It's a Mad, Mad World
and it's getting crazier by the minute!
Electric Cars
Sep 3rd
I am continually amazed that all of these supposedly educated economists and government officials cannot figure out how to fix the economy. Oh, the government has dumped billions into corporate America to bail out failing companies and to create jobs. An while I agree that the loss of so many jobs is part of the problem, I feel that the biggest issue boils down to one thing…cash flow. Jobs depend on people’s ability to purchase products and services. Let’s face it, with the cost of living so high and so many people out of work, no one can afford to spend money.
So yesterday I saw an article about the new GM Volt. While I am excited that car manufacturers are finally getting serious about alternative fuel cars, I have to tell GM that they have wasted their money and effort because with a starting price tag of over $42,000, who can afford it? Come on, GM! What are you guys thinking?
I hit up Google and started searching for more info on electric cars and found the Nissan Leaf. Cute car, totally electric, unlike the Volt which still has a gasoline powered engine to help keep the batteries charged, but with a starting price tag of $32,000. It’s definitely cheaper than the Volt, but still way out of the price range of those consumers who need it most. Wake up, Nissan! We don’t need an electric car with a navigation system and Bluetooth. We need one that is cheap to buy and cheap to maintain.
Looking at these first two efforts from GM and Nissan, it seems obvious to me that the car manufacturers are still in bed with the oil companies. Both cars are destined to fail because they simply are over-priced. Rich people don’t need to increase their cash flow by decreasing their cost of living. They can afford to spend $500 a month on gasoline. It’s the lower and middle classes who need cheaper transportation and utility costs. If we weren’t spending so much on electricity and gas, we might be able to put a little money into the economy. Wake up, economists! We don’t need more stimulus. We need to lower the cost of living, especially with so many Americans either under or unemployed. Lower my cost of living and I can afford to spend some of my extra cash, and that will create jobs without driving our nation deeper into debt. This isn’t rocket science, people. This is plain, old common sense.
Geocaching
Aug 28th
With so much rain lately my poor Shadow has been spending way too much time in the garage so I decided it was time to get it out and go for a ride today. I also decided that it was time to add a little variety to riding my bike so I downloaded Geocaching.com’s iPhone app and decided to see what I could find. My wife joined me for the ride and we selected an easy cache not far from our home for our first hunt.
The iPhone app worked very well and despite the $9.99 price tag I was very pleased with it. The app does a great job of searching geocaches close to your current location. In our case, the first cache we went looking for was only .6 miles from our home. I used the map to get me in the immediate area of the cache then switched over to the compass to zoom in. The compass worked great and once we worked our way through a few huge banana spider webs we easily found the cache. Once we found the cache, it was a piece of cake to navigate back to the cache description and upload our log.
One of my favorite bike rides is through the Emeralda Marsh. We rode up CR 44A to Orange Bend then turned off on Emeralda Ave. From there, take a left at the T-intersection with Emeralda Island Rd and it’s a beautiful bike ride through the marsh, for both motorcycles and bicycles. We tried to find a second geocache along the way but were unsuccessful. The Lake County Water Authority had recently built a new fence at the location and I fear the cache was either moved or removed altogether.
Anyway, by adding a little geocaching to our bike ride it made it a lot more interesting as well as providing some opportunities to get off the bike and give my butt a rest. Whether you’re just getting started like me or you have been geocaching for a while, I recommend Geocaching.com’s iPhone app. It works great and although the iPhone may not be as accurate as other GPS devices, it makes it a great way to kill a little extra time with some spur-of-the-moment geocaching.
Rocketfish Mobile Battery Case for iPhone
Aug 28th
A few weeks ago after a trip to Disney, which totally killed my iPhone battery taking pictures, I decided it was time to find a way to extend my battery life on my iPhone 3GS. I started checking out different battery cases and ultimately ended up with the Rocketfish Mobile case. Of all the cases I looked through on BestBuy.com, the Rocketfish Mobile had the highest ratings. I asked the sales rep at Best Buy and he said that he had sold quite a few and no one had brought one back yet. BTW, typically the reps at Best Buy are pretty unbiased since they don’t earn commissions or bonuses for selling certain products.
I purchased the case and was surprised to find that it did not add a lot of weight to my iPhone. It does add some size, but this is understandable since the case contains a battery. It also lengthens the iPhone by about 1/2 inch since the iPhone has to plug into the bottom of the case. Anyway, if you want specs and all the technical stuff, you can find that using Google. Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty.
So far I am very pleased that I went with the Rocketfish Mobile case. It does require about eight hours for a full charge, but I have found that it definitely increases the battery life of my iPhone by about four hours. In fact, in an average day’s use (mostly accessing email and some apps) I have found that the external battery gets me through my whole day without even hitting my iPhone battery. The external battery is also great for using battery-intensive apps like GPS. It works great when I go out geocaching or I’m going to take a lot of pictures with my iPhone.
The bottom line is that the Rocketfish Mobile seems like a great external battery case for the iPhone. While it does seem to be a bit bulkier than some of the other external battery cases out there, the performance is outstanding and I have absolutely no complaints.
Chegg.com
Aug 17th
If you’re getting ready to head off to college or you’re paying for your kid to head off to college, then be sure to check out www.chegg.com and rent your text books instead of buying them. Over the last two semesters, I have saved about $600 on my daughter’s college books. So far, the books we have received as rentals have been in good shape and we have only come across one book that Chegg did not have.
In a nutshell, here’s how Chegg works. Most colleges allow you to register for classes online and then provide a list of textbooks that you need. Go to Chegg.com and enter the ISBN numbers for the textbooks you need and Chegg will let you know if the book is available. If it’s not available for rental, you might be able to pick it up as used. If Chegg has the books, then add them to your cart and head to check out. I have always used the cheapest ground shipping and have always received my textbooks in about three business days. When your books arrive, hang on to the box and the instructions for returning the books at the end of the semester. Once you’re done with the books, go online and print the return shipping label, stick the books back in the box they came in, and drop it off at UPS. It’s that simple.
So before you throw away a bunch of money on books that you will only use once, give Chegg a try.