The Happy Rock Is Looking For Feedback

Posted on April 8, 2008

The Happy Rock is coming up on its one year anniversary, and I am ready to make some changes. I have learned a lot in the last year, both personally and with regards to business and running a website. It has been a great journey.

With my MBA complete, I have some more time to devote to my side endevears. The $10,000 question becomes, “what should I put my effort into?”. I have a list of about 25 projects and business opportunities that I have stored up over the last 2 and a half years and The Happy Rock is most likely high on that list.

So what would the readers like to see? What should I change? What areas do you see for growth?

Should I focus on more a particular topic? Change the site layout? Get rid of some junk out of the sidebar? Develop more cohesion? Review more books? Hire a proofreader? Study writing? Post more? Bring in another writer(s)? Give it up because the market is saturated? Sell the blog?

Everything is on the table!! My goal with all my business ventures is make money while helping others, so that I provide a decent life for my family and give to help others. At this point I am open to whatever opportunities are given to me, but I about the fact that being a writer isn’t one of my top few strengths.

Don’t be a afraid to put it out there, I am not the type that gets offended. Criticism is often a pathway to great growth. I would love to here your input.

» Filed Under Misc.

ING Rates Lowered to 3.1% on March 11th 2008

Posted on March 11, 2008

ING cuts their rates again.

Electric Orange Savings rate dropped to 3.10% APY down from 3.40%. Official ING Savings Account Page

Electric Orange Rates dropped to 2.00% APY and 1.98% Interest Rate down from 2.25% APY. Official Electric Orange Page

» Filed Under ING Electric Orange, Misc.

Let’s Welcome The Happy Pebble Jr.

Posted on January 21, 2008

The Happy Rock Garden welcomed its fourth member on Friday night, a second adopted son Julian. I will dub him The Happy Pebble Jr. to go along with our first Happy Pebble.

He was born on Wednesday the 16th and we brought him home on Friday night. It all happened quite fast and unexpectedly which just adds to the joy and excitement! Family and children are more amazing than I could have ever dreamed. Cheers!

On a separate and unrelated side note, I will be taking requests for guest posters. I will be sleeping way too much that I won’t have the time to produce the same level of quality content, especially with my MBA finishing in just over 8 weeks. Email me with a general topic and an estimated time of arrival, and I will choose a handful of authors to submit articles. Thanks.

*Note : That is not a picture of our children.

» Filed Under About Me, Misc.

The 5 Day 4 Night $200 Vacation

Posted on January 3, 2008

I finally had to return to work today after 11 glorious days off. The first half of my time off was spent with family celebrating the holidays, and the second half was spent with family on vacation in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. We stayed in a 7 bedroom cabin complete with hot tub, big TV, pool table, 3 floors, 7 bedrooms, and a view of the Sacandaga Lake. The trip was filled with lots of snow, hikes up mountains, great food, fun people, movies, wiiing, and more! I had a great time and feel rested.

How did we enjoy such a great vacation on such small budget? Let’s break down the expenses to see exactly how it happened.

$100 for gas and tolls. 280 miles and 5 hours one way to Hadley, New York.
$75 for food. Since we went with 7 other people, we were only responsible for two meals and our own snacks. Every meal that was prepared was really delicious, and we even ate healthy for a vacation!
$25 for miscellaneous. Rest stops, etc.
$0 for entertainment. The snow, hiking, wii, movies, hot tub, pool table, friends, professional masseuse(sister-in-law), food, jigsaw puzzles, and children gave us more than enough to do. Everything, especially the 20 inches of snow were awesome.
$0 for the house. The house was courtesy of my mom, The Happy Rock(er). Here boss provided free use of the house as a perk for being an employee.

You can say we got lucky with the use of the house, and we did, but those sorts of opportunities do arise when you network and help others. Some tips to help cut the other costs of vacation are to invite other people, so a lot fo the common costs are divided up. Also, plan to relax and go with the flow so that you can take full advantage of the ‘natural’ beauty atomsphere of the area. Finally, provide your own entertainment.

Can’t beat $40 a day for a wonderful snow filled retreat!

» Filed Under Friends, Misc.

Another Mini-Vacation

Posted on December 27, 2007

The Happy Rock and family are heading up to the Adirondack Mountains of New York for a small vacation. The Happy Rock will be back posting again after the New Year.

This vacation will be a good time to get away from the daily grind, gain some perspective, assess the year, and decide on some changes going forward.

Happy New Year!

» Filed Under Misc.

Golf Ball Giveaway and a Personal Update

Posted on December 11, 2007

I just wanted to let readers know that I will be back out of hibernation soon. I had been focused on three papers for my MBA classes for the last few weeks. I was quite interested in two of the papers and they took me quite a long time. It is amazing how different it feels to do school that is relavant to my goals. Both papers will pay dividends in the future. I will be back full force in the next day or two.

Also Double Eagle over@ Life in the Rough is giving away an expensive box of golf balls. He has the best golf game improvement blogs on the net. Click here for the contest if you are interested.

» Filed Under Misc.

Do You Have Unclaimed Cash Waiting For You?

Posted on October 30, 2007

A few years ago I saw an article about state agencies having millions of dollars of unclaimed cash and property. The sad part was that no one knew the money existed or how to find it. One the article’s advice I searched the Pennsylvania State Treasury database and I found that The Happy Rockette had two unclaimed checks from college. The one was about $200 and the other was just a couple of dollars. You feel like you hit the lottery, even though it was money that was rightfully yours.

“Common types of unclaimed property include:

Bank accounts and safe deposit box contents
Stocks, mutual funds, bonds, and dividends
Uncashed checks and wages
Insurance policies, CD’s, trust funds
Utility deposits, escrow accounts”*

In our case The Happy Rockette had graduated college and left before one of her side jobs cut all of her back paychecks. Our story doesn’t quite have a happy ending, since our requests to the state for the money ran into bureaucratic problems that we haven’t been able to resolve.

So let’s see if anyone can find any money for themselves, family, or friends. Feel free to leave any success stories or questions in the comments.

MissingMoney.com - Free web search of many of the state’s unclaimed property websites. Click here to see which states participate.

BetterBudgeting.com has an updated list of the links directly to the state sites.

Please note that there should be no fees associated with claiming the property, since you should be dealing directly with state governments and other agencies.

*Source - MissingMoney.com

» Filed Under Misc., Money Savers

Using Amazon Instead Of iTunes To Download Music And Save Money

Posted on October 21, 2007

For those of us who are interested in legally downloading music, Amazon has recently unveiled their DRM free MP3 download service. “DRM-free means that the MP3 files you purchase from Amazon.com do not contain any software that will restrict your use of the file.” I figured I would try out the service and give it a review, because being able to inexpensively download a single song saves me from buying a whole CD when I just want one song. It has even helped my avoid albums that I wouldn’t have liked. Sometimes just listening to the sample of the tracks on a CD can give you a sense of whether you want the album or not.

Now iTunes seems to have some competition. The prices are very similar with most of the popular songs costing $0.89 and all other songs costing $0.99. If you are a CD junky, you can definitely save yourself some many by going electronic as most full albums are under $9.00.

What I like to see is that the record companies are finally learning that if you make it easier for people to buy their goods, they will actually make more money. I don’t own any Apple equipment, so downloading songs in their DRMed format was a hassle for me. Another recent entry that is shaking up the market is Radiohead’s new album which is being offered on there site for whatever price you want to pay, even free.

Here is the overview the simple buying process at Amazon :

1. Select the song or album. The search feature is pleasant to use. Click here for an example. Each result has a play button next to it, so that you can hear a snippet of the song before you buy. Selection is solid, but definitely not top-notch.
2. Click ‘Buy MP3’ and you are whisked in wizard like process very similar to the normal Amazon check out.
3. I skipped downloading the Amazon Downloader, and in four more clicks I had the song on my desktop in MP3 format. Note: The Amazon Downloader is required for buying albums, because it queues the downloading of the songs. It will also provide the added benefit of importing the songs into iTunes or Windows Media Player. The 12mb song I downloaded took only a few seconds on a cable connection.

Here is a smattering of popular songs if you want to hop in and check it out :

Crank That (Soulja Boy) [Travis Barker Remix]
Don’t Know Why - Norah Jones
Big Girls Don’t Cry (Personal) - Fergie
Comfortably Numb (1994 Digital Remaster) - Pink Floyd
American Pie - Don MaClean
Rehab - Amy Whinehouse

One final thing to note is that Amazon does not allow re-downloading, so remember to back up. Adding a re-downloading option would definitely be a very nice to have. For more information on the service, consult the FAQ.

For me, I will still buy used CDs off Amazon or eBay, but buying single digital songs at Amazon provides me with greater flexibility and options at a similar inexpensive price. This type of service makes quickly and easily recording a mix CD for The Happy Rockette possible.

Does anyone else out there use iTunes or Amazon to purchase their music?

» Filed Under Misc., Money Savers, Reviews

Quiet Millionaire Book Contest Give Away And Free Land Update

Posted on October 16, 2007

First, I am giving away the brand new copy of The Quiet Millionaire that I reviewed. To enter the contest leave a comment on this post that lists your top reasons you got out or want to get out of debt. If you don’t want to get out of debt, list your reasons why. Simple as that. A winner will be randomly chosen Sunday October 21st @ 9pm EST.

Click the following links for more information on the book :

My Quiet Millionaire Review
Queit Millionaire Amazon Page

Second, poetloverrebelspy @ Less than a Shoestring shared a great NY times article with us. The article relays some real life experiences about one family’s move to North Dakota. Cities haven’t lived up to their promises, and citizens aren’t as open to change as they need to be. It is a long read, but pretty interesting if you found the free land in the Midwest article interesting.

» Filed Under Misc., Real Estate

Own Free Land In Any US State

Posted on October 11, 2007

I just bought a gorgeous piece of land in Hawaii. I have never been there, but I have always wanted to visit. The picture above just looked so appealing, I just couldn’t resist this deal when it presented itself. How does this fit into our frugal mindset, you ask? Well, the land was FREE!

Through the website Own A Piece Of America you can get free land in an US state of your choice. You don’t have to pay taxes or maintain the land, but you also can’t build on it or sell it either. When you claim your free land, you receive ownership of a one square inch lot. It’s not the most useful piece of property in the world, but it is quite fun to tell your friends that you own land in Hawaii, Alaska, Maine, Montana, or California!

There is no real catch. The website owners have purchased all of the land legally and divvy it out one square inch at a time. It is fully legal, and the website makes money through advertising and selling paper or electronic state deeds to the properties. Pretty fun idea, what state do you want to grab land in?