Technology & MSG

After a year with Amazon Prime, I’m renewing my membership. The convenience and savings — both time and money — make it more than worthwhile.
In the past year, I placed 23 distinct orders with Amazon that weren’t covered as part of my free trial to Prime. Each of the orders contained at least one item, [...]

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Took a quick stab at my taxes for the year. It appears that despite a decline in side work — that usually balances out some of my taxes paid — I’ll be getting a larger refund than I expected. As much as I’d prefer to have my money working for me throughout the year, I’d [...]

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I was surprised to read about Google’s new approach to China. Very public. On the other hand, the search magnate seems to like grand and shocking departures from norms, even theirs. While I wouldn’t consider censorship and humanitarian issues “antics” per se, it seems like Google is fed up.
We have decided we are no longer [...]

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I just received a call on my cell from 269-768-2213. An automated call, wherein the recorded voice — belonging to someone named Rachel, supposedly — informed me that there are no problems with my credit card but that I’m eligible for a lower rate of 6 point something percent. My eligibility will expire soon, so [...]

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I was cleaning out the starred items in Google Reader and found one of Snay’s posts wherein he calculated the cost of his daily commute. He commutes via the Washington Metro system — a combination of bus and rail — at a cost of $5.40 per day.
A year later, I decided to figure it out [...]

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I just got an “important notice” in the mail from Verizon.
We will be upgrading your FiOS Internet speed to up to 10/2 Mbps in the next few months.
Emphasis theirs, it’s strange the way that the sentence is phrased. Maybe it’s boilerplate in that they can’t say that they’ll give you exactly 10/2 but that it’ll [...]

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Despite my penchant for helping out the little guy, I feel like most of my shopping is done online these days. Today however, was an exception. I found myself quite the consumer all afternoon and into the evening.
Chili
Area Rug
Gasoline
Phone
Cereal
Aluminum Foil
Bread
Steam Trays
Ginger Ale
Jeans
Garage Door Opener
Gyro
My poor credit card, it’s only reprieve was the chili and the [...]

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I owe a coworker a Diet Coke for his suggestion to follow up with the landscaping company. I owe a lunch to Sharon at Safelite for her reinforcement of that suggestion. Either I’m too cynical or I’ve had bad experiences in the past.
The landscaping company that maintains the property around the office paid for my [...]

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I’m a regular but infrequent E-ZPass user. I probably only use it once or twice a year, but when I do I rack up $30 or $40 worth of tolls across the East coast.
Back on January 5th, 2009 the Maryland Transportation Authority proposed raising toll rates for large vehicles. That doesn’t affect me so much, [...]

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I really don’t like car salesmen. My experience with them has led me to believe that they’re a bunch of crooks for whom exaggeration, document substitution, and lying are all tools of the trade. There are some salesmen who would gladly tell you anything to make the sale. You can’t trust people like that, yet [...]

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Pricing a set of basic staples can tell you a lot about inflation. Typically economists might consider a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread, or carton of eggs. I was out shopping for a Super Bowl viewing and decided to do the same with cheap beer. Sorted in the order from more affordable (per [...]

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My buddy’s wife recently acquired round trip tickets from Reagan to Nice for $349, with a quick layover in New York. That’s a round trip to France for less than $400. Perhaps ticket costs have dropped considerably since the last time I looked or maybe there were some unbookable flights, but it still seems like [...]

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The media has been reporting that all three CEOs of the top three U.S. car manufacturers offered to take $1 annual salaries. In light of the latest absurdity with regard to bailing out yet another industry at the expense of U.S. taxpayers, my thoughts on this are simple.
Big deal.
Alan Mulally is the CEO of Ford [...]

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Scheduling an appointment with a health care provider is a large pain in the ass. I now know why I need to schedule recurring appointments with these providers whether or not I’ve got a specific malady that needs to be addressed. Whether it’s a physician or dentist or any other specialist, it’s got to be [...]

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I usually don’t watch the news, but while at the car dealership yesterday I had some time in the waiting room. On the one hand I don’t feel that the taxpayers ought to be bailing out either individuals or corporations that made poor financial decisions. Like a friend helping out your friend because they made [...]

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