Pete & Jay's Tip O Da Day

Pullup Tip of the Day

2008-08-27T08:27:00.001-04:00

Don't shave immediately following an upper body workout. Tired arms may not be as precise with a razor blade as your skin would prefer.

Ikea Tip of the Day

2008-08-19T08:29:00.000-04:00

Flat pack boxes, alen wrenches, funny names and all, are catching on as totally awesome in the US. As you work to enhance your Ikea experience, follow this handy 3 step guide

First download the song and listen to it while you read the rest of this tip
Make your own Ikea furniture name
Assemble new creations by using the Ikea hacker guides

Car Buying Tip of the Day

2008-08-14T09:57:00.001-04:00

How to Buy a Car in 6 minutes:

Warning: Picture of rude gesture for 15 seconds

Phone Tip of the Day

2008-08-11T13:39:00.000-04:00

Cell phones are just so small and flimsly. They don't provide anything near the traditional phone experience, but their convience takes the cake. But with this little beauty, you can have the best of both worlds:

E-Break Tip of the Day

2008-07-29T04:54:00.000-04:00

Have you ever wondered what pulling your emergency break would do while traveling at a high rate of speed? Well don't, it's not good. In 100% of the cases we studied (totaling 2) we found that boyfriends and girlfriends broke-up not too long after the incident if both were in the car during the event.

The E-Brake, "a great way to put a quick stop on your relationship!"

Reddi Wip of the Day

2008-07-28T07:42:00.000-04:00

It happens time and again. You have had so much fun inhaling nitrous oxide from the whip cream in a can, that you used up all the propellant but not the actual whipped cream. What to do. The package warns heavily (even on the light cream container) to not puncture the can. But out of propellant you haven't anything to fear, but you should do it in a controlled environment. The best™ way to open your can is use the one thing in your kitchen that is designed to puncture cans, a can opener! Since whipped cream cans aren't designed to be opened, you have to hold the can opener so the blade is on the side, not top down as you would for opening canned beets.

Proceed as expected, aka twist the twisty thing on the can opener and wha-la!

Whipped cream, ready and waiting for something to be plunked down on top of!

Rabies Prevention Tip of the Day

2008-07-28T07:35:00.000-04:00

For a helpful (albeit somewhat humorous) how-to video called, "Catch the bat!":

-Steph

Sync Tip of the Day

2008-07-27T09:43:00.001-04:00

I have a computer at work and one at home, but there is always something on one machine you need on the other. It will happen, and it will be involvement when it happens. Two handy free solutions have recently made themselves know to me.

If you have a Mac, sync your addressbook with Yahoo! you don't even need a Yahoo! email account, Sync your address book with Yahoo!. They provide simple step by step instructions
For Mac or PC users, or if you use both. Dropbox is the most elegant solution for keeping files in sync on all your machines at once. It even makes sharing files and photos incredibly easy. Everything synced in the background, super quick and responsive. All its nifty features are laid out in a video over at getdropbox.com. Dropbox is in private beta right now, but we have invites. Drop us a comment and we'll invite you to join (if we still have any invites left by the time you read this)

Harley Tip of the Day

2008-07-25T07:37:00.001-04:00

Are you lonely and need a companion on those long motorcycle rides around
town? Here's an instant friend.

All credit on this picture goes to Renee

Water Cooler Tip of the Day

2008-07-24T13:27:00.002-04:00

So the cold tab broke off your water cooler, what are you to do? Or better yet, what would McGyver do?

He's stick a fork in it!

All credit here goes to Dave!

Congress Tip of the Day

2008-07-23T11:32:00.000-04:00

MAPLight.org is an englitening tool that shows you who is contributing cash to which politicians and how those politicians are voting on key bills in congress. It is scary how close the tie is.

MAPLight.org Video Tour

Phone Tip of the Day

2008-07-15T12:04:00.000-04:00

Grand Central "allows you to have a phone number not attached to any particular location. Instead, you can program the number through the internet to forward to any phone you’re using at the moment, or directly to voicemail." You can even automatically route some people like family and friends to your cell and send others straight to voicemail!

Thanks: A List Apart

Cow Tip of the Day

2008-07-11T09:52:00.001-04:00

Chick-Fil-A's cow appreciation day is today.

Dress like a cow from head to hoof for our 4th annual Cow Appreciation Day® (July 11, 2008) and get a complimentary combo meal (breakfast, lunch or dinner) from Chick-fil-A.

Not up for sporting the full cow look? Partial cow attire will still get you a complimentary entrée. Request a tall, cool Dr Pepper with your Chick-fil-A and complete your meal.

Cow dressing tips at cowappreciationday.com

Amazon Tip of the Day

2008-07-01T11:21:00.000-04:00

$4.10 short of getting Free Super Saver Shipping at Amazon.com? I have browsed around the site, trying to find anything useful that I can add to my cart so ave $8 on shipping. But now there is an easy answer. The Amazon Filler Item Finder, in one word, Awesome!

Found Via: The Simple Dollar

Chick-fil-A Tip of the Day

2008-06-24T08:40:00.002-04:00

Chick-Fil-As in Lexington, KY are at it again. This week they are (again) giving away free breakfast.

Here is the menu:

This morning - Sausage Biscuit
Wed and Thurs - Chicken Minis
Fri and Sat - Chicken Biscuit

Help Tip of the Day

2008-06-19T01:35:00.000-04:00

Thanks Benny, but I'm not sure if that's the kind of help I need.

Teen Age Tip of the Day

2008-06-18T12:59:00.000-04:00

$5,000 in a ROTH IRA and a great fund can land big returns. Like $360,000 in 40 years. No Credit Needed as the details. Kind of makes you wish you were 18 all over again.

Flying Tip of the Day

2008-06-13T12:10:00.000-04:00

I might as well drive. More major airlines are coming up with clever ways of sneaking money out of inexperienced travelers in a vain attempt to make money.

In good news, Orbitz.com today announced a price guarantee plan, where it will reimpursement if the cost for a particular flight goes down after you purchase the ticket.

Dishwasher Tip of the Day

2008-06-11T06:11:00.003-04:00

Lots of lots of dishwashers, but how do you pick? What do you need?

These days, being 2008, all dishwashers clean pretty well. They are all reasonably quiet, aka. quieter then your old dishwasher. So you have the basics covered. There is one other hidden bit to watch out for (da da dun): squishy racks. That right, squishy racks. The racks that hold the dishes in place. On the lower end models, the coating on the racks, over time can crack and flack off. That leaves rusting metal exposed in your dishwasher, touching your otherwise clean dishes.

Dishwasher with minor rack damage, showing a little bit of rust

In some cases in can get so bad that it may ruin and entire set of dishes but covering them in rust if your continue to use the dishwasher with large amounts of rust exposed. The solution is to look for racks you can't squish with your fingernail. When that is the case, you've likely found racks with a nylon coating.

Also, Bosch has been long esteemed as making some of the quietest dishwashers out there. They achieve this by doing something a little bit different. Instead of running the top and bottom spinny-water-shooty-thingies at the same time, they alternate. You may or may not like the idea of that. The other way they do that is by being really expensive and using three layers of insulation. But recently they have started to make cheaper models, and even the less expensive models have gotten good reviews.

Consumer Reports has some additional notes on buying a dishwasher.

Appliance Shopping Tip of the Day

2008-06-10T05:13:00.000-04:00

Walking into any appliance dealer and you will see rows and rows of fridges, dishwashers, dryers, and ranges. The first step when buying kitchen appliances is not to be distracted by the big ol TVs. You're here for the kitchen, and no you don't need a 56" plasma in the kitchen. What you do need is stuff to cook, cool and/or clean your food and dishes.

It can be a daunting process, so that is why you need to enter Appliances R Us with a plan. The first step is determine what you need. You can literally spend anywhere from $300 to $3,000 on a single appliance. So the best thing to do is to determine what you need and want in an appliance. If your stove is broken, you probably need a stove that works. Any other amenities you want? In the next few days we'll be talking about specific things to look for in the different appliances, but you probably already have a pretty good reason why you're buying new appliances. So list want you like and don't like about one's you've used in the past and most importantly, why you're getting new ones anyway. If could be as simple as you are moving into a new house that doesn't have any appliances, so you just need things to cook, cool and clean.

Secondly, don't get a brand that sucks. For all the reputation about the Maytag repairman, a leading consumer magazine that asks their readers every year to report maintenance problems, Maytag is always near the top of the list as being the least
Third, do you really need/want stainless steel? Stainless steel has a reputation for smudging easily, but some brands or sub-brands have a clear coat that greatly reduces that problem. Luckily this is really easy to test, just bring your fingers shopping with you. Also stainless steel does carry a premium price, but there are ways to reduce that premium, we'll talk about that in the last part of our appliance shopping series next week.

Hypermiling Tip of the Day

2008-06-09T08:06:00.000-04:00

The cheapest way to get better gas mileage? Sure there are hydrogen and other fuel additives. Hybrid and electric vehicles. But all those cost money. To save gas without spending more you can just adjust your driving habits. To do it to the extreme is called hypermiling, but there are little tips that anyone can use save an MPG or two, such as "Don't use quick accelerations or brake heavily

More from NPR.org

Coupon Tip of the Day

2008-06-06T10:37:00.000-04:00

So the savvy shopper picks through the coupons they get in the mail and throws out the rest. But sometimes the coupons are so good and they are to places you would visit anyway that you wish you had more. Well now you do. If you get Family savings Magazine in your area, they reprint online. (Just click on the "Now in Digital Online" button.) Love getting a Burrito from Sonic for 99¢? Now you can get one every day! You are only limited by your printer paper!

Less Wal-Mart Tip of the Day

2008-06-05T16:48:00.001-04:00

Thanks to the new thing called the internets, you can actually subscribe to your groceries, or Marketplace: your favorite toilet paper. It is a new program from Amazon.com where you can have items from their Grocery department shipped to you every month. Plus you save 15%!

Speeding Tip of the Day

2008-05-26T09:01:00.001-04:00

A little birdie told me that from May 19 through June 1, the Kentucky State Police have received a federal grant for writing tickets for speeding. Speaking of getting speeding tickets, I have also recently been informed about a useful website (whose interface could really use some maps) that lists common speedtraps around the country, called speedtraps.org.

Network Camera Tip of the Day

2008-05-25T04:06:00.000-04:00

This has got to be the best tip I've given out by far. A company called Axis Communications is a popular vendor of security cameras. They have a web interface to allow their owners, and if they make it available, you to view what is going on. Type this into Google to see for yourself. "inurl:/view/index.shtml" without the quotes. A lot of them are traffic cams but I found some others. When it asks you to install the Axis software say yes. It is needed to give you the live streams. Some have 4 viewports and if there's more than 1 camera on a location you can change the source camera. If its asks you for a username just click cancel. Some are slow and some are fast. The fast ones are the ones only worth viewing. Below are some of my favorites that I'm going to be keeping an eye on. I havent time to view them all because I suspect most of the activity takes place during business hours. Most of them are probably traffic or people commuting to classes. I saw 6 guys in the classroom one during the day.

Deck
Classroom
Grand Valley State University
Athens State University
Restaurant
NC State Commons Traffic Cam
Airport
Lexington, KY

Lets just hope banks don't use these. Also don't go viewing more than 10 pages at once on Google or they willthink your computer is sending automated requests through spyware.