School Pride

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Over the years I've not been shy about declaring my pride as an alum of mighty George Mason University.  You know, the school that knocked the Heels out of the 2006 NCAA tournament?  My alma mater was so unaccustomed to the spotlight that they had to scramble to write a fight song for the run to the Final Four. Well, Mason's been busy building its national reputation for years by hiring big name faculty and going on a building spree that has turned it into one of the best campuses in the mid-Atlantic region, if not the east coast.  Now Mason is set to make the national scene again for a reason I don't think anyone could have anticipated: last week the student body elected a drag queen as homecoming queen.  From The Washington Post:

Spend time with George Mason University senior Ryan Allen and it's clear why he's a Big Man on Campus. He wears size 12 pumps.

Allen, who is gay and performs as a popular drag queen at local clubs, assumed the title of Ms. Mason. He was wearing a green-and-gold bow, sewn for him by the theater department costume's shop, that was visible even from the cheap seats, a sequined top, a black skirt and heels. Ricky Malebranche, a junior from Woodbridge, was named Mr. Mason…

Allen said he decided to enter the Ms. Mason contest this year as a joke, a last hurrah for his senior year. Soon he had donned a silver bra and zebra-print pants and was lip-syncing to Britney Spears's "Womanizer" at the qualifying pageant Feb. 9, overseen by Miss Virginia 2009. Competitors included a government and politics major from Chesapeake and a Chi Omega sorority member who told the school newspaper she should win because "I have pride in Mason to the point where my towels are green and gold."

Allen's drag name?  Reann Ballslee. 

Honestly you can't make this stuff up.  Here's a fun thought for you: what would happen if a drag queen tried to run for homecoming queen at Wake?  What would happen if he won?

Sen. Burr Nominates Mt. Tabor Student for Naval Academy

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Sen. Burr's press office sent out notice of his military academy nominations and two were from the Winston-Salem area, including Mt. Tabor student Jennifer Penley of Pfafftown.  Sen. Burr nominated her for the U.S. Naval Academy.  Congratulations to Jennifer, and best wishes to her especially as she gets ready to head to plebe summer.  Any kid willing to give up the half of their last summer before college and to knowingly go into the grueling atmosphere of the Naval Academy deserves our respect, big time.

One of the craziest guys I knew in high school, Andrew Heino, went to the Naval Academy and the last time I saw him at a party during our college years, he said that getting through that summer was one of the hardest things he'd ever done.  He also said his whole first year was no picnic.  I haven't seen him since then, but every once in a while I'll catch word of him.  In February, 2007 he was interviewed on CNN's Accent Health show about some of his men doing yoga and at that time he was a Lt. Colonel in the Marines.  That comes as absolutely no surprise to me.  

Heino was the guy who got me through an open water test for our SCUBA class in freezing water in a quarry in West Virginia.  On that dive the visibility was about one foot and the water was literally freezing and when we got down to the dive platform (I think it was at about 50 feet) the guy next to me went into shock and the dive instructor had to do an emergency ascent with him.  There was another instructor around but we couldn't see him and I was ready to head up, but Andrew grabbed me and signalled to sit tight.  We did and eventually the instructor came back and we finished our test.  That's the kind of guy Heino was.  Also, he could recite every line of Apocalypse Now verbatim from memory, and I guess that says something too. Heck, the fact that he talked me into taking a SCUBA class says a whole lot about him.

Health Insurance Relief for Laid Off Workers Thanks to Stimulus Package

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My wife Celeste is a bookkeeper by trade and as a result receives a lot of publications that, quite frankly, make my eyes gloss over.  However, today she forwarded me a newsletter from the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers that contained an article about "hidden traps" in the new stimulus law that definitely had my eyes wide open.  Here's part of what the article said:

The new law includes a 65% federally funded COBRA continuation subsidy that lasts up to 9 months for workers (and their families) involuntarily terminated from Sept. 1, 2008-Dec. 31, 2009. The subsidy terminates when the former employeeis offered employer-sponsored health care coverage by a new employer; orbecomes eligible for Medicare; or has COBRA coverage that has expired.  
Notify within 60 days of Feb. 17 former employees involuntarily separated between Sept. 1, 2008-Feb. 17, 2009. Notify those who elected COBRA that they are entitled to a lower premium starting in the first coverage period after Feb. 17. Notify those who rejected COBRA that they have 60 days to elect COBRA and receive the subsidy. You can let former employees choose a less expensive plan. No subsidy is available to former employees whose income is over $125,000 a year or a family income over $250,000 a year, but employers are not required to monitor for the income phaseout.

Later on the article mentions that the employers are responsible for paying 65% of the health benefits up front and then getting reimbursed by the federal government by reducing their federal income tax contributions.  If the amount of healthcare subsidies exceed what the company owes in taxes then the company will have to apply for a reimbursement from the US Treasure, and there's no telling how long that will take.  Can we say cash flow problems?  Also, the first subsidies can come due as soon as March 1, 2009 so companies literally need to move on this now.

If you've been laid off and are paying COBRA or paying for insurance as an individual this could save you some serious money.  For instance if you're using your employer's health plan via COBRA to cover your family, which means you're paying 100% of the cost, then you could easily be spending over $1,000 per month for your premiums.  With the government picking up 65% of the tab that payment drops to $350 which is some serious savings.

Keep an eye out for a notice from your former employer and if you don't get one within about 45 days then contact the human resources department or whoever at the company is responsible for administering benefits and ask them to send you more information.

 

Lingonberry Soda It Is

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Yesterday when I posted my tips for shopping at Ikea I mentioned that one of the great things the store offers is a restaurant with good, affordable food and a soda with some exotic fruit that I couldn't name.  Laura left a comment saying she thought it was lingonberry soda and 'lo and behold she was right.  Esbee ventured down to the store in Charlotte today and had a meal and a lingonberry soda and she posted a picture just to make the rest of us jealous.  

Newest Investment Scam Has Piedmont Ties

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The newest investment scam, the alleged $8 billion fraud perpetrated by a Texas billionaire named Allen Stanford who had himself knighted in Antigua, has ties to the Piedmont Triad.  In 2007 the operation opened a Greensboro office that was run by eight executives from US Trust Co. who were charged with targeting wealthy investors.

In July 2007, the company hired a team of eight executives from U.S. Trust Co. to work out of Greensboro, North Carolina, where the firm’s private-client group planned to target wealthy investors, according to statement at the time. The team was made up of John Rich, Glenda Burkett, M. Jo Brooks, Ken Dimock, Anthony Monforton, Virginia Saslow and William “Wes” Watson and Suzanne Wilcox.

FYI, a big part of the scam was selling investors financial products that they called CDs and pitched as even safer than FDIC insured certificates of deposit.  The money for the "CDs" was then funneled to a bank in Antigua controlled by the company accused of perpetrating the scam.  The company implied that the funds were insured, but never explicitly said they were insured.  By all appearances it's a nasty little scam.

Between this scam and the Madoff thing I've never been so happy to be an unconnected, unwealthy guy.

Reporter of the Future

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Steve Rubel has a great post about The Reporter of the Future.  Essentially he describes how a reporter who covers the Yankees for a smaller New York area paper is using all kinds of tools to cover spring training.  The reporter takes pictures with his iPhone, he has a blog he updates daily, he has a Facebook group, he produces a podcast and he hosts an live text/video chat with readers using CoverItLive.

Yesterday I wrote about the folks at the Winston-Salem Journal having to take 10 days of unpaid leave.  Maybe the reporters can spend some of that time studying this guy and seeing what their future professional lives might look like.  

Bipartisan Sleaze

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Have you heard about the latest high-end scam artist?  No, not Madoff, but this joker Sir Allen Stanford who is accused of running an $8 billion fraud that on the surface sounds an awful lot like Madoff's scandal. Part of the emerging Stanford story is his soft money donations back in 2000 to prominent Democrats, and I think it's an important reminder because it reminds us that the sleaze in Washington is bipartisan.  The next time you hear someone slamming all Republicans or all Democrats but giving their side a free pass please remind them that the problem isn't the parties it's the politicians.  As a breed they make ambulance chasers look good by comparison.   

Furloughs at Journal Now Official

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Media General, parent company of the Winston-Salem Journal, announced today that they're requiring their employees to take ten days of unpaid leave.  Employees have to take four days by the end of March and three days each in the two subsequent fiscal quarters. I guess if you look at the glass as half full at least these folks are keeping their jobs.  For now.

Any suggestions for what these folks should do with their involuntary, unpaid "vacation"?  BTW, I've used quotes around the word vacation ever since my wife returned to work from maternity leave and received a heap of abuse from her boss who said she should be well rested from her "vacation".  In all seriousness I have some friends that work at the Journal and this stinks for them, but I am glad to know that they still have their jobs. 

Ikea Tricks

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Today Ikea opened their first store here in North Carolina, home of the furniture mart.  It's probably a sign of the times that the Lego of the furniture industry is opening a store here in the capital of the US furniture industry to great fanfare.

We had an Ikea just down the road from us in Northern Virginia and we frequented it quite a bit.  Given that we've lived here for five years you might want to take the following advice with a grain of salt, but I figure things haven't changed that much so what I'm about to advise is still fairly accurate.  That is:
  • The food in the cafeteria is pretty good and pretty cheap.  We used to pig out on the meatballs and they had some kind of crazy fruit soft drink that we all loved.  I think it was something like pomegranate, but whatever it was it was very light and un-syrupy.
  • If the store in Charlotte has a children's play area that allows you to sign your kids in for a 1/2 hour of supervised play time while you shop then you should definitely take advantage of it.  But be forewarned that within a week you're definitely going to be dealing with some strange illness that involves a lot of snot flowing from your child's nose.  Personally I always found it to be a fair trade.
  • If you buy any furniture that requires assembly, and I think that is all the furniture that Ikea sells, then you need to familiarize yourself with the metric system and odd looking tools that look like something out of a toddlers play tool set.  You also need to set aside triple the time you think it should take to assemble the furniture. 
  • Don't go if you don't like primary colors.  Ikea's big on primary colors. 
  • Finally, just because it's Ikea doesn't mean the other customers will behave any better than they do in other stores.  In fact in Ikea most people tend to get lost which means they act even worse than usual, so paste on the happy face and just roll with it.  If it helps just imagine yourself at the DMV before you enter which should get you in just about the right state of mind. 

Enjoy your shopping experience! 

Today’s Retail Rundown

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Two completely unrelated events from yesterday have me thinking a lot about local retail experiences this morning.

  1. Esbee's had it with OfficeMax.  She wrote a post yesterday about how on multiple occassions she's taken clearance items to the register only to be told that she can't buy them because they'd already been sold back to the vendor.  She reasonably asks why the items are still on the floor.  She also relates an unsatisfying experience with the manager there.  Me thinks the folks at OfficeMax have a wee issue with their systems and management that they might want to clean up, and if the comments on Esbee's post are any indication I'd say that lots of folks here in Winston-Salem share the sentiment.  I wonder if the manager is getting a call from corporate asking him why his dissed a woman who has about a bazillion readers?
  2. Celeste was in Costco yesterday and paid cash for our items.  The cashier didn't have change in his till so he called the manager to get some.  The manager came by the register and said that he was sorry but he didn't have any cash for change because the bank had not made its daily cash delivery for the third day in a row and he also wasn't able to get any from the nearby Home Depot or Lowes.  I'm not sure which bank Costco uses, but I find it a little disturbing that the bank is letting down what has to be one of its more prominent customers.  It causes me to wonder if there's a problem with deposits at the bank or if it's just poor management. Or is there a problem with Costco's credit?  Normally I wouldn't think much of it, but in this day and age every little signal causes me to wonder if there's something more ominous going on behind the scenes.  Oh, and in case you're curious Celeste was able to get her change when the customer behind her also paid cash and gave the cashier enough small bills to make change.