Where To Find A Christmas Tree

Stolen from a reliable source:

If you’re looking for a Christmas tree this year, several stands have opened up around Warsaw.

Look for signs that say, “Choinki”. Most of your favorite garden centers will also be selling them.

In addition, you can try www.choinkidodomu.pl and order a fresh tree delivered to your door. The site is in Polish, but if you click on the “zamow” tab at the top, the page will show you ordering and delivery info (But you still may need to do this with a Polish dictionary - or google translate)

For decorations, OBI has a huge selection for both indoor and outdoor and also sells artificial trees.

A Thought About Holiday Dinners

Yesterday my office had a nice big lunch-out to celebrate a colleague who is leaving.

To the pleasant surprise of most of us, there were pitchers of water sitting on the table when we all got there. Since tap water is a rarity, we were all happy to have the option of water at the table.

Then we got the bill, and I was a little shocked. They charged us for 35 little bottles of water, that they presumably poured into these larger pitchers. The water bottles had to be 200ml a piece.

So they charged us a total of 175 zloty for several pitchers of table water that they kept refreshing whenever the pitchers on the table ran out.

Personally, I thought this was odd and just a little bit petty, but as you're planning your holiday parties you might want to be aware - they charge for everything. As my Grandpa always said "There ain't nothin that's free!"

And in case you're curious - the restaurant was Studio Buffo over by the Sheraton.

Best Online Backup Solution

Although not specifically geared to saving cash - I wrote the below when searching out a reliable method for backing up all of our computer data online. I found a few sites but their data was 18 months to 2 years outdated (cough - PC Mag) so I decided to do a little digging myself.

This all started when I upgraded to Windows 7 and while transferring all the old files I wondered what I would do if something went wrong and somehow I lost all my data. I have very little for consistent backups, and even if I did, what happens if we were robbed, or heaven forbid there's a fire? We've got literally thousands of dollars of music and a lifetime of pictures all stored on that little platter on the hard drive in this box in my living room. I started to get scared and started looking for a solution.

What I found was a whole lot of options. There are dozens and dozens of places on the internet to store digital picture and other files online.

I started with Google by typing "Online storage" and of course, it came back with 64,100,000 different hits. After a little further digging I narrowed it down to two categories of online storage. Limited and unlimited storage options. Since I have 103 gb in pictures alone, limited storage was not an option for me.

However, if you're looking for a place to store a limited number of files, try checking out any of these semi-popular sites: Orbit Files, Box.net, iBackup, Drop.io, Humyo, GetDropBox, Syncplicity, SugarSync, SoS Online Backup iDrive and if you already have a Hotmail account - you probably have access to Windows Live Sky Drive to store documents and pictures for free.

For unlimited storage, ultimately I found 4 sites online that are generally well respected. Carbonite, Mozy, ElephantDrive, and KeepIt.

Keep-It has a confusing splash page and didn't really stand out as a professional site, so I didn't bother going forward. ElephantDrive looks professional and easy to use, but they have a maximum file size of 1gb for the basic (competitively priced) and 2gb for the professional plan. I don't have a lot of +1gb files, but I don't want to limit my possibilities later.

So with the intent of backing up all the files on my computer, I ended up with two final options. Carbonite or Mozy. Both have been around a while and Carbonite offers a two-week trial where Mozy offers up to 2gb free storage all the time. Both were good enough to make a decision.

Carbonite Online PCBackup– Looks professional and well laid out and the annual bill is $54.95, but you can google better deals for the starting price - I easily found a coupon for $43.96 for a one-year subscription.

There is a small application that downloads on your computer, but the file interface is the same Windows Explorer that you'd normally use (I assume it's possible on a Mac?). They have a system where every file you own gets a green dot for being backed up already, or a yellow dot showing it hasn't been backed up.

Carbonite does everything in the background, so the initial backup can take a long time depending on the number of files and their size. You can adjust the settings though to speed up the download and really, I didn't think it was unreasonable.

I did run into a problem with backing up my videos. This is not done by default - you have to specify this under the options tab. The software does have a help section to guide you through this and set video files as a default backup, but you have to set every kind of video file. This can be annoying. In addition, you have to backup every single file over 4gb. At least it gives you the option though.

After I made a backup, I of course deleted some files and tried to bring them back. This was a breeze. But the real selling point was the remote access ability. To test this, I used my work computer that is locked down tighter than my parent’s liquor cabinet, and I was easily able to download a spreadsheet from a backup the previous day. Same thing with a sample picture. The downloading thing worked fine, which serves two purposes – backup and remote access. It’s really a win-win. The biggest drawback for Carbonite was the fact that I have to specify every video type to by backed up and I have to back up each file over 4gb individually.

Mozy – Mozy advertises unlimited storage for $4.95 a month and also adds the option of adding additional computers for the same price. Not much of a deal, but its nice to have an option.

The interface is pretty simple and isn't as polished as Carbonite. It does have a 'backup now' function which is nice and I actually like the simpler interface because I feel like I can specify exactly what I want to backup and I feel like its done. Not a lot of drama. As I mentioned, dealing the interface is a throwback to Windows 3.1, but it's functional and I feel like it's probably less of a resource drain that other options.

The Downfall of Mozy was trying to grab a file off the internet. When I tried from my work computer, it was a lot more painful than Carbonite. There is a web-restore that I can use, but it has to un-archive the file and then they send an email saying the process is done.

Web access is not a feature that I started out looking for - but now I see it as a deciding factor.

How to Watch American Network TV shows

Ever been to NBC.com, Hulu.com or just about any other American network's website?
Ever noticed how they don’t let you watch the free episodes if you’re outside of the US?

I fully understand that ultimately TV is advertising based and those of us living overseas aren't the target (revenue-producing) audience, but still - I'm an American and I want to watch American shows.

I asked one of the sharpest guys I know to write out exactly how to establish an internet "tunnel" that would allow me to watch US shows freely while I was overseas.
He sent me below - obviously missing the point entirely.

"All you need is a server that has a 10mbit port+ connection, and a host that allows tunneling. Most, however, do not allow tunneling as it can kill the servers bandwidth and run up charges at the data center (When you have 300-400 people tunneling it can go petabytes of bandwidth a day).
Putty is just a SSH client, however it's the easiest to setup as it allows tunneling."

I told you it was technical.

Now my aforementioned friend hooked me up, and so I have a hard time even beginning to explain what he did - but I would think sites like Tunnel Hosting can essentially set up the entire thing - although I have not tried this.

And there is an alternative to all of the above. Some sites in the US will allow you to view programs by using anonymous proxy internet surfing tools. Essentially you run a program on your computer in Poland and are able to watch shows that are available to everyone watching TV Stateside. The most popular seems to be Anonymizer and while I've heard positive reviews - I can't personally guarantee that it even works. Look for free trials.

Is it worth it? Since American TV usually is posted on the network's website the next day, I have been watching episodes of The Office every Friday this season. I would definitely pay the $5 a month to keep up. Sure beats iTunes.

Here We Go Again

I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but POLCARD may be the Devil Incarnate.

POLCARD is the company that processes a whole lot (I assume the majority of) credit card transactions in Poland. Look at the top of your receipt the next time that you pay by credit card and you'll probably see their logo.

I'm getting sick of their underhanded practices - Merchants all over town are continuing to USD-based credit cards in USD and not offering the choice to the consumer (as stated on the agreement). I can't prove it, but I'm sure that the merchants are getting a kick-back from the Credt Card processing company - POLCARD.

Twice in the last week my wife has been charged in USD when making purchases. Just so you know what to look for, here are two examples:























You can see on the 15th I got the exchange rate of 2.6673 - The market exchange rate that day was 2.755.

Why is this a big deal? On a 12.50PLN purchase at Starbucks, the extra 3.5% hedge they are charging it's not that much, and even a 90 PLN purchase, we're not talking about a lot of money, but the principle is still the same. It says in writing that "I accept that I have been offered a choice of payment..." The fact is they just hit the button because they don't want to ask the question (or they've been told not to).

I'm still waiting to get charged again in USD. I plan to go ballistic on the sales clerk that hits the damn "USD" button because my Polish isn't great. Both of the above charges were to my wife's card and she's not nearly as stubborn about this whole process as I am.

I do have a Polish friend with a USD credit card who was charged against her desire and she made a huge deal of it. It took the merchant two days to correct the error, but you know what? I bet the merchant asks now!

I don't know what Reserved sells, but Starbucks is a western company and they should know better than trying to screw their customers for a small profit. As I said - I certainly hope that the merchant is getting a kickback because they are risking alienating some customers or just making them angry. If not, the POLCARD has the best scam going.

Be aware - if you're getting charged in USD, you're probably getting screwed with the exchange rate.

A Different Place For The Hummus

I've always been a fan of the Samira Lebanese grocery store off of Niepodległości. They've got a great selection of all the Lebanese groceries you could ask for and their prices are very reasonable.

There is another grocery store further south that might also be worth checking out. It's a little store located right next to the Mosque in Wilanow. I've been told that they have pretty great hummus too.

Unfortunately I can never get over there to check it out so I've never actually been there, I don't have a card, address, phone number or even a store name.

But the people who have been there say that it's the best hummus in town.

I'll believe that when I taste it.

Watching International TV on the Internet

If you've got a decent internet connection, there are several ways to watch free satellite and other video feeds over the internet. It usually involves downloading a third party application.

I found this article on eHow.com when I was looking to watch American NFL games live.

I never got to the point where I could watch American Football, but mostly because I found another way and using a player over the net seemed unnecessary.

But the link above also gives yo the links to other players that open up an entire world of additional TV channels to watch straight from your desktop.

Is it worth it? Probably not for your primary TV watching, but if your interested in watching the Cheese Channel beamed directly from France - it might be worth a look.