Pete & Jay's Tip O Da "Day"

If you work at a rental car agency that is nice enough to have a $198,000 Porsche, think before taking it on a joyride and getting caught .

Has it been weeks, or even months, and your rebate still hasn't shown up? It could be that the company in question is just inefficient, and needs a little encouragement to follow through on their promises. But sometimes it's because your rebate is in a dumpster in San Jose ! Fie!

People who start shopping now for Christmas are not just Christmas-obsessed shopaholics who buy too much, like your Aunt Hilda. The smart start early too. Here’s a few benefits to this. First of all, it spreads the cost of the holidays out over several months, instead of all at once. Secondly, it gives you the chance to scope out more sales and bargains in two distinct ways. Way 1: You may know exactly what you want to buy someone, but if you wait until December, that item may never be on sale. As of now, you have three whole months to keep your eye on that item for any sales. Way 2: You have no idea what to get someone. When you see a sale or clearance rack/table, stop by for 5 minutes with your friends and family in mind. See where inspiration takes you. Finally, if you start thinking about Christmas now, and you have the great idea to MAKE your gifts, you actually still have time to do it! No need to stay up until the wee hours in December trying to finish knitting Aunt Hilda’...

Anyone who's spent any significant amount of time buying running shoes knows this basic tip: Shoes wear out and need replaced every 300-500 miles. Your shoes might still look okay, but they're not giving your feet, joints and knees the cushioning they need. For someone who wears her 2-week contacts for at least a month, sometimes three, I'm usually a fan of stretching things out to the bitter end. But even I have accepted this running shoe rule as gospel truth. Trust me, I've felt the difference and most certainly saved myself injury by switching things up when I'm supposed to. So what's a frugal girl to do? Training for a marathon has sent my weekly mileage into the unprecedented 30s and the shoes I JUST got a few months ago are already worn out. Sigh. Time to hit the internet. At MyRunningShoe.com they combine the inventories of running specialty stores from around the country into a searchable database. When a customer finds a shoe to purchase, the...

Friends, today is your lucky day, because NBC is bringing back American Gladiators , and they want you to try out ! The only requirements are: - Must be a "warrior type," i.e. no Canadians - Must be "BIG" (I hope they don't bring spandex back) - Must be "bad," ex-cons feel free to apply - Must be "athletic," so lay off the biscuits & gravy - Must have "heart," sorry Tin-man - Must have "skills," presumably with a bowstaff - Must have "a desire to COMPETE," i.e. would you kill a man for a Klondike bar? You will be tested in areas such as strength, speed, balance and agility. Also, you have to bring a non-returnable photo of yourself. (Ugly people need not apply!) Go get 'em, tiger!

Concerned about your Mac Laptop getting stolen. Even more concerned that you wanna see the guy fry who stole if from you? Check out Undercover , it will track the IP address and take pictures of the person who is using your computer. Hah hah aha! Found on TUAW

A Scotsman will always correct you when you tell them "I speak the same language as you", or "You speak English here"! Why? Because Scotland very much wants to be independent, so what language will they say they speak? Scottish! They do have some different words to be sure... A besom is a difficult woman, a birl is a spin, bonnie is beautiful, a dunt is a bump, and rather than saying highway robbery, they'd say daylight robbery. And of course, a Loch is a lake, such as Loch Ness, Loch Lochy (or Lake Lakey), and Loch Lamond, and a glen is a valley. While some of these terms come from the Gaelic, most of them are just the English word with a Scottish accent. They are overall, pretty easy to understand. One interesting thing is that once you officially cross over to the Highlands, not just the geographic highlands, all the signs have both Gaelic and English writing on it because Gaelic is an official language of the Highlands. The picture is Loch Lamond in...

I picked this tip up from an actual Highlander, and yes, I know there are easier and less smelly ways to do this now a days, but if you feel like going old school...a way to clean and waterproof your kilt is to wash it in human urine! Yes, it's true. Back in the old days of the clans of Scotland, kilts were only washed once a year. The winter kilt was washed in the spring and the summer kilt was washed in the fall, and the were indeed washed in urine. I'm sure glad I wasn't visiting Scotland back then!

When going to a Scottish pub, it's a good idea to ask them how they got their name. Many of these pubs have very interesting stories behind their name. For example, Maggie Dickon's pub was named for a lady who was hanged in the square across from the pub. She was charged with concealing a pregnancy and hanged for the charge. As her friends were taking her body to the grave, they heard a scratching inside the box. As it turns out, she was only knocked unconscious from the hanging. It was determined that she'd been saved by God and when she was tried again, she was set free. From that point on, she was known as half-hanged Maggie. There is also "The World's End" which was named because it use to be on the edge of Edinburgh when it was walled in, so those from Edinburgh wouldn't have wanted to go beyond that wall. As far as they were concerned it was the World's End. Then there is the one pictured here...Deacon Broadies. He was a craftsman by ...

Scotland has its own native dishes. One such dish is haggis. With any breakfast it may look to an American as a common sausage, but rest assured, it's not. It's made mostly of lamb intestines/stomach and such organs along with some barley and spices. If it's coming with a buffet breakfast, because it's a native dish to the Scot's, it's probably worth a try, but if you really want to spend money on something truly Scottish, I'd recommend Irn Bru before I'd recommend haggis. Irn Bru is the native Scottish soft drink. It actually outsells Coke in Scotland. It's like an orange cream soda, is quite good if you ask me, and is available at any pub you'll find.

When arriving or leaving Scotland's Preswick Airport, train tickets to anywhere in Scotland are half price for passengers. So, as long as you don't mind a little extra time on a train, it's best when arriving to go ahead and buy your ticket for your final destination (provided you'll arrive there the same day), no matter how far. It will save lots of money! I'm not sure whether or not it's also true for the Edinburgh airport, but it's sure worth looking into before choosing your flights!

The type geeks out there, know there is a difference between different quote marks, such as ", “ and ”. The latter two are proper typographically, the first is just what they invented for the type writer. Word and other programs will automatically use their “smart quote” feature to convert a boring quote into open or closed quotes. But what if the program your using isn't smart enough. On a Mac just his Option-[ for open double quotes, and Option-Shift-[ for close double quotes. Use Option-] and Option-Sift-] for single quotes. To do it in HTML use ‘ ’ “ and ” for ‘ ’ “ ” respectfully. On Windows, it is Alt+0145, Alt+0146, Alt+0147 and Alt+0148. Thanks to P22's Tip of the Month , Mountain Dragon's HTML Entities Examples , Tip sheet on special characters Dave M. and Citizen Grim.

If you read our dog flatulence tip from yesterday, you probably were thinking, "what about me? What if I suffer from flatulence?" Well, turns out our friends at Flat-D have a few products for you. Introducing the Reusable Flatulence Deodorizer. Tape this thing on your panties just over your buttocks and let it work its magic! This is a case where truth is stranger than fiction: "When intestinal gas is expelled through the flatulence filter pad, it absorbs the gas odor normally associated with the malodorous gassy discharge or flatus. Those with digestive disorders...will regain confidence, end embarrassment, live life again, and enjoy freedom with this inconspicuous pad. No more smelly episodes, horrible flatulance odors, with these pads that are placed in your undergarment."

Does your dog suffer from flatulence? Or, more probable, do YOU suffer from your dog's flatulence? Look no further than the " Dog Gone Thong Flatulance Neutralizing Pad. " Yes, it actually filters your dog's farts. Special. What will they come up with next? I'm just glad for the following quotes from this site: "Uses our famous activated charcoal cloth (washable and reusable)!" "Suspender clips are used to make the garment totally adjustable." (Yeah, your dog won't mind THOSE being on at all.) "They also provide quick release for allowing the dog out to do his business." (Well, that's great.) "Patent Pending." (Pretty sure you're not competing with anyone else on that idea.)

Instead of just filling your dog's bowl with regular water, just throw some ice cubes in it. Giving them cold tasty water for a little while and then turning in to regular old water after that. As an added bonus, you're not going to spill as you move their bowl from the sink to the doggy breakfast nook.

Whatever you do, don't use water to put out an oil-fire on the stove. See why in this shocking, but informative video.

Flying out of London... Sure, it's easy to get in. That 2 hour time you have to show up at the airport at most airports, not entirely necessary. But in London...they mean business! There, when RyanAir says one bag for carry on, they mean it! I had a purse and a lap top, and they made me put my purse in the laptop bag to pass through security! Luci's bag weighed 10.3 kilos, and they made her adjust it to be less than 10! She'd gotten to London with a backpack and a suitcase both as carry-ons, but as we went back, not only did she have to take stuff out of the suitcase, but she had to pay an extra fee to check her bag. Here's a tip though, they had her mark it as fragile so it would get put up at the front of the plane! Apparently, you can request that. Because she'd gotten stopped at the security gate and sent back to check her bag, they shuffled her to the front. But I was still in line! We'd gotten there two hours early and finally made it to the gate ...

The "Nigerian Phone Scam" is one of the oldest SPAM scams in the book. It actually predates the advent of email. The scam basically goes, "I've have several million dollars, and I'd love to give you all or part of it but I need some help getting it out of the bank account it's in." Once you contact them they'll need your bank account numbers etc. Well now it looks like they're going Christian. Maybe something about Christian woman in a Muslim country blah blah blah. I think there is a special spot in you know where with their name on it.

Any tour you take in London is going to be a good one. Their tour guides are rigorously trained...seriously, they spend 2 years in school and have to take 9 examinations at the end to prove their knowledge of English history before qualifying to apply for a job! Plus, after paying for all that, you'd better believe they love their job, and it shows. I took three tours in London...one to Leeds, Canterbury, and Dover. The next was a Jack the Ripper walk. The third was a walk with a "Beefeater" in the Tower of London . All of the tours were fantastic...the guides were both knowledgeable and entertaining. So no matter what tour you choose, your very likely to have someone who knows what they're doing. And, we discovered that it takes an average of 5 years to become a cab driver in the city because they have to know the streets so well and pass their own exam. London is really big on tourists! The picture above is the castle on the white cliffs of Dover.

Booking things in advance... Generally, booking things in advance is a good idea. You typically get better prices, better seating, etc...But, when you book a tour in advance, you pay the same price and you run the risk of losing that money if you have to cancel. Usually, in the states, if someone gets sick, you can get a refund if you are reasonable about it and cancel before hand. Unfortunately, customer service is a little lacking here. We called to cancel a tour, first of all they asked why they didn't get more notice. Their line was busy all morning. They also didn't get more notice because I'd just gotten sick. They told us the best they could do was 50% back, but as soon as we let them know that wasn't good enough, they sent us to expedia, who we booked through. Of course the best they could do was a $25 gift certificate! No go on that. So, lesson learned, if it's not a hotel room, a play, or a movie, I'm not booking in advance! Besides, since I...

Want to find platform 9 3/4? Look no further than King's Cross train station in London, just like it says in the book. Yes, you can literally follow the signs for platforms 9-11, and right there between platforms 9 and 10, you'll find platform 9 3/4. Because everyone wants to go to the platform and get to Hogwarts (I wish it actually took you there), they don't even look at you funny when you ask where it is!

We interupt our regularly scheduled London tip for this important announcement. You can't even believe it, unless you first saw it on Facebook, but TODAY, at the University of Kentucky campus Chipotle, you get a FREE burrito! It's all day long! (Well, from 11:00 to 10:00). The best part is, there's no gimmicks, nothing to pay for, no dressing up as a burrito or any other crazy nonsense . Just show up, and eat in glory. NOTE: This is only going on at the UK campus Chipotle, don't go to the Mt. Tabor or Hamburg locations thinking it's going on there too. Thanks Jay & Facebook

One of the most famous things to go see in London is the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. It's a lot bigger than I thought. It involves an entire army band and a parade down the street. If you look real close, you can see that in their tall black hats, each soldier has a colored plume. There are 5 different colors that they could have. These colors signify where these soldiers are from. (Whales, Scottland, etc...) What may be even less known than that is that the changing of the guards actually starts at St. James palace where the guards come off duty. They start there, play a piece of music, then on with the marching to Buckingham Palace from there. Once you follow the band down the street, stick around after they've gone into the palace gates. There will also be a band coming from the other direction...from the barracks, the ones coming on duty. The picture is of the soldiers outside St. James.

So everyday when you sit down at your computer, there may be a few web sites that you always visit. They have just become part of your daily ritual. May be you have them organized under your bookmarks, but sometimes what you really are looking for is buried under lots of links. Depending and your usage there may be a better solution. Check out Only2Clicks , that service gives you some big ol icons of the sites you visit often. Set it as your homepage and as soon as you launch your browser you're just a click or two away from your most used sites. Maybe even more accurately, you don't need to go to those websites you just need the information off of them. Such as sports scores, stocks, headlines and the weather. Try iGoogle , I use this service and has enough customization for most uses. If you really want to go all out, and need data from a wider range of sites try Netvibes . Happy Browsing~