Category Archives: Winston-Salem

Reading List September 1, 2005

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  • Kids Just Get It (The Post Money Value) – While at dinner Rick Segal overheard a child say the following after hearing about benefit concerts being put together for Katrina victims: “How come they have to do music to get help, don’t people just want to help?”
  • Fred Barnes to Katrina Victims: Drop Dead (New Hounds) – Conservative pundits behaving badly.
  • Rant on the Hurricane (The Chairman’s Corner) – The Guilford County (NC) Republican Party is in deep doo-doo.  Why?  Just read a few posts from this guy’s blog for some clues.
  • Wedding Canceled (Patrick Eakes) – Anecdotal testimony from people on the ground in Louisiana.

Reading List August 31, 2005

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  • Should New Orleans Be Rebuilt? (BuzzMachine) – Jeff Jarvis asks the question I suspect many Americans are thinking and he gets dozens of remarkably un-troll-like comments.
  • Is Dell Dying? (Slate) – The headline is really, well stupid.  But the article itself takes a hard look at Dell’s real business problems for the near future.
  • Terry’s Fortune Escapes High Point (Off the Record via Ed Cone) – Randall Terry, a local millionaire in High Point, NC died last year and his largest beneficiaries are his dogs ($1,000,000 +) and his foundation.  The foundation is principally focused on funding the NC State Veterinary school and Terry’s old boarding school in Virginia, so High Point won’t get any help from a man remembered as a true scrooge by the editorial writer.
  • Cover Your Eyes, Kids (Patrick Eakes) – Patrick, winner of the most popular Greensboro blog contest (I need to ask him if he gets to wear a tiara), doesn’t like how the NC Senate passed the lottery bill.  He’s right.
  • The Angry, Hate-Filled Left (OpinionEditorials) – I read this site every once in a while to keep an eye on what the "Righties" are saying.  I disagree with a lot of what this guys says, but I agree with his main point: while we (Americans) are all guaranteed the right to free speech that doesn’t mean we should not also show restraint.  By the way his title could just as easily be "The Angry, Hate-Filled Right."
  • Downturns (A VC) – Fred Wilson senses an economic downturn coming and has some good advice on how to deal with it, at least from an investor’s perspective.
  • National Bottle Museum (bookofjoe) – My neighbor, Curt Ewing, is an avid bottle collector will love finding this if he doesn’t already know about it.
  • Logistics of New Orleans’ Kidney Transplant (Moore’s Lore) – Dana Blankenhorn is thinking about the logistics of rebuilding New Orleans.  He’s right, it’s daunting.
  • Conservatism: A House Divided (Conservative Voice via Vie de Malchance) – Pat Buchanan writes an opinion piece on the state of the Republican Party.  My favorite quote: "
    But on spending, Bush and Congress do not even meet the Clinton standard. They qualify as Great Society Conservatives."
  • Copter Parents at 2 O’Clock! (Daniel Drezner) – Colleges are finding that this generation of students has parents that are "hyper-involved" in their lives, interfering with their childrens’ non-academic, problem-solving educational experience.  Sorry to see that namby-pamby parenting extends beyond middle-school.

WebJillion Cool Winston-Salem Based Blog

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Thanks to Joe for letting me know about Adam’s blog, WebJillion.  Joe and Adam work together at the Winston-Salem Journal and were the people responsible for getting their RSS feeds set up, among other online initiatives.

I’m particularly interested in WebJillion’s free IYHY mobile web application.  Here’s how it’s described:

It is an absolutely free web application that strips all the crap from a web page and gives you the good stuff when you’re
on the go — the content.

If
you sign-up for free with IYHY it will keep a running, editable list of
your "mobile bookmarks" on your account homepage. That way they’re
easily accessible when you’re on your mobile device. If you don’t
sign-up, that’s cool too, you can still use it for individual sites.

Nice!

***Update*** I just spent a little more time on WebJillion and there’s an even more interesting application called Temptation Blocker.  What an idea!

Reading List August 26, 2005

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  • How Blogs Pertain to You (iMedia Connecton via Micro Persuasion) – Had to mention this one since I’m quoted in it.  The article asks how small fry (i.e. me) get treated by companies when we complain, versus how blog heavyweights (Jeff Jarvis) get treated by companies  when they complain.  Good stuff!
  • As Blogging Grows Companies Eye Legal Pitfalls (Yahoo! News) – Corporate types wonder what their liabilities are when it comes to blogging.
  • Blog Tools Tackle Content Management (InfoWorld via Yahoo! News) – Blog tools are essentially stripped down content management systems, and some people are beginning to use them that way.
  • simplehuman Uses Typepad to Build Press Room (via MicroPersuasion) – A company called simplehuman used Typepad (same service I use for this blog) to build a press room.  My lesson learned: I need to either improve my templates myself or get a real designer to do it.

My Ego Might Just ‘Splode

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About seven months ago I wrote a post called "My Hometown Newspaper" that got a little attention here in Winston-Salem and in neighboring Greensboro.  The post was basically about how, because of staff blogs at the Greensboro News & Record it felt more like my "hometown paper" than the Winston-Salem Journal, despite the fact that the Journal was delivered to my house every day.

I heard from folks at both papers and a guy named Jay Rosen, an influential figure in the news business, wrote about it on his "Pressthink" blog.  The experience was more than a little surprising for me since I wrote the post in what I thought was a vacuum.  I didn’t think anyone read this blog except for me and my family, and then only after I begged them to.

Well it was an even bigger shock today when I was reading Steve Rubel’s MicroPersuasion blog and saw this paragraph on his post Listen, Learn, Lead to Succeed:

Palmer gives yet another example of two newspapers that get it. Earlier
this year, North Carolina blogger Jon Lowder made a quiet complaint
about his hometown paper, the Winston-Salem Journal, and compared it,
unfavorably, with the Greensboro News & Record – which is some 30
miles to the east. Both papers responded to Lowder’s original blog
post. In the Winston-Salem Journal’s case they also went ahead and
created an RSS feed just days after Lowder’s original post.

Gulp!

So I click through to the article he’s referencing and find myself described thusly:

What happens when smaller fries harp online? Does corporate America listen?

Most of the time, probably not, but it’s interesting to watch when a
blog post actually catches a company’s attention. That occurred earlier
this year, when a North Carolina blogger, Jon Lowder, made a quiet complaint about his hometown paper, the Winston-Salem Journal, and compared it, unfavorably, with a newspaper 30 miles to the east, the Greensboro News & Record.

Okay, so being described as a "small fry" shouldn’t boost anyone’s ego, but I’m vain enough that I’ll take whatever I can get.  After all, I’m being compared to Jeff Jarvis who is one of the biggest bloggers out there, a true "A-List" blogger, so being a small fry in his company is kind of like being the wimpiest guy at the Mr. Universe contest…right? The article goes on to say:

 

Part of the post read, "I live in Winston-Salem. I have the
Winston-Salem Journal delivered every morning. But I don’t feel like I
know anyone there… I get all the N&R blogs via RSS. I don’t get
their paper… yet. But I still feel closer to the N&R."

There are a million and one wistful comments like this on the web,
but somehow this one got traction. For one thing, it was quoted by
NYU’s Jay Rosen, the author of the PressThink blog, a widely read site.

For another, both the Winston-Salem Journal and the Greensboro News
& Record responded to Lowder’s original blog post. Indeed, the News
& Record’s top editor posted a brief reply.

More remarkable still, though, was what happened at the
Winston-Salem Journal. Not only did the paper respond to the post and
supply contact information, but it went and created an RSS feed just
days after Lowder’s original post.

Now that’s customer service.

That last part is great, because the Journal was responsive, especially a guy over there named Joe who seemed to be the driving force behind their RSS efforts. (Joe has his own personal blog at http://www.joewrite.com).  I’m thinking that Joe should get a bonus or something since he’s getting his employers some pretty positive online exposure right now.

Finally, I’m once again bowled over by the power of blogs.  Think about this: the guy who wrote the article never interviewed me. He got a substantial part of his story from something that I wrote, so he didn’t have to interview me because my thoughts were out there for the world to see.

And think about this: something written seven months ago by a guy sitting in his home office in a pair of sweats has impacted two public companies, in whatever small way, over a seven month time span.  Now multiply that by however many thousand of people who are out there writing away and you have a very interesting phenomenon. 

 

30 Days of Dell – As If $37 Million Wasn’t Enough

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Before I write the next sentence let me just say that I think that in the long run Dell coming to Winston-Salem/Forsyth County is a good thing for the community.  But (you knew there had to be a "but"), you would think that $37 million in incentives would tell everyone who needs to know how appreciative we are to have Dell. 

Some civic and business leaders in Winston-Salem don’t seem to agree as they’ve pulled out all the stops with the 30 Days of Dell celebration.  Tomorrow is apparently the official irony day of the event since the local company that’s become the latest symbol of corporate ineptitude, Krispy Kreme, is serving doughnuts with "Dell Blue" frosting.

Yummy.

Reading List July 25, 2005

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Winston-Salem and Dell in the Register

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Dell’s revised land deal with Winston-Salem is the subject of a Register article with the headline, "Dell Sucks Another $7 Million Out of North Carolina."  Here’s a couple of excerpts:

Originally, Forsyth County and Winston-Salem officials had agreed to
front the cost of the 200-acre site housing Dell’s new plant. But
lawyers negotiating the deal grew concerned that, among other things,
the arrangement made it possible for Dell to sell and profit from land
the city bought. Hence the new deal in which Dell kind of, sort of pays
for the land but doesn’t really. The Winston-Salem City Council
approved the change this week and is in the process of signing new
contracts, The Register has learned.

"Now, Dell pays us directly for the land," said Derwick Paige,
assistant city manager of Winston-Salem confirmed in an interview with
us. "However, of the $7m that they pay us, we will put all the money in
a general fund and take $1.5m to put toward infrastructure improvements
and the other $5.5m we’ll give to them over a two year period in the
form of grants."

With the extra $7m, Dell’s total North Carolina incentives package
now comes to $284m. That’s $244m more than Virginia, the second leading
bidder for Dell’s factory, was reportedly willing to offer.

Dell’s package includes the land money, tax breaks, police
protection, special Dell training classes at local colleges, new roads
and a host of other fixes. In return, Dell could deliver as many as
1,600 jobs to the city, although it can fire close to half that amount
and maintain the package perks. Locals have complained that the company
has received unfair advantages that will harm smaller businesses. The
net benefit for employment in the city is far from clear.

Ouch.

Still, I have to say that even with all these incentives I’m still glad that Forsyth County won Dell.  Sure we probably overpaid, but the long-term economic affect is more than likely going to be very good.  Stay tuned.

Cross posted at Winston-Salem Business.

I’m Famous!

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Okay, famous might be a little strong, but I did get interviewed for the Triad Business Journal, and they wrote it up in the Triad Talk section. You can read it here under the sub-head "Following a Leader."

The wildest thing about this to me is that I created the Winston-Salem Business blog on a lark, and it literally took me about 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  Then I went on vacation and came back to an email from a reporter who’d had the blog forwarded to him by somebody.  The reporter contacted me, interviewed me and the article appeared a week later.  If I had ever doubted blogs as a marketing or PR medium this would have settled it for me.

Another interesting thing about this is that I was interviewed by email, which from my understanding is becoming much more common these days.  From my perspective it’s good in the sense that it’s very hard to be mis-quoted this way, although I feel for someone being interviewed who doesn’t write much or doesn’t type well.  From the reporters perspective I’d think that you lose alot of the subtle meaning conveyed in tone you get with phone interviews, and non-verbal clues you get in face-to-face interviews.  But for something like this (pretty straightforward local business-interest piece) it’s a great way to go.

We’re #100, Kind Of

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Money magazine has a list of the 100 best places to live in the United States.  Four towns in North Carolina made the list and one of them is Clemmons at #100.

My town, Lewisville, abuts Clemmons and my kids play little league baseball mostly with kids from Clemmons, so I guess you could say that Clemmons is kinda/sorta my backyard.

Only one of the many towns in Northern Virginia (DC suburbs) made the list: Vienna, VA came in at #4 on the list.

Check out this comparison between Clemmons and Vienna:

Average Home Price:
Clemmons: $160,890
Vienna: $510,987

Median Household Income:
Clemmons: $64,115
Vienna: $111,877

So if you look at the home price as the multiple of the average household income in Clemmons the average home price is 2.5 times the median annnual household income.  In Vienna the multiple is 4.6.

Here’s another way to look at it: If you bought the house in Vienna with a 20% downpayment, 30 year fixed mortgage at 6% your monthly mortgage payment would be $2,451.  Using the same variables your payment in Clemmons would be $772.

I thought about trying to calculate the average net income of each household with x number of exemptions, but i’m not that smart so I’m going to use the gross income on a monthly basis. This also works because if both households are "married filing jointly" their federal tax rate is the same.  For VIenna the median gross househlold income is $9,323 per month and for Clemmons it’s $5,343.

So your mortgage payment in Vienna is a little more than 26% of your gross, and in Clemmons it’s a little under 14.5%.

I was already happy about the move, but now…