And I’ve needed it 9 out of 10 times. You want to know why? Because nothing is made like it used to be. I mean really… why bust your butt on quality when the consumer will purchase it regardless. And in the name of America they will buy it again as soon as a better one comes out.

My XBOX 360 got the red ring of death 3 times. Or should I say 3 out of the four XBOX 360’s that were replaced with the extended service plan offered by Best Buy.

My 52″ DLP TV busted a bulb in a little over a year.

Smartphone stopped working properly.

And most recently my HP Pavilion laptop of less than a year blew the harddrive.  Exactly one year to the day of my initial purchase the damn thing died on me. What are the chances that it would happen the day the one year manufacturer warranty expired. Seriously?!

It was under “repair” for two weeks with HP. But, Best Buy issued me a new one. Or should I say a newer one. Eveything was better than my initial laptop. 2GB of Ram is now 4GB. 160 GB drive is now 320GB. 32 bit OS is now 64 bit…. you get the picture.

There are certain items I would say are pointless to buy the extended plan such as a DVD player. Anything where the cost of the plan is more than half of the purchase price… As a rule, I don’t buy the plan. Most of these items have a 30 day guarantee by the store or some form of a manufacturer’s guarantee. This should be sufficient.

What is your experience in this area? Any suggestions? Any particular retailers better than others? I happen to prefer Best Buy…

©2008 BeverlyBrongersma.com. All Rights Reserved.

The second piece of software I would like to introduce you to is GnuCash. I use it as a bookkeeping tool for my checking account. It is a great and powerful alternative to Quicken. [IMHO]

The most important thing in personal finance is to always be aware of your financial position. If you utilize a service like GnuCash to budget, you will become more aware of how you spend your money. I have found that by being more mindful and intentional I have been able to keep my finances under control.

If you are not aware of what you are spending you will incur debt without even thinking twice. Start taking control of your checkbook today… you won’t regret it.

GnuCash will run on virtually any OS Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows (2000 or newer).

I use Vista and have not had any issues with my installation of GnuCash. If you are in the need of financial-accounting software… I recommend you check out GnuCash before you spend your money on the alternative.

You can download GnuCash —-> here <—-

This is an Excerpt from GnuCash.Org:

Designed to be easy to use, yet powerful and flexible, GnuCash allows you to track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses. As quick and intuitive to use as a checkbook register, it is based on professional accounting principles to ensure balanced books and accurate reports.

.. FYI I am not being paid to make these posts about free software. It is my intention to share the wealth for those who are not aware of the alternatives available.

©2008 BeverlyBrongersma.com. All Rights Reserved.

I’ve decided to start a series of blog entries dedicated to the Software I use. I know that this has been done before by many bloggers… But, there are still a few people who may not have come across this information.

For example; rather than pay $149.95 for the least expensive version of Microsoft Office… I use OpenOffice.Org.

I admit that I was skeptical at first as to whether or not it could stand up to it’s well known competitor. At this time… the only inconvenience I had was having to remember to save the file in a *.doc format before sending it off to an Office user. But, I discovered that you can set the *.doc format as a default!!

The main components of the OpenOffice.org Suite are:

Writer wordprocessor (screenshot);

Calc spreadsheet (screenshot);

Impress for presentations (screenshot);

Draw for graphics (screenshot);

Base database (screenshot).

Personally I like this program over other Free or Cheap Office Suites because it is available whether you are connected to the internet or not. Google offers a solution to the Office Suite with their Google Docs product. There is a product by ZOHO that is similiar to Google Docs and you can access it with your Google account login. But, if you are not online… you are not on ZOHO! This is also an issue if you have a slow connection via WiFi or Aircard.

Don’t get me wrong… there is a benefit to working on your documents online. They are saved online… you can access them anywhere as long as you can get online. You can share them easily as well. You don’t have to worry about attachment size limitations when e-mailing the document. I just hate to be caught with my pants down if I can’t get online.

With WIFI becoming more widely available I might change my mind really soon.

Well you have my two cents on the matter… what do you prefer?

©2008 BeverlyBrongersma.com. All Rights Reserved.

Local law enforcement were hoping to catch people in the act of trading sex for money. Imagine their surprise when the John paid with a $100 gas card.

From NKY.COM “When people are selling their bodies for gas, that’s pretty sad,” said Ken Easterling, chief prosecutor in the Kenton County Attorney’s Office.

On a related note The Shady Lady Ranch brothel in Nevada was offering gas cards to high paying customers. If you were to spend $500 on a “Lady” they would give you a $100 gas card. $50 gas cards to go to the cheaper clientel who only spend $300.

Photo from CORYPINA on Flickr

©2008 BeverlyBrongersma.com. All Rights Reserved.

The DMV’s website states the following:

Q: When do the new wireless telephone laws take effect?
A: The new laws take effect July 1, 2008.

Q: What is the difference between the two laws?
A: The first prohibits all drivers from using a handheld wireless telephone while operating a motor vehicle, (Vehicle Code (VC) §23123). Motorists 18 and over may use a “hands-free device.” Drivers under the age of 18 may NOT use a wireless telephone or hands-free device while operating a motor vehicle (VC §23124).

While the fine is only $20 for the first offense and $50 for any additional violations… it would be quite an inconvenience to be pulled over. And $20 is almost 4 gallons of gas!!!

If you do happen to break the law Headset.com will give you a  Plantronics Discovery 925, which retails at $149.99. This information was found on CNET.COM.

You can also get a free headset without breaking the law with FreeHeadset.Org. The one downside with these headsets is that they are not Wireless. But, if you want to skip the drama of having to keep your bluetooth headset synced and charged… This might be perfect for you. There are also some of you out there with dinosaurs that don’t have Bluetooth capability.

Either route you decide to take, I wish you good luck and safe driving!

©2008 BeverlyBrongersma.com. All Rights Reserved.

As of this moment Crude Oil is at $141.84. I wouldn’t be suprised if it hit $150 by friday. It wouldn’t be 4th of July without higher gas prises. How Patriotic.

The fed is pointless and the housing market isn’t going to get better any time soon.

I’m trying to stay positive but, it’s difficult when everywhere you look your staple goods are rising exponentially and your income is the same.

I joke about getting a second job. I can’t even get a better first job.

As a Mortgage Advisor, I have clients who are in bad positions. I really wish I could help them. But, there just aren’t any loan programs available for them. Every time I get an e-mail from a lender discussing program changes… I keep hoping they are loosening up again. Every time… it is bad news… they are discontinueing products and tightening up on their requirements.

How can the President stand up and say the economy is fine?

©2008 BeverlyBrongersma.com. All Rights Reserved.

I recently signed up for Social Spark and Pay Per Post. My blog was not originally intended to be a source of income… But, after being laid off last July and the housing market being so terrible… I needed to find an extra way of paying the bills!

I have decided to only write about items that either interest me or would be a good thing for my readers.

It took a while for PayPerPost to approve my blog and they did recently have some server problems. But, I see promise in the service they offer.

They have a Plug-in for Firefox. It doesn’t work with Firefox 3.0 yet. Technical Support assures me a prompt remedy.

PayPerPost isn’t as much of a Social Networking tool as Social Spark but, it does have quite a few available opportunities to write about. I’ve seen some offers paying as high as $135!!! Although… I can’t say that I will be writing about a seminar in Dallas any time soon.

They have the convenience of paying you through your paypal e-mail address so there won’t be any waiting around for a check in the mail.

If you have a blog and are looking to monetize it; you should give PayPerPost a chance.

©2008 BeverlyBrongersma.com. All Rights Reserved.

There are quite a few interesting and enriching articles on this site. Including but not limited to:

Accepting Others

Top 20 qualities of Smart People

21 Effective Quotations of Charles Darwin

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives… nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

If you have a moment… I promise you won’t be disapointed.

Do you have a similar site to recommend?

©2008 BeverlyBrongersma.com. All Rights Reserved.

This isn’t a way to make money per se… but to spend less money on things you would be purchasing anyway.

The site is incredibly easy to navigate and is laid out in a way that makes it simple to find the store you are looking for.

I was not paid to make this post; I just think it is a very good idea. I am already a member of MyPoints which is a similar service. But, they give you points towards gift cards, etc instead of cold hard cash!

Here is the information on their About us page:

“Ebates is the pioneer and leader of online Cash Back Shopping. The company was founded in 1998 by two Deputy District Attorneys in Silicon Valley who used to prosecute online fraud & identity theft before starting Ebates (so you can be sure we are very into secure online transactions!). So go ahead, sign up and start shopping now. Joining Ebates is always free - you’ll never pay us anything. And four times a year or more, we’ll mail you a Big Fat Check, or transfer the money to your PayPal account if you’d prefer. We can even send the money to your favorite charity. All 100% free.

People often ask: “This sounds too good to be true, how are you able to do it?” It really is quite simple. Just like almost every other online shopping center, we get a commission from the stores when you make a purchase. Instead of keeping that money - like almost all other sites do - we share it with you!

So, as long as 900+ of the world’s top online stores are happy to pay a bonus to attract the new, valuable customers we send their way, Ebates is going to continue to send Big Fat Checks to our satisfied customers across the globe.”

©2008 BeverlyBrongersma.com. All Rights Reserved.

more cat pictures

There is an entire community of people who have created lolspeak. If you need help understanding what the kittehs are saying you can go to The Definitive Lolsats Glossary.

more cat pictures

If you are really… bored or are in need of a little religion you can go to the LOLCat Bible I should warn you to take some Motrin before you go there:

more cat pictures
“Boreded Ceiling Cat makinkgz Urf n stuffs

1 Oh hai. In teh beginnin Ceiling Cat maded teh skiez An da Urfs, but he did not eated dem.2 Da Urfs no had shapez An haded dark face, An Ceiling Cat rode invisible bike over teh waterz.3 At start, no has lyte. An Ceiling Cat sayz, i can haz lite? An lite wuz.4 An Ceiling Cat sawed teh lite, to seez stuffs, An splitted teh lite from dark but taht wuz ok cuz kittehs can see in teh dark An not tripz over nethin.5 An Ceiling Cat sayed light Day An dark no Day. It were FURST!!!1″

©2008 BeverlyBrongersma.com. All Rights Reserved.