When asked to review a site, I always find it difficult coming up with the right words to say so that I not only get my point across, but I also like to not offend anyone either. Today’s review is based on thepiggybanker.com. Their tag line includes “Best CD Rates, highest savings, money market, credit card reviews & bank deals.” as someone who sees the importance behind going with a good bank, not one that will potentially rob you blind, I feel it’s important to learn a thing or two about the companies you’re interested in before you even give them your information. Resources like these could be a valuable one to anyone who uses it.

This site offers the ability for you to look through a database of the top banking companies so you can compare them based on rates and other options that would be the deciding factor on your choice of banks. They also offer the ability to find Best Credit Cards so that you can know from the get-go what you’re getting into when dealing with this company. They give honest reviews and statistics to help make your ‘shopping around’ run a little smoother.

One section I came across was a WT Direct Savings Review. WT stands for Wilmington Trust, a company that’s located in many places around the US and one I was considering when I moved to Delaware considering one of their banks are located right outside of the complex. After reading this review, however, I understand that they’re not exactly going to be the best account to go with unless I’m looking for a high yield savings account. The minimum balance required at deposit is $10,000 and any balance in the $1-$10,000 range will earn approximately 5.26% APY for the first 60 days. So after doing the math, if I happen to deposit $10,000 and then within the first 60 days, I happen to deposit another $1,000 it will give me a total of $11,578.60 in my savings account. I would assume that if I maintain over $10,000 I’ll have the same 5.26% interest, but according to the site if I’m UNDER, it drops it down to just .6% which is even less than my account with Washington Mutual that I closed before moving down here.

As far as the site goes, it primarily looks like a bankers blog. The owner compares many rates through archived blog entries and minus the banner ads spilled all over the page, it’s really not that bad looking. I would personally recommend cutting back on a few of the ads but since the user is offering a free service then I can understand why the page is loaded the way it is, it just makes it hard to actually find the CONTENT of the page considering everything valuable about the site is basically underneath all of the useless links. This is only from a design standpoint, however. The site seems to be updated on a some what regular basis though, the RSS feed shows a recent updated in Wednesday the 27th. I assume that the owner knows he has a good thing going and is going to keep up with it, as many web masters should.

I’m still waiting for the storm to get here, there’s a warning flashing across the screen for it but based on a weather guide I’m tapped into, I don’t really see much coming this way at all. I just hope it gets here sooner than later. The news stated it was going to get here after midnight, get pretty nasty, and then kind of float off sometime tomorrow morning. Either way I’m bored out of my mind and now I’m just itching to find something to do.

I’m limited in regards to the Thursday based Meme’s that I know of, so I’ll just post whatever I can come across.

3x Thursday:

1. Are you one of those people who is constantly busy with projects, social outings, etc or do you just like to lay low and stay home? Why/why not? I like to keep myself busy. I’ve been lucky enough to have a constant work flow over the course of the last few weeks just so I can keep myself entertained. I don’t mind having some me time where I can just sit back and relax but I have a horrible case of anal retentive behavior where I just need to keep moving so I can feel as though something was at least accomplished during the day. This may be why I tend to clean so much.

2. Whether you’re busy all the time or like to just chill, have you always been that way? How so/how not? Nope, I’ve always been someone who keeps busy 90% of the time.

3. Is there something you’d like to change about how you spend your time? If so, what is it? If not, why not? How are things manageable for you? I’d like to feel more productive throughout the day, I just need to find more things to do in order to keep me busy.

With the recent house hunt, I’ve been looking into everything from floor to ceiling. I keep notes of the items I come across that I think are pretty cool. I don’t want our first home together to be that one where we bring in old materials and then just kind of throw them together. We’ve done a pretty good job of merging all of our belongings at this point, now I’d kind of like to start fresh.

We want to have some kind of a sanctuary, a place were we can just go to relax and completely get away from it all. I’d adore a place with vaulted ceilings and even ambient lighting just to set the mood for an overly relaxed atmosphere. I’ve always been a fan of big fluffy beds and just pure comfort. I don’t want to sleep on a slab of two inch mattress, I want something I can fall into and be completely lost in, I know many people that would even agree.

Off the bedroom is going to be a spa like bathroom, and for the sake of privacy I’d like to have the toilet kind of sectioned off away from the rest of the room. This way you’re kind of behind closed doors in case one has to go while the other is in the shower or soaking in the tub. I plan on doing that a lot, especially if I have a hand in which tub will actually be in the room. I’d like a big tub with jets for ultimate comfort, surrounded by candles for again for lighting so you know where you are but dark enough to the point of being completely content with everything going on around you. I want a place where I can just disappear.

I know I’d never be able to afford it unless I get really lucky with lottery numbers or if the site that Sean’s been working on actually takes off to the point that he’s earning millions of dollars. Either way I’d adore it if I could have a bathroom like this. I know the tree in the middle looks a little weird but I found it on Google so give me a break there. It’s got gorgeous lighting, a beautiful tub, a nice separate shower, and based on the description I found about it, the toilet itself is right by the main door but closed off in it’s own little ‘stall’ so to speak. But the stall is about the same size as the bathroom I’m in now and has more than enough room to even throw a table in there, something I didn’t understand but I know how men can be in the bathroom when it comes to keeping themselves busy while on the toilet, if it was organized properly – I wouldn’t mind throwing a magazine rack in there some where.

So yea, I have a dream sanctuary – while I highly doubt it will ever come true, at least I know that I’ll still have my dreams to keep me happy.

The humidity over the course of the last couple days has been close to unreal. The news is telling me that it’s been much worse in Pennsylvania but based on what I’ve heard in the past, the humidity there gets really nasty every summer anyway. The tourists are all kind of piling in down here as well, thankfully even with the humidity there hasn’t been many reported incidents of people not properly taking care of themselves.

Today was an estimated 80% humidity. Now mix that with the 90+ degree weather, naturally it felt like hell was rolling in today. Last night there was a really cool lightening storm that passed through, there’s supposed to be another one tonight as well. I’m unsure of when it’s going to start though. It caused the power to act up yesterday, well the cable mainly, so hopefully I can get some work done before that happens again tonight. I’m a few days behind on things so now I’m working on catching up.¬† :crosses fingers:

We have a small fridge in the office, Sean’s probably owned it for years but lately it just seems too small for the both of us. I buy in bulk when it comes to water, and once that’s all in there it’s hard to hold his 2 liter bottles of soda when he’d like to have more than one in there. It’s not even that I’m taking up a lot of room, it’s just the fact that the fridge is oddly narrow so it’s hard to really fit anything in there anyway.

The fridge in the kitchen is a lot smaller than it looks as well, so the freezer in there is kind of overflowing as well. I’ve been considering investing in getting a second fridge this way the fridge itself offers more room for Sean and I and we’d also have extended freezer space for the kitchen. I’ve poked around Sears and PC Richard, the two places I would normally shop up in New York because they were so close to my house. Unfortunately there isn’t either one in the immediate area for me. I’d have to travel all the way to Salisbury, MD or straight up to Dover, DE. I’ve looked into both General Electric (GE) and Samsung Refrigerators. A few places have brought me towards Best Buy but unfortunately they’re up in Dover as well so in the long run, I’m kind of stuck.

Other searches have brought us to considering an old-school freezer in the kitchen, there’s enough space behind the bar where we could place a low profile one, just to extend freezer space in there. Unfortunately that doesn’t help us in the kitchen. I assume that when Sean gets rid of the CRT monitors and finally upgrades to LCD’s, that we’ll be able to move things around in the office and maybe fit a larger sized refrigerator in there as well.

I’d discuss this with him right now, but he’s officially passed out – so much for staying up and watching TV with me.