By floor9 on Jul 11, 2008 | In Central PA | 4 Comments
You can’t really live in this area without noticing that a large number of people who live here complain about living here. You’ve heard it all before: Central PA sucks, there’s no culture here, people are inbred, our educational institutions suck, the job market sucks, the housing sucks, the transportation options suck … you name it. I always amuse myself by responding with “So then why DO you live here?”, the answer to which is always some fail-tastic statement like “Uh, well, I guess, uh, um … My husband works for Comcast. So yeah.”
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By floor9 on Jul 10, 2008 | In Hollywood Casino | 1 Comment »
I’ll keep this short.
We already give you money. You don’t even really have to do anything; we pretty much just walk in and hand over cash. We don’t even get free drinks out of the deal.
So please — please — stop subjecting us to that abortion of a TV commercial.
By floor9 on Jul 8, 2008 | In Technology | 1 Comment »
About two months ago, I started on my quest for a free XBox 360. If you recall, I’ve navigated these promotions before, resulting in my “free” Macbook Pro. They do work; just be sure you’ve crossed all your Ts and dotted all your Is.
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By floor9 on Jul 3, 2008 | In Hollywood Casino | No Comments »
Penn National just issued a press release stating that Hollywood Casino will not be sold off to PNG Acquisition Company. A very cursory Google search reveals no useful information about “PNG Acquisition Company”. So I wonder: PNG = Penn National Gaming? Was Penn National trying to buy a Penn National property from Penn National? Was Penn National trying to sell to Penn National?
That’s odd.
By floor9 on Jul 3, 2008 | In Central PA | 2 Comments
Fuel economy boosters are worthless. I wouldn’t think this would really be news-worthy, but apparently they keep selling like hotcakes. I imagine a lot of peoples’ reasoning goes something like this: “Hey, this MPG-O-Matik costs $30. That’s the cost for one tank of gas! What the heck, even if it only gives me an extra 1 mpg, that’s worth it, right?” Naturally, they don’t. If you don’t believe the news, and you don’t believe the Attorney General, and you’re positive that email forwarded to you where your coworker’s friend’s neighbor’s sister’s roommate’s cousin TOTALLY SWEARS that they really do work, well then, more power to you. Here’s what I do to crank my 2008 Fit — which has an EPA rating of 34mpg on the highway — up to 40mpg on a regular basis:
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By floor9 on Jul 1, 2008 | In Rant | No Comments »
37% if you’re on PPL, 50% if you’re on Penelec / FirstEnergy, and 54% if you’re on MetEd / FirstEnergy. Courtesy of the companies who were caught with their pants down during last winter’s ice storm, my $55-a-month electric bill will soon be $84.70. The utility companies would have you believe that they’re on the verge of bankruptcy due to the soon-expiring rate caps, but a cursory review of their annual SEC filings suggests quite the opposite.
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By floor9 on Jul 1, 2008 | In Uncategorized | No Comments »
So our annual budget includes $650 million towards “energy programs” geared at helping Pennsylvania reduce its dependence on foreign oil. The exact nature of the programs hasn’t yet been made clear, but any chance to bring energy conservation to the forefront can’t be all bad.
Right now we’re in a sweet spot for home-efficiency improvements. Utility costs are rising, and both PPL and Met Ed have announced their intention to spike the hell out of your prices by 2011. But the cost of many inexpensive improvements either has not risen, or better yet, continues to fall. Compact flourescent lights, for example: They can now be bought in bulk for about $1 each, and they use about 65% less electricity than an incandescent or halogen bulb. Now is the probably the best time in history to look around your home and save some cash. Here’s what I’ve done so far:
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