Let’s say a week after you book your flight you see your flight cheaper on Orbitz.  Well just because you see that the same itinerary you had booked is cheaper on Orbitz, it doesn’t matter.  Someone has to book it.  Well how do you know if someone has or hasn’t booked it– well you really don’t. Orbitz will tell you and you can trust Orbitz.  Why?  Because they said so.  Because they want you to take some of their profits away.  Sarcasm on my part.   They do  give out these price assurance checks.  I’ve heard some people getting them.   I just think it is rare.

High Yield Reward Checking Account were providing the best interest in my research, though they required a bit of work.  They range from 4% to 4.75% depending on where you live and some of the banks provide National Online Banking.  Also some banks are offering more than 5% (depending on where you live).

High-Yield Checking Accounts and the work they require:

• Require that you make a number of debit-card (where you type your pin) transactions a month
• Receive all of your statements electronically.
• Login into your online account on a monthly basis (Maybe)
• Either a monthly direct deposit or a monthly ACH debit or withdrawl
• There is a cap on the amount of money that receives the high interest rate and everything
  above that will get a lower interest rate.

I could review a bunch of accounts that have pretty high interest rates, but there is no way I can do all of them.  So here’s a site that a list of local and national banks with High Interest Rates. DepositAccounts.  It also provide information about the bank and it’s health. 
Rate Brain has less the amount of banks listed, but does a comparison of all types of account under one tab – called “All Rates”.  The good thing about Rate Brain is that it provides a chart of how long the rate has been constant.

Groupon a lot of cities (many obscure ones too).   There are no limitations based on Address.  You can buy from other cities.

Living Social this is a local company (DC). The cities are growing.  They currently have a deal – Purchase one or more deal vouchers during a VISA Deal Day with a valid U.S issued Visa card and receive one complimentary deal voucher to the same merchant to gift to a friend. This offer is valid for purchases made between 7/19/10 and 9/30/10.  You can purchase from multiple cities.

Plum District Small number of cities and you limited by your address which city you can shop in.  They have national vendors such as Target and Fandango.  Great Deals.  There’s a work around to the city limitation by gift the plum deal as a gift to a person who lives in the suburb of that city.  The gift is sent by email and you can send it to another email that belongs to you.  There is a flaw in there system though, which doesn’t put gifted plum deals in your ”My Deals” account so you can go back to them NOR does it send out the email to the gift receiver’s email.  So you will have to contact customer service (by email) letting them know that the gift wasn’t sent out.  They will then send you the gift code.  The customer service is pretty quick to reply, but this does require work. 

Eversave Lots of cities. Okay deals.

I would say the best out of this is Groupon and Living Social.  Then Plum Disctrict.  Plum District would be the best if it weren’t for the defect where email isn’t sent out nor are Deals purchased in your “My Deals” section.  That is a pretty big flaw.

So now that I have reviewed those sites.  Urban Spoils aggregates all the deals for a particular city on one page.

I want to write a pamphlet about bathroom etiquette. I’ll call it Bathroom Ethics.

• If you meet people in the bathroom you know (at work), just say hi. Don’t start up conversations with them. Especially, if you know they are going to be lengthier then hi/hello/how are you?.
• Don’t brush your teeth in a public bathroom. So beyond gross, for the person that passes by. Make sure if you brush your teeth in the public, that no one is going to walk in.
• If person is in Stall # 1, do not go to the stall next to it. Keep a distance of one stall (at the least)
• Don’t talk to a person in another stall while you’re doing your business.
• If you hear some sounds coming from another stall..be courteous..finish up before them and get out of there…so they won’t be embarrassed. (I have to do this a lot. LOL)
• If you are travelling and use public bathrooms at fast food restaurants…you don’t have to eat there..its nice to get one or two items..but its not necessary.
• Handicap bathrooms – to do or not to do. I go in there first.  Best bathrooms in any joint.  Don’t use them if you see a Handicap person around you.  She/He gets first dibs.  Otherwise it’s not like you are going ot be in there for hours.

This is increasing becoming harder since they have come out with computers and you no longer have to push buttons, but just talk and tell the computer what you need, which is a headache by its self.  

Here’s a list that has been put together for some of the most popular companies:

http://www.gethuman.com/us/

I believe this is one of the most popular blog topics for Indian movie watchers – The top ten worst Hindi movies you have ever seen..and this is my version. Had I the strength to see the above mentioned movies, the below list would change a little..but here it is…

10) Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (2006): KANK as they call it. What is worst Shah Rukh Khan’s over acting and arrogance or Sam, Amitabh Bachchan’s male whore of a character in the film? I’d say Shah Rukh wins that one. He’s usually over the top and I guess his fans love him like that. I usually can’t tolerate him but even other people I was watching the movie with were losing their patience with him. The eternal looming question inside me–why do you guys like Shah Rukh? Anyways, the movie is about how two ex-spouses get two cheaters together and wishing them nothing but the best. Huh?

9) Hum Aapke Hai Kaun…! (1994): I believe HAHK started the whole acronym thing…as annoying as it is. It’s one more reason to hate the movie. Don’t get me wrong…as I watched this movie for the first time–like everyone else I loved it. I started hating the movie around the thirty-sixth time I watched it. The movie has a great soundtrack, but can we just kill the movie and call it a day? Then they made Hum Sath Sath Hain which is HAHK Part II. Was that really necessary?? Like do we really need non-realistic films about ideal subjects like living as a big happy family in a big house…how about living like a big happy family in a very small house and getting smaller by the day as more more family members come out of no where — now there’s a challenge!

Khel (2003): Ajay Jadeja – Just ’cause the whole cricketing thing didn’t work out – no need to go into acting.

7) Ram Jane (1995): Lately, whenever I see Shah Rukh Khan at award shows (where else do you think I see him) and other places he seems so full of himself (King Khan)…someone should make him sit through this one!! Ram Jane is his name in the film…The orphan kid, Shah Rukh, goes to a Sadhubawa and asks, “What is my name?” The Sadhu replies, “Ram Jane (As in God only knows)” The dumb kid actually thinks that is his name and thats what he is called from that point on. This movie should be called…the movie where Vivek Mushran is a better actor than Shah Rukh.

6) Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon (2003): A really bad remake of an orignal which they completely dissected and ruined. Hritik should get an award for the Best Actor – One which Obliterates the enjoyment of a Moviegoer. One of my cousin’s had a very apt theory,that acting as a Mentally Challenged person in Koi Mil Gaya made Hritik perform like a neurotic person in Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon (this movie seriously cries for an acronym).

5) Veer Zara (2003): One thing I always say about this movie is that its a Punjabi film pertending to be a Hindi film. Imagine this, the day after Diwali when the majority of Gujaratis are celebrating the new year’s with Ankoot at the temple…going to the theater after the Mandir to watch a Hindi movie that turns out to be entirely in Punjabi. I feel sorry for those illiterate Guju bastards that couldn’t read the subtitles fast enough…haha. Oh yeah and Shah Rukh’s speech at the end sucked like I don’t know what…those of you who liked it..stop pretending! The courtroom scene was lacking and so was Anupam Kher. I believe Paresh Rawal was ten times better in the courtroom scene in Aitraaz. Veer says to Zara..after she decribes her country..your country reminds me of my country…Nah Duh! It belonged to India…like yesterday!!!

4) Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Ghum (2003): I love how they just stuff the song Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham, whenever they feel like it…it complete wrecks any mood the director, Karan Johar, is trying to establish. The only redeeming thing within this movie was Kajol…who saved me from getting up and out of my seat and smacking Shah Rukh in the face. Kareena needed to be slapped as well. Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham…Na Jooda Honge Hum… (I thought I’d stick it in…)

3) Mohabbatein (2000): Any movie that is this close to my Numero Uno worst movie has got to be bad. I have to say this -the best thing about this movie — Jugal Hansraj is too cute. Back to the point, it’s so contradicting…the movie is supposed to be a family oriented film, then why does it have so many half-nacked girls.. Could the relationship between Amitabh Bachchan and his daughter, Aishwariya Rai, be any bad…that she has to kill herself because she fell in love with some guy… They just weren’t able to show why AB had a big problem with Love…Why am I trying to find reason in such a nonsensical film?

2) Janasheen (2004): What’s worst Fardeen Khan in Speedo bikini shorts or Celina Jaitley in a bikini while she plays the violin??? It’s a toss up. All those Urdu words used to decribe Fardeen Khan by Feroz Khan’s character, were they really necessary? I know Feroz Khan won’t understand, but there is nothing so special in Fardeen Khan and he just doesn’t get this..

1) Jaani Dushman – Ek Anokhi Prem Kahani (2002): This happens to be THE WORST movie ever made. Sheer ‘Bakvaas’. Their is no other way to put it. Filled with a great amount of “star” power – Manisha Koirala, Sunny Deol, Sunil Shetty, Akshay Kumar, Sharad Kapoor, Raj Babbar, Armaan Kohli(not really star power). What were these people thinking???
It’s a remake of the orignal, which supposedly was a hit. The Director till date can’t figure out why the remake didn’t work as the orginal had.. My guess..people aren’t big on rape scenes anymore…not to mention crappy story lines with Nags and Nagins…

Movies that should have been more popular…

Iqbal (2005): I believe this movie was a critic’s favorite, but it just flopped. In my mind, it shouldn’t have flopped. I can’t get enough of Nagesh Kukunoor and Iqbal.

Yeh Tera Ghar Yeh Mera Ghar (2001): What an unbelievably funny movie! I think people will watch this one over and over on DVD/TV but just refused to go to the theater to see it.

Muskurahat (1992) : I watched this movie and I really liked it. I came across it years later and thought I’ve never heard of it..and watched it again..I fell in love with it over again. Of course, it is a Priyadarshan film so its gotta be funny!

Khel (1991) (Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit): It was a good film that flopped. I found the following on BollyCat (http://www.bollycat.com/movies/khel)
So its a copy…but the film was interesting.

Rules: Pyar Ka Superhit Formula (2003): I love how some characters you think having nothing to do with the plot are introduced and each of them get weaved into the storyline leaving no loose ends behind. This movie was a hit, however whenever I mention this film no one knows about it. Leaving me to believe it is underappreciated. Milin Soman is so hot and Meera Vasudevan makes me wish I were her.

Khakee (2004): This was another great film by Raj Kumar Santoshi…that was so had a box office of just result of just Average (Box Office India) The storyline was gripping, the climax was intense and the ending was simply satisfying. There was many many memorable scenes in between. It had it all. Akhshay Kumar was funny, Aishwariya was sharp, Ajay Devgan was good – bad cop goonda, and get this Tusshar Kapoor was tolerable.

Lajja (2001): One word- Awesome! Of course it flopped. This was a multi-starter..unlike Jaani Dushman (also a Manisha starer)..so incredible to watch. It’s the story of how Manisha Koirala witnesses the plight of Indian women in different parts of the country as she tries to escape her husband. Some incredible lines delivered by Madhuri Dixit, Mahima Chaudary, and Anil Kapoor. All three of them and Manisha’s act really well in the movie. I’ve fallen in love with Raj Kumar Santoshi films..this movies story comes from a newspaper article that RKS read about a women named Raamdulari being burnt alive.

Teen Deewarein (2003) Nagesh Kukunoor is one of my favorite directors..I just wish he had the popularity of Karan Johar, since he has more talent than that guy has popularity.

Kaun! (1998) Ram Gopal Verma directs this incredible film with – can you believe – only three actors. Brilliant performances all across – Urmila Matondkar, Manoj Bajpai.

I abscond from this constant state of lethargy known as work and land on a couch of a room in the Port of Bombay now called Mumbai. I look around the room as the door across the couch opens up and in comes a 40-something man who seems to be inebriated. He plops down on the couch uncomfortably close to me and he says, “Thanks for coming to my Madh Island bungalow, ‘Ruchi’, I wanted to get to know your “acting” skills on a more personal level.” Looking outside the window at the dark of night, I know for a fact that he is not going to ask me to sing bhajans to him. Before I could say, “Ruchi who?”, he places his arm around me. I immediately freeze up, not saying anything, while debates go off in my head. What am I doing?, so can I get a role out of it?? Unbeknownst to me, the glimmer of character that I didn’t know to exist burst out of nowhere and I pushed him off and sprang out the door.

My daydreams truly suck with negativity oozing out of every bubble. Most people fantasize of super-stardom and here I am imagining obscurity. Ah well, I’m back at work its January 2007 and I still have a December 2006 calendar on my wall. Looking at my lackluster cubicle, I’m already looking forward to my next What if….

With nearly $254 billion in annual buying power, Asian Americans are a powerful force in the U.S. consumer market. Over the past decade, their spending power has increased 125%, from $118 billion in 1990 to $253 billion in 2001. Over the same time period, the buying power for the U.S. as a whole increased by only 71%.

Source

This is probably why I’m seeing a lot of Ads being geared towards the Desi viewer lately.

Before the K-Fed Superbowl ads, Nationwide Insurance had the South-Asian centric ads on Desi Channels…these are my favorites (meaning there are more).
My Fav: Uncle Ko Bye Bolo

Others-
Mirror Mirror On the Wall

Hi, Cutie, Hello, Beauty

Nationwide isn’t the first, but they are better to watch than the ones I’ve seen done before by New York Life Insurance, Wal-Mart, or others.

Facts and Figures
More Asian-Indian Americans (58%) hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, versus all Asian Americans (47%) and the U.S. population (27%).

After listening to it a one-trillion-gazillion times and searchin’ the net…this is what I have come up with..

Tere Bin
Music and Performed By Rabbi Shergill
Lyrics By Sanyukta Verma