Category Archives: Personal

Direct Energy – follow up post

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It’s been a while since I wrote about Direct Energy, an energy supplier here in the state of Illinois.  I thought it was a scam, but have since learned they’re actually a legitimate business, and even have competition here in Illinois.

I refused to sign up with them, even with the two representatives pressuring me about how I would save money with their company.  They wouldn’t tell me what my rate would be for electricity, only that with deregulation comes higher prices, and that energy costs are very volatile these days.

So far none of their dire price predictions have come true.  I’m glad I made the choice to not deal with Direct Energy, or any of the other alternative suppliers for natural gas or electricity.  Getting locked into a fixed rate while prices are going down (over time/averaged out year to year) doesn’t seem like a smart move.

Some more articles regarding these energy retailers:

http://www.suntimes.com/business/4175776-420/comed-no-longer-the-only-game-in-town.html

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110706/business/707069973/

http://www.citizensutilityboard.org/ciElectric_cubfacts_alternativesuppliers.html

Here’s how Direct Energy did when they attempted to switch folks over for natural gas:

http://www.citizensutilityboard.org/ags40.php

In Illinois, 95% of people who switched to an alternative provider for natural gas paid more than they did with their original gas supplier (since 2003):

http://www.citizensutilityboard.org/GasMarketMonitor.php

Hopefully the players in the deregulated energy markets can get everything figured out, and actually become competitive AND trustworthy to us consumers.

Woo, updates!

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I took a look at Google Analytics for this site today, and decided I needed to make a few changes.  One thing led to another, and now the site is running with an updated theme (Twentyeleven, from WordPress), some tweaked W3 Total Cache settings, and some new header graphics that I shot this evening in the basement.

The Google ads have been temporarily removed, while I rework that whole mess.  Sadly, the ads slow down the site quite a bit, so I don’t know if I want to keep them or not.  I think I may try to only show ads when you view individual stories/posts.  Removing ads from the front page will keep things looking sharp, and running fast.

In tech related news, I finally got around to installing NetBSD (hpcmips) 5.1 on a 4GB CF card on an IBM Workpad z/50 system.  It’s a little netbook-ish type laptop that ran Windows CE years before netbooks got popular.  Yes, it’s the “hipster-book”.  While a fun project, it is very limited by the 16MB of RAM, so there’s not a lot I can do with it at the moment.

This evening also saw the i-Opener go under the knife to get a hard drive upgrade, and NetBSD (i386) 5.1 loaded as well.  I need to find a USB network adapter to make this system useable.  This i-Opener has been upgraded to 128MB of RAM, a 30GB internal 2.5″ IDE drive, and an IDT WinChip 200Mhz processor (passively cooled).  The only moving part on this machine is the hard drive’s internals.

That’s all for now.  More updates to come as I upgrade another machine this week in preparation for Windows 7 and some new games.  :-)

EDIT:  Well, the Google Ads are back after screwing around with some of the AdSense plugins for WordPress.  We’re back in business!

Zip, zilch, nadda!

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Not much to report on the home front these days.  This time of year is super busy where I work, and the hours have been long.

I recently traveled to San Francisco, CA for work.  The weather wasn’t great (by SF standards), but I managed to do a decent amount of walking around the city.  Met some interesting folks, and got a lot of work done.

Getting ready for Black Friday site traffic, and the usual pilgrimage to Fry’s early in the morning on Black Friday for more computer crap I don’t need at home.  ’Tis the season!

Weird, random day!

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Work was weird today, lots of goofy things to fix and problems to solve. Left work early so I could hit Best Buy and purchase a copy of Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac in order to help someone else migrate AWAY from Outlook on their laptop. Outlook might work great for situations that require access to an Exchange server (ugh), but outside of that scenario, apparently it’s all doom and gloom if you actually want syncing to work with mobile devices (ie. iPhone).

I will attempt to document the steps I had to take in order to eliminate Outlook, and move all the data into iCal, Address Book, and Mail on a Macintosh. This may be useful to others in the same situation.

Ran across a rumor that the iPad3 will have an insane resolution/retina display. That might actually tempt me into buying one.

Just say “NO!” – Illinois HB 3659

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I’m waiting for the governor of Illinois to veto a bill that would effectively force the company I work for to move at least some employees out of state. Here’s the amendment in question to bill HB3659.

If you are an Illinois resident, this will affect you! All online merchants with a presence in the state be required to collect sales tax from Illinois residents. In addition, companies that rely on affiliate marking for income will lose their relationships with online retailers, which will result in a loss of jobs and income for the state (from the loss of income tax from both employees and the companies after they move out of state).

Please read through the links below, or search online for “Amazon nexus tax” to read more about other states that have already enacted this type of tax law, or are in the process of enacting.

http://www.performancemarketingassociation.com/affiliate-tax-amazon-tax-nexus-tax-be-proactive/

http://www.xomba.com/illinois_based_amazon_affiliates_could_face_account_termination

http://hubpages.com/hub/More-About-Nexus-or-Amazon-Laws

http://blog.sabrix.com/blog/transaction-tax-talk/new-click-thru-nexus-legislation

The status of the bill in Illinois:

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=3659&GAID=10&DocTypeID=HB&SessionID=76&GA=96

Merry Christmas!

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Just a quick post to say “Merry Christmas” to everyone out there! I hope everyone who is traveling for the holidays has a safe journey, and that Santa comes through. :-)

Weekend update

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Received my NewEgg order this past week, and was able to finish building one of my new systems based off of my Black Friday purchases. This system is now running Windows 7, and loaded up with Steam so I can play Modern Warfare 2 again! Took it for a test run this morning, and the game plays better than on my previous Windows system.

Closed my PayPal account this morning. I have personally had a bad experience dealing with them in the past, and with all the crap going on between PayPal and the government these days, I decided to not be a part of that organization any longer.

Signed up for us.eBid.net this morning as well, since without having a PayPal account, I pretty much can’t do anything with eBay anymore. eBid is currently offering a lifetime seller’s account for $49.49 (normally $74.99) for a 24 hour period after you open a new account! This would mean you have a one time payment, then zero seller’s fees for life. Very tempting, as I’d like to sell off as much old computer hardware as possible at this point, and considered doing online auctions. If you’d like to sign up, give me a referral by using this link!

Black Friday spoils

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Had a great Black Friday this year! Made the trip to Fry’s Electronics in Downers Grove, IL early in the morning with a friend from work, and bought a pair of motherboards and processors for a pretty decent price! I just fired up one of the new combos using an existing case and RAM from another system, and have been very pleased with the results.

Cyber Monday is around the corner (hours away!), and I hope to score a deal on some new RAM tomorrow. Currently running two DDR2-667Mhz DIMMs in the new hardware I picked up on Friday, so there is room for improvement with faster RAM. I also need to buy more RAM for the second motherboard so I can put it in service as well!