The Double A Lounge

As I go through all the blogs that give out advice on personal finance, this one certainly caught my eye. There has always been solid advice on what to do with any credit cards you have. The best thing is to not have any at all but let’s face it - there could very well be times when it will be needed. The idea presented is interesting because it does provide you with a way to stop using your card needlessly yet still makes it available for a true emergency. I guess you could use it as a litmus test for how bad you are with credit cards if you find yourself thawing and refreezing it all the time.

I propose going one step further. Why do something like bury it 6 feet under in the yard or put it into a big vat of used cooking oil like the ones fast food places fill up with the oil from making french fries.

It appears that consumer electronics retailer Circuit City feels they have a brilliant idea as shown in this article. Here is basically what they want to do: fire about 8% of it’s work force, give them a few weeks of severance pay, then allow them the option to reapply for the same positions albeit at a much lower rate of pay. Their justification for doing this is that these employees are overpaid.

Have you been in a Circuit City store lately? I picked up a few things from there over Christmas last year. The prices were good and they even had an option where you could pay for it online and walk into the store with the proper credentials and pick up your item without a wait. The reality was quite different from the ideal.

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If you ever wanted to be free of paying a utility company, this item might be a good start (picture below).  The price tag is a bit high though.  I suspect it would be a long time before you could recover your investment though.  If you just like the way it looks, I’m sure you could build one for far less.

I’m sure everyone at one time or another has had chicken McNuggets from McDonalds, but have you ever wondered what is really put into those things?  This article gives you a very clear idea of what is and it sure isn’t pretty.  Fact is, most food we eat these days is more formulated in some hidden lab than created from real ingredients.

This article from the New York Times talks about how we have tried to over simplify food to the point where we are trying to go against what our bodies really need.  The chemical components of food and how they react in our bodies is not as well know as might think.  There are many mysteries that have yet to be solved.

For those out there with anything less than a green thumb for keeping plants, this product would be perfect. It provides the right amount of water and nutrients. Just add light and you’re all set. Many people over or under water plants and this item solves that issue. The price is also very reasonable and they even have a starter kits available. Considering that your biggest expense might be shipping, it would be worth getting more than one.

I’ve upgraded the underlying software for the site to a much newer version.  It should allow for better navigation for users and more capability from my end to include things like embedded video and the like.  Enjoy!

Here is an article about a new type of car that we may see someday.  It runs on compressed air and uses vegetable oil as a lubricant for the engine.  I wonder what this thing sounds like as it rides by.  I imagine something like the sound of an air compressor without the motor.

It’s about time that there was a college that really shows it’s about the students. This college decided that it was more concerned with reducing student debt than anything else. I wish more colleges would take this approach as the costs of higher education keep spiraling upward. It’s hard enough managing debt without a massive student loan to boot.

I found this interesting site which details about how much caffeine is in various consumable products.  One surprise to me, which I had found out before finding the aforementioned site, is that Barq’s Root Beer has caffeine in it.  Apparently, according to this Wikipedia article, it is the only commercially available root beer that has caffeine in it.  Seems to me like it’s more of a cola drink flavored up to act like a root beer.  As for the listing for Starbucks Grande Coffee, it would explain why I felt like I was a race car with a stuck accelerator pedal after having it!

Here is an article about Wal-Mart and Home Depot wanting to own their own bank.  I suppose a lot of people would be tempted to scratch their heads and wonder why on earth would a retailer want to have their own bank.  There could be a variety of reasons.  Many retailers have their own lines of credit they want customers to have.  Home Depot sends me pre-approved credit offers all the time.  Usually it has to be setup through another bank of which they pay fees, etc. to do so.  If they have their own bank, they can kill two birds with one stone.  They have more direct control over their credit portfolios thereby saving costs, and they can create new revenue streams by offering other services normally associated with banks, i.e. loans, securities, etc.  I could see Home Depot offering mortgages and the like.  Ditto for Wal-Mart.  Banks and credit unions do not like this.  Essentially they see it as a way for retailers to avoid having to deal with them and then they lose that line of business.