Well it's been another Par 3 weekend!  Saturday evening I was lucky enough to go play the back 9 at Wesselman's Golf Course in Evansville.  Now, I suck and I know I suck, but that's what makes Par 3 so much fun.  Generally speaking, others don't mind if I'm not the greatest, so it makes a great place to actually go and unwind.  And on Sunday morning I was able to play 9 at Howell Park.

Saturday was actually my first game of golf this year and I actually surprised myself.  My goal was to shoot under 45 strokes, but I was able to pull off a 38.  Again, this was on the back 9 only.  On Sunday I pulled off 40 strokes on 9 holes at Howell.

There were a handful of golfers out on Saturday at Wesselmans, but this morning the course was full at Howell.  It was great to see so many people out enjoying the city courses.  But something kind of caught me off guard this season and that was the price to play a round of golf.  Notably, Wesselmans jumped up to $5 to play a full 9, compared to $4 from last year.  I would think that the city would be trying to do it's part to keep prices down on affordable entertainment.  Likewise Howell was up to $4, but only marginally higher compared to $3.50 last golf season.

It's still a deal, as long as they take care of the greens.  See you on the course.

Bank Loan

A few weeks ago I purchased a used vehicle and needed less than $5,000 to complete the purchase.  I have near perfect credit, with a FICO score of over 820 and have many accounts with 5/3 Bank, which date back years.  I have everything from savings accounts, checking accounts, business accounts, to even my mortgage.  But for some unknown reason, they were way out of the ball park when it came to a small loan interest rate.

I found that the best interest rate locally was with Heritage Federal Credit Union.  I had a small savings account with them, which allowed me membership benefits.  These benefits included being approved for a small used car loan for a 48 month term at 6% interest rate.  That's a huge difference, that if I let the loan mature, would save me hundreds of dollars going with Heritage.

The good news is that the loan is already paid off, since I was only waiting on the sale of my other truck for the cash.  The bad news for 5/3 is that Heritage Federal Credit Union in Evansville has earned my business.  Over the course of the next month I will be changing over all of my accounts to them and eventually my mortgage, once I have enough to refinance.

Good riddance 5/3 bank!

In this day and age everyone has heard of eBay, an online market place for people to have virtual yardsales.  And no doubt you've heard of a little antique publication called the Evansville Courier as well.  Both of these mediums can be used to sell something, but both cost money, let's look at an alternative free classified solution for Evansville.

Craigslist.org is a massive, online, free classified website where people can trade locally.  Joining Craigslist is free and to post items from CD's to cars is 100% free.  Unlike other classifieds that require an upfront cost and then a final value fee, no matter the price, on Craigslist Evansville it's free.

I've been using Craigslist for several years, both buying and selling.  From what I can tell, the Evansville section of the classifieds has absolutely exploded, especially in the Cars & Trucks section.  I attribute a lot of the increase in action to the slumping economy and people looking for deals or wanting to liquidate their driveway.  Be warned however, there are plenty of scammers on there, just like on eBay.  Since Evansville has a local section, don't pay up front for anything and always meet in a public area for transactions.

Craigslist Tips For Trading In Evansville

When meeting someone for the first time, please remember to:

• Insist on a public meeting place like a cafe
• Tell a friend or family member where you're going
• Take your cell phone along if you have one
• Consider having a friend accompany you
• Trust your instincts

It's important to remember, that even online, if it's too good to be true, it normally a scam.  As mentioned previously, I've sold a vehicle on the free classifieds and purchased a number of items from local Evansville residents.  However, it's possible, once you have an account, to post items all over the US, depending on your locale.

So, start saving some money and start liquidating that garage the free way.

It's that time again, to get my bi-monthly hair cut.  I'm a 1 guard on the side and finger length on top, which generally takes less than 10 minutes.  However, I always end up paying what everyone else pays for a 20 minute hair cut, too much.  Tonight I think I'm going to look for somewhere else to go, because I hate waiting and the deals are getting harder to find.

This may seem like a trivial post, but as a slightly balding late 20's, my hair is important.  The downside, is that I'm cheap and hate wasting time.  Generally I'll go to Master Cuts in Eastland Mall, where they have $10 men's hair cuts on Tuesdays.  The problem is that there is normally a line a mile long, generally a 45 minute wait, and on top of that...it's in Eastland Mall.

I'm open to suggestions, but most likely I'll do a little hunting on the east side to see if there are any walk-in welcome signs.  I'd be happy to even pay a few dollars more if I could just walk in, get my hair cut, and be gone in under 20 mins.  Not to mention, I always tip, so where do you get your hair cut?

Thanks to Josh for leaving a comment on my blog, I was able to find out about his new website Evansville Intelligencer.  The Intelligencer was launched at the beginning of April and appears to cover most things Evansville.  At first glance the categories covered will be Health and Hygiene, Society and Events, Food and Drinks, Evansville Discoveries, and my personal favorite, Politics.

It's obvious that great articles about Evansville will be published here, mainly due to the sites impressive list of contributors.  Looks like experts on night life, legal studies, and even an MD contributing to the Health of Evansville.

Admittedly I don't get out as much as I would like, mainly because I'm a new father.  But thanks to the Intelligencer's articles I can pick and choose, spending my free time wisely.  However, as for the politics side of things, we may be on opposite sides of the fence.  So I'll tread lightly on upcoming comments and reviews.

Good luck on the site Joshua, Jessica, Anne, and Kelley!

Liberty Auto Salvage

At one time I really supported the local Liberty Auto Salvage, by buying up bulk parts and selling them on eBay.  However, it doesn't look like I will be going back anytime soon, if the doors remain open at all, since the owner and a few employees were busted for producing and dealing in Meth.  I'm always blown away by how many people get involved with a such a dangerous drug, not to mention it's not just in the city, but rural, hell everywhere!

Also, consider all the local advertisements for lawyers who use Liberty Auto Salvage as a back drop.  I don't think we'll be seeing too much involvement with them anymore, who would want to be tied to such an activity?

According to TriStateHomePage, Liberty was open on Wednesday.  However, no one wanted to comment on the owners activities.  If I had to guess, they probably nodded and smiled the biggest smile 3 teeth can muster.

The Evansville, Indiana Tea Party is schedule for April 15th at 5:00 PM to correspond with national Tax day.  The even will be held downtown at the Civic Center Complex, out on the front steps.  This will be a peaceful demonstration, in response to local, state, and federal government actions.

For those who fell asleep during history class, the original Boston Tea Party was a protest to Taxation Without Representation.  Many feel that we are again in a similar political environment where the elected leaders are not accurately representing the wishes of their people.

I'll be there, since it's an actual protest after work hours, for the working people who feel unfairly treated.  Let's represent, be vocal and make sure the biast Evnasville Courier doesn't scew what its' really all about.  See you there.

I listen to 89.1 The Bash every morning on my way into work, so this morning was no different.  The DJ this morning announced that 89.1 would be changing formats and DJ's to focus completely on country music.  And with this, I was quickly reminded that it's April 1st.

Be on the watch today Evansvillians, every company with a sense of humor will attempt to trick you.  This becomes especially true on the internet, where it's very easy to drop a few misguided, seemingly true, rumors.  One of my favorite social bookmarking hangouts Reddit.com decided to utilize a new template, which made it look very much like it's competitor Digg.com.

Funny.  Frustrating.  Something to talk about.  It's April 1st.   Happy April Fools Day all you fools.