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JerseySmarts.com

The Perfect Service for Anyone Looking to Move

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As many of you probably know, last summer I moved from Deal, New Jersey to Tinton Falls, New Jersey – both in Monmouth County. My roommates and I rented a gigantic U-Haul truck and loaded it up with our stuff to make a few trips back and forth between the old apartment and the new townhouse. I’m not sure if I went over it at this site or not, but I was so out of shape that after about an hour and a half of moving stuff, I had to call up some of the undergraduates in my fraternity to come over and do the moving for me! Hey, I paid those kids good money and they did an awesome job loading and unloading my stuff for me (and my roommates).

Which brings me to a website that I came across the other day called MoveMe.com. MoveMe.com helps people who are looking to rent or buy homes, move to a new home, or look for finance to take care of their homes. It is what you’d call a removal company – in other words, this is a company that will come to your place, prepare removal quotes to move you from one location to another, and then do the actual move for you. Talk about a service that I could have used over the summer! MoveMe.com provides a man and van power for your move – in other words, they’ll get you the manpower and the right vehicle to make your move a success!

Now, I should note that this service is for my readers based out of the United Kingdom so be aware of that as you consider whether or not you want to use this service. If you head over to the MoveMe.com site you’ll notice that there is a very intuitive interface. You enter your current postal code and which postal code that you’ll be moving to and then their internal engine does the rest for you. And bear in mind – this is a free removal quote for your consideration. I strongly suggest that, when you plan your move, if you’re over in the United Kingdom you consider using a service like MoveMe.com…and I say this as the voice of experience!

Now that I’ve found this site, I hope to find similar services in the United States. Lord knows that the next time I move, I’ll need a service like MoveMe.com to help me get the job done quickly, efficiently, and professionally!

The Monmouth County Blackout – What?!

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How the hell does this happen? I deliberately waited to post on this topic until two and a half weeks after the event because I knew that everyone would forget about by now. It’s bullshit. Here we are a few days away from 2009 and a fire that messed up the electrical grid in Neptune Township managed to cut off the power to tens of thousands of residents not just in the shore region, but also up in the Highlands part of the state, too! How does that happen?

With all of the discussion about improving America’s energy future and President-Elect Barack Obama’s pledge to make energy security the top of his domestic policy agenda, let’s hope that situations like this don’t happen for too much longer.

This reminds me of the blackout from 2003 that knocked out power for most of the northeast states as well as Ontario, Canada. How pathetic was that? If you remember, for a brief period of time after that blackout there was some talk about fixing the electrical grid so that something similar would never happen again. Yeah, well, apparently that was forgotten real quick, huh?

At the very least, America should have a secondary energy grid running at all times just in case the primary grid goes down like it did in 2003 or a few weeks ago in Neptune Township. The secondary grid should be built on green technology with wind turbines, solar arrays, and other renewable energy sources so that we know it will always be available (wind is always and sun is always shining…somewhere). Then the secondary system can be built upon and expanded which does two things. First, it actually creates a large portion of the “green collar” economy that keeps getting thrown around in political debate. Second, it begins to shift America’s reliance on coal and oil sources to renewable energy.

Or we can do the alternative – which is to keep bitching about the need for energy independence via renewable sources and do nothing to achieve that goal. And the next time there is a blackout in any part of the country, we’d have no one to blame besides our politicians (go figure).

Changing Names in Neptune Township…Maybe

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Over the last few years I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some of the great folks at the Midtown Urban Renaissance Corporation (MURC) in Neptune Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey. I really like this group and their bottom up approach to community organizing and rallying support for local development projects (when the projects meet the needs of the community). Plus, they’re really good people and I learned a lot working with them and I continue to learn from working with them.

Last week’s Coaster newspaper included an article that talked about how the township committee in Neptune was considering changing the name of the street where a major redevelopment project is taking place. This project is being spearheaded by my former employer as the developer in partnership with MURC as the community sponsor. The name of the street is West Lake Avenue and the idea is to change the name back to Springwood Avenue. The Springwood Avenue name is the historical street name. The Coaster article talks a little bit about the name change to West Lake Avenue…

Asbury Park changed the street’s name back to Springwood Avenue several years ago. The name was changed to West Lake Avenue after the 1970 riots in an attempt to improve the image of the area.

“I would be very much in favor of changing the name back. Historically it has always been Springwood Avenue and it has a very rich heritage,” he said.

The “he” in the quote above is Neptune Township Mayor Randy Bishop. I’d be in favor of renaming the street by its historical name so long as it is a resident-spurred initiative. If a group like MURC or a group of residents from the street come together to support renaming the block, then I think it is a win-win situation for everyone involved.

All I know for sure, though, is that the redevelopment project being built on the current West Lake Avenue is going to do great things for this area of Neptune Township!

OMG – The Storm of the Century!

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It never fails – there is a report on the news about a winter storm getting ready to hit New Jersey and this state loses its mind. I can understand if you’re up in Sussex, Warren, Morris, or any of the other northern counties. But if you’re in the most highly populated parts of Mercer, Monmouth, or Ocean counties, then you need to calm down. We never get blasted with huge amounts of snow and if we do, the snow melts relatively quickly.

I remember growing up in Morris County when we would get massive snow storms where you would be snowed in for a few days. Since I’ve been down in eastern Monmouth County (almost 10 years now) we’ve only been snowed in for a prolonged period of time once. Heck, they get more snow out in Las Vegas than we get in eastern Monmouth County! Okay, maybe that’s a stretch…

One of my roommates works for Wegmans grocery store and he was saying how people were stocking up on all different types of groceries yesterday in anticipation of the coming snow storm. What folly! Folks, we live in eastern Monmouth County – we’re too close to the shore to have any significant, long lasting snowfall. Plus, most of the population in this area drive gigantic sport utility vehicles so you shouldn’t have many problems getting stuck in the snow!

But anyway, everyone be prepared because here comes another “storm of the Century!” Or at least a dusting of snow that scares the locals once again… 🙂

Those Damn College Students – At It Again!

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This one is too good to let up. I was flipping around the website of a local newspaper in Monmouth County and I came across an article that I had to share with the world. The name of the article? Monmouth University helps to open thrift shop. From the article:

Professor John Buzza has brought the Monmouth University Center for Entrepreneurship and students together with the RedeemHer Organization to open the thrift store. All proceeds from the store will be donated to the nonprofit organization RedeemHer.

Monmouth University students from Buzza’s entrepreneurship class are helping RedeemHer open the thrift store in Neptune, called Second Chances. The students and members of RedeemHer are involved in all aspects of the project, including creating a business plan, decorating, floor plans, sorting through donations, installing walls, public relations, marketing and staffing.

Wait. What? Is this an article that talks about how Monmouth University students are HELPING the community?! You know, from time to time I blog about the bias in the media, but that’s usually at a national level. There is also a bias in local media that is inherently anti-college student – but I’m sure you can understand why, right? Why would a newspaper – which is a dying breed to begin with – write articles that are pro-college students when the vast majority of those people living around college areas don’t like the off-campus population? It only makes sense that newspapers would be anti-college students, right?

Anyway, I’m glad that the Atlanticville has stepped out of the bunch and printed an article that praises some of the noteworthy work being completed by this particular class. This sounds like a good nonprofit organization and I’m sure that the students are getting one heck of an education by helping to build the business. Very impressive work on behalf of Monmouth University and a good article by the Atlanticville.

In the mean time, check out New Jersey Carpet Cleaning for the best carpet cleaning in the Garden State!