On May 16th, 2010 I will be participating in the AIDS Walk New York which is a charitable event to raise money for organizations that promote prevention and fighting AIDS. AIDS Walk events will also be in San Francisco (July 18th), Wisconsin (September 19th) and Los Angeles (October 17th).

Here’s the deal. The minimum donation is $25. If you donate $25 or more I will create a new post linking to your blog thanking you for your donation and giving a general description of your blog. You get to feel good about yourself in addition to the link to your blog. Put your blog’s title in your donation so it’s easier to tell who it’s from. Leave a comment on this post also.

You’re also free to donate if you don’t have a blog and just want the good karma.

Here’s a link to my fundraising page.

On a recent visit to my local TD Bank (formerly Commerce Bank) I discovered that there are no longer free pens being offered! I really don’t mind as long as they don’t cut their days and hours of operation as they’re still the most convenient bank around. I wonder if this is only my local branch or pens are being phased at all locations.

It’s weird that they would cut pens first before cutting those 5 second commercials on television that would tell you the time and temperature.

In January I took a trip to Boston. I took Amtrak to Boston from New York City and got back using a bus line called the Bolt Bus. I decided to take both methods of transport to compare the experiences.

Pricing

First let’s see how much it costs to get to Boston and back using various different methods available (Rail via Amtrak, Bus via Bolt Bus and commercial airlines).

Amtrak charged $64 for a seat in coach on their regular train service and $92 or so for the express train (less stops). The difference in time is that the express train gets to Boston 45 minutes faster at 3 hours and 30 minutes versus 4 hours and 15 minutes.

The Bolt Bus charges $8-$15 each way. Tickets are on the cheaper end if you book earlier (a week or two in advance). The ride is approximately 4 hours give or take depending on traffic conditions.

As a reference airfare tickets from NYC area airports to Boston are generally $250-$300 and duration of flight is 1 hour and 15 minutes. However let’s not forget what a hassle air travel is compared to bus/train due to airport security.

I was surprised at how pricey Amtrak was. Sure it’s cheaper than taking a flight but when comparing against longer distances such as NYC to Chicago it’s cheaper a lot faster to take a flight. Also the Bolt Bus is astronomical cheap compared to Amtrak. I’m surprised it’s not more economical to move people in bulk using the rails or Amtrak can’t figure out how to get prices down to that level.

Amenities

The Amtrak train is spacious and has big windows letting you enjoy the scenery. Each row of chairs had it’s own power port and an overhead rack for small baggage. There are bathrooms in every car and a snack car offering various snacks. What’s truly disappointing is that there’s no wifi at all! I expected wifi because the Bolt Bus amazingly offers free wifi.

The Bolt Bus was truly a bargain in terms of pricing and amenities. There are leather seats and power ports to accompany each seat. The free wifi also helps in keeping you busy for the 4 hour ride. Although not as spacious and roomy as Amtrak it’s not exactly cramped either.

Conclusion

I’m going to avoid taking Amtrak in the future. For short haul trips such as Boston I’ll take the bus. For longer destinations I’ll fly. It’s a huge deal breaker that Amtrak doesn’t have wifi and the prices are out of line with what they should be. The extra comfort space offered by Amtrak doesn’t justify the price and time it takes to get from point to point.

Here’s the real kicker: Amtrak is a government owned and subsidized entity. I don’t know if that means they should be able to offer cheaper tickets or the state they are in now is right where they should be.

I was reading an announcement on Hulu regarding the departure of Comedy Central’s offerings from the website. This means two of my favorite shows that I watch regularly (The Daily Show and the Colbert Report) will be unavailable on Hulu. This is a huge disappointment to me and most likely a mistake on Comedy Central’s part.

Normally I don’t watch either show live because of their late night time slots. Therefore I use the subscribe feature on Hulu to have new episodes automatically added to a queue which I can watch at my convenience. Comedy Central’s website offers nowhere near the functionaly that Hulu offered. It’s a lot more inconvenient to catch up on these two shows.

Sadly to say this will probably mean I won’t be able to watch these two shows as often as I would prefer. I wonder if Comedy Central measures the amount of viewers of their shows on Hulu vs viewers through their own official website. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a huge drop off in online viewers. Note that the streamed episodes on Hulu included commercials just like regular TV.

Last year the government passed laws that reformed the credit card industry. I’ve been recieving tons of notices regarding the change a ton of credit cards and I’ll detail some of the important changes I find worth discussing below.

A few restrictions include over-the-limit fees and the marketing of credit cards to adults under 21 particularly on college campuses. I guess the days of getting a free t-shirt for a credit card application are over which was a horrible deal anyway. Credit cards can not be issued to individuals under 21 unless they have an adult co-signer or have proof of income to repay the debt. I’m glad this didn’t come to pass earlier as I got my first credit card at 19 and have been using credit more than responsibly. I guess at 18 you’re old enough to vote and enlist in the military but you can’t purchase alcohol or sign up for credit cards on your own.

Any payments above the minimum payment due will be applied to higher interest rate balances first. In the past credit card companies would offer plenty of promotional 0% balance transfer offers in the hopes that a percentage of the cardholders would not repay the funds by the end of the promotional date or put regular purchases on the card that would accrue interest. I guess the days of plentiful cheap 0% money are over now that most card issuers have less incentive to offer them.

You won’t be charged for spending over your credit limit unless you authorize it, 45 day notice before interest rate hikes and more. I never understood why the credit card companies thought they could pull off letting consumers be able to charge over their credit limit and then charging them a hefty fee for it while calling it a “service”. I don’t particularly care about the interest rate provisions because I never carry a balance unless it’s beneficial for me to do so.

Most of this legislation basically protects consumers from themselves. A great deal of consumers in this country are devoid of any financial common sense and hence the support for these regulations. People cry foul when the credit card companies make money off terms specifically defined in their terms and conditions.

Laws like these generally do benefit more people than they hurt.The people who dont’ bother to read the fine print or practice responsibility with their finances outnumber the fiscally responsible individuals greatly. I fall into the minority in these laws don’t help me in any way whatsoever because I’ve been part of the responsible crowd.