit City. It has been that bad as to warrant this community service message to our local clients toward the aim of consumer empowerment.

Throughout the last view years, I have noticed PC Club on Thousand Oaks Blvd to be outstanding in service. They build computers and laptops and also service them onsite. There is no need to call some distant person in Manila or India that cares little about consumer needs as they will never have to speak with that person again. I guess this speaks a lot about supporting local businesses and old fashioned service.

In this world of "big boxes" and phone voice menus, old fashioned values and service is getting to be harder to find and something we are slowly letting go of. How sad. It's like walking into a stinky room and not noticing the smell after a while, we acquiesce. I encourage readers to do a google search on "complaints Circuit City". This is something that this writer should have done before entering the Thousand Oaks Circuit City store. Choose wisely before giving your money to Circuit City. They are on the receiving end of a lot of bad feedback and they don't seem to care. In check the companies financials, they also make the bulk of their money from their warranty sales. This was found recently by an independent rating firm that is unrelated to the Wall Street houses that may have conflict of interests in rating Fortune 500 companies. Circuit City is also the owner of Car Max. Glad I didn't purchase a car from them.

The bottom line of this laptop story is that the warranty company sent the laptop to Nexicor in Simi Valley for repair. Nexicor said the laptop needed the fan "dusted" off and now after a one hour test, it is working fine. Funny they didn't notice any "dust" in the Thousand Oaks Circuit City when they opened the laptop several weeks before. The Thousand Oaks Circuit City store said that the laptop was shutting down in their presence when testing it for several days. But then the warranty company didn't observe that. Now after a mere dusting after the second trip to a repair facility, it suddenly working? But then I wouldn't know this as Nexicor sent the laptop to the wrong address through DHL over a week ago and the laptop is now lost. They currently indicate that they can't help me with locating it as I have should now be working with DHL for a resolution. That's funny, didn't Circuit City get the money for the laptop? At this point, I have not had the laptop in my possession for over a month and everyone of the above business claims it is not their responsibility.

When you consider purchasing consumer electronics, I would highly recommend working with a local business that can provide service locally in our own community. Since we have purchased one computer from PC Club that has never needed either software or hardware support, I would highly recommend them, plus they are right there when you need them. Their corporate office is in City of Industry, however repairs are accomplished at the Thousand Oaks Blvd location.

If you are similarly situated as myself with a Circuit City matter, I would welcome your comments and contact. Perhaps a class action suit with respect to their warranty service is needed. If companies continue to get away with this type of bad behavior they are still around to take advantage of the next community member.

Harvest Festival at Ventura Fairgrounds 10-6 and 10-7-2007

Don't forget to check out the Harvest Festival at the Ventura County Fairground today and tomorrow. There will be displays of arts and crafts, food, entertainment, and wonderful ocean breezes. This notary from Thousand Oaks will be there to check out the ceramics for ideas in pottery class. Have fun!
entertainment and tickets for things to do

What is a Notarization?

I have seen many google, msn, and yahoo searches for an answer to "What is a notarization". I thought I would explain this in layman's terms for your convenience.

A notarization is an act performed by a public notary whereby the notary has either checked the identify of the signer of the document and verifies that the signer is, in fact, who they say they are OR it can also a circumstance where the public notary administers an oath to the signer, where the signer swears that the statement they have made in the document is true to the best of their knowledge. The first example is called an acknowledgment. That is when the notary verifies the identity of the signer. The second example is called a jurat. That is when the signer swears to the truth of some statement, such as is done in a court room.

A notary is actually a public official acting in the capacity of an uninvolved witness. When a document is notarized, such in the examples described above, the act of the notary checking the signer's identity, administering an oath to the signer to compel truthfulness, and signing and stamping the document lends credibility to the document so that it will have full force and effect. This is an important process that should be considered when entering into any written contract or written statement as it will confirm that the signer of the document was in fact the person they claimed to be.

I hope this explains notarization more clearly. If you have any further questions about this process, please send us an email. You can also check our Notary Public website for further information about public notary terms.

Russian Adoption

Today we finished the last document for a family adopting a three year old Russian girl. Needless to say, an international adoption dossier is quite an endeavor for a family to go through. This has been going on for many months and today the last document was completed. I feel like part of the family and the long focused process of bringing this child home to her new family. What a joy this has been, it is probably my favorite notary activity. This particular family has been my favorite.

The new parents have already visited Russia once to meet with the child. They expect to have a Russian court hearing within the next few weeks to make the adoption final and take their new family member home with them. The picture that was displayed to me showed a very cute blonde-headed darling.

To travel back and forth, the family has had to purchase open ended plane tickets that would allow them to change dates at the last minute depending on any circumstances with the court. At any time in this process, anything can go wrong. The amount of money and the uncertainty that a family must go through with an international adoption is quite staggering. Seeing this come to a successful close has been quite a joy.

We have performed notarizations for many adoptions, but it is really a special treat to do the entire dossier with the family. Today I'm feeling like I want to be waiting at LAX when she arrives just to take a peek and smile. I wish them the best.

Notary Fees for Service

What a beautiful day it is today! This seems like the perfect weather for hiking near the beach.

I wanted to take a moment to discuss an important topic when ordering notary services. When you need a notary to come to your location to sign documents, you call for an appointment and a rate quote. It is good to understand that the notary gives you a rate quote based on what you tell them you need. For instance, my associate was called for a one document signing to someone's location in Encino. Based on signing one document and travel charge, an appropriate rate was quoted. However, when the notary arrived, instead of one document, the signer had a large loan package. The result was that the signing, which would have been 15 minutes for one document, ended in 90 minutes of loan documents with many pages needing notarizations. Needless to say the client was disappointed about their previous rate quote, but appropriately informed before the notary started the signing and the rate was agreed upon at that time.

When you need notary service and are interested in a realistic rate quote, be prepared to inform the notary on the phone whether it is a loan package or a single document. The difference in rate quote can be quite large. Singe notarizations in the state of California are $10 per signature, plus a travel charge to your specific location. These types of notarizations are usually quick and your fee will be quite low for the convenience of having this done at your location without interrupting the rest of your day. However, if you have a loan to sign, understand that this can include sometimes up to 16 actual notarizations ore more. The time and attention to minute detail taken is important on such a transaction. This is the reason for the larger fee. Also, if you are needing service at a detention facility, you will likely pay a much higher fee as the time spent to go through security and waiting for the prisoner can be quite long, at times, taking several hours.

The most important thing to remember, however, is to be clear on what you are needing before calling the notary so the fee that you are quoted is realistic to your actual needs. This will ensure there is no miscommunication or disappointment. If you have any questions or need an idea of a realistic quote for your specific job, please call Karen at 805.444.7064 or visit our notary services website. I hope this helps.

Give a Guy a Dollar?

I have found the funniest thing on the internet. There's this guy that is looking for donations for a dollar, just because. Now normally, any type of random begging turns me off completely. But I must admit, his site is funny. No, I haven't sent a dollar. But I sure would like to know how many folks have sent him a dollar. He appears honest and straight forward. To many folks, such as with myself, this is a refreshing interpersonal approach. Check it out Give a Guy a Dollar , and have a chuckle.

Now the question it, would any readers give this guy a dollar, and why? Maybe for a laugh with an honest guy? Let me know. This is a chuckle.