I noticed on TV that there are more and more shows about saving, instead of spending: parts in talk shows on economical buying, fewer ‘rich cribs’ types of programming, and so on.

And here it is the end of the month, and I wonder: how many people reading this are having problems at the end of the month?

We are paying the price for someone’s credit policies – and so it makes sense that taking control of YOUR credit will help solve YOUR problems.

One way for some is to combine their credit debt into a single, smaller interest load. While not everyone qualifies, the result is a single payment, and lower overall interest.

For example, this site explains how to use a loan calculator to figure out what payments for a loan equal what amount of consolidation credit. The result is that you will pay to combine your loans into a single one – and THAT bottom line figure is what you need to pay in the future.

Of course, this is one way to solve the present situation; as always, it’s important to get a handle on debt, and if possible, reduce spending. A payment system like this can help you get ahead, but it’s extremely important to not use the extra savings from a consolidation loan for anything but paying off debt.

(One note: I’m not in the financial advice business – I only suggest options based on what I’ve seen online. As always, seriously consider the pros and cons of any financial course of action).

As a kid, I often heard (and said) that line: “Don’t Let The Bedbugs Bite”

Ah, the innocence of youth.

I just read about them on Bed Bugs Guide, a site that offers treatment for bed bugs. Among the nasty aspects of bedbugs:

• They can live without feeding for months, even a year.
• However, they like to dine once a week or so.
• They don’t like the sunlight, which makes them ‘perfect’ bedtime partners.
• They can lay about 3-4 eggs a day.
• Their bites can appear hours later (even days), and are intensely itchy.
• Their sex habits are, well, not suitable for discussing here.

I’ve changed my mind about the little ditty about bedbugs – drop by Bed Bugs Guide and you may, too.

As I look at the gray in my hair, I begin to wonder whether I would ever get any ‘work’ done – and I’m reminded once again how much has changed over the past few decades.

There was a time when artificiality of any kind by men was considered the height of vanity. People (myself included) would roll our eyes at a man who dyed his hair, or wore a poorly fitted toupee. Unless they were Hollywood Stars or News Anchors, it just seemed, well, a tad much (oddly enough, in one of the double standards that benefits women, I’ve never heard anyone seriously complain about a little tweak here and there for the ladies) .

Nonetheless, these times are a-changing (which also shows my age, as the original ‘change’ was about 40 years ago), and people are becoming more comfortable with adjustments – especially men.

For example, perusing my favorite cosmetic surgery site, MYA (now offering ‘Cosmetic Surgery for Men‘), I was asking myself, would I get a tummy tuck (or body reshaping, as they call it)? Face lift? Liposuction? Botox (ok, not botox; if you saw my face you’d realize there’s not enough botox anywhere to take of THAT).

After all, who wouldn’t like to be a bit trimmer? And for men especially, the face gets more craggy and distinguished as we get older (or so my wife tells me), while the ‘love handles’ will never make a girl swoon.

Also, in this day and age, a professional appearance works to your favor. Study after study shows pretty people do better. Like it or not, it happens; and cosmetic surgery may be your ticket to evening the balance.

Of course, there’s one more (big) aspect: safety. When I talk surgery, I do mean reputable and competent, not just anyone (for example, the intro to the MYA clinic shows a number of stars who get work done – and famous testimonials are powerful!)

Evaluate the pros and cons, find someone you trust, and then analyze the benefits. As for me, I’m going back to MYA to research the tummy tucks…

I could take a long time to get to the answer, or just:

Short answer: yes.
Long answer: very soon, but not yet – especially if you have plugins you use regularly.

With a complete revamping of its Javascript engine (called TraceMonkey!), and numerous tweaks, it’s considered to be ten times faster than FF2 – and I consider that to be plenty fast.

Other user experiences include better image display for richer viewing, direct video viewing, and the option to save the video to your computer.

Possibly the most ‘hushed whisper’ aspect of FF3.5 is the privacy mode – blocking sites from being cached or recorded in your History, clearing History, or even doing a whole browser session without leaving a trace. And while everyone goes ‘nudge, nudge, wink wink’ and immediately thinks porn, there’ s a very real application to this – testing websites.

Revisiting the same website over and over for testing caches files, cookies, and sets the History – all of which needs to be cleared each time if you want to do a fresh visit to a sire. This could be a real boon for testing.

Of course, as with all upgrades, there’s issues – and my reason to suggest NOT going for it right now is if you have favorite plugins that are not carried forward (yet). If any of them are deal-breakers, then wait a while.

You can read more about the future of browser technology at FireFox Central.

With the the many stories of ‘American handout money’ making the rounds, it’s obvious people are looking for creative ways to stay afloat in these times.

But although the American government’s aid in in the news, merging or acquiring companies to keep them going has a long history. And dealing privately has advantages: ask anyone about AIG or GM and watch their face. AIG in fact has plans to change their name, since the stigma of taking government money has ruined their current one.

In contrast, dealing privately, finding a company that fits well for you, and that works well with your business, can result in a stronger business. They aren’t interested in a bailout; they’re interested in a business that makes money, so that a successful merger or acquisition can benefit both sides. And of course using a broker to find these partners saves you time and effort. For example, a company like Generational Equity advises companies on ways to stay afloat via mergers and acquisitions, among other things.

There’s too much focus on handouts these days – but avoiding the charity route can give a company options that can end up making it stronger.