It is That Time Of The Month. I wish to die now. However, I'm troublshooting computers. May I shoot them instead?

Landlords here generally ask for your credit report, not score. Mine is impeccable. It is fairly easy on a case-by-case basis to explain why your credit score might be lower than normal.

Not Ginger, but there is a formula for credit score. Here is how FICO is calculated [link] :

about 35% on your payment history

about 30% on the amount you currently owe lenders

about 15% on the length of your credit history

about 10% on the number of new credit accounts you've opened or applied for (fewer is better)

about 10% on the mix of credit accounts you have (mortgages, credit cards, installment loans, etc.)

How Can I Improve My Credit Score?

The best way to improve your credit score is to pay your bills on time and manage your credit wisely. The most important item is your mortgage. Make sure you pay it on time every month. Installment loans, where you borrow a set amount to buy new furniture or appliances, for example, are given more weight than credit cards.

Keep your borrowing well below your credit limits, because your FICO score will be lower if you are maxed out on your credit cards. Don't have more than two or three credit cards because a large number of credit cards also lowers your FICO score. Don't apply for several credit cards at one time; it makes lenders nervous and will lower your FICO score. Other factors also affect your score, such as home ownership, which raises it, and moving frequently, which lowers it.

ETA: Reliance on FICO for lending, instead of doing manual underwriting, is one reason we ended up in this mortgage mess to begin with.

Clean Coal PSA directed by the Coen brothers.

Really well done.

3/3/09: Celebrate Square Root Day!

When the month and day form the square root of the year, math geeks celebrate a special holiday. Well, presumably. I never made it past precalculus, so I’m only going by what the Associated Press says:

The math-buffs’ holiday, which only occurs nine times each century, falls on Tuesday — 3/3/09 (for the mathematically challenged, three is the square root of nine).

“These days are like calendar comets, you wait and wait and wait for them, then they brighten up your day — and poof — they’re gone,” said Ron Gordon, a Redwood City teacher who started a contest meant to get people excited about the event.

The winner gets, of course, $339 for having the biggest Square Root Day event.

Gordon’s daughter even set up a Facebook page — one of a half-dozen or so dedicated to the holiday — and hundreds of people had signed up with plans to celebrate in some way. Celebrations are as varied: Some cut root vegetables into squares, others make food in the shape of a square root symbol.

Don't forget Pi day is coming up in 11 days....

And it's my Hubby's birthday--and my middle sister's and my boyfriend's in college. Yay, easy to remember!

I call this the Beth financial plan.

The Beth financial plan also sounds awesome. Go you.

I like the not!Clean Coal ad, but I wish it gave more details. I know it's intended to be goofy, but I want to be able to say concisely why I oppose it and nuclear power, both of which have to do with water and take longer to explain that most people will sit still for.

Which is why I tend to do it while we're driving people past our local coal plant, the one that supplies my power, since they're my captive audiences for about an hour at that point.

For SF-istas: 10+ Great San Francisco Blogs

I'm going to cross-post this here, because I'm not getting any response in Music or Technology:

AAAARRRGGGHHH!

I need PC iTunes help! My sister asked me to create a playlist for her iPod touch for the trip she is going on at 4:00 am tomorrow. She doesn't get home tonight until around 9:00 or 9:30.

It seemed simple enough, the iPod is plugged into her Gateway laptop and iTunes is up. After much trial and error I made a playlist and then tried to sync it with the iPod.

Well, the music didn't make it over and now iTunes is locked up and the fan or something on the laptop is running intermittently. I can't see the iPod and I can't get iTunes unstuck!

If I try to close it or click on anything I get a "Thunk" sound.

Help!

Did you control-alt-delete it? Sounds like you need an overall restart.

I love it when a coworker opens a conversation with "I am so confused" and I have no idea which confusing issue she might be talking about.