Trip Tips: Save Time and Money May 1, 2008

Whether you’re looking for the next airfare finder or trip-planning tool, here are seven sites we love.

TripIt

BEST FOR: ORGANIZING TRAVEL DETAILS

A tidy, paperless way to keep track of everything from flight reservations to OpenTable dinner plans, this site extracts travel details from the booking confirmations that you forward by e-mail, then organizes them all on a private Web page. Bonus: it automatically adds trip-specific SeatGuru tips, weather reports and Google Maps.

Momondo

BEST FOR: SEARCHING FAR AND WIDE — FAST

When the price tag is paramount, try this Denmark-based aggregator, which swiftly scours more than 450 sites — including major booking engines, national carriers and no-frills airlines — to unearth cheap flights to destinations around the world.

Tripology

BEST FOR: ARRANGING TRICKY ITINERARIES

This matchmaking service assesses your wants, needs and interests with an online questionnaire, then matches you with a savvy travel agent. It scans a global network of more than 6,000 independent experts to find three who’ll be able to coordinate your complex route.

ExpertFlyer

BEST FOR: GETTING THE INSIDE SCOOP

With real-time seat maps for more than 100 carriers, this site will help you find what’s available the next time a cancellation leaves you stranded at the airport. (Basic subscription is $4.99 per month.)

Yapta

BEST FOR: WATCHING FOR PRICE DROPS (AND SCORING REFUNDS)

This site keeps tabs on fare fluctuations before and after you book your flight, so you can get any applicable credits or even cash back from the airline if the price drops. Caveat: Refund policies apply only if you book directly with the airline.

Mile Maven

BEST FOR: MAXING OUT YOUR MILES

Updated every day, this simple but comprehensive database links to limited-time offers for bonus miles. Covering hundreds of carriers and millions of different routes, it’s easy to search by airline, frequent-flier program or city.

OrbitzTLC Traveler Update

BEST FOR: CHECKING FLIGHT STATUS AND DELAYS

Along with a color-coded map providing arrival and departure delay details at a glance, this veteran site’s latest feature relays advice straight from fellow travelers, who send updates in real time — by text-messaging from their cell phones — on security lineups, traffic jams, cab queues and more.

The First Good Reason I’ve Seen for Kids to Have Cell Phones May 1, 2008

LITHOPOLIS, Ohio (AP) — As two intruders began ransacking her house, a teenager home alone climbed into bed, hid under the covers and text messaged her mother, who called 911.

Lauren Durnbaugh, 13, hid under her covers and sent her mother a text message during a home invasion.

The thieves, who were both arrested, even sat on the girl’s bed at one point, unaware she was home.

Lauren Durnbaugh, 13, was home sick from school Tuesday when she heard someone open a rear door her mother forgot to lock. She hid as the suspects went from room to room.

“OMG. They’re in the house. I think we’re being robbed,” Lauren said in a text message to her mother, Margo Roby, 53, who was working at a car dealership about 15 minutes away.

Roby called 911 and raced home from work, ramming her vehicle into the back of the suspects’ car parked in the driveway, authorities said.

One of the suspects, Jenna Marie Burns, came out of the house and Roby wrestled with her just as sheriff’s deputies and the police chief arrived, Fairfield County Sheriff Dave Phalen said.

Jewelry, a laptop computer, a digital camera and a tool box were among items the intruders had set outside apparently to be carried away from the house, about 15 miles southeast of Columbus, Phalen said.

Burns and another suspect, Jeremiah Lee Fyffe, 26, were charged with burglary. Burns also was charged with robbery. Both remained in a county jail Thursday on $100,000 bond.

Lauren said she got into bed because the believed thieves were more likely to look elsewhere for items to steal.

“You wouldn’t just look in someone’s bed for something,” she said Thursday on NBC’s “Today” show. “You would be going in their closet and looking anywhere else.”

The intruders apparently were unaware that the teen was home, Phalen said.

Roby said she blamed herself for failing to lock the door when she left for work. But she’s proud of how her daughter handled herself.

“After we cried, she said, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I did that,”‘ Roby said. E-mail to a friend

71% Disapprove of George Bush May 1, 2008

Poll: Bush most unpopular in modern history

Posted: 02:30 PM ET

New poll numbers show bad news for president Bush.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A new poll suggests that George W. Bush is the most unpopular president in modern American history.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Thursday indicates that 71 percent of the American public disapprove of how Bush his handling his job as president.

“No president has ever had a higher disapproval rating in any CNN or Gallup poll; in fact, this is the first time that any president’s disapproval rating has cracked the 70 percent mark,” said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

“Bush’s approval rating, which stands at 28 percent in our new poll, remains better than the all-time lows set by Harry Truman and Richard Nixon (22 percent and 24 percent, respectively) but even those two presidents never got a disapproval rating in the 70s,” Holland added. “The previous all-time record in CNN or Gallup polling was set by Truman, 66 percent disapproval in January 1952.”

CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider adds, “He is more unpopular than Richard Nixon was just before he resigned from the presidency in August 1974.” President Nixon’s disapproval rating in August 1974 stood at 67 percent.

What You Get For the Money May 1, 2008

Forbes Ranks the Worst CEO’s

If the link above doesn’t work for you, click here.

The Five Sports Franchises Fans Love To Hate May 1, 2008

Click here for the article from SI.com

 

My beloved Boston Red Sox made this list in the #1 spot! Ranked above the Yankees? Give me a break… I know people hate the Patriots and I think the Sox shouldn’t have been lumped in with them. And the Celtics…. seriously, who hates the Celtics? Aren’t people excited by the possibility of a Celtics/Lakers NBA final ala Larry Bird and Magic Johnson? I did find it interesting that although the heading for #1 was “Any Major Sports Team From Boston”, the Bruins were not mentioned. Intentional slam or are they actually that forgettable?

Nevada Governor Billing Steve Fossett’s Widow For Search May 1, 2008

Click the link below for the full article. I think this is disgusting. If the search was for a child, a prostitute, loan shark, an immigrant worker or Joe Blow, do you think the state would be billing the family for the search and rescue efforts?

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Gov. Jim Gibbons plans to bill the widow of adventurer Steve Fossett for the unsuccessful recovery search.

Last year, the state of Nevada spent $687,000 looking for multimillionaire adventurer Steve Fossett after his plane disappeared in northern the northern part of the state. During a month-long search, crews scoured a 20,000 square-mile area, but turned up no sign of Fossett or his plane.

“We believe that while this is not a common practice, the extraordinary costs of the search, coupled with the state’s current budget difficulties, warrant the request.The exact process the state will go through to make this request is still to be determined,” said Gibbon’s press secretary, Ben Kieckhefer.

A Gibbons spokesman said the governor will bill Peggy Fossett for costs of the unsuccessful search as the state faces a budget shortfall projected to top $900 million.

Wacky Celebrity Hair: John Mayer Backtracks May 1, 2008

The first of the month brings new beginnings, new thoughts — and a new look for John Mayer, who took to his blog this morning. “Today I set off on my newest project,” writes the 30-year old musician, who made news this week after spending time in Miami with Jennifer Aniston. But his newest project isn’t romantic — it’s hairier than that. His goal: “To grow and maintain an authentic ’80s style feathered haircut,” he blogs, further insisting, “It’s something I’ve wanted to do for some time.” He admits to being “very excited to bring this amazing look into today’s pop culture landscape,” noting, “The feathered cut projects an attitude of ease and quiet confidence that seems to have all but eluded our generation. And as my hair grows longer it will serve to become a more stirring and poignant statement.” For inspiration, he posts photos of ’80s hair icons Michael J. Fox, Shaun Cassidy and Kristy McNichol — whom Mayer dubs, “The goal personified.”

Surprise, Surprise: Dennis Rodman Arrested May 1, 2008

Does this bit of news actually surprise anyone? You could see this one coming from 100 miles away! Good thing Carmen Electra got out when she did!

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Rodman arrested for alleged domestic violence at LA hotel

LOS ANGELES - Dennis Rodman has been arrested for allegedly hitting a woman at a hotel in the Century City area of Los Angeles.

Police say the 46-year-old former NBA star was arrested Wednesday night after officers answered a report of a domestic dispute. Officer Sara Fayden says they learned Rodman had struck a woman who suffered “injuries to her arm.”

There was no word on the seriousness of the injury.

Rodman manager Darren Prince told TMZ.comthat Rodman and his girlfriend had too much to drink, argued, and Rodman grabbed her arm and left a bruise. Prince told TMZthat Rodman’s drinking has escalated because of a nasty divorce and he plans to enter rehab.

Rodman was jailed for investigation of felony domestic violence and freed on $50,000 bail early Thursday.

Why, Oh Why Is Cameron Diaz in This Movie? May 1, 2008

I don’t know if any of you have read My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. If you haven’t, you should. It is good… I mean really, really, really good (I would peg Nicholas Sparks lovers as the right audience for this story). It’s one of those books that actually makes you feel something. You feel the family’s pain, the older daughter’s agony, the son’s rebellion and the younger daughter’s independence. You want everything to find a way to work out so that all involved get what they want and everyone walks away happy. And when it doesn’t end like a Disney fairytale you are sorry about the way things turned out and unbelieving that it would really end the way it does.

I was sort of happy but a little cautious when I heared that Hollywood was making My Sister’s Keeper in to a major motion picture. I am always leery of books turned in to movies because, let’s be honest, most movies can’t compare the the novel’s they were adapted from.

Imagine my disgust when I heard that Cameron Diaz had been cast as the mother. Oh my God! If you’ve read the book, you must feel the same way I do. This has to be one of the WORST casting decisions in Tinseltown history. The casting agent should be fired. Seriously, CAMERON DIAZ as Sarah Fitzgerald? I can buy Alec Baldwin as Campbell Alexander. I am okay with (but not thrilled) Abigail Breslin’s casting as Anna Fitzgerald, but I am APPALLED at the choice they’ve made for Sarah.

I’d love to hear what others think about this. Am I crazy? Am I wrong? Or am I right on the money about this?

Wacky Celebrity Hair: Kristin Chenoweth Goes Senior Citizen May 1, 2008

Huh… the new ‘do on Pushing Daises Kristin Chenoweth is interesting to say the least. The heavy bangs are one thing, but it looks like she took the comb and when crazy with the teasing and hairspray. Seriously, doesn’t she look OLD with this hairstyle? These people have stylists and assistants and agents. Are they too afraid of losing their jobs to say, “Hey Grandma, march your butt back to the salon”?