Major Causes Of Vehicle Breakdowns - Broken Alternators For Example

By MoneyBlueBook

These days, nothing lasts forever. Unless the item in question is one of those seemingly indestructible NASA Mars Rovers that are still chugging along the Martian surface despite having already greatly exceeded their original lifespan - or if the item is a substance or product that doesn't have any oscillating mechanical moving parts such as a compact disk or a gold bar, the item is bound to break down, corrode, or malfunction eventually. Despite the millions of dollars spent on improving the quality and lifespan of products, it seems all mechanical devices are destined to break down inevitably, and oftentimes when you are least prepared.

As discussed in a recent post, out of nowhere I recently experienced a vehicle breakdown in the middle of the night. While I was waiting in my car with the engine still running the motor suddenly stalled, and all dashboard controls and indicator lights stopped working. Turning the ignition key was met with cricket chirping silence, and even the electronic door lock stopped responding to my unlock button pressing, causing me to worry momentarily. At the time I grew concerned as I wasn't sure how I was going to get out of the vehicle without a working or functional electronic door lock. Then I laughed and realized I could manually pull up the door lock tab to open the door that way and use the metal key to manually lock the car door again. It's funny how I've grown so dependent to using the key less lock

By MoneyBlueBook

Well it was bound to happen and it finally did. My trusty 2004 silver Honda Accord that I purchased brand new during graduate school finally died on me. I think there are several valuable lessons to be learned here, and one of them is that nothing lasts forever. Particularly if it's a man made machine with moving parts susceptible to corrosion and wear and tear, the mechanical device is bound to break down sooner or later. No matter how reliable the vehicle brand, the quality of the materials or products used, or even how skilled the engineers that built the cars are, the fact of the matter is that cars, like all that is based on technology, inevitably wear down. But despite this inevitability, I'm still rather surprised that my car broke down so early on in its lifespan. My Honda Accord was only a 2004 model, with just 60,000 miles on it - the vast majority of the mileage accumulated through long distance interstate highway driving. I don't use it to commute to work so it's not like it was subjected to the rigors of stop and go driving, or exposed to the frequent acceleration and breaking style driving of bumper to bumper traffic. That's why I was so shocked when my car suddenly broke down this weekend.

Responding To A Sudden Car Breakdown and Engine Stoppage In the Middle Of The Night

For the last few days my car sounded sluggish and felt a tad underpowered whenever I stepped on the gas pedal, but I

By MoneyBlueBook

When you think of Ed McMahon, you don't exactly associate or lump him with big time wasteful spenders like MC Hammer and some of the other well known celebrities of the past who rose to fame and fortune quickly but ultimately frittered away their money into bankruptcy on trivial pursuits. No, when you think of Ed McMahon, you think of the aging but charismatic late night show announcer, the TV personality, and the face and voice of the American Family Publishing sweepstakes team (not to be confused with the more popular Publisher's Clearing House sweepstakes) that arrives unannounced at the homes of winners to present them their grand prize. You certainly don't see or hear about him throwing his money away on fast cars, fast women, or holding lavish sleaze parties to great excess.

So I was quite surprised when I learned that someone like the now 80 plus year old Ed McMahon has now found himself in difficult financial straits and faced with the prospect of mortgage foreclosure on his multi million dollar home. This housing bubble and credit crisis seems to be quite merciless and universally brutal, even to those who simply lived their lives with the best intentions, but still succumbed to hard times. With little regard to feelings or reason, the mortgage credit crisis and the powerful forces of housing supply and demand have devastated many good families.

Ed McMahon and His Wife Pam Speak Out About Home Foreclosure and The Possibility Of Losing Their House

Ed McMahon recently appeared on

By MoneyBlueBook

These past few weeks have been tough on me. Not only did my trusty Honda Accord suddenly break down, but I've been experiencing major Internet service disruptions at home caused by the incompetence and admitted overselling activities of my current broadband service provider Comcast. For months now, I've been plagued by frequent Internet outages coupled with agonizingly slow download speeds reminiscent of my old 56k screech-and-hiss modem days. The breaks in service finally culminated into the complete stoppage and loss of my home Internet signal. Furthermore, the service disruption repair activities were hampered by a series of powerful thunderstorm waves that swept through my area this week, knocking out electricity, cable TV, and broadband Internet service for almost all seven days. While my car was washed and scrubbed sparkling clean by the rain and wind, lightening sparks managed to knock out the power in my neighborhood. Electricity was "quickly" reactivated in 1-2 days, but cable TV and my precious broadband Internet service wasn't repaired and fully restored until nearly a week thereafter.

For the last few days I've been a pretty sad fellow. Not only did I feel isolated and cut off from the real world without convenient home access to the Internet, I haven't been able to properly update my personal finance blog, nor have I been able to check my email messages, or tend to the operations of any of my online passive income businesses. On a normal weekday I usually receive close to 50 emails a day from a variety of personal

By MoneyBlueBook

Editors note: These offers are no longer available

Periodically throughout the year, Citibank cancels out old expired promotional offers and issues new ones to entice first time customers to open new Citibank checking and savings accounts. While I'm already a long time Citibank customer and won't be able to qualify for the latest Citibank promo deals, I still like to keep tabs and updates on all free money offers out there (whether banking or credit card related).

I've edited and updated my compiled list of Citibank promotion codes with the latest active bonus offers for new Citi banking customers:

• Currently, Citibank is providing a new $200 bonus deposit offer with the opening of a new Citi checking account (Promo offer code: CEMX). This offer expires on June 30, 2008.

• Citibank is also offering a new bonus offer for 16,000 Citi Thank You Network reward points with the opening of a brand new qualifying Citi checking account (Promo offer code: CSVL). The promotional Thank You points are instantly redeemable for the equivalent of a free $150 gift card. The new Citi account holder will also get to earn triple Thank You Network points for 1 year. This offer expires on July 31, 2008.

Citibank Is A Decent Banking Option For New Checking Account Customers - Not So Much For Savings Accounts However

For those of you out there who have yet to settle on or select a primary bank to handle your banking funds and transactions, you may want to take a look at what Citibank has to offer. While they offer pretty unimpressive interest

By MoneyBlueBook

Today I was relaxing at home on a lazy Saturday afternoon, tinkering on the computer and watching my weekend mixed martial art fighting shows on TV when suddenly there was a tremendous flash of light from the window, followed by the wallop of a floor vibrating thunder crack. Since I was on the computer, I quickly checked the weather page and confirmed that there was definitely a major thunderstorm heading my way. Weather reports predicted a heavy storm system to move through my neighborhood during the early to late afternoon period with the potential to bring forth severe isolated thunderstorms and heavy rainfall mixed with strong winds, with torrential downpours heavy at times. There was even an online warning issued for frequent lightening and even a small tornado watch. The mere prospect of tornadoes has always baffled me. I live in the Maryland suburban area of Washington D.C. and have never encountered a tornado before during my entire lifetime in this area. There have been limited reports of one or two tiny tornadoes touching down in years past, but their appearances are rare and usually sighted in the less populated outskirts of the central city. The metro D.C. area is simply too urbanized and populated with tall buildings and infrastructure for a substantial twister to develop. However, we do get pretty powerful thunderstorms and heavy rain showers at times - and that's where my dirty, dust covered car comes in.

Thunderstorms and Rain Showers Signal The Tantalizing Opportunity For Me To Get A Free Instant Car