Sharing is Car-ing

I just joined a car sharing program. These programs are basically rental cars by the hour. In San Francisco, we have three: Flexcar, CityCarShare, and ZipCar. They each have their plusses and minuses- some charge a monthly fee but have a low hourly rate, so their cars are good for people who use them once or twice every week. The one I chose has a low annual membership fee ($25), it costs about 9 bucks an hour to rent a car, and they have 5 cars parked 1 block from my house. Sweet.

I plan to use it mostly to go on short errands- to Costco, Trader Joe's, the grocery store, and the liquor warehouse. Without a car, you can carry about one giant tub of laundry detergent at a time so you end up going to the grocery store every other day. I stopped drinking soda mainly because it's too heavy to carry home from the grocery store, and too much more expensive at the convenience store. And if you can get there and back in an hour, you'll save more by going to the cheaper, farher store than you spend on the hour's rental.

I also do a good deal of nightclub reporting that requires me to be in several different clubs in different parts of town for ten minutes each. The car rental is the cost of one medium-distance cab ride per hour. It will be worth it then also.

And when I'm feeling extravagant, I can drive out of the ghetto in which I live and go for a run somewhere I don't have to worry about stepping on used syringes.

Oh, the places I'll drive...

OMG!!!

Wynn Las Vegas to Pop the Cork of New Nightclub, Tryst, on New Year's Eve
much-anticipated Tryst nightclub...12,000-sq. ft....a name evocative of an intimate rendezvous spot for lovers...sizable dance floor extending into a breathtaking 90-foot waterfall... Distinguished by deep reds, chocolate browns and resin blacks... intimate booth-style tables, a private VIP room and a separate ultra-lounge with its own house music. The outside patios... enveloped in dramatic white linens... offer additional water-side seating... unlike anything else in Las Vegas.

This is just what the world needs- another millennium-chic "ultra" club decorated in reds and chocolate browns devoted entirely to bottle service customers. I'm just going to take a crazy, off the wall guess at this but... something tells me the soundtrack will be a mix of today's hip-hop with eighties dance classics!

Let me use this space to go on record saying I am so fricking sick of bottle service. Heaven forbid a patron in a nightclub walk to the bar to purchase a drink. We wouldn't want anyone to accidentally dance on the way there.

Las Vegas has the weather, the cheap flights and lodging, the 24-hour liquor, and the atmosphere to be a year-round Ibiza of the U.S. (but you know, not over). They can afford to fly in the biggest and best (two different things, usually) DJs and electronic acts on the planet and make it a nightclub paradise. Instead, we get the same design, decor, deliriously boring music you don't have to leave home to experience. Boo!

Sneaky

Forbes.com has another of their "world's most expensive" series: sneakers. Finally, something I can relate to spending too much money on! Most of them are just high-end or collectible limited editions of Nike and Adidas, or else designer reproductions of shoes you could get for $300 cheaper, like the Gucci version of Keds. There are only one pair of actual sports shoes on the list- some New Balance at $200.

Almost all my best sneakers I've got for a steal. I have a pair of 80's silver velcro hightop Adidas I bought for $25 that had been sitting on the shelf for 5 years back before people got all fetishy about sneakers. I have a pair of hand-painted Nike blacktop basketball sneakers that are prototypes smuggled out of their design department. (They're the only pair I don't wear much because the paint will peel off.) Recently I bought a pair of green and white Lacoste sneakers, but now you can get those everywhere. They were much cooler when they were only available in Europe, but that's the curse of being a trendoid. I'm sure you understand.

The unfortunate thing about living in California is that sneakers don't wear out here. On the east coast, you'd have to buy a new pair every six months because the salt on the roads in the winter would destroy them. All my fellow club trash would buy them the first day the new Nike's came out for the season. Then you'd have to go out every night and wear them to every club in the city to establish that you had them first and therefore, anyone else who bought the same style and color was biting your style. Good times, good times.

It's unfortunate that the weather is too nice here in the west- the shoes don't wear out and I don't have a good excuse to buy a new pair every couple of months. Good for the personal budget, bad for the personal style.

The Day After

For the next few days, department stores have the most lenient return policies of the year. A friend who used to work at a low-end one (It may have been Ross) said that they'd even take stuff not purchased at their store in order to keep the line moving. They had a standard price for all items that they didn't actually sell, like ten bucks per shirt or something. You might not want to bother going to those extremes, but you can certainly take in all of your previous years' clothes to exchange for new ones.

CEOs

Every time I see an article about how much CEOs of major companies get paid, I get really, really mad. This article reports on a few CEOs' holiday bonuses this year of 11.5 million and 38 million. Thirty eight million- on top of salary! How much do you bet that even if that company had 38,000 employees they didn't get $1000 each in bonuses this year?

The article also mentions The Protection Against Executive Compensation Abuse Act, which proposes that companies must be more transparent about their CEOs' compensation, bonuses, golden parachutes, and performance ratings. Sadly, this is necessary legislation. Some CEOs' compensation packages include the company paying their taxes.

So you've got the boards of directors (always rich white former CEOs of companies who get paid huge amounts to sit on the boards and advise) voting for bonuses to current and future CEOs they recruit. Then the most powerful people in government vote for tax cuts for these same people- their friends. This kind of corporate and governmental inbreeding is typical of the Baby Boomer generation.

I hate the Baby Boomers and I don't understand why more people don't express this same opinion. Oh, I know why! Because Boomers are clogging up the government and the top of every company and media empire, making the same hypocritical, self-involved, environmentally irresponsible, screw-the-younger-generations decisions that one comes to expect from the former members of the Peace and Love movement.

On that note, I strongly recommend that everyone in Generation X and younger pre-order this book: Anya Kamenetz's Generation Debt: Why Now is a Terrible Time to be Young. Anya reports on how our generation is saddled with more debt than any other in history- due in no small part to corporate back-scratching- for the Village Voice. I sincerely hope this is a wake-up call to the younger generations to make some changes that take our futures into consideration for a change. We need to overhaul the credit card industry, the university industry, and make education a priority again. It won't be easy, since the Baby Boomers are the largest generation and older people tend to vote more. But it's crucial.

One thing the Baby Boomers say is that Generations X and below are apathetic and bitter. They seem to have no idea that this is entirely their fault. We've seen the generation who said they were going to change the world into a better, more peaceful, conscious place to live give up those ideals and embrace the exact opposite. It's really time for us to call them on their bullshit.

Power to the (young) People!

Party Foul

Charge laid after nightclub handstand goes wrong
December 21, 2005 - 10:13PM


A man who slipped while trying to handstand on a second floor railing at a Perth nightclub and landed on another club-goer on the ground floor has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm.

Luke Ouwendyk, 21, allegedly attempted the feat about 12.30am (WST) on December 3 at the Paramount Nightclub in Northbridge.

Kylee Schoonens, 25, was walking from the nightclub's beer garden into the nightclub when Mr Ouwendyk slipped from the railing and landed directly on her.

Ms Schoonens suffered a fractured vertebrae. She will be required to wear a back brace for several months and undergo intensive therapy for months.

Mr Ouwendyk fractured his left collarbone. He has since been charged with grievous bodily harm and will appear before the Perth Magistrates Court next week.

Cleaning DVDs

Someone told me this isn't common knowledge: To clean your DVDs of smudges and fingerprints and even minor scratches that make them stick and skip in your player, put a drop of dish soap on it, run cold water over it, and rub it around with your finger until the soap is gone. Then just pop it back in the player and it should work better. This is especially useful for Netflix and rented DVDs where a lot of people have had their hands all over the discs.

New Music

Joe Brown at the Chronicle has published his top 5 ways of finding new music. I'm going to have to check some of them out (except iTunes- screw that no copying nonsense).

I never listen to the radio (mostly because I don't drive, and that's the only place I like listening to the radio) and I don't have cable so I don't watch MTV or other videos, so I only hear of new music by reading about it. Then I'll go download some, see if I like it, and maybe buy the album if I do. But because the publications I read skew towards the underground, I often have no idea who the people are on the Top 40. Like, who is Lil' Wayne?

Too Many Options

Today I went to Amoeba records in San Francisco to sell back some DVDs and CDs. I suppose I could have tried to sell them online for a better price, but that's a lot of effort for a couple dollars more per item. I ended up with a 60 dollar gift certificate to spend on new entertainment, but then I realized I forgot to bring something very important: a shopping list.

Going to the used record and movie store without one can be dangerous. "Oh yeah, I wanted that too. And I haven't heard this yet. What the heck- I'm here, so I'll buy it."

Luckily, I no longer fall victim to buying too much because I didn't bring a list and I can't choose only a few items. I have myself trained to just leave the store when there are too many options. I'll come back with a list of specific items to buy later. In the age when you can download whole albums or at least samples of several songs on an album, there is no reason to make an uninformed CD purchase.

And now I can make a Christmas shopping list just for me, and I'm pretty sure I'll get everything I asked for.

Smart Shoppers

MSN.com has a great article on people and services for getting multiple discounts at online retailers, and points to several useful sites.

The reason I don't use these services is because I rarely buy anything. (Remember, I wrote the book on being cheap.) They are the most useful for people who do a lot of shopping, both for Christmas and birthdays, or because they have a large family or simply consume a lot of stuff.

But I will refer to this article in a few weeks. My attempts at scamming a free mp3 player have so far proven unsuccessful so I may buy one. And my digital camera at 4 by 3 by 2 inches looks like a dinosaur compared to the credit card sized ones these days. These rebates and coupon codes look to the be the most useful for purchasing consumer electronics like these, and computer-related items.

How to Complain

MSN Money has some good advice on complaining to customer service to get satisfaction. It's a good read of tips to keep in mind the next time you're talking to some jerk who tries to sell you new products while you've called to complain about their old ones.

They also list this great resource- IVR Cheat Sheet. It's a list of over 100 automatic voice recording number codes that get you out of the automated systems and talking to a human fast.

Fresh Powder

About.com has a page dedicated to the myriad of uses for baking soda, divided into categories of cleaning, deodarizing, cooking, health, laundry, personal care, and pets. I can't bother to learn all that much information, but I do make it work double-duty. After freshing the freezer, I use it on the carpet to absorb smells before vacuuming. I haven't tried it's other mystical properties of wart removal and glue booster.

Focus, people!

For a list of focus groups (read: getting paid to express your opinion) in your area, click here.

Credit Card Companies Crabby

In this article on MSN Money, we learn that the credit card companies who bribed their evil harder-to-declare-bankruptcy legislation into being, are getting pummelled by last-minute filers.

In the two weeks before the law took effect, 500,000 bankruptcy cases were filed, as compared to the normal weekly average of 30-35,000 cases. And according to the article, a very high percentage of the people who file for bankruptcy will be eligible for a debt wipeout instead of the repayment plans the legislation was trying to enforce. So their plan so far has backfired.

Special holiday message to credit card companies: Ha-ha, and fuck you.

Top Nightlife Venues

Nightclub and Bar Magazine, and industry magazine for owners of such venues, has listed their Top 100 Nightclubs and Bars for 2006.

Nightclubs and bars from all over the United States were chosen based on a number of criteria, including annual revenues, marketing and advertising effectiveness, promotional expertise, uniqueness to market, food and beverage programs and much more.

 1.   115 Bourbon Street Pub (Chicago)
 2.   32 Degrees (Philadelphia)
 3.   AJ's (Destin, Fla.)
 4.   Ampersand (New Orleans)
 5.   Ava Lounge (New York)
 6.   Aria (Boston)
 7.   Avalon and Spider Club (L.A.)
 8.   Beach Bar at the W Hotel (San Diego)
 9.   B.E.D. (Miami)
 10.  Billy Bob's Texas (Fort Worth, Texas)
 11.  Blue Martini (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)
 12.  Cabo Wabo Cantina (Lake Tahoe, Nev.)
 13.  Caramel Bar and Lounge (Las Vegas)
 14.  Carlos & Charlie's (Lake Travis, Texas)
 15.  Carousel Bar (New Orleans)
 16.  Casbah (Atlantic City, N.J.)
 17.  Chilkoot Charlies's (Anchorage, Alaska)
 18.  Club Chameleon (Las Vegas)
 19.  Club Deep (Miami)
 20.  Coyote Ugly (New York)
 21.  Crobar (New York)
 22.  Dave & Buster's (Dallas)
 23.  Denim (Philadelphia)
 24.  Dream (Washington, D.C.)
 25.  e4 (Scottsdale, Ariz.)
 26.  Eight 75 (Biloxi, Miss.)
 27.  Elements, the Lounge (Sea Bright, N.J.)
 28.  Eleven50 (Atlanta)
 29.  ESPN Zone (Baltimore)
 30.  Elysium (Detroit)
 31.  Excalibur (Chicago)
 32.  Fado Irish Pub (Atlanta)
 33.  First Avenue (Minneapolis)
 34.  Flatiron Lounge (New York)
 35.  Ivan Kane's Forty Deuce (Hollywood, Calif. and Las Vegas)
 36.  Fox Sports Grill (Scottsdale, Ariz.)
 37.  Vicci (Austin, Texas)
 38.  Galapagos (Brooklyn, N.Y.)
 39.  ghostbar (Las Vegas)
 40.  Green Parrot (Key West, Fla.)
 41.  Good Hurt (Los Angeles)
 42.  Ground Zero Blues Club (Clarksdale, Miss.)
 43.  House of Blues (New Orleans)
 44.  ICE (Las Vegas)
 45.  Jillian's (Dallas)
 46.  Jimmy'z At The Forge (Miami)
 47.  Kahunaville (Wilmington, Del.)
 48.  Key Club (Hollywood, Calif.)
 49.  Le Passage (Chicago)
 50.  Light (Las Vegas)
 51.  Long Street (Columbus, Ohio)
 52.  Lotus (New York)
 53.  Mango's Tropical Cafe (Miami)
 54.  Marquee (New York)
 55.  Medusa (Seattle)
 56.  Mercy Wine Bar (Addison, Texas)
 57.  Midnight Rodeo (San Antonio)/Wild West (Houston)
 58.  Mickey's Hangover (Scottsdale, Ariz.)
 59.  Mynt (Miami)
 60.  Mie N Yu (Washington, D.C.)
 61.  Nikki Beach (Miami)
 62.  Ocean Club (Honolulu, Hawaii.)
 63.  Pangea/The Gryphon (Hollywood, Fla.)
 64.  Pat O'Brien's (New Orleans)
 65.  Prey (Los Angeles)
 66.  Pure (Las Vegas)
 67.  Pin-Up Bowl (St. Louis, Mo.)
 68.  Purple Moon (Flint, Mich.)
 69.  Rain in the Desert (Las Vegas)
 70.  Remote Lounge (New York)
 71.  Rise (Denver, Colo.)
 72.  RockStar (soon to be renamed) (Destin, Fla.)
 73.  rumjungle (Las Vegas)
 74.  Senses (Memphis, Tenn.)
 75.  Sharkeez (Huntington Beach, Calif.)
 76.  Shelter (Los Angeles)
 77.  Sherlock's Baker Street Pub (Houston)
 78.  Six (Scottsdale, Ariz.)
 79.  Sloppy Joe's (Key West, Fla.)
 80.  Studio 54 (Las Vegas)
 81.  Tabu Ultra Lounge (Las Vegas)
 82.  The Abbey (West Hollywood, Calif.)
 83.  the bosco (Ferndale, Mich.)
 84.  The Crocodile Cafe (Seattle)
 85.  The Dresden Room (Los Angeles)
 86.  The Funky Buddha Lounge (Chicago)
 87.  The Greene Turtle (Ocean City, Md.)
 88.  The Library Bar & Grill (Tempe, Ariz.)
 89.  The New Crown & Anchor (Provincetown, Mass.)
 90.  The Ranch (Midland, Texas)
 91.  The Viper Room (Los Angeles)
 92.  Tipitina's (New Orleans)
 93.  Tobacco Road (Miami)
 94.  Tongue & Groove (Atlanta)
 95.  Tootsie's Orchid Lounge (Nashville, Tenn.)
 96.  Top of the Mark (San Francisco)
 97.  Vine Street Lounge (Los Angeles)
 98.  Whiskey Blue (Los Angeles)
 99.  World Bar (New York)
 100. XYZ (Los Angeles)

No doubt you've looked to see how many venues in your city are listed. My city, San Francisco, got SHAFTED. One venue, and number 96, and it's Top of the Mark?

Oh no, people. I'm not saying nightlife in San Francisco is all that fantastic, but we have quite a few venues better than others on this list, and a hell of a lot of them better than Top of the Mark. That place is for business travelers and Eurotrash. This list has wine bars, sports bars, live music venues, and beach bars on it. They list both a Carlos &Charlies and a Dave & Busters, okay?

From all the small town venues that made the list (not that they can't be better than big city venues), it looks to me like they valued geographical diversity above all the other criteria. So if your city was also left off the list, don't pay it too much mind. The list is way off the mark.

Flee the Fees

This article is about saving money on ATM fees. It also describes the difference between overdraft protection plans and bounce protection plans. (Take the former if given the option.)

The best bit of information in this is to use cash back at stores instead of other banks’ ATM machines. Some cash back stores charge 50 cents or a dollar if the original purchase is beneath a certain amount, but one dollar is about a quarter of what you’ll pay in ATM fees at the machines.

It sucks being poor

There was a pretty good article on MSN.com about the staggering debt that people who are about 30 have taken on.

Here are three important paragraphs that sum up the situation:

In myriad ways, the economics of being 30 have changed for the worse. A college degree is now the minimum required to find a place in the working world that affords some job satisfaction and material comfort. But it doesn't offer protection against turmoil in the labor market, as it once did. Nor does it guarantee such things as health insurance or a retirement plan. And real earnings for college graduates without an advanced degree have fallen four years in a row, for the first time since the 1970s.

The cost of higher education, however, has increased so dramatically in the past decade and a half -- up by 63% at public schools and 47% at private -- that more students have to borrow tens of thousands of dollars to attend, ensuring that many of them are paying off those loans well into their 40s.

Almost two-thirds of students have to borrow money to get through school; as many as one-quarter may be accumulating credit-card debt to help pay for tuition.

In my experience, people who didn’t get undergraduate degrees (or who don’t use them) who go into service-based industries are doing better than many people who went to graduate school. Read: An experienced waiter easily makes more than the average office lackey. They may have much less debt, and have started earning good income at least four years earlier than people who went to college. Many are able to save up for 5-10 years and pay for college outright- a lot longer than it takes to pay off student loans if you go to college first.

Heck, I would encourage high school graduates to work on their service skills before (or during) going to college. Service work may hit a salary cap for all but a few elite workers pretty early on, but if college and graduate training doesn’t work out, you can always go back to bartending, even in a bad economy. You can't alwys fall back on a master’s in political science.

Deals

I first found Delight Deals when their blog blogged about this blog. The site links to online and in-person discounts and sweepstakes, including sales at Chronicle Books and a chance to win Ben Sherman clothes. Good stuff.

Used Goods

The New York Times has an article on saving money by buying used things. Said things include books, CDs, DVDs, cars, and electronics. One question: Is this news to anybody?

Tip Season

Netscape has a list of who to tip during holiday season and how much. I didn't know that US postal mail carriers aren't allowed to take cash. Somehow I doubt mine would say no. Every year I get a little Christmas card from her as well as from my newspaper delivery person, which is basically a reminder that they want money. Maybe if my newspaper deliverer showed up every week I'd be more likely to be generous.

According to their list, I'm also supposed to tip the trash collector, parking attendants, and dog groomer. I'll get right on that. But the guideline for who to tip is:

"You tip the people who perform services for you year-round, who are there for you when you need them and whom you have a valuable relationship with," said Peter Post, director of the Emily Post Institute and author of Essential Manners for Couples.

According to this, the person I should tip the most then is Danny, my local Korean liquor store clerk.

How to Save Money on Christmas Presents

I'm very clever when it comes to Christmas shopping. I got it done very early- in 1990, actually.

That's when I stopped buying into the hype. When I think of Christmas, I remember two distinct feelings:

1. "Oh no, I have to get them something. Anything! Whatwhatwhatwhat."
2. Opening presents, thinking, "What the frick?", and realizing that either the giver didn't know me at all, or else they were just desperate for a present so they picked up something at the last minute.

So I found the obvious solution: Don't give anything and don't get anything, and don't have any more problems. Now this time of year feels good again- there's no present stress, and I can actually enjoy hanging out with people at the plethora of parties that go on in December.

Happy Holidays!

Student Discounts

This article lists ten excellent student ID discounts. Most of them I cover in Rock Star, but here are ones I didn't know about:

• Newspapers including the New York Times give discount subscriptions to students.
• If you have a good GPA you can get a discount on car insurance. I had no idea.
  
• Some public transit systems offer student rates as well.