The marketing phrase for the Starbucks Gold Card is “For People who Love Starbucks,” but really, I think it should be “For People who Love Starbucks and Free Wifi!” Right now, I am sitting in one of my local Starbucks locations, trying to burn a few hours while my dog is at the groomers, and using the free wifi that I get for my Starbucks Gold Card membership to access the ATT Wifi Hotspot at the store. It’s actually a pretty sweet deal. This Starbucks Gold membership card was one of my Christmas presents this year and I am actually just getting around to using it! The way it works is you pay something like $25 dollars a year for the card which is a refillable Starbucks card that gives you discounts on all your purchases as well as special offers throughout the year on specified days, ect. I was mostly interested in this card because a membership also gives you a free wifi time through ATT Wifi Hotspots. Most Starbucks locations are ATT Wifi Hotspots, although, I have been to some that give you free wifi access via a linksys router 🙂 Since I am someone who believes that places like Starbucks should give you wireless internet access for free just for visiting their store, I am a little ticked that I have to have a paid membership in order to do this, but of course this is better than nothing! I am actually really disappointed that there are no Panera locations around me, because before I moved I would spend hours sitting at Panera, ordering drinks and food and just hanging out doing work online. Panera actually has a really great set up for their customers. They have great food that you can take out or eat in, and when you do eat in, they have a very comfortable venue where customers can sit and eat, refill their own drinks and get the benefits of a dine-in restaurant without having to tip or wait around for a waitress. Of course you clean up after yourself, but that is nothing to cry over, and on top of all that you get wireless internet access for free. It’s one of those great places that college students or people who work from home or constantly on the road can go to and do lunch and work at the same time. I think Starbucks should really follow this model and start offering their wifi to customers for free. I mean, it makes perfect business sense to me that if you can keep your customers in your store for more than 5 minutes, they will buy more than one cup of coffee, and really isn’t that the point, to sell coffee?!? So, this is my rant, and my plea to Starbucks to put free wifi in all their locations!

Most of the time, I don’t think people are excited by the prospect of tax season. It is stressful to have to file taxes and wonder if you owe or how much you will get back, and in this terrible economy everything is so up in the air when it comes to finance and stimulus packages with the federal government that it is a mess to think about. Although most find the idea of tax time daunting, I actually like to get it over with as soon as possible, and in fact, I am ready to file my taxes tomorrow! Why am I so excited, you are probably wondering? Well, I can’t wait to get my tax refund, because thanks to some stimulus credits and the fact that I always make sure I overpay my taxes throughout the year, I am getting a nice chunk of change this go around, and I fully intend to use my return to purchase a new Macbook!

Talk about stimulating the economy, I am not going to be sticking that check into my savings, I like my money right where I can see it– on my lap with a fine aluminum finish and a full glass display! My only dilemma at this point is how soon I should make my purchase. You see, I had always intended to get myself a new mac once my current Macbook’s Apple Care protection ended in June, because it is not worth it to have to pay out of pocket for a repair on this mac, especially with the track record this machine has had with the optical drive needing yearly replacement. But of course I want a shiny new Macbook asap!

There are some advantages I see to waiting until the summer to get a new Macbook, however. WWDC is usually the first or second week of June, and it would be fair to expect some spec bumps and price drops on the Macbooks, not to mention the elusive snow leopard might be out by then. So, I am torn! I will have the money to get my new Macbook in a few weeks, but I might want to hold off on the purchase to see if Apple releases any new updates on the Macbook line by the summer. So far this year there has been nothing major other than the new iLife and iWork and I would hate to buy a new mac and then a few weeks later hear that Apple uped the RAM or hard drive size on the standard models. What do you think I should do? I want some advice/feedback on what to do because I would hate to rush into such an important purchase!