Finally Fixed Doorbell

I finally fixed the doorbell over the weekend. Took about an hour to follow the wire and find where it was cut during recent construction. I had bought a replacement buzzer and wireless system from Home Depot just in case, but didn't use them at all. Using a 10% off coupon usually leads to buying more than you need. Next weekend, I'll have to install the faux wood blinds I bought.

Since our hearing is not great, I'd like to have a second buzzer in another room trigger off the same button. Unfortunately, the more common configuration is 2 buttons ringing one buzzer. I don't like running wires through walls just to have a buzzer in another room. It would be great if they sold wireless extensions to wired doorbell systems. I'm thinking of some kind of relay action on a wireless push button.

I have not had success with wireless doorbells because the battery in the button housing usually craps out due to weather. Wireless doorbells is a bad idea for outdoor installation (which is the most common case.) Instead, they should have short wired connections between a pushbutton and the transmitter and battery so that the transmitter and battery can be protected in the appropriate housing.

Use rollover VirginMobile airtime to buy phones as gifts

If you are wise and used a Virginmobile prepaid phone for emergencies only for the last 2 years, you probably have over $100 airtime remaining. You can use that money to buy another phone for yourself or for someone else. So it was essentially free cell phone service if you didn't need to use it at all. (You can still see caller ID without using a single minute.) The low feature phones are cheap--around $10-$20.

Promotion iPod touch is 3rd gen

It has been confirmed that the free iPod touch given out by the Bank of the West (new account promotion) is model MC086LL/A whichi is a 3rd generation model with some multitasking capability. It is not the newer 4th generation model MC544LL/A which has the camera.

I need to turn off in-app purchases on my iTouch

Apple's built in safeguards do not work as well as they think. There will be more and more free apps that try to trick users into making in-app purchases.

Expensive smurfberries

What's with the resort fees

Every Vegas hotel is charging resort fees now. It's just another way to muddy up the picture for total cost, making the price look more attractive at first glance. Pretty soon they'll follow the cellular industry and offer free rooms with $100 fees with made up names. The resort fee covers necessities like self-park and bottled water.