Dear Costco,
I usually love you, but my visit to your place yesterday just perturbed me to no end. I usually like to go grocery shopping on Sundays towards the end of the day. Why because usually the afternoon rush is long gone. Well not at your place, to my surprise the parking lot was packed to the rim.
Eventually I made it inside only to find all the people with those cars in the parking lot are all congregating inside of you as if I was late for some party. I had trouble navigating my large cart around inside the store. For a while I didn't want to run anyone over with my cart but I have a short fuse and I was going to start nudging people just to get them to speed up their slow pace but the inner Buddha in me told me to calm down.
So Costco these are my reasons why I think my $100 membership is not worth it. Other than paying the extra $50 for the membership I do not feel special. Shouldn't you have two checkout lines dedicated for Executive Members? Costco you are more than welcome to dedicate three or four checkout lanes for Executive Members. I'll leave it up to you define the logistics.
My second complaint is that you have too much crap in your aisles, especially near the checkout area. When the lines are spilling into your aisles it gets beyond worse. Your aisles near the checkout area either need to be eliminated or at least widened. When all those people are waiting in line to checkout, I can't go in there with my cart to buy something because your aisles just cannot afford to fit two enormous carts side by side. Oh yes and if you are going to have demos for crap people normally wouldn't buy, why not create a staging area for them to demo the crap. I normally don't go to Costco to taste every single thing 4-5 times like some people do but all these little demonstrations do is create headache for other people. People just stand and wait for batch after batch of the free stuff, of course they have their enormously large shopping carts with them as well to block the rest of us normal folks from entering the aisles to shop.
I am contemplating checking out your archenemy Sam's Club, but I am sure I will end up dealing with the same crap over there. So please I beg you to do something.
Thanks!
Your devoted customer
Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
* How to Become a Millionaire
* How to Become a Millionaire: Who would not want to become a millionaires. There are of course pitfalls for everything in life. Becoming a millionaire does not make life easier as some might thing. Be smart about it people, live as if you never won that money and you have a better chance of making it last a lot longer.
Why You Should Freeze Your Credit To Protect Your Identity
I didn't know Freezing ones credit was possible. Hopefully no one has to ever use it. Why You Should Freeze Your Credit To Protect Your Identity
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Unlucky traveler stranded again - CNN.com
Unlucky traveler stranded again - CNN.com This guy has the worst luck when it comes to travelling at least. Hopefully he has Kindle or an iPad to keep him entertained for however long he is stuck at an airport again.
The 8 Least-Evil Banks as Determined by CNNMoney
The 8 Least-Evil Banks as Determined by CNNMoney Well I don't own a bank account in every bank mentioned here but I do have an ING Direct checking & Savings account. They do make things a lot easier for me. What about you? Do you have any of these bank accounts? What are your thoughts?
Send Customized Gift Cards from GiftCardLab
Send Customized Gift Cards from GiftCardLab: Perfect gift idea to give someone who has everything. A personalized Gift Card.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Video: World's Fastest Beer Machine
Video: World's Fastest Beer Machine -- Of course something like this is invented in Philadelphia!
Why Won't Burger King Share Its "X-Tra Long" Burgers With America? - The Consumerist
Why Won't Burger King Share Its "X-Tra Long" Burgers With America? - The Consumerist - I would love to try one of these at least once. Come on Burger King what's the hold up?
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
A Case Against Hybrid Vehicles
Yes you are looking at the title and wondering am I on drugs? Is this guy really against hybrid technology? Well I am not completely against hybrid technology and the many vehicles coming out in the market yearly. But just hear me out, make your judgment later and feel free to leave me a comment.
People buy hybrid cars for all sorts of reason. From trying to save money on gas to saving the environment. Pretty usual reasons why anyone would want to get a hybrid vehicle. But wait, if you want to get a hybrid vehicle for yourself you usually have to shell out a few thousand dollars more than the base model of the same car (if available). Hybrid cars have been around a decade or so and still they cost way more. Is paying the extra few thousand dollars for a hybrid vehicle really worth it? If you think about it, it will take years of driving to save the difference in paying for gas alone. Yes that sounds good to me if I can keep the car running for the next 10-20 years, but who keeps their car with them that long nowadays anyway? We are constantly bombarded with new features and told how we are missing out. So to me its not worth it to spend the extra 3000-5000 for a hybrid technology.
People who buy luxury hybrid vehicles, are you crazy? Who are you trying to impress? I laugh every time I see one of those GMC SUV trucks with a big Hybrid logo on them. I mean are you shouting to the world that the person inside of this SUV is an environmentally conscious driver? Who are you kidding? If they are so environmentally conscious how about you take the bus instead! Just today on my way to lunch this lady was trying to drive her Lexus Hybrid car. I am not sure if the car was giving her problems or she was giving the car problems, but either way what is the point in buying a $40000 plus car if you can't burn your tires on the pavement every time you want to race the person in the next lane.
I know there will be plenty of people who are going to mock me for being against the environment, but don't get me wrong there are other ways to save the environment. Like breathe less, walk or bike to work. I am sure hybrid technology will be good but its not at the level I am comfortable with. To me its not worth it just yet.
People buy hybrid cars for all sorts of reason. From trying to save money on gas to saving the environment. Pretty usual reasons why anyone would want to get a hybrid vehicle. But wait, if you want to get a hybrid vehicle for yourself you usually have to shell out a few thousand dollars more than the base model of the same car (if available). Hybrid cars have been around a decade or so and still they cost way more. Is paying the extra few thousand dollars for a hybrid vehicle really worth it? If you think about it, it will take years of driving to save the difference in paying for gas alone. Yes that sounds good to me if I can keep the car running for the next 10-20 years, but who keeps their car with them that long nowadays anyway? We are constantly bombarded with new features and told how we are missing out. So to me its not worth it to spend the extra 3000-5000 for a hybrid technology.
People who buy luxury hybrid vehicles, are you crazy? Who are you trying to impress? I laugh every time I see one of those GMC SUV trucks with a big Hybrid logo on them. I mean are you shouting to the world that the person inside of this SUV is an environmentally conscious driver? Who are you kidding? If they are so environmentally conscious how about you take the bus instead! Just today on my way to lunch this lady was trying to drive her Lexus Hybrid car. I am not sure if the car was giving her problems or she was giving the car problems, but either way what is the point in buying a $40000 plus car if you can't burn your tires on the pavement every time you want to race the person in the next lane.
I know there will be plenty of people who are going to mock me for being against the environment, but don't get me wrong there are other ways to save the environment. Like breathe less, walk or bike to work. I am sure hybrid technology will be good but its not at the level I am comfortable with. To me its not worth it just yet.
Monday, January 24, 2011
How to Save Money on Lunch
Are you like me? Working 9 to 5? I work in Los Angeles and there are thousands of food options near my place of work. I love the option of being able to choose from so many options. Of course with options comes expensive prices. Lunch usually ranges between $10-$20, not bad for a lunch. But if you add that for a week that could easily turn into a $50-$100 gone in just one meal. Ouch! I have plenty of friends who love to eat out during lunch and believe me I love to eat out as well. But, when you take a look at the big picture it is not worth it, it is just a meal. So here are some tips I came up with that can help you save money on lunch as well.
MYOL (Make Your Own Lunch):
This is not a hard task, especially if you love to cook. I usually pack my lunch in the morning. It can be any flavor of sandwiches. You are the chef of your lunch so be creative and make a lunch you are actually going to look forward to eat.
Frozen Entrées:
Frozen entrées are also popular substitute for going out to eat for lunch as well. Of course this requires a little bit of planning on your side. You should pick the meals you would enjoy from your grocer's freezer section. Also be careful of the high amounts of sodium and other preservatives these frozen entrées then to pack with them. Basically you can plan your lunches out for the whole week all while doing grocery shopping.
Take Leftovers:
I love taking leftovers to work. I am not a cook but my fiancée loves to cook and we usually cook enough to make an extra meal or two out of it. I use that as a perfect opportunity to pack the leftover as my lunch. Not only am I saving money I am enjoying some home cooked meals as well.
Potluck with buddies:
If there are other co-workers you have lunch with regularly then ask them if they would be interested in doing a potluck style lunch with you? You don't need to email the entire office but just your friends at work and see if can get a little crowd going. You get to taste the different food along with yours and usually at potlucks there is plenty of food available for even more leftovers. Make someone responsible for organizing the potluck and you are all set. This way you can avoid boredom with your meals and you are also making it an activity.
Of course remember that just like anyone else it can get boring to eat at your desk, so make sure you check out the scenery around your work. If there is a park or a recreational area, make it a point to visit it during lunch. You'll not only enjoy the outdoors you will also get some much needed break from your office desk.
MYOL (Make Your Own Lunch):
This is not a hard task, especially if you love to cook. I usually pack my lunch in the morning. It can be any flavor of sandwiches. You are the chef of your lunch so be creative and make a lunch you are actually going to look forward to eat.
Frozen Entrées:
Frozen entrées are also popular substitute for going out to eat for lunch as well. Of course this requires a little bit of planning on your side. You should pick the meals you would enjoy from your grocer's freezer section. Also be careful of the high amounts of sodium and other preservatives these frozen entrées then to pack with them. Basically you can plan your lunches out for the whole week all while doing grocery shopping.
Take Leftovers:
I love taking leftovers to work. I am not a cook but my fiancée loves to cook and we usually cook enough to make an extra meal or two out of it. I use that as a perfect opportunity to pack the leftover as my lunch. Not only am I saving money I am enjoying some home cooked meals as well.
Potluck with buddies:
If there are other co-workers you have lunch with regularly then ask them if they would be interested in doing a potluck style lunch with you? You don't need to email the entire office but just your friends at work and see if can get a little crowd going. You get to taste the different food along with yours and usually at potlucks there is plenty of food available for even more leftovers. Make someone responsible for organizing the potluck and you are all set. This way you can avoid boredom with your meals and you are also making it an activity.
Of course remember that just like anyone else it can get boring to eat at your desk, so make sure you check out the scenery around your work. If there is a park or a recreational area, make it a point to visit it during lunch. You'll not only enjoy the outdoors you will also get some much needed break from your office desk.
Friday, January 21, 2011
How To Teach Kids About Budgeting
I wrote a little article for you parents. Check it out and feel free to comment.
Budgeting is important, we as adults learn to budget only after we've spent too much. But don't you wish you had started life with budgeting first and learn more about money at a younger age? Our schools teach kids their ABCs but they don't teach them about money and budgeting. That is a topic for another day. This hub is going to share some ideas you can use to get your kids to learn about money, what it means to budget and how this will affect the rest of their lives. To continue reading click here.
Budgeting is important, we as adults learn to budget only after we've spent too much. But don't you wish you had started life with budgeting first and learn more about money at a younger age? Our schools teach kids their ABCs but they don't teach them about money and budgeting. That is a topic for another day. This hub is going to share some ideas you can use to get your kids to learn about money, what it means to budget and how this will affect the rest of their lives. To continue reading click here.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Shetoldme.com: Best Referral Site For Your Blog
SheToldMe.com is a site that has been around for quite some time now, however not a lot of people have read about it or even heard of this site. I for one had not heard about this site till I got serious about blogging. I have majority of my articles on Hubpages.com. If you are interested in a community based blogging website were you are free to blog about anything and earn some cash while you are at it, then you should definitely checkout Hubpages.com.
How I use Shetoldme.com
Shetoldme.com is a referral site. You can either post your articles directly on Shetoldme.com or you can use it as a referral so you can bring additional traffic to your website via Shetoldme.com. Basically once you become a Shetoldme.com member you can either post an entire article or you can post a snippet and provide a link to your blog so you can gain additional readers to your website or blog. This helps your website or blog additional views it. What you are doing is promoting your site. The more places your link is present the faster it gets indexed by a search engine like Google. Also you are attracting more audience you normally would not have if you did not backlink.
You can also gain adsense revenue from Shetoldme.com. You share a certain percentage with shetoldme.com. Best part about shetoldme.com is that if you refer to someone else you get a small portion of their adsense revenue because you referred to them. Its a truly a win-win situation. If you are interested in learning more about backlinking and shetoldme.com You should visit Susana's hub on SEO.
How I use Shetoldme.com
Shetoldme.com is a referral site. You can either post your articles directly on Shetoldme.com or you can use it as a referral so you can bring additional traffic to your website via Shetoldme.com. Basically once you become a Shetoldme.com member you can either post an entire article or you can post a snippet and provide a link to your blog so you can gain additional readers to your website or blog. This helps your website or blog additional views it. What you are doing is promoting your site. The more places your link is present the faster it gets indexed by a search engine like Google. Also you are attracting more audience you normally would not have if you did not backlink.
You can also gain adsense revenue from Shetoldme.com. You share a certain percentage with shetoldme.com. Best part about shetoldme.com is that if you refer to someone else you get a small portion of their adsense revenue because you referred to them. Its a truly a win-win situation. If you are interested in learning more about backlinking and shetoldme.com You should visit Susana's hub on SEO.
OEM Shop on Amazon.com, A Great Vendor
OEM Shop is a vendor that sell many gadgets and electronics on Amazon.com. I recently purchased apple earphones with a mic from them. The reason I chose them over other vendors was because they offered free shipping, the cost of these earphones was almost half off the price Apple was selling on their website. The reason I bought these was because I cannot find the earphones my iPhone came with, quite possibly because I might have misplaced them when I moved from my apartment. I was not going to shell out $30 for earphones, good thing Amazon had them for little over $15 sold by OEM Shop. I ordered the earphones and they came in less than 5 days (I chose the free shipping route).
I tried on the iPhone earphones with my phone, placed some calls and I was definitely satisfied with my purchase. It was definitely worth the price and it was delivered to me exactly when they would. However, with keeping my phone in my pocket and pulling on the earphone cable I noticed that the plastic covering that shields the copper wires was lose. I did not think much of it at the time and continued to use my earphones. It did not make any difference in the audio for me at that time.
So I like to do dishes while listening to music. I enjoy listening to music because it helps me concentrate on doing dishes without cussing under my breath about having to do dishes. Just like any other day I put on my iPhone earphones on and get Pandora app started on my iPhone. Just when the music starts playing I am hearing music but only from my right ear. For a good minute I thought it was me, I switch earphones onto different ears, now no music blasting in my right ear (because I switched earphones from one ear to another). I am very disappointed, I go find my Apple iPod earphones from the last decade and put them on. Music to my ears! But, I just paid $15 for Apple Earphones with mic that don't work! argh! Million thoughts run in my head. What am I going to do with this now useless earphones? It was just over a week ago I got them in my hands and they are going to the trash? I couldn't just let that happen.
So the very next day, I thought to myself. I've read plenty of stories on Consumerist.com to know that I should at least try to see if I can return these earphones or at least get a replacement. So I am scavenging through Amazon's website trying to figure out if I can return them. I look all over My Account. I read all the fine print after finding out I have a defective or just broken product. I should have read them BEFORE I bought them. I needed original packaging etc etc. These earphones came wrapped in a little plastic bag, covered by an Amazon cardboard box. I don't have any of that! Oh yes not to mention, I threw out the twig tie that kept these earphones nice and tidy in the plastic bag. I'm screwed, could I fool these guys by sending the earphones back in a zip lock bag? Well I didn't have the balls to try it. So I contacted OEM Shop. Filled out my little Amazon form and now I was part of the waiting game.
I didn't know if anyone was going to respond, they could've easily pressed Delete for this email i just sent. I wasn't angry with them. After all its a thing, and all things can break at some point. Giving them the benefit of the doubt that they wouldn't send me a defective product. So 24 Hours have passed and I get an email from the OEM Shop. I am scared to open it, will it be filled with reject? Will they call me names? Will there be a "too bad sucker" in size 72 font as a reply? Well of course not! Les thats the guy or girl who replied was apologetic, and said they've issued a replacement set of earphones in my name! Wow, they went well above and beyond for my $15 earphones. So the least I could do was write a big THANK YOU to Les and everyone at OEM Shop. You made my day with your excellent customer service.
Best Sony Blu-Ray Player Under $150
I recently purchased a Sony Blu-Ray Player and I am in love. Remember when DVD and DVD players first came out? Remember the excitement that surrounded DVDs and the far superior quality of viewing movies? Well this Sony Blu-Ray Player Model #BDP-BX37 does more than just play DVDs and Blu-Ray Discs. It is entertainment for the entire family right in your living room.
Here are the reasons why I fell in love with this Sony Blu-Ray Player. First of all its a Blu-Ray Player! Blu-Ray Players are the new "it" thing to have in your living room besides a 3D Television set. I can't remember the last time I saw an advertisement for movies being released on VHS. So if you are still watching movies on VHS it is definitely time to upgrade. You should skip getting a DVD player as well because with a Sony Blu-Ray Player you can also watch DVDs. Yes DVDs still function on a Sony Blu-Ray Player, it might even look better on your TV with a Sony Blu-Ray Player.
The other reason I love this Sony Blu-Ray Player is because of its ability to let its users watch content from the Internet. There are plenty of streaming options preloaded with this gizmo as well. If you have a Netflix account you can watch shows and movies right through your Sony Blu-Ray Player. All you need to do is create an account Sony Style's website so you can link your Netflix account with your Sony Blu-Ray Player. Once this is done you can stream endless hours of movies and television shows right through your Sony Blu-Ray Player. But wait, there is even more!
You can listen to Pandora radio through your Sony Blu-Ray Player as well. Put in your Pandora account information and you are set. Now your Sony Blu-Ray Player just became the media hub for you. Want to play music, but don't want to be too cheesy? Then linking your Pandora account to your Sony Blu Ray Player is a great option. Your guest can enjoy the music and they can view the information of the artist right on the TV screen. There are tons of other apps for other sources of entertainment on the Internet, such as Crackle, Youtube, Epicurious and much more. If you want to watch the latest movie without paying your cable provided, or you just don't feel like driving out to the nearest movie rental store then Amazon On Demand will let you rent movies straight through your Sony Blu-Ray Player. It takes just minutes to setup and you can watch movies right away.
My only issue with this Sony Blu-Ray Player is that it does not come with a built-in Wifi adapter. It is optional and can be purchased however it is not worth the price. I have mine hooked up right into my cable modem and I don't have to worry about spending the extra cash on the wifi adapter. There are newer models of Sony Blu-Ray Players that come with Wifi built-in, but if you don't need it then I would definitely recommend that you skip it.
Do you have a Blu-Ray Player? What do you think of your Blu-Ray Player?
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