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Why I *heart* ING Direct

Advice from the Palmer: Get ING Direct account or something similar.

Internet banking…the way of the future.
The way of the future towards easy savings.

Last month I got stung with a $1K+ bill for property taxes. The first of two that will come in the year.

Now, before I go on, I do understand that I can set up monthly payments for this type of thing, so thank you.

However, I thought to myself “Self, how can I go about this smartly? Perhaps I should pull out the old tricks of when I was my own small business working for the Gov’t.”

So, I now put some of my own money into a savings account every week at ING Direct. I can make any number of accounts for free – so I set up one up with a description of PROPERTY TAXES and set up an autowithdrawal on it. The beauty of this is that I’ll make some money off of it from the interest.

Alright, it’s not much interest. Maybe I’ll make $40-$60 over the year.

But that’s still some cash in my pocket rather than money given to the MAN every month.

Some may laugh at myself doing this, but I’m going to set up accounts for all the little things that I have to save up for over the year. The next one will be for my driver’s license renewal. I hate when the birthday shows up and you have to fork out some cash to pay for your license plate renewal. With this system, I’ll just have to go into the account, deplete it, and start all over again.

I encourage those who are wanting to save money for specific uses (perhaps a wedding? Or a new car? Or a new Apple laptop?) – set up some free accounts at ING Direct with the direct withdrawal feature! She’s a beaut!

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Prrropppss.

Some props going to Vero’s Dad who was cool enough to try and sneak into Section 216 at the Scotiabank Place while we had standing room tickets up in the nosebleeders.

I must admit that if an entire two rows are empty, the bouncers (that’s right…they’re secretly 80 year old bouncers) should just let you have a taste of what is good in life so that you may buy some tickets to the 200 Level the next time you come.

Anyhow, we enjoyed our 10 minutes of fortune while watching the Timbits (attempt to) skate over the ice. AndrĂ©ane was amazed that there are TWO Zambonis on the rink…you don’t get to see that living up in the North.

But alas, it the moment left us pretty soon as the bouncer came by and started waving a piece of paper at us. I don’t know about you, but I get freaked out by flying pieces of paper so I didn’t want to stick around.

All in all, the game was a disappointment. When I’m at a game, I don’t really who wins the game (alright, alright…let it be the Sens), but give us a little action here guys! The greatest cheer from the crowd was when the guy selling beer came walking around.

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Anxious For Tonight


IMG_0584
Originally uploaded by palm0014.

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Say Goodbye

Well, it’s time I said goodbye to my Dad.

Last night I helped him hook up high-speed Internet. Now he doesn’t have dial-up anymore, he’ll be on the computer all the time.

It’s a new experience…high speed Internet. I know when I moved to Ottawa I was amazed.

It’s also kind of amusing to think that I’ve had something for the past 8 years which Dad only got yesterday.

Dad, don’t forget to CANCEL your dial-up Internet!

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This is What Life Is About

I am currently thinking about patio season. It is supposed to be 15 degrees outside today.

Holy crap. Get out there and have a beer people.

update: Tomorrow, yours truly will be at the Highlander Pub on Rideau Street after work for the end of fiscal year party. Come have a pint!

No excuses. The least you can do is come for ONE beer.

I would expect I will be there around 4 – 4:30ish.

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Scoop on Enhanced 911

Today’s guest blog entry comes from my cousin Troy who sent me this note via email concerning 911 and VOIP. Troy is currently 911 dispatcher by day and a musician by night. One day we will tour under the name of ‘Palmer & Palmer’.

Here’s a thought for you to ponder. When you call 911 from a land based line, and some cell phone service providers, your info (address, name, phone number) immediately “spills” into our dispatch centre. You do not have to speak for emergency services to respond. VOIP doesn’t allow this to happen….in fact a wrong address, name and phone number will most likely be “dropped” to the police causing us to go to the wrong location if you are unable to verbally confirm the information The general public is not informed as to the safety factor…they just look at the cost. You would be surprised how frequently we receive a 911 call with no voice contact that results in a life threatening situation.

Just something to think about……you never know what can happen.”

This is a great point brought up by Troy. I was surprised to hear that a high number of calls to 911 don’t have any voice attached to it…I imagined myself in a coherent state while dialing 911…but who KNOWS what can happen to you when you need to call them?

I know that I’ve checked into a few VOIP providers and they DO provide information on how 911 works, but they don’t really come out with a warning flag for you. It’s more like it’s a clause to read in your contract. People should be more aware when dealing with VOIP.

As for myself, I will continue to look into VOIP, but only if they offer Enhanced 911 (aka, when I call from my house, the dispatch will have my name and address).

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Is a Baby Worth $1,000,000?

I’m sorry, but no one deserves to adopt a child if they continue to do Dr. Evil impersonations.

iplaying: In the Moonlight – Pearl Jam: Lost Dogs (man, it’s been awhile since I’ve listened to some tunes while blogging)

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Stay Tuned!

Stay tuned tomorrow morning for an important blog entry concerning VOIP and 911 calls. I got the scoop from my cousin Troy who saves lives daily as a 911 dispatcher.

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Reply to Kevin’s Blog Entry

Read Kevin’s entry here.

Have you read it? Alright, come on back.

Hi, do you like it better over in Palmer’s World? Yes, I thought so. Pull up a chair…heck pass me a beer while you’re at it. Thanks. *pshhht*

Printed media will eventually have a significant drop. Is this a bad thing? Well…it would use a lot less trees, that’s a fer sure.

Let’s look at the state of affairs right now in the world of publishing:
Most printed media has a corresponding website. Some of them have the full articles out there to read (vicemag.com, ottawasun.ca), some give you a taste and ask you to subcribe to their website to read the entire thing (essentially the same price…if not lower(? haven’t done any research on this) than a regular newspaper subscription).

I cancelled my subscriptions to a few magazines over the years for the sole fact that I can read the same stuff on the Internet. Let’s take Maxim…I cancelled it because I thought if I wanted something funny to read in the land of men, I could always just check out askmen.com. Other than that, what is the magazine good for? Sure, it’s nice to have something to read in the backyard, or on the can, but other than that, all the information within the pages are available on the Internet somewhere.

So, in my eyes, the only times I ever buy a magazine are:

  1. When I’m stuck somewhere and have nothing to read.
  2. When I do have that urge to have something in my hands to read rather than sitting in front of a computer screen. I have a feeling that a lot of people fall into this category still, which is fine.
  3. If they offer something DIFFERENT than what is on the Internet.

Point 3 brings up the surefire way for print media to still give us something we want. In terms of news-based magazines and papers, ain’t going to happen. News is news. It will be released on the Internet instantly. In my eyes, the printed news form is like that Kraft Dinner that you’ve kept in the fridge for a week but you can’t bring yourself to eat it again.

But for the magazines/papers that focus on non-news stories, the sky is the limit. Let’s take our ever faithful Star Wars Magazine. With my subscription to the magazine, it offers me articles/short stories/whatever that will not be put onto the Internet. (!point: Let’s not get into the debate of how somewhere out there I could probably find a scanned copy in the recesses of the Internet world.). They entice me to get the magazine so I can get the scoop on stuff.

Magazines should move towards this format. Offer up different things than what they release on their official websites. On the Sports Illustrated website, you could have a great interview with Michael Jordan but if you pick up the SI magazine, you get the candid “What was your favourite movie?” talk. Alright, I’m really stretching here, but you get my drift.

For the printed media to survive (read: evolve) they have to offer something different than what is available in other forms. So far, newspaper does this in comparison with television because a news program cannot cover every article written inside the newspaper (especially obituaries. Who wants to see a list of that on the 6 O’Clock News?). But the Internet is a different story.

So, this is how I see the future unfolding:

Present:
Printed media will still be king. It’s still mainly used, most likely due to the older generation stuck on newspapers and televisions. I would like to see the numbers in terms of how much printed media has dropped/increased since 1995 (the birth of the Internet as we all know it.)

Future, let’s say 50 years:
You’re now looking at a generation who are tech savvy. Who know where to find their information on the Internet.
I see a very low number of printed newspapers (or if they ever come up with the electronic newspaper…heck yeah!) being replaced by Internet articles, handheld devices, etc. The printed form will never die. I don’t think it should die. In terms of short articles, I am fine reading it on a screen…but a book? I don’t know. I would have to try one out to see if I didn’t mind it. I’ve seen e-books being read on the bus and they don’t really appeal to me.
Anyhow, a definite decline in magazines in the next 50 years unless they start offering up different information.

Advice to Masses Who Read Palmer’s World: Take a look at the magazines you buy. Now, see what content is in them and see if you can find the same content on the Internet. I may have just saved you a couple of bucks if you don’t mind reading it on the Internet. For example: Gossip columns. Why buy them off the news stand? They’re already old news in terms of the Internet. Check out thesuperficial.com for your up to date celeb news. (plus I love the sarcasm).

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Harder and Harder

It’s getting sporadic in here in terms of updates due to some MAN trying to stick it to me.

Here’s an update for you.

You can dial 911 on your cellphone even if you don’t have any service provider.

I’m assuming this is news to you all who read this blog or else you would have told me when I was debating getting Voice-Over IP (VOIP) as my phoneline. But I didn’t bother because if the power went out, I would not have 911 access.

Well, it doesn’t matter anyhow. As long as I have my cell phone charged up and in a place I’ll remember, and the power goes out and I need to call 911, voila, I just dial it and it’s good to go.

Or, alternatively, if I need it in the car. Throw it in the glovebox and if I need to dial 911, just do it.

So, I’m now going back to look at options for getting VOIP for a phone line.

What are the benefits of VOIP? Let me just put it this way.

How much do you spend on your phone in a month?

Alex found a place where he pays $2.50 a month for his phone service. Granted, he also has a cellphone that he uses regularly. But $2.50 a month (plus $0.04 cents a minute for calls outside the network (this means places outside Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal aka all the big southern cities) or $0.011 cents for calls within the network) is not something to be scoffed at.

I’m going out on a limb and encouraging YOU, my faithful reader, to look into VOIP for yourself.

Here are some starting points in terms of companies:
http://vonage.com – your standard run of the mill high advertising campaign companies
http://www.get3web.com/ – courtesy of Mike. We’re looking into this. Phone plus free Internet for $39.95? Shawing!
http://unlimitel.ca/wholesalevoip.html – This is the one Alex uses for $2.50 a month.

Caveat emptor people! Do a lot of research if you’re going to switch to VOIP. For example, take a look at your old phone bills and determine things like:

  1. How many minutes to use the phone?
  2. How many minutes are dedicate for long distance?
  3. Do I need to purchase anything like a $150 modem/router/gadget to get the service?

If you do your research before jumping in, you may find out that you are still going to save quite a bit of money over the month (perhaps even half your bill!)