Frug Rants

Please Go Ahead.

How using these 3 words daily, will change your life for the better.

For the last few months, I’ve been involved in a social experiment. It’s one of the simplest and most effective things I’ve ever tried. I dabbled with this in the past but wasn’t always the best at sticking with it. The experiment involved using three words “please go ahead.”

I decided that regardless of where I was, airports, hotels, restaurants, in my car (especially in my car) I would utter three words “please go ahead” whenever someone maneuvered in front of me, around me, or even needed to just butt in line or nudge me out of the way. I decided I would stick with this regardless of the situation. Someone would literally have to throw an elbow into my gut for me to skip it.

It was the perfect time to try this 3 word experiment. I’d be traveling to several US and foreign cities large and small, along with all of the flight and hotel check-ins that go along with that. I’d be busy as usual around home as well. If you’re a person who sometimes runs late or considers yourself an “excellent driver” who has no time for the other “non-drivers” on the road than this may be a bit difficult to stick with. However, it’s the folks with type A personalities that will benefit the most. So stick with it.

Once you find yourself involved in this experiment, you automatically become more observant of the people around you since you’re letting them go ahead of you. [Read more…] about Please Go Ahead.

Our Education System in Reverse. Learn then Do versus Do then Learn.

07/15 by The Frug Leave a Comment

By Brad Beckstrom

It seems like our entire education process is backwards. I believe this is especially true of higher education. Much of the emphasis is put on educating ahead of doing. Many of us get through high school, and often several years of college, before choosing a major. That’s quite an investment of time, becoming “educated”, without a clear path or passion.

In high school, students often search for universities based on cost, location, and reputation that their GPA & SAT scores “align with.” Many universities encourage this GPA and test score focus by promoting the high GPAs of students they admit. Here in Virginia, the two largest state universities boast they are admitting students with 4.5 and 4.2 GPAs. Imagine all of the talent they are excluding from our public universities. We only need to look at recent history to see artists, entrepreneurs, writers, inventors, musicians, and entertainers often come from far outside the system or drop out of it in frustration.

Stellar Students

The stellar students and test takers who do gain admittance often never truly find their path, entering the job market searching for a position based on attributes like salary, location, and benefits. Only 62% of these stellar students will work in a job requiring a college degree or related to their college major. [Read more…] about Our Education System in Reverse. Learn then Do versus Do then Learn.

Free e-books, Charging Stations, and Hot Coffee.

04/15 by The Frug Leave a Comment

Saving our public libraries.

By Brad Beckstrom

We used to have a Borders bookstore down the street. We also had a couple of independent bookshops with a smaller more curated selection of books.

Both are gone.

It seems like a brick-and-mortar battle in which the big guys and the little guys both lost. I used to go to bookstores all the time. I like to have a destination when I go on a bike ride, maybe get a cup of coffee and thumb through some new releases or the crazy selection of 1000s of magazines they had. It wasn’t frugal either. I could walk into a Borders and spend 60 bucks on books and magazines, sometimes work-related, sometimes something I had no intention of purchasing when I walked into the store.

Then along came Kindle, iPad, audiobooks, feed readers, ebooks, and podcasts. One click ordering from Apple and Amazon. Strong competition from every direction. It’s so easy. You hear about a great book, open up the Kindle app on your iPad and download a free sample. If you like it, it’s yours with one click, usually for less than 10 bucks, sometimes for $1.99, sometimes free. The books even sync across devices. I read a lot more now, fewer magazines, more great writing.

The problem with doing all of your reading on a digital device.

First, we were spending more on books than we ever had, thanks to Amazon’s recommendation algorithms and one click ordering. [Read more…] about Free e-books, Charging Stations, and Hot Coffee.

Dusty CDs and the Price of Music.

10/14 by The Frug Leave a Comment

Why now is really the best time for music lovers.

In my relatively short time on this planet, here are the many different ways I’ve purchased and listened to music. Oh, so many ways that the music industry has zapped us music lovers over the years.

Vinyl 45 records on mono record player
Vinyl LP records with high fidelity turntable and stereo
Cassette Tapes and mix tapes on tape deck (Luckily, I avoided the whole 8-track tape thing) But my Dad’s 1968 Olds Tornado did have one in the dash.
Recording cassette mix tapes from vinyl records and playing them on my first Alpine car stereo (I had arrived)
Cassette tapes in a Walkman
Compact discs on a compact disc player plugged into home stereo
Compact discs and cassettes on a boombox
Compact discs on portable Sony Discman
CDs, Concert DVDs, cassettes and vinyl LPs with 6 speaker home theater surround sound system. (why would I ever need anything else to listen to music?)
Six Disc CD changer in the car with cassette player and AM/FM radio
MP3 Player (one of the early versions, can’t remember how I even got the music on the thing.)
Using my laptop to “Rip” my CDs to iTunes and then sync them on my iPod
iTunes on laptop with Harman Kardon surround sound speakers and subwoofer
iPod with iTunes. Discovered the iTunes store along with everyone else.
Burning CDs from tracks downloaded on Napster, LimeWire, shared with friends
Streaming commercial free radio stations like Radio Paradise on my Mac with various desktop apps including iTunes, Chrome and Safari browser extensions
XM satellite radio
iPhone with iTunes
Streaming music via apps on my iPhone, like Last FM, then Pandora
Streaming music on Tivo, Roku and Apple TV with Surround Sound Digital Amplifier
Streaming Music from Apps to Bluetooth car stereo and a Bluetooth HD home receiver
Amazon Prime Music via Amazon Music apps

I’d almost be afraid to total up what I’ve spent on music, including all the gadgets, CDs clubs, and concerts. But the problem is, I love music. I basically listen to it all the time and I still use many of the items on this crazy list, including the vinyl records.

Dusty CDs

I am sitting here in my office looking at a very tall tower of dusty CDs. [Read more…] about Dusty CDs and the Price of Music.

B.Y.O.P. Bring Your Own Phone.

09/14 by The Frug Leave a Comment

How to Take Advantage of the Mobile Carrier Price War.

I’m going to keep this short because I can’t stand mobile phone plans. Mobile carriers have always thrived on complexity. The arrival of smartphones and data plans over the years has only added to the bizarre mobile pricing schemes already out there.

Smartphones have become money machines for the carriers, racking up all kinds of data charges, upgrade fees, smartphone accessory sales. It’s time for things to change. I’ll be the first to say that the smartphone a useful appliance. See 21 Things my iPhone replaced.

But if you’re not careful your mobile phone bills will be higher than your utilities. If you’re single, they probably already are.

About a year ago, things did start to change. T-Mobile touched off a price war with some aggressively priced data plans. Especially for families of four which seem to be the holy grail for carriers. T-Mobile is trying to grow market share with some heavily discounted plans and even offered to buy out your old contracts. To our benefit this infuriated competitors in bringing us to some of the better values out there today. [Read more…] about B.Y.O.P. Bring Your Own Phone.

Don’t Get Robbed Blind Buying Prescription Glasses.

08/14 by The Frug 12 Comments

My journey to find the perfect $44 pair of prescription shades.

Just got back from a walk and I am really enjoying my new $44 prescription Ray-Bans. The walk was short but the journey to find inexpensive prescription glasses has been a long one.

Over years I’ve been ripped off buying prescription glasses.. I don’t wear contacts, so you would think that would save me some money. Not really. I need progressive lenses and have an astigmatism.

While my prescription is not that strong, decent lightweight progressive lenses are still pricey. In addition, since I don’t wear contacts, I need prescription sunglasses, which are another racket.

If you want a decent pair of prescription sunglasses, you need to buy them and then immediately replace the expensive tinted polarized lenses with your custom made prescription. Unfortunately, because they’re sunglasses, they often get smashed, bent, broken and sometimes lost. #firstworldproblems

I’ve got a decent track record with lost sunglasses, my wife SuperK does not. Still, I’ve lost a couple of pairs of prescription sunglasses over the years, and busted one other pair.

Here are a few of the many comical ways I’ve been ripped off purchasing glasses. [Read more…] about Don’t Get Robbed Blind Buying Prescription Glasses.