Fourth typhoon hits the Philippines, help out and also reduce your taxes

The Philippines got hit again by a typhoon, the fourth in just one month. Fortunately, Typhoon Mirinae moved quickly through Luzon without dropping a lot of rain.

If you want to help, you can donate through ADRA's Emergency Response Fund.

We're almost at the end of the year and if you are looking to reduce your tax liability plus help other people along the way, you can donate to charities like ADRA or the Red Cross. Your contributions to these charities like ADRA International, a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code, are deductible for computing income and estate taxes.

Windows 7 upgrade for less than $30!

Windows 7, Microsoft's new operating system, is available for sale for individuals that have a valid U.S. college e-mail address. This heavily discounted offer was designed for students.

Available online for download is either the Home Premium or the Professional version, 32-bit or 64-bit for $29.99. These programs if sold at retail will cost $119 for the Home Premium and $189 for the Professional.

I chose the Home Premium version and the download size is approx 2GB! For more information, you can access https://windows7.digitalriver.com.

Why would I choose to upgrade?

After eight long years, Microsoft has finally launched an operating system that actually has performed well in benchmark tests and is really really fast.

The hardware incompatibilities and the steep requirements of installing the previous operating system, Windows Vista, created an uproar among Windows users. Despite having gigs of RAM and duo-core processors, Windows Vista made your PC experience seem like you were running a Windows ME operating system on a 486 processor (yeah, you geeks out there now what I'm talking about).

I disliked the operating so much, I personally chose to run Windows XP on my PCs and netbook. I only have one laptop that has Windows Vista and it wasn't downgraded mainly because of some specialized programs that I wouldn't be able to utilize in an XP environment.

If you have Windows Vista right now and you are in that painful environment of having to wait for long boots or for your windows to actually render the graphics properly, it's time to upgrade to Windows 7...and if you are lucky, you could do it for less than $30.00.

Travel Tip: Getting your boarding passes faxed

Frequent Flyer Travel Tip

Have you ever been in this situation? You want to check in ahead of the busy lines at the airport and want to print boarding passes but you don't have a printer anywhere in the hotel. However, the majority of the hotel rooms do have one thing in common for reservations: They all have fax machines.

When you check in online at Northwest Airlines (owned by Delta) or other airline sites, they will give you the ability to fax these boarding passes anywhere in the world for free.