After a reasonable amount of research online, we purchased the Garmin C320 Global Positioning System (GPS), about a year ago from Amazon.com for $279.99 shipped. Like most electronic goods, the price of the C series has come down and now starts from the low 200’s. We did encounter a few glitches with the GPS over the last year: · C320 did not turn ON after 2 months of use. The support folks asked us to try turning off the reset button hidden under the blue faceplate. Since that... Read Full Story
The right gear is essential to enjoying winter sports. Snow accessories are easier to come by for kids above three in Bay Area stores but stores closer to Tahoe stock for all age groups. The Internet is a good resource too. Sledding There is a universal appeal in going down the bunny slopes on small saucers and sledding is a good stepping-stone for kids five and under. The two options are · Sno-Park · Groomed Private Sledding hills Sno-Park’s availability is on a first... Read Full Story
A couple of factors need to be considered to help decide whether it makes sense to install a PV solar panel: Are you really going greener by doing so? Does it make economic sense and if not, should you still go for it? In most cases, the answer to the first question will be in the affirmative. However, there are areas where the local utility actively discourages use of solar PV panels. Their motivation is three-fold: It may be prohibitively expensive in certain areas when compared with the... Read Full Story
Employee Stock Purchase Plans (ESPP), Employer Profit Sharing Plans, and Employer 401K contributions are the easiest ways to generate passive income, provided one is employed. Amongst these, profit sharing plan is automatic since virtually no action is required on the employee’s part to avail this benefit. ESPP and Employer 401K contributions on the other hand require opting in. The process of opting in can vary by plan. Profit sharing plans puts in a percentage of the salary to an employee... Read Full Story
SINLetter.com, one of the more prominent online free stock newsletter sites announced a three-month stock-picking contest. Contestants get to pick three stocks on the long or short side and the winner will be announced at the end of three months. We were invited to participate and these are our picks: Stock Symbol Position Comments LDK Long Chinese wafer manufacturer growing at over 100% for the foreseeable future, but the growth... Read Full Story
Most geeks will applaud the video by Kipkay on the 9V battery hack to get 6 AAAA batteries. It got us curious, as we happened to have a couple of 9V rechargeable batteries lying around. Originally, these batteries were used in a cool device called Animal Away that helped us get rid of the problem of four-legged friends using our front yard as their personal area. We gave away the device, the charger, and a couple of batteries when we moved. For some reason, the hoarder in us held on to the... Read Full Story
We liquidated slightly more than 50% of our PetroChina holdings and the proceeds were used to purchase shares of Bank of Ireland (IRE). PetroChina rallied 50% in a little more than a month following reports about the company’s plans and approval for an IPO in Shanghai. A Company issuing additional shares as a reason for a major rally does not make business sense and we felt it prudent to take the profit. Bank of Ireland (IRE) was hammered 35% to 63.5 by 9/6/2007 in the wake of fears... Read Full Story
Reading: Majority of the kids love being read to. For most kids reading on their own happens around the Kindergarten time, which is in par with the state's expectation. For a kid who does not love being read to, it is a rough ride for the parents. Our older kid belongs to this minority group. Surrounding such kids in a wide variety of books will help for some. For some a theme might help. Others might find picture books more helpful. Repetition is useful for some. Fantasy might help some... Read Full Story
On the assumption that a creation is in place, its desirability is dependent on how well it is marketed and on the level of competition. Singers and writers face steep odds to realize substantial royalties largely because of the expenses associated with getting their creation appreciated by the marketplace. For upcoming singers, the contracts are heavily skewed in favor of the record label company. One should not overlook the role of shrewd marketing, which can get certain songs to command... Read Full Story
This was an upgrade from a Casio CTK-515. The reason for the upgrade was to let our kids practice on an instrument that was close to a real piano. It is very easy to warm up to the Yamaha P65. The touch and feel of the keys is really great with its weighted hammer action. It does come with a few options for tones but we are content with the Grand Piano tone. It is portable compared to Yamaha’s flagship but expensive Clavinova series and Casio’s more economical alternative, the Celviano AP... Read Full Story
