Amazon Locker
It looks like the question in my previous post about alternative delivery locations has been answered long time ago: who knew that Amazon has such an amazing service as Amazon Locker? I just signed up for one near my work place.
17, again!
Last weekend I celebrated my 34th birhtday. Or, as I like to joke, my second sweet 17. Those three days were full of fun and adventures. It started on Saturday, when I finally got to meet Crasin’s besties, visiting from Trinidad and UK: Jerome, Colin, and Andon. We had a quick dinner and then went to LeBoy where we had a drink and danced a bit before heading back to Crasin’s place (I kind of starting to like that place more than No Parking; the ambiance is better, and public seems to be more decent). When I woke up on the morning of my birthday, I received my first gift, from Crasin: Kindle Touch! I was very excited, as it was long on my must-have-gadgets list. Guys spent the rest of the day shopping while I played hookey, watching “White Collar” on Netflix and taking naps. We met again in the evening. This time instead of usual dinner-at-home, I decided to have something new for my birthday, considering that my small studio wouldn’t fit 14 people that were invited: we had dinner at Amber Village restaurant (very good and affordable sushi and drinks!), and then spent 2.5 hours raping our vocal cords and each others’ ears at Karaoke Boho (8 dollars per person per hour, plus drinks; the only complain I had was that the room was very cold, but they moved us to a smaller room so it warmed up very quickly). I was glad to reconnect with Link and get to know his bf, Tim; and of course, Igor, Rustam and Xavier were there, too. Unfortunately, Colin had developed an allergic reaction to something that he ate earlier on that day, so Andon had to take him quietly to the hospital, and of course, Crasin did not tell me anything until the party has ended. We then went to the hospital to check on Colin; fortunately, everything turned out to be ok, and Colin was ok by the next morning.
The next day (Monday) we all headed to Atlantic City (Megabus from Port Authority, 33 dollars round trip plus 25 dollars credit to play slot machines at Showboat Casino), where we stayed in two adjacent rooms at Trump Taj Mahal for just 20 dollars per person. After a short stroll along the Boardwalk (surprisingly, it was not cold) and a nice dinner, we hit the casino. Crasin and I first tried playing roulette, but after losing all our bets and not winning a dollar, we switched to slot machines. It looks like the luck was on our side that night. Crasin was the first to win nearly 400 dollars playing quarters slot machine. Inspired by that, I continued spinning the wheels and was about 100 dollars short when my machine suddenly started beeping, and I won 1,025 dollars!!! What a great birthday gift! After that we played for another hour or so, but without any luck. We then went to Showboat to use our 25 dollars in free credit, but the deal had a catch: you are supposed to play all 25 dollars on the same machine. Of course, we did not read the fine print and ended up losing more than half of the ticket’s value by simply switching the machines. At that point it was already 2 am, so we had drinks at the bar and went to bed.
Due to the inconvenient schedule, we had to wake up at 6:30 that morning; our bus to NYC was scheduled to depart at 8:30. We had breakfast (which came aroudn 18 dollar per person, but cost us less, because we used our Taj Mahal reward and “first member” promotions), and headed to the bus area at the hotel. Conveniently, the slot machines were located right there, so I ended up winning another 40 dollars. It was around 8:35 when we realized that our bus did not come, because we were waiting in the wrong place! We were supposed to wait for our bus at the Caesar’s, not Taj Mahal! We had to take cab to Bus Terminal and take Greyhound back in NYC. By the way, I contacted Megabus regarding the refund for our return tickets, and never heard back from them…
We were back in New York around noon, and them met again in the evening, to see the “Rockettes” show (which I personally did not like that much). After a late dinner, I had to say good bye to my new Trinidadian friends; they were going back to UK on Wednesday afternoon. Overall, I had great time and can’t wait to hang out with fabulous four again! So far, the plan is to see them in London next year.
Redefining American Dream?
A buddy of my shared this article on Facebook today, and I found it to be a very interesting read, as it relates to the cultural phenomenon that I’ve been observing for the past several years. I am talking about that elusive concept of “American Dream”, the concept that may be recently undergoing complete makeover, thanks to economical crisis and developments in technology. You see, the major facet of the American Dream, “ownership”, implies possession of “big” things like house and car, as a sign of prosperity and status. The more “stuff” you own and the more expensive it is, the closer you are to the American Dream. This may have been the case during the era of “Mad Men”, but a new disruptive trend is on the rise, according to the author:
“Collaborative consumption and technology have changed the face of “personal ownership” to a new ideal of community sharing by “disrupting outdated modes of business and reinventing not just what we consume but how we consume.”
In other words, it’s not buy, buy, buy anymore. Web and mobile technologies provided people with numerous platforms that now enable them not just buy to own, but also share, lend, rent, and consume for free in exchange for exposure to ads. As a result, more and more people are choosing not to buy and own, but to rent and share. And this could eventually mean the end of consumer culture as we know.
Delivered by Google Express?
Google could actually take this a bit further:
According to the WSJ, Google is in talks with Gap, OfficeMax and Macy’s to begin a delivery system in which users could search and order items, for a fee, that would get delivered within a day or two. The search engine wouldn’t be selling items directly to consumers, but it would act as a middle man between a shopper and a local seller. According to the report, Google is hoping to launch the program next year.
There are about 20 apartments in my building, most of the occupants working full-time, and there is no doorman. Hence it is a real pain in the ass to shop online. Online vendors like Amazon tend to ship stuff via UPS or FedEx, and their delivery men usually come between 9 and 5, while I am still at work. You miss 3 delivery attempts, and have to wait until Saturday to go all the way to their facility in the Bronx to pick up the package. That’s why, whenever it’s possible, I ask vendor (usually on ebay) to ship the purchase via regular USPS: US Postal Service office is less than a mile from my apartment building, and I can easily pick up my stuff on Saturdays.
I am sure a lot of people living in urban areas like NYC have the same issue. This could be a great business opportunity: a place that would hold your delivery and stay open on weekdays until 8 pm and on Saturdays so people could easily pick up their stuff, for an extra fee, of course. I know that a lot of storage places now offer such services to their clients, but extending it to everyone would make sense from a business perspective. So I really hope that Google will take this initiative a bit further and will partner with local stores, storage spaces and US postal offices to offer a self pick-up option.
Update: TechCrunch just posted about start-up Kinek that now let’s people pick up their online orders at local stores. Alas, the nearest available pick-up points are all somewhere in NJ. Sigh…
Cutting the Cord
(this post was written as a reaction to this article in WP about this guy who cut the cable cord, and then, after a year of “suffering”, went back into the arms of cable TV industry)
About 10 months ago I called Time Warner and cancelled my cable TV account. Since then I have been watching movies and TV shows exclusively online, using Netflix, Hulu and TV network websites. I am now considering buying Roku and signing up for Amazon Prime. And nope, I don’t miss cable TV at all. If you ask me, why I suddenly decided to cut the cord, I will give you several reasons.
IT WAS TOO EXPENSIVE
Of course, part of it had to do with money, just like everything else in this world. Cartman nicely summarized this “first law of physics” as “Anything that’s fun costs at least $8.” Only in case of Time Warner cable TV, fun used to cost me whopping 70 dollars a month (in addition to 50 dollars I pay for Internet access). The money I saved in the first 6 months after I went cable-less was enough to buy a hybrid bike and a nice digital camera.
IT OFFERED TOO MUCH YET TOO LITTLE
Out of over 100+ channels available on cable TV I was watching only 5 or 6 (CNN, BBC America, Sci-Fi, IFC and occasionally TNT). Yeah, call me a narrow-minded individual, but I am not interested in sports, cooking, shopping, or women’s drama (well, ok, maybe occasionally). Yet I somehow had to pay for all hundred + channels (some of them, like ESPN, actually add a lot to the bottom line of your cable bill), regardless of whether I watched them or not. It looks like cable TV industry is trying to fix that and may start offering “a la carte” plans soon. I wish them best of luck.
I HAVE NO TIME
On weekends, coming home from gym around 9 pm, my TV would be on only for an hour or so. On weekends, the priority was given to hanging out with boo and friends, urban and culinary explorations, errands and other activities. And when I was finally free (usually Sunday evening), my TV had to fight for my time and attention with Netflix and books.
I HAD NO CONTROL OF EXPERIENCE
Call me a control freak, but I want to watch whatever I want, whenever I want and however I want. Cable TV cannot ofer that much flexibility without making you shell out more money (DVR or TV on demand).
I HATE FREAKING COMMERCIALS
Yes, I work in market research industry. No, I don’t like ads. Especially if they interrup my experience. Every 15 minutes. Yes, they are good for taking bathroom breaks. But even I don’t pee that often.
BECAUSE I LIKE GOING AGAINST THE STREAM
In other words, I hate old money, I hate old media. And, citing the author of abovementioned article in WP, “giving up cable is cool these days”.
Just to be fair, I will list also cons of cutting the cord:
- there is a limited selection of TV shows and movies online
- Hulu and TV sites still force you to watch commercials (although they are much shorter, less frequent and not as annoying)
- you are out of loop when it comes to “hot” new shows
As for Roku and Amazon Prime, I promise I will post my (unbiased, fair and balanced) reviews after I get them.
Dear Mint, you are not fresh anymore…
Today, I decided to close my account with Mint.com, after using their services for nearly two years. For those who are not familiar with Mint, it’s a web-based free online personal finance platform that allows you to manage your budget and track your transactions across multiple accounts, including checking and savings, credit cards, retirement and investments, all conveniently in one place. You initlally link those accounts to Mint by entering your user IDs and passwords, and after that all the transactions data are downloaded, categorized and aggregated automatically every time you log into your Mint account. When I first started using Mint, I was perfectly content with it: every morning I would log in and in a minute would have a snapshot of all my financial activities across all accounts. I could categorize and chart my expenses, and even track how I spend my cash. Such routine monitoring even helped me one day to spot illegitimate charges to my credit card.
Unfortunately, things stopped working about six months ago. First, I started having issues when syncing my Scottrade transactions. Scottrade website recently beeffed up their security, and now in addition to entering your user ID and password, asks you to answer two out of three “secret questions”. Apparently, Mint could not incorporate those changes into their syncing routine, and I would have to be logged in both Scottrade and Mint accounts simultaneously in order to download updates. A couple of months ago, I started experiencing the same issues with Chase. No matter what, I just could not sync anymore my checking, saving, and credit card accounts. In an attempt to fix the problem, I removed my Chase accounts from Mint and then tried to add them back, to no avail. As a result, now about 80% of my transactions are not being tracked by Mint.
I am currently looking at the alternatives to Mint. At first, HelloWallet seemed like a good option, but unfortunately, they charge a monthly fee. I will probably test drive MoneyStrands and Yodlee for now. And of course, I still use my favorite AceBudget iphone app to record and track my daily expenses.
I am 74% .. or about housing market in NYC
Great article in NY Times about how housing market in New York City needs to adapt to realities of life. Interestingly, they note, that while most of the houses in the city are designed and built with nuclear families in mind, only 26% of dwellings are actually occupied by families with children. The rest of the population - singles, students, young professionals, immigrants, and elderly - have to pay market rates to rent places that don’t necessary suit their less demanding lifestyles.
I was always surprised how difficult it it to find an affordable studio or a junior one bedroom apartment in this city. It is also nearly impossible not to break the essential “rent should not exceed 30% of your paycheck” rule if you want to live alone and in a decent area. Call me cheap, but I just can’t force myself to shell out 50% of my paycheck for a studio in Chelsea or midtown. Neither I am willing to take a mortgage and “buy” my own place, considering the state of economy and my personal believes about housing market in US. Allow me elaborate a bit more on the latter.
First, it is time to accept the fact that the term “homeowner” is has been misused in this country: millions of American only recently realized that you can call yourself a “homeowner” only after you pay off your mortgage (that is, after 30 years for the majority of people). In the meantime, you don’t own your place; your bank does. And you are essentially renting it, with a hope at the end to hit a jackpot and fulfill the American dream. And the odds that by the time you are done, your place will cost more than you paid for it, are probably close to the odds of winning something in Take 5 lottery.
Second, let’s admit that the real estate in US is overpriced, thanks to the bubble. Just like on the stock market, self-correction eventually takes place. We are seeing it happening now, and this process may take another 10-20 years. I expect the house prices to go down another 10-15%.
So back to the main point of this post. Luckily, after several years of searching, I was able to find a decent place in a great area of the Washington Heights that meets both my budgetary and aesthetic criteria. I will probably stay here for another year or two, considering the gorgeous river view from my window, decent commute time to work, and proximity to biking trails. That is, until they raise the rent again, and I will have to search for a new place.
In the meantime, New York City authorities need to revise housing requirements and start approving new innovative housing initiatives to accommodate a growing army of single young professionals like myself.
After trying numerous messaging applications (Textie, TextFree, textPlus and Google Voice), I finally found the one that I am perfectly content with: WhatsApp. It is very convenient to use, relatively fast (compared to others), does not have ads or force you to watch annoying in-your-face videos (screw you, TextPlus), allows me to send pictures and videos, and works across several mobile platforms. The .99 cents I paid to download it from the App Store is the best investment I ever made. Sorry, AT&T, I won’t need your unlimited SMS package anymore..
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