| The hidden danger of 0% APR promotions |
[Oct. 18th, 2011|03:48 pm] |
No, the danger I want to highlight is not the obvious "you'll have to pay it later". That's not hidden or unexpected. If it's a problem then it's someone deluding him or herself and regretting it later. I'm extremely annoyed by articles which seem to be written for people who haven't entered middle school. Sorry, on to my story:
I got a Discover card a while back and it came with a 0% promotional apr for 6 months or so, which was an unexpected bonus. I took advantage of it and delayed paying it off so that I'd make money on the interest. I checked each month's statement as it came in and read the interest rate. 0% each month, until a bill came which included an interest charge, and the new normal rate. Wait, the normal rate sure, but how have they already charged me interest as this is the first statement which mentions an increase in the interest rate and it's not due for 20 days?
Apparently this promotional interest rate ended The Day Of the last day in the statement period 6 months after the promotion begins, with no notice whatsoever on the previous statement. It slams you immediately with the interest with no "grace period" to pay it off in. I successfully argued the charge away, amazingly, but if I hadn't been able to, the cost of the interest on the credit card would have been far greater than any interest I would have earned through a bank or CD.
In the future, it should be easy enough to throw the end of the 0% promotion on your calendar and pay it before then. I didn't think it would have been as shady as the tactic Discover used, but I don't doubt all banks do this. Be careful in your hustles! Banks are usually one step ahead as it's their whole business model. |
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| Mini Blinds! |
[Jun. 24th, 2011|04:51 pm] |
So I kept being rudely awakened in the morning by blinding light, often after getting to bed late, seeking a long sleep. I have a hard time going back to sleep when it's bright in the room. I don't think I'm alone. I have a blackout mask I often wear but I hate to go to sleep with it on and it's a slight bother to put it on when I'm first bothered by the sun. So I replaced my mini-blinds which I assumed were "Light Filtering" to ones which were "Room Darkening". It did make it darker, and here are the results:
ORIGINAL LIGHT FILTERING (I'm assuming):
ROOM DARKENING:
Original and room darkening side by side:
I paid about $10 per window for the cheapest room-darkening shades walmart had to offer. As you can tell, they're definitely darker, and I think make more of an impression in person. They're still not completely opaque like I'd like though. You can put your finger behind the blinds and easily see the shadow cast. I bought White but they also had Off White and Khaki, perhaps they would be darker. I didn't want to go black but I would like to go fully opaque.
There are "blackout" shades but I didn't want to go that far and wanted to have the miniblinds to adjust the amount of incoming light based on blind angle.
I think these have really helped me get sleep as I've woken up late multiple times this week, which is a rarity.
In related news, the photos of the above room is my new place in Arlington, which I'm now a proud resident of. 10 years living in Fairfax and I'm finally moving on. I'm able to ride my bicycle around which I love, and the area is filled with people my age, which I love. Lots of negatives as well but I think it's a very positive move for me. |
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| one of my favorite programs I use on an almost daily basis |
[Apr. 8th, 2011|11:04 am] |
I like to crunch numbers and when I do I want to use a decent calculator. One that can set variables, has a history view, and doesn't have a bunch of god damn clickable buttons taking up half my screen suggesting that I don't have a working keyboard or that I'm 5 years old. The default Windows Calculator fails utterly at all of these points. Using the default Windows Calculator has made me consider splitting my monitor with an axe more than once and has had me regularly search for 20 minutes for my TI-83 calculator, find its batteries are dead, and then spend 30 minutes getting new batteries from the store, all just to add two integers (and not regretting any of it).
Many years ago I stumbled upon the Windows XP PowerToy Calculator and my life changed. Recently I learned that the PowerToy Calc refused to run on Vista/7 and it was one of my primary reasons not to use that OS but a quick google search yielded the following hack and I want to share it with the rest of you XP+ users.
http://blog.red-stars.net/technology/software/hacking-windows-xp-powertoy-calculator-to-run-in-vista/
It's a longwinded description of how the hacker did it, but you can just download the link at the top (the link reads "No need!") for the hacked version of the app. Save it to your program files folder and then make a link to it (because it's not the installer, just the app).
the way I use it is: View -> History View and View -> disable Show Samples though you may want to look at the samples to get an idea of how it works.
You're welcome. |
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| Remember Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter? |
[Mar. 24th, 2011|10:37 am] |
I was going to make a microblog about this but even in its shortest form, it would be more than 140 characters.
Sarah Palin's 17 year old daughter Bristol got pregnant, as you might remember. Then she and the father got engaged. 3 months after the pregnancy, they broke off the engagement. 8 months after that, they got into a seemingly ugly custody battle which took 3 months. At the end of that, Bristol moved out of her parents house. 5 months after that custody battle took place, Bristol and the father became re-engaged. 3 weeks later they split again and Palin moved back in with her parents. And now Bristol Palin is a paid spokesperson for Abstinence Education (which I believe is an oxymoron).
Hopefully her story will make people think twice about abstinence-only education. She comes from Good Moral Conservative Family yet somehow she was tempted by sexuality. If it can happen to her, it can happen to anyone. Knowledge is not a bad thing. |
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| electric toothbrushes |
[Mar. 21st, 2011|11:54 am] |
I have a Philips Sonicare toothbrush that was given to me about 10 years ago. After 10 years of extremely light use (heavier in later years) and one battery replacement, my toothbrush stopped working. Let me note that I never changed the brush head on this toothbrush which I think they recommend doing every 6 months. I never felt the need to, the brush head looked fine to me.
I was always impressed with the Sonicare toothbrush; it seems very well designed. With all of the Sonicare toothbrushes, the head/bristles vibrate side to side (when holding sideways in your mouth, its up and down) at an extremely high speed, which has been proven to remove plaque up to 3mm away from where the bristles actually touch due to the head action moving surrounding fluids around. My brush head, at least, is designed as a series of peaks that would seem to fit well between teeth. So you're getting the bristles between the teeth, which they tell me is important.
Other electric toothbrushes have the rotating heads, which I don't think is near the level of effectiveness of the Sonicare line. The up and down specific motion of the Sonicare, particularly at the speeds it runs at, seems to be by far the best method of cleaning the outer surfaces and crevices of teeth. But the rotating heads may work better on the tooth crowns. And to be honest I haven't used any rotating toothbrushes.
Since I'm cheap, I did not want to pay for a new Sonicare toothbrush and picked up a name-brand manual toothbrush. On that topic, I think it's interesting how there are only medium and soft bristled toothbrushes these days. Hard has disappeared. Or did they never exist? Anyways, my experience with my manual toothbrush has me appreciating my Sonicare. My teeth feel noticeably less clean the morning after brushing with the manual than with my Sonicare with 10-year old brush head. Could it be my technique? Absolutely. I'm a lazy SOB when it comes to brushing my teeth. brushing up and down with my manual tooth brush is more work that I'm willing to put in, so I do circular motions (okay so they're more ovular). For a lazy toothbrusher, I think the Sonicare is great, plus it has the built-in 2 minute timer, so I often keep going until the timer stops me. I'm okay with paying more money for someone or something to do what I'm either too incompetent or lazy to do. I use a washing machine, dish washer, and pay a mechanic big bucks to do relatively minor fixes on my car. I've become okay with this.
I'm now determined to get a new Sonicare and I strongly recommend you consider it as well, if you're a lazy or infrequent brusher like me. Hopefully it will save my teeth, which I enjoy having. |
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| Driving in the snow |
[Jan. 30th, 2011|11:45 am] |
There's so much to be said on this topic and I'll try to keep it brief and to the point.
The other day I helped out a lot of cars get unstuck. the top three causes of the stuck cars were, in this order:
1) bald tires - if your tires are shot this is really going to get you. many of these bald tires would not pass VA safety inspection IMO. If you're expecting snow and wish to drive in it next week and your tires are bad, you should try to get them replaced.
2) BMWs - more so than any other brand, and I think that's because most (all?) BMW's are rear-wheel-drive vehicles. if you didn't know, front wheel > rear wheel in snow.
3) timid drivers - they could get out if they drove like they should, but they were timid and not comfortable driving faster in reduced traction. there's a difference between driving slowly and safely and being able to move properly in reduced traction.
now I'll let you know the Secrets of driving in the snow, particularly if you're stuck or having problems with traction.
Practice: no one does anything well without practice. those idiots doing donuts in the snow being dangerous are the ones who can drive the best in the snow. when you're in some safe place (parking lot for instance) around people who could help you get unstuck if you do get stuck (your home, or your office) and you have the opportunity to drive in the snow, please take it. this is your practice. was your first driving lesson on the interstate? no, it was in a parking lot. snow driving is no different. learn how fast you can turn your car and how much brake you can apply and how much accelerator you can apply without spinning the tires, and how much tire spin you can make and what that tire spin does in different situations. practice! it may look like you're out joyriding but so did your first driving lesson in the parking lot.
Patience: if you're stuck, you need patience. If you're moving forward or backward at all (even the tiniest amount!) you have a great chance of getting unstuck. keep working at it, over and over again. don't give up. If your car is not moving forward more than 1" and your tires are spinning, you may have to get out and do some work to remove the snow. But spinning tires in the snow is natural and does not mean you're stuck. it just means you have reduced traction and have to drive differently.
Going Up Hills Is Hard, Going Down Hills Is Easy: if you've already discovered this, you're on your way to becoming a great snow driver. If you have a steep hill to get up, you want as much momentum as possible going up that hill as is safe. if there is no oncoming traffic likely to get in your way, and the road up the hill is straight, the speed you're going before you hit the incline should be exceeding the speed limit. don't quote me on that, but I believe that. speeding going up a hill is much safer than going the speed limit down a hill. gravity is trying its best to slow you down and you'll have all of its help if you need to slow down. so Fast up the hills, Slow down the hills.
Stay in the areas of the road with traction: you probably notice that on the roads there are some areas that have more traction than others. spend as much time in those areas as possible. if you're crossing some space where there's not much traction (an intersection, for instance) you should "shoot" your car from one spot of traction to another. think of it like astronauts moving in the space shuttle. the have a hand-hold on one side of the shuttle, they launch off of that, and float towards another hand hold on the other side. as they're floating, they can't do anything to get themselves there any faster. their original launch is everything. you are an astronaut. make sure your launch through the snow-covered void is strong to get you to the other place where your tires can grab hold.
Don't Floor It: Ideally, your tires should be spinning about 5% faster than your car is moving. your tires moving any faster will not help most of the time. Do you remember Pumping The Brakes while learning how to drive a car? when a car without ABS (anti-lock braking system) has its brakes locked up (tires are not moving while car still is), it's not stopping as fast as it could (see rolling friction vs sliding friction coefficients for proof) so you're supposed to Pump The Brakes. Well in reverse, if your car's tires are moving while the car is not, then you should be Pumping The Gas. don't pump it all the way to the floor though, just pump it about 1" down from the top. "blip blip blip blip blip" should be the way you drive through snow when you're having traction problems. if you're not having traction problems, drive normally.
Never stop: This rule is only for seriously reduced traction (like we had the other day) You should avoid coming to a complete stop like it's the plague. always be rolling. If you're coming up to a red light 1/4 mile away, don't drive up to the light and stop like you normally do. let your car slow down (without the use of your brakes) and drive slowly towards that red light and wait for it to turn green before you get there. once it's green, pick up your speed again. do not stop at stop signs if there's a good chance you'll get stuck there. just roll through them slowly. if there is no traffic to compete with and the traction is bad, I do the same thing with red lights (yes, that's right, I run red lights when it's snowing).
Follow Directions: If you're stuck and someone is giving you instructions (particularly if it's someone working an intersection) on how to get out of your stuck-ness, follow them to a T. If that person tells you to back up 100 feet, go all 100 feet. If that person tells you to back up 1/8 of a mile, back up 1/8 of a mile. They probably know the layout better than you. Take your head out of your ass and do what they tell you.
Turn on Flat sections: Any time your wheels are not straight forward, your traction is reduced. any turn of the wheels means you don't have as much traction as you normally do. likewise, any grade you're going up means that you're going to have less traction. combine the two and you'll be in a tight spot. so do your turns on flat pieces of road, not grades. if that means you'll be turning in an area which is completely different than normal, that's fine. which brings us to our next point,
Ignore Lanes and Normal Driving Rules: It's snowing, the rules have changed. if you're on a three-lane road and only the left lane has been cleared, you should be making your right turns from that lane. be safe! always signal WELL AHEAD OF TIME and tap your brakes to notify drivers behind you of your intent and make sure you won't be turning into anyone. but stay in these clear areas. Also feel free to drive down the wrong lanes of roads if you need to. cops understand that the rules have changed.
The Wider The Turn, The Better: racers learn this on their first day; the more of a straight line you can make, the better. this means your turns should start from as outside as possible, be as close to the inside of the turn as possible (this is called the apex) and you should end up on the outside as you're exiting the turn. out, in, out. you should also combine this with areas of traction.
The Less Input The Better: racers learn this on their second day; the less input you put into the vehicle, the more it will want to go through the turn without slipping. this means only turning the steering wheel as much as is absolutely required to make the turn, braking as lightly and as little as possible to slow down the car to what is required to make the turn, and getting on the gas as little as possible to get the car back up to speed.
Light on the Brakes, Light on the Gas: use these two as lightly as possible when you're driving normally.
Help Out Your Fellow Drivers: If there's someone stuck in front of you and they're holding you up, get out and help them. The quicker they get out of your way, the quicker you can leave.
Objects In Motion Stay In Motion: some guy named Newton wrote about this a while ago. your car, travelling in a straight line, at reasonable speeds, will have no problems. take advantage of these straight lines and only worry about turns. and like "the less input the better", try to make your car make these straight lines as often as possible.
Drive a Manual Transmission (and know how to use it): Okay you don't actually need to do this, but the manual transmission allows the driver to control how much power is being delivered to the wheels much better than an Automatic Transmission can. Being able to control this is a serious advantage in the snow. If you're driving a manual transmission, USE YOUR CLUTCH! don't just drop your car into first and think that your spinning tires are going to get you anywhere. the torque converters in the automatics are at work, use your frickin' clutch plates when you're stuck. (this is directed to that one moron in that one BMW stuck for an hour on Wednesday).
take some of these ideas and think about them the next time you're driving in snow, or more importantly, the next time you're practicing! |
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| Golding Farms Three Pepper Mustard |
[Nov. 24th, 2010|08:37 pm] |
this is some of the best mustard I've ever had. it's a sweet and spicy flavor and kind of overpowers, but it can really take a bland cold sandwich and turn it into delicious. A lot of people I've suggested it to have really been into it. The peppers used are jalepeno, and yellow and red bell pepper, though it doesn't have a typical jalapeno taste. It's available at my local Bloom for $2.99 and you can get an idea of the look of the bottle here: http://www.amazon.com/Golding-Farms-Three-Pepper-Mustard/dp/B0032TTY2G
I've looked at Harris Teeter and other places but some carried other Golding Farms mustards but not this one. "Walmart Supercenter, FoodLion, Harris Teeter, BiLo, Winn Dixie, Ingles, Lowes Foods, IGA, Piggly Wiggly" supposedly carry their mustards.
I highly recommend trying it! |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 8th, 2010|02:08 pm] |
cars vs motorcycles
I didn't have a car for many months this year and only rode the bike everywhere. It was much easier than I expected (my walking-distance proximity to my grocer helped a lot) though heavy rains would render me rather wet. I'll be the first to admit that I'm a fair weather rider (I ride the bike when it's nice out, if it's not I prefer to take the car) so I like having the car for all those days that aren't great for riding, though now with the miata, I sure do like driving on good days too. anyways, I noticed some big differences going from riding the bike daily to driving the car daily.
A car is just not a motorcycle
I was really looking forward to my miata, and I love it. but it's just not as fun as a motorcycle. riding a motorcycle around is a very physical experience. it's probably only in the fact that your body leans in direct relationship to the bike, and moving your body around on the bike directly affects how it turns and moves. but man it really makes a difference. I thought my miata would be close to the fun of a motorcycle, but it's not. It's still some of the most fun you can have on four wheels, but a motorcycle it is not. how many other vehicles can you go goad into going faster by laying your chest on the gas tank?
distractions and the focus of your attention
on a bike, you have nothing to do but ride. you don't have the stereo to listen to (unless you do, but I don't) or cell phone to chat/text/email on. there's only one thing on your mind, and that's the road in front of you. and that's great for driver attentiveness. you're super focused. In order to entertain myself, I try to ride as (legally) fast and efficient as possible. which often means "weaving" through traffic and taking turns at high speeds. many people and probably law enforcement may not consider my actions as safe as they'd prefer, but it's what I do. I find that in the car, I'm very "zoned out" while driving and not thinking about the efficiency I would ride with. I'll find myself stuck behind a line of cars where as on the bike I would have gone around them much earlier. At the same time, the boredom of long rides on straight roads is terrible and uncomfortable and I always prefer to be in a car (unless I can weave through that traffic if I need to get somewhere quicker). but in many ways cars encourage lazy driving compared to a bike.
Turns
the stability of the bike in turns is impressive compared to the car. it feels like the car is trying to fight me through a turn, where the bike likes it and feels comfortable. the bike can also have a much faster cornerspeed than the car, which I already figured. but in the car it's much safer to play at the edge of traction.
Visibility and maneuverability
my miata is much lower than the average car, but the bike still puts my head much higher than the average car. It's much safer to be able to view more traffic ahead when you're at that height. it's easier to see traffic coming, easier to see traffic around you (though not behind you) and easier to avoid other traffic. all the negatives of the vulnerability of people on motorcycles still applies.
I'll continue to use both but a sports car with the top down sure is a lot of fun. |
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| Bands In Town |
[Sep. 27th, 2010|09:30 am] |
I use a service called Bands In Town (bandsintown.com), which gets a list of artists I like from my Last.fm account (I have last.fm's AudioScrobbler enabled on my winamp, so everything I listen to is automatically cataloged at Last.fm: http://www.last.fm/user/crash6767) or a Pandora account. Then I get an email newsletter once a week or so of matched bands playing in my area within the next few months. It's an awesome service, the best that I've come across; why get a list of all the shows from all venues when you can get a list of bands you like playing at any venue in your area?
try it you might like it if you use last.fm or Pandora, or you could start using last.fm the way I do to enable this support. many media players are supported on both mac and windows: http://www.last.fm/download |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 20th, 2010|05:30 pm] |
Tractor-trailers - You probably treat them the same as I do. You see them in front of you, particularly when you're about to go up a hill or through a turn and you immediately become annoyed. It's because they're big and slow. It's not their fault, they're hauling a bunch of stuff. and they're super long and top heavy so they have to make wide slow turns. You probably go around them quickly. You're not going that fast, but because they're so slow, you're comparatively fast.
Cars are like tractor-trailers to motorcyclists. they're big and slow and do all the annoying things that tractor-trailers do to cars. If a motorcycle is weaving through traffic where you wouldn't, know that it's a different vehicle with different characteristics. don't get upset about them doing something that your vehicle can't. Tractor-trailers probably don't get mad when you "weave" through them on the road. they know they're big and slow and you're small and quick. Consider this analogy the next time you think of a motorcyclist as dangerous/reckless/inconsiderate. remember that you're a big slow vehicle and don't mind the little things moving past you. |
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