Um, Yeah

And more than once, too:

Caveat emptor: When you go into a drugstore in New York City, it’s best to check the expiration date of common over-the-counter medications, which can be expired even at large national chains, a survey by the state attorney general’s office has found.

The attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, said on Thursday that he sent his staff to 1,000 pharmacies across the state in March, April and May and found expired items — including milk, eggs, infant formula and common medications — at more than 250 stores across the state, including 50 in New York City.

Mr. Cuomo said at a news conference in Manhattan that the two worst offenders were Rite Aid and CVS, where investigators bought more than 600 items — though typically only one or two per store — that had expired. Many of the items were intended for children.

“Consumers deserve what they pay for,” Mr. Cuomo said.

(“Consumers deserve what they pay for” — what does that mean exactly?)

These Vagabond Shoes Are Longing To Spray

Note Long Island bashing:

Graffiti does not seem to be much of a problem in the Port Washington. Not along Port Washington Boulevard, a main commercial strip. And certainly not on Graywood Lane.

That’s where Gregory Cianca, 24, lives with his family. But the place where Cianca puts his graffiti tag, VELO, is some 20 miles away, in Astoria, according to authorities.

Police sources who deal with taggers say more taggers are doing their work in the five boroughs because it gets them more attention, among other taggers and on Web sites dedicated to graffiti.

“This is how they make a name for themselves,” says one source. “You get a lot of attention if you tag in the city.”

. . .

Cianca’s lawyer says there’s no city-suburb dynamic here, no desire by his client to make his mark in the city.

“He’s just a local kid who grew up in Queens,” said Stephen Mahler. “It’s not like he’s going to the city from Long Island for graffiti.”

But police sources say differently. For year, police say they’ve seen Europeans cross the Atlantic solely to spray paint or scrawl their tags on subways, on bridges, on buildings, even videotaping their exploits so they can play superstar when they return home to show their friends. But they don’t always come from so far away.

Last year, Newsday told the story of JA, Jonathan Avildsen. His dad, John Avildsen, made a name for himself in Hollywood, as a movie director who won the Oscar for “Rocky,” and also directed “The Karate Kid” and “Lean on Me.”

The son, however, chose a different form of expression, tagging for so long he’s a graffiti legend. He has been arrested a number of times, according to authorities. But he often disappears for long stretches and heads back to his home in Westchester, sources say, allowing him to stay under the radar until he decides to tag again.

Didn’t They Teach You When You Were A Kid . . .

. . . that embezzling money from a public school never works out like you want it to? Some just never learn:

A custodial secretary used her Queens high school as a personal piggy bank, stealing more than $60,000 in school funds, investigators charge.

Karen Nowaski, 37, allegedly forged and cashed phony payroll checks, increased her own hourly wage and claimed to have worked when she didn’t, according to a report by special schools investigator Richard Condon.

The secretary at Grover Cleveland High School also allegedly extorted $9,000 from another employee in exchange for not revealing his role in the scheme.

Life In The City . . .

. . . sometimes involves getting mugged at the movie theater:

A nanny and the 5-year-old son of an investment banker — enjoying an action flick at an Upper West Side multiplex — got a harrowing dose of real-life terror when a gunman robbed them in the darkened theater, the victim told The Post.

“It’s either your life or the little boy’s life,” the bandit told Marzena Drus, 27, as she clutched Nicholas Anzivino on her lap, she said.

The shocking incident happened during a showing of “Speed Racer” at Loews Lincoln Square on Broadway at West 68th Street Tuesday afternoon, the nanny said.

“It was an action part and [Nicholas] was into the movie,” she said.

“Someone comes behind me and points a gun at me and says, ‘Hand me the purse!’ I said, ‘No!’ ”

The feisty Drus said the thief just reached over her and Nicholas and grabbed her purse.

“I had the gun pointed at my head,” she said. “Then he grabbed my purse and left.”

A theater manager recovered Drus’ empty purse nearby and offered her two free tickets.

Nicholas’ mom, Stephanie Anzivino, an investment banker at Merrill Lynch, was incensed.

“It seems highly irresponsible, to put it mildly, to have someone running around in a theater with a gun and not to try to do something,” she said.

We Need A New 9/11

To all graffiti vandals still swimming in their daddies’ balls when the first 9/11 happened, show some respect, assholes:

Recovering the remains of Firefighter Peter Bielfeld in the ruins of the World Trade Center took nearly a year. Desecrating his memory took only a callous vandal and a can of spray paint.

The Daily News revealed the disgusting act of disrespect Tuesday — and is adding $5,000 to the NYPD’s reward for the arrest and conviction of the graffiti vandal who defaced the memorial mural to the FDNY hero.

The 9/11 victim’s outraged father Tuesday compared the aerosol assault in the Bronx to desecrating his son’s tombstone.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Ernest Bielfeld, who worked as a Daily News paper handler for 40 years. “There’s no reason to do something like that.”

The News’ contribution boosts the NYPD reward to $5,750 for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the hoodlum. Bronx artist Eddie Rodriguez spent two weeks creating the mural, which featured Peter Bielfeld, an American flag and the twin towers.

The vandal’s tag — “SIPS” — was sprayed directly over Bielfeld’s face.

“I was really hurt that somebody would desecrate something sacred like that,” Rodriguez said yesterday. “Someone had no regard for someone else’s life and what they pursued.”

The mural was painted outside a bodega where the 19-year FDNY veteran regularly bought cigars. Bielfeld had an unlit cigar in his mouth on the morning of 9/11 when he wrote a goodbye note to his family and headed to the World Trade Center.

Although he was assigned to a firehouse in his native Bronx, he was in the FDNY’s medical office in Brooklyn on the morning of the attacks. He borrowed a colleague’s gear at Ladder 10 in Manhattan and went to his death.