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Now that I've got your attention...

Fire up the grill because Lowes Foods this week has boneless New York strip steak on sale for $6.99 a pound (regular $10.99). Deal ends Tuesday.

Harris Teeter also has bone-in strip steak for $5.99 a pound (regular $9.99) while Kmart has packages of T-bone steaks for $5.99 a pound with an additional purchase of at least $20.

Food Lion has T-bone or porterhouse "value pack" for $6.99 a pound.

As Sonja Elmquist reports in today's News & Record, an increasing number of Greensboro residents are falling prey to burglars in tough times.

Ah, memories.

One summer afternoon several years ago, burglars kicked down the front door of our apartment in northern Greensboro. Thieves helped themselves to my laptop among other things.

The only thing they left behind was a large shoe impression on the front door. Gee, thanks.

Long story short: We pretty much came out of the ordeal Ok, albeit a little bit more paranoid, because we have renter's insurance. It's about $15 a month if you pick a plan with a high deductible ($1,000).

Having the deductible take a chunk out of the reimbursement stung a bit. But it's still worth every penny.

Philly.com mentions some bartering Web sites worth checking out if you're looking for deals in tough economic times, including one that caught my eye called Swaptree.

At Swaptree, you can list books, CDs, DVDs, and video games you want to trade and see what others are willing to give up in return. You can also listen to audio clips of the music CDs being offered. When you register, it gives you the option of inviting people in your e-mail contact list.

I'm going to give it a whirl and will get back to you on whether it's worthy of a thumb's up or down.

You want to take the tykes to see a movie (ah, air conditioning) but you don't want to spend a tank's worth of gas to do it. You might want to consider taking them to see a featured kids' movie at The Grande Theatre's Four Seasons Station 18. For $1, they can see Madagascar today and tomorrow at 10 a.m. Includes popcorn and soda.

Summer Kids Flicks series at Seasons Station 18:

July 22-23 Madagascar PG $1.00
July 29-30 Jimmy Neutron G $1.00
August 5-6 Over the Hedge PG $1.00
August 12-13 Everyone's Hero G $1.00
August 19-20 Open Season PG $1.00

This is on our tech geek squad's to-do list, namely incorporating the News & Record's classified yard sales listings into Google Maps each week. I've already been using Google Maps to plan for our yard sale jaunts, so I figured, what the heck, why not make it available for everyone.

Happy bargain hunting.

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Office Depot has a Logitech brand Web cam on sale for $19.99 (regular $29.99). Deal ends Saturday.

When you proclaim something is FREE in all caps in an ad, I'll admit it, you've got my attention. But then you read the fine print and notice that free is anything but. Far from it. Sound familiar?

Case in point are those ads proclaiming you can get one of those broadband wireless USB laptop adapters that basically serve as a portable modem for free. Wireless adapters from Verizon and AT&T, for example, are free this week at Best Buy. But that hinges on signing a two-year agreement that requires a monthly access charge. (The amount is conspicuously absent from the ad, but they generally run in the $50 to $60/month range.)

Here's what I would love to see: a pay-as-you go adapter for those of us who don't need to use it 24-7. I don't want to be burdened with any kind of contracts, thank you very much. Just the ability to pop it into my laptop say during a long road trip when I'm a passenger and would like to kill time on the Web.

But I can't justify spending more than $700 a year for that luxury. I'm sure many feel the same way. So maybe the reason we haven't seen it yet is because the business model to make it profitable is still a work in progress, not that companies don't think it would sell.

Harris Teeter has buy 1, get 2 free deals on Kraft salad dressing, Kraft barbecue sauce and Toaster Strudel or Toaster Scrambles.

Food Lion has a Tracfone brand cell phone on sale for $9.99.

As mentioned in today's "Short Orders" column, Earth Fare Market and Cafe off Battleground Avenue in Greensboro will be grilling burgers for a buck from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

Proceeds will benefit the Piedmont Land Conservancy.