Your money: June 2008 Archives
I have gotten tons of feedback about today's story on tap water vs. bottled water.
I couldn't include everyone in the story and as I'm still getting new e-mails with tips and reasons daily I decided to include some of the other comments I've been getting here.
Feel free to leave your on comments and reasoning about why you like tap water or bottled water better.
My first cell phone resembled a black, plastic brick that, I believe, weighed more than the neighbor's dog.
Unlike many of today's belt-hanging mini computers, my phone didn't "flip" anything, unless you count the telescoping antenna that snapped off in a light breeze.
During the last 15 years, mobile communication, like most technology, has jumped forward with nearly every shiny gadget that has hit the retail market.
However, not every advancement has discovered the same profit niche as cell phones.
So much news in one short week. But don't worry if you missed a thing or two. I'm here to catch you up like I do every Friday.
Without further ado, here is your week in biz.
Voith's bringing some jobs to town.
Harley workers react to temporary layoff.
The Chinese food place with the turtle in the sink has reopened after scoring a 99 on the newest inspection.
Flying Feet running store gets recognition.
And your "I don't believe it" news for the day is this: Virginia man sheds 80 pounds eating at McDonald's.
And because it's Friday, this seems appropriate:
I was driving past a Citgo gas station right off Route 30 on the east side of town today and saw regular gas for $4.02. This is the first time I've seen regular gas jump past $3.99.
Has anyone else seen it over $4 per gallon anywhere?
Either to save on cost or just to have pride in a job well done, many homeowners take on do-it-yourself projects rather than call in an expert.
From bathrooms to basements, weekend contractors often attempt tackle even the most daunting home improvement ventures.
What home projects have you completed?
E-mail Sean Adkins at sadkins@ydr.com with before-and-after pictures of the your most recent home projects.
Include your name, phone number and a description of the project.
Do you use coupons to get savings at the grocery store?
If so you might want to check out this article in the Baltimore Sun.
You might find it especially interesting if you often use coupons you print from the Internet. Some stores won't accept them.
Have any of you had your coupons rejected at local grocery stores?
This sheriff sale has just wrapped up. The last property has been sold, and most people here are heading out.
A few sales were postponed until later dates, but for the most part it seemed like a lot of the properties sold.
The prices of the sales ranged from a little below $2,000 to more than a million (although that was the rare exception.)
We just had a bid for $1,357,000
And after that about half the room cleared out.
The ladies behind me are still here and so are the power player lady for the previous post and Sean's sources.
But this room just went from really crowded to less than half full.
There's a woman in the far corner of the room who has bid on a ton of properties. She was involved in the first bidding war, but eventually dropped out.
There's definitely some power players in the room who go after a lot of the properties.
But then there are a lot of other people who only put bids on one or two.
We have another bidding war here. Not as long or as involved as the last one, but it was still pretty good.
The lady behind me just loves these bidding wars. But she lost again. I'm pretty sure she got outbid by the same guy as last time.
It's been pretty straight forward so far at the sheriff sale. One or two people make a bid, and it has pretty much been stopping there.
But we just had a bit of a bidding war for one piece of property.
The numbers started much lower than where they ended.
In the beginning, two main people were one upping each other. Then another guy jumped in. It kept going and going.
After the number of sales that were canceled or postponed, it was hard to believe that any homes were still left to be sold.
But there were. We've gotten through the first several properties here. Most have just had one bid placed for them. Only two had more than one. One of those two was postponed until a later date. One was sold to the highest bidder.
Here's a list of the first five properties and what they went for:
1. $1,795.22
2. $2,081.70
3. $2,171.24
4. Two bids were placed here. It was requested that it be postponed until August.
5. $2,082.36
The sheriff sale is officially under way, and it started with a reading of the rules, which mainly say the sheriff isn't responsible for anything dealing with the property.
The rules warned potential buyers to make sure they know what they are getting into. Buyers will have to pay taxes on the properties and be responsible for all other financial matters.
The big important thing was that once a bid is made, the buyer is responsible for paying that money, no matter what they may find out about the property later.
It's about 10 minutes before the sheriff's sale is set to begin and the assembly room in the courthouse is starting to fill up. A few minutes ago it was dead silent and only about 10 people were here, but now with 10 minutes until homes are basically auctioned off, a dull roar can be heard as people talk strategy and get ready for what it to come.
There's all different kinds of people who have turned out today. There are people looking to buy these houses and then resell them later. There are homeowners looking for a last ditch effort to save their homes and there's everything in between.
I drove Northeast, Northwest and South from York this weekend, no farther than about 2 hours from the city in any direction. And I had some fun near DeHart Dam in Dauphin County fishing, in State College for a bachelor's party and with my in-laws in Towson.
So what was the cost? It was $80 in gas. And droopy eyes from being on the road so much. There really was no rest time because of the driving time.
Living and working in York is like the converse of living somewhere close to family or with decent entertainment a 5-minute drive away (personal preference of course, a nearby stream with more than a few hundred yards of fly-fishing only - and fish still alive - and a bar district you feel safe walking in past midnight are big ones for me) and commuting to a job.
Instead of the long drive to compliment the long workweek, the long drives compliments the end of the week. I pity the people who live up here and commute to Baltimore, then travel on the weekends, too.
Is being 2 hours from everywhere (probably the biggest selling point York has) still worth it when one weekend alone costs $80 just for gas? Are you worried gas prices are going to sink all the hard work people have been putting into the city over the past 5 years?
I have lots of great things to tell you about that are coming up this week so let's get right to it.
Today is the York County Sheriff's Office public sale at 2 p.m. These sales basically auction off houses that have for one reason or another fallen into foreclosure or have other financial issues. If you want more info on the sale, check Sean's column.
On Wednesday, the first book published using a new, eco-friendly printing method will be made in York County. More details on this to come.
There's been a ton going on this week what with Leader Health and Fitness closing (read about it here, here and here) and a snapping turtle being found in a sink at a Chinese food place.
In case you missed anything else going on this week, I'm here to catch you up.
Kiddies were buying smokes.
You probably shouldn't eat tomatoes for a little while.
Dollar strengthens a bit.
Early termination fees being questioned.
And in really sad breaking news, 58-year-old Tim Russert died today.
If you haven't caught the latest on the Leader Health and Fitness contract issues you can check the full story here.
Basically what it comes down to is customers who paid on a monthly basis will have their memberships transfered to the Athletic Club of York. They can cancel those memberships at any time.
Those who paid in a lump sum for an entire year or more will be receiving a letter in the mail outlining the details of the refund process.
Are you satisfied with the agreement that was reached? Leave a comment and let us know.
A lot of former members of Leader Health and Fitness are notably upset that their gym closed yesterday with about 24 hours of notice and their memberships were transfered to the Athletic Club of York. (If you didn't catch the story you check find it here.)
So far 67 people have left comments on the story. Here's what some of them had to say:
I went to Hersheypark over the weekend thanks to some discounted tickets from a family member of a friend. And no, I didn't go on the cool new ride. I wore jeans to avoid third-degree sunburn on my pasty white legs, and someone set up a sprinkler - better purposed on a water ride - to keep those in line cool.
The 1.5-minute ride compared to wet, clingy jeans the rest of the day wasn't much of a decision. And there were nice, short, dry lines for the other coasters.
You need to check this out.
I love Monday mornings when I get to tell you about excellent freebies because when we're paying almost $4 per gallon for gas, free things make me smile.
So this week's excellent freebie is ice cream from Friendly's.
On Saturday you can stop by certain Friendly's (the list of participating stores is at the end of the post) from noon to 5 p.m. and get a free cone or dish of your favorite flavor.
This time last year, my fiance (now wife) Laura and I got our little pride and joy, a beagle mix named Lucy. She was a lost dog found on Hyde Street, according to the SPCA. I couldn't find such a place in York County on a map, so I like to think that she appeared straight out of thin air from heaven.
About the same time, Laura moved into a new apartment, and like most places with a yard, there were some problems with ants in the kitchen. So we got some ant traps and put them around the kitchen, and that worked for a day or two.
Until one night I saw a twisted piece of plastic on the floor, followed by another, and followed by two empty spots in the kitchen where the ant traps used to be. Lucy only gets the run of the kitchen when someone is at home, and wow it didn't take her long to sniff out these traps when we weren't looking.
Ever smell one? They use peanut butter flavoring as bait. I didn't know this. Nor did I know at the time how much Lucy loves peanut butter.
The freaking out quickly began.
Everyone asks that question in terms of "when" it will happen, like how close it is on the calendar. But it also matters how close it is geographically, because most of us drive outside of York County, Pa.
I paid $4.04 at a rest stop on the Pennsylvania Turnpike somewhere between Reading and Philadelphia on Saturday.
Excuse me for a second. AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
OK, better now.
Back in February, I wrote about how Blu-ray beat out HD DVD as the new high tech. way to watch movies.
This morning I came across this article in the Baltimore Sun that said even though Blu-ray was crowned the king, many people are still relying on standard definition DVD's.
