A university in Florida (of course) has fired two administrators in its English Language Institute for failing to deposit checks worth about $275,000 (story here).  Checks were found under books, in desk drawers and other niches within the office.  Some checks were almost a decade old, and checks worth about $133,000 were too old to cash or deposit.

As an entrepreneurial English major (oxymoron?) I can tell you it is neither safe, nor wise to put money in an English major’s hands.  While we may be energetic and creative we are at a loss for how to manage the green stuff.  Celeste, my patient and brilliant wife, has learned that lesson the hard way and has taken our finances into her capable hands.  Amazing how much better we’re doing since that happened.

Along the same tangent, Celeste’s first job after college was running the Professional Center at George Mason University. Her greatest achievement was figuring out that the center was owed about $200,000, primarily from the IRS and the Air Force for training space they had rented over the years (this is in the early 90s).  They hadn’t paid because the invoices were not prepared properly so Celeste figured out what information was needed, re-submitted the invoices and collected all of the money that was owed.

That’s why she does the books for the Lowder family enterprises.