Medical billing career option

The job market is getting tough, and the unemployment rate keeps on rising. It is not that easy to find a job these days. A lot of employers are asking for experience as well as a degree or certification. One career option that has been growing is medical billing. You can get your certification online. At the Allied Health Institute, they offer these medical coding training courses that can help you get started in this career field. Check out their website to learn more about this program.

Black Friday must haves… Pt.2

Best Buy is another store that usually have good Black Friday deals. They have their own 720p 32 inch Dynex LCD TV for $299. If you are willing to splurge on yourself this Black Friday, they have high end ultra thin 1080p 46 inch Samsung LCD TV for $1599, a savings of $1000. And there is a Sony laptop for $479. It is an Intel dual core with 4GB memory and 320GB hard drive. It is good price for a Sony. They also have their selection of $3.99 DVDs with titles including Dark Knight, Chuck and Larry, Hellboy II, etc.

If you are looking for an Ipod Touch this year, many places are offering the 8GB for $199. The same with Best Buy, and they are also giving you a $30 gift card. But the best deal still remains at Toys R Us. They are selling it for $199 with a $50 gift card. More… Walmart $195 with a $50 iTunes gift card; Target 32GB for $295 with $30 gift card. What you really have to consider is the crowds too. Unfortunately all of these places are going to be packed on Black Friday. Target if you get there early you can probably beat it, but this is an item they keep behind the case, so you do not know how long it will take until they get to you.

I want to get this Ipod Touch for my wife, but I really do not want to deal with the crowds. Hopefully Amazon will have a sale on it on Cyber Monday. The best part with them is that I do not have to pay the sales tax, which is 9.75% in CA. It is almost like a $20 savings.

Black Friday must have deals

This Thursday is Black Friday and the ads are already posted on sites like Slickdeals. The stores I will start with are Target and Wal-mart. Both stores have deals on low end 720p 32 inch LCD TVs. Target has the Westinghouse for $246, while Wal-mart has a Emerson for $248. These are doorbusters, so they will go fast. If I had to pick, I would go with the Westinghouse for 2 reasons. I think The Westinghouse is a little better of a brand, and the lines at Target would not be as bad. Target is also better stocked, so they will not sell out so quickly.

Target also has many good doorbusters items, most notably the $3 toasters, coffee maker, crockpot, and sandwich maker. Other good deals are $3.99 DVDs on title such as the Dark Knight, Sex and the City, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, etc. There are not many great toy item deals with them this year.

Wal-mart has Sony 1080p 46 inch LCD TV for $798. If you are going to get a TV this Black Friday strongly consider this one. Spend the extra money on a better brand and higher quality TV. This is the perfect TV your Blu-ray DVDs on. They also have a $78 Magnavox Blu-ray player and a $198 E-machine laptop. There is also an abundant of $2 DVDs with many recent releases. Look for all these to sell out quick.

As mentioned above Wal-mart is not my favorite place to go during Black Friday because of the crowds, lines, parking, and slow cashiers. I would much rather go to Target. But Wal-mart is opened on Thanksgiving, if you are looking for something to do that day. Black Friday items go on sale at 5 a.m. They will be giving out tickets for the popular items for people camping out and in line. That is how bad it gets there.

Personalized Christmas cards deals

Christmas is nearing. You know it when you go to the mall, and the decorations are already up. And pretty soon you will be sending out your Christmas cards. Why not do something special this year? You can create your own personalised christmas cards. At 123Print, they specialize in these types of cards. They offer a wide selection of different styles and designs at great online prices. In addition, they also have Christmas labels, holiday party invitations, and much more. So If you are in the UK area, check out their site. Now is the perfect time to order your cards for this year.

The Loft Grand Opening Specials

If you like Hawaiian food, then you have to try the Loft. They have two locations in the city of Torrance. The one in North Torrance just had a grand re-opening, and both locations is having specials. Last week, they were offering $4.95 carryout deals on their Kalua pork, chicken teriyaki, and fried chicken. This is a good bargain because the regular price for these items are around $10.

And now until the end of November, the Loft is having a promotion on their lunch buffet. You can get it for only $4.95. It is only on the weekdays. It is the perfect business lunch. Any more of these great lunch deals, and I will have to start my Kettlebells workout again. Check it out and give them a try. Their food is really good.

Buying a home for $500

I was reading an article in Yahoo, homes in Detroit Michigan are being auctioned off for a minimum bid of $500. For the price of many laptops in the market right now, you can own a home. You may think millions will flock to this type of bargain, but in the end less than 1/5 of the houses were sold.

You can blame to mortgage problems, the recession, or the struggles in the U.S. automotive industry as the cause of this. A majority of the homes were foreclosed. And when the automotive industry started laying off more employees, the people could not afford to pay their mortgages anymore. People fled elsewhere, abandoning their mortgages and houses.

Most of these cities are ghost towns. The stores are closed for business and boarded up. Houses are empty and neglected. Even if you bought a house for $500, would you want to live there? But most of the homes were taken by investors and banks. I guess they have a bigger plan for the property.

Artificial Christmas tree reviews

Christmas time is nearing, and you are probably deciding on a Christmas tree this year. You can go with the live tree. These range from $30-80 and have a great smell to it. Or you can go with the fake tree. We decided on an artificial tree. The prices for these range from $20-300, so they can get pricey. With a fake tree, all you have to do is make a one time investment, and the tree is always in perfect shape. You do not have to worry about it drying up or the cats drinking the water.

The cheapest way to go is the $20 option. You can get these at Michael’s or Joann’s. These trees are made from paper/thin plastics (the same kind of plastics from your grocery bags), and some come pre-lit. Sometimes during Black Friday, they have specials on these, and you can get them for even cheaper. It is a decent tree, but the thing about it, is that the thin plastics sometimes get smushed in the box. And next year when you take out the tree, it can be a matted mess.

Target offers a wide selection of artificial trees. They have the paper trees, but they also have a lot of nice high end trees with the life like pine branches. They have their own Target brand. Your best bet with Target trees is to wait until after Christmas. You can get them at discounts from 50% to 90%. But remember the longer you wait for the better discount, the less trees you get to choose from. Last year at the Carson Target, I saw some nice trees left during their 75% markdown, so it is possible. Their hign end trees are not on the cheap side, so look to spend over $100 on them.

Another place for good artificial trees is Sears and Lowes. Both of these places have the GE trees. These tress come with life like pine branches and are pre-lit with LED lights, which are really bright and save energy. We went this route last year and got our tree from Lowes. Lowes has their 50% sale in about early December, so you can still get a tree to enjoy for the holidays. I will check around the first week of December to see when their sale starts. We got ours on 12/6 last year. The original price for our tree was $200, and we got it for $100. Sears has their sale after Christmas.

If you decide to go the warehouse route, Costco and Sam’s Club offers trees too, but they do not have the widest selection, and they are still pricey. Some of the other places to look that I have not mentioned are Wal-mart and Home Depot.

Remember to check around and have fun.

Mandalay Bay promotion

I was browsing thru Slickdeals looking for Las Vegas Christmas promotions. We may plan to go there again during the Christmas break. We have been staying at the Mandalay Bay our last 3 visits there. We like it there because of their location. It is easy to get in and out of there. You do not have to deal with the traffic on the strip. Their rooms are clean, and they have a huge bathroom.

They are having a promotion, where if you stay a minimun of two nights, they will give you $100 resort credit. The rooms during the promotion start at $90 a night (for most weekday nights). So if you do the math, two night stay will be $180, less the $100 credit, you will be paying $80 for 2 nights. That is not including tax yet though.

You can use the credit toward dining. It is perfect for their buffet, which I like. They have a wide choice of food. My favorite is their king crab legs. So if we are going this year, this promotion looks like a good one.

My wife has also been looking into a Caribbean cruise. Maybe we can also take a look into punta cana vacation packages. They have some good deals in that area.