All Purpose Advisor

This holiday season I am repeatedly getting this question from people around me. "I want to buy a digital SLR. I dont know much about taking pictures. I just want to take photos of my kids. Which camera should I buy?"

Let me start by saying that buying an SLR camera is quite different from buying a popular point'n'shoot to just click, click, click, upload, share, repeat. If you don't have time to learn the very very basic principles (f-stop + ISO + shutter speed = Exposure) of picture taking, then you would just be wasting your money by buying an SLR kit available on sale at your local retail store for an "awesome deal". This is based on personal experience. I used my Canon rebel XT Kit as a point'n'shoot for about a year before I woke up and took control of my pictures.

First things first. You need to answer 2 questions first. What will you use your camera for? What is your starting budget?

Most people use a camera to take people pictures. It is certainly the most popular kind of photography. So I'll assume that the most common answer for the first question is "Kids pictures, playing, partying etc..".

For budget, let me set 2 price points: $600-1000 and $1000+.
Initial disclaimer: I have reasonable first hand knowledge of Canon Lenses & bodies. I have extremely limited knowledge about Nikon or Pentax or other brands.

Now that we have set our budget and subject lets take a few moments to get familiar with a few basic concepts. I'll barely touch on these. You can get detailed info and lessons from the books that I have mentioned in my previous post.
When a camera clicks, it creates an exposure on digital sensor or film. An exposure comprises of 3 factors, we'd like to call the "Golden Triangle", Aperture (f-stop), Shutter speed and ISO (originally known as film speed, but now digital sensor sensitivity). Lets imagine an exposure to be a bucket that needs to be filled with water. In that case the size of the bucket is determined by the "light meter" (all new cameras have one built-in). The light meter determines how much light is available in a particular scene. Now in order to fill this bucket you can use different sizes of hose which will determine how long you will have to hold the hose to fill the bucket. So let say we have X amount of total light available in a scene. This X can be used to create an exposure in a variety of ways by varying the 3 factors, ISO, aperture & shutter speed.
e.g.
ISO 100, f/4, 1/500sec. = X
ISO 200, f/4, 1/1000 = X (notice double ISO, half the time)
ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/1000 sec. = X (notice double the aperture opening, half the time)

{f-stop go in this order(smaller the number, bigger the opening): f/1, f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22, f/32 and so on}
All the above setting will yield different kinds of photos though. If you can only remember a few things then here are the cram notes:

• Higher the ISO, worse the noise and color saturation. So start with the lowest ISO setting first. Increase the ISO only when other options are not available.
• Bigger the Aperture (smaller the f-number), smaller the depth-of-field i.e. more blur background.
• Faster the sutter speed, less motion blur. Sometime motion blur is desirable other times not.

Now, coming to our favorite subject: Fast moving restless kids. Most of the times we find the kids indoors running around in low light. This means you need a lens with a BIG maximum aperture(a.k.a Fast Lens) like f/1.4, f/2.8 etc. Since I know about Canon lenses, I'd recommend a few lenses in this category:

• Canon EF f/1.4 50mm USM (appx. $250 used)
• Canon EF f/2.8 100mm USM MACRO (appx. $350-450 used)
• Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di LD ($250 used)
• Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 IS USM L ($800-900 used)
  
• Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM ($800-900 used)

Some of my portrait pictures taken with a combination of the first 4 lenses above are here.

Canon lens and equipment reviews site.

note: Good quality Lenses in good scratch free condition do not loose their value, so if you buy used you can sell for the same price and not loose any money.

Read my experience with Canon lenses here.

Dont be scared of fixed focal length a.k.a prime lenses. For the money, fixed lenses are very fast, very sharp and very reliable. Use your feet to zoom in and out. Most people freeze when looking through the viewfinder. Please dont. Use your feet to move around, it will reward you immensely.

You can find similar spec lenses in Nikon, Pentax, Leica etc..
Once you have decided on your lens, check what brand of camera it fits on. Canon lenses fit on Canon camera bodies, Nikon on Nikon, Petax on Pentax and so forth.
Let me take the Canon path again, you know why.
For Canon bodies, I'd recommend getting a camera body with a self-cleaning sensor like a Rebel XTi (~$450 used), XSi or a 40D (~$650 used), 50D, if you intend to use more than one lens on the camera and switch lenses quite a lot. If you think you will be using one lens or will be changing lenses occasionally indoors, then you can get away with using a Rebel XT or 30D. Using an older model like Rebel XT(~$350 used) or 30D (~$450 used) can save you a few hundred $$ to invest in a better lens. Main difference between the Rebel line vs the x0D line is that the Rebel line is a consumer grade plastic body whereas the 30D, 40D, 50D have magnesium alloy body. Also, the higher the price/quality of the body, the better the high-ISo performance.

e.g. combinations
30D + Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 ~= $750
40D + Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 ~= $1550
40D + Canon 100mm f/2.8 ~= $1100

I am personally biased towards the Menu and Button system of Canons. I have a Nikon Coolpix E5700 and found that I had to read the Manual in great detail to figure out some functionality. But that maybe just because I am much more familiar with Canon menus and have read many of those over the past few years.

For more detailed comparisons lookup DP Review.

A few things that I know about Pentax & Nikon.
Pentax K10D, k20D has Image Stabilizer built in the body, which makes every lens an image stabilized lens, regardless of its age. In contrast, Canon & Nikon make a whole bunch of money by selling Image Stabilization(IS)/Vibration Reduction(VR) with each lens.
Nikon D40 & D40x that sells in Costco these days for real cheap. In my opinion, these are missing one of the most important features Auto-Exposure bracketing (AEB). You will look for this feature when you will want to do some "insurance-shots" or High Dynamic Range(HDR). We'll explore these terms in a future article.
Also, Nikon just released the D90 which also takes HD video, but you pay for it dearly. With a good lens, you will probably end up around $2K.

At the end of the day, what matters the most is how familiar you are with your camera that you bought and how to use that knowledge in composing the best pictures. So remember, Creative Composition and Knowledge will give the biggest improvements to your photos. Also, I highly recommend you check out the pictures that can be taken with any camera on Flickr.

Also, I recommend you set aside some budget for a good camera bag like the Lowepro Slingshot, a good sturdy tripod for Landscape and low light still shots. You might also want to have spare batteries and at some point get a Battery grip which helps fps of continuous action shots, makes portrait shooting easier and of course gives huge numbers of shots before changing batteries.

Hope this helped without confusing the heck out of you. Until next time...

Dont forget to check my photos on flickr

Labels: Beginner's Guide, Canon, Digital, Nikon, SLR

We all grew up with the knowledge that "Photography is an expensive hobby". In the film photography world, it is more true than in the digital world. The majority of the expense in Film photography came from the recurring cost of each frame shot. Somewhere I read that each frame cost about 22c. So if every time you'd want to click a shot, you'd have to think if it was worth the 22 cents. Now in the digital world most of the cost is up front with getting the Digital camera and the right lenses for it. You dont have to worry about paying for every worthless frame you shoot as an experiment or practice. That is a huge advantage for folks who want to learn to main skill in photography : "Art of Composition".
In 2005 I sold my Nikon N70 Film camera and started with a Canon Rebel XT body, 18-55mm Kit lens and a Canon f/4.5-5.6 75-300mm USM lens. Since I had no technical knowledge about photography, I kept taking mediocre pictures most of the time with a few accidental good ones.
At one point I got frustrated and decided to make good pictures happen by intention and not by accident. Since then I have done many things to improve my photos that I would love to share with everyone.
Let me start by equipment.
I will try to outline my journey from a Film SLR to a Digital SLR to a 20 lb Photo equipment bag.
I read a few guides on eBay (one here) about the right cheap lens upgrades. So I decided to test the waters and see what the lens upgrade from kit lens and cheap zoom lens would do for me. I sold my 18-55mm kit lens ($60 appx. net) and replaced with with a Canon EF 20-35mm USM and 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 USM MACRO. Then I replaced the 75-300mm (sold at appx. $150) with the 100-300mm 4.5-5.6 USM. At this point my Lens expense was at around $700 (-$210 sold lenses). I also wanted to experience the fun ofa prime fast lens. So I got the Canon Ef 50mm f/1.8. I decided to supplement the equipment upgrade with some reading too. i looked online and found 2 complete free books which gave me a headstart.
Digital Photography Top 100 Simplified Tips and Tricks
50 Fast Digital Camera Techniques
Then I made the trip to India with this knowledge and equipment. This resulted in quite a bit of visible improvement. Flickr Albums

Well, after this with a lot of compliments from friends and family, I got addicted to this. Next I started eyeing the "L" line of Canon lenses. So it was time to swap out the 100-300mm with the reasonably priced Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM. It can be had on Craigslist or ebay for around $450-500 in used/mint condition. I found one and took the plunge. The taste of an "L" lens is like tasting fine wine. It is super addictive and I was hooked. Next was to swap out the 20-35mm for the Canon EF 17-40mm USM f/4 L. It sells used for around $500-600. Now I needed to standard range 28-105mm upgrade, but the 28-105mm f/4 L is some $900+ used. So I looked for alternatives and found excellent reviews for the Tamron f/2.8 28-75mm Aspherical Di XR LD MACRO. It usually sells for around $250-300 used. So I was all set for the zooms but the Canon EF f/1.8 is such a thrill to shot with that I wanted to upgrade the 50mm to a fast USM lens. So I sold the f/1.8 and got the EF 50mm f/1.4 USM.
Then one fine day, I thought that the 100mm f/2.8 USM MACRO was pretty cool lens, so I bought that one too. Now I was carrying 5 lenses with me, so I thought of consolidating a few. So decided to part with 3 of my favorite lenses to finance the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM. check out the images with this lens here.
Oh, while I was swapping in and out these lenses, I sold my Rebel XT for a 30D (saved money from 40D). Brand lenses like Canon and Nikon retain their value very well, but electronics like camera bodies dont. So be careful while keeping up with the latest camera bodies.

Thats one side of the story so far. I will post another story about the books that I have read so far. Until next time....

My other photos: Flickr: Photos & Video from StartingOut

Follow-up material:
1. I started with these. Fully accessible online. No need to buy these.
http://www.photoworkshop.com/photo101/fast50
http://www.photoworkshop.com/photo101/simplified

2. I recommend buying the following 3-4 books (used is fine)

http://www.amazon.com/Photography-Art-Seeing-Perception-Workshop/dp/1552636143/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216672645&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Exposure-Photographs-Digital-Updated/dp/0817463003/ref=pd_sim_b_3
http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Photography-Book-Scott-Kelby/dp/032147404X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216517920&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Learning-See-Creatively-Composition-Photography/dp/0817441816/ref=pd_bbs_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216672645&sr=8-6

They are thin books with lots of pictures.

Its been years I've been looking for a DVD player that would output the highest resolution that my trusty old Sony 36XBR450 (which does not have HDMI input) can take, which is 1080i. Comcast cable gave me 1080i why not DVDs? I am reluctant to buy Blu-ray/HD-DVD players because they do not output 1080i/720p through component video. The HDCP standard kind of pulled the rug from underneath the component video input standard, leaving us early HD adopters high and dry. Due to this HDCP standard, no copyrighted DVD can output HD upscaled resolution through Component, only HDMI.

Recently I discovered 2 DVD players that can potentially upconvert standard DVDs to 720p/1080i. One was Helios H4000 (out of the box, upconvert to 1080i through component video) and Oppo DV-970HD (needs a download very easy hack of firmware). The Helios H4000 does not play DVD-A or SACD so I picked the Oppo digital.

I am replacing my Sony DV-NS715P dvd player with this one. This one has everything I could want from a DVd player short of HD/Bluray. I am an AV enthusiast and have about 10K invested in my HT over the past 6 years.

This DVD player can be made to output 720p/1080i through component video and can be made region free using some hacks that you can use your favorite search engine for. And these dont even void the warranty :)

Support staff is very very knowledgeable and friendly and based right here in Mountain View.

The firmware is upgradeable using very simple process and they publish fixes and improvements very regularly.

I love it. I have compared the 480p output vs the 1080i on my Sony XBR 36" HD CRT and its has a very noticeable difference. The upscaling is done really really well.

I love it. I am now set with a DVD player until the HD-DVD/Blu-ray war is over and until the Plasma/LCD TVs are capable of matching the picture quality of a HD CRT set. That will be another 3-5 years maybe.

Hello Friends,
Its been a very very long time since my last post. Been busy and relatively out of inquiries from you folks.
So recently I have been getting a lot of questions about which big screen TV and what audio gear to go with it. So here is a quick summary of tons and tons of online and expensive first hand research.

So you have saved up around $2k +/- for a big screen TV. Now you are looking at Ads and wonder why the heck is a LCD TV more expensive than the Plasma for the same size and how does one LCD brand differ from the other. I am not going to get into details but here are some quick true statements:

• As of this time May 2007, no flat screen TV LCD or PLASMA can compete in picture quality (contrast, sharpness and smoothness) with a conventional hi-def CRT TV. e.g. Sony 36XBR400 etc. This is because of the technology. Downside of CRT, bulk and screen size limitation. So lets get the CRT out of the comparison here.
  

• LCD pixels take too much time to refresh to display fast moving pictures. Plasma does not have refresh rate problems. So fast moving pictures like sports and action movies appear better. The faster the refresh rate, the more expensive it gets.
• Black level of LCD are not that high. So black is not completely black. The blacker the black on the LCD TV the higher the price. Plasma TVs generally have much blacker blacks and bright pictures than LCDs.
• Plasma TVs on the other hand are heavier than LCDs and consume more electricity and generate more heat. Its slowly improving as the technology is getting better.
• Generally Plasma TVs start out big like 48-50" and start getting bigger. LCDs start at really small like Computer monitors and grow bigger as the price goes up. Just a very rough comparison, a 42" Samsung LCD probably costs the same as a 50" Panasonic plasma.
• LCD TVs act as computer monitors very well. 1080p LCD Tvs can display 1980X1080 resolution computer. Currently 1080p Plasmas are way outside the $2k budget range. And frankly, LCD needs higher resolutions like 1080p because it does not display lower resolutions very well. e.g. ever tried stretching a low res online video to bigger size? You see all the big pixels, thats how LCD shows low res picture. Plasma TVs displays lower res much better.

Here is a quick comparison between TV resolution in terms of computer resolution:
480i/480p - 640X480
720p - 1280 X 720
1080i/1080p - 1920X1080

Layman's term: p for progressive is better and more expensive than i for interlaced. Easy way to remember, p is much later in the alphabet so its greater.

Some quick brand checks:
LCD: Sony Bravia, Sharp Aquos, Samsung, Bang for the buck - Westinghouse.
Plasma: Pioneer ($$Elite$$), Panasonic, bang for the buck-Vizio(getting good reviews).

Some concerns with Plasma:

• Screen burn-in. Used to be a problem in early Plasma's when static picture was left on, but most TV's now come with screensavers and also technologies liek pixel shift to prevent burn-in.
• Plasma's contrast life. Not so much of a problem. A plasma will get down to half its contrast in some 10-15 yrs. By then you will be ready for the next gen TVs.

Another great article comparing LCD to Plasma. http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6463_7-5023901-3.html

Now that you got a Big TV what about Sound?

Do not skimp on sound when you spent a fortune on Video. Evenly divide your budget in sound and video. Preferably, stay away from Tv models that boast BIG speaker features and Tuner etc. Lets face it, you'll always have a separate sound system and you'll always have a Sat/Cable TV receiver. So look at professional models that are barebones also called "Monitor".

If you have spent $2k on TV spend at least $1500-2000 on sound system. It a whole new topic, but check out Magnolia Hi-Fi or even some other audio specialty local stores.
Quick definitions:
Receiver = Pre-Amp/pre-processor + Amplifier
A receiver receives al the signals from your components and outputs the amplified signals to your speakers and Monitor/TV. Pre-Amp/Pre-Processor does the electronic processing of the signals and amplifier only amplifies.

Subwoofer plays the low frequencies like Cello, Drums, explosions, earthquakes etc. It also gives depth to any stereo music you listen to.

Center channel speaker is for dialogues in movies and TV.

Surround speakers are for rare movie effects like door knocks, phone rings or bullets whizzing. Don't spend a fortune on these.

Some brands that you cant go wrong with (not listing very high-end brands):
Amplifiers/pre-Amps: Rotel, Sunfire
Receiver: Marantz, Sunfire, Rotel
Speakers: B&W, Martin Logan, Paradigm. Monitor Audio
Subwoofer: Sunfire, Velodyne, REL

You can save a Ton of money on audio equipment by buying used from sites like www.eBay.com and www.audiogon.com Audio equipment usually doesn't get old or wear out like TVs or cars so you can literally save 50% and up if you get the right equipment used. For example, You can get a Marantz 125WX7 channel Receiver SR8500 (Refurb from authorzied reseller www.accessories4less.com) for ~$700 or 105WX7 SR7500 for ~$550. And you can get a Pair of floorstanding speakers Used in very good condition for $1000-1300 (matching/blending surround and center channel can be added for $800-1000 total). There is a huge difference between a Home theatre in a Box receiver saying 100WX7 (some lies and number fudging) and a audiophile receiver saying 105WX7 so be careful. For almost all Music and most HT uses the good front channels are sufficient to fill the room.

And last but not the least, Speaker cables and audio video interconnects. Your setup is only as good as the weakest link. So don't skimp on cables. Rule of thumb: Spend at least 10% of audio equipment on audio cables and 10% of TV price on video cables. Good cables make a huge difference. So if your AV system cost $4000 spend at least $400 on cables. Look on eBay and audiogon for used cables at very low prices. They do not wear out so used is as good as new.

And hey, this final piece of equipment is not even optional. Its mandatory. A good quality surge protector/Power conditioner like Monster HTS800/950/1000/2600/3600/5100 or Belkin PF40/50/60 or Panamax 4300/5100/5300. These protect all the money you put in the AV setup and also cleans the AC power of noise for better audio and video performance and life. All of them come with $100000+ connected equipment warranty (if bought from authorized dealer). Good insurance.

Audio Video is a huge huge topic. This was just a primer and appetizer. Maybe I'll post more based on further inquiries by you folks.
DISCLAIMER: DO NOT GO OUT AND BUY SOMETHING JUST BECAUSE I MENTIONED IT HERE. READ REVIEWS CAREFULLY, WATCH/LISTEN, SHOP AND THEN BUY. AND DONT BLAME ME.

Labels: LCD Plasma TV Hi-fi Audio Power conditioner Surge protector

The Protect America's contract agreement states that you have to notify them in writing via USPS mail or certified mail at least 60 days before the end of 2/3 yr. contract term, OTHERWISE they will automatically renew it for one year at the same rate of $29.95/$34.95.
I know its a legal SCAM but its still a SCAM banking on people's 2/3 yr. long term memory.

SO IF YOU ARE THINKING OF SIGNING UP WITH PROTECT AMERICA OR ARE ALREADY A CUSTOMER, MAIL YOUR CANCELLATION NOTICE (with end of contract date) to:

Protect America Inc.
5100 N IH-35 Suite B,
Round Rock, TX 78681.

Also check: http://www.centraltx.bbb.org/commonreport.html?bid=44024&language=1

Monitoring only services are available at $8.95/mos. from websites like http://monitoring.homesecuritystore.com/

I found out the hard way, you shouldnt have to.

My personal experience. the guy's name is John. The shop is Honda Acura of Campbell on hwy-17 exit of San Tomas. He recently opened his own shop after working at various dealers for 15 yrs.. Very honest and nice clean job.
I got my 4 struts replaced; I bought the parts from ebay and he put them in for his labor charge. He did not complain one bit.
Also, I got the rear brake job done at an extremely reasonable price. The price was so good that it made it not-worth for me to do it myself.

Very trustworthy guy. I found him through referral from the motorcycle forum.

Feel free to email me topics that you want to know more about. I will make sure your needs are met here.

. Destinator GPS software review

. Home loan terms and meanings

. More Car maintenance tips

. Buying Double pane windows from Allbrand windows

. Which Refrigerator to buy for your new house

. The Strut bar installed on my Accord. Pictures

. Extremely simple and inexpensive mod for better handling of your passenger car

. Why do you pay so much money to your real estate agent?

. Collision vs Comprehensive Insurance

. Home security system that I have. For your shopping reference

. Where do you buy Car insurance?

. Change your Thermostat. Save money

. My Favorite restaurants in the South Bay

. Closing costs for home loan

. How to avoid getting traffic ticket in California..

. GPS Hardware and software comparison. Which one to Buy?

. Reliable BMW service center

· Where do you buy your books?

· Making a deck. Simple

· My Virtual car racing cockpit, I designed 4 yrs. ago.

· To Buy or Build a PC

· Entry into the world of motorcycle riding

· How is monthly payment calculated on a Principal & Interest Loan?

· Which console to buy? Playstation 2, XBOX or other

· Traffic ticket: To fight or not to fight

· Home Security System. Which one?

· Buygpsnow.com update.

· PDA/GPS best online store

· How to sell on ebay

· Best Crepes I've ever eaten

· Gran Turismo 4 on PS2 and my Red Logitech MOMO wheel

· If you want to get a puppy.

· Home buying basic answers

· Laminate and hardwood floors

· Car maintenance tip

· GPS for PDA research

· Commute Traffic View Real-time

· Travel search web-sites

· Money-saving car-tip for today.

· Welcome to the Daily Advisor

First of all, EVERYONE should have a GPS system, rather Every loving husband/boyfriend should buy their wife/girlfriend a GPS. If you have that PDA that you bought some time back and played with it for a few days and never used it again, put it to good use by turning it into a GPS system. (If you dont have a PDA, you can easily get a Dell Axim with Bluetooth and 80211b wireless for under $200 if you try some coupons etc. through www.deals2buy.com ) You can convert a PDA into GPS within $200 including receiver, software, car mounting kit and shipping. This low price is only if you don't mind some visible wires on the dash of your car. Here are some examples with some of the well known GPS softwares.
1. Destinator Bundle (software reviewed here) rating 90% since the roundabout problem is not relevant in version 3.0.75
2. TomTom bundle for PocketPC or Palm (software reviewed here) rating 86%
3. OnCourse Navigator bundle ( software reviewed here) rating 88%

Of course you can pay some $20-30 more to get rid of those dangling wires by going either CompactFlash or bluetooth route. HAiCOM has made some really cool modular receivers which can be used in wired, CF or bluetooth mode. Read about it here

So now let me write about my complaints for Destinator, since I am using it personally everyday. Don't get me wrong, it is a great software just like the reviews say and it has never got me lost or misdirected.

1. One of the first that comes to mind is U-turn. Although it knows about u-turns, if the divider of the road is too wide like for a lite-rail or just trees, it wants you to make "left turn followed by left turn".

2. Once is a while the voice and the map do not agree with each other. The map shows, I have to go straight and turn right, whereas the voice told me turn left. This has happened to me only once on John Daly Blvd. in Daly City.

3. One of my requirements was to be able to record a route traveled and then upload it to the PC and be able to view them, analyze them etc.. Although its not needed for everybody, its just a cool thing to have. The only software that does that is Garmin's MapSource City Select. But this software only works on PalmOS, and I'm not sure if they sell the software separately who do not have iQue.

4. Destinator Community. There is no Destinator Community in North America. There certainly is a website for them but no members. Its dry. There is a way to update the points of interest using POIEdit & POISync.

5. Destinator doesn't work too well with my receiver in the CF mode. Every time I turn it off, and turn it on again, Destinator finds the com port busy. So I have to disconnect the expansion pack and the receiver and plug them in one by one and keep trying to "Set GPS" in Destinator's GPS settings screen. Very annoying. This does not happen at all when using it in the serial mouse mode or the bluetooth mode.

6. It has a "avoid roads" feature but, it does not let you avoid a portion of the road. e.g. if you want to avoid a section of the Highway that has a traffic jam. To get around this, you should first take the detour away from traffic and then let Destinator keep re-routing to your destination.

7. It does not tell you ahead of time which side of the road your destination will be. Once you get there, it shows on the map e.g. #1155 of left side, #1156 on the right side. But you can be assured that if you needed to make a U-turn to get to your destination on the other side of the road, D3 would have made you do that before it would say "You have arrived at your destination.".

Finally, no overall complaints about getting me from point A to point B to point C. It wont get you lost unlike some other softwares out there.

I am just pointing out the annoyances of Destinator since that is the software I am using after scouring through pages and pages of software reviews. Another software I'd like to try would be CoPilot Live 5. It has raving reviews everywhere but it costs twice the price of all the above softwares mentioned.

I wanted 3 things from my GPS system.

• Portability from one vehicle to next including my motorcycle. (Solved)
  
• Ability to pick addresses from Outlook contacts. (Supported by D3)
  
• Ability to record the traveled route and print it out as JPEGs. (Not supported by D3). They could easily add it, I guess. It already lets you record and playback on the PDA itself.
  

ARM, points, closing costs, negative points, zero closing costs, balloon payments, PMI etc.... As if life was not complicated enough before hearing all these terms. You can do google search on these terms and go through pages and pages of explanation. Let me just summarize the info for you.

ARM = Adjustable rate mortgage. e.g 3/1, 5/1, 7/1. The first number is the number of years the rate is going to be fixed for you. The second number represents the interval at which you rate will be revised. If your 5/1 ARM rate is 5.5% that means, you will pay 5.5% interest for 5 years. At the end of 5 years you rate will be revised based on the economic conditions and will keep getting revised at a yearly interval after that. i.e. if you do not sell or refinance before that.

Fixed rate: 15 yr, 20 yr. 30 yr. fixed. These rates are usually higher than the ARM because the lender is saying that "I will absorb the rise and fall of economy for the next 30 yrs. for you, in lieu of a small increase in the interest rate." So you have a fixed interest rate forever.

Typically, people in America live in the same house for an average of 5 years. People either sell, upgrade, move, downgrade etc. for various reasons. That is why paying higher interest rates for a virtual security does not make much sense. Whay pay high rates for 30 yr. fixed if you know that you are either gonna refi. or sell in the next 5-7 yrs.. Rule of thumb says, 5/1 ARM is a safe bet because, 3/1 is too aggressive or risky and 7/1 is too safe. Also, they say, plan to live in the same house for at least 5 years. This way you can usually ride out the lows in the market if any.

You can read further on various websites. www.bankrate.com is quite useful. Here is another nice link.

There is also something called balloon payment. Which means they give you a lower rate based on the assumption that at the end of the period you will make a big payment to pay off the remaining balance. Thats a whole new story.

As for points, let me put it in simple words. You buy down your interest rates. One point is equal to 1% of the loan value. So if you pay point you are paying the lender that much money up front, so that they give you a lower rate overall. Its a math game. All you have to figure out is how long do you think you will keep the loan. Do you think you will be able to recover the cost of paying up front through the difference in monthly payments? One thing to note is, points are tax deductible, whereas most other closing costs are not.
Negative points or zero closing cost loans are the reverse concept. They will give you money back, either in the form of cash or credit towards closing costs, in lieu of higher interest rate. Its all about, who want to take more risk.

Pre-payment penalty. Some loans come with a PPP. This means, that the lender had expected a certain amount of income from you over a period of time. If you pay off the loan too early, the lender is offended and wants you to pay a penalty. Avoid it like the plague. Well.. maybe sometimes you just cant avoid it. The offer might be too lucrative to pass. Also beware, even no PPP loans have a hidden clause for 3/4 mos. PPP, which seams reasonable to me. Its basically saying that "Hey we did all this up front work in expectation of interest income from you and now you are ditching me within 3 mos. for another lender?"

Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI): Lenders want you to insure the loan if the down-payment is less than 20%. But look theres a loophole as big as the Pacific ocean. Usually the second loan in the form of secured credit (credit card like HELOC or 2nd mortgage) takes care of that 20% clause, so you dont have to worry about the PMI. And after you close your loan dont forget to regularly trash those junk mail asking you to buy PMI.

This article is already too long... Let me wrap up quickly..
The biggest chunk of closing costs for a loan is the title insurance. In my personal opinion title insurance is one of the biggest legal scam that is going on right now. It is a way for the title company to gouge money from you. They say, its an insurance against any problems with the title of the house. Well, in that case it should really go with the house... But no it goes and stays with the lender, I think and this fee has to be paid fresh every time you finance/refinance the house.

Until next time....

I have received quite a few requests to talk about regular car maintenance. So here you go..

Part 1:
1. Do oil changes regularly. every 3000 miles or 3 months whichever comes first. Pick the cheapest option of oil and filter every time. Some places as low as $10. Frequent cheap oil changes are much healthier for your car than using premium synthetic oil once in 6000+ miles. Its like eating at an expensive restaurant every weekend and starving on weekdays. Eating healthy food everyday is better, right? And "all Oil filters are creted equal(inside)" with paper. They all have paper filters inside. What makes the difference in cost is the box, the color, the grip type and brand name. My auto teacher showed us the insides of 3 differently priced filters, all made up of the same paper filter inside.

2. Do not pay extra for the "Top off all fluids" service. That is simply throwing away money and buying headache in the long run. Topping off Fluids like windshield wiper fluid is fine, but brake fluid, coolant, oil? BAD. Why?

• Low coolant means there is a leak in the cooling system. Coolant only circulated in a sealed circuit inside the engine. If it get low, you have aproblem. By topping it off you are hiding the symptom.
• Low brake fluid means, some or all of your brake pads/rotors need to be checked for proper thickness and replaced if necessary. Topping it off means, hiding the symptom.
• Low oil means, engine is burning or leaking oil somehow. Again, hiding symptom.

When would you keep topping off coolant & oil? When you know that your car leaks coolant and/or oil and you just want to run the car everyday and it is simply not worth it to fix the problem. Sometimes, oil/coolant leaks fixes can mean huge overhaul. At that point its simply not worth it. At that point, either keep gallon cans of coolant-water mix and/or oil in the trunk and fill as and when needed. When the car wont run anymore, just walk away... or donate it to get some tax break. Coolant cools and oil lubricates the engine. As long as you always have enough in the engine to go around, you will be fine... assuming they are leaks and not floods.

Part 2:
30K, 60K etc. maintenance. Highly recommended but be smart about it. Check your owner's manual or manufacturer website for the details of these services. e.g. I have signed up at the Honda Owner's link, where I get a ful list of things that need to done at each service. Most of these include:
1. Oil & Filter change
2. Air filter replacement if necessary
3. Spark plug replacement if necessary
4. Check this, check that..e.g. battery load test, brake wear, tire rotation, tire wear...

Air filter replacement is really easy. Most of the cars' air filters are easily accessed by undoing 4 clips. A filter costs less than $5.
Spark plug replacement is really easy and worth it. I bought Bosch split fire platinum +4 plugs for $6 each. And I noticed my engine starting crank reduced to 2 rotations. Layman's terms "eeehk eeekh vrooom.. thats it." To replace the spark plugs all you need is a spark plug socket, and extender and a ratchet. Ratchet is usually part of all basic toolkits. The spark plug socket & extender should not cost you more than $15 together.

The more you can get done separately, the more you can save in the full service. I always found itemizing to be cheaper, if you want to go through the time and effort. If you dont care, just take the car to dealer and let them do their crappy service for the premium price.

Major services like Timing belt (along with coolant pump) are extremely important. Get it done at a reliable shop.

Bye bye...Until next time.

Drive Safe. Drive Smart.

DISCLAIMER: This is a true story. I have all the paperwork related to each incident described below. It is not meant to defame any business or entity, but it is meant to be an informative article for consumers.

This is how the story goes...

We all get the ad in the mail about Polybau double pane windows with 50% discount and all the frills. We needed double pane windows for our 43 yr. old house that we were about to move into. So we shopped around. We found the best price for Polybau windows with lifetime warranty on parts and service with Allbrand windows. This is a company that has more than 7 branches all over california. Everything seemed great. We signed a contract for 11 doors and windows. We made a deposit of 10% and the estimated time was set for about 4 weeks at around Sep' 14th 2004. Awesome.

On around sep 6th, I received a call from "Window Service center" that they would like to schedule and installation appointment. We set it for sep. 17th, 9 a.m- 11 a.m. Wife took the day off work. 10:40 a.m no show. I call the "Window service center" and they said, "Its not 11 yet." Anyway, the installers showed up at around noon. Half way during the installation they told my wife that they did not have all the windows today, neither they have any wood to do the cut-downs, nor they have any caulking to seal the windows they had already installed. So they left with some incomplete installations and 2 windows in the garage.
That was the beginning of my long journey towards fulfilling our dream of having nice new windows and doors in our new old house.
So I began to make trips and phone calls to the Sunnyvale showroom. The salespeople there were extremely polite and started making calls to the installation center on my behalf. It seemed that the Polybau factory had moved from Hayward to Tracy to a bigger facility. So my remaining windows were delayed. But I asked them to get the installers to come back and install the ones that were lying in my garage. Fine. Another appointment was set for a saturday. Great. Saturday morning comes and goes. Another No show.
More phone calls and more visits. Now, I started to look into their license history (I know, I should have done my detail homework before signing) at California State License Board and found that their license was bound for suspension due to lack of qualifier on October 4th 2004. Now I confronted everyone at Allbrand all the way up to the CEO. Everyone assured me that the license was being taken care of at that moment. Apparently, all the paperwork for the replacement of qualifier was in and the CSLB had just not updated their database. During my research of their background, I found weird connections between "The Window Broker" window company which had really bad BBB report and Allbrand. The more I dug the more hairy it got. Suffice it to say that I didnt get a very good feeling and just wanted this ordeal to get over. Meanwhile we had put off unpacking all our stuff in anticipation of the window installation and the construction debris.
Their license got suspended. I talked to people at the CSLB, who gave me detailed info about the previous citations against them. Now, I got really scared. I filed complaints with the BBB and with CSLB. I took pictures of the installations and send a full report to CSLB. A very nice lady at the CSLB complaints department called me and assured me that she will issue warnings to the contractor (Allbrand) and asked me to get the job completed by someone else since their license was in suspension. So I started getting quotes from different contractors.
In the meantime, I get a call from the "Window Service Center" to schedule installation appointments. I said, "Fine." I specifically asked for a more sincere and proficient crew than the previous one. It was another saturday and this time the installation crew showed up. I checked the license for Allbrand windows in front of those installers and told them that I would not allow them to work on the house as the license of the contractor was under suspension. So they went back where they came from.
Next week I get another call from "Window Service Center" that they have the license and everything in order and they want to finish the installation. I checked and it was true. Their license was reinstated with a new qualifier. Great. So over the next 3 weekends, these new installer crew worked hard and finished all the installation to our satisfaction. The crew-members were Alfredo, Ricardo and Ricardo. Very nice guys. The date of the final installtion was Nov. 16 2004. I will not make the story any longer by detailing the "wrong grid designs" episode.
Now I started getting calls from their collection department for payment. I told them clearly that it was written on the contract that the balance would be paid in 3 equal monthly installments in a "90 days same as cash" plan. Another 10 phone calls later, they agreed and understood that they would get paid exactly the way it was on the contract.
I understood in a very very painful way that this whole organization was in a mess. The "Window service center" is a mysterious entity which (mis)handles coordination between orders, installers and payment. They also service "The Window Broker".
Finally everything was sorted out. It was a great learning experience for a new home-owner. I learnt:

• Do your homework BEFORE signing contracts.
• DO NOT pick the contract with the cheapest quote.
• Polybau windows are great.
• BBB's complaint resolution is crappy. They sent me a letter saying that they had received a response from the company that work was underway and if I wanted to pursue the matter further, I should complain to the CSLB. The case was assumed resolved. So much for the BBB ratings. Its all meaningless.
• You need a lot of energy and time to sort things out with a contractor.

Now for the good things. Here are some pictures of the final installation.


Before



After



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After


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After

Frankly, I have NO idea. But here are a few pointers.
1. The wife likes it. This will save you a lot of trouble in the long run.
2. It matches with the rest of the kitchen according to the wife. I asked a salesman, what features I should look for in a fridge and what makes the prices so different. He replied, "Its mainly the looks."
3. It should be Energy Star. Almost all new decent ones are. PG&E or your local utility company offers you a rebate sometimes.
4. Its one of the trusted brands in terms of quality. You know which these are. If you go to Sears, 95% chances are you will be sold a Kenmore. According to them Kenmore is always the best. I hated that sales pitch. So I got a GE from Fry's.
5. The size is the largest one that can fit nicely in your kitchen. Not much to worry about here. Fridge space is like clothes hangers, you can never have too much of it.

And remember, dont forget to haggle with the sales guy, even at the biggest chains like Sears, Fry's, Western Appliances, Meyer etc.. e.g. We got a price of $1260 on a $1900 gas range(new line, not the discontinued model), because Sears Sales guy wanted to match and beat Meyer's price quote of $1471.

The shiny aluminum alloy bar keep the front chassis stiff against G-forces.








Its just these 5 nuts. Dont worry, nothing will fall off when you remove these nuts during installation. The weight of the car is pushing the strut up. DO NOT JACK UP THE CAR FOR THIS INSTALLATION. Most Suspension nuts are tightened with all four wheels on the ground, i.e. loaded.

COMING SOON!!

If you have a regular passenger car like Civic, Accord, Camry, Corolla, Altima etc., you can install a Upper Front Strut Bar and make a noticeable difference (even the wife noticed it) in the handling. This trick is one of the oldest for all those Rice-boy cars you see on the streets. But you dont have to look or sound like them to squeeze a little better handling from your car.

The cost of the mod: $24.02 from ebay.
Time to install: 30 mins.
Tools required: 2 wrenches
Skill level required: Novice
No Jack required.

A strut bar is a stiff metal bar that connects two fron or two rear struts on a car to prevent the chassis from twisting under G-forces in turns. I had asked my auto teacher if they really work like you read online and he confirmed. They are good things to have.

So I bid on this strut bar on ebay for 99 cents and got it shipped for $24. To install all I had to do was to remove 5 nuts from the top of each front strut and put in the bracket and tighten the nuts back in to the torque spec. These are accessible from under the hood. No need to get under the car or jack up the car. I will post pictures soon. There is absolutely no downside to this modification. Actually it is not a modification, its just addition. It strengthens the chassis of the car. More expensive cars come with the whole strut bars sets installed from the factory. This is one of the reasons you get that "tight" feeling on those expensive cars.

It is totally worth that $24.

Here are some pics & instructions for reference. Just read the 4 bulleted steps before "What is camber?".

Thanks to all of you who are using the links on my banners to go to vendors like ebay, overstock, amazon etc..

Feel free to email me topics that you want to know more about. I will make sure your needs are met here.

From a home buyer's perspective, 3% of the sale price is quite a bit of money to be paying the buying agent (all commissions come from Buyer's pocket anyways, read earlier post). So why should you have a very good buying agent, rather than doing the job yourself or getting a discount agent?

Nowadays every Tom, Dick and Harry holds a Realtor license and they all know how to process the paperwork. What you pay for is the experience, contacts and trust. A realtor is like a lawyer (in some states they are real lawyers) who defends you in a court case. In a home buying case you are entrusting them with hundreds of thousands of $$$ purchase. Here you need someone whom you can trust with your eyes closed.

Finding a house you like is extremely easy these days with the internet search tools and virtual tours and GPS systems. You do not need a realtor for that. You need an agent for the countdown that starts form placing the bid to getting accepted to the closing of the house till you get your keys. Or if your bid does not get accepted, tells you, "Dont worry. There will be another." and not, "You should really raise your bid some more if you want this house."

The day you put down that 3% deposit with the bid and it gets accepted is when the sleepless nights start. You think, "What if ... what if ...what if ....". Then you think, "Hey I have this really good and experienced Realtor working for me. She/He will take care of everything." So you start getting your sleep back. Imagine what would go through your mind if you picked a discount fee agent. You'd think."Is he/she doing something funky behind my back to make up for the lost commission?" A little mistrust can lead to a lot of stress.

We went around with 2 discount/inexperienced agents (one from Century 21 and the other from REMAX. Nothing against the companies.) before we found a really good one (actually she's the best) through a friend's referral. Actually, going around with the previous agents gave us a reference point and we realized what we were missing. During this process I also read a lot about why's and how's of real-estate agents. One article said, that you should really shop for the best realtor before shopping for a house. Interview the agent thoroughly because you will be hiring that agent. You should really feel very very comfortable with him/her. You should be able to ask any question regardingthe house or the home buying process or home improvement or fixing and find satisfactory answers. You should feel confident that he/she will be able to protect you from greedy sellers/selling agents.

And then once you own the house you should be able to answer 2 questions honestly.

• Who can I call without thinking twice if I have any house-related question or problem?
• Who would you use for a Realtor if you have to sell the house in the future or buy another?

Right answer to both the questions should be "your realtor's name".

I call my realtor anytime I have any random question about my house or someone else's house. Or when I need some landscape ideas or lighting suggestions or some brand or contractor reference. I used to call her during my 3 month ordeal with the window replacement contractor (I will talk about this another day). And it is good to know/feel that if I have to sell my house in a hurry, she will be there to help us out.

Good luck in your home search. Hope this article will help some of you.
In case you want to know who my Realtor is, send me an email.

A very good article here

Comprehensive e.g. theft, Vandalism, baseball falling on the car, rock through a windshield, landslide, fire, etc..

Collision e.g. You hit something or somebody, Some idiot hits you in the parking lot and runs away, shopping card dings, door to car dings.

So moral of the story: Hit'n'run is under "Collision" but no-fault. So collision deductible kicks in but insurance premium doesnt go up, since it was not your fault. If you discover a big dent on your car after you come back from a restaurant, tell the truth to the insurance claim agent, that you "dont know who made that dent and how." The insurance adjuster will figure that out after the analysis.

I have the PeaceKeeper System from ProtectAmerica. When I signed the 2yr. contract with them last year, I got the Gold Package with 15 sensors, 1 Master control station (of course), 1 Additional wireless voice keypad, and all sensors upgraded to micro-contacts.

One of the reasons I picked this option is that I prefer to stop intruders outside the house with door/window sensors rather than detect them once they are inside with a motion sensor. If you buy a $200-250 system from Home Security Store then you usually get 2-3 sensors and one motion sensor with the kit. Each additional sensor is around $35 unless you find a deal on ebay. So if you want to buy 15 sensors separately, it would cost an additional $525 up front. So I just chose to pay it over time through the contract. Motion sensors are good to have as an addition when you are away from the house.

If I had gotten the equivalent from the Home Security Store, over 2 years I'd pay:

$225 (2 sensors + motion detector + master console) + $455 (13 sensors) - $79 (motion sensor) + $99 (keypad) + 214.8 (2 yr. of $8.95 service) = $914.8

With ProtectAmerica Gold package with 2 yr. contract: $149 + $838.8(2 yr. service) = $987.8 (-$100 if you split the referral bonus with me or any of your friends who is already a customer) = $887.8

Not much difference.

The best part about the PA system is they are open ended. They DO NOT fuss about you going and buying additional components on ebay (use the link on my site to search ebay) or something and adding to the system. I bought two additional GE keyfobs and added them to my system. You just have to call them and program them in. Very simple. You can also buy motion sensor, fire and CO detectors, Glass break sensors separately and augment your system. Just ask ebay.

In case you are looking for the cheapest possible option thats available and still protects your house, this is it.

If you are a Costco member try the Costco American Express Insurance service. I have them for past 2 yrs. and no one has been able to beat that since then(I shopped after every 6-month term for 3 terms) . Even while getting my Home Insurance from Farmers, they couldnt beat my Car insurance price even after combining it with my Home ins..

Also, raise your Collision deductible to $1000 and reduce your Comp. deductible to $250. This means that you pay higher deduc., for incidents under your control (at-fault accidents) and you pay less for out-of-your-control incidents(tree faling, vandalism, hit-n-run, etc.). Also, the extra $500 (compared with a $500 ded.) you pay in case of an unfortunate at-fault incident, you probably already saved up on the premiums over a period of one year(assuming 2 cars, full coverage). Trust me, raising the collision deductibel makes a big difference on the premium.

Do you live in an old house that has a 20+ yr. old thermostat? I used to have one of those old round thermostats.
My monthly gas heating bill used to run to around $100. It was mainly because the heater would be running all day when we were not even home.
Then I installed a programmable RiteTemp thermostat from Home Depot for $41. It is extremely easy to install. Just 2 screws and 3 wires. It has 4 time-slots for each of the 7 days plus a special day. It comes pre-programmed with defualt settings. I just adjusted the timings and temps. to our schedule and liking.
First half month, it was in action, it dropped my bill by about $30.
Then last month, my gas heating bill was some $30. It was partly because of the weather but a lot of it was also due to the thermostat. It does not let the heater run unnecessarily.

Good investment.

These are some of my personal favorites. Feel free to add good ones to the list.

• Amber India (Mountain View) : Wine & Dine place. Excellent food with excellent service
  
• Turmerik (Sunnyvale Downtown) : Same as above.
  
• Shalimar (Fremont or San Francisco) : for tasty non-veg. food for unbelievable prices. Forget the decor or service. Just stuff youself. Still its around $10-15 per person.
  
• Amarin Thai (Mtn View. or Sunnyvale Downtown) : The one on Castro street gets so crowded on weekends that the quality of cooking gets low. We go to Sunnyvale downtown on weekends.
  
• Kabab & Curry's (Santa Clara): Almost same as Shalimar. Better sitting and noise situation than Shalimar.
  
• Banana Leaf (Milpitas): Malaysian/Singaporean food. Yummy. Always crowded.
  
• Macaroni Grill (Milpitas): One of the Italian places we prefer to go. So far I havent been able to order something that I didnt like.
  
• Amber India (Santana Row): Same tasty food as the Mtn. view one, except I dont like the service.
• Dish-Dash (Sunnyvale downtown): Mediterranean cuisine. Excellent food.
• One Szhechuan chinese place in Union city. Cant remember the name. Will update later.
• Saravana Bhawan (Sunnyvale): For good vegetarian Indian food.
  

I recently got this question. Which costs are considered closing costs and do you still have to pay something out of pocket in a zero closing cost loan?

Well the major components of loan closing costs are:

• Title insurance. about 0.15% of the cost of the house
• Broker fee (0-$800 depending on broker)
• Appraisal fee (about $250-300)
• credit report fee
• Recording fee
• wire transfer fee
• etc..

In a zero closing cost loan, what actually happens is that you pay a higher interest rate for the loan. The lender shows their gratitude towards the broker by sending them a higher commission than a regular loan. Out of this higher commission, the broker credits you back the entire closing cost. So it turns out to be a zero closing cost loan. Zero cost loans are also sometimes interpreted as negative points loans.
So when you see the title company's closing statement for the transaction, you will see all the above mentioned fees on the charge column and then see an equivalent amount credited to the account from you broker shown as "Credit from Foobar Financial".

I tend to keep my answers short. You can research all the terms online at various websites, if you want to.

Let me share my thoughts on traffic tickets based on first-hand experience. I have been pulled over many times out of which I was let go with warnings many times and the ones that I wasnt let go, I was given a big break on the written speed. Out of these, I took traffic schools online for most of them and have managed to keep my record clean for insurance purposes. In most of the cases, the LEO agreed that I was not endangering others' lives, but I was breaking traffic laws and that he had to do his job. The tips I am outlining here are not to encourage violating traffic laws but to avoid getting singled out when everyone around you is doing the same thing e.g. going 75-80 mph on most Bay Area freeways with the flow of traffic. Most Bay Area freeways posted speed limit is 65MPH but usual speeds are between 70-80mph depending on traffic.

So the first trick is to not get caught. I have noticed that cops here in the Nor cal area are generally tolerant and do not bother people if the general flow of traffic is 10-15 even 19 mph over the limit (I'm talking highways & freeways not residential). If you do stupid things to attract attention, then chances are very high that you will get caught. Things to attract attention are, changing lanes rapidly, driving alone on the extreme left lane and driving 20-25+ over limit, having stupid racing stickers and/or loud exhausts and/or heavily modded body panels compromising road safety. In case of motorcycles, these include full race plastics, no turn signals, hidden license plates, extremely small or no mirrors etc.

If you have still managed to get pulled over, most of these things will score points with the officer:
1. Pull over as fast as you can to show respect.
2. DO NOT imply that the officer is lying by saying "I was not speeding." Usually they ask, "Do you know how fast you were going?" DO NOT answer that. Ask politely, if you were really going that fast. On the motorcycle, I usually say, "I was too focussed on the road and traffic and potholes etc., so I havent checked ny speedometer for the past few minutes and there was no traffic around for speed reference." If you are in the car with kids in the back, never say, "I was too distracted by the kids in the back." or "I had to get up too early in the morning to get the kids ready to take them to school." These show that you were not focussed on driving.
3. On the motorcycle, after pulling over, immediately turn off the ignition, dismount, take off gloves and helmet. This assures the LEO that you are not going to take off.
4. If you are in the car, turn of ignition and put your hand on the wheel and roll down the window.
5. Address the LEO as "Officer".
6. Always have your papers in order.
7. Finally, a clean record helps and you can ask for a "warning" and ask him, "Can you let it slide this time, Officer?".

With all this chances are you will either be let go, or get a speed break on the ticket.

Drive safe with eyes on the road and both the hands on the car controls.

I am mainly talking about GPS hardware and software to convert your (mostly useless) PDA to an useful GPS system.
There are tons of reviews sites online but here are a few links that summarize some hardware and software comparisons.
Hardware:

• Bluetooth GPS receivers
• Serial Receivers
• CompactFlash GPS Receivers: Couldnt find a tabular comparison, but I use the HAiCOM 303S with the SiRF XTrac v2 which gets a fix even in forests or multi-deck bridges or urban canyons or somewhere where is not enough visible sky. I also have the BT-401 bluetooth slipper which converts the CF GPS into a bluetooth receiver. This reciever also comes with a serial cable which lets you use this as a mouse GPS. so its a 3-in-1 receiver type. Here is the bundle I got.
  

Street routing software
A street-routing software round-up

I spent hours and hours reading reviews. I hope you dont have to.

I found this shop about 6 years ago and have never gone to anyone else, ever. They are called German Motors Specialist. They only work on BMW's and provide exactly the same (actually much better) level of service like the dealerships. They always use OEM parts and always work to factory specs.
They also charge discounted rates for the parts and you come out much more satisfied than if you had gone to a dealer. I used to go to the dealer for my under warranty service and scheduled maintenance. I used to hate waiting in their lounge for 45mins.-1 hr. even after getting an appointment. I hate the "I don't care" attitude of the service personnel... well at least at the Mtn. View center 4 years ago. That may have changed but I dont care to find out.
At German Motors Specialist, I cant remember how many times I have been sent back home saying that "You dont need to worry about it now." Or I have been told "This is a oncoming preventive maintenance, get it done now to save cost later." Initially, I used to get second opinion, but I dont do that anymore. Saeed, Brian and Kourush (no longer with German Motors Specialist) always explain whats going on and always have that "nothing to hide" face.
About 3 yrs. ago, on an oil service, they told me that there is oil leaking from the oil filter housing. At that time it was covered under warranty, so I took the car to BMW of mountain view. They looked at it and said it nothing. Probably the oil chager guy didnt tighten the cap correctly. They wiped the oil up and sent me home. At my next service at German Motors Specialist, Saeed again told me the same thing. "Oil leaking from the oil filter housing." I asked him to confirm and told him about my visit to the dealer. He said he is 100% sure. I went back to the dealer service center and challenged them. They initially told me that they would diagnose and if it turns out that it is not a covered defect they would charge $350 for the diagnosis. I bit the bullet and placing my trust on German Motors Specialist, accepted the dealer's challenge. Later in the afternoon, the dealer service guy calls and says, "We found the leak and we will fix it. It is covered under the extended warranty. It will cost you $50 for the deductible." When I went to pick up the car, I just gave them a piece of my mind. After my extended warranty got over, I never went back to the dealer again.
One thing to keep in mind that, any service done by German Motors Specialist does not void BMW's warranty. They are well known among all the Bay Area dealers. If you tell them, you got "blah" service done at German Motors Specialist, the dealer will just give you a funny look and go on.
I have personally sent many of my friends and co-workers to them and all of them came back happy. I just feel comfortable leaving my car with them, knowing that they will just do the right things and only charge me what is necessary.
At this point, you must be thinking that I sound like a paid advertiser. No, I am not benefitting financially from them for saying all this. I just want to recommend a good place to take you beloved BMW to. Go visit them. They are at the 101-Mathilda exit. I think if you mention "Ayon Sinha" or "Daily Advisor", you will get a 10% discount on your first service. After that you'll be hooked on to them anyway. :)

I buy my books online by first going to this book-shop spider. Then pick whichever site suits me. It always saves me a few bucks. It searches 40 online stores including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, half.com, overstock.com etc..

Yesterday, I made a 3 ft. X 12 ft. deck to serve as a step between our converted Patio door (from a window) and the concrete patio. The total labor time was 1 hr. 45 mins. for me alone with a little help from the wife. Total materials cost around $200 including a $7 leveler.

Initially, I had thought that I'd have to dig 6 holes and fit 4x4's in them and fill the hole with concrete and also bolt the deck to the wall. This thought gave a lot of inertia but I found the ad of Dek-blocks at Home-depot. That made it really tempting. It seemed there were no holes to dig or need for bolting to the wall. All I had to do was place the blocks and level them.

Although, I didnt exactly buy the Dek-Block (because the deck would not attach to the blocks), I bought similar blocks which had a wooden block attached on top of the concrete block. I bought 6 of them. Then I got 8 planks of 2"x6" 12 ft long. I already had a powered miter saw and a power drill. I bought a $7 leveler.

Thats it. I placed 2 rows of 3 blocks each about 5' apart. Connected each column of blocks with 3 35" planks. And then layed the 12ft. planks on top. After a test fit of all the components, I just screwed them in with #8 X 3" deck-mate exterior screws (rust-proof).
















Easy.

I needed a setup that would work both as my PC chair as well as a console racing seat. Also, we used to live in a 1 br apartment so had storage issues. I had to come up with a design that would make it disappear when not needed.

Steering height and distance is adjustable for comfortable driving for any person of any height. Pedal distance also adjustable. Inverted beer caps have been super-glued to the bottom of the pedal stand so that it won't slip on the carpet. The tilt angle of the pedal stand can be adjusted according to the pedal type. Any type of wheel can be mounted on the platform.



Seen above with the Dreamcast wheel.



The circuit board & speaker from Intensor LX 350 (above) has been transferred here.



Above, used with my PC.



ACT Labs performance pedals.







The shift knob is a pilot leather knob from Pepboys bought for $20. I sawed off the shifter shaft by a half inch.
The lowering of the shifter has been done with the simplest implementation. I bought an aluminum plate and cut them and bent them to make 2 z-brackets. Since its aluminum, its very easy to bend.
I drilled 2 holes on each arm of each of these z-brackets and attached them to the metal plate that comes with the shifter. So this is as easily removable as it was before.

The design of the simulator chair is such that it can be used with the computer as a work-chair, or a PC racing chair or a console gaming chair. During console gaming a steering wheel mount can be attached to the chair which is height & distance adjustable.
The new hybrid chair also retains the tactile-feedback technology from the LX-350 with less noise and more vibrations.

I got a question today, whether one should buy a PC or assemble one. We recently built 2 PC's. Specs: P4 3.2 GHz, 1GB RAM, ATI 9800 Pro, 200GB HD, dual-layer DVD-RW etc.. It cost us around $600 w/o OS and other software.

If you are a regular PC user with a busy life, dont even bother trying to assemble a PC to try to save some money. Dell has commoditized PC's in such a way that assembling one is no longer worth the time. Just go to deals2buy.com

The advantage of building one is that you get a very open ended box which can be upgraded a lot in the near future. Dell systems on the other hand come in a plug-it-in format but they are sort of closed. They support very little upgrades.

So if you are not a hardcore PC gamer, there is probably no need for you to go through the trouble of assembling one.

Have a good weekend.

If you are thinking of buying a motorcycle (I will refer to them as Bike from now on beacuse its easier to say and type) then here are some starter points.

So you probably have a budget. First thing to do should be to take the MSF course and motorcycle license. Then buy the protective gear. Then with the money left, shop for a bike.

You MUST take the the MSF course. It costs appx. $200 but worth every penny. It will save your life and will also waive your DMV road test.

For the protective gear:

• Get good DOT/Snell approved helmet. The prices range from $100 - 200 -500 and on. From safety point of view any helmet that fits good and is DOT approved is as good as the others. The extra money is for additional features like weight, noise, venting etc.. Try not to buy the first helmet online. I buy from Santa Clara Cycle Accessories in Sunnyvale near Wolfe/El Camino. They are very nice people. Some other stores are Cycle Gear, Fremont Cycle Salvage etc.
• Next you need are good jacket, pants, gloves and boots. If you temporarily use work boots until you get your riding boots, make sure you always tuck in your laces. Laces can cause some embarrassing stand-still falls. A good website for that is NewEnough. Their prices are excellent and their return policies are great with great customer service. Santa Clara Cycle Accessories also has good prices and you shouldnt mind paying a few dollars more for the option of trying things out with personal advice and returning them for exchange. For jackets & pants there are the textile and the leather versions. Leather gives the best protection and lasts forever but is at least twice in price than the textile. Textile gives you adequate protection but will need to be replaced after an unfortunate crash. Investing in good protective gear is like investing in your skin. A lot of times people think a helmet is going to save life. Thats true but what about the painful skin rashes on elbows, legs and back? You survived but are getting skin grafts. That doesnt sound too nice. SO DO NOT SKIMP ON GEAR.
  

Two of the used motorcycle buying resources are Craigslist and Bay Area Riders forum. Some of the good starter bikes are Suzuki SV650, Kawasaki Ninja 250/500 and Suzuki Katana. Try to stick to a bike with lower power until you get very experienced in handling turns and traffic. Also, a light weight bike is good in case you ever get a little disbalanced while standing still or just moving the bike around during parking. A bike with little or no fairing is good because no matter what, you will definitely drop it at some point if you are a beginner. Fairing damages are ugly and expensive to repair. Also, the price of in and around $3000 is a right starting point. Dont go too cheap or too expensive (for the bling factor). Save the extra money for the next bike.

Now that you have a bike next thing is insurance. In the SF bay area, I found McGraw Insurance (Pacific Specialty) the cheapest option. Look them up in the yellow pages.

Now enjoy the AWESOME CALIFORNIA MOTORCYCLE ROADS. Forums I visit the most for motorcycle talk is South Bay Riders and Bay Area Riders Forum. Also, Doc Wong's riding clinics are free and fun.

Next time I'll post about motorcycle maintenance. Enjoy the ride.

I have been asked this question multiple times.

So if you are brave and you dont want to ask any online calculator.....
Its a complicated derivation but here is the formula.

x = ( ( i / ((i+1)^n) -1) + i) * P

where P = initial principal loan amount
i = periodic interest rate = r / 1200 for monthly payments. e.g. 5% = 0.004167
n = number of months of the loan term
x is of course your monthly payment.

Or for all you programmers out there, use the brute strength of a CPU and use a loop for n months to calculate.

I personally prefer playstation 2 based on the sole reason that PS2 supports the Force Feedback technology. I play a lot of racing games and for those games just a stupid vibration rumble of the controller doesnt do it for me. I want the complete road and G-forces feel through the game. XBOX games only have the vibration which is just annoying. No feel for the turns, grass, gravel, bumps, tires pulling or loose traction.
Also, for the PS2 there is more game developer support and more games. Nintendo gamecube has already lost the battle. They primarily have small kids games.

So if you want a PS2, the best way to get one is buying a bundle from Costco or someplace. The newer slim PS2 have built-in IR receiver for the remote, Progressive scan DVD playing and in-built network adapter and modem. These features were not there in the earliest versions. The non-optional accessories you must buy to realistically use the PS2 is a second controller and a PS2 memory card. A remote is nice if you want it to be a DVD player. Buying a good quality component video PS2 cable and optical audio cable helps a lot in a/v quality. I have Monster Cable brand for the PS2 a/v cables.

Some good games on PS2 are Tekken Tag (fighting game, family entertainment), Gran Turismo 3, Gran Turismo 4(simulation driving with 100s of real life cars with real physics), Burnout 3 (adrenaline rush, crazy driving fun), Soul Calibur 2. I usually buy them used from either Blockbuster or ebay or www.craigslist.org. I have never paid full price for any game.

Please post comments on what topic would you like to be elaborated.

When you get a traffic violation ticket, you have multiple options.

• Pay the fine by mail and do traffic school if eligible.
• Or fight the ticket by mail.
• Or go to court to plead guilty and ask for fine reduction and traffic school.

The first option is what most people take.

The second option is lucrative but it has a lot to do with your luck. You can read all about it at Ticket Assassin and I got a ticket . I have personally had no luck with it but I know 3 people who after learning from me, fought the ticket by mail and won. For one the officer wrote the wrong county in his statement. Case dismissed. Second guy, won just by his pictures and explanation, stating that from the position the cop was in he couldnt have seen the light turning red. For the 3rd guy, he was found guilty in trial by written declaration but the cop didnt show up at the Trial de Novo.
Third option, go to court and plead guilty and ask for fine reduction and traffic school. This usually work out. I know people who got their fines reduced.

If you are feeling unlucky then use the second option only when you do not qualify for traffic school, because if you go to trial, they take away your right for traffic school.

ADT is EXPENSIVE!! They use the same GE Simon 3 hardware but they always own the system even after your contract ends. They will never give you the master code. They advertise some $99 installation but thats only for 3 contacts. When they do the "FREE" home quote, they will add some $50 for each additional sensor and will add up to $1500 or some crazy number. Then they'll say they have a special for 50% off.. blah blah.
Same goes for BayAlarm.
When I installed my system, I shopped around a bit. I found 2 very good options.

1. Buy your own hardware (GE simon 3 and additional sensors) from www.homesecuritystore.com and then get a monitoring service for $8.95/month. The monitoring link is in the above website. Here you pay for the equipment up front and save on the total cost than the next option.

2. Buy a package from ProtectAmerica . They give lifetime equipment warranty and you own the equipment. The installation is very easy. If you can make change a light bulb you have enough skill to install it yourself. They will walk you through it over the phone. I went with this option because of the low up front cost and possibly less initial setup time. I also got an additional remote keypad and micro-contacts as bonuses. They have a 2-year contract term, which is basically the payment for the equipment cost for them. Ask me about how to get an additional $100 cash when you sign up for their service. Also, here is a good comparison link. Even though it is by ProtectAmerica, I dont find it exaggerated.

As a note, remember that the City of Fremont Police department has stopped responding to Home Security alarms due to the high volume of false alarms. City of Sunnyvale has a $125/false alarm fine after the first 2 false alarms. Make sure your city responds to such alarms before signing up for a long term contract.

These guys are great. I sent them an email saying, my total price was $25 more, since I bought the Bluetooth slipper, CF GPS receiver and Destinator software separately. I paid $105.95 + $149.95. They have the same as a bundle for $229.95. I asked them for a refund and they issued a $25 credit immediately. NO FURTHER QUESTIONS or "Policy" excuses.

I will stick to them now.

Buyer's remorse. I lost some $35 in comparison shopping between www.buygpsnow.com vs Semsons Both have good customer service. Well, I couldnt have saved that money in the first go anyway. Now that I know what exactly I got and am happy with, I just saw that I could have gotten all that for lesser money if I had bought everything from Semsons in one go.
So if you need to buy GPS/PDA stuff and want to save money based on my experience, go to Semsons.

First, determine your need to sell. Do you really want to part with it? This should be black and white answer. Dont say "If I get a good price... blah blah..". You will get whatever is a fair market price on ebay. Supply-demand fixes the price. If you want to know how much it'll sell for, check "completed items" on ebay search.
Now that you've decided to sell, list it with a good description and nice picture(s). Give as much detail as possible.
Save money on listing fee by making the starting bid very low like $9.99 even if it will sell for $200. This also attracts bidders by breaking the entry barrier.
There is no need for "buy-it-now" or "reserve price" even if they sound nice. The listing fees are determined by those even if your starting bid is low. This can save quite a few $$.
Set the # of days as 3 days. 5, 7, 10 days dont matter because the bidding starts on the last day/hour/minute anyways. Interested bidders always bid on the items ending first, first.

Thats it. Wait for the auction to end and the "Final value fee" is unavoidable. Also, accepting Paypal (more money to eBay) is good since it gives buyers protection. Check/money order payments are not preferred by bidders.

The best crepes are made in the shop on Mtn. View, Castro Street in a cafe called e-Tea. Its opposite Amarin Thai at the corner as the last shop towards the station.
I am thoroghly addicted to the "ice-cream and fruits crepe" $5.36 with tax. Yum-yum. Slurp.
Its better than Todai crepes, Banana split ice-cream, fried banana w/ice-cream (Amarin, Banana leaf etc..).

Try it out.

I can't curse Sony/Polyphony Digital enough for actually making extra effort to cut out support for the Red Logitech MOMO wheel. This wheel is a beautiful Italian Leather grip wheel with steel paddles and center plate. Excellent Force Feedback. It was sold as a PC wheel but also worked with most PS2 games like Gran Turismo 3, F1 2002, WRC, Midnight Club 2, Need for Speed Hot pursuit 2 etc..

But for GT4, Sony made an intentional effort to NOT support this MOMO wheel since they didnt get money from Logitech for licensing this wheel.

I did not know this before buying and opening the game. Now I cannot return the game. The game is otherwise excellent with more than 500 cars and hundreds of tracks. It has Dolby Digital II sound and 480P/1080i HD output. Check out the review and screenshots at IGN

So now, I have to sell off my MOMO wheel and buy another Logitech wheel which is meant for this game & console. I cannot buy the next wheel without selling the MOMO, cos I already have 4 sets of wheels. If you are planning to buy GT4 make sure you know what you are getting.

1. Its like bringing a new dependent family member. Factor in playtime/walk-time, medical expense/insurance ($20-30/mo), food (not much expense) and training time expense and poop-cleaning time and effort.

2. A puppy is not a toy. He/she is a play companion and a family member. So just dont get one because your kid wants one. I think most of us realize that.

3. Best place to get one are the shelters. www.petfinder.com is a good search website. It is very good morally, to be able to provide a loving home to a homeless pet. Thousand of homeless pets are euthanized every year because, they were bred irresponsibly. Another advantage is financial. It is much cheaper than buying one from a breeder(AKC regd. or backyard/puppymill). The adoption fees($100-300) usually cover most shots and spaying/neutering which can cost more than $400 otherwise. You also qualify for pet store discounts because you adopted one.
Another plus, is that if you adopt a grown up puppy, you already have a good idea of the size, temperament and might get a house-trained one as a bonus.
The downside of getting a shelter puppy is, chances are you will not get a pure-bred puppy if that is important to you. As a rule, it is very hard to get puppies, as there is a lot of demand for the young ones. Although, there are pure-bred rescue groups, it is very hard to qualify for some popular breeds, like Rottweiler, German Shepherd, if you do not have a history of having pets in this country.
But all you want is a happy, puppy for a companion, all the above disadvantages do not count. I believe every puppy is happy to begin with. Its the owners, who make them nice or vicious.
I have a Rottweiler puppy. I have received "!!!!" looks on people's faces when they hear the breed's name, but if you meet him, you'll know that he is the gentlest, sweetest puppy you've ever met. he is praised by everyone he meets. 100% of the time.

The book "Second Hand dog" is an awesome book which is short and universally applicable no matter where you got your puppy from.

A good bay area training school is www.wagntrain.com which is same value as Sirius Puppy training, only a little cheaper.

And remember, pick the Vet & training school through references.

I know a lot of people already are homeowners or you already know the answers, but this is for the people who dont know yet.
Q:What is included in the final sale price of a home?

A: Scenarios:
1. buyer & seller both have agents: price includes buyer agent's commision (2.5%), seller agent's commision (2.5%), seller's closing costs (appx. 1%). I have also heard a simpler calculation which is 3% each for both agents, but I have encountered more than once that an agent has asked for 2.5%. So either way, it seems the seller eventually gets about 94% of the proceeds.

2. FSBO with buyer's agent: price includes 2.5% commision for buyer's agent, seller's closing costs. In this scenario, seller saves 2.5% seller's agent costs. Personal experience.

3. No agents(not recommended for buyer): Seller has to pay his/her closing costs. I personally, think its a good investment to pay a good buying agent.

During our recent upgrades of our house floors, I shoped around for hardwood refinishing guys and laminate floor shops & installers.

I ended up with Pergo Vintage Home laminate from Floorshop.com I saved on sales tax and I saved on shipping by picking it up from Livermore warehouse. Livermore warehouse pickup is only available for pergo brand and for only this online shop. Make sure your read their return policies. I saved about $700 on materials compared to S&G carpet for the 260 s.f. area. I put that money to professional installation instead of DIY. email me for installer's info. I will not advertise anyone's services.

Pergo Vintage Home really looks like wood with the grains actually embossed on the surface.

We got the rest of the house's hardwood floor refinished for $3/s.f. email me if you need info on the guy who did it.

Change your oil every 3000 miles at the cheapest possible price. El Cheapo oil every 3K miles is much better than synthetic oil every 6k miles. Oil & filter costs ~$6. 4 times a year = $24.

Do a coolant flush every year. Coolant runs inside the engine block. The additives in the coolant keeps the seals & water pump healthy. Over time, the coolant becomes acidic and it turns the engine into a powel-cell. It corrodes the engine from the inside.

Both of the above procedures are very simple if you want to DIY. Just remember to dispose the waste the right way.

This will keep your engine running for 300K miles.

I recently did a lot of online research about various GPS softwares and hardware bundles for PDAs. The web-site I ended up buying my stuff from is www.buygpsnow.com They have the most cost-effective bundles of hardware and software. The main software contenders were TomTom navigator, Destinator 3, CoPilot, OnCourse. I rejected Tomtom & CoPilot based on the map type. They do not use Navteq maps (maps used by google & mapquest). Between Destinator & OnCourse, its a tough choice. OnCourse has voice-activated menus, but the UI takes a little bit of getting used to. Maybe a week or so. Here is a good comparison.
Also, a bayarea guy runs www.pdabuyersguide.com

I went with Destinator 3.0.75. I love it. My hardware is iPaq 3955, HAiCOM Bluetooth Slipper™ GPS Receiver (HI-401BT + HI-303s) (Free NEW Arkon Mount), Nexipak and y-cable
It gives me a completely modular design where my receiver can be used as a mouse GPS (when the location of the PDA does not give good reception), CF receiver (without wire clutter) or Bluetooth receiver (when I have a bluetooth PDA). The Nexipak will give me plenty of battery life outside the car plus extra CF card memory for additional maps.

Hope my little write-up helps you find your best choice.

SigAlert

This website shows real-time info of bay-area traffic as well as other areas. Check out their paging & notification services too.

I just read about 2 new travel websites in the Consumer Reports magazine.

Kayak
Mobissimo

These websites search the other travel websites and finds the best fares. According to CR research it saved them money.

Also, www.biddingfortravel.com is a forum where people post their priceline prices. Thanks to one of my co-workers for this useful site info.

As most of you already know that filling the cheapest grade gas from the cheapest priced gas-station is the best way to save money. The only time you need to avoid filling at a particular gas-station is when you see a tanker parked there. It means that they are there to fill the underground storage with new stock. When this happens, it usually stirs up a lot of sediments from the bottom. So if you fill your gas-tank at that time, you will get the crud in your engine and it is a BAD thing. It clogs up different parts of the fuel circuit, resulting in an expensive fix in the future.

Do look-up your car's manual for the minimum octane rating required. Most cars are 86. So go with the minimum(87).

I got this advice from my DeAnza Auto teacher Mr. Michael Brandt, who has been teaching there for 25 yrs. He is an excellent teacher.

cya Later.

Hi All,
Over the past many years, I have done numerous personal projects starting from electronic gadgets, audio/video systems, computer software and hardware, car repair and maintenance, motorcycles repair and maintenance to home improvements including electricals, painting, landscaping, flooring etc..

Due to my varied experience in these fields all my friends call me up when they need some basic advice on any of their little daily-life problems.

So here it is... I dedicate my blog to all of my friends and relatives and hope to help you find simple answers to your daily questions.

I am based in the San Francisco bay area so you will get al lot of local helpful info about anything and everything here.

If you dont find the answer to your particular question, be sure to ask and I'll hunt for the answers.
thanks,
The Daily Advisor.