slamboard

With fuel costs breaking new records everyday, lots of people are considering curtailing their driving. For some people, this may involve putting a car into storage for months or longer. I was considering it and I realized that there are probably a few things that I should do to the car if I want it to stay in the condition that it is in. Here are a few links with helpful information:

Mothballing your car

AAA has advice that seems to cater to people with really nice cars.

After moving in 2005, we went carless for a whole year. It can be done. I consider my 1990 Skoda to be a time saving device. It is not a necessity and it is not a part of my identity.

The founder of lifelock has famously displayed his social insurance number on the splash page for his product. Detractors like to say that his identity was stolen (or at least that an attempt was made) shortly after that. I say ‘SO WHAT?’

The service offered to consumers does not involve publishing your information on their homepage. It involves periodically triggering the heightened vigilance that is inherent in the system. Certain large companies are upset because they carry out the heightened security and it costs them money that they cannot legally pass on directly to individuals. That gets another SO WHAT? from me. Lifelock provides more security for its customers and they have a huge guarantee should this security get breached. I would hate to have my identity stolen and I worry about it occasionally.

VistaPrint is one of the only online printing companies that I ever heard about through legitimate word of mouth. Last year there was a situation where bloggers suddenly realized that with all the IRL situations that were cropping up, we all needed business cards. I can recall seeing VistaPrint recommended in forums about a half dozen times.

I looked into this and I almost ‘bought’ some cards. I think at the time you could get a small number practically free. This is what is called a loss leader, I believe. I am curious about the business model. I want to know how many customers end up reordering more cards.

I do not have a bunch of business cards that relate to my activity as a blogger and I don’t think I ever will. I wasn’t sold on the idea when it was all the rage. I have an actual business and I have cards related to that. I would be happy to make blogging my business, but it seems to be stuck in hobby mode. I even offered to sell one of my blogs recently.

I suspect that beyond cards, customers that have a good experience with the company will be more likely to go for the discount checks and rubber stamps that they also offer. Then free rubber stamp looks exactly like the one that I paid about $15 for recently. I needed to have an ‘official’ stamp for a company that I direct

Seth Godin has at least one book that is basically a hardcover printed copy of dozens of blog posts. I may or may not have one of these. You see, I thought it would be a great idea to have it with me while I was in a long lineup at the bank. I accidentally left it there. While the information in the book was just like a blog, the hardcopy medium enabled me to leave it somewhere. Two things happened, this information is no longer accessible to me AND the information is sitting in the bank being readily accessible to its employees and customers. This is not how blogs work.

I think I arrived at the point where I have more credit cards than I want. The last one was justified for business reasons. I didn’t use any kind of online resource to find the best credit card deals. I just walked into my local bank and said that I wanted a business credit card. It helps to have a business when you ask for something like that. The application process was not that involved. This may have been partly due to the fact that I wasn’t looking for any large amount of credit. I like the fact that this card is a distinctly different colour than the other cards. This will help prevent me from accidentally putting personal expenses on the company credit card. I think it it usually the result of innocent confusion when that happens with other people.

When it comes to Mortgages, knowledge is power. Making use of the tools and information on a website like Earth.co.uk effectively could make a huge difference in your cost of borrowing over the course of years or decades.

Obviously, they don’t know everything and they don’t connect you to everyone. Trying to find the best mortgage s a lot like dating. Most of the really attractive mortgages don’t want you, and some of the ones that are really easy to get are gonna cost you big in the end. You can’t hurry mortgage comparison, you know, my momma said…

You can make a no obligation enquiry at Earth.co.uk and receive a free quote with having to submit to a credit check.

My site gets search traffic from a few people everyday who are curious about Walmart Prepaid Visa Cards. I assumed that this was because I was one of the few business bloggers that made a point of commenting on their launch last year. I also assumed that the product was popular. I was surprised to learn that when a firm surveyed 800 lower-income consumers, only 1% of them actually got these cards. These are people that go to Wal*Mart almost 5 times per month.

So, the cards aren’t explosively popular. The issuers are still happy with their bottom line, although there are worries that the government may make additional rules about terms and charges that will restrict the potential for profit. General Electric Co.’s GE Money subsidiary is the issuer of the Walmart card.

Source:Digital Transactions

Conrad Black may be more well known in Canada than in the US, where he has been convicted of fraud. He was the poster child for media monopoly in Canada for many years. He also made quite a stir when he renounced his Canadian citizenship so that he could accept a noble title from Great Britain.

I haven’t been following his trial at all because I knew that it would be an excruciatingly drawn out affair. The discussion in the media today is about whether his lack of remorse will be a factor in sentencing. I think the judge will must know that the sentence will be appealed and he will therefore aim for a sentence length that is long enough to make the judge look tough and short enough to make Conrad look girlier than Martha Stewart.

I have never shopped for Car Loans online. I actually paid cash for the car that I am presently driving. It is a 1990 Skoda. You’ve seen the bumper stickers that say Don’t Laugh, It’s Paid For, well you can laugh at mine even though it is paid for.

If I decide to purchase a more expensive car in the future, I think I will use an online financial resource to try to get the best terms on a car loan. Completeloansource.com has lots of resources for all kinds of lenders. If you are looking for Bad Credit Loans to try and restore your credit rating, they are one place to start.

One of the most contentious issues in American politics is military spending.

Around twenty years ago, General Electric was the first and possibly the biggest corporation to face fines and lawsuits stemming from a crackdown on fraud related to contracts with the Pentagon. Maybe it’s time for another crackdown. It could provide a needed boost of revenue for the military.

A little over ten years ago, GE was caught cheating the Military by not adequately testing aircraft components. A GE engineer approached the FBI after the concerns that he expressed within the company failed to result in changes that he felt were necessary. The approximately $7 million awarded in a subsequent lawsuit mostly went to the government, with some going to the whistle-blower and his lawyers as well.

If this is a pattern, it would seem that a payment is overdue. There were also some criminal convictions against GE in 1990 and 1992.

This year, they sold their plastics division to the Saudis.