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The Amazon Kindle 2 Available for Pre-Order

2009-02-10T09:47:00.005-05:00

The brand new Amazon Kindle 2 is finally available. The long-awaited replacement to the first-generation Kindle, or maybe now the Kindle 1, is on Amazon for pre-order, apparently for shipment on February 24. People are already going crazy for the new e-reader, buying pre-order spots and reselling them on eBay (before even receiving the unit) for $600 - in comparison to the $359 price tag.
The Kindle 2 boasts a range of new features and claims to be far superior to the Kindle 1. The closest competitor to the Kindle is the Sony eReader 505, yet most online reviews still favor the Kindle as a whole.
At the Kindle 2 unveiling this morning, the digital ebook reader was advertised as a "thinner sister" to the original Amazon Kindle.
What are some of the imrpovements?

It is significantly thinner, even 25% skinnier than the Apple iPhone
The processing speed is faster, with page-turning speed increased 20%
A longer lasting battery with capacity increased by 25%
A better quality and more highly visible display that has 14 shades of gray instead of just 4
Memory has been increased to store 1,500 books on the unit itself
The dictionary received a vocabulary boost, with 250,000 words built in
Ease of navigation has been improved with a 5-way joystick
A vocal feature - now the Kindle is able to read the text out loud in a robotic voice

Just based on some of these imrpovements, it already looks like the new Kindle 2 is a winner. With the progress and changes in today's technology and the growing digital life that we are all leading, text on paper is bound to go extinct sooner or later. This e-reader seems to be one of the best ways to catch that wave (in fact, Amazon is largely pioneering that wave) and help us move in that direction. More portable than a book, easier to read (to turn pages and to hold), and just incredibly more convenient as a whole, the Kindle looks to be closer to becoming mainstream every day. Take a look at it on Amazon here.

The Steelers Take It!

2009-02-02T11:47:00.003-05:00

The 43rd Football Super Bowl has been taken by the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers beat the Arizona Cardinals 27-23. The Pittsburgh Steelers set a record by winning the Super Bowl for the sixth time.

For a long time, the Steelers enjoyed a comfortable 20-7 lead, but the Cardinals managed to catch up near the tail-end. However, a touchdown by Santonio Holmes 35 seconds before the end sealed the victory for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Deals and Coupons - For Black Friday or Any Day

2008-11-26T14:14:00.006-05:00

There seem to be many sites online offering various coupons and deals, but the best are those that collect and aggregate deals and offers from as many retailers as possible - for both online stores and e-commerce shops as well as B&M (Brick and Mortar) stores for local print coupons. One of the best sites that I have come across is CouponsCatalog. It has some of the best listings of offers and discounts and bargains from the web. Not only does it include traditional retailers and stores such as NewEgg, Wal-Mart, Buy.com, Best Buy, Staples, Office Depot, etc., but it also has some more unique retailers and website such as Firebox.com. I started using it not just to look for deals when I'm searching for specific items, but simply as a place to start out from when I'm just surfing the web for potential things to buy. It's like window shopping at a mall. The mall already chose certain stores for you and your selection is "limited" to the retailers at the mall. So I use the site in the same way. I go on there when I have some free time to check out what's on sale these days and choose something at random sometimes, even if I might not be looking to buy anything specific. So check it out and get shopping. Especially now that Black Friday is around the corner. Why stand in line at 5 am at Best Buy the day after Thanksgiving when you can shop online and get similar prices. Maximize savings while maximizing comfort.

An Unbiased Look at Ugly Cars

2008-10-09T11:08:00.004-04:00

A new blog on the block called FuglyRides.com takes a deep, scrutinizing, and critical look at the aesthetics of the cars that drive on our roads. The central mission is to point out the ugly cars to make them stick out even more - so as to raise awareness and unify ridicule, with the ultimate objective of getting them off the roads via peer pressure. Whether it be oldies such as the AMC Pacer or new fugly rides such as the Scion xB, Chrysler PT Cruiser, or Ford Flex (among many, many others), Fuglyrides.com makes sure to point out all the faults and weaknesses. Check it out for a fun read. And if you have some of your own picks or pics of ugly cars, ugly motorcycles, or ugly anything on wheels, they let you submit your suggestions.

How Much We Sacrifice for Price

2008-07-12T15:16:00.004-04:00

Price is King. With the current state of the economy, it has become more apparent than ever that price is the ultimate decision point for almost all of our purchases. Although obvious, companies have never embraced this fact to the extent that they are now taking advantage of it. Back in the day, products differed from each other not only by price, but some highlighted better quality to justify the price. Today, it seems like no one is really paying attention to anything else BUT price itself. One great blog, The Consumerist, has been tracking the most recent manifestation of our focus on price, calling it the "Grocery Shrink Ray." They've been showcasing grocery store items that carry the same price but cleverly decreased the amount of contents inside. I've certainly noticed this myself as well. Even just a couple of days ago I wanted to buy ground coffee but didn't as I noticed that the size of the bag was half (!) of its normal size - although the price was the same.

Although there is really nothing that anyone can do about these decreasing package sizes, this trend made me realize how much we sacrifice for price in other shopping choices. Most importantly, many people often choose to buy a product at the lowest price - no matter where it is that they find this best deal. But I would really warn people against this habit. Most often, we heavily discount future customer service needs. In other words, since we tend to think that our new Plasma TV will work perfectly, we decide to pay less at some shady store (or buy it from some unknown manufacturer) than to pay a premium for some "potential" warranty or customer service if we "might" encounter any problems.

I see this on an almost daily basis in the area where I live. There is a large electronics, appliance, home-goods store in the Southeast called Brandsmart USA. It is an absolute horrible store, yet they have constant and non-stop traffic. Why? One and only one reason: price. It's true that their prices are some of the lowest, and very often beat the prices of the local BestBuy or CircuitCity, etc. Yet the shopping experience is literally disgusting and the way that they go about their business is not only unacceptable in today's modern market, but even appalling. They have salesmen (don't really need to be gender neutral here, since I've never - not once - seen a female salesperson in their stores - only female cashiers) that are worse than car salesmen on your cheapest used car lot. They still work on an ancient system of commissions, so as soon as you place your eye on an item, that department's 7 salesmen will literally attack you. They jump you and start pushing that item, no matter what it is, no matter if it's the worst thing there, no matter if you look like you're interested or not. But as soon as you just hint at the fact that you're definitely not going to buy it, they forget you as if you just disappeared completely. They go and attack the next customer. I've tried just asking some questions about products in the past, and at first they try to answer (I say "try" because every single time I knew more about the product than they did - they are absolutely clueless), and if you seem disinterested they won't even give you any more time to answer more questions. They will say that they are "with another client" or will tell you to "go ask that guy over there."

But that's not even the worst. If you want to buy something, no matter how big or small, you have to first be "entered into their system." They record every single piece of information about you, almost with your child's name and birthplace, just so that they can write some code down on a piece of paper (randomly ripped from whatever is within arm's reach) and tell you to go to the cashier. So you go into the back where they literally have a complete mess. It looks like you're betting on horses or going through some third-world country customs. There are about 30 windows with cashiers sitting in front of computers. You could stand there for an hour or more at times. And remember, this horrible procedure is followed no matter how small your item. Even if it's just a simple digital camera. I'm not talking about $5000+ big-ticket items that might need this type of extra security.

Once you pay, you're still not done! You now get a print-out, and you have to go outside, around the building, and into their (dirty, shady, seemingly dangerous) dock loading area. And that's exactly what it is - a loading area for delivery trucks to pull up to in reverse. So they treat you like you're some wage worker who is supposed to go up to the loading area to pick up your item. There, it's an even bigger mess. You have tons of people just hovering around, and there is no specific line to know who's next. Once you get someone's attention (guys running around in the warehouse area getting your stuff), you give the guy the slip of paper that the cashier gave you. Now this is the only proof of your purchase that you have! So if the guy goes in there and you never find him again (since there are dozens of them) or he loses your paper, you can't do anything about it. But if everything does go smoothly, then after 30 minutes or so the guy will pop back out with your item.

Now he crouches down to your eye level (since they're elevated on the loading dock) and opens the package to have you see that all the contents are in there. What if I'm buying my item as a present and would rather have it factory shrink-wrapped ?!? Nope. No such option. So I guess anything you get at BrandmartUSA as a present will basically look used since it's open-package. Once you agree that it's OK, they have you sign some type of "release" form and off you go.

So about 2 hours after you decide what you want, it's in your hands. This should be enough to convince anyone and everyone not to shop at this messed-up store. Unfortunately, even I have fallen victim to their low prices and have bought several things there despite this horrible shopping experience - clearly consumer unfriendly. But what made me stop shopping here altogether is the lack of customer service if you have any problems with your item in the future. I once bought a cordless phone for the house, and when I plugged it in, it had an echo on every conversation. So I decided that I will return it to get a different model. I even bought extended warranty on it, so I wasted extra money that I wouldn't get back (and I know - no one should ever purchase extended warranty - it's always a scam - and it was a stupid mistake on my part). When I brought it back to the returns desk, with receipt, only several days later, it was another horror show. First I had to wait for 15 minutes at an empty desk before anyone would even come up to help. Then, I started explaining how there is a problem. The girl behind the counter was reading something on her computer and seemed completely disinterested. When I finished she just said, "oh, sorry, is anything wrong with it?". I just explained it to her! But she said she was reading something, so I just explained it again. Turns out that they have to test it! themselves to make sure that there is a problem. So for 45 minutes I stand there while some guy took the phone to the back to plug it in and see what is wrong with it. They finally agreed that there is a problem, BUT (!) since I had an extended warranty they could not just refund the money - it would have to go to their their warranty department to get fixed first. Who does this these days? What kind of policy and procedure is this? I just bought it a few days before that and I can't just return it - only because I spent even MORE money on a useless extended warranty? After I started arguing with them, they called a manager, and 30 minutes later I had a refund. I definitely decided there and then that I would never ever shop at BrandMart USA again.

But an experience like this is what convinces me that we should not be only paying attention to price when shopping. Although future customer service needs are heavily discounted and seem unimportant in our minds at the moment - whereas it seems so enticing that we can get a better price at that same exact moment - I would strongly recommend paying a 10% premium to make sure that you get acceptable customer service (instead customer service that will only make life more difficult for you).

As for Brands Mart USA, I don't know how they are still in business. Of course they get a lot of traffic, so they would not have trouble staying in business in terms of financial liquidity and sufficient profits, but I don't understand how they are allowed to stay in business. It must either be that not enough consumers are complaining or (more likely) that they have some shady arrangements with local authorities. For instance, there is ALWAYS a county sheriff at each one of their stores during all operating hours. What kind of arrangement does a store need to have so that a tax-paid public employee serves only and exclusively that store? I really think that this shouldn't be - but there is nevertheless a Sheriff just hanging out by the front of the store all day long. Also, Brandmart has an A+ rating at the Better Business Bureau - which is completely unrealistic and just impossible. I don't know how they're doing it - but I would bet on the fact that it's not clean or legitimate. Either way, don't just take it from me. There are tons of BrandMart USA complaints online - such as here and here. I'd recommend to anyone to stay away from this store, despite their slightly better prices.

Driving with a Hands-Free Headset

2008-07-12T14:59:00.004-04:00

With California recently switching over to no-cellphone driving, I can definitely see how there will only be more problems on the roads as people will have two hands free while using their bluetooth headsets:

Finally a Mouthwash Without Pain: Crest

2008-07-03T16:53:00.006-04:00

Everyone wants to have a healthy lifestyle, but it's not always easy. Eating healthy food often means that we have to sacrifice taste. Exercise can get enjoyable once you get into it, but getting started is almost impossible - procrastination kicks in like nowhere else. And then there are those "little" things that should be easy: don't expose your skin to excessive direct sun, floss, rest your eyes if sitting in front of a computer for too long, etc. One task that is an automatic habit for pretty much everyone is brushing your teeth. Well, it would seem easy enough to rinse with a mouthwash that will kill bacteria and help kill bad breadth. Except that the leading product out in the market, Listerine, hurts like heck! I've tried using it for years, all the different flavors that they come out with, and each one of them is identical - after swooshing for more than 15 seconds (and they want you to do it for 30) my mouth starts burning, my eyes start tearing up, and I start to feel numb around half my face.

Mouthwash shouldn't cause excruciating pain to "show you" that it's working. That's where Crest Pro-Health Rinse comes in! I just bought it a few days ago for the first time when I needed to restock on my mouthwash and wanted to try anything but Listerine again. I remembered seeing a commercial for Crest which mentioned that it doesn't cause crazy pain. And it's true! I swoosh for a whole 30 seconds without any pain. It's such a relief that I even started to like rinsing after brushing. I feel better about taking care of my oral health (better than before - since I used to spit out Listerine after 10 seconds sometimes and rinse with water for a minute to get rid of the pain), and it's way easier now.

I'd definitely recommend Crest Pro-Health Rinse. And if you're a person who really feels more confident that the mouthwash is doing its thing only if you "feel" the effects, then this is for you too! After you rinse with Crest for 30 seconds and spit it out, there is an "after-effect" with some minor burning. So it lets you know that it's killing the bad guys in your mouth, but at an intensity 10x less than Listerine. Give it a try. And if you want to go a step further in taking care of your dental and oral health, take a look at this product.

The Bachelorette: Deanna is a Bitch and a Whore

2008-06-30T22:39:00.005-04:00

First of all, I don't even know why I'm watching this show. I would never tune into this type of thing by myself, but my whole household watches this because apparently there is nothing better on TV on Monday nights. NBC has the Nashville Star show but none of us are into country music, and all the other channels just have simple sitcoms. But I did start watching this with my family and have to admit that I got into it. I guess that's one thing that this show is really good at: getting people emotionally involved. And how do they do this? Clearly through strategic editing that gets across what they want to get across to strap people to their TVs. But that same "great editing" is what led me to write this post (probably my most assertive yet) by calling that chick Deanna a bitch and a whore. Just the fact that it's ooh-la-la "Deanna" is already indicative of that. Should just be the normal spelling - Diana - like the "non-princesses" have.

So from the normal show editing we all already know that Deanna is overly emotional. That's fine and dandy and all, but she uses this to get into kissing-fests with each and every one (!) of the contestants for each and every single one of the dates. And if that were everything - but it's not. The best part about it all is that she seems to "fall in love" with every single one of the guys. Every other sentence that she uses in her little narrations is "I can see myself spending the rest of my time with X" and "I'm really falling in love with X" and "X is perfect for me", etc. And we hear this over and over and over again. Frankly, I don't think she even knows what it means to fall in love. Clearly she thinks that any date where some kissing happens (which is every date for her) the next logical step is to fall in love. I just can't imagine what goes on in her head. Taking into consideration her intellectual capacity, it must just be: "Oh, I kissed him - that must mean I'm falling in love." But does she realize that the "I kissed him" was caused by her promiscuity and whoreness? I mean c'mon. She's clearly just all about sexual passion and shallow bodily senses - she doesn't go any deeper. She THINKS (!) that she's going deeper because she cries every 15 seconds, but that's definitely not going deeper. She's just a slut that wants all those bodies, which were hand-picked to be in top shape. All she's feeling is lust, and the fact that she has embraced this feeling and labeled it "love" is what makes her a whore. She's also way too easy.

But why is she a bitch? I mean the editing on the show is so great that she comes across as a cute country girl, who is sweet and nice and all those great qualities - while also being a whore on the side (but who cares...she is so sweet and nice and kind and loving and sincere and true and BULLSHIT!). And that's true to some extent. I never thought that I'd also consider her a bitch. But that all came out tonight when they had that special: "The Bachelorette: The Men Tell All". The great thing about that special show tonight was that there was none of that "great editing" that shaped her into a nice and sincere country girl. Instead it was all just her - bare and out there - and she was a total BITCH! She was disrespectful to the last two contestants booted off, Graham and Jeremy, and she clearly didn't give a shit about them. She was aggressive and immediately defensive. Clearly she had no class and no tact. So to add onto her roster, she is not only a whore with the intelligence of a chicken, but she is also a disrespectful bitch that just enjoys the spotlight. And she's proactive about trying to hide this. They showed a clip where she yelled at all the guys for not opening up, and right after showing that part she quickly pointed out how this supposedly shows that she was in it from the beginning for the love - and that she was supposedly serious about it from the start. Why would someone be so proactively defensive about their intentions? Well, I'll give you one guess.

So why was she a bitch? Well, she insulted Graham directly. He did nothing to provoke it and she said how she now sees that she made the right decision. And even better than that, she professed her love for Jeremy throughout the show, and yet now in this "special" she said that she had only fallen in love with the other two (Jason and Jesse). Such a contradicting and hypocritical bitch. Even the host (Chris) noticed that she was pissed. Yet there was no reason to be pissed. She clearly can't control her emotions and doesn't know how to channel her feelings appropriately. She is definitely not ready for any type of "love" or whatever she sees as love. Also the "special" about how "The Men Tell All" aired a couple of funny bloopers where her lack of intelligence was made clear. She can't even speak English. I kind of suspected it with her speech pattern and her ditzy southern accent, where all she says is: "You ain't gonna tell me this ain't been hard for me" (that should be her tag line). Now we also know that she can't use the past-tense correctly when speaking.

So what do we have? A bitchy whore that is disrespectful and too immature to know what love is. Yet she doesn't realize any of this. She feels completely entitled and acts like a little princess. Everything has to go HER way. If the guys don't act like she wants to, then guess what: you're out! I can just imagine what type of power trip she's on. This is probably the first time that she is in control during the whole girl-guy relationship/interaction process. I think it's a big mistake by the show to choose somebody like her and give her the ability to just cut people off that don't act how she wants them to act. Poor girl will think that this is how the world works. It will make life difficult for her in the future.

In the end, I don't feel sorry for Jeremy and Graham at all. At first I did of course, but at that point I only knew that she was a whore - I wasn't aware that she's such a bitch. Jeremy and Graham have to understand that they have been saved! If they really did fall in love to some extent (and who knows if it's just for the show or not...), they should come to the realization that there are hundreds upon thousands of such Deannas out there. She's nothing special. If you want to find a brain-dead girl who will throw her lips and body at anything that moves, just go to one of the popular spring break destinations in March. Whoever ends up with Deanna will have to put up with an entitled princess who thinks she'll always have it her way. Definitely not an easy life with someone like that.

And who will win? Well, just for the fun of it, I'll make my prediction. I won't lie: I really want it to be Jason, but unfortunately I think it will be Jesse in the end. Why? Well, for one, I think that kid should have been off long ago. Sure he seems nice, but he's a kid who snowboards and has a surfer's haircut. How can you take him seriously? He would be fun to hang out with, but for a girl to marry? But since she has kept him for so long, he better go through to the end. Second, I kind of feel like Jason's kid might be a problem in the end. I think Deanna will realize that it's not the best to be a step-mom. But the real reason is that this girl is not that smart and she won't make the best decision, that's why I think that in the end it will be Jesse (unless she listens to her family, who will undoubtedly recommend Jason - I just don't think she will).

IKEA is Way Overrated And Overhyped

2008-06-28T23:03:00.002-04:00

I know a lot of people who simply love Ikea. I constantly hear praise - their designs, the colors, the atmosphere, the selection, the food, and of course the prices. Well, I went to Ikea today - and all it did was reaffirm my dislike for the store. Considering that so many people praise it non-stop, the expectations are set so high that for anyone who hasn't been there yet it will be impossible to have a vision of "heaven on earth" fulfilled. I didn't have that vision, since I've been familiar with the store since way before they even started in the US, but I've never liked it.

Take my visit today as an example. We go in and are first enticed by the big posters for incredibly priced lunches. Of course we'd just see them and keep on going, but the escalators by the entrance take you right into the cafe. Oh well, I guess why not grab something to eat. That's fine and all, but you get what you pay for. The food is already sitting there, prepared ahead of time, and looks nothing like on the posters. Sure the prices are small, but did you see the portion size? Very "European" as well. How can I praise their food options if I've already seen what Costco has to offer?

We eat and start to "browse" around. The store is a complete maze - where finding your way around is impossible. But I guess they're prepared for it since they have arrows on the floor to guide you forward. There is also barely any organization. Since they aim to showcase their items in a "set" just like it would be in your home, they have a kitchen with a bathroom and a bedroom all together. So you don't see ALL the bedroom sets in one place (although they do have a section), because there are others scattered here and there with these "complete layouts."

Plus, their stuff looks cheap. Sure, it's less expensive. But they should stop advertising how they don't sacrifice quality. As I was walking around, their furniture wasn't anything special. I would say that only 10% of the selection includes something that's not embarrassing to put in your home - and most of it was from the kitchen cabinets section. Everything else is made of cheap materials: thin wood (and not even real wood of course), small unstable chairs, and simple fabric all over the place. Even kitchen items such as mugs: they're thick and ugly, made of cheap clay that kids use in art classes.

Despite my dislike for all their items, we still managed to find two things that we wanted to buy. One said on the tag "write down the model and color, and ask for assistance" - and the other had an aisle and row number. So of course we proceed down to the self-serve storage/inventory/pick-up area. The find our one item with aisle/row info, and then we approach a clerk to ask for the second item. Well, it turns out that the whole ordering process is completely ridiculous and disorganized. We had to go back upstairs! to "ask someone for help" - turns out you can't just do that anywhere. The label should say thins explicitly. I didn't even see one clerk upstairs and assumed that they're all in the pick-up area. And yet to go back upstairs, we have to follow the huge one-directional maze again. After an extra 30 minutes we get there and ask for help. This is the best part: it turns out that the label/tag on the item we wanted does not give the clerk any order numbers. She has to look at a booklet that has ALL the parts and part numbers for that specific model line. That's over 200+ pieces in there, of which we only needed 5. So she stands there, looking through the booklet, visually matching the store display to the diagrams in the booklet. That's just ridiculous! They even make it hard for the clerks!

After she was done printing our order, which took 20 minutes, we had to go pay downstairs (again) - and better yet, we had to wait another 30 minutes for them to get all the pieces and bring them out to us.

Summary: Ikea is horrible. There is nothing great about it. Cheap, disorganized, bad customer service, bad food, low quality, etc. I don't know what people are so excited about with this store. Ikea was simply smart because it has targeted a specific demographic - people with small living quarters who have to be space-conscious. I will bet you money that if there was a direct competitor for this demographic, Ikea would definitely go out of business. I even feel motivated to start up one myself.

How To Lower Your Cell Phone Bill

2008-06-25T23:40:00.003-04:00

I just recently discovered a good way to save on your cell phone bill when I was moving from one state to another. Naturally, I changed my address with all the companies whose services I use, including my cell phone carrier (Verizon). But when my next bill cycle closed and I saw the amount due, it was $15 higher than usual! I checked all the call records and charges, just to find out that I didn't go over the minutes but that the local taxes for the state I moved to were much higher (by over 10%). I researched this a bit and found that the taxes are tied to your address and NOT your cell phone number's area code (since I still had my old one). So of course I just switched back my address - and this is the trick that I would suggest to you.

Since your cell phone taxes are charged by the state which is listed in your account address at your service provider, simply give them a different address. I found this site, which lists cell phone taxes by state. Turns out that New York has the highest taxes (at 21.7%) and Nevada has the lowest (at 6.6%). That's a huge difference! New York taxes on your cell are three times (!) higher than Nevada's.

Now you might think that it's not so easy to change the address since you'll miss your bill and other mailings from your carrier. Well the great thing these days is online billing - often called "paperless billing". Not only do carriers make it available but they constantly and actively encourage it. So just go into your online portal for your cell phone carrier and switch to paperless billing. This way you'll never miss a bill. And as for any other occasional mailings, who wants those anyway? It's usually just garbage - promotions and ads. So when you have online billing activated, you can just go ahead and change your address without a problem. Just go into the section on your online portal that lets you edit your contact information, and put in a random Nevada address that you find online (search for a Nevada business, for instance).

Of course it would be better if you might have a relative or close friend in one of the "low tax" states and you could just use their address - in case you really want to make sure that you don't miss any occasional correspondence. Some of you might think that this is "wrong" or in some way "dishonest". But c'mon - clearly your state is ripping you off if you're in one of the "high tax" areas. There is no reason that you should be subjected to that, especially if other states are charging so much less. So go save some cash!

Finding Deals: Search for Coupons & Rebates

2008-06-24T20:51:00.006-04:00

Online shopping is becoming ever more prevalent across all generations - especially as older baby boomers are also learning to use the web to buy things. Although many people know the basics of how to search for something that they're looking for, most aren't aware of the basic methods to find the best deals on the web. So here are just a few hints on how to find the best deal online:

1. Always start out with a deal site. There are tons of them out there. The most popular, just based on traffic, is fatwallet.com. Yet the ones that I like most and use often when searching for deals are bensbargains.net and slickdeals.net. Another great one is dealtaker.com. These sites are updated very regularly, and they save you the time & hassle of finding the current (weakly or daily) deals out there. Most of them cover only electronics items, but you can really find anything and everything on them. They're a good place to narrow down your search.

2. Check for rebates. For anything that you are about to buy, or anything that you already bought, it's a good idea to check if there are currently any rebates out there. This goes for items you bought online and off-line (at a normal brick & mortar store). I just recently bought some Samsonite suitcases, and the store clerk didn't let me know about any current rebates. I came home and searched the web, just to find that there was a current Samsonite promotion going on for $30 if you spend more than $200 - and I certainly did. So just by spending a couple of minutes online after my purchase I already saved $30. The best way to research is to just Google your purchased item - such as "Samsonite suitcase" for me - and add on the word "rebate".

3. Check for online coupons before you finish checkout. As you're buying something online and going through the checkout process, there is almost always a little space that says "enter coupon code here" or "enter promotional code here." Most people would think, "Oh, I don't have one, so I'll leave it blank." Well, if you don't have one, find one! They're all over the web. Similar to the rebate search above, do a quick coupon code search by simply Googling. Here, you wouldn't necessarily type in the specific item or model of what you're buying, but rather the retailer you're buying from. So for instance you would type in "Amazon coupon codes." You'll find a ton of sites, such as mycoupons.com. Once I was buying a pair of shoes on Amazon for $60 and did a quick Google search before putting in my credit card information. Lucky for me, there was a promotion going on where you get $40 off if you spend $80. So I just added on a random pair for $25 and had two pairs of shoes for $45! It's definitely worth it. Make it a habit. Just let the "enter coupon code here" be the reminder to quickly Google the retailer and see if coupons are out there.

4. Do a price comparison before you click "Buy". Even if you think you've found the perfect price on your item, still do a quick comparison across all other sites that sell the same thing to make sure one last time that there isn't anything else out there for less. The oldest price comparison site out there is mysimon.com, but what's also become popular is Google's own service called Froogle (recently rebranded as "Google Product Search").

I've made these steps a habit every time I shop for something online - and I suggest that you at least go through a few of these before you complete checkout. I can pretty much guarantee you that you'll end up paying less than you were prepared for. And if you think these might be obvious since you already practice these steps, then at least spread the word and let the new online shoppers (such as your older parents or even grandparents) know how to save some money.

Cars That Look Good - But Only From One Side

2008-06-23T13:09:00.010-04:00

Every day I see cars on the road that I at first think look very nice. What's happening more and more often, though, is that these same cars lead to a huge disappointment when I see the other side. Most of the time this happens when a car is approaching me or I see it in the rearview mirror. So I first just see the front of the car, and think to myself, "Wow, that's a nice one." Then when it passes me, and I see the back, I often think to myself, "What? Is that the same car?"

It's hard for me to understand why there are such large discrepancies between the front and back of cars. It would seem that a designer (or team of designers) that is capable of creating an appealing outline for one side of a car would have the same ability to finish off the whole car just as nicely. At times I feel like car companies should reassign their designers to "front-end designers" and "back-end designers". Let's take a look at some examples.

The first that I always notice is the previous body style of the Mercedes ML SUV. When many of these were driving around a few years ago, I was always impressed by the front-end of the car:

To me, it looks very nicely shaped, proportional, and gives off a "strong vibe". But then, take a look at the back:

It just looks like the car is somehow "unfinished". Where did the body frame go? The window seems to wrap all around - from the back onto the sides. It takes the shape away from the car. The back is also way too flat. It looks like it was just chopped off right there without any thought put into it.

Another example that I often notice on the road, and where the front vs. back difference is even more extreme (at least to me), is the Chrysler 300C. When you look at the front, I really think that it has an amazing presence. When it first came out, many publications were comparing the design to a Rolls-Royce - which you can clearly see:

But what happened in the back? Same as with the Mercedes, it looks like the car was simply chopped off. There was no effort placed into any type of aesthetic design. Not even the lamps were contoured to match the overall "feel" of the car. From the back, this thing looks like some cheap sedan (although it is, of course). They should have continued the "copy the Rolls-Royce" theme from the front and done a little more to make the back appealing as well. As it stands, it looks like some military vehicle that just needed to be produced out of necessity - without any attention to appearance:

Last, and less so than the above two, is the Audi Q7 SUV. To me, the front looks just straight-up intimidating. It really exudes power and I wouldn't want to have a head-on with that beast. It's nicely contoured and just has a powerful vibe:

But then I see the back and it actually makes me laugh. Instead of being intimidated, as I was by the front-end, the back-end - with the shape of the lights and just the extremely rounded contours - makes me think of a weak little mouse. There is just a big discrepancy between the impression that the front gives off and the reaction you get when looking at the back. To me, the back makes the car look like a cheap station-wagon instead of the powerful SUV that it's supposed to be. There is just too much rounding going on:

These are just my opinions, of course, and the examples above are just a few of the cars that came to mind. My main point is to make you aware of the trend that I've noticed with the front vs. back differences in car's appearances. Take a look for yourself when you're out on the road and see if you agree. Maybe there are other cars that have an ever greater discrepancy than the ones here, but I really feel like there is more and more of them out there. Are designers of these cars even aware of the mismatch? If not, then I hope we can create enough of an uproar that they'll start paying more attention to it.

eBay Arbitrage - Find Deals & Make Money

2008-06-22T23:17:00.006-04:00

Whether you're just looking for the best deal on eBay or if you're looking for a "make money at home" opportunity, eBay arbitrage is a great strategy. I've been using unconventional ways to look for auctions on eBay for over 6 years now. After all, in an auction environment like eBay, you want to find the items that have the least people bidding on them. The best way to do this is to look for poorly advertised, miscategorized, or misspelled auctions.

Let's look at an example: cell phones. I've had great success finding low prices on cell phone auctions and then I just "flipped" the phone - I resold it for a profit without doing anything to it at all. Here are some strategies that I've used with great results:

1. Look for misspelled items. This trend has recently become more public and several publications have already written about this technique, such as the Wall Street Journal for instance. I personally came up with my own misspellings, but there are great websites which do it for you. One example is www.typobuddy.com. To make sure that I know what I'm buying and reselling, I always focused on one specific line of items (or a specific model of a certain technology). So for cell phones, to go with my example, I specifically focused on Palm Treos. I found the best deals when searching eBay for "Trio", "Troe" or even "PalmTreo" as one word.

2. Look for miscategorized items. When you search for a deal or an item for resale, and you go about the "misspelled items" strategy mentioned above, one big mistake people make is to start narrowing their items by category - via the narrowing options listed on the left toolbar. Specifically, after searching for "Trio", some people will then select the "Cell phones & PDAs" category. But don't do this! People often miscategorize, which means you'll miss those items if you narrow your search - just like others miss them (and yet those are the items you ideally want). I would try the miscategorized items search WITH the misspellings as well as WITHOUT.

3. Look for poor titles. One error people make when searching for deals is to type out all of the information they know about the item. So for instance, when looking for a Palm Treo cell phone, someone might type "Verizon Wireless Palm Treo 700W PDA Smartphone." That's a no no if you want to find the lowest priced item and also create the most results in your search. Keep in mind that if you type a lot of words into the search, ALL of those words have to show up in a seller's title. That's highly unlikely and you limit the number of results. The best way to go about it is to type in the LEAST information. Often I would just type in "Cell Phone" and look through the results. Of course it takes much more time, but once you find that sweet deal you'll see that it was worth the extra effort. I've realized that many inexperienced sellers will only type in the minimum.

4. Look for poor listings. This is probably the biggest success strategy, although sometimes it can involve risk. Risk is fine if you're buying for resale - to make a profit from eBay arbitrage - but less so if you're just looking for a deal for yourself. Either way, when you look for an item and you click to open the listing, sometimes you will find nothing more than "great condition - shipping paid by buyer - email for questions." As soon as you see this, BUY! BUY! BUY! Most of the time you'll end up getting an amazing deal. I've bought cell phones that had nothing more than "cell phone" in the title and "samsung phone for Verizon" in the description for less than $20 and found out that they are some of the best models on the market - with a resale value of $100+. Also, auctions without pictures get especially few bids.

5. Look for the newest Buy It Now items (TM). This is a technique I came up with by myself and have had a lot of success with - hence I jokingly put the (TM) next to it. This one is time-consuming and is only worth it if you're doing this for resale to make a profit. On the other hand, maybe someone tech/coding savvy can automate this and make it easy. What you do here is type in the item you're looking for - in this case with the correct spelling (misspellings are just too rare to waste time on with this method). Then select the tab which makes eBay show only the Buy It Now items. After that, sort by "newest first". What you do next is somewhat manual labor: refresh, refresh, refresh (use F5 for ease). What will happen is that often times people post an item that they know very little about and have no idea what its value is as a result. That's fine if they do an "auction-style" listing and have the market tell them what it's worth. But sometimes these people want to get rid of the item quickly and they select the Buy It Now option. Now the beautiful thing about this is that since they underestimate the value of the item, they'll list it WAY below market value! Many times I've found a phone that's worth $200+ for $100 - and there is no wait time at all since I just click, buy, and pay. Instant gratification.

Give these methods a try. If you're just looking to buy something for yourself, you'll definitely find a great deal with these methods. And if you're looking to make some extra money on the side - from home without much effort - then these strategies give you the easiest way to do so. After all, what's easier than buying on eBay and then just reselling the same item on eBay right away. To make sure you're paying a good price that will leave a margin for profit, look at completed auctions that were actually spelled correctly and well-presented. Also, to find all these missed items that have misspellings and poor titles, control your searches more. Specifically, use an asterisk (*) to find all the various misspellings: When looking for "television" type in "tele*" instead and see what comes up - maybe there will be a hidden deal with a complete mistake in the title that you never expected, such as "telev8sion" (if someone hit the 8 above the i accidentally and didn't proof read). Also, use the minus sign "-" to make sure that certain items DO NOT show up in your search. For instance, if I wanted to look for auction that just listed "Treo" (the model of the phone) but not "Palm" (the brand), I would search for "Treo -Palm".

As for reselling items, if I can just give you one piece of advice to help you sell for the maximum price, it would be to include TONS OF PICTURES. Don't underestimate this. Everyone can include all the details in their description and find specifications for their items from the manufacturers site. But if you put in that extra time and effort to take detailed and close-up pictures, that will reflect very well on you as a seller. The higher quality the listing and the more honest the description - the more buyers will trust you as a seller and will be more likely to bid on your item.

And if you're looking to start a little eBay business on the side, another great way to get products in addition to this eBay arbitrage method is to get wholesale items from suppliers. The best part about this is that many of them will also dropship for you - which means that they ship the item directly to your customer (the customer orders from you and you then order from the supplier). This means you have no inventory to stock. I've had a very good experience with this wholesale directory called SaleHoo, which has built an excellent reputation. It has a detailed and comprehensive listing of wholesale suppliers in every industry. Also, if you want to learn more about techniques to sell on eBay and become, as many often call it, an "eBay millionaire" (although part-time jobber would be a more appropriate description), take a look at this company which has another take on how to make money on eBay.

Additional eBay-related products and services:
Build A Niche Store
DropShippers
Become a PowerSeller
Auction Inspector
Silent Sales Machine

Forget High Gas Prices - Use Water!

2008-06-22T15:32:00.006-04:00

Turn high gas prices into low gas prices for yourself! There has recently been a lot of hype about this Water4Gas product. The company now boasts over 20,000 happy customers worldwide in only several months. Considering how much gas prices have increased over the past year, I can definitely see where their success is coming from. In fact, I just processed my order and downloaded the e-book. I can't comment on how effective it is yet, since I haven't even gotten all the parts to install it yet - but I wanted to share this great find. Their website has much more information than I can summarize here, but there are a few things that convinced me most.

I made my decision after researching online and reading reviews & opinions for several weeks. I was a bit skeptical at first, but I figured that I'd give it a try. There are so many testimonials everywhere on the web about how much this product increases MPG (miles per gallon) on people's cars, that it was enough to convince me to shell out the $100. Also, I figure there is no risk, since there is a 60-day money back guarantee. I've read up on this as well to make sure that this guarantee isn't a scam, and I've found that the payment processing company that they are using is the one that guarantees these 60 days - and they're legitimate.

What's great about this is that once you order you get immediate access. It's basically an ebook that tells you what to do to have this water system in your car. Supposedly it's not that hard to put it all together. It takes only one trip to a hardware store and you'll have all the things you need. There are also plenty of videos online to help you with the assembly. For me at least, I think it will be fun.

Definitely check out their website here. If anything, you can always get your money back - but I really think that this product will become more and more popular. After all, I've already heard from many people (especially friends and relatives abroad) that it's possible to convert your car to run on liquid propane! Yet I really think that this water concept will do a bit better in the US at least - it just seems a bit safer than driving around with a propane tank in your trunk.

Best in-ear headphones: Bose

2008-06-21T21:42:00.006-04:00

I've had the Bose in-ear headphones for over a year now, and I'm thoroughly impressed by them. I use them for several hours every single day, and every song I've ever listened to with these headphones has had consistent quality sound and deep & rich bass. In fact, the strong-point of these headphones is precisely their bass. I've tried several other in-ear headphones from other brands in the same price range, and none have been as good as these Bose earphones.

What's great about these is not only their incredible sound but also how comfortable they are. My main concern when I was considering these at first was that they look like spaceships in your ear. The way that they're designed, you have a nice, soft silicone-rubber piece resting in the "bowl" of your ear. This means that the rest of the headphone - the bass driver and speaker - have to be sitting "outside" of your ear. Hence the spaceship-like look. Also, because of this design, at first they feel somewhat awkward to wear. They don't go into your ear canal and initially feel like they might fall out at any moment. But if you just trust them for a bit, you'll get used to this - and you'll see that they don't actually fall out.

One thing some people might not like is that they are not very good at sound-isolation. So when I'm wearing them, I can still hear everything around me. Of course when I turn up the volume enough, it blocks everything out, but they're not that great at isolating via creating a "seal" around your ear - if that's what you might be looking for. Now for me, I like this more, since I can always be aware of what's going on around me while still enjoying my music. There is also a benefit to this silicone-tip design, however. You can listen to your music on a rather loud setting and people around you will not be able to hear your music - even if you're in a very quite place (such as a library or office). I once had the Sony Fontopia in-ear headphones, and when I went even mid-way on my volume everyone around me could also hear the music. That's not the case with these. The silicone tips direct the music straight into your ear-canal - although they don't touch it. Yet you can always put on the larger size ear-tips and then you'll have a better seal (they come with three sizes of ear-tips).

Overall, I think these are really the best headphones in their price range. For only $100 you get a really reliable set of in-ear headphones with the great Bose name - which means you'll have solid warranty service. I was deciding between these and the Shure headphones, but what I don't like about the Shures is that their unique design forces you to loop the cable above and around your ear. I decided that I don't want a cable resting on my ear the whole day - so I went with the Boses.

No matter how you listen to your music, I'd also recommend this great music download service, which gives you unlimited downloads - including music, movies, and games.

You can get these great Bose headphones from Amazon.

Meteorologists Are a Joke

2008-06-20T22:57:00.004-04:00

Being a meteorologist on a local news station must be the easiest job in the world. You don't have to know crap. All you do is read off a screen, which gets all its information from a computer system that is fed by national weather centers. Now at those centers, I don't doubt that there are actual "atmospheric scientists" that might know a thing or two about what they're doing. But being the guy on that local newscast only requires you to be coordinated enough to be able to look at a display on your left while pointing at a blank blue-screen behind you.

There are many things that annoy me about these "weathermen." From my experience, they have no idea what the weather will be even 2 hours later. They'll tell you that it will rain in the afternoon today, and it'll be clear & sunny instead. Another day they tell you it will rain in the morning when it actually begins to rain in the afternoon. What I just love(!) most is when they say that: "The chance of rain tomorrow is 50%" Oh really? Aren't you just a genius? Here is some common sense for you: tomorrow, it's either going to rain, or it's not going to rain. What's that? That's right: that's a 50/50 chance. So clearly, the chance of rain tomorrow is 50% whether you do your little "forecasting" or not. Better not.

Another great part of the job is the "classic excuse" that they can pull out any and every time that they are wrong (which is most of the time). I'm sure you've heard it. It goes something like: "Well, you can't always predict mother nature" or "This just goes to show that mother nature throws curve balls sometimes" etc. Do I really need you to tell me that? Does there really need to be an actual employment position for these people? I really don't need a weather-guy to tell me that mother nature can be unpredictable. If you're forecasting, then there is an assumption beneath the existence of your position that mother nature is indeed predictable. If you're the one telling me that it's not, then you're clearly and directly telling me that there is no justification for your job!

I think the best solution would be to fire all of these people. Save some money for all these companies and stations employing them. All we need during our daily news broadcast is a few seconds where they show a screen with the current temperature and if they feel like it they can throw in that computer-generated map into the mix, which will show me some radar-movement of "weather systems" - believe me when I say that we can all translate those color-coded images for ourselves. If people really need to hear it instead of just seeing it, the normal news anchor can do a very good job with a quick summary. After all, that's the only thing the weatherman does. For proof of how great these "meteorologists" are, take a look at these two professionals:

Service Companies are Thieves

2008-06-19T23:48:00.002-04:00

What I hate even more than many people hate going to the dentist is to arrange for a service company to come fix my electricity, plumbing, appliances, etc. Every single experience I've had with these companies has just confirmed that they are all the biggest crooks around. After all, they ride on the fact that you need to have your problem fixed as soon as possible. So they do everything to make sure that they get to your property first, before even telling you any prices or making any promises - and once they've arrived, then you'll most likely stick with them to get it fixed quickly since they're already on premise. Their clever strategies annoy me.

When you open up the yellow pages and look at their 5-page colorful spreads, promising "quick service" and "reliable repairs", you'll be quick to notice that they all basically look the same - and not only that, every other one seems to be "family operated for XX years." Well, choose your favorite pick at random and give them a call. No matter what your problem, there is of course a $75 fee for them to just come to your house and take a look at what you have. Long gone are the days of "free estimates" - it's basically a hundred bucks now just to talk to a person who has any idea of what they're doing. Of course you'd love to just get a ball-park figure, but nooooo. Here comes in one of their best strategies: putting a nice-sounding part-time pretty-girl on the phone who just makes appointments. When you ask her about what your problem could involve or what an average is to get it fixed, she has the perfect excuse: "Sorry, I just make appointments. I don't know anything about plumbing/appliances/etc." And how can you argue with that? Exactly! That's what they wanted to make sure of.

So of course you're desperate, and you want them to come over. You already know you'll agree to the price, since they're already stealing $75+ from you just to come say hi. Best part is, they know that too. So they've got you. But they're not done yet! I've had horrible experiences where these service "technicians" go even further once they're working already. Among having old parts installed as new, parts replaced that didn't need to be replaced, and having the techs prolong their stays when charging by the hour, here are a couple of more recent incidents that happened:

The first is my experience with a "large appliance repair" service that I chose from the yellow pages. They said they've been in business for over 15 years, family run, and there was a nice picture of the family, dog included. I thought: "Oh, they look like good, honest people..." Wrong! Lesson from this was to make sure that you know at least a general price range for some common parts that might be replaced, so that when they quote you a price, you'll know if it's fair. This company pulled a cute little trick on me. Turns out it was a two-man show. One guy was the "owner" and the other the "tech". Of course the tech is the one who arrived. He climbed his little step-ladder to the top of my fridge, and identified the part that needed to be replaced. Price with labor? $750. Immediately, my response was a big "Heck no!" He started explaining why it would cost so much and how much it would be to replace the whole fridge. Clearly, he used this to his advantage. Still, I was hesitant. So he pulled out the hat and started the trick that was planned from the beginning. He tells me he'll call the boss and see if he can get me a discount. And well, what do ya know? The boss "happened to be close-by" and dropped by in only 5 minutes to take a look for himself and guarantee me a good price. I only found out later that this scamming duo pulled this on all their clients. So the "boss" guy comes, takes a look, talks to his tech, and then turns to me, offering $600 will everything included, "even tax." So I thought to myself: "Sure, I guess that's a pretty good discount, I should take this opportunity and go with it." Well it turns out later that it was all planned well in advance. I found out many months down the road that I could have had it all done for less than $500 by the authorized General Electric techs.

My second example wasn't any better - and it even created a full-out confrontation. This one was with a plumbing company, just a month or so ago. I discovered a leak by one of our showers, so I called them up - also from the yellow pages, since they promised around-the-clock service and quick arrival. Quick? Sure, if you consider 6 hours later to be "quick." So the guy comes, and takes a look. I already cut out a huge hole in the dry-wall for him for easy access and to save time (ultimately, for my own benefit, to save money). After examining it he tells me the price will be $225. It seemed a little steep, so I of course questioned him about what needed to be done that it would cost so much. I thought it just needs to be soldered a bit. He explained to me (and showed me) that a whole 3 inch section of copper pipe needs to be replaced. He said that copper pipes are expensive, and he need to remove the old one, which won't be easy. Although still hesitant, I agreed. He wrote $225 on the estimate invoice, and I signed next to it. I left him alone for about 15 minutes and came back to check on his progress. I came up from behind him, so he didn't notice me right away. I looked over his shoulder from a distance and saw that he was scrubbing the existing pipe with a wool cloth-brush. When I started saying something, he quickly dropped the cloth and said: "Oh, hey. I'm pretty much done here. Should be good to go." I looked, completely puzzled, and said: "But you were supposed to replace that piece of copper pipe right there. I see that it's only cleaned up - and just half of it even..." He was quick to respond: "No, I wasn't going to replace it. I just soldered the corner here. That's where the leak was. But it's now good - you shouldn't have any problems with it." Wow! Are you kidding me? This guy had me sign for $225 because I agreed to a pipe replacement, and all he did was a 15-minute soldering job. I definitely wasn't going to let him get away with this one, so I confronted him about it. He got defensive and claimed that he never meant to replace anything - just solder. When I referenced our conversation from before, where he said that copper piping is expensive, he retaliated by trying to convince me that he was referring to "soldering copper" as being expensive. I immediately picked up the phone and called his company. Well, it looked like he had his little fall-back plan ready. He took out his own cell phone and called his boss directly - and started to complain that I won't pay!! When I got through to the company at the same time, and asked for his immediate supervisor, they said that they can only take a message because he's on the phone right now. And of course he was on the phone with the guy right in front of me. Well, my only option was to talk to the boss through the guy's cell phone, which I did. This was after the guy had already "complained about me" - on whatever grounds. The manager/supervisor was fully non-cooperative and didn't even listen to my point. He threatened to call the cops on me if I wasn't going to pay. I began telling him the story and what we agreed to for the $225. He won the argument quickly. He simply asked: "What's the amount on the estimate?" I said it's $225. Then he followed up with: "And did you sign next to it?" And of course I said I did. He had me cornered. Then he dug it in deeper, asking if the problem was fixed. And I of course had to admit that it was. So he said that he sees no grounds for me to dispute this. In the end, I had to pay. This experience taught me that I will ALWAYS have the techs write exactly what they agree to do for the price, right next to the quote. If you notice, their sheets never have a space for "what will be done" - only a space for the "estimate" and your signature. Pretty clever - and it clearly works for them. It was word against word in my argument with the guy, but of course he had my signature right there, next to a simple $225 in pen, without any additional details. So that's what I owed them.

My take on all of this: I don't think it's worth going with these cheats and thieves at random. I will definitely only go by referrals from now on. Also, I much prefer to pay some local, private handy-man who will be honest and still capable of doing the repair. All these other places that advertise being "insured, licensed, in business 200 years, bonded, etc." run a pretty tight ship and have their thievery planned out from all sides. You also pay a premium for all of their "bonded" crap (starting with the $75 arrival fee), and you never get to talk to an experienced person ahead of time. With that local honest, genuine guy who wants to help you with your problem for a fair price, you get his cell phone number directly and can get a professional opinion as well as estimate right over the phone. So I say support the little guy, and screw the big thieves - use their 5-page spreads from the yellow pages as toilet paper.

Costco is an All-Star

2008-06-18T23:12:00.004-04:00

I've always liked Costco, and it's been one of my favorite places to shop ever since I first went to one of their warehouses many years ago. I've also always been a fan of buying in bulk, even if it saves only a few dollars here and there. But it looks like Costco has become a favorite of many more people, especially over the past couple of years, as gas and food prices have gone up. People now go to Costco to buy in bulk to save on their shopping and to save on gas - not only by making less trips but also by filling up at Costco's locations with gas stations, which offer a nice discount compared to any other station in town. Recent news articles and market reports have highlighted Costco's success, with quarterly profits up 32 percent and same-store sales up 8 percent (6 percent domestically). Most impressively, this is at a time when retail is suffering from a bad economy and other normally-successful stores are seeing severe drops in sales as well as profits.

I don't think it's that surprising though. After all, what's not to like about Costco. My favorite is the cafeteria/food. Where else can you get a hot-dog that's twice the normal size for only $1.50 - with a drink included! A slice of pizza is only $1.99 and looks like 1/4 of a regular pizza anywhere else. Their salad is incredibly good and is also a bargain at around $3.50. And don't forget desserts: a HUGE frozen-yogurt with strawberries for $1.65. In all honesty, I almost feel like they're giving away all this food for free. You can not just feed but fully fill a family of 4 for less than $10. Nothing beats that.

There are tons of other bargains. Digital photo processing is only $0.17 for 1 4x6 and only $0.39 for a 5x7. Even online processing outlets, which are supposed to be more cost-efficient don't come close. Shutterfly, for instance, is $0.19 and $0.99 (that's 60 more cents for a 5x7 print!). Books are much less than anywhere else, with $15 best-sellers going for $8. One service I don't use but apparently should is their pharmacy. The New York Times featured an article that compared medicine prices across different pharmacies. Believe it or not, for 90 tablets of Prozac, Walgreens charges $117 while Costco sells them for ONLY $12! Just here you get your Costco annual membership fee back many times over.

Clearly, Costco is an All-Star. Not too long ago, their return policy on anything and everything was without a time limit. Too bad some people abused it and bought brand-new plasma TVs just to return them in 2 years and buy the newest model - Costco now changed their return policy on some electronics. Nevertheless, everything is still perfect about this store. If you're not a member and don't shop here, I'd definitely suggest you sign up with them tomorrow and save yourself literally hundreds of dollars.

Best International Calling Rates - From Your Cell!

2008-06-17T11:44:00.005-04:00

I thought I'd feature one of the sites from my "favorite websites" section on the sidebar to the right. It's a Swedish company called Rebtel which has the most amazing "virtual calling card" concept. Believe me, I've researched various ways to call internationally for years now, and this is the best and most simple one I've found (also with the lowest rates) - so I'm spreading the love and mentioning them here to make it easier for others as well. I'll briefly explain how it works, but to summarize in one sentence: You'll have a simple entry in your cell phone address book with the name of your friend/relative in Asia/Europe/Africa (wherever) and simply hit the "call" button.

I once used calling cards where I first had to dial a 1-800 number (that would also charge a fee in addition to the minutes used), then select 1 for English or 2 for Spanish, then enter my PIN, then listen to prompts of how much value I have left, then enter the full international number with 011 prefix, country code and area code, etc. After waiting for a few seconds of lag it converted my "value left" into how many minutes I have for this specific call, which usually came out to no more than 10 minutes no matter how much value I had on those cards. Oh, and don't forget the weekly maintenance fee.

But then I discovered Rebtel! Easy-to-use website where I just sign up, add value, and have numbers/contacts saved on the internal (online) address book. The best thing about all of this: each person in my address book is assigned their OWN LOCAL NUMBER! So that means if your area code is, let's say, 123, then you can call uncle Bob in Kurdistan by simply dialing a 123 number. You can do this from any phone - including your cell phone. So you no longer have to deal with phone cards or pay ridiculous international calling rates to your carrier. Even better: Uncle Bob gets his OWN LOCAL NUMBER to use over in his part of the world, which will connect directly to your phone when he dials it.

Rebtel really has incredibly low international calling rates, and their service basically works like a virtual calling card. I'd really suggest giving it a try if you make international calls. Their website lists some examples: India is $0.056 per minute, the UK is $0.019 per minute, and Mexico is $0.02 per minute. And they give you 10 minutes for free when you sign up. For the country I call most, the lowest rate I could find anywhere else was 8 cents. At Rebtel it's only 2 cents. You can sign up with them at rebtel.com, or if you feel like signing up through a referral link, you can click below - I'll get 10 free minutes as well if you do :)

I Hate People Who Constantly Ask for Help

2008-06-16T23:46:00.006-04:00

There are people who never ask for help on anything, there are those who sometimes ask and sometimes don't, and then there are of course those who constantly ask for help on anything and everything. I belong to the group who never asks for help (or at least doesn't like to ask for help). It's not that I'm "afraid to ask for help" or think that it displays some type of independence. I just don't like bothering people since in today's information age we all have access to the answers to everything. This is precisely why I don't like to be bothered with constant (stupid) questions about this and that - and I don't ask others because I wouldn't want them to get annoyed. Sure, one might say that people like to help, but why create that "debt" to another person by having them help you with something that you could just as quickly find online? I just don't understand it.

I always like to say that people should do whatever they feel like as long as it doesn't infringe on others. But that's why I have a strong dislike for those people who constantly ask for help - they're wasting my time. Of course I also like to help, and if someone stops me on the street to ask for directions I won't think of them as idiots who couldn't figure it out for themselves, but if people ask simple questions on "how to do this" or "where to get that" I just can't stand it. Figure it out for yourself! It will even serve you well to learn how to use the internet better.

And that's not all. What I hate even more is being told how "It's OK to ask for help" and that I shouldn't "pretend to know everything by avoiding help from others." Now who are the people that constantly say this? Precisely those same people who constantly ask questions and bother others for help! And that's what's even more annoying. These people don't tell you to "not be afraid to ask for help" because they are trying to help you "live better." They're working hard to avoid the stereotype of their kind as weak and incompetent people. So to make sure that there aren't fewer and fewer of those habitually bothersome people who constantly ask for help, they want to make sure that there are more and more people being needy. They want to convince you that it's OK to be like them. Their goal is to make sure that their actions are considered "normal" and that the independent majority won't consider them as dysfunctional humans. Well, I say that we all stop bothering others with trivial, stupid, and easy questions to which we can find answers quickly. Let's make the "I need help!" whiny people the minority and make them realize how annoying they are.

Addition:
Someone sent me a link to a great website where everyone can send these annoying people to.

Tim Russert Dies at 58

2008-06-13T17:27:00.010-04:00

Wow - Tim Russert died a few hours ago today at age 58 from a heart attack while just casually going about his day and working at the job that he loved. The media reports that he was recording voice-overs for his popular show "Meet the Press" when he collapsed. I don't plan on including many news-related pieces here, but I was shocked when I found out about his death. It's not that I was a follower or huge fan of Russert or that I'm into politics and journalism - it's just that it makes me step back and evaluate life when things like this happen. What amazed me most about this death is that Russert was relatively young and incredibly successful at what he was doing. The biggest surprise in a case like this for me is the mere fact that such a serious heart attack happened to a person who is (presumably) under much much better medical care than the average American. After all, he was an important figure in journalism who undoubtedly made good money and was probably under the care of well-qualified doctors. Many people besides himself must have had an interest in maintaining his health, especially his network, NBC, which had a great show with high ratings thanks to Russert. So to see someone like this die from a heart attack - someone who had the money and care necessary to monitor any symptoms leading up to this and take care of himself - makes me worried about the average American and the millions of people who don't have enough money and coverage for the necessary checkups. One could argue based on this case with Russert that money can't even help avoid a heart attack - but that's what makes it so surprising to me.
I think this should serve as a reminder for everyone that we should be very careful - watch our diets, make sure we visit the doctor for regular check-ups (and not procrastinate those important appointments), get regular exercise, and not be afraid to seek help early if we feel any symptoms (especially chest pain). This goes especially for males but also females. I even read an interesting article at CNN a couple of days ago which talks about men's tendencies to ignore critical symptoms. Take a look at it yourself here.
I'd encourage everyone to stay alert and learn more at the American Heart Association.

It would be best if none of us meet the fate of Tim Russert and that none of our families have to endure the pain that his is now going through. At least Tim got to spend time with his family before his death today - they just came back from a vacation in Italy - leaving fresh memories for them to cherish.

Why Do We Pay to Watch TV?

2008-06-11T23:22:00.006-04:00

I just realized today that it seems unfair that we have to pay cable companies such as Comcast or Adelphia for our service. Of course I understand that they are businesses who won't just deliver signal (and the whole infrastructure) to us for free, but if we're paying to watch channels, why do we also have to constantly watch a TV commercial every minute. It seems like commercials are so frequent that every 5 minutes of TV watching gets me 2 minutes of a show/movie and 3 minutes of commercial. The way that I see it is that I'm paying to get these channels, so my money should guarantee me commercial-free watching. After all, stations are getting hundreds of thousands of dollars for 30-second commercial spots. Clearly, the whole system isn't working too well since we (the consumers) still have to pay the cable companies.
The wealth-generating stations should be paying Comcast and Adelphia for providing service to my home. After all, if it weren't for us TV-watchers, the stations/networks could not brag about their large viewership numbers - which in the end is what secures them the large payments for 30-second ad spots.
So what we have now is consumers driving the wealth of these networks. We are stupid enough (or addicted enough to TV and the current status quo system) to pay our cable provider money so that we can watch the networks making money thanks to us watching their channels - after all, watching commercials is watching them generate huge profits (thanks to us, while we pay for it!). So my opinion is that the networks should be expressing gratitude for our willingness to sit and watch their shows by making them available to us for free.
I fully understand paying for channels like HBO or Showtime, since they have no commercials. I also understand that there are broadcast channels such as NBC, ABC, and CBS that can be picked up for free with an antenna - and I guess they have to make money via commercials - but what annoys me is that there are still tons of commercials on all the "cable channels" that we have to pay for.

If I had the power and widespread influence, I would urge everyone to boycott these traditional cable companies. I'd suggest getting an antenna (and with all the money you save you could get the best one out there to make sure you receive superior reception) or watching shows online. The only other alternative that I found, although I haven't tried it myself, is a service called Satellite Tube, which claims to be able to deliver channels from all over the world to your computer for one price.

We've become too used to the current system. We have failed to challenge it or to question it - and I think it's time to do so.

People Who Borrow & Forget

2008-05-25T23:59:00.007-04:00

I hate lending things to people. Almost always, the person who borrows something from me forgets that he/she has it. Then I have to be the one who reminds them - and of course I have to do this politely so as not to offend the person. Why do people borrow and then forget? Is the same type of person that is forward enough to request something also automatically the same type of person that won't care about remembering to return it?
I find it really disrespectful when people borrow and forget. If I decide to give you something, so you can watch it, read it, or use it, don't put the additional burden on me to remind you politely that you have it!
For me at least, when I borrow something (which I do very rarely and only as a last resort - bordering on an emergency), I not only remember to give it back but I make sure to return it as soon as I possibly can. This not only shows respect but also gratefulness - and it makes the person more likely to lend again if I need something. Don't people realize that they are hurting their own reputations when they forget to return something?
What is even worse, and this has happened to me several times, is when the person I lend something to either damages it in some way (and pretends like that's the condition that they got it in) or passes it onto someone else (and then can't remember who they gave it to).
What are these people - simply forgetful, pure assholes, mindless, or overall just moronic?
I know that in a sense it's my own fault, since I decided/agreed to lend the item. So to solve problems like these once and for all, I'll attack the source of these recurring instances and simply start a personal policy of not lending anything to anyone, ever. If I'm in a situation where I really seem to have no other choice, I'll have the person leave something of theirs with me, like their ID or firstborn child. And to those who love to borrow: please get your own stuff! If I have it, you can also get it - so please don't place the double-burden on me to not only remember that you have it but also have to remind you to give it back.

Good Convo Strategy

2008-05-25T03:30:00.006-04:00

So as to advance my mission to help you live your life better, here is a little tip on how to be a good conversation buddy. When you have a nice one-on-one convo with a close friend, and he feels comfortable enough to share something more intimate with you, reaffirming his support and trust is of ultimate priority. So once your friend opens up, especially if first showing some hesitation, the best thing to do is to ease his worries and signal to him that he is talking to the right person. When he reveals something rather personal about himself, the most effective way to show him that you understand his viewpoint/thoughts is to say that you know many more people who have also expressed that same feeling to you. More comfortable now, your friend is likely to ask who else has said this. Now is the time to demonstrate that you are a trustworthy person who doesn't gossip. So in response, you should say that you cannot reveal the other people since they said it in secrecy, just as you would never repeat what your friend just told you. And bam! - you showed both that you understand where your friend is coming from and that he has no reason to be concerned about telling you these private thoughts.

For instance, the conversation would go as such:

Friend: "This might make me seem somewhat weird, but I really don't like to do X"
You: "Not at all! I know plenty of other people who also have told me that they don't like to do X"
Friend: "Oh really? Like who?"
You: "Well, unfortunately I can't tell you since they clearly trusted me enough to tell me - just like I won't repeat to anyone what you just told me"

Done and done!

Crazy-Delicious Chocolate

2008-05-24T18:41:00.006-04:00

In thinking as to what I could blog about, I figured that the best way to go with my theme of "randomness" would be to just write about things that I come across during the day - so here is my first post, and it's about something I'm eating right now: Kinder Schokolade.

I don't know how many people in America are missing out on this deliciousness, but it's just amazing how good this chocolate bar tastes. My first exposure to it was in Germany, and now I try to get it wherever I can - usually at local specialty shops that import some "fine European chocolates." I believe you can also get it online in some places.
This addictive chocolate treat is made by Ferrero, which are the same Italian people that make Ferrero Rocher (the golden chocolate/hazelnut balls), Nutella, and even (surprisingly) Tic Tacs.
Kinder Schokolade is unbelievably good, and I bet that it would outperform a lot of chocolates currently on the market in America, but for some reason it's not available here. According to the Wikipedia article about the choco bars, they are sold in over 45 countries, but are still a "rarity in the US." So whoever feels like it, jump on the bandwagon before it's too late and start importing these - call Ferrero today! And for a smaller project, any webdesigners should contact them about redoing their USA website, since it looks like a 5 year old made it back in 1996.
Believe me when I say that this chocolate is worth a try - even if you have to pay for shipping somewhere online. It must be good if a change in packaging (a new image with a more "modern" boy on it) set of a protest movement in Germany that caused sales to dip 25% in 2005.
So give it a try. Through a quick search, it looks like Amazon even has it, although with ridiculously high shipping - and there are some rando shops as well that carry it.

And it looks like other people are also altruistically longing for others in the US to enjoy the pleasure and happiness that results from consuming one of these Kinder Schokolade bars. I found this video on YouTube where a guy likewise tries to spread the knowledge about this secret treat. Just to make clear: this is NOT me. It's just a video I found randomly.