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WaMu Credit Card – Free Monthly Credit Score

You can already get 3 free credit reports a year, but getting free credit scores hasn’t always been easy.

Speaking of the 3 free credit reports, I was talking it over with Ungsunghero and Derek and it appears they’re both smarter than me about it. Every year I would get all 3 of my credit reports at the same time to see if there’s any problems in any one of the credit bureaus, but the real smart way to do it is to get them separately. That way you can get updated credit reports every 4 months instead of once a year. I now have appointments scheduled in Outlook to remind me to get my credit reports from a particular credit bureau every 4 months.

Anyway, back to the free monthly credit score. WaMu (Washington Mutual) has been offer credit cards that come with free monthly credit score updates as a bonus feature if you have their card. The feature’s rather nice and doesn’t have any fees or require any monthly purchases. Once you log in and click on “FICO Credit Score”, you’ll be shown your score along with other data such as Accounts, Open Accounts, Closed Accounts, Inquiries, Derogatory Items, Delinquencies, and Total Revolving Balances. You can also see the history of your credit score for up to a year.

You can apply for the WaMu Platinum MasterCard online.

I have actually tried applying for this card for a total of 3x, being rejected twice initially. They always mail me a postcard apologizing for rejecting my application and that if I had any questions, to contact them. However since I never really needed the credit card, it wasn’t one of my priorities to get this straightened out. However, I decided I really wanted to see what my credit score was and called up WaMu and asked them why I was rejected. Unfortunately my previous request was over 60 days old so no information is available. I went ahead and reapplied and this time I was instantaneously accepted. No idea why, but I’m not complaining.

One thing I do dislike about their website is the fact that they’re like American Express and limits your password to be 6-8 characters.

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American Express – SimplyCash Business Card – 5% Cash Back on Costco Gas

I’ve mentioned this card before, but didn’t really have a reason to get it before since I had my Advanta card. However, due to the fact that Advanta has changed its term in limiting the amount of rewards you can get per year, the Advanta card has basically become useless to me:

Cash Back rewards are also earned on Bonus Qualifying purchases, which include purchases in the following categories: “gasoline and diesel fuel,” “computers, computer supplies, electronics and office supplies,” “online advertising services,” and “utilities and telecommunications.” Cash Back rewards on Bonus Qualifying purchases are earned as follows: 5% on up to $1,200 in annual purchases; 1% on purchases in excess of $1,200.

That means the 5% rewards bracket only adds up to $60 in rewards a year and everything after that you only receive 1%. The nice thing about the Advanta card is the fact it’s a Mastercard so it’s accepted practically everywhere (Costco being the main retailer I purchase from that doesn’t accept either Visa or Mastercard). I haven’t used my Advanta card in quite some time, but it’s still associated with my utilities (Comcast Cable and High Speed Internet and garbage collection). Otherwise, I’ve basically stopped using it on office supplies and electronics.

Anyway, I was reading some thread about Costco gas today and someone had asked if the Executive membership gets 2% cash back on gas also and I told them that the terms specifically exclude gas from the extra 2% back. However that got me thinking. I’m currently only getting 1% cash back on Costco gas with my American Express Costco TrueEarnings card. Costco gas accepts any type of American Express credit card and SimplyCash has 5% cash back on gas, office supplies and wireless services with no annual cash back limit. Of course American Express is also not widely accepted, but all the gas stations, office supplies stores, and wireless services that I use all accept American Express.

Cash Rebate: There is no limit to the amount of cash rewards you can earn. You will receive the Rebate in the form of a credit to your Account (net of credits for purchases). The credit will appear on the second billing statement following the billing statement in which the qualifying Purchase(s) appeared, based on the following structure: You will receive a Rebate of 5% for purchases of wireless telephone services, automobile gasoline(effective December 01, 2007, any individual Purchase transaction in excess of 75 gallons or equivalent dollar value will not be deemed to be a Purchase of automobile gasoline), and office supplies and equipment not purchased at warehouse clubs, superstores or supermarkets (“5% Purchase(s)”). You will receive a Rebate of 1% for all other purchases. To receive the Rebate, your account must be active and in good standing.

Important: You will receive a 5% Rebate only if the merchant submits the Charge for your 5% Purchase under the appropriate merchant code, industry code and required service or product identifier established by us with/for the merchant. For example, if a general merchandise retailer sells office supplies, and the retailer processes your Card transaction as a general merchandise charge instead of an office supply charge, you will receive a Rebate of 1%, not a Rebate of 5%. You will not receive a Rebate for balances transferred from other accounts, purchases of American Express Travelers Cheques or American Express Gift Cheques, fees, Finance Charges, Cash Advances and similar means of accessing your Card Account. Additional terms and conditions apply.

Therefore I’ve decided to apply for one. I’m hoping Costco gas counts as gas and not a regular Costco purchase since those only get 1% cash back. Looking at my previous statements, they do distinguish:

  • COSTCO GAS #00110 94ISSAQUAH WA
  • COSTCO WHSE #00110 9ISSAQUAH WA

If you’re interested, you should apply for the American Express SimplyCash Business Card.

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Free Xbox LIVE Arcade Game: Undertow

undertow Due to the fact that XBLA was having a lot of problems over the holiday season, they’ve decided to give away Undertow for free (regularly worth 800 points) to compensate for users inconvenience. Not only do Xbox Live Gold members qualify, but so do Silver members. This game is free only for a limited time:

Regularly 800 points, Undertow is free of charge beginning 2:00 a.m. PST Wednesday, January 23 and continuing through 11:59 p.m. PST Sunday, January 27.

This game has gotten really good reviews, with a metascore of 79/100. Be sure to get it!

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Five-Minute Management Course

Source: MS Distribution List

Lesson 1:
A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor. Before she says a word, Bob says, “I’ll give you $800 to drop that towel.” After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob, after a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves. The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, “Who was that?” “It was Bob the next door neighbor,” she replies. “Great,” the husband says, “did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?”

Moral of the story:
If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

Lesson 2:
A priest offered a Nun a lift. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg. The priest nearly had an accident. After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg. The nun said, “Father, remember Psalm 129?” The priest removed his hand. But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun once again said, “Father, remember Psalm 129?” The priest apologized “Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.” Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way. On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, “Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.”

Moral of the story:
If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

Lesson 3:
A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, “I’ll give each of you just one wish.” “Me first! Me first!” says the admin clerk. “I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.” Puff! She’s gone. “Me next! Me next!” says the sales rep. “I want to be in Hawaii , relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.” Puff! He’s gone. “OK, you’re up,” the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, “I want those two back in the office after lunch.”

Moral of the story:
Always let your boss have the first say.

Lesson 4:
An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, “Can I also sit like you and do nothing?” The eagle answered: “Sure, why not.” So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story:
To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

Lesson 5:
A turkey was chatting with a bull. “I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree” sighed the turkey, “but I haven’t got the energy.” Well, why don’t you nibble on some of my droppings?” replied the bull. They’re packed with nutrients.” The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree. He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story:
Bull Shit might get you to the top, but it won’t keep you there..

Lesson 6:
A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Morals of the story:
(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
(3) And when you’re in deep shit, it’s best to keep your mouth shut!

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Some New Toys

It’s been awhile since my last post, but this post is going to be short and probably only a summary. I’ve recently obtained some rather new cool toys to play with.

First of all, I finally took the plunge and purchased an HDHR (HDHomeRun). For those who don’t know what this thing is, it’s a dual external QAM/ATSC tuner for your PC and is the easiest way to get QAM channels on your Media Center. I’ve had Media Center for awhile now, but I’ve really ever used it to watch videos and stuff. I finally wanted to play with the TV settings and like I said, took the plunge. I got it for a $160 shipped (deal is still available, inquire if you’re interested), only to find out a few days later a rumor of an employee discount. I’ll probably talk more about this later.

The next toy I got is my new Lenovo Thinkpad X61 Tablet. I had actually ordered this back in mid-December, but due to a UPS fiasco and them delivering my package to some other address, Lenovo to build another one and that’s why it took so long for it to arrive. Then there was the fact I was no longer in Monterey Park, and had to change the shipping which was more complicated than I originally thought. Anyway, I had been holding out for a portable laptop for some time since my IBM Thinkpad X31. I really wanted a X-series Thinkpad with a better screen. They decided to put a better screen on the Tablet, but not the regular X-series, so I finally made up my mind to get it. I was also contemplating on waiting for Apple to release the MacBook Slim (or what I had called it), but finally gave up on waiting for it. When the MacBook Air was announced a few days ago, I justified to myself that most 1st generation Apple products have a lot of problems.

Anyway, this morning I was having some sort of dream. I can’t remember what exactly the dream was but it involved a doorbell ringing. Doorbell ringing?!?! I jumped out of bed, ran to the window and saw the UPS truck. I ran down the 2 flights of stairs as a kid would do on Christmas morning to greet my UPS guy and signed for my package. I’ve played with it for awhile really nice. I’m still not that accustomed to the tablet features, but it’ll probably come bit by bit. It comes with Vista Business and definitely needs more RAM. Fortunately, a 2GB stick is on its way. I’d go into the specs later with its official post.

Yep, life is good. 🙂

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2 Hilarious Videos

Got 2 videos I wanted to share with you.

Mintys Comedian Of The Month May 2007 – Jim Jeffries –

This month, we take a look at Jim Jeffries. Jim is what is commonly referred to as “filthy”, but we don’t often get to see him saying exactly what he wants on TV. However, in this set taken from the comedy show “Comedy Blue”, Jim is given free reign to say what he pleases.

Please be aware that this video contains very strong language, and themes which are suitable for neither work, the easily offended, nor children. You have been warned!

RayAlome shared this with me a couple days ago and this guy Jim Jeffries is freaking hilarious. I cracked up multiple times throughout the video. Here’s some more testimonies:

omfg krunkie, i almost died laughing at that one – Artemyst

I was on the floor for a little of that – RayAlome

Do be warn however and this is vile and filthy and probably not work safe (NSFW). If you have kids, you’ll probably want to put them to beside or send them outside before you click on that link. Given that, I don’t want to divulge anything to weaken the joke, yet it’s so hard to not be intrigued unless you know a little something. Let’s just put in this way, it involves a pair of chopsticks, an egg, and a whole lot of shit.

Next, I saw this video off Ungsunghero’s newest blog entry: American Idol: We’re Brothers Forever –

A hilarious audition on American Idol featuring Renaldo Lapuz singing the now famous song “We’re Brothers Forever” during his try out. Watch the ending also, he looks like he worships Simon!

This guy all dressed up in what looks like a pimp outfit, with the name Simon on his hat, comes and sings this hilarious song: We’re Brothers Forever. Simon is right, he predicted this would be a one-hit wonder and it sort of already has. Do be warned that this song may be stuck in your head for hours, yet you shouldn’t avoid it just because of that, because it’s just so awesome! When the gang joined him in singing and started doing interpretive dancing, it just got that much more funnier.

Will he become the next William Hung? Maybe.

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Does Chewing Affect Hunger?

So a few days ago I retracted my comment of how chewing delays the hunger signal, but I am not so sure anymore. While I was in the shower, the study of how smelling a banana instead of eating it was able to reduce hunger popped into my head. And if what RayAlome tells me is true, then the scent of banana should also have told the stomach to get ready to ingest some banana.

A quick search on Google with the keywords chewing and hunger returned conflicting results.

Here’s a few excerpts from articles I found from the first page of results:

The researchers, led by Marion Hetherington, D.Phil., Professor of Biopsychology at Glasgow Caledonian University in Glasgow, found that chewing gum can help reduce cravings and control appetite.

Hunger and desire to eat were significantly suppressed by chewing gum at one, two and three hour intervals after lunch.

– Thaindian News

An easy way to control those hunger pangs would be to pop a chewing gum into your mouth before an afternoon snack, say researchers.

– My-India.Net

A research study to be presented at the 2007 Annual Scientific Meeting of The Obesity Society, found that chewing gum before an afternoon snack helped reduce hunger, diminish cravings and promote fullness among individuals who limit their overall calorie intake.

– Newsmax.com

Of course all these are based off the same research and I came to the conclusion that either chewing gum helps control hunger or that India really wants to sell gum.

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Persepolis – Review

Persepolis So I watched Persepolis (HD Trailers) this weekend and I’ve just got to say the movie was amazingly well done. Persepolis is an animated motion picture which is done mostly in black and white. There are moments in color, which represent the present. On the other hand, moments in black and white, represent the past.

Persepolis originally was a graphic novel done by Marjane Satrapi, the main character of the graphic novel and the movie. If you’re interested in the graphic novel, it’s available on Amazon.com. In a sentence, the story follows a little girl named Marjane Satrapi as she grows up experiencing both Iran’s revolution and the war with Iraq.

Continue reading the review…

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New Weight Loss Strategy: Sugar Free Gum

So a few days ago, I read this article on Consumerist: Don’t Chew 15 Sticks Of Sorbitol-Sweetened Gum Per Day. From the article itself (Chewing Gum Sweetener Can Cause Dangerous Weight Loss):

Many sugar-free chewing gums contain a sweetener called sorbitol. Sorbitol is a laxative which is poorly absorbed by the small intestine. An article in this week’s British Medical Journal (BMJ) warns of the dangers of excess sorbitol intake.

The warning comes after doctors came across two patients who had chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain and dangerously excessive weight loss. After lengthy investigations which could not identify why the patients were losing so much weight and had chronic diarrhea and pains, a detailed analysis of eating habits put the problem down to eating too much chewing gum with sorbitol.

One of the patients, a 21-year-old woman, had been eating the equivalent of 18-20g of sorbitol each day. The average stick of gum has about 1.25g sorbitol – so, she was chewing through 15-18 sticks of gum each day. The other patient, a 46-year-old man, was chewing about 20 sticks of sorbitol-containing gum plus approximately 200g of sweets (candy) each day – his total sorbitol daily intake was about 30g, the authors wrote.

So I was talking to Ungsunghero the other day and with all these commercials these days targeting people who want to lose weight, but don’t want to have a restricted diet or exercise, this sounds like the perfect plan. Basically, you just have to chew 10-20 pieces of sugar free gum each day and you’re almost guaranteed to have weight loss. I guess this isn’t much difference than people ingesting laxatives directly, but chewing gum provides some exercise too! Chewing 10-20 pieces a day is almost guaranteed to give you a sore jaw for the 1st few days, so you might want to start off slowly.

There’s also other benefits. Since you appear to be chewing, your brain will think you’re eating, delaying the hunger signal. Sugar-free gum also has 0 calories (sugar free) so you won’t be gaining anything from chewing sugar free gum, but will get the benefit of jaw exercise. Plus don’t forget the nice minty breath you’ll have (or whichever flavor you decide to choose).

Maybe Ungsunghero and I should patent this weight loss strategy. Or maybe it’s already patented…

UPDATE:

Had to make a retraction after RayAlome provided some more facts that chewing does not delay the hunger signal, but in fact induces it.

Ray AlOm3: actually this initiates the cephalic stage of digestion
Ray AlOm3: when your stomach does not receive any food it will start making all sorts of noises and signals
Ray AlOm3: the acid is pumpin, the muscles are contracting but nothing is arriving
Ray AlOm3: and remember the olestra chips
Krunk4Ever: so chewing gum makes you hungry?
Ray AlOm3: it will induce your digestive system
Ray AlOm3: so at the very least
Ray AlOm3: it will make you aware of your GI tract
Ray AlOm3: actually it will make you hungry
Ray AlOm3: because it’ll start the release of insulin from the pancreas
Ray AlOm3: but you won’t be getting any glucose
Ray AlOm3: so if you haven’t eaten in a while it could even cause minor hypoglycemia

However, this does not contradict the fact that you will be losing weight. 🙂