Brads Blog

Thetraintraveler.com is a very unique website that is built around train travel. While I have never traveled via train, I still find the site quite interesting.

There is really nothing much to the main page, other than servicing as a portal to the rest of the site.

After landing at the featured Destinations page you can select from a variety of different destinations. You can then read about your destination as well as gather information about planning your trip.

First time travelers might find the Q&A page useful. It answers many common questions.

The Hints and tips page is a must read. It incudes several little good to know tidbits that you might not otherwise think about when riding a train.

There are several more different areas to explore on this site, including book reviews, editorials and more.

While I might never need this site, if you are planning a trip on a train, you should check this site out.

Here is another blog that is based on the financial world. More specifically, it is a stock market investment blog.

My first impression of the site was that I thought it was new. This is because I went to the bottom of the page and that was it. The first post appeared to be in November, 2005.

However, as I explored the site I realized there was much more to it. I discovered the archives and this site has been putting out investing wisdom since January, 2004.

There are several different categories, including:
Bonds
Economics
ETF and mutual fund ideas
Personal finance
Real Estate
Resources
Stocks

The author of this blog posts articles about the stocks he is watching, buying and selling.

If you are a stock market watcher, this site might be worth looking into.

On my list of things to blog about was matching up Dish Network and DirectTV. How do they compare with each other? I came across a website that does that for me. It’s a site called www.satellitetv-site.com.

My first impression with the site was that it just compared the Dish network features with those of DirectTV. However, once I started exploring, I found the site goes a lot deeper than that.

This site also provides details about tuners/DVR’s associated with each company’s service.

I also found that they compare programming packages.

If you already subscribe to a satellite television programming service, this site makes downloadable instruction manuals available for your equipment and offers a discussion board to communicate with other subscribers.

Overall, I would find this site very useful if I were looking to switch from cable.

Today we received a mailing from Stamps.com, and included a CD-ROM and a little detail about the service. They offered to set us up with equipmentand a free month trial of the service. I took a look at the Stamps.com FAQ page and learned that the cost for this service is $15.99 for sevice fees, on top of money you have to pay for postage.

I don’t believe this is cost effective for us to have tis service, but might be if I was a big time Ebay seller, or something like that.

Sticking with the Taco theme, I thought I’d go on about the Old El Paso Stand ‘N Stuff taco shells we had with our taco dinner the other night. We had a full spread. We had regular rounded bottom shells, the new flat bottomed style, soft tacos, and mini tacos. Today I wanted to share my thoughts on the flat bottomed ones.

These tacos are a bunch of hype.


Pros
They make it very easy to make a taco, they don’t fall over as easy.

Cons
These taco shells cost 20% more than the traditional taco shells. They price them the same, but you get less taco for your money. This is the ripoff part.

On top of all that, as soon as you grip your food and prepare for your first bite, the shell splits along the bottom, then you have a broken taco every time.

I ate a good amount of these tacos, and the shell broke every time.

If you’re torn on which taco shell to buy and want my opinion, stick with what you know. Go with the traditional style taco shell.

This year, we are having family come home for Christmas from abroad. The question has been what to get my neices. They are teenagers and we don’t want to get them gifts that will be an issue to get back home. We also don’t want to get them a gift card that they will not be able to use when they get home.

We thought we found the answer with gift cards from AAA. They basically sell gift cards that act as Visa cards and can be used anywhere. This sounded like the perfect solution to our problem. The unfortunate thing is, when I went to the local branch office to get them, they informed me that the system was not working correctly, and there were no branches that were selling them. The only place I could get them would be online and cost $4.95 each. They also require about ten days shipping time. This was not acceptable for us, so we will have to come up wth something else.

For ten years, I was enlisted in the US Navy, and was required to maintain a neat haircut. While I was local, I always went to the same barber shop. It was a little yellow house across town that was made into a barber shop, and was run by two older women. They did it all-cut hair, beard trim, trimmed eyebrows, used straight razors on the back of your neck. They would even give you a scalp massage. All at no extra charge, and the price was about the same as most other so-called barber shops in the area.
After I got out of the Navy, I decided to try to save a few buck by letting my wife cut my hair. She did a good enough job. After all, how good did it need to be? I wasn’t looking for perfection!
Last week, I decided that I was going to go back and get a real haircut. Just like I had years before.
I went there today, only to find that they had gone out of business. It kind of saddened me. There was no “We Moved” note in the door, just lights out, and the place looked like it was being cleaned out.
At that point I decided I had no choice but find an alternative barber. I knew there was a Great Clips shop that just opened up near my house, but I was afraid. I had gone to another one of their franchises years before and had a bad experience there. I got butchered.
I took my son, and we got our hair cut. I was expecting some young girl that just graduated to scalp us, but I was pleasantly surprised. The woman was a bit older and actually did a good job. I was even more surprised at the way she handled my son, who had never had a stranger cut his hair.
The bad thing about it, is that you don’t even want to think about asing for a scalp massage, you’ll probably get slapped. Just take your haircut and go!
I guess like most things, it depends on where you are. I don’t plan to roll the dice again on another barber. When I go back there next time I will be sure to request the same woman. I would be interested to hear anyone else’s stories about GreatClips.

Two weeks ago, when I made a purchase at my local Best Buy store, I was offered a chance to enroll in their new Reward Zone Program. I was hesitant at first, but decided to give it a try.
Enrolling is pretty easy, the cashier asked me a few simple questions and I was not required to give up any credit card information or anything like that. Here are some of the program details from their website:

* Membership now has no fee
* Keeping track of your points is simpler-earn 1 point for nearly every dollar spent
* Certificates are awarded starting at 250 points with a $5 reward certificate
* New Premier level membership offers enhanced benefits and recognition
* Select 1 category to earn double points

The Benefits

In addition to a no-fee membership and a simpler point system, you will continue to receive advance access to concert tickets, pre-sales and events. You will also still enjoy special members-only bonus point offers and more.

Earning points on future purchases remains simple: Just make sure to show your card when you check out. Or, if you’re shopping on BestBuy.com, enter your 10-digit Member ID during the checkout process it’s right on the back of your membership card. Make sure you enter the entire number, including any leading zeros. With as little as 250 points, you’ll receive a $5 reward certificate. You can use your reward certificates on virtually anything you purchase at a Best Buy store. (Redemption is not available online.)

How easy is it to earn rewards? See for yourself!

With as little as 250 points, you’ll receive a $5 reward certificate. You can use your reward certificates on virtually anything you purchase at a Best Buy store. (Redemption is not available online.)

Eligible
Purchase1 Points1 Reward Certificates2
$250 250 $5
$500 500 $10
$750 750 $15
$1,000 1,000 $20
$1,250 1,250 $25
$1,500 1,500 $30
$1,750 1,750 $35
$2,000 2,000 $40
$2,250 2,250 $45
$2,500 2,500 $50

I recently spent over three hundred dollars in my local store, so I will see what happens. I am curious to see if they automatically send me out some gift cards.

Today I’ll square off the new soy milk, otherwise known as Silk against the traditional 2% white milk.

I guess I should start with the taste. It is rare for me to just sit there and drink white milk, so I wouldn’t sit back and enjoy a glass of silk either.

My initial impression if Silk was that it doesn’t really taste like milk. It is vanilla flavored, and really didn’t taste that bad. I also found that tastes pretty good when you add chocolate flavoring, such as Ovaltine or Nesquick. I poured it over my bowl of Cheerios and decided to have another bowl it tasted so good. Overall, the taste was better than I had expected. Drinking Silk is nothing to be afraid of.

Now for the nutrition. I put together the nutritional label face-off chart for your viewing pleasure.

Hands down, Silk was the winner of this one. I would recommend Silk as an alternative to milk, but not a substitute. I don’t think you can use silk in a lot of recipies and expect the same result. However, I’m not an expert.

Several years ago, I was on the hunt for a new job. I interviewed with a guy from Primerica. They were looking for office managers and were interested in me.
What turned me off from this job was the interviewer’s inability to answer straight forward questions. Instead, he kept telling me all those would be answered in future interview which sounded more like a meeting with other prospective candidates. Aside from that, I didn’t like their service anyway and this is why.

Aside from the fact that I don’t think you should put all your eggs in one basket (insurance, investments), it was sounding like a big pyramid scheme. I threw a red flag when he told me I could work part time. The man was a vice president, and the way he was describing the structure of the company, just about everyone was a vice president.

He also went on and on about how they were subsidiaries of Citigroup.

I admit I really don’t know much about this company, other than the information I picked up while I was there. I also admit that the services provided by Primerica might be perfectly fine. But based on my experience, I will not be putting any of my money in their hands. I would prefer to stick with a more reputable outfit.