I'd give an excuse as to why I haven't been posting, but I have a list...

So far this summer I have eaten 120 oysters in one sitting (ACME Oyster house in New Orleans), traveled to Bermuda, beaten roughly a dozen games, dropped 20lbs, and taken Bolt Bus AND DC2NY at least a dozen times.

Also, during that time, I've had a laptop die on me and it had my original articles. I also have a potential new side project developing that I'm working on with a fellow friend and I was hording articles for that project but I've decided to start putting them here first, then potentially rewrite them on the main site at a later date. Anyway, as summer winds down I will start posting here more frequently, probably every two weeks or more. Can't say I tried this summer tho. :-P

Stay cheap.

Review of Bolt Bus coming soon...

Planning to head up to NYC in two weekends to see the significant other and I'm finishing up the Bolt Bus review. The more I stew over it, the more I'm starting to think I prefer Bolt Bus over my current favorite, DC2NY. Course, I'll have to retest that by taking them this go around.

But which one will I not try to review soon? Megabus has me a little worried. Check this out:

Megabus = Megasauna? - Apparently the AC in the Megabus didn't work. That's a scary thing for those double deckers.

Bus drivers don't know how to get to NYC - I have NEVER had this issue happen to me, and I've traveled up to NYC at least 30 times. the worst adventure I've had was the day before Thanksgiving, where it took us 8 hours to get to NYC. Why? Jersey Turnpike traffic, and it was the day before Thanksgiving.


I think the buses are handy, but again, regardless of who you take, you're still bound to the rules and conditions of the road. I would avoid taking the buses:

• Day before New Years
• Day before Christmas
• Day before the 4th of July
• Day before Thanksgiving
• Day before any Federal Holiday, really.

In reality, any time where people with cars would think about driving a car is usually a bad time to take the bus. Chinatown, DC2NY, Vamoose, Bolt, or Mega, you'll all be in roughly the same crappy traffic. So don't be dumb.

Check out the bolt bus review shortly, Otherwise look at my old review, which covers nearly all modes of transportation from DC to New York in the archives.

Selling and Buying stuff online: Glyde.com

(UPDATE: New Drama with Glyde. Bottom Line, don't use them yet until I figure out how they deal with missing packages. http://ppgeek.blogspot.com/2011/01/glydecom-you-piss-me-off.html)

I don't quite remember how I got to know this site, but I think it was through some other game traders. Glyde's whole premise differs pretty significantly than that of goozex, which I had previously reviewed (check my archives!).

It's a pretty simple concept for buying and selling:

Selling is simple:
1. List your games/dvds/books online
2. Glyde will send you the package you need to send the product out to the user
3. Wait a couple days
4. Profit with money!!! No points, nothing in the way of cold, hard cash!

Buying is just as easy...


1. Select a game/dvd/book that is listed that you want to buy
2. Glyde will send your request to the seller who will send you the product
3. Wait a couple days
4. You get it!

You will get your money in an account on the site, which you can withdraw and have them directly deposit into your account, or you can use it to buy other products on the site. No points system, and they guarantee all transactions.

I've done three transactions so far with them (possibly a 4th one coming up) and my experience so far was this:

1. The selling process is VERY easy.

But there is one caveat: You can change the price the system wants you to list it at, but there is a high/low limit.
WTF? Really? I mean, I appreciate Glyde telling me it's "above the market price", but it is my item and I should deservedly list it at the price I want to list it at. Generally, this price range is fairly reasonable (I think around 10% upper and below the market price wherever they may find that price at ), but for older or more obscure items, I feel like I should be able to list it at the price I want to since they are so hard to find.

They send you a prepaid mailer and you simply put the game or item in it, then mail it out. It'll arrive to the buyer and in a few days, you get credit for the item you sold. Easy.

Downsides?
1. They take a painful cut. Oh man, for selling a copy of Modern Warfare 2 for example:

They charge 1.25 for the mailer, I can understand since they pay for the mailer AND for postage and tracking. But here's the kicker: They also charge shipping and handling when you BUY something.

Let's take Modern Warfare 2 for example.
As a seller:
-You list the game at $34.50
-Glyde takes a cut of $4.70
-You get $29.80

As a buyer for that very game:
-The game is listed at $34.50
-Glyde charges you an extra $3.47 for shipping and handling.

That means Glyde gets 8 bucks (over 20%) of every transaction total. Shipping and handling I understand, but damn.

In any case, I use it because it's VERY easy to do transactions, there are a fairly large number of people using it, and I can use that money to get other stuff on the site, reducing the painful feeling of reaching for my wallet. Also, I find myself now getting games off of Goozex.com and selling them on Glyde. Helps me mitigate those points which are now steadily creeping up to around $500 worth of credit...


In any case, I recommend Glyde.com, but I'm still a little miffed about the pricing and the amount they charge. These guys really rely on internet traffic for them to survive, and I would think Amazon would be smart to adopt their system for buying and selling used items. Taking advantage of Amazon traffic could be huge for these guys. But still, I like them now the way they are :-)

I have a pretty thorough review of Boltbus coming up, I just need to get some time to clean it up a bit. Also, I'm still gaming pretty damn hard. In the meantime, stay smart and stay cheap.

A minor note...

I figured I might as well throw in some random tech related stuff, since, hey, this is my freakin' blog.

Darryl Gates died today. For those of you who aren't older than 20, he is considered the founder of the SWAT team concept and former LAPD Police Chief, and lent his name also to the Police Quest Game SWAT (which then started the SWAT series, etc). Rest In Peace.

Also, my childhood neighbor, Mr. Miller, had passed away recently as well. Sad.

I really need to stop playing Dynasty Warriors 6: Empires, by the way. That game is just a time waster.

Quick hit: HDMI Cables

A while back, a friend of mine asked me about buying a new PS3. One of the topics that came up was HDMI cables. I'll save you the conversation but it basically boils down to this image (click to embiggen):




1. Buy your HDMI as cheap as possible.
2. Ignore anyone that is trying to tell you to pay more than $10. Or even $5. I got mine for $2. WITH SHIPPING.


Interesting post. Keep an eye out for my newest article, a full article length review on Bolt Bus! In the meantime stay cheap and smart.