Best Buy For the Win

After careful consideration and thorough research I selected a new computer for my wife. I decided to get her a 13-inch MacBook air with 16 GB of RAM, the M3 processor, and 256 GB of solid-state storage. The next thing I needed to decide is where to buy it from.

Working for Sony, I have a number of fellow employees that have left and gone to work for Apple. I have helped a number of them pick up Sony products for a discount and they are willing to do the same for me. They receive a 15% discount on Apple products and so I used that as my base comparison price. If I couldn't find the computer cheaper somewhere else, I would call in a favor. That price came to $934.15 plus tax.

I keep getting daily e-mails for Costco and Best Buy, so I checked them first. Costco had the exact model I wanted for $899.99, which is cheaper than the Apple employee discount. Best Buy came in for a dollar less at an even $899.00. That became my new standard. My wife told me Amazon had a great price and so I looked there. They matched Best Buy at $899.00. I also looked at one of my favorite online stores: B&H Photo. They usually have great deals on Apple products and they didn't disappoint, or so I thought. They had the computer for $50 less. Then I carefully looked at the specs and saw that it was for the 8GB of RAM version. I'm glad I double checked all the specs. I came very close to making a big mistake.

Ultimately it came down to Amazon or Best Buy as the place to purchase the computer. How to decide? I looked at who could get it to me fastest as they both have free shipping. It turns out Best Buy beat Amazon by 2 days. That is where I made my purchase and I didn't have to call in a favor from a friend.

Online Insurance Quotes

I have never been one to shop around for lower insurance quotes and so I have resisted changing my auto policy. I currently bundle my cars, house, and sailboat with a single insurance company and have relied on the bundle discount to guarantee I'm paying the lowest price for the best coverage. Lately my wife has suggested we look at other insurance companies to see if we can get a better deal. Monday I pointed my browser at Progressive and entered my information to get a quote.

Not all insurance policies are the same. One has to pay careful attention to the coverage to make sure it is an apples-to-apples comparison between companies. That means making sure the deductibles are the same and coverage limits are as well. With auto insurance you also want to make sure things like rental car and glass coverage matches.

My current auto insurance needs to be renewed in January so I had my coverage in front of me when I put in numbers for the quote. The defaults are significantly less than my current policy and so I spent time adjusting them. As I have multiple cars, I can set deductibles and other parameters for each one. It took a few extra minutes. When I finished entering information, I had a quote for very comparable auto insurance. The quote came in at less than half of what I am currently paying. The savings surprised me and I will be switching automobile insurance companies. Furthermore I will reevaluate my homeowner's and sailboat's policies after the first of the year.

Now for the bad news: you can't do anything on the Internet without being tracked. This means I am getting a lot of ads promoting low-cost insurance. When I go to YouTube, 10% of the videos are on how someone saved a lot of money using different auto insurance. That doesn't include the insurance ads in the videos I do want to watch. I am also seeing ads in random websites I visit. Once I make the change, I don't plan on shopping around for at least a year so I won't be paying attention to those ads. Hopefully they go away soon.

The Internet is a very useful tool that can help us streamline tasks in our lives. Shopping for insurance is one of them. No longer are you required to call a company and provide countless amounts of information before getting a quote. Instead just fill out a series of forms at your leisure and you instantly get a quote. The only downside is the targeted advertising that follows.

MacBook Air or iPad Air

My wife recently went on a trip and brought her MacBook Air so she could do some work during her downtime. She used it for about 10 minutes and then shut it off to go play with grandkids. When she tried to turn it back on, nothing. We played with it a bit but decided to wait until we got home to really troubleshoot the problem. We got home and discovered she needs a new laptop. For the moment, she is making due with my old Chromebook I got for free but I have been wanting to replace it for the past 6 months. I figure I have a week before my wife will demand a replacement laptop.

Having used my Chromebook for around 6 years, it is a great device and will do everything my wife needs a computer to do. I thought about replacing her laptop with one and threw the idea out to my son, who works in technology. He suggested getting an iPad with a keyboard instead. This has brought on a research project over the past several days trying to figure out which device would be the best replacement.

Several months ago kids headed back to school or off to college and a number of articles appeared on the Internet as to which device parents should get for students. While my wife is not a student, she will use it like one and I found the articles very useful. I listed out what my wife uses a computer for and realized that a MacBook Air, an iPad Air, and a Chromebook would all work well. I could also throw a Windows laptop into the mix as my wife often uses Windows at work. Then I priced everything and discovered that if I get a keyboard for the iPad Air, the total price comes within $40 of the MacBook Air. Now I am shortcutting a lot of the technical details as you can find an older generation iPad for around $200, but I question the longevity of the device. When comparing computers, it is best to try and make the comparison as equal as possible with regards to CPU, RAM, and storage space. That is pretty easy with the Apple products, less clear-cut between them and Windows or Chromebook machines.

Right now I am leaning towards the Apple MacBook Air as it represents the least amount of a learning curve for my wife. It comes close to the same price as the iPad with keyboard but weighs significantly less. No it is not as versatile as you can separate the iPad from the keyboard, but knowing how my wife will use the computer, I think it to be the best choice. The only thing that can throw a wrench into those plans is that Costco has a Dell laptop that competes with the Apple one for about half the price. Ultimately I will leave it up to my wife to decide.

A Little Guidance Saves Time

On Monday I had to submit a purchase order request for some data quality assessment software. I have been at Sony for quite a few years but have never submitted a purchase order. This should have not been a time-sensitive matter but it took 2 weeks to get access to the system that allows me to submit purchase orders and the vendor started getting a little restless. Monday morning I received word that I had been granted access to our internal accounting system and felt excited to get this taken care of.

Having worked in software for decades, I didn't feel like I needed any extra training to use the accounting software. Then I logged into the system and discovered it to be a bit more complex than anticipated. I reached out to my contact in accounting who directed me to someone that could help me get the request completed. He couldn't meet immediately but I only needed to wait 30 minutes. When he became available, we jumped on a quick video call and I shared my screen with him. He then talked me through the process. We took about 10 minutes and everything got submitted correctly. The next day, the vendor successfully submitted the invoice.

As we walked through the steps necessary to submit the purchase order request, I realized I successfully filled in the correct information for 95% of what it needed. Having someone walk me through the process really streamlined things and helped me do it right the first time. You may be very skilled with technology but don't hesitate to ask for a little guidance for something you are doing for the first time. It may save you having to redo something because of a minor mistake. 

Christmas Shipping

Christmas is just around the corner and if you still have shopping to do, time is running out. Today I received an e-mail from a company from which I planned to get Christmas gifts. The e-mail said that orders need to be made soon if one hopes to receive the gifts before Christmas. Fortunately I had my orders ready and got them in before the deadline. My kids will receive their gifts before that important day in a few weeks.

There are a number of online retailers urging shoppers to get their orders in before it is too late. FedEx has listed the following dates that are important if you want to get gifts delivered on or before December 22nd:

• December 15 for FedEx Ground
• December 20 for 2-day delivery
• December 21 for 1-day delivery

They also go on to list that they will be doing modified home and ground delivery on the 23rd and 24th of December. All delivery services will be closed on December 25th, which is a good thing as I would hate to be forced to work that day myself.

UPS has a similar schedule where they say that December 20th is the last day to utilize 2-day delivery for packages that will arrive on the 24th. They then go on to say that 3-day deliveries sent on the 20th, won't be delivered until Friday the 27th. 

The Unites States Postal Service is also listing dates on their website. They include different schedules for Alaska and Hawaii, which is important. While some of the dates remain the same (i.e. First Class and Priority Mail service) Ground Advantage requires 2 extra days and Priority Mail Express Service 1 extra day. Otherwise the dates look similar to FedEx and UPS.

I want my Christmas gifts to arrive as close to the special day as possible and so some might think I have waited way too long before getting them shipped. Normally I would have to agree with one exception. This year, I have decided to get something that is perishable and so I don't want them to arrive too early. It would also be a huge disappointment for them to arrive late. Hopefully I timed it correctly this year and everything works out. Hopefully you also find the information above helpful this Holiday season if you still have gifts to send.

Killing Time in an Airport

This morning I find myself waiting for my son and his family's flight to arrive from Columbus, Ohio. I am here with my wife so at least I am not alone, which makes waiting a little easier. We have a lot of fog today and so flights are delayed coming in. So how can you pass the time at an airport waiting? That is a question I am sure a lot of people will be asking as they travel this Holiday season.

The airport in Salt Lake does not have a lot to keep you entertained outside of security. Once through security there are a lot of different shops and restaurants, including a Lego store which has a lot of different activities to keep one entertained. The only problem is that all of those little pieces are very easy to lose if you are not careful. So I'll pass on that activity for now. The real question is how to get through security if you are not flying. The easy solution is to purchase a fully refundable plane ticket for later in the day. Once you get through security, just cancel it and your money will be back on your credit card before you leave the airport. It is a trick I have used more than once.

Another thing to keep yourself entertained is to catch up on your e-mail. That is what my wife is doing right now. You do have to be careful with the free airport WiFi as it can be very easy for a hacker to steal your e-mail password. You may be better off using your phone as a hotspot and using it instead. Then there is my favorite, using a virtual private network or VPN that hides your network connection. I have a VPN for work and use it whenever I connect to the free airport WiFi. My e-mail only took me a few minutes this morning and so what should I do for the next hour?

I could watch a movie but it is too early in the day to start watching a movie. Perhaps if it is closer to the evening I would appreciate that more. I know my grandkids don't care what time of the day it is, they are always down for watching a movie. I'm sure that is what they are doing on the plane right now.

Last year for Christmas my wife got me a kindle electronic reader. I recently loaded up a new book on it and will probably pull that out shortly. Until then I've written in my blog, something else that helps pass the time. I could also annoy my wife. Maybe I should go get myself a breakfast burrito instead.

Computers in Cars

Yesterday I had to take my car in for its annual emissions test. When you buy a new car in Utah, you only need an emissions test every other year until it gets to a certain age. Then you need one every year in order to renew the registration. My car is old enough to require a test annually.

There are a number of places you can go to have the test done. I have a favorite place I have been taking my cars to for decades. They don't do anything other than emissions tests and the state restricts what they can charge for the test. Once the test is completed, the state has an immediate record if it passed or not. When it passes, I can log onto the state website and can see that information, pay the registration fee, and wait for the state to mail me my license-plate decals.

Yesterday I drove to the state test site and waited my turn. I didn't have to get out of my car, I just drove to an open garage door and waited for the car in front of me to complete its test. Then the service technicians waved me into the waiting bay. They connected a cable to my car's OBD-II port and my car's computer gave them all the information. A few minutes later the test completed and I found out I passed. I drove out the back of the garage bay and the guy waiting behind me pulled right in.

I remember buying a new car a couple decades ago and having the salesman tell me that the rapid rise in automobile costs had to do with the addition of new computers. Those computers have helped increase the reliability of most engines. They can tell you when a part has failed and needs to be replaced. They can also tell you how much your car is polluting. It is good that states around the country can tap into that information without any difficulty and help keep our air clean.

I left my house yesterday knowing I needed to get my car's emissions tested. Only twelve minutes later, I returned home with the task completed and ready to submit the results to the state. This is one case where computers have helped create efficiencies in my life. Hopefully you feel the same way.