Buying a used car

With gas prices skyrocketing, and no end in sight, a lot of people are trying to get out of their gas guzzler and get into something a little better on gas, or cheaper payments, or anything they can to save some money. Here are a few tips I found during my latest car buying adventure.

Trade: If you are going to trade your car in, here is some vital information for you. You won't get anything for your car. I talked to several dealers, and they are giving either "fair" or poor" trade in value for cars. And they use whichever is cheaper, KBB or edmunds. So, that $25k new car you bought last summer, is now valued at around $12k. If you have a gas guzzler, good luck with that as well. Of course this leave a majority of the people what is called upside down in the payment.

1. Option 1: Sell it yourself to a private buyer. This will get you more for your car, and give you cash to take to the dealer. With credit the way it is, cash is a huge bargaining point.
2. Option 2: Trade it in and take what they give you. This is mostly for people who don't have the patience to sell one on their own. And if you are selling a gas guzzler, you will be competing with the others trying to sell theirs as well.

So, we have your older car taken care of, its either been sold and you have cash in hand, or you are going down to the dealer with it as a trade. Before you go, browse the internet sites of the dealers you will be going to. A lot of time they have "special internet pricing" available if you contact them online. This helps many ways, it saves gas, lets you get an idea of whats in your price range, and most importantly, gives you the opportunity to research what they are selling.

Once you have found a couple of cars you are interested in, do the following things.

1. Go to Edmunds.com, or KBB.com and get the retail sale price of that car. Compare it with what they are offering for it, try and find some buying leverage. Know exactly what the dealer should be selling that car for.
2. Go to your bank/credit union. Talk to the loan officer, find out interest rates, what you qualify for, and a guestimate on the payment and terms of that car. Its best to do your own financing with your own bank, instead of the car lot doing it for you. You will probably get a better rate, and if you go in to the lot, saying you have financing, you can haggle a bit more.
3. Call your insurance provider. The last thing you want is to find out your insurance is going up $60 or so a month because that car is a "high theft" risk, or something else silly.

Now that you have cash/trade, financing, and you know your payment, and insurance, take a few minutes and do a quick analysis of your monthly finances. Make sure you can afford it. Once you have, and you can, its time to head to the dealer. Hopefully, you contacted them through internet sales and have an appointment.

Once you arrive, don't reveal all your cards, don't talk down payment, don't talk trade, anything. If they are pushy, leave, or ask for another sales person. Don't play their game. Its their rules, their game. Ask to see the car, ask to test drive it. Drive it with the windows up, radio down, and listen. Roll the windows down and listen. Check the A/C, heat, fans, turn signals, etc. Depending on the dealer, take it to a mechanic of your choice to check it out.

When you get back to the dealer, and you decide you want it, show them the value of their car if it is priced higher then what it should be, ask them to come down. Chances are they will have to ask their boss, don't let them go alone! Go with them and show the boss the paper work. Sometimes they will, because they know they can get it back in fee's etc. Get that price on a deal sheet. Once they have it on a deal sheet, make your down payment offer. After they subtract it, get it signed, call your credit union before they can add the other fees. Pay for the title and tags yourself at the courthouse, no need to pay their fees.

There are many ways to play the game with them, but the main one is don't give away too much upfront, drop it on them once they give you the lowest price on the vehicle you want.

Ultimate gaming solution

As most of my readers can tell, I enjoy gaming a LOT. Online games, offline games, casino games, you name it, I play it. Being in engineering, I also enjoy all the technicalities that go on behind the scene. I have always wondered what goes into games, who makes them, protection, and distribution.

I came across an interesting website the other day. Betsoftgaming is the website that is home of BetSoft Gaming. This company is on the leading edge of casino game development. Constantly re-releasing and re-vitalizing the industry, they have a focus on a complete casino experience. New state of the art rooms, live dealer interface, BetSoft Gaming will give players and licensee an experience they will never forget. A few unique things I found was simulated horse racing, something missing from a lot of casino's.

I am well aware that the average person thinks it is all rigged; however, BetSoftGaming includes encryption, digital certificates and other new cutting edge protection to make the online experience as fulfilling as a casino experience should be.

Give them a peek at Betsoftgaming, you wont regret it!

Clones

"Begun, the clone war has." So spoke Jedi Master Yoda. His words from a sci-fi movie may be ringing true. In recent news the FDA said its okay to eat cloned animals. Hey, great, more food huh.

Shortly thereafter it was also announced that a human has been successfully cloned, in the laboratory of course, and not actually allowed to live. But it was the first time a human embryo clone had occurred, according to news anyway, in the U.S.A.

If we add two and two together, we come to the conclusion that the FDA just approved the agencies to clone humans for food.

Read it again, yeah, I went there. Realistically, this isn't true. Well, more then likely anyway. However it brings up a question. How far are we willing to go? Back when cloning began, it had a sci-fi feel too it. Scientist warned of the complications involved in cloning animals and humans, and the ethics. Animals are being successfully cloned and living longer, almost as much as humans. I can see the benefits of this to supplement food supplies in needy countries.

But human cloning? This opens the door to moral, ethical, and scientific questions. Should we? Should we develop a life just to test it? What mental state would it have? How deep in the genetic code is the original? If developing a clone, bringing it full term to childbirth, infecting it with childhood diseases to find cures, and then finding a cure for cancer and saving lives happened, would it be wrong?

A situation that definitely bears watching.

The epic mount

Let me break it down easy for you. You need 5000g to get your epic flier. Plus you need 200g for the mount. For some people that can’t save, that seems to be an insurmountable amount of gold required to get the mount. I am going to state very clearly what I did, and how I did it.

I have, and always have had a bad case of alt-ititis. For those not familiar with the term, it means I have a lot of alts. This was a huge money drain on me. Buying mounts, gear, etc etc. First thing I did was parked one in Ironforge near the bank and the auction house. Second thing I did was made a commitment to not level my alts at all, but I was going to use them to help earn my gold.

A quick breakdown of what I have and used.

Level 70 warrior: Miner/Blacksmith

Level 70 Mage: Enchanter/Tailor

Level 62 Shaman: Miner/Jewelcrafter

Of these three, the warrior is the only one with maxed professions. The mage is over 350 with his, and the shaman I leveled jewelcrafting up to the point of being able to prospect adamantite. That’s very important. I get bored farming, I get bored grinding, I get bored raiding, I even get bored doing Battlegrounds, so I knew I would not be able to sit down and do one thing at a time to make this money. So, I browsed the AH to see what was needed at what time with my shaman, who was parked in Ironforge. I started the process at 1000g between all my alts. In less then 5 days I had the money required.

Step 1: Do all the dailies you can. I began the day with my warrior doing his dailies(except for the dungeon ones, too much of a money sink). I then logged in my mage and did his dailies. Approximately 210g for both characters dailies.

Step 2: I flew to nagrand, and hit up elemental plateau. I would kill the water elementals, then fish the nodes. Rinse and repeat. In less then an hour, I had 7 primal waters. It should be noted you need to be familiar with your own servers farming schedule. I knew when to go when there was little or no competition. Mailed the primals to my shaman, put 4 primals on the AH, held the others in reserve.

Step 3: Logged on my frost mage and killed fire elementals in shadowmoon vale until I had 3 primal fires. Sent to AH.

Step 4: There is a blood elf camp in shadowmoon just east of the alliance stronghold. The belfs are spread out, low hit health, and pretty easy for a warrior to tear through. I farmed them until I had several tomes, and around 30 rings. Would take around 1 to 1.5 hours. The tomes sell for average of 15 to 20g a piece, and the rings for 1g apiece. Vendored everything else I looted, except for cloth and greens. These were sent to my mage.

Step 5: Log the mage back in, made the cheapest tailored greens I could with netherweave, dis-enchanted them and sold the arcane dust on the AH. Sometimes I got a shard as well. Also disenchanted all greens looted while farming.

Step 6: Log back onto warrior, and just looked for nodes to mine. All adamantite and gems went to my jewelcrafter. From 3 stacks of adamantite, I would get around 4 blue gems on average. The other gems I cut and sold for 1g on the AH. All fel iron and eternium were smelted together to create Felsteel, which sells for 15 to 20g a bar.

Everything else was just varied to what I would do to kill time, or felt like doing. During this time, I never went into an instance, never bought a thing from the AH, and only paid for repairs and food.

Some more tips or ideas would be to run low level dungeons, and sell the items on the AH, or disenchant them.

I averaged 800g a day, in only about 5 to 6 hours of trying. And don’t worry, once you get your epic, and start the netherwing dailies, the money just flows back in.

Hopefully this little guide will help anybody like me, who has many alts, gets bored easy, and could just be overwhelmed by the amount of gold required to fly fast.

Ceiling Fans

A warm summer breeze, a ceiling fans sound droning on and putting you to sleep, people gasping in awe of your beautiful fan over your dining room table, or even one on your front porch cooling you down after a hard days work, a ceiling fan for all dreams and desires can be found at Farreys.com.

If you are not sure what you are looking for, their easy to use customization engine will help you. Looking for a fan by style or brand? No problem, its very easy to use. Maybe you are not sure what you want, or even know enough to determine what you need? Well, just browse by brands. Farreys features many popular brand names such as Casablanca, Monte Carlo, Hunter, and Ellington.

A quick browse and search revealed many models and designs. There appears to be a model for every situation. They even have a search engine for people on a budget, so you can narrow your search to a range you can afford. Personally, I always prefer to search by price, regardless if I am searching for a car, truck, fan or computer. They also have a contact number that is very visible on the page, and does not require any effort to find.

Farreys has been in business since 1924, serving clients for over 80 years with a drive to deliver the best product, in a friendly manner. Give the website a browse, get some fans, and get ready for the warmer weather.

Lance Cunningham Ford

I can't say enough about this car dealer in knoxville tennessee. If you are looking for, interested in, or just wanting information, about new or used fords, this is the location. I have purchased two mustangs from them in the past year, and they do the deal right.

Located conveniently on clinton highway, right off Interstate 640 and I-75, they are easily reached from anywhere in the area. A large inventory, knowledgeable sales staff, and people friendly finance officers, they have the complete package. Go see Preston for a truly enjoyable sales experience.

Hmmm, coffee!

Coffee, the drink of a lifetime, the good morning picker-upper. The aroma alone can wake one up from the very depths of sleep. So many selections, so many ways to drink, so many ways to brew!

How does one determine a coffee maker? Or even how does one figure out all the information surrounding coffee makers? Well, there is an easy way to do so. In fact, it has all the information one needs, including reviews from users. Wize.com/coffee-makers has all the information you need. Single guy or girl? Casual one cup drinker? No problem, browse through the selection by brand or make. Family type or likes a couple of cups? No problem once again. All listed, searchable, and ready for the discerning coffee drinker. Anything you need to know, to help narrow the selection, is all listed in a nice easy to look up page. If you want a one cup brewer, made by Black and decker, set your search functions, read the reviews.

A wonderful, easy to navigate page, I highly recommend it to anybody wishing to evaluate coffee makers.