Have you just finished reading a book and need a recommendation for your next one? I find that I am always asking my friends who are in book clubs to share with me the title of the newest book they had enjoyed reading.
Many times the answer is that they did not like the book and I should not bother reading it.
A good friend of mine suggested that I take a look at this site: www.librarything.com.
What a great idea for a website! There is so much information on this site so plan on spending time here.
It seems that you would get the most out of www.librarything.com once you start adding books you have read. You can then get recommendations based on your reading selections. There are also various chats taking place at any given time to discuss a book.
I started out by adding 2 books I had read and when I highlighted the tab, "recommendations," a huge list was generated.
What is useful is the fact that you will add the books you read so that you won't get caught trying to remember a particular book title or author, as I find myself doing, a month after I finished reading.
What I really thought to be helpful was, under the tab "local," you see a list of libraries and bookstores in your area along with scheduled events. When you highlight a library, for example, another window opens with info on that particular library, its website address, address and a map showing the location.
There are so many links on this site and I suggest you do your own exploring once you register, add some books and start reading.
Where to look: www.librarything.com
A somewhat eclectic blog offering advice and suggestions based on my experiences on how to deal with numerous day to day situations, what to buy, where to buy it, how to negotiate and insight into major decisions you may need to make.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Who Said We Had to Wash Our Jeans?
I once knew a guy who never washed his jeans. We would joke that when he took them off at night, they would stand up by themselves. Well, maybe he had a point.
Take a look at this article from The Wall Street Journal:
Take a look at this article from The Wall Street Journal:
By CHERYL LU-LIEN TAN
Carl Chiara, director of brand concepts and special projects for Levi Strauss & Co., is among the growing number of jeans enthusiasts who believe in washing them as little as possible.
Eurydice Galka
Carl Chiara, director of brand concepts and special projects for Levi Strauss & Co.
Mr. Chiara, who says he wears jeans every day in both work and social situations, believes that "the less people wash their jeans, the better their jeans become. Denim really does shape to people's bodies, and when you wash a jean you lose some of that shape."
He doesn't like to put his jeans in a washing machine because agitating the denim makes the fibers on the cotton fabric swell and "bloom." That in turn causes the yarns to tense up and actually get shorter, shrinking the jeans. This also mars the "open" look of the denim, Mr. Chiara says. The color may fade or change as well.
He also avoids heat—using hot water on his jeans or throwing them in a dryer—to protect the quality of the jean, he says.
Jeans: Fashion Statement or Faux Pas?
3:20At the theater, in a house of God and elsewhere around Washington, DC, WSJ's Neil Hickey looks at when and whether denim is appropriate attire.
So does he dry clean his jeans? No, because he doesn't like them coming back stiff—and perhaps with a center crease if they get pressed like trousers. "The jeans should take on your personal day-to-day life and look like you," he says. For example, his own jeans bear the weathered marks of his keys, which he keeps in his front pocket, and his bag, which tends to rub against his upper thigh.
This is not to say that Mr. Chiara doesn't ever clean the 15 pairs of jeans that he owns. He gently spot-cleans spills with a damp sponge and "whatever is under the kitchen sink—usually Windex or 409."
At the end of each day, he hangs his jeans on a hook in his bathroom. When he takes a shower, the steam "freshens [the jeans] up a little bit," he says. He prefers hanging jeans by a belt loop to preserve their shape.
After six months of wearing a pair of jeans, Mr. Chiara does a comprehensive cleaning; his method could also be used by those who like to wash their jeans more often. Usually, he fills a bathtub to about six inches with room-temperature water and adds two tablespoons of Dr. Bronner's Magic Liquid Soap, which he likes because it is mild. Then, he immerses the jeans in the tub, laying them flat.
Sometimes, with dark jeans, he'll add 1/8 cup of white vinegar to the water. "The vinegar sets the indigo and keeps it from fading," he says.
Mr. Chiara is careful not to scrub the jeans or move them around vigorously. He just lets them soak for 20 minutes before hanging them by the belt loops to drip dry. While letting the jeans air-dry, he may slip a "woodsy" scented sachet of potpourri into the jeans as he lays them flat.
If it's sunny out, Mr. Chiara sometimes likes to wear the jeans when they're "almost completely dry" and sit in the sun. "This final phase of drying them out on my body helps the jeans take on my shape," he says.
Write to Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan at cheryl.tan@wsj.com
Monday, September 6, 2010
WWW.VITACOST.COM COUPON CODE
If you started to shop at www.vitacost.com since I wrote about it, or even if you are contemplating shopping there, they are offering a 10% discount on all of their own brand products - NSI.
The coupon code is: EMSAVENSI and it expires on 9/30/10.
I just placed an order and to make it even better, if you spend over $100, they will ship for free!
Where to shop: www.vitacost.com
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Be Careful When You Transfer Prescriptions to Your Mail Order Pharmacy
They made a suggestion. I took them up on it. I got screwed. While I was on my account on my Mail Order Pharmacy's site, I see a note that I can transfer my Retail Pharmacy prescriptions to their Mail Order Pharmacy.
What a good idea! There are meds I am using repeatedly and by transferring them, not only can I get 3 months at a time, but I get a price break when I do. Let me state that this policy is with my insurance and may or may not be available with yours.
I call them to question prices and find out what I do exactly. The rep says that he can do it for me on the phone.
We go over all the prescriptions and the prices. Then we start transferring them one by one.
When we are on the first, he asks if I want auto refills and I said no because I am not sure how long I may need it and don't want to have to be responsible to cancel an auto refill. He says that is fine and finalizes the order. When he goes over it with me, he ends with..."and I set up auto refills for you." I said that is not correct but he can't change it. Back to square one for me and now I will have to call to stop the auto shipments.
After finishing with some others and doing it correctly, he tells me to call my doctors to let them know that they will receive a fax from the Mail Order Pharmacy requesting these be filled.
I do that right away and follow up my calls with emails.
A few days later I get an email from the Mail Order Pharmacy telling me that the prescriptions are being shipped. When I go over each one, I notice that only 1 out of 3 are for a 3 month supply. To add insult to injury, 1 of the meds is now costing me 2 and 1/2 times more than it did at the Retail Pharmacy for the same 1 month supply.
Immediately I am on the phone with a rep from the Mail Order Pharmacy. I get more and more frustrated. They put me on hold for a long time to check and tell me that my doctor ordered them for only 1 month instead of 3.
I ask that if the doctor calls them to change it to a 3 month supply, could they just add it to the original and send me 2 more, considering I just now paid so much more than I originally did at the Retail Pharmacy.
No, they could not. The prescription is filled correctly from their end, so it is not their problem. I ask for a supervisor. After explaining it all, he will not budge. I ask if he could give me a courtesy credit for the difference I had to pay them from the Retail Pharmacy price since it was not my fault, and he refuses. They do not care how much it cost me and he has the audacity to tell me to ask my doctor for a credit since the doctor made the mistake.
The worst part of it is that I did everything correctly and I now have to pay so much more, it was absurd.
I ended the call not believing what had just occurred.
My doctor has sent them a new prescription for the correct quantity but I am not even sure it will get filled now that they just filled one.
This entire experience was a no-win situation.
So please, if you ever find yourself transferring prescriptions, cover your bases even more than I did. You just never know!
What a good idea! There are meds I am using repeatedly and by transferring them, not only can I get 3 months at a time, but I get a price break when I do. Let me state that this policy is with my insurance and may or may not be available with yours.
I call them to question prices and find out what I do exactly. The rep says that he can do it for me on the phone.
We go over all the prescriptions and the prices. Then we start transferring them one by one.
When we are on the first, he asks if I want auto refills and I said no because I am not sure how long I may need it and don't want to have to be responsible to cancel an auto refill. He says that is fine and finalizes the order. When he goes over it with me, he ends with..."and I set up auto refills for you." I said that is not correct but he can't change it. Back to square one for me and now I will have to call to stop the auto shipments.
After finishing with some others and doing it correctly, he tells me to call my doctors to let them know that they will receive a fax from the Mail Order Pharmacy requesting these be filled.
I do that right away and follow up my calls with emails.
A few days later I get an email from the Mail Order Pharmacy telling me that the prescriptions are being shipped. When I go over each one, I notice that only 1 out of 3 are for a 3 month supply. To add insult to injury, 1 of the meds is now costing me 2 and 1/2 times more than it did at the Retail Pharmacy for the same 1 month supply.
Immediately I am on the phone with a rep from the Mail Order Pharmacy. I get more and more frustrated. They put me on hold for a long time to check and tell me that my doctor ordered them for only 1 month instead of 3.
I ask that if the doctor calls them to change it to a 3 month supply, could they just add it to the original and send me 2 more, considering I just now paid so much more than I originally did at the Retail Pharmacy.
No, they could not. The prescription is filled correctly from their end, so it is not their problem. I ask for a supervisor. After explaining it all, he will not budge. I ask if he could give me a courtesy credit for the difference I had to pay them from the Retail Pharmacy price since it was not my fault, and he refuses. They do not care how much it cost me and he has the audacity to tell me to ask my doctor for a credit since the doctor made the mistake.
The worst part of it is that I did everything correctly and I now have to pay so much more, it was absurd.
I ended the call not believing what had just occurred.
My doctor has sent them a new prescription for the correct quantity but I am not even sure it will get filled now that they just filled one.
This entire experience was a no-win situation.
So please, if you ever find yourself transferring prescriptions, cover your bases even more than I did. You just never know!
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