Useless Information By Min Kim

Checkout my YouTube review of this item

Specs from Costco: (link)
This double watch winder adapts to all automatic watch models and brands to keep your watch running smoothly. A safe and attractive way to house your favorite timepiece.
* Colors: Black, Dark Brown, or Light Brown
* Black bonded leather with white stitching
* Faux suede lining
* Double watch winder
* Chrome plated hardware and winder locks
* Rotates clockwise and counter-clockwise to enable it to function with all automatic watches
* Operates on AC power
* Power cord included
* Dimension: 7.5″ x 7.5″ x 7″
* Weight: 6 lbs
[Model 11498122]

 Here is the only paper work that comes with the winder. Winds clockwise or clockwise/counter-clockwise. Only one setting for the number of revolutions per day.

 The winder arrived inside two boxes. Very well packaged.

 This interior box is well padded and rigid. Nice.

Tight fit for the two larger watches (42mm and 45mm watches inside) but works without issues.

I was impressed with the motor in the winder. I heard other cheap winder motors struggle when heavy watches are used. The two watches weighted just shy of 1 pound.

Motor rotated confidently without much noise at all… the clock ticking in the bedroom is much louder than this winder loaded with heavy watches.

You can see the inside switch that changes the two mode of rotation. Also note the sloppiness of the stitching and upholstery. Looks kinda cheesy and cheap up close, but for $70, can you really complain…

On/off switch in the back. The AC adapter (included) plugs into the back. Not very flush at all.

Hinges look pretty cheap, but do they jobs

These pillows are way too small! This is my only gripe with this product. My wrist in only 6.5 inches and there is too much slack.

Rubber foots screwed into the bottom. They work well and are nice and securly set in place.

Battery compartment.

I could not find good instruction of how to use Microsoft’s Bing.com (formerly live.com) cash back for purchases on ebay. So I made my own…

Currently (11/10/2009), bing CashBack is at 8%.

Basic Rules (lots of fine print, but high level use):

• Item must be on eBay with a Buy it now option
• You must pay using PayPal
• Of course you have to have accounts on eBay, Paypal and Bing.com

Lets begin:

Go to www.Bing.com - Open an account if you dont already have one.

Type: “wii” in the search box (many keywords work).

You will get similar results below

Then you will automatically be taken to ebay. Make sure you see the cash back amount. The item must have the Buy it Now option to get cashback

Click on “buy it now”

Shows the Amount now

Then you checkout using paypal. You will get instant or 60 day cashback

I didnt know this before, but AMEX has maximum limits oh transactions through PayPal to a mere $2,000. That really sux!

From PayPal’s website:

You need to have a credit card or confirmed bank account with PayPal before you can send any payments. American Express has decided to decline PayPal credit card transactions that are funded with an American Express Corporate Card. As a result, any attempts to register or use an American Express Corporate Card will be denied. Once you confirm an email address and add a credit card, you are limited to a total of $2,000.00 USD of spending.

 link

I’m not sure if this sale is different from the Oakley Patio sale they have several times a year…

Here is what the message said:

Please share the attached invite with your favorite peeps to Oakley’s Friends & Family Event Nov. 4 – 7^th.

ll they need is a copy of the invite to access the sale.

Please remind everyone that the sale is NOT at Oakley HQ, but across the street at 20 Icon. See map below for details.

 There will be an Exclusive Employee/Vendor Sneak Peak on Tuesday, Nov. 3^rd from 10 – 6pm. You must show your employee badge to get in.

An employee shuttle will be available on Nov. 3^rd for Commercenter and FHR employees so you won’t have to deal with parking. (Shuttle schedule to follow)

click on image to get full size…

Here is my review comparing the original Oakley Radars vs. the Radar XL Blades from the perspective of  road cyclist.

The Original Oakley Radar:

These sunglasses were a life changer for me. I was previously using Monster Dogs for road biking… I decided to try Radars and I immediately fell in love with them (so much so that I bought 2 of them - one with dark lens and the other with light). These glasses do not block my peripheral (makes checking for cars much easier). Also, the vents reduced fogging and are very lightweight. One thing that constantly bothered me were the top part of the frame would block my vision when riding on the drops. For those not familiar with that term, imagine looking to the sky with moving you head… the top of the frame would block that part. It would be so bad that during descents, I would lower the glasses down my nose so the glasses wouldn’t impede my vision. 

The new Radar XL Blades corrects this issue by raising the top part of the frame. I quantify the difference in size/height below.Below are my 3 Radars… the XL Blades in in the middle. As you can see the original Radars have path lens (the cut-away on the bottom of the lens) on them.

If you’re reading this, you know the XL Blades are much taller compared to the original.

 The height of the Radar XL Blades is just about 5.1cm tall

The height of the original Radars is just about 4.4cm tall 

Front comparison…. not sure if this is eye level but close

Wanted to measure how much higher the frame is when the XL Blades are worn…

It looks like they are 2.3cm  from the nose piece

Same measurement for the original Radars. It looks like the nose piece is more narrow on these because there is about a 1mm gap from the spindle holder to the top of the nose piece.

1.7cm from the nose piece (maybe less considering the differences in nose pieces)

I have high cheekbones and a relatively flatter face…. Typically I can only wear “asian fit” oakleys (a term i find offensive).  Not much clearance between the cheekbone and the lower portion of the frame

This is the Original non-Asian fit Radar path. Much better clearance…

Side view

Face to face

The box.

Conclusion:

George Hincanpe called the Oakley Jawbones the “baddest” cycling glasses ever made… I had a pair but returned them because they just didn’t fit (I will try the Asian fit version soon). I wonder what George would think about the new XL Blades. IMHO, they are the BEST cycling glasses out there. They have all the qualities of the original Radars but does not block my vision from the drops. I no longer need to lift my head to be able to see in front of me. I just stay in my tuck and ride ahead…

Maybe the ones Floyd used improve visibility from the drops, but you end up looking like a bug.

 Foreclosures and REOs are swelling… from housingwire.com

————

Looks Like Rain in California: ForeclosureRadar

August 12, 2009 8:12 am

The overall forecast for the California housing market remains bleak. The clouds had yet to break in July, but look heavy with a record volume of foreclosure sales waiting to flood the market.

The volume of foreclosures scheduled for sale in California reached a record high last month, according to ForeclosureRadar’s July report, which tracks each California foreclosure.

Notices of default remained flat and foreclosure sales dipped 22.7%, but notices of trustee sale jumped 31.6%. The image is of a steady march into the foreclosure process and a slowed trickle out of it, resulting in a backlog of scheduled sales in the month.

The number of properties scheduled for foreclosure sale rose to a record high of 124,874 in July, nearly double the level seen during the foreclosure peak last year, according to ForeclosureRadar.

Year-over-year, default filings are up 11.9%, notices of trustee sale rose 0.7% and foreclosure auction sales plummeted 40.1%. July 2009’s 17,239 foreclosure auction sales bore a combined loan value of $8.08bn.

ForeclosureRadar also saw a record number of foreclosure cancellations — 10,789 — in the month, 24.8% more than June and 86.3% more than July 2008. The data provider noted, however, that as a percentage of foreclosures scheduled for sale, the rate of cancellation had changed little from previous months.

“It is our understanding that foreclosures are not cancelled until the completion of [the Home Affordable Modification three-month] trial period,” ForeclosureRadar said. “As such, we believe monitoring the cancellation of scheduled foreclosures should provide some insight into the effectiveness of this program, as successful trials should result in cancelled foreclosures.”

From BofA/Merrill - 7/27/2009

In the news - Housing
7 in 10 odds
70% of home sales in Las Vegas during the month of June were foreclosures. As a result, home prices in Las Vegas are now down 41% year-over-year. Adding to these woes, lenders took possession of 3,600 new properties during the month, an increase of 59% versus last year. Nationally, we continue to expect home prices to fall an additional 5% to 10% over the next year.

Homeownership rate falls in second quarter
The Department of Commerce noted that homeownership rates fell to 67.3% in the second quarter, down from 67.4% in the first quarter and the 68.9% rate that coincided with the peak in home prices. Compared to the long-term historical norm (excluding the last five years) of 65.3% this suggests that we are roughly halfway back to a more normal homeownership rate. The number of vacant homes fell to the lowest level since the third quarter of 2008 but remained at an elevated 14.099 million units (excluding seasonal vacancies).

In the Microsoft world, today (07/06/2009) is day 40,000.

In Excel, day zero (the beginning of MS time) is January 0, 1900. And today 07/06/09 is 40,000.

In case you’re wondering, day 50,000 will be 11/21/2036

These guys have come a long way

06/25/09

Home sales climbed 24.6 percent in the Los Angeles area in May, compared to the same period a year ago, while the median home price fell 26.2 percent, according to figures released today.

The median price of an existing single-family home in Los Angeles was $313,270 in May, compared to $300,690 in April and $424,310 in May 2008, according to the California Association of Realtors.

In Orange County, home sales increased 17.9 percent in May, compared to the same month last year, while the median home price was $474,110, down 17.4 percent from $573,920 in May 2008.

Statewide, home sales increased 35.2 percent in May, compared with the same period a year ago, while the median price of an existing home declined 30.4 percent, according to CAR’s report.

06/07/09 on NY Times by Robert Shiller link

• As a baseline, the stress tests recently performed on big banks included a total fall in housing prices of 41 percent from 2006 through 2010. Their “more adverse” forecast projected a drop of 48 percent…
• Such long, steady housing price declines seem to defy both common sense and the traditional laws of economics, which assume that people act rationally and that markets are efficient.
•   There are many historical examples:

o       After the bursting of the Japanese housing bubble in 1991, land prices in Japan’s major cities fell every single year for 15 consecutive years.

o       After the last home price boom, which ended about the time of the 1990-91 recession, home prices did not start moving upward, even incrementally, until 1997.