Deals: 12-5-08

Fry's

Hamilton Beach 4.5 Quart All Metal Stand Mixer $100!
Sharp 1100 Watt stainless steel microwave $80

16GB Mark 2 Memory Stick Pro Duo for $70!!!!! This a GREAT effin' deal!

Sony Progressive scan DVD player $40

Samsung 1080p (32" $950) (37" $1,100)
Samsung 1080p (40" $1,300) (52" $2,300)
Samsung 1080p 120Hz (40" $1,600) (52" $2,500)
Sony XBR 1080p 120Hz (40" $2300) (52" $3,500)

Toshiba Laptop $450! Athlon 64 X2 Dual-core with 2GB RAM and 160GB HD Wireless/Bluetooth/DVD-R/Vista Premium
Sony Vaio $900 Centrino 2 with 4GB RAM and 320GB HD Wireless/Bluetooth/DVD-R/Vista Premium

LG 20X Dual layer DVD-R with Lightscribe $40

24" Samsung widescreen LCD 1080P for your PC $450

4th Gen 16GB iPod Nano $187

Logitech 5.1 X-540 PC surround sound speakers $60. I have these and they are great!

Games
360 Left for Dead $53
360 Too Human $35
360 Gears of War 2 $55
360/PS3 Call of Duty: World at War $55
360/PS3 Midnight Club: Los Angeles $40
360 Last Remnant $55
Wii Sonic Unleashed $45
Wii Skate it $45

360 Wireless network adapter $90

360VA UPS Battery Backup $40! EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE ONE OF THESE HOOKED UP TO THEIR PC'S!!!!

GameStop

360/PS3 Star Wars: Force Unleashed $40
Wii Sonic and the Secret Rings $15

Miscellaneous

Polk Audio floor standing loudspeakers $100
Griffin PowerDock 2 for iProducts $29

Used Games

XB0x 360 - Just Cause $22
PS3 Dark Sector $13
PS3 Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit $18
360 Frontlines: Fuel of War $13
360 Mass Effect $20
PS3 Need for Speed: Pro Street $15

Meme: One Word

Dangit! You caught me on the can! I've been tagged. This one is pretty interesting.

Rules: You must answer each question with only one word.



1. Where is your cell phone? Pocket
2. Where is your significant other? Office
3. Your hair color? Miscellaneous
4. Your mother? Neurotic
5. Your father? Manly
6. Your favorite thing? Wife
7. Your dream last night? Bloggable
8. Your dream/goal? Success
9. The room you’re in? Lab
11. Your fear? Failure
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Climbing
13. Where were you last night? Class
14. What you’re not? Social
15. One of your wish-list items? Gears
16. Where you grew up? Ghetto
17. The last thing you did? Work
18. What are you wearing? Badge
19. Your TV? Crisp
20. Your pet? Smart
21. Your computer? Which
22. Your mood? Resentful
23. Missing someone? Wife
24. Your car? Smart
25. Something you’re not wearing? Panties
26. Favorite store? Electronics
27. Your summer? Hot
28. Love someone? Wife
29. Your favorite color? Blue
30. When is the last time you laughed? Meh
31. Last time you cried? Silence

Oh and I'm out of tagees so feel free to talk amongst yourselves. :) It's your party and you can play if you want to.

Foreign Lunacy

That title is in no way intended to insinuate that foreign countries are crazy. It is a play on the term, "Foreign Policy." See what I did there? Eh?? Nudge nudge.

Though this doesn't have to do with the way foreigners are, it DOES have a lot to do with our borders. No, don't shut our borders to them.

Shut our borders to their businesses.

Yes I understand this would cause many worldwide businesses to be up in arms at the anti-competitive American capitalist policies but we are dangerously close to a depression here.

The U.S. is a great consumer. Most of what U.S. citizens consume happen to be foreign products. We really need to match that balance or perhaps even surpass it.

How do we go about doing this?

1. Tax the crap out of foreign companies that want to sell products in the U.S. Most foreign countries do the same to ours which is one of the reasons why American businesses fail on foreign soil. *coughJapancough Tax the import, sale and even production of these brands here in the U.S. Money is being sucked out of the country by these corporations. We need to slow it down before they bleed us dry.
   
2. Tax the crap out of our own companies that want to look to foreign countries for employment. American companies should NOT legally find it financially feasible to hire cheap labor. Make it MORE expensive for them to do so. This would FORCE them to hire American workers who would keep the money in the U.S. and spend it here feeding the Economy beast.
   
3. Give tax breaks to those companies who abide by those policies quickly and provide affordable alternative energy vehicles ready for mass production. Not "in the works" plans or other B.S. delays that GM has tried in the past.
   
4. Give tax breaks to citizens who purchase American products.
   
5. Readjust purchase tax. Readjust? The most dramatic of all changes would be this one for the tiny little products you buy every day. COMPLETELY REMOVE ALL GOVERNMENT, CITY AND STATE TAXES OF ANY AMERICAN MADE PRODUCTS. How could you possibly compensate for the loss? Toss the difference onto the already lower price of the foreign products. Its not as much as you think, less than a dollar for every 10 but it might just be enough to make a difference.
   

...and so on. I'm sure you can imagine many similar perks along this same train of thought.

Deleting YOU

I have an address book. I have many actually. Until recently they were spread out across many different mediums. My PDA, a spreadsheet, my e-mail client at work, a web e-mail client and address book for each e-mail address I had and one on my cell phone.

Until recently (thanks iPhone & Blackberry) I consolidated.

This is just the way I work. I don't forward text messages or e-mails that I don't first edit, change or at the very least reformat for the viewers ease. With these relatively good habits I have one that people seem to dislike. I tend to delete people.

When I do this, there is no animosity or malintent. (I seriously thought that was a word!) I use MySpace (or used to use) for MySpace reasons. I would post blogs and comment on others. I would upload pictures and comment on others. I would create and moderate groups. Basically, I would participate heavily.

Many people would add me, then never say a word. This would annoy me to no end. The whole point of MySpace, Facebook, Friendster and other social networks like those was to communicate with each other. A majority of people though, would only use it for their own entertainment. They would snoop around your stuff, add you to see your pictures and never acknowledge your existence or even respond to your direct questions.

I wouldn't get mad. I would simply delete them. Why invite someone to the poker table if they aren't going to play? Imagine a 4 person bridge game with one of the players not participating and instead just staring at you, crunching on ice and wiping orange Doritos on your tablecloth.

So here on blogger the day has come for me to do the same. This is not a threat and there aren't any hard feelings. If I write things that don't interest you, no problem! I'm not hurt or offended in any way. I don't want you to be stuck or feel obligated to continue following me. I know we are all busy adults and when pressed for time, there truly is only a small circle we can truly dedicate ourselves to.

This habit is what has traditionally helped me maintain a sense of community in whatever group or blog I create. Some of you who have followed me for years know exactly what I am talking about.

I will never privatize this blog, but I do intend to keep my fellowship slim so I can give attention to those more active participants. I'm more of a conversationalist looking for a fireside chat than I am a public speaker at a conference never taking questions. (A fireside chat with the occasional verbal fist fight. ;) )

So if the day comes and you find yourself not being followed by me, please don't be hurt or angry. It just means I've noticed that you have been busy and I thought it would be best for the both of us to start reading other people.

We'll always have Salem.

EDIT: FOR VIVIENNE

Spammer McAsshole

Let me tell you about Spammer McAsshole. Mr. McAsshole is a guy in my contact list. I have never met señor Spammer. I don't know what this McAsshole looks like or what kind of car he drives. All I know is that he calls my phones from different numbers every day. McAsshole sends me e-mails from different addresses. Sometimes they repeat, sometimes they don't. S. McAsshole likes to warn me about my fictional warranty expiring on my car.

When they do repeat, my spam filter doesn't catch them or the Do Not Call list I signed up for years ago didn't do its job, then I add his information to this contact. That way, I recognize Spammer McAsshole for who he is and disconnect the call before I pick up to answer to an answering machine.

These machines Spammer McAsshole uses detect how long it takes you to answer, any background noise or if it is a data line or fax machine #. If you pick up, chances are you will get more calls from Captain McAsshole because he will know you are a live person on the end of that line. If you disconnect, I would imagine Spammy doesn't get any usable data.

Whether I change anything or not, its really gratifying when I see that name ringing on my phone. That gives me permission to file a complaint with the Do Not Call registry. If you get a call like this, file a complaint here. Do some good and don't be a McAsshole!

Here are two numbers I frequently get called from.

(215) 230-9706
(505) 986-8704

Deals: 12-1-08

Cyber-Monday!

Another great group of deals from Amazon. ALL WITH FREE SHIPPING!

If I wasn't saving up money, I would be broke.

Rock Band 2 is $43.95

Newegg also has some great deals.

XBox 360 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Game of the Year Edition $40 free shipping.
Turtle Beach Ear Force X4 Wireless Headphones for those nighttime gamers that don't want to wake up the kids. $140 with free shipping.

Here's one I would LOVE if I were a rich college student in a small dorm.

Sony Bravia Micro Home Theater System. $400 with free shipping. Considering this is from Sony, its a steal. That subwoofer alone...

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Oh and I just found this one on the Best Buy website! Get it while you still can! A 1,000 Watt Sony 5-Disc XM Ready, Progressive-Scan Home Theater System.

$150. You read that right. $150!!! If you are low on funds...this is the one to get.