This from the Federal Trade Commission: (page moved to here)
Your Access to Free Credit Reports
Soon you’ll be able to get your credit report for free. A recent amendment to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies to provide you with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months.
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Q: How do I order my free report?
A: The three nationwide consumer reporting companies have set up one central website, toll-free telephone number, and mailing address through which you can order your free annual report. To order, click on www.annualcreditreport.com, call 877-322-8228, or complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281. The form is on the back of this brochure; or you can print it from www.ftc.gov/credit. Do not contact the three nationwide consumer reporting companies individually. They are only providing free annual credit reports through www.annualcreditreport.com, 877-322-8228, and Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, GA 30348-5281.
You may order your reports from each of the three nationwide consumer reporting companies at the same time, or you can order from only one or two. The law allows you to order one free copy from each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies every 12 months.
Read more about it.
I found 1 error on my Experian credit report… I had paid off a loan 3 years ago but they had it listed as being past due. It’ll take 1-2 months to fix. Better to do this kind of thing now than when I want to buy a house or something and time is more important.
update 8-8-05 Experian just got back to me and fixed the error. The loan is now “Paid, Closed”. That was easy. :-)
I blogged last year about my confusion with buying multi-vitamins. It comes down to knowing how much vitamins to take and how much is too much. I’ve found a good reference. Consumerlab.com is a free resource available to Oxford Healthcare members… of which I am.
I got the Puritan Mega Vita Min tablets today with my 10% Oxford discount. (hint: if you call them on the phone, they don’t verify your Oxford membership)By taking them, I hope to live forever. I’ll get back to you in a century or so to tell you if it works.
Here’s the Consumerlab research:
Continue reading ‘Vitamins’ »
I’ve signed up for welding classes at The Crucible and gotten some welding videos from Technical Video Rental.
I’ve always felt that I have a much harder time learning if I can’t find a practical (that’s practical to me) application for the subject matter. Well, here’s my chance!
I’ve just arranged to have all my stuff shipped from New Jersey to California via UPS. Let me tell you a little about my experience:
I’ve got 2 shipments… 150 lbs of computer equipment being shipped to my apartment. It’s going 2 day air because such packages are usually treated kinder in the UPS system. Cost: about $350. I’ve also got 1,100 lbs of stuff being shipped directly Ground to a storage space in San Francisco for about $700. Total cost: about $1,100.
I found that any other option would have cost two to four times as much. If you can find cheaper, please tell me! PODS would cost a cheap $200/month for the storage space but $3,000 to ship it cross country. Movers charge $0.50-$1.00 per mile…. * 3,200 miles is expensive. It would have been nice if a mobile storage unit company like PODS would work with a rail line to get the cost of a long haul shipment down.
Packing boxes for UPS is much different than packing boxes for moving. It takes quite a bit longer and is quite a pain in the neck. 50 boxes all carefully packed with cushioning and styrofoam peanuts. Ugh.
To accept the packages at the storage space, I’m going to have to sit there and wait all day for them. But it’s better than finding 1,200 lbs of stuff at the door of my second story apartment! Not all storage spaces will let UPS pull up to their loading dock.
I just took a part-time gig with Wavexpress! I’ll be (tele-)commuting to New York City every day. It’s currently a part-time thing. The hours might grow, or the hours might shrink. It depends on how well things pan out with me and the business.
Woot!
Pyrophage has been kind enough to get me a Livejournal Syndication. So you can now view my blog inside your Livejournal Friends Page by using http://www.livejournal.com/users/gadlenblog/.
I believe I’m going to be helping to build a really big, really dangerous, really freaking heavy sculpture to be placed in a desert for all to enjoy.
I just got back from a Burning Man preview event:
The Crucible Hosts: Burning Man’s Desert Arts Preview: Free Admission
See and hear what some of this year’s Burning Man honorarium artists are creating for Black Rock City! You’ll also hear members of Burning Man’s Art Department give an overview and highlight of Burning Man’s theme and grant process.
The tagline of the Colossus project reads “30 tons of granite and steel spinning overhead. 70 feet tall. Radically radially interactive.”
Find out all about it.
I’ve got to contact Corbett in the morning but I think since they’ll need a welder, I’ll be taking welding lessons soon. Maybe I’ll rent a video on the subject too.
I’ve started a cell phone photo blog. I’m not sure I’ll be using it all that much but you can find it at http://www.t-mobilepictures.com/gadlen
If you’re all gaga over seeing the pix, you can subscribe to an email list on the above page. It’ll tell you when I’ve posted new photos without you having to check both of my blogs on a regular basis.
I’m building up a long list of restaurants, dining and the like to go to in SF. When I tell friends where I am, they wax poetic and start telling me where I -have- to go! It’s far less fun to go to such places alone so I look forward to friends buzzing me up and asking to go out with me [hint hint!]
I just found a sublet room from now until around November 15th. The plan is that I find a temporary place so I can get my bearings in this city.
There’s three other folks in the apartment, the second and third floor of a three floor house. It’s just a few blocks from the hubub of the Mission District, a few convenient blocks from the highway, and about 2 miles from the financial district downtown.
There was another place I considered… the housemates were really good and the place was neater and more spacious but it was in Richmond. Richmond is a neighborhood just 2 or 3 miles from where I am now but the weather there is much cloudier. And darnit, I wanted to live in SunnyCalifornia! As I’m typing this, the sun shining down through a skylight onto the desk. I can look out the window and see that it’s mostly cloudy in Richmond. Krazy.
Next steps: set up my home, find a job, find whatever it was I was looking for out here.
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I spent two hours this morning getting a visitor parking pass. I figure it’s easier to get a temporary pass and then do the auto registration stuff by mail. We’ll see how it goes. Gosh darn it was awful standing in that line. For one, there was no air. I noticed that cool air was blowing out from behind the glass but there was NO AIR in the room we were made to stand in. It was a cool sunny day, no A/C needed, just a freaking window. But I digress.
I’m going to have photos and audio blogs from my 10 day cross country trip online in due course.
PS. Will everyone PLEASE stop moaning to me about how expensive it is to live here. I’m paying $650 including utilities and internet. That’s only marginally more than what I’d have to pay in Hackettstown, which is, as everyone knows, the center of the universe.
Find out more about the move.