I'd love to be able to power all my stuff. I run a lot so it would be great to carry a battery pack that could charge off my kinetic energy, I did hear a while back about clothese that may be able to collect static caused by friction from running and walking so maybe I should look into these.
Great article. I read it all as I also have suffered. Just to be a little different I get them on my left ear. Sometimes awful. Discover another trick ...if you can take the time when you first feel them coming on, apply an ice pack. It's supposed to cause the virus to retreat back to the nerve cells (or wherever it is they hangout.) Seems to work for me. Oh and retirement made a huge difference too. Have only had two since I retired two and a half years ago. That supports the stress theory right?
In Australia you don't get deductions for the home you live in. You don't have to pay tax on capital gains when you sell it but there is no deduction on the actual home you live in. Investment properties are a different story, there are plenty of deductions you can claim there, but you also pay 25% tax (approx) on the capital gains.
Our median house price here is over $400,000 so it certainly has not affected house prices being unable to claim a deduction.
I think it would be a good move, especially considering the current debt level and when you factor in it is mainly 'rich' households who get the benefits of these taxes. I am really interested to see what happens in the USA with all these suggestions being thrown around. Thanks for sharing.
I generally by music through iTunes or Amazon. I use iTunes extensively, mostly for podcasts. I usually receive CDs as gifts. I don't purchases them any more. It depends on my mood. I listen my iPod, mostly. But the radio, sometimes.
I have had cold sores for years now and later in life once I became more health conscious I discovered that L-Lysine is the amino acid that is depleted when an outbreak occurs or is about to.
L-Lysine ointments are available and I can say from 25 yrs experience (I am now 36) that this works better than any over the counter or prescription remedies.
L-Lysine can also be found in many foods, but my favorite is Quinoa, which is also one of the best complete proteins available, and makes a great cold salad base.
So glad to see this post! I'm a dedicated bike commuter, and your tips are great.
One thing, though - not only are lights useful, in many places they're a legal requirement after dusk. As are bells. Going without risks both safety and fines.
I use Amazon MP3 for my purchases so that I can actually use it on whatever device I want without having to convert it into a usable format for my Android phone
I obtain iTunes gift cards (either on sale, or through the use of credit card or reward card points) and use those to buy music. No more physical discs for me!
I borrow what cds in my favorite music from the library and download the tracks I want to hear. My use only. I also have a membership on emusic.com download from there.
I rarely will buy music downloads from itunes, though I do use them to search what is out there. I can't remember the last time I actually bought a cd.
The combination of mortgage interest and real estate taxes makes it beneficial for us to itemize. We'd lose about $4,000 in deductions if these were eliminated, resulting in about $800 in additional tax liability. If the money were actually used to put the nation back towards solid financial footing, I would not have a problem with that.
I suspect the deduction will not go away, though it may be changed. My father told me that after WWII, the government wanted to have as many people as possible be able to be homeowners because, with all the chores, repairs and responsibilities of homeownership, they would be too busy to become Communists. In current times, with people working two or three jobs to keep their houses, they are too busy to work toward changing a system stacked against them. We'll see.
Too many people don't understand how the deduction actually works and that you only get back a fraction of what you're paying in iterest. They see the word "deduction" and they get excited. If you're in the 25% tax bracket and paying $20k in mortgage interest per year, you save $5k, but you're still paying $15k in interest to the bank. You would be much better off to buy an affordable home and pay it off rather than having these huge interest payments.
I still prefer to buy music on CD, then rip ‘em to MP3 format to use on my PC and iDevices. This way, I have greater control over the quality of the MP3 file and also retain the physical media as a backup.
90% actual cd's, 10% from iTunes. I occasionally listen to the radio and watch music channels on payTV. I prefer tangible CD's, and I have paid for every single song in my library. I don't agree with "free" music.
I wish I got a pre-eruption tingle. I get no warning whatsoever (and I've been getting coldsores since I was 7 and my grandfather kissed me on the mouth with a coldsore on his lip (he thought it was sunburn blisters) - some 33 years now), and my last one - the one I'm just getting over now - went from absolutely nothing (no tingle, no sign at all) to a fully-blistered coldsore in LESS than an hour! I never even get the chance to treat the tingle :(
Oh, I hate cold sores. I recently got one in my eye (http://rainintorainbows.com/2011/05/12/cold-sores-in-my-eye/). I had never heard of that before, but you can be sure I'll be super careful next time I get a cold sore. Thanks for sharing this info.
I don't buy as much music as I used to and with the prevalence of Pandora and now Spotify on so many devices there are a lot of great ways to stream music. When I do I buy music I usually pick up used CDs from half.com, Craigslist, yard sales and flea markets. I still prefer entire CDs as opposed to individual tracks.
Contracts are always the way to go. When my clients are very small, I ask for payment upfront. This alleviates the back and forth that can sometimes happen with very small clients. The larger ones though always get a contract.
Don't forget contracts and NDA/confidentiality agreements if you outsource your services. Agencies and companies that are outsourcing your services are a must when it comes to these documents. You never know if they will go under tomorrow and you deserve payment for the work you do.
I purchase cd's through Amazon and some other online sites. But I download roughly 30 or so tracks a month through a service called emusic. I pay either $6.99 or $11.99 depending on the plan I choose. That gives me 2-3 full cds a month that I download.
I still purchase the majority of my music by CD... slowly migrating to Amazon as I can keep the music in the cloud for playback on my laptop, media center, or Droid X... much better than ripping and transferring the CDs.
I'd love to be able to power all my stuff. I run a lot so it would be great to carry a battery pack that could charge off my kinetic energy, I did hear a while back about clothese that may be able to collect static caused by friction from running and walking so maybe I should look into these.
Great article. I read it all as I also have suffered. Just to be a little different I get them on my left ear. Sometimes awful. Discover another trick ...if you can take the time when you first feel them coming on, apply an ice pack. It's supposed to cause the virus to retreat back to the nerve cells (or wherever it is they hangout.) Seems to work for me. Oh and retirement made a huge difference too. Have only had two since I retired two and a half years ago. That supports the stress theory right?
In Australia you don't get deductions for the home you live in. You don't have to pay tax on capital gains when you sell it but there is no deduction on the actual home you live in. Investment properties are a different story, there are plenty of deductions you can claim there, but you also pay 25% tax (approx) on the capital gains.
Our median house price here is over $400,000 so it certainly has not affected house prices being unable to claim a deduction.
I think it would be a good move, especially considering the current debt level and when you factor in it is mainly 'rich' households who get the benefits of these taxes. I am really interested to see what happens in the USA with all these suggestions being thrown around. Thanks for sharing.
I generally by music through iTunes or Amazon. I use iTunes extensively, mostly for podcasts. I usually receive CDs as gifts. I don't purchases them any more. It depends on my mood. I listen my iPod, mostly. But the radio, sometimes.
Purchase used CDs. Burn what I like for personal listening.
I tweeted my answer to you. http://twitter.com/#!/aarontn/status/103464286168424448
I have had cold sores for years now and later in life once I became more health conscious I discovered that L-Lysine is the amino acid that is depleted when an outbreak occurs or is about to.
L-Lysine ointments are available and I can say from 25 yrs experience (I am now 36) that this works better than any over the counter or prescription remedies.
L-Lysine can also be found in many foods, but my favorite is Quinoa, which is also one of the best complete proteins available, and makes a great cold salad base.
So glad to see this post! I'm a dedicated bike commuter, and your tips are great.
One thing, though - not only are lights useful, in many places they're a legal requirement after dusk. As are bells. Going without risks both safety and fines.
I like you on facebook.
I use Amazon MP3 for my purchases so that I can actually use it on whatever device I want without having to convert it into a usable format for my Android phone
I obtain iTunes gift cards (either on sale, or through the use of credit card or reward card points) and use those to buy music. No more physical discs for me!
I borrow what cds in my favorite music from the library and download the tracks I want to hear. My use only. I also have a membership on emusic.com download from there.
I rarely will buy music downloads from itunes, though I do use them to search what is out there. I can't remember the last time I actually bought a cd.
The combination of mortgage interest and real estate taxes makes it beneficial for us to itemize. We'd lose about $4,000 in deductions if these were eliminated, resulting in about $800 in additional tax liability. If the money were actually used to put the nation back towards solid financial footing, I would not have a problem with that.
I suspect the deduction will not go away, though it may be changed. My father told me that after WWII, the government wanted to have as many people as possible be able to be homeowners because, with all the chores, repairs and responsibilities of homeownership, they would be too busy to become Communists. In current times, with people working two or three jobs to keep their houses, they are too busy to work toward changing a system stacked against them. We'll see.
Too many people don't understand how the deduction actually works and that you only get back a fraction of what you're paying in iterest. They see the word "deduction" and they get excited. If you're in the 25% tax bracket and paying $20k in mortgage interest per year, you save $5k, but you're still paying $15k in interest to the bank. You would be much better off to buy an affordable home and pay it off rather than having these huge interest payments.
I still prefer to buy music on CD, then rip ‘em to MP3 format to use on my PC and iDevices. This way, I have greater control over the quality of the MP3 file and also retain the physical media as a backup.
rodaniel AT gmail DOT com
I "Liked" you on Facebook!
rodaniel AT gmail DOT com
90% actual cd's, 10% from iTunes. I occasionally listen to the radio and watch music channels on payTV. I prefer tangible CD's, and I have paid for every single song in my library. I don't agree with "free" music.
I wish I got a pre-eruption tingle. I get no warning whatsoever (and I've been getting coldsores since I was 7 and my grandfather kissed me on the mouth with a coldsore on his lip (he thought it was sunburn blisters) - some 33 years now), and my last one - the one I'm just getting over now - went from absolutely nothing (no tingle, no sign at all) to a fully-blistered coldsore in LESS than an hour! I never even get the chance to treat the tingle :(
Oh, I hate cold sores. I recently got one in my eye (http://rainintorainbows.com/2011/05/12/cold-sores-in-my-eye/). I had never heard of that before, but you can be sure I'll be super careful next time I get a cold sore. Thanks for sharing this info.
I don't buy as much music as I used to and with the prevalence of Pandora and now Spotify on so many devices there are a lot of great ways to stream music. When I do I buy music I usually pick up used CDs from half.com, Craigslist, yard sales and flea markets. I still prefer entire CDs as opposed to individual tracks.
Contracts are always the way to go. When my clients are very small, I ask for payment upfront. This alleviates the back and forth that can sometimes happen with very small clients. The larger ones though always get a contract.
Don't forget contracts and NDA/confidentiality agreements if you outsource your services. Agencies and companies that are outsourcing your services are a must when it comes to these documents. You never know if they will go under tomorrow and you deserve payment for the work you do.
I purchase cd's through Amazon and some other online sites. But I download roughly 30 or so tracks a month through a service called emusic. I pay either $6.99 or $11.99 depending on the plan I choose. That gives me 2-3 full cds a month that I download.
I still purchase the majority of my music by CD... slowly migrating to Amazon as I can keep the music in the cloud for playback on my laptop, media center, or Droid X... much better than ripping and transferring the CDs.
Liked you on Facebook!