ING Direct is a bank. It’s not pronounced ”-ing” like “bank-ing”, which is a common misconception. It’s prounouced by saying the letters: eye – en -gee. They are strictly online banking with no tellers or physical locations to conduct your money business.

So why even use it this type of bank?

First of all, ease of access. We’re online all the time, why not run our checking accounts, our mortgage, our investments while we’re surfing the Web? They also offer customer service via phone or mail if that’s your choice.

Secondly, all the choices they offer: Savings, Home Loans, Investing, Business Savings, and Retirement. Basically all of these assets ING offers with no fees, a competitive interest rate, and easy to use online forms so you can do almost everything yourself.

The website is easy to navigate and all you need to get started in an outside account to link your ING account to. This has been a great way to save for many people for two reasons: you can put your money where you can’t see it unless you’re online and it takes 1-2 days to get your money OUT of ING so it makes you think twice about transferring.

Customer service has alwasys been top notch, with answered emails and phone calls within hours, not days.

If only physical banks were this efficient!

There is a website that houses course descriptions for a countless number of colleges and universities in the United States as well as worldwide. Using this website, you can discover course descriptions for transfer of credit, comparable courses across educational institutions, and a way to track data between staff and faculty.

TES (Transfer Evaluation System) is a product of CollegeSource and they work in sync to offer an easy way to review transfer of credit for post secondary systems. The process is quite simple and very useful for Registrars and Academic Coordinators.

First, you log in using a user name and password set up for you. There is a fee involved which is adjustable for each user. Most of the time, the college or university will pick up the tab for this.

After logging in you are given choices. You can research a specific course by typing in the college it is taught at, send course descriptions to faculty or staff for review, find course equivalencies across colleges, or manage the account and profile of TES.

The amount of information available at your fingertips is astronomical. For example, let’s say you took a course at Concordia University in Austin, Texas in 1994. Now you’re looking at attending Oregon Coast Community College and they won’t accept your classes unless you’re able to provide them with a course description for your Purchasing Management class. TES would be able to provide them with the following, specifically dated to 1994, description along with additional credit and pre-requisite information:

Now Oregon Coast Community College can use this information to make their transfer credit decision and you didn’t have to unearth your catalog from 17 years ago.

Obviously there is a very specific market for this website, but it’s also a useful, time-saving tool if purchased. If you work in any sector of education, it’s definitely something to look into.

tes.collegesource.org

If any of you out there have kids (children, tykes, little ones, ankle biters, hellions, etc.) you have probably come across your share of questions. What time should I put them to bed? What if they WON’T go to bed? What if they have a tantrum in a store, how should I handle that? The Nanny Godmother (http://www.nannygodmother.com ) wants to help you with these questions and more.

The Nanny Godmother is actually Nanny Lili, an English nanny with 15 years experience between newborns and adolescents. She states that “although there’s no right or wrong answer to most questions of child rearing, sometimes a little shared knowledge and experience can go a long way. Whether you’re at wit’s end over a tough parenting problem, or are just looking for a quick tip or idea, the Nanny Godmother’s tricks of the trade might provide just the helping hand you need.”

But can she?

PROS:

• The site is set up very neatly.
• Cute clip art and pics.
• Clearly marked areas to find various things: recent posts, specific topics, and rules.
• A search engine to narrow your question to a more exclusive area.
• There’s a Facebook page to go along with the website (which has 909 “likes” as of post time).

CONS:

• There seems to be only one nanny, which to me seems no different than asking anyone who has kids the same question.
• There’s a UK/US language barrier. ”Dummy” instead of “pacifier”, “nappy” instead of “diaper”. (There IS a dictionary to explain these differences, but it’s still distracting).
• The advice given seems like it’s from a self-help parenting book. The advice from other commenters is almost better because you get other insight from other people besides just “The Nanny Lili”.

So let’s put it to the test. I typed in “sleeping” in the search engine because one of my friends is having a hard time getting her 2 year old to go down at night. What I found from Nanny Lili is pretty much the same thing my friend has already tried: being firm, establishing a routine before bed, be consistent, avoid TV before bed, etc. Nothing really has a “wow!” factor as far as suggestions that would be new and welcome to a tired mom.

For the most part, I think this website would be good for new mothers and fathers who really aren’t sure what to do and maybe just need a step in the right direction. Otherwise by the time you get around to reading the website, you might have already answered your own question through trial and error.