Computer problems can range from being almost unnoticeable, to mildly annoying, to frustrating, to downright costly if it’s a necessary component of your business.  Regardless of whether your computer is top of the line or a few years old, it’s always more pleasant when things are working as they should.

For a while, my computer had been really noisy.  The fan would rev up when I did something that really taxed the processor — like, oh, watch a video or even move the mouse around too much.  It would sound like my computer was about ready to lift off.

So I finally went to SuperUser.com, a growing information exchange site for all kinds of computer questions.  I asked my question here.

It took only a few minutes for Chris_K, another SuperUser member, to answer:

it could be that the original heatsink compound isn’t doing the job. I’d try pulling the heatsink, cleaning it and the top of the proc really well (rubbing alcohol, cotton cloth) and then using some good thermal paste and re-attach it.

Of course, you might open the case and make sure you haven’t obstructed ventilation with any large dust bunnies first!

Well, I followed the last part of advice, and the inside of my computer was absolutely filthy. I had no idea that so much dust could collect in there.  I cleaned it out, started it up, and you’d think that I had bought a new computer the way it sounds now.  It’s so quiet!

This was a nearly instantaneous service call, and it was free.  Last week, Nickel sent out a tweet asking for recommendations for a high-power wireless router.  A few months ago I asked for ways to stream internet audio through a conventional tuner, and got several helpful responses.  These kinds of questions are perfect for SuperUser.com.

Oh, by the way:  If you’re looking for programming answers or sysadmin answers, check out StackOverflow.com and ServerFault.com.  Same idea.  These are free, too.

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We just arrived in West Virginia to visit my wife’s parents and her grandmother who’s visiting them.  We’re bringing along a three-month-old puppy that we got a few weeks ago from a friend.

We stopped at Five Brothers for dinner and ate outside so that Taffy could get out, too.  While we were eating, I was really surprised how much attention Taffy got.  And it was mostly from girls and young women who introduced themselves by saying  ”Awwwwww!”

Then my wife and I thought the same thing at the same time: “Man, it would have been great to have a puppy in college!”  She said that it works great for guys to have a puppy, but not for girls.  All it does is attract other girls.

But then I ran down the reasons why I didn’t have a puppy in college:

• I didn’t have a clue
• I was mildly allergic to dogs
• Dogs weren’t allowed in the dorms
• Did I mention that I didn’t have a clue?

But anyway, my wife had some of the same restrictions, but unlike me, she had a clue, and she was able to get puppies for free to take out and about without actually owning them. The local Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) shelter would welcome anyone who wanted to take the dogs out for a walk, because they’re cooped up in kennels most of the day and the walks help to socialize them for eventual adoption.  They got to know her so well that she could play with them in the cages.

Had I known this as a single guy I could have had puppies for nothing and my chicks for free!

But now, as a very happily married guy, I at least know not to walk Taffy in town without my wife close by.

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This past weekend I went up to DC with a friend from church to hear a free big-band jazz concert.  Three different bands were battling it out.

The participants?  The Navy Commodores, the Army Blues, and the Airmen of Note.

The talent on the stage was absolutely disgusting.  The drummers ranged from solid to Buddy Rich’s doppelgänger. The trumpet sections screamed. It was a wall of sound.  (Check out Amazing Grace recorded by the Airmen.  Download the song for free.  And while you’re at it, check out all of the other songs by the other groups that you can download for free.)

It was a real treat.  What my friend said was that these bands used to be feeder bands for folks like Buddy Rich – like the way the minor leagues develop talent for the majors.  Now that there are fewer touring big bands, the talent stays more.

We saw the concert in the Carter Barron Amphitheater in Rock Creek Park.  The sound was fantastic.

What’s more, the Airmen had a gift for everyone who wanted one:  a full 77-minute CD with 13 live tracks.  They gave away hundreds of CDs that evening.

If you like jazz music, try to take advantage of this stuff while it lasts! Check out the schedules as to where they’ll be playing, or at the very least listen and enjoy.  Not only is the music DRM-free, it is free!

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The winner of the first TaxCut giveaway, chosen randomly by random.org, is Kathryn! The past three years she’s gifted her children’s accounts with a match for what they earned in the family business.  All parents should encourage thrift like this.  Congratulations!

Since we’re approaching tax time I’ll give away the other two rapid-fire.  I’ll mimic Nickel and Jim and make this a Twitter giveaway.  Again, this is for a copy of TaxCut Premium + Federal e-file.  You may enter through Monday, March 9th, 2009, at 9:00 PM EDT. Here’s the procedure:

• Follow me on Twitter if you haven’t already.
• Tweet me your best financial tip for one entry.  I’ll include the good ones in a future post.  Include #mbhtc so that I can track your entry.  The full tweet should look like something like this:  @mbhunter #mbhtc <INSERT YOUR FINANCIAL TIP>
• Spread the word for another entry.  Again, include #mbhtc so that I can track your entry.  It should look like this.  The URL at the end points to the post you’re reading now:  #mbhtc Tweet your best financial tip to win a copy of TaxCut: http://tinyurl.com/chqwdu
  
• There will be two winners.  One will be chosen randomly from the valid entries.  The other winner will be the one that submits the best financial tip.  What will constitute the best financial tip?  My wife will choose!  That way it’s out of my hands!
• Again, you must enter by Monday, March 9th, 2009, 9:00 PM EDT (Eastern Daylight Time).  I will contact the winners via Twitter.

Though I don’t anticipate any issues with you receiving the product should you win, I’m not responsible if something happens.

Oh, and have fun!

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The folks at H&R Block have generously offered three free copies of TaxCut Premium + Federal e-file to give away to my readers!

Here is some information provided by the sponsor for TaxCut Premium + Federal e-file:

• Report investments, dividends, retirement income and home sales.
• Includes videos that help explain specific situations such as home office deductions and the Alternative Minimum Tax.
• Supports Schedule A for itemizing and Schedule C for self-employment.
• Only from H&R Block: One Ask a Tax Advisor session included. An H&R Block tax professional can help answer your tax question via a 1-on-1 phone or e-mail consultation.
• Only from H&R Block: Worry-free Audit Support® offers guidance plus an H&R Block enrolled agent to represent you in the event of an audit.

So, you want some? Here’s what you do:

• Just comment on this post and you’re entered!  One entry per person.  The winner will be chosen randomly.
• Optionally, tell me your favorite tax-time ritual. It can be practical, funny, weird, sweet, whatever.  (But keep it clean!)  I’ll read them and list my favorites in a future post.
• The first giveaway will be over when I announce the first TaxCut winner.  Then I’ll get the next giveaway rolling!
• You must leave an e-mail address in the appropriate field in your comment if you want me to contact you to tell you that you’ve won!
• At that point, I’ll ask the winner for mailing information so that I can pass it on to the sponsor, who will mail the product to you.  I presume this will be a smooth process but I assume no responsibility if it doesn’t reach you for some reason.

Enjoy!

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Got wind of this deal at Money Crashers.  Quiznos is giving away a million free subs just for registering in their e-mail network.  Here’s the deal:

1. After registering they’ll send you an e-mail with a confirmation link.  (Mine got sent to spam so check there if you don’t see it in a few minutes.)
2. Follow the link and follow directions to print your coupon.
3. Coupon expires five days after printing.

Enjoy!  They’ve already given away 189,000 free subs.  Make sure you get one of the remaining 811,000.

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I only set two goals for myself for 2009, and they’re at the heart just consistency goals: writing down whether I do something each day or not.  I figure that if I can at least do that much, then I’ll be able to see how I’m doing on the goals, and I’ll be more likely to stick with them.  (That’s the theory anyway.)  The two goals are:

• Did I read (or listen to) my Bible that day? Yes or no, aiming for every day.  (I’ll explain the “listen to” addition below.)
• Did I exercise for at least 30 minutes that day? Yes or no, aiming for three times per week.

I purposely did not set any financial goals initially and instead purposed the Bible goal to help me gain wisdom in how to proceed that way.  So far this month we’ve had a lot of out-flow, but we’ve also had unexpected in-flow of funds, so I know that God is helping us through our current expenses. What’s more, I won a copy of H&R Block TaxCut Premium Federal tax preparation software from not one, but two personal finance bloggers this month!  (ChristanPF was able to give his copy to someone else.)

So far I’ve kept to my goals pretty well.  Tonight, after reading a post on Lifehacker I checked out a new (free) tool called Joe’s Goals that does exactly what I need.

It was a painless signup process, and I was able to put all of my hand-written data for the year thus far in the tool in about five minutes.  Now that things are set up, I go to the site once a day, click a couple of boxes (if I did both things that day) and I’m done!  It’s that easy.  What’s more, I’ve set my account to send me an e-mail if I don’t log in within two days of my last login, so I’m less likely to forget about it.  JoesGoals.com is very simple and very effective!

Oh, I was going to explain why I changed my first goal to “read or listen to the Bible each day.”  A few weeks ago I was in Costco and ran across the Zondervan NIV Audio Bible.  It’s a dramatized reading of the complete Old and New Testaments on sixty-four CDs.  I bought it sight unseen (sound unheard?) and was pleasantly surprised.  The background music isn’t annoying and the narration isn’t cheesy.  I’ve already gotten a lot out of it, and it’s been very effective at helping me to get the big picture.  Plus, it gives me a way to use my commute effectively.  I’ll go beyond listening, but for now I’m counting it as spending time in the Word.

Incidentally, the Lifehacker post also mentions using Mint.com to track financial goals, so I may need to revisit using that.  So, there you go.  It may be a bit early to ask but how are your goals going for this year? How do you keep track of your progress?

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I love receiving gift cards.  Whether it’s something utilitarian like a WalMart gift card or something a little more yuppie like a Starbucks card, they’re handy.

I’ve been test-driving a few gift card sites for a while, and these three either look promising or have delivered already, and you don’t have to spend a dime through the sites if you don’t want to.  You can earn the gift cards faster if you do, but you don’t have to.  Here they are:

(Update 8/4/2009:  Scour used to be here but they’re moving toward a drawing-entry-based model.  You can win, but you can’t earn for much longer, so only two websites until I find another one.  Sorry!)

Swagbucks. Swagbucks is a new site I’ve started to test-drive.  It works more or less on the same principle as Scour.  You earn Swag Bucks for searching the web, shopping at merchant partners, and so forth, but the Swag Bucks come into your life at random times.  You might search a few times and earn nothing, and then the next search you earn 10 Swag Bucks (like I just did).  (One thing I have found is that I win my first time each day after only a couple of searches.  That may change, but that’s how it’s working for me now.)  You can also benefit from your friends winning too: if you refer them to Swagbucks and they win, you win too!  Right now I’ve almost got enough points for a $5 Starbucks card, and that’s searching maybe three times a day for a few weeks, nothing major.  You can redeem your points for other things besides gft cards:  Netflix memberships, iPhones, even a drum kit with double bass drums!  Searching this site is easy too: there’s a Firefox search plugin, as well as toolbars for IE and Safari.  Swagbucks looks pretty slick.  I’ll report back when they deliver my gift card.

MyPoints. I love MyPoints.  They’ve been very good to me.  I’ve talked about them before but the main ways to earn points are (1) reading e-mails, (2) completing surveys, and (3) purchasing at online merchants through their site.  (These opportunities come in the e-mails.)  The nice thing, though, as I mentioned before, is that you can just read the e-mails and earn points!  They also have opportunities to earn points for shopping on eBay, which lets you hunt for bargains and get something back in addition.  I’ve gotten several gift cards from them.  They deliver them quickly.  I highly recommend that you join MyPoints.

So, there you go.  I use all three of these sites frequently, and it’s not really doing anything outside of what I’d normally be doing while working on the computer: reading some quick e-mails and searching the web.  I just do these things and get free gift cards.  Cool, huh?

(This is the first time I’ve talked about Swagbucks but I’ve talked on MyPoints before.)

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