One of my office mates recently got another house that was closer to his family’s activities. From the looks of mortgage rates now it seems like he could have gotten quite a deal, even now! Rates have stayed down for quite a while — quite a bit longer than I had thought they would, I … Read more
Our clothes dryer had been not doing its job for the past few months. It would take a couple of cycles to get the clothes passably dry. It wasn’t like this when we first bought the dryer. We checked the parts we could see first. We were regularly cleaning out the lint trap. The heat … Read more
Yesterday I received an unexpected surprise: a cashier’s check for $87.50. It was for a gig I played almost a year ago, and I had since practically forgotten about it. What was a bit unusual, though, was that the check didn’t have a recent date on it. The date was in September of 2010. The … Read more
(Hah … the WordPress text editor is telling me that it’s “Saving Draft” … that’s actually what I’m going to talk about!) This past weekend I took a trip to Costco to pick up a few things. Some places my wife and I hesitate to get generic (store) brand because it was weak, didn’t work, … Read more
My wife, daughter, and mother-in-law have been traveling around Wyoming for a week. The stated purpose of the trip was to do some research for a sequel to her first historical fiction, but my daughter sure is learning a lot out there having a good time, too. They’ve been to Yellowstone National Park and a … Read more
You may have heard about the uproar — or at least the grumbling — about Netflix splitting out their movie streaming service and their flagship physical movie rental service, effectively raising the price 60% for those who want both. What was a $9.99/month service (unlimited streaming plus physical delivery one at a time) will now … Read more
Squirrelers is a clever guy. Instead of settling for a free lunch at a local lunch joint every seven visits, he’s cut that down in half. With the “buy six, get the seventh free” deal, the shop gives a starter stamp when they hand out the card. So, practically, it’s actually buy five, get the … Read more
Actually, this isn’t a recent capture: Coupons have always been doing the bidding of the marketing department. Companies don’t distribute coupons because they’re nice. They want more of your money, and coupons are a way to get you to spend more. There are three basic mechanisms for companies to get more revenue: (a) increase the … Read more