Just How Magical is the Magic Eraser? Video Demo

I'm not a paid spokesperson, just a fanboy of the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. With just some water, it erases scuffs off walls, grease and dirt. It's my understanding that it doesn't have chemicals but instead it's a special foam that's super porous and super abrasive.

Here's a head-to-head showdown between water, a spray cleaner and the Magic Eraser. Watch them tackle my disgusting fridge top that has years of grease, dirt and dust:

Lemme know your thoughts!

Thinking About Going Vegan

Copy of my facebook status, cuz I'm tired and going to bed: "Just finished watching "Forks Over Knives" documentary on Netflix. Strongly considering going mostly vegan. Main tenant of the movie: animal based food is screwing our health (not to mention the environmental destruction from beef industry), but you don't need crazy medicine, just whole grain plant diets. Thoughts?"
Will continue to research this tomorrow.

How Facebook is Destroying Birthdays - Or on Defriending and The Art of Birthdays

I'll admit, I'm guilty of it. I open up Facebook, and on the right side notice that today is my "friend X's" birthday. Click, type type type, press Enter, and I've wished them "Happy Birthday". Back to looking at the latest posts. That's crap.

(Tangent Alert: About a year ago, a friend of mine suggested a brilliant idea. If I get an alert for someone's birthday, and I don't even want to wish them "Happy Birthday" on their wall, then I should de-friend them. I've been cleaning up my friend list every day since. Back to birthdays though.)

When I was little, I would get so excited about my birthday that I'd have trouble falling asleep, and when I did, I'd wake up super early. Somehow, magically, there'd be a pile of presents at my feet and I'd spend the rest of the morning opening and playing with new toys. Then relatives would come over, and I'd get more presents and cards. And then I'd have a birthday party, and my friends would come over and I'd get even more cards and presents. That was awesome!! However, after I graduated college Facebook had become the way to wish people Happy Birthday.

Now a days, on my birthday there's a flurry of wall posts, and if I'm lucky beers with my close friends. But what about the cards, what about the presents?

Hypothesis: One's birthday joy is directly related to the amount of effort the birthday gesture required.

Case 1: The Facebook wall post. This takes no effort. It's better than nothing, but it kinda sucks because you know the person probably forgot about your birthday anyways, and it took them two seconds.

Case 2: The birthday card. First, you have to buy a card. Then you have to hand-write a message. Finally you have to mail it. I gotta say, it's nice to get birthday cards.

Case 3: The surprise birthday party. This requires a lot of planning and effort. Someone has to pick a time and place, invite guests, make sure they don't spill the beans, get them all there early, trick me into thinking I'm going somewhere else, yell surprise, etc. A ton of effort, but I got to say, the one time I had a surprise birthday, it was an amazing feeling.

So there you have it, here are my findings:

Next time, send your real friends a birthday card, it'll make their day.

Does it make cents to pay full price?

Today I was wondering, is there gonna come a point where we won't be paying full price for anything anymore? We're living during a brief golden period where consumers can get away without paying full price for services. Just the other week I saved $15 at Pho. I would have eaten there anyways, but sure, I'll take not paying $15 more than I have to.

Which got me to thinking, do people buy Groupons/Living Socials/BuyWithMe/YouNameIts to places they already go or are businesses really attracting new customers? What do you do, leave me a comment below?

Have you checked out the Weekly Dig's DigDeals (not a paid endorsement)? I find that a lot of the group deals are to places that I don't want to go to, but Dig's selling giftcards to places that are awesome (and ok):

• $15 for $30 at Stone Hearth Pizza
• $25 for $50 at the OTHERSIDE Cafe
• $25 for $50 at Lord Hobo's

These appear to be limited, because Union Street and Jacob Wirth's are sold out, so get yours, I've got mine.

http://digboston.com/deals/eats-drinks/

Very relevant article to our lives: "Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform"

I recently found the following article by Edward M. Hailowell called "Overloaded Circuits: Why Smart People Underperform." While this article is from 2005, I found it extremely relevant to my day to day work. I associated with the feelings of those used as examples in the articles.

It was absolutely fascinating to learn about the physiological responses that are causing our underperformance and simple tips to overcome them.

Thanks to MIT for hosting this helpful resource:
http://web.mit.edu/mitpostdocs/documents/OverloadedCircuits.pdf

Let me know what you think of it,
Sam

Tip #247: Finance - How to Avoid ATM Fees

Remember when a cellphone "feature" was free long-distance calls. When you got it, it was like, "OMG, I can now call anyone!!" You still only had local friends, but the freedom you felt knowing that when you did get that friend in San Francisco, you could call them, for free.

What about ATMs? They've been around since the 80's, but sadly this feature has never been introduced. In fact, people usually go with *insert large Bank Name Here* simply because of their availability of ATMs.

What if you could use any ATM? Imagine the feeling of freedom! Sure, you'll still probably only use the one near your home/work, but that one time you need to get cash in that *insert too hip bar that only takes cash for some reason*, you're gonna feel like a king not paying a $3 transaction fee.

Well this feature is available, but no one told you about it. So I figured I'd share the wealth, so to speak:
http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/banking_lending/checking

Enjoy.


*This magical system works because Charles Schwab doesn't charge you an ATM fee, and when those a-hole ATMs do, CS automatically reimburses you each month. No minium balance, no limit on fees. Simple, magic.

Remember Half.com?

I recently listed a lot of my books on Half.com, in an attempt to get rid of some of my crap. Do you remember Half.com? It used to be a big deal back in the day. Turns out, it's still around and kicking - and man there are some cheap books! Take Catch 22, which I've been meaning to read, $6 will get me a book at my door in good condition. Anyways, just thought I'd share.