Some Catchy Title

Which small businesses are hurt most by rising gas prices? What can they do to save money?

Mostly I would say any business that has a delivery service or orders goods to be shipped to their stores. 

One thing that can be done to save money in this case I would assume is to use smaller vehicles to make deliveries rather than a truck.  If the items can fit in the back of a small, fuel efficient, car then use the car... if the items are too big for the car I suppose there is no solution for that. 

Maintaining vehicles that are used for delivery are as important as how they are driven as well. Drivers should accelerate slow and be conservative on their rpms at higher speeds.  This causes very little time delays, but this can be counteracted by leaving early.  Also, keep those filters clean and your oil changed.  

Make sure your delivery drivers aren't going on any non-company related detours.  This is irresponsible and can cost you a lot of extra dough.  My dad works for a company that has a lot of delivery drivers, and they recently put in gps units to track where the trucks are going as well as their speeds.  Infractions are not taken lightly.

They had a form, I filled it out... I explained the backward Oreo thing, and suddenly now I will be able to get more Oreos. WoW!  Talk about wanting to make sure I'm happy.

So, I received this update from Nabisco about the Oreos.

Thank you for visiting http://www.nabiscoworld.com.

I'm sorry for your experience with OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies. The problem you described sounds like there was a possible mechanical failure at our facility. I am sending you reimbursement via first class mail, which you should receive within 7-10 business days.

We value the quality of the products that leave our facility. We give careful attention to each step of our manufacturing process.  Samples from each production run are evaluated before we ship them, in an effort to prevent any unsatisfactory products from entering distribution.

Mistakes can sometimes occur on our production lines.  We try to prevent this by stationing inspectors at various points along the production lines, and their duties include watching for malfunctions.  Also, our quality control staff makes regular rounds throughout the production area during the day in order to ensure that production equipment is functioning properly.

I hope this information is helpful, and again, I apologize for this experience.  Thank you for your loyalty and we hope that your next experience is a good one.

Associates name has been removed.
Associate Director, Consumer Relations

Associates ID has been removed

Cloth bandages are amazing.  Good for even those cuts on the palm of your hand.  It is like a second layer of skin.  Amazing!

So since the break I have been eating an increased number of Oreos, and I have noticed that in every package there is one Oreo that one side has been flipped backwards.  I feel that after I have eaten the proper number of packages of Oreos that I deserve a free package of Oreos to make up for all of the ones that were backwards.

I had ordered a camera from a person on EBay when he was currently deployed in Iraq, but since he technically lived in the US I'm not counting this as an international experience. 

I did, however order four CR2 batteries (for that camera) with a charger from someone in Hong Kong for an excellent price.  One downside was that I ordered it right before the Chinese New Year... this caused some shipping delay, but I did get it.  Considering the package traveled from Hong Kong to my door in about 2 weeks considering the New Year lasted from 2/7/08 to 2/10/08, and the bidding ended on 2/5/08 this is a pretty good deal. 

Item Cost: $4.00
Shipping Cost: $17.00

Manufacturer: Ultra
Product: X3 1000W Power Supply
Retail Supplier: Tiger Direct
Price: $299.99
Reason for Upgrade: Broken PCI-E plug on previous power supply lost hold of its metal bits causing it to become unusable.  Two attempts at a replacement wire/adapter were made.  I found an adapter online, but the PCI-E side of the plug did not have the proper shaped plugs resulting in a frustrating night and a bit of broken plastic.  Frustrated... annoyed... and really craving my high end graphics card I took the plunge and bought something that could be used when I upgrade this machine in the future... like an investment.

Product Description: The X3 1000W is quite some piece of equipment.  It came nicely packaged in a red and black box with a custom package enclosure to protect it from any dings that may occur in shipping/handling.  It included a box of many wires... more than I could possibly use with my current setup.  The wires have beautifully formed plugs on both ends (since it is a modular power supply).  As a part of honorable mention I must say that the cables are nicely flattened together and are of considerably great length and easily can be run across my case.  In addition, the wires can be reversed so if you only need a single at the top and an extra at the bottom you can use a 1 to 2 and plug the two side into one port on the PSU and use the one side to reach across the case.  Magnificent.  I have much fewer wires in the case now and it is very pleasant.  Visit the website for specificifications. 

So, I have an Epson 4490 PHOTO scanner that I got as a gift a few years ago, and my recent switch to Linux has prevented me from using it... well no longer shall it collect dust!

The original instructions are located [here] third post

Preparation:
Aptitude installs:
Open up a terminal and type the following command:
sudo aptitude install sane libsane libsane-extras sane-utils xsane xsane-common alien
You should be able to copy and paste it into the terminal. 

Driver:
So In Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon Go to [here]
Scroll down and fill out the form... I don't believe it matters what you put in there... might be a good idea to check the list of scanners to make sure yours is listed.
Find Download for Perfection 4490 PHOTO (for gcc 3.4 or later)
and download the first two .rpm files to your desktop

Installation:
Once you have completed the preparation
cd ~/Desktop

sane-find-scanner 
This should yield some sort of message, and here is what mine said:
found USB scanner (vendor=0x04b8 [EPSON], product=0x0119 [EPSON Scanner]) at libusb:003:006
If not, something is wrong and I don't know what to do... mine works...

sudo alien iscan-2.10.0-1.c2.i386.rpm
sudo alien iscan-plugin-gt-x750-1.0.0-1.c2.i386.rpm
Ignore any errors that you get from these two alien commands... all that is important is that some .deb packages end up on your desktop.

sudo dpkg -i iscan-plugin-gt-x750_1.0.0-2_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i iscan_2.5.0-1_i386.deb (optional)
The second command will give an error, just ignore it... it should be fine... just run the next command

sudo dpkg -i --force-overwrite iscan_2.5.0-1_i386.deb (optional)

sudo scanimage -L
This should yield some output:
device `epkowa:libusb:003:006' is a Epson Perfection 4490 flatbed scanner

Now test to see if it will scan:
sudo iscan
or
xsane

So, I have always wanted a BMW... as of right now it is out of my league, but ONE DAY!  If anyone wants to get one for me I have included the configuration and some pictures.

This is what my BMW will look like as it is coming at you... please... no rubbernecking.

This is what my BMW will look like as it passes you.

This is what my BMW will look like as I'm getting into the driver seat... except the cockpit will be farther back.
This is what it would look like if you were trying to backseat-drive my BMW... I don't need your help though, because my navigation system will tell me when to turn...
The Interior Trim (Dark Burl Walnut wood trim), Interior Color (Beige Leatherette), and Paint Color (Monaco Blue Metallic)

So I programmed some stuff for a binary clock with LEDs and the Arduino kit.  I just need more LEDs to test it all out.

Incase you are interested: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=df8kvgwh_67wh32gdq

I was playing with my arduino kit today after I got off of work and this is what I created.  Some of you will find this awesome... some of you will be like WTF... but trust me, it is awesome.

It helps if you know binary.