I preface by saying I love my cat. She's a friendly, funny, and obedient cat, all things considered. However, she's had her moments of eliminating liquids on various spots of the carpet in various areas of the house. I don't know why she does this, but my wife and I have just come to expect it, despite taking various precautions.
Over the past couple of years that my cat has decided to make the carpet her occasional litter box, I've tried countless products to try and get rid of that lovely pee smell. Urine, in case you forgot, does not just magically lose its smell as time goes on. It tends to foment.
I can't even remember all of the carpet cleaning products I've used to try and counteract that pungent urine odor, but I'll try to name some of the few that come to mind that basically just covered up the smell for a while but didn't do anything in the long run:
-Woolite spray
-Some kind of oxy powder in a big white tub
-Stanley Steemer stain remover (although Stanley Steemer did have another spray that seemed to work but you basically have to soak the carpet to get it to work and I don't think it's a cheap solution)
-And the list goes on, but I can't recall the products' names at this time
So after my cat's latest urination episode this past weekend I went to Target in desperation to try and get the smell out of the carpet. I picked up Arm & Hammer's Pet Fresh Odor Eliminator powder. I brought it back. I followed the instructions of sprinkling on the carpet, letting it sit and vaccuuming it up.
It worked.
It actually worked!
I must say that I'm still shocked that the smell hasn't returned, but I kid you not when I put my nose to the carpet and I don't smell the cat pee anymore.
Granted this is a one-time success story, but I see no reason why it wouldn't work in future instances here and in your house, if you have the same problem.
I'd be interested in hearing your success and failure stories in cleaning up pet odors. (Just in case the smell does come back!)
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Philly vs. AC: Who wins the gambling battle?
A lot has been made in recent months about how the introduction of legalized gambling in Pennsylvania has put a damper on the "winnings" of the Atlantic City casinos. The reports are out there about how the recent months represent the first time in the history of legalized gambling in Atlantic City that the gambling empire there has not made more money in the comparable period last year. But my sense is that this won't last for an extended period of time.
To me, the slots machines are just the sideshow when it comes to the potential that AC has in its future. Sure Philly and the Poconos and other random places throughout Pennsylvania will have slot machines, but no place in Pennsylvania can compare with what Atlantic City has to offer... a growing resort for vacationers.
In AC there are dozens of hotels of varying quality and price, there's a variety of game tables, there's the beach, a growing outlet mall, themed buildings that are popping up left and right, celebrity sightings, heck, even a wind farm. Where can you find all that in just a few square miles in Pennsylvania? Nowhere.
If AC plays its cards right (yeah, I just had to say that), it will definitely win this game in the long run.
To me, the slots machines are just the sideshow when it comes to the potential that AC has in its future. Sure Philly and the Poconos and other random places throughout Pennsylvania will have slot machines, but no place in Pennsylvania can compare with what Atlantic City has to offer... a growing resort for vacationers.
In AC there are dozens of hotels of varying quality and price, there's a variety of game tables, there's the beach, a growing outlet mall, themed buildings that are popping up left and right, celebrity sightings, heck, even a wind farm. Where can you find all that in just a few square miles in Pennsylvania? Nowhere.
If AC plays its cards right (yeah, I just had to say that), it will definitely win this game in the long run.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Where to Put Your Money in 2008 (A Novice's Observations)
Important disclosure: I am NOT a financial advisor, or in any way a formally educated professional in the realm of economics. Marketing is more my territory, which pretty much resides at the opposite end of the spectrum compared to finance. However, I do like to watch my money and make sure I'm doing the best I can with it, so I'll read various prudent publications, including Fool.com, Money Magazine, Morningstar.com, and so forth. (For the record, I focus on reading about investing "basics" such as saving money, avoiding debt, investing in the stock market, and home equity issues. I personally don't have the time or desire to get into more complex and exotic financial alternatives like options, municipal bonds, futures, etc. Those are way above me at this point in time.)
And from what I've been reading, there isn't much that's enticing about today's financial markets as we look at the strong possibility of a pending recession. So here's the situation we're in, as far as my amateur financial mind sees it:
-Stocks are taking a plunge.
-Housing prices are dropping as foreclosures go up and fewer people are moving in general
-Interest rates for CDs, savings accounts, etc. have dropped in recent months
-People are generally not spending much
-Debt levels for households seem to be rising, and many banks are in a credit crunch
-Taxes are historically rather low, but likely will be rising in the next few years as we have to pay off many expenses, such as the war we're in now, social security, etc.
All in all, not much to smile about there. But this leaves the important question: Where should I invest my money in 2008? Here are some possibilities:
-Invest in stocks. The market could keep dragging for a while, but the rebound could be here in the next few months, meaning you'll have a strong chance of getting a surge somewhere down the road. Stock investing is always the best long term plan for most people, so ignore current trends and just keep investing over time regardless of what Mr. Market is doing.
-Pay off debt. If you're not intrigued by the stock market for the short term, perhaps now is a good time to focus on lowering your credit card or other debt payments. This is a must if your interest payments are high to begin with (say 4% or higher), but even if they're lower, perhaps it's a good idea to get a head start since saving your money in CDs or money markets doesn't pack as great a punch as it did a few months ago. Chipping away or eliminating credit card debt or high-interest loans will go a long way to helping you, plus you'll feel less stressed about having to pay the bills.
-Put more money in your home equity. I've heard the expression that paying off the principal on your home is kind of like forced savings, and perhaps now's a good time to build on that. Doing this allows you to invest in yourself essentially, though the returns over the long run will not be as strong as investing in the stock market.
-Put it all on "black". Hmmm, okay, gambling probably won't get you ahead anytime soon so you might want to ignore that suggestion. But hey, it's your money.
Hope you enjoyed these random, simplified thoughts. While I'm no expert, these ideas could serve as a starting point for further research in your monetary plans. Good luck!
And from what I've been reading, there isn't much that's enticing about today's financial markets as we look at the strong possibility of a pending recession. So here's the situation we're in, as far as my amateur financial mind sees it:
-Stocks are taking a plunge.
-Housing prices are dropping as foreclosures go up and fewer people are moving in general
-Interest rates for CDs, savings accounts, etc. have dropped in recent months
-People are generally not spending much
-Debt levels for households seem to be rising, and many banks are in a credit crunch
-Taxes are historically rather low, but likely will be rising in the next few years as we have to pay off many expenses, such as the war we're in now, social security, etc.
All in all, not much to smile about there. But this leaves the important question: Where should I invest my money in 2008? Here are some possibilities:
-Invest in stocks. The market could keep dragging for a while, but the rebound could be here in the next few months, meaning you'll have a strong chance of getting a surge somewhere down the road. Stock investing is always the best long term plan for most people, so ignore current trends and just keep investing over time regardless of what Mr. Market is doing.
-Pay off debt. If you're not intrigued by the stock market for the short term, perhaps now is a good time to focus on lowering your credit card or other debt payments. This is a must if your interest payments are high to begin with (say 4% or higher), but even if they're lower, perhaps it's a good idea to get a head start since saving your money in CDs or money markets doesn't pack as great a punch as it did a few months ago. Chipping away or eliminating credit card debt or high-interest loans will go a long way to helping you, plus you'll feel less stressed about having to pay the bills.
-Put more money in your home equity. I've heard the expression that paying off the principal on your home is kind of like forced savings, and perhaps now's a good time to build on that. Doing this allows you to invest in yourself essentially, though the returns over the long run will not be as strong as investing in the stock market.
-Put it all on "black". Hmmm, okay, gambling probably won't get you ahead anytime soon so you might want to ignore that suggestion. But hey, it's your money.
Hope you enjoyed these random, simplified thoughts. While I'm no expert, these ideas could serve as a starting point for further research in your monetary plans. Good luck!
Saturday, March 1, 2008
My Gripe with Email as an Internet Pioneer
As a teenager in the early 90's (yikes-- was it already that long ago?), I was quickly fascinated by the development of the internet. I used it virtually every night on the old dial-up modem (yes, that really DOES seem long ago!) and cruised around for a variety of different things, ranging from sports updates to chat rooms to online gaming. In retrospect, it was very much a frontier time as the internet landscape was so new to everybody that just doing things online was pretty fun and exciting in and of itself. Some of that charm has worn off, but now most of us probably would have a very difficult time living without the internet for more than, oh, 24 hours. It's become that embedded in our lives.
Unfortunately, us early "internet pioneers" didn't really have much of a guidebook and now people like me are dealing with relics of the past that are hard to shake. One of the biggest faults in the internet, in my opinion, is that of the scattered world of email. To give you an understanding, here's a brief history of my email account usage, to the best of my recollection:
-Netcom: My family and I used Netcom as our first and longtime home internet service provider. So this was my first real email account. This lasted for a few years, but at some point we stopped using them and thus lost the email account. This was a sacrifice of being an internet pioneer.
-Hotmail: This was my first "free" email account, and currently serves as my main account since that's where my email history is headquartered. Unfortunately, I've gotten frustrated with Hotmail and I'm desperately trying to figure out a way to leave it without losing all of my old emails, addresses, and account signups. (I'm open to any ideas of how to break free!)
-Yahoo: This account I use whenever I sign up for a newsletter or something else that I'm unlikely to read. It's basically a depository for junk email that I don't want to receive on my Hotmail account.
-Comcast: Comcast is my current internet service provider and I set up an account that I use whenever I want to give a more "formal" email address since my Hotmail name is just a silly one I picked and Comcast email addresses sound a bit more professional than Hotmail. Unfortunately I can't stand Comcast's email platform (even moreso than Hotmail), so this has become a rarely used email address for me, though I still have to check it occasionally to see if I have any important emails.
-College: I used my Penn State email address as my primary address during college, but lost it once I graduated. So that was kind of a bummer. I think I could have kept it as an alumni but I never followed thru with it, so it basically just disappeared.
-Care2: I liked the idea of having a free email account that also managed to encourage me to help the environment, which is what Care2 is good for. I tried to make this my main address at one point, but I just didn't get used to it and I really don't like the platform here either, not to mention the fact that I get boatloads of spam on this account. This email account sits pretty vacant now.
-Gmail: Last year, I set up a Gmail account with the hopes of making this my central email account since it seems fairly easy to use, but Hotmail won't let me forward my email there, so my Gmail account now sits idle as well, rather than trying to switch everything over. That to me is a major pain in the butt.
-Work: Over the years, having switched jobs multiple times, I've been through a good 4-5 email accounts for my various jobs, and I've learned to keep my personal stuff separate from my work stuff for several reasons... 1. in the event that anybody sees my personal stuff on my work email, that could be problematic (not that I've got much to hide, but I don't want people all up in my biz!); 2. once you leave a job you lose that address, so it's silly to give people your work email address since they'll have a harder time keeping in touch with you; 3. mentally I need to keep the two separate or else I'll never get any work done!
Ok, so for those of you still reading, you earn a gold star! Quite an exciting subject huh!?! At any rate, you can see why email account setups can be an important life decision nowadays... if you go with the wrong one you can be screwed! And if you set up too many, like I have, you can lose your mind trying to keep up with them all.
If only I knew back then what I know now...
Unfortunately, us early "internet pioneers" didn't really have much of a guidebook and now people like me are dealing with relics of the past that are hard to shake. One of the biggest faults in the internet, in my opinion, is that of the scattered world of email. To give you an understanding, here's a brief history of my email account usage, to the best of my recollection:
-Netcom: My family and I used Netcom as our first and longtime home internet service provider. So this was my first real email account. This lasted for a few years, but at some point we stopped using them and thus lost the email account. This was a sacrifice of being an internet pioneer.
-Hotmail: This was my first "free" email account, and currently serves as my main account since that's where my email history is headquartered. Unfortunately, I've gotten frustrated with Hotmail and I'm desperately trying to figure out a way to leave it without losing all of my old emails, addresses, and account signups. (I'm open to any ideas of how to break free!)
-Yahoo: This account I use whenever I sign up for a newsletter or something else that I'm unlikely to read. It's basically a depository for junk email that I don't want to receive on my Hotmail account.
-Comcast: Comcast is my current internet service provider and I set up an account that I use whenever I want to give a more "formal" email address since my Hotmail name is just a silly one I picked and Comcast email addresses sound a bit more professional than Hotmail. Unfortunately I can't stand Comcast's email platform (even moreso than Hotmail), so this has become a rarely used email address for me, though I still have to check it occasionally to see if I have any important emails.
-College: I used my Penn State email address as my primary address during college, but lost it once I graduated. So that was kind of a bummer. I think I could have kept it as an alumni but I never followed thru with it, so it basically just disappeared.
-Care2: I liked the idea of having a free email account that also managed to encourage me to help the environment, which is what Care2 is good for. I tried to make this my main address at one point, but I just didn't get used to it and I really don't like the platform here either, not to mention the fact that I get boatloads of spam on this account. This email account sits pretty vacant now.
-Gmail: Last year, I set up a Gmail account with the hopes of making this my central email account since it seems fairly easy to use, but Hotmail won't let me forward my email there, so my Gmail account now sits idle as well, rather than trying to switch everything over. That to me is a major pain in the butt.
-Work: Over the years, having switched jobs multiple times, I've been through a good 4-5 email accounts for my various jobs, and I've learned to keep my personal stuff separate from my work stuff for several reasons... 1. in the event that anybody sees my personal stuff on my work email, that could be problematic (not that I've got much to hide, but I don't want people all up in my biz!); 2. once you leave a job you lose that address, so it's silly to give people your work email address since they'll have a harder time keeping in touch with you; 3. mentally I need to keep the two separate or else I'll never get any work done!
Ok, so for those of you still reading, you earn a gold star! Quite an exciting subject huh!?! At any rate, you can see why email account setups can be an important life decision nowadays... if you go with the wrong one you can be screwed! And if you set up too many, like I have, you can lose your mind trying to keep up with them all.
If only I knew back then what I know now...
Friday, February 22, 2008
StubHub is Flub
Free enterprise is one thing, but sneakiness and lack of transparency are another...
Recently I went online to see if I could buy tickets to take my wife to see the comic stylings of Ricky Gervais, writer of The Office and Extras, our favorite shows. I had a $50 gift card for StubHub and figured I could put it towards this purchase. So far so good.
I entered the StubHub website and found what I was looking for very quickly. Let the record show that the price came out to $78 per seat (for the nosebleed seats... but hey, we've all got a budget to follow!). Let the record also show that this price was already about $25 more than what Ticketmaster was offering for virtually the same seats (I checked there as well to see what they were able to offer). So after comparing the price between the two sites, I began to place my order at StubHub since the gift card would basically even out the lower price of Ticketmaster.
Mistake.
I go through the whole process of signing up, filling in my address, credit card info, the whole shebang, and THEN comes up the final order tally:
$183.55
That's a far cry from $156... the total of the listed ticket price of $78 x 2.
Without any forewarning, here's what they did... they tacked on a 10% commission of $15.60 and $11.95 in FedEx shipping and handling (because handling two tickets is so much work).
Silly me thought that the original $78 price included a built in commission, and I could understand paying extra for shipping, but not 12 bucks worth. (Note: apparently picking up at the box office or sending via mail were not options, so $12 was the minimum charge. Yay, what a bargain.)
So I backed out of my order and went over to Ticketmaster, another company that irks me with the way they do billing, but it turned out to be a much better deal. For virtually identical seats, I was able to buy the tickets straight up (no added commission, other than Ticketmaster's tacked on charges), and have them simply mailed to me the good ole-fashioned way for $115.45. That's a savings of almost $70, which equates to a real-time savings to me of $20 if I had went with StubHub and used my $50 gift card. Twenty bucks isn't a big difference, but I wasn't about to give StubHub my business after this whole snub.
While I will admit that StubHub does provide a helpful service for people that are looking for hard-to-get tixx, I was not happy with their fees and the fact that I would have been paying more per ticket even though the same basic seats were still available at Ticketmaster. Note that StubHub is offering better seats for the show that Ticketmaster is now out of, also at jacked up seller's prices, but I could at least understand that due to supply and demand. Makes no sense to sell the same tickets for 60% more than you can get 'em elsewhere.
The moral of the story here... you better shop around.
Recently I went online to see if I could buy tickets to take my wife to see the comic stylings of Ricky Gervais, writer of The Office and Extras, our favorite shows. I had a $50 gift card for StubHub and figured I could put it towards this purchase. So far so good.
I entered the StubHub website and found what I was looking for very quickly. Let the record show that the price came out to $78 per seat (for the nosebleed seats... but hey, we've all got a budget to follow!). Let the record also show that this price was already about $25 more than what Ticketmaster was offering for virtually the same seats (I checked there as well to see what they were able to offer). So after comparing the price between the two sites, I began to place my order at StubHub since the gift card would basically even out the lower price of Ticketmaster.
Mistake.
I go through the whole process of signing up, filling in my address, credit card info, the whole shebang, and THEN comes up the final order tally:
$183.55
That's a far cry from $156... the total of the listed ticket price of $78 x 2.
Without any forewarning, here's what they did... they tacked on a 10% commission of $15.60 and $11.95 in FedEx shipping and handling (because handling two tickets is so much work).
Silly me thought that the original $78 price included a built in commission, and I could understand paying extra for shipping, but not 12 bucks worth. (Note: apparently picking up at the box office or sending via mail were not options, so $12 was the minimum charge. Yay, what a bargain.)
So I backed out of my order and went over to Ticketmaster, another company that irks me with the way they do billing, but it turned out to be a much better deal. For virtually identical seats, I was able to buy the tickets straight up (no added commission, other than Ticketmaster's tacked on charges), and have them simply mailed to me the good ole-fashioned way for $115.45. That's a savings of almost $70, which equates to a real-time savings to me of $20 if I had went with StubHub and used my $50 gift card. Twenty bucks isn't a big difference, but I wasn't about to give StubHub my business after this whole snub.
While I will admit that StubHub does provide a helpful service for people that are looking for hard-to-get tixx, I was not happy with their fees and the fact that I would have been paying more per ticket even though the same basic seats were still available at Ticketmaster. Note that StubHub is offering better seats for the show that Ticketmaster is now out of, also at jacked up seller's prices, but I could at least understand that due to supply and demand. Makes no sense to sell the same tickets for 60% more than you can get 'em elsewhere.
The moral of the story here... you better shop around.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
New Jersey Asks for Spending Cut Ideas
In a small blurb on page 3 of the Metro Section of a recent Philadelphia Inquirer, I read about how New Jersey's Governor Corzine has set up a portion of the State's website to allow citizens to make suggestions on how to cut spending for the State government. This is a good start and something that all 8 million NJ residents should look into.
As has been well-publicized, NJ's taxes are among the highest in the nation, and that definitely hurts the common man's wallet. While it's overall a good state to call home, losing out on large chunks of money due to propery, income, sales, and other taxes does negatively affect us New Jerseyites. Which is why I whole-heartedly support the idea of asking residents what they think the State can do to save money. I submitted a few ideas, none of them groundbreaking or likely to put us back in the black, but I at least feel like my voice is heard and maybe the State can cut some costs based on my ideas or other citizens' ideas, which is what democracy is all about.
So if you're an NJ resident who is tired of shelling out money for government spending, here's your chance to chime in. Click here and suggest ways that NJ can cut costs. (Then click on "Direct Citizen Input on Reducing Spending" to fill out the form).
Remember, a penny saved is a penny less that 8 million people have to shell out...
As has been well-publicized, NJ's taxes are among the highest in the nation, and that definitely hurts the common man's wallet. While it's overall a good state to call home, losing out on large chunks of money due to propery, income, sales, and other taxes does negatively affect us New Jerseyites. Which is why I whole-heartedly support the idea of asking residents what they think the State can do to save money. I submitted a few ideas, none of them groundbreaking or likely to put us back in the black, but I at least feel like my voice is heard and maybe the State can cut some costs based on my ideas or other citizens' ideas, which is what democracy is all about.
So if you're an NJ resident who is tired of shelling out money for government spending, here's your chance to chime in. Click here and suggest ways that NJ can cut costs. (Then click on "Direct Citizen Input on Reducing Spending" to fill out the form).
Remember, a penny saved is a penny less that 8 million people have to shell out...
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Parenthetically Speaking: Let's Update the Area Code Norms
Perhaps I get it from the comic stylings of Jerry Seinfeld, but I tend to appreciate, scrutinize, and contemplate on the small things in life, just like he does in his comedy career.Case in point:
Every day I look at dozens, maybe hundreds of phone numbers. And I came to realize... what a waste it is to put parentheses around area codes. I think we're mature enough as a society to realize that the first three numbers in a phone number indicate the area code. It's simply excessive to surround those three little digits with unnecessary parentheses, just like it's unnecessary to put http:// in front of your website name, every time you reference your website in marketing materials. They served their purposes for a long time, now we move on.
Let's revolutionize the world of telephony and ditch the parentheses (shall we?).
Now that we have that settled, please enjoy this tangentially related video clip featuring Victor Borge, Dean Martin, and punctuation noises (just watch):
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