Free Public Transportation: 9/15 - 9/21

I grew up in Sussex County, so my idea of public transportation was catching a ride home with a friend. I remember how confusing it was when I first started going in to New York City via the PATH trains and using the subways and I remember how stressful it was - is this the right train?? What if I end up lost?

I've gotten much better at this, through experience.

One of NJ Transit's Trains in action

Anyway, it seems like New Jersey Transit does this at least once a year - they are having a "STUDENTS RIDE FREE" week. Anywhere NJ Transit goes, you can go for free, by going to their Web site and filling out a form. I'm on their e-mail list, so I get reminders when this goes in to effect and I try to mention this to my classes.

Even if you are paying normally for public transportation - if you fill out this form and bring your student ID, it's a free week.

This is valid from 9/15 (Monday) through 9/21 (Sunday) and on all bus, rail, and light rails run by NJ Transit. They've also got a trip planner on the Web site, in case you're wondering "how do I get to NYC from where I am?".

Also thanks to Sue for a reminder on this one.

Web Site Link:
NJTransit.com - Students Ride Free!

Free online faxing

Up until a few years ago, if I had to fax something, I'd bring it in to work with me (shhhh!). I am sure many of you do the same, if you can. The primary reason in my case was that I didn't have a fax machine at home, so places (such as my insurance company) who didn't want email would require me to print something, find a device I didn't have at home, send it to them, and hope it got picked up and delivered on the other end to the right person.

My solution? A multifunction device (fax, print scan, copy). Not this model, mind you, but it's a visual aid, and pictures are pretty after all.


Anyway, if you have a small fax to send, one alternative to this is to use faxzero.com - this Web site will allow you to send up to two documents a day, each with up to three pages in it. You can upload an existing document from your PC, or if you only need text, you can just type that in to their text box. The first page you send will have some sort of ad on it, but hey, for free, what the heck? It's better than paying to have it done at Kinko's or Staples...and better than waiting until Monday if you're not going to work for a few days. Plus, if you already have it electronically, it saves you printing pages you are going to turn around and throw out anyway. Thumbs up on this one, a good little site to bookmark.

http://faxzero.com/

Gas Prices

Perhaps you have noticed gas prices increasing. I certainly have.

The higher gas prices go, the better it is to take a moment to check out a Web site like gasbuddy.com - for example, prices in this state are as "low" as $3.75 a gallon, and as high as $4.79. You can see how this can save you some money.

Visit gasbuddy

I also came across this site from a visit to one of my favorite Web sites, thesimpledollar.com - it has a list of 75 gas saving tips. There are a lot of little things that we can do to get slightly better gas mileage, including getting all that extra stuff out of the trunk, which this reminded me to do.

One of the biggest things that saves gas, interestingly enough, was to stop aggressive driving. This is something that I think many NJ drivers could stand to learn...
75 Gas Saving tips

Rent Textbooks....Save Money

A lot of times, students simply need textbooks for one semester.

There's a Web site out called Chegg that will let you "rent" a textbook, rather than buy it. They also promise to plant a tree for every book rented, which is nice and environmentally friendly.

I checked this out quickly for my CIS 106 class.

The bookstore is charging $86.75 for a new textbook and $65.25 used. A lot of that value disappears because most students do not plan on keeping the book, and they will sell it back to the bookstore for somewhere around 10% of the price.

Chegg has the book for $33.26 for a semester rental. Our semester ends a little later, so you can expand it for another 15 days (which would take you through finals) for an additional $4.99. The final cost would be $38.25. They also would pay for your shipping back, giving you a pretty decent savings.

This is a really interesting idea that I really like.

http://www.chegg.com

Greening: PC Recycling

One of the terms that has been thrown out a lot this year is going green. Basically, this term implies being environmentally sound.

One thing that many people don't know is that most computer (and electronics, for that matter) should not simply be disposed of. There are some things that can cause contamination and all sorts of other bad things.

According to the Web site I will link you to, it's estimated that fewer than 1 in 4 Americans (less than 25%) recycle their computer components.

What can you do? Many towns locally (West Paterson, North Haledon) have free drop offs for technology. You can look these things up on Earth911 - a Web site devoted to recycling and "going green".

Earth911's computer recycling Web site:
http://earth911.org/recycling/computer-recycling-reuse/
(when you search, you want to find only "Municipal drop-offs" - those are the free ones)

Earth911's main Web site
http://earth911.org/

Computer Power Consumption Costs Rising

It's funny, but as a home user, I suppose you don't see the cost of a computer, and how it being on can affect your bills.

However, imagine running a computer operations center with 225+ servers in it. How much would you guess it costs?

Well, the head of such a center said that two years ago, his costs were around $10,000 a month, and at this point, it is up to around $35,000 a month!

With recent local developments such as the New York blackout last month, one has to wonder how much of a role computers are playing in it, and if the next frontier is not faster computers, but more energy efficient ones.

Article from the Toronto Star