Philly Steps up Safety for Commuters who Bike to Work

Gas prices are expected to climb to nearly $5 a gallon by summer. The surge in price per barrel oil and the fair spring weather after such an extreme winter have some commuters considering changing their rides. Instead of hitting gridlock in gas guzzlers, cash in on the environmental and economical option of biking to work.

If you live and work in the Center City section of town, then you may be swayed to switch. The addition of the safe routes in the north-south corridors are going to be created by establishing bike lanes linking Spring Garden and South Streets. The six-foot wide lanes will make it easier and safer for cycling commuters to access the subway and travel around town.

Two critical gaps in the city's impressive network of bike paths are currently under construction. The extension of the Schuylkill River bike trail will link Falls Bridge with Ridge Avenue. Mayor Nutter hopes that by making the streets safe for cycling it will help make them safer for foot and vehicle traffic as well.

Biking to work carries its fair share of responsibilities. Operating a bike is considered operating a vehicle and there are laws attached to them that everyone is expected to follow. People who don’t follow the rules will be fined $10 unless their actions are unsafe and result in a steeper fine. Some of the city’s rules seem like common sense; others you may not realize are applicable. They include but are not limited to:

• Follow signs and lights like an automobile


• Ride on the right, as close to the curb as possible


• Use a permanent seat


• No extra riders


• If there’s a bike line available you have to use it


• Lamps and reflectors are required for sunset to sunup cycling


• Brakes are required on all bikes


• Parking on the sidewalks in a way that allows people to pass is ok, riding on the sidewalk is not


• Find the full list here

Biking is a great way to get where you’re going and it doesn’t take long for you to notice the changes in your physique and fuel tank. Check back next week for tips everybody biking to work needs to know unless you don’t mind showing up to work with a skunk streak up the back of your work shirt.


By Heather Fairchild - Heather is a multimedia developer with experience in web, film, photography and animation as well as traditional fine arts like painting and sculpting. In addition to writing for PhillyJobsBlog.com, she is co-founder of design and promotion company, BlackChip Solutions with fellow Beyond.com blogger, Staci Dennis. Heather’s spare time consists of making puppets, teaching Sunday School, building Legos and doing science experiments with her children.

How To Turn Your Junk Into Cash!

Spring is almost here and it's the perfect time to start thinking about turning some stuff you have laying around your house into cash.

Spring is on its way, and not only is it the time for flowers to start blooming again it is also the start of yard sale season. If you have a lot of stuff laying around your house that you don't use, it's a good time to clean out and turn your junk into cash. With the economy still tight and so many people out of work and looking for a job, having a yard sale can be a way to earn some money and help other people save some.

The key to getting the most money out of your stuff is planning. If you want to get the biggest crowd and the best dollar out of your yard sale, here are some tips to help you make your yard sale a success:

• Join forces with your neighbors or friends – When you first start planning your yard sale, tell you friends and neighbors. This will either drum up interest or you may find that they have some things they would like to sell as well. Having them join in your yard sale is a win-win proposition because it would give you help running things and larger yard sales attract more customers.
  
  
• Location, location, location – If you live in an out-of-the-way area, think about having your yard sale in another location. Sometimes churches and school will allow you to use their parking lot for a small donation. Depending on what your options are, it may be worth the rental fee to have your sale in a place where you will get more traffic.
  
  
• Advertise – There are several online yard sale locators you can use, and you should post your yard sale information in your local newspaper and also on Craigslist and Oodle.com. About a week ahead of time, you should post the time and date along with a short list of what sort of items are going to be included in the sale. Also, you should make some signs to post around your neighborhood to advertise, as well as one to put in front of your location. This way, a casual passer-by won't mistake your yard sale for spring cleaning.
  
  
• Rock bottom pricing – The biggest mistake people make when having yard sales is pricing items way too high. Yard sales are places to buy things super cheap so make sure your pricing reflects that. There have been many times that I have stopped by a yard sale, checked out a few outrageous price tags and promptly left because it was clear that the person having the sale was delusional about what yard sale pricing should look like. For example, old kitchen appliances should be priced at $3 and under. I don't care if you only used it rarely and it still has years of life left in it. Let it go and grab the couple bucks. Sometimes people just throw similar items in a box and give a price for anything in the box, like $1/toy.
  
  
• Plan out the details – There are some things you want to make sure you plan ahead for. Have a rain contingency plan and an idea of where customers should park. You also want to have a lock box for the money, or better yet, an apron with pockets. You will want to get about $50-$100 in change ahead of time, because you don't want to lose a sale just because the customer only has a twenty. Another good idea is to bring out an extension cord with a power strip, so customers can test out electronics and appliances before they buy them.
  
  
• Look for other money making opportunities – You can get the kids into the action by letting them run a water and bake sale. Buy some cases of bottled water, throw them in a cooler of ice and let the kids sell them for $1 apiece. It can be a great fun for the kids and even make a few bucks.
  
  
• Be safe – If you are hosting the yard sale at your house, be sure to lock all of the doors and don't let anyone inside for any reason. Also, make sure that you don't get distracted and take your eyes off of your money box. You can assign someone to hold the money box at all times and be the designated “cashier”, or buy an apron to keep the money in so you have it with you when you are moving around.

Having a yard sale can be a lot of fun. And, with some planning, it can be profitable too. So, when you start your spring cleaning, look for things that you can turn into cash.

What is your best yard sale tip? Let me know in the comments.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for PhillyJobsBlog, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.

How to avoid wasting food: Is this still edible?

Mold. At the first sign of it I tend to throw food out… unless I convince myself that I feel bad for letting it mold (beause it was either expensive or delicious), in which case I put it back in the fridge and hope that magic food fairies will come and fix it so that I can eat it and get my money’s worth.

On fridge clean out day, I always cringe at the sight of the half-full garbage bag filled with spoiled and unwanted food. Am I wasting food items that don’t necessarily need to be wasted?

This article on Boing Boing caught my eye: When is it OK to eat moldy food?

The USDA (that’s the United States Department of Agriculture, not the United Square Dancers of America, of course) recently did a study on moldy foods and released the Safe Food Handling fact sheet.

Surprise, surprise — in the end they do recommend throwing out most moldy foods. But the advice within the chart for how to salvage other foods is great!

Generally I live by the “if it smells bad or feels slimey, I won’t eat it” rule but after reading the chart I’ll never eat a moldy dollop of sour cream again. (Bleh!)

Be sure to check it out for yourself, you scrape-it-off-the-top types.


By: Bambi Blue

Bambi Blue is a freelance writer, editor, and codemonkey living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She moonlights as a jazz musician, a social butterfly, and most apparently a weisenheimer. Loves to cook, hates to clean, and can easily be found on Twitter.