Lifestyle

Of all the gifts you can give for Mothers Day, flowers get the nod. More safe than sweets, more personal than gift certificates, Mothers Day flowers, in one shape or form, are a tradition around these parts. Whether they’re bought online or in a good old fashioned bricks and mortar store, a nice little bouquet [...]

The laser hair removal clinic wasted no time following up on information I submitted on their website yesterday. I was underwhelmed by their inital response to my inquiry about their laser hair removal services. In short, the clinic’s email was impersonal and carried a Yahoo return address. Needless to say, it wasn’t the confidence builder [...]

Call me a freak, but I’m intrigued with the idea of laser hair removal. It’s not that I want to remove the hair from unmentionable parts of my body. It’s just that I’m fed up with the daily bloodletting of shaving. When I saw an advertisement for a laser hair removal clinic in a local [...]

Have you ever gotten the feeling that every appliance in your home is about to launch a simultaneous self-destruct sequence? Our washing machine is still limping along and the clothes dryer has recently developed a horrendous screech. But the latest in a series of straws dropped this morning, when our dishwasher unleashed a nasty surprise.

Does sweat + net = an effective exercise routine? It’s been said that exercise needn’t be boring if you’re entertained while exerting yourself. After all, fighting the battle of the bulge isn’t just about finding the magic weight loss program. It’s about finding the right type of exercise–and exercise equipment–to fit into your daily routine [...]

My trusty Oreck vacuum cleaner broke a few months back. I called Oreck to see if it might be covered under warranty. After asking for the serial number, the helpful customer service representative replied that it was indeed covered. I just needed to bring the vacuum to an Oreck store to have the part replaced. [...]

Okay, I confess … I’m not at CES this week. I’m just sitting here in my garage office, trying to keep up with all the stuff rolling out of Las Vegas. In the midst of forming an opinion about the importance of the show, I’ve been sidetracked by a trip through the Yahoo News slideshow. [...]

There’s nothing quite like stepping on your digital scale on the morning after a monstrous Thanksgiving meal. It may have been thanks you were giving the night before, but that scale is anything but forgiving. To throw a couple more metaphors in the blender, dead men tell no tales and digital scales tell no lies [...]

I should have included a stronger warning when I posted the piece about Crazy Contact Lenses earlier this week. Contact lenses aren’t something you want to fool around with. You must be sure that you are fitted with a set of quality lenses. Buying a pair of contacts at the flea market, for instance, is [...]

Fallen behind on your credit card payments? You’re not alone. The American Bankers Association’s (ABA) Consumer Credit Delinquency Bulletin reports that credit card loan delinquencies set a record in the second quarter of 2005, hitting a whopping rate of 4.81 percent of accounts (following on the heels of a rate of 4.76 for the first [...]

I took a rare ride up the highway at lunchtime. Motoring northward, I noticed that the price for regular gasoline had fallen below $3 per gallon. The lowest prices? $2.87 for regular, $3.05 for premium. This gave me a few hours of hope that we’ve seen the worst. But that hope was short-lived. Tonight, CNN [...]

Sick of shaving and other traditional hair removal methods like waxing and electrolysis? It’s time to get high-tech, baby! Selective photothermolysis (the fancy name for laser hair removal) is the hot ticket for folks that want to be smooth and sleek. If you have unwanted hair (or know someone that does), read on …

There’s nothing quite like getting to the end of a month only to realize that you haven’t brought in enough to cover expenses …

Mega publisher Gannett has announced its intent to unleash a new “glossy consumer technology magazine” with the underwhelming title of “USA TODAY NOW Personal Technology.” The 80-page magazine will hit newsstands in mid-October at a cover price of $4.95. The press release boasts that “a minimum of 300,000 copies will be printed.” So who’s buying?

What do you do when you can’t find the AC adapter for your favorite electronic gizmo? I’ve been looking for my Archos MP3 player’s charger for months now. I thought I found the charger a couple of weeks ago, but when I plugged it into the wall socket and MP3 player, nothing happened. This [...]

What in the world does a hot tub cover have to do with disintermediation?

What is a second mortgage and why would you possibly need one?

In the previous installment of my shrinking software brain, I lamented about how I just can’t seem to memorize those keyboard shortcuts with the gusto I once had. Never did I think that I’d be the recipient of sage Gnomie advice …

Welcome to my summer vacation, where the humidity level has risen into the 90% range and my productivity level has fallen to darn near zero. But it’s not a complete wash. When the kids take over my office, I forge a hasty retreat to my hammock. And even though the wireless network reaches to the [...]

We’ve always considered ourselves fireworks aficionados here at rancho indebto. Alas, we’re stuck, not just in the swamps of Joisey, but in a state where personal fireworks displays are verboten. When summer rolls around, we roll to every public fireworks display we can catch (fireworks-mavens that we are). Imagine my surprise when an enticing flyer [...]