Today is Halloween in the USA. It is traditionally associated with dressing up in costumes and eating too much candy. I picked up my girl from the airport tonight and saw lots of kids running from house to house to get candy. Reminded me of when I did that back in the day.
Its just another day for me. I no longer desire the whole dress up and spend a lot of time / money doing it. You can find out more about today on wikipedia. Have a good one!
I am happy to say that gas is now down to 2.29 per gallon here in Atlanta. That is a full 2 dollars less than I paid during the shortage. Its nice to have my refill costs cut in half. Their are rumors of 1.99 per gallon in suburbs which is impressive.
I am still skeptical about it being permanently lowered, though. I will take the prices while they are cheap but economics and common sense tells me that it will go back up again. We have holiday travel season coming up and it always goes up during that time.
I, for one, hope it stays low!
My main computer is a Macbook Pro. It is a big investment that I want to protect. Based on friends’ past experience I believe Apple Care is a must. What most people don’t know is that you do not have to pay full price for it. Apple Care for the iPod is always good as they tend to get beat up from use. Its worth it!
You can get Apple Care for just about any product from eBay. They are signifcantly cheaper than directly from Apple. Some of you may be worried about scams but you have to look for a few things:
The above will ensure that you are not getting ripped off. Even if you do eBay has solutions for that. The normal Macbook Pro Apple Care price is $350. It is going on eBay now for $205. That is low enough to buy and resell locally yourself!
So I am going to Indiana for a few days next month. I just booked my flight from ATL to IND on Delta for $199. I depart the night of Nov. 17 and return the night of Nov 20. I will earn another 1000 MQMs bringing me a little closer to Gold Medallion.
I must admit that it is not the most exciting place on earth but it is my job. I am still holding out for Vegas but I am still not sure on that one. We shall see.
I just bought the Lonely Planet guide for Belize. I find their maps and info invaluable and I don’t have to waste time researching and printing. I get them from amazon.com since they are always the cheapest. I also ordered the Spanish phrasebook and some other filler items to cross the $25 free shipping mark.
I also tend to resell or trade the book after I am done to save money in the long run. Bangkok is a great place to sell/trade travel guides and other books. A great way to keep your backpack lighter and less cluttered.
I found an incredible deal to fly round trip to Belize via Miami. Only down side is that it is on American and not Delta. I got my ticket for $214!
I am ordering the lonely planet today. I will leave on Nov. 22 and return Nov 28. I look forward to a cheap vacation on the beach.
It’s official. I had to replace the motherboard in my Dell laptop. It took me 3 hours and about $200 in parts to get it running again. So far it is running ok. I won’t do this again. I would rather buy a new one.
This is also one of those rare instances where that extended warranty would have paid for itself in lack of headache. The old motherboard went bad and kept blowing out power supplies. Other than that it worked fine. I still am unsure what the real cause of the problem was. I am guessing a power surge nuked something and it kept back-feeding current to the power brick.
Either way I think I am going to invest in Apple Care for my MacBook Pro. Parts are even more expensive and it is already a big investment.
So the boss let us go home early today and I was able to leave at 4PM. He just asked me to answer the phone until 6:30 (forwarded to my cell). So I left and sure enough on my way home I get a call. I had to remote in and tech a printer from home.
I then call up some friends and head to Sweetwater brewery. I get another call. This time its my client in Vegas and have been waiting 92 days to get it done. I take the call outside in the rain and get it taken care of.
On top of that I get a call from a tech in Michigan and he will have to finish a job on Saturday. This means I have to wake up and field that call as well. So much for getting off work early! It ended up being overtime!
I have noticed that gas prices are falling every day. I am waiting to fill up as they keep falling. I like this idea but not sure why it is going so fast. I remember not long ago paying $4.40 per gallon during the shortage and now its $2.55.
I have all sorts of theories of election-time strategies by those currently in office. Also could be tapping into our own supplies. Either way I don’t really care and enjoy cutting my gas costs in half. I like to save where I can!
The only remaining question is how long will this last? Until the end of the election? Only time will tell.
I am still trying to figure out what to do for my week off during Thanksgiving. I want to do something beside boring turkey and my awful hometown. I am still keeping my eyes open for a good skyteam flight to Europe to get my Gold level.
I am also taking the day after Christmas off so I can have a long weekend. I have use it or lose it vacation time so of course I will be taking all of it. I will most likely be going home for Christmas since my family would kill me if I didn’t.