Gratuitous plugs, concluding with a German threat.

• Need free money? Online bank ING Direct has resumed their bonus payments for new savings accounts. The interest rate on one of those bad boys is currently 4.5%, which I can safely assume blows away anything you're getting from your bank. Karen and I have had one of these accounts for years now and love it, and we've referred quite a few of you who also seem to be happy with it. Transferring money to and from your bank account is simple, though there is a delay of a few days.

Today, ING announced it's gone back to giving you a $25 bonus if you're referred to open an account, and the referrer (me, for example), gets $10. The only catch is you have to make an initial deposit of at least $250. So if you want to make an easy $25 and kick me an easy $10, drop me an e-mail.

• Are you on Netflix? If so, why aren't you my friend? I only have two or three of you linked as "friends" on Netflix, and I'd like more so I can pry into what you're watching/liking/hating. So use my e-mail to connect with me on there.

One of my favorite features is the percentage rating of similarity you have with your friends. My closest link is with the Greg/Claypits Jackson couplage. They match opinions on movies 87% with me and Karen. Strangely, I feel in synch with longtime friends Bill and Dawn, but we officially only match 69%. After they rate all the Battlestart DVDs, that might change.

• Anybody still need a Gmail account? I can't believe it's still in Beta and invite-only, but it is. So if you'd like an invite, let me know. I have 98 left. I like it a lot, mainly because it links up with blogspot and...

• Google Reader. Anybody using this? Greg let me know about it the other day, and I'm stone addicted. It's an RSS reader, which I've avoided dealing with for years because it just couldn't sound less sexy. But you just tell it which blogs you want to subscribe to (like this one), and sends all the new posts to one place, so you don't have to keep clicking on a site to see if it's updated. It's a little problematic sometimes, but still nice.

• In closing: Long ago, my sister and I developed a theory that if you praise something to the point of sounding like a commercial, you should quickly toss in some blatant obscenity to make up for it. Since I try to keep this blog PGish, I'll just leave you with this holiday greeting from our friends in the Rhineland: "Ich haue Dir gleich eine in die Eier!" (Alas, while Babelfish's translation is quite humorous, it doesn't quite catch the idiom. Cheers anyway.)