I have written about the pros and cons of credit cards before.  But despite their cons, it is really important for every business, especially those in the retail business to have the capability to accept payments by credit cards. 

Not everyone likes to carry stash of cash around so a card does simply matters a lot especially for big item purchases.  Studies have also shown that having the ability of processing credit card payments can result in consumer spending increases by 15% - 20%, therefore resulting in a huge increase in profits.

Hence, businesses that are not already accepting credit card payments would want to speak to a qualified credit card processing company such as Merchant Consulting Group and find out the best solutions based on their needs or if their Merchant account program is up to date.

Remember, at the end of the day, being able to cater to customers’ needs is of utmost importance.  In fact, making it easier for customers to pay for their purchases is definitely the most crucial factor to improving business bottomline.

I’ve upgraded to Wordpress 2.2 for one of my blogs and so far, I don’t find it very impressive.  As a matter of fact, I dislike the fact that I have to preview my post in a new window altogether.  I find that takes up more time.

In addition, the ability to tweak the widgets on my sidebar is totally lost to me.  Probably because I don’t use them much in the first place. 

So I haven’t upgraded the other 2 blogs because I have no good reasons to do so.  It’s not like a security bug that I need to fix urgently. 

And on this topic, I have to be more careful about backing up my content as well as de-activating the plugins before each upgrade.  I’ve been skipping this 2 steps but something I read recently woke me up.  Someone almost had his blog crashed due to laziness and that’s not something I want to go through.

But for the time being, I’m sticking to 2.1.3 for this blog first.  Wait.  When I have more time.

I played golf some years ago but it was really social golfing out of fun, and I never took a handicap test.  Rather, my husband, through his connection, got me a handicap which allowed me to play at some of the clubs. 

I’m so surprised to learn today that it is now even possible to get a golf handicap online.  More precisely, obtain an official USGA golf handicap through NetHandicap.com, which is focused on providing a web based online golf course software to connect golfers with clubs and enhancing the golf experience.

This is possible because since January 1, 2006, the USGA allows golfers to participate in an online club where members are solicited by an Internet based service such as NetHandicap.com. The club however, must be established in a local community and each of the members of the club must live within a 50 mile radius of the club.

In NetHandicap’s case, they have created over 50 golf clubs in the major cities of the United States.  And what’s interesting is that NetHandicap offers both a USGA Handicap Index as well as a Recreational Handicap.

So what’s a Recreationall Handicap?

According to what I understand from their website, if members are not planning on playing in sanctioned tournaments, but are rather interested in all the features of NetHandicap such as learning about their game trough trending, reports and tracking their handicap, then they might want to consider taking the Recreational Handicap.

Wow.  Who would have thought?  Being able to generate golf handicap online.  Like I said before, the world wide web is such a wonder. In fact, everything seems possible with the Internet these days!   

It’s funny how kids grow up too fast and then cause a dent in our pockets because of their height or their size.  Like today, we found out that we have to purchase a full movie ticket for our kid even though he’s definitely going to sit on our lap.   Only because he’s over 3 feet now.

I remember as a kid, even when I was about 6 or 7 years old, I would still sit on my dad’s lap.  But I suppose they were not so strict back then so it was easier for parents to get away with it.  Now, theatres have a regulation and we need to abide by their rules.  Actually to think about it, how come they do not offer concessions for kids?

Well, next will be train tickets.  So far, we’ve escaped by carrying him and getting away with it even though he’s definitely over the height limit.  I think we can’t get away for too long now. 

I haven’t given much thoughts to car covers.  I know they’re used to protect the cars but we don’t see a lot of it here because using it, especially in a public carpark lot, attracts unwanted attention to the car and could bring it more harm than good.

So I was rather surprised to find that it is actually possible to order custom made car covers.  Like SUV tonneau covers that are specifically tailored to fit the car.  In fact, Carcoverworld.com even allows customers to specify their requirements according to their make and model of car or jeeps and needs like using covercraft indoor and outdoor fabrics including noah, dustop, and weathershield.  There’s definitely a whole lot more to car covers than I’ve ever known about.

But seriously.  If not for the fact that we have some idiotic pranksters who like to go round damaging our cars, I really like the idea of using car covers.  Because it offers our cars added protection against rain and shine.  As a matter of fact, I believe it will help to prolong the aesthetic looks of the car and keep it looking in great condition.