How Quickly Things Change

I hate my cell phone! I liked it when I first got it. (See Here). But actually, once the newness wore off, I grew to dislike it for a variety of reasons. First, it's a flat phone and I have discovered that I can't talk very well on a flat phone. Because the flat phone does not curve to the shape of one's head, the mouth piece is too far from the mouth. In a quiet room, this isn't much of a problem. But when I'm outdoors, especially on a noisy street like Greenwood Ave, the person can't hear me. And that's no better with a blue tooth.

Oh it has lots of nice features like the GPS (I hardly ever use) and the web browsing (which I do use occasionally) and the ease of text messaging with a full keyboard (which I only use with a certain bear who sends me naughty text messages).

So flat phone aside, the plan only has 450 minutes per month. When I first got the phone that seemed like enough. But somewhere in the last two years, I've become a busier phone talker and often have to keep an eye on that ceiling. So when this plan comes to an end, I am giving up this cell phone for a good old flip phone. And I may get one of those pre paid plan deals - we'll see. But the LG goes bye bye.

Who Killed the Electric Car II?

The big news lately around these parts is that Seattle / Portland will be the "epicenter" for the next round of electric cars. These cars include a electric Ford Focus, a Chevy Volt presumably among others.

Puget Sound is poised to become one of the key markets for the initial wave of mass-marketed electric cars, in part because of plans to begin building a network of more than 2,000 charging stations throughout the region.

Full story here

Who still remembers the GM EV1 Electric car of the late 1990s? And who remembers what happened to that EV1? To this day, people still point the finger of corruption at GM for pulling the plug on what looked to be a very popular car of the time. If you want the whole story, there is a movie called "Who Killed the Electric Car" and there is a wiki page for it as well.

So the big question that I can think of are: was the EV1 just ahead of its time and the right time is now? Oh and another question I would have for the Chevy dealers in 2011 when they roll out the Volt would be: Why should I trust GM after what you did to the EV1? I'm sure they'll have some nice pat answer by then, but the question might surface here and there.

I guess the big difference this time around is there is more interest in the market and there are more car makers getting involved - car makers OTHER than GM. That means competition. Good healthy competition.

Another question arises around the charging stations. They are supposed to be free or very cheap but how long with they stay that way? After all electricity is not free either. How long before customers get priced out of that? What happens in a black out? Well lots of questions, but I have a feeling electric cars might actually catch on this time around. Hopefully there will be no one abruptly pulling the plug like GM did with the EV1.

Pondering Washington Mutual

It's hard to believe that it's been over a year since the crash and burn of Washington Mutual Bank (WaMu) and its subsequent takeover by Chase. That was September 26, 2008 in case you were wondering. I kind of miss WaMu and have noticed that the Chase branches seem a little colder. The employees are the same other than normal turnover, but something about the atmosphere has changed.

WaMu had that Occasio design in many of their branch which abruptly went away. Occasio "eliminated traditional teller windows and queuing stanchions in favor of an open, circular floor plan with a greeter or concierge position and tellers working from behind podiums". It tended to make the banking a little less formal and I was just starting to get used to it. That was quickly done away with and Chase has gone back to the old 'one row of teller windows' with too few tellers working and too long of a line most of the time.

I still have not used up my WaMu checks and according to Chase I can just keep using them until they're gone at which point I can re-order Chase checks. I very seldom write checks anymore, so it's going to take awhile to go through them. I think I just received a box before WaMu went kaput. So every time I write a check, I will be reminded of WaMu for some time to come.

As for the old WaMu building downtown - it's still mostly empty according to this recent Seattle Times article. It's now called the Russell Investments Center. Good luck getting tenants in this economy Russell!

There is a website devoted to Washington Mutual called "ghostofwamu.com". It's not a very interesting 'ghost'; just a bunch of court documents. Apparently WaMu shareholders are fighting something in court. Good luck to them too!

Reality Game Shows, Nice People and Mean People

I just finished watched Big Brother 11 and enjoyed watching Jordan "shut up" Lloyd sneak in to win it. But I got to thinking about those so called 'reality game shows'. It seems that they reward some pretty bad behavior or do they? Everyone in BB seemed to be engaged in activities that most people teach their children not to do - backstabbing, telling lies, manipulating others. All this under the disguise of "strategy". Funny Jordan won by engaging in as little of that as possible. In the process, she pissed the fewest jury members off as possible. The runner up, Natalie and the 3rd place Kevin were both major liars, cheaters, and manipulators.

Same thing happened on Survivor 18 Tocantins. The "nice guy" JT Thomas won. 2nd was Stephen Fishy who wasn't that trustworthy although he remained loyal. 3rd, Errin another liar and cheater. Survivor 19 is only two episodes in, and the most interesting character is an Anti-JT named Russell Hantz. Russell is a hot piece to look at, but what a classic psychopath! Do reality game shows deliberately seek out these nasty types and minimize their picks of nice people? And in spite of that, the nice people float to the top? Could be.

Teeth Whitening

I ran across this article about a penny pinching mom who allegedly whitened her teeth for just a few dollars. Something about her story resonated with me. I was a smoker a very long time ago, but my biggest issue is daily coffee and the occasional glass dark red wine. These factor have made my teefs well... not so white.

So I decided to try the two products mentioned with promo codes she gives. Well it cost less than $3 for both products (one was just 99 cents with the promo code). It remains to be seen whether this work but at that price, what have I got to lose?

About 1 hour after I ordered I got a call from area code 623 calling to "confirm the order" and give me some scripted pitch. It was to rope me into some sort of automate recurring order. The guy on the phone could not speak very well and I had a hard time understanding him but I sure heard that part! I said No, No, and Hell No. No reorder until I've tried the product and even then not without great scrutiny. Anyway, here is the article in case you want to try it. Be ready to swat the sales call (disguised as a confirmation call) you will get afterward though.

Exploiting The Recession: A Mom's Trick to Whiter Teeth

Professional Shoplifter?

Have you ever had that burning desire to lift (as in 'shoplift') a 24 case of beer? Well here is NOT how to do it. This woman thought she could stuff it under her Mumu (or whatever that thing is she's wearing) and waddle out the door with it. Was not in the cards though - the cops got her. So my advice to shoplifters: If you want to lift a 24 pack of beer get a bigger mumu? Otherwise you will take the "walk of shame" like this woman.

Progressive Insurance Flo is Funny in Real Life

First let me say that I hate the Progressive Insurance commercials with "Flo" in them. They are definitely "mute worthy". However did you know that Flo is played by a stand up comedienne named Stephanie Courtney? And she's not half bad in real life. Here is one of her routines. I like her better 'non Flo'. Gad what do they do to make her look like Flo?