Category: Life

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Word is the Executive Staffing Group can’t make payroll.

This morning I learned from a few readers, who are Executive Staffing Group employees, that the Clifton and Savage operation have issued some payroll checks that bounced.  Apparently they also issued a notice to all employees that all direct deposits would cease immediately.  So does this mean that ESG employees should only expect to receive bad checks?

If this is true it’s a bad situation.  The Department of Labor or Insurance could step in a shut down ESG but where does that leave ESG’s contracted employees or the ESG clients they’re working for.   At the time any possible connections between ESG and the Castleton Group were made by investigators all efforts should have been made to shut down ESG before anyone else got hurt.  I personally believe the only reason this was not done was pure greed and arrogance on the part of the Savages and Clifton.   It gives the appearance they wanted to try to maintain some level of prominence and lifestyle in the face of personal bankruptcies and investigations.  They will argue they were trying to keep people employed in a down economy.  But what service are you doing to keep people employed when you can’t pay them?

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Health Care Reform

Health care reform is in the spotlight again.  No matter what  compromised bill comes out of Congress one thing is certain: As long as health care remains a for profit venture in America it will remain a broken system.  No corporation should measure profits or shareholder returns by wagering on, or attending to, peoples health and well being.  Anyone who disagrees is most certainly too barbaric and immoral at their core to recognize the heartlessness of their position.

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If you drive drunk and hit and kill someone, RUN!

Today Gavin Hawk was sentenced to 19 to 23 months in jail for (in all probability) driving home drunk from a Carolina Hurricanes game and hitting and killing Spyk Quick on I-440.  Most people think the sentence is light.  Legally Gavin did the smart thing even though what he did was morally reprehensible.

You see if Gavin had stayed at the scene drunk after hitting Spyk he would have been charged with murder or manslaughter.  Because he ran and hid for a few days while Raleigh detectives searched for him, Gavin will serve less than two years.   Prosecutors could not prove he was driving drunk even though he admits being on his way home from a Hurricanes game he conveniently attended with only his father.  And what do you know, from what I understand Dad says Gavin wasn’t drinking.  Ain’t that a shock.

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Trajedy of the week: THE GOLF CARTS BURNED UP.

CartsAll of the golf carts at the Wendell Country Club (my weekend stomping ground) burned to ashes early this morning.  I am grief strucken beyond my ability to put into words and may need to seek professional help.  These carts were young, only a couple of years old.  Lightening is to blame so perhaps God is trying to tell me something about how I should spend the weekend (I will be working).  Why oh why was there no mercy for these poor, innocent golf carts?

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Spyk Quick – Killed by a habitual coward…

spyk.JPGThe last 72 hours have been a particularly hard, emotional roller coaster on my very dear friend Desiree Wynder and her family.  As reported in the local news this week Desiree’s brother, Ian Quick, known to everyone locally as Spyk, was killed by a hit and run driver while riding his street legal scooter (not a moped) on I-40 near Gorman Street.  I first met Spyk when he first moved to Raleigh which was about two years ago despite media reports that he was in the area “about a year”.

When the story was initially reported in the news on Monday the driver of the Yellow Xterra that hit Spyk had not been identified.  The police told Desiree and her mother, Heidi, that there was a 72 hour window before most of the leads could dry up and the trail could go cold.  The detectives were up against the clock.  Desiree worked diligently with law enforcement and the media to keep Spyk’s story in the headlines so people would be on the lookout for the Xterra.

Spyk was a cook at The Raleigh Times Bar where he was adored by his co-workers and the patrons.  The management at the Times agreed to pay for all of the funeral expenses and then organized a memorial, which was held last night, not only to honor Spyk but also to provide more media coverage to find the hit and run driver.  It may have worked faster than anyone expected.

As the memorial got underway I was talking with Desiree at the bar.  She went to talk to her grandfather and returned just moments later and told me “they found him”.  Just as she was telling me this her phone rang.  It was the lead detective on the case letting her know the information she had was correct.  I asked her twice “what’s his name”?  “Gavin Hawk” she repeated as the officer told her.  The timing was uncanny. The 48 hour mark, the window of time in which most cases are solved, was quickly approaching.

Twenty eight year-old Gavin Clifford Hawk was previously convicted on January 28, 2008 of a Class H Felony for “speeding to elude arrest” according to the NC Dept. of Corrections Offenders web site.  Gavin obviously has a history of driving irresponsibly and then racing away from the scene.  So it’s time for the book to be thrown.  The cowardly son of a bitch also tried to slit his wrists before his arrest.  I wish he’d succeeded and save the courts time and money.

Watching Heidi’s tears turn from anger and sorrow to joy, if only for a moment, was a life event I will never forget.  We drank to Spyk and we drank to Gavin Hawks arrest.  Spyk can rest knowing that his killer has been apprehended.  My faith in our local judicial system is weak but I hope that for once, in this instance, Gavin Hawk grows old in prison.  His life should be over for the selfish crime he committed against a man who is one thousand times the person he is.  You shouldn’t have run Gavin.  You will pay a heavy price for your continuous, cowardly acts.  Although I considered including Gavin’s picture in this post, I will not do him the honor.  The goal moving forward is to remember Spyk and forget the coward who killed him as he rots in the NC prison system.

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I HATE the word Yummy

yummy.jpgForgive this blatant rant but this word has been bothering me for a few years since it became trendy again. I don’t know why and I can’t explain it. I can’t stand to read it or have it go through my head for any reason. I can’t tolerate typing it and God forbid I’m ever forced to say it. It’s appearing more and more frequently and I can’t escape it. Arrrrggggg!!!

It’s a slack, uncreative replacement for “delicious”.  I wish the resurgence of this word propagated by soccer moms would go back to the late 50’s where it came from. What’s next?  Should I be on the look out for “swell”. And then there’s the whole Yummy Mummy thing. What, MILF was too disturbing for the PC crowd so they found something kid safe to describe hot moms? You know who you are.

It’s bad enough when soccer moms invoke the word “yummy” in any context but  professionals reviewing recipes should avoid it like the kiss of death. Any adult male who dares use the word deserves to be castrated for the greater good. It’s just not allowed. I’m warning ya, don’t do it or I’ll buy you a pink tutu and a tricycle and force you to ride it down I-540 at 4:30 on a Thursday afternoon. You will also be required to wear a sign everywhere for three months that says “Yummy Twinkle Boy”.

There you have it, my least favorite word to resurrect itself from the days of Ozzie and Harriet. Isn’t that swell?

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Joann Maynard of Raleigh. Are you there?

Seems that someone named Joann Maynard of Raleigh is tied to the disappearance of my Blackjack II.  Her phone number is 919-413-0450.  Feel free to give her a call.  No answer when I call.  I purposely allowed all of my contacts synchronized with Exchange when someone thought they wiped the config.  The only new number was listed as “CB” and this was Joann’s number.  I acquired her name through a reverse cell search on Reverse Phone Detective.  Someone who either knows or is Joanne has been playing with technology they don’t understand.  AT&T is on the case too.  For what that’s worth.

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Knightdale and Wake Forest Pediatrics

Yesterday I was indirectly informed by the Knightdale and WakeForest Pediatrics accounts receivables clerk, Diane, that these practices care more about money than they do about children. I will elaborate on how this information was derived but I want to focus specifically on one of Diane’s comments: “Care of the children is our primary concern but our physicians deserved to get paid”.  Now, through an account of factual events I will show exactly how much more hypocritical Diane’s comment was than it even appears on the surface.

Prologue: During a 24 hour period on Feb. 9th and 10th my 23 month old, Logan, had a Grandma seizure and two full seizures.  During this course of events we turned to Knightdale Pediatrics, our Pediatrician of record with our insurance company, and the practice denied treatment to Logan, stating financial reasons.  Fifteen minutes after Amy left their practice, ashamed and in tears, my son had his second seizure in the parking lot of the Carolina Urgent Care Center in Knightdale.  He is in the care of Wake Medical Center this morning as I write this.

Up until yesterday my sons had been patients at Knightdale Pediatrics and occasionally Wake Forest Pediatrics here in NC.  Through some service or treatment that is honestly unknown to me we ended up owing one of these practices approximately $400.00.  I do not know the actual amount because Amy had all of the conversations about this balance with Diane and to date I have not seen a hard copy of an invoice.

Apparently Amy set up payment arrangements with Diane for a monthly amount.  It is unclear if she signed anything authorizing payments in the form of automatic withdraws of my checking account.  Even if she did it’s not valid because her names not on the account and her signature would not authorize this.  That’s beside the point.  The dispute between Amy and Diane began when the practice tried to run my card for a monthly payment.  It wasn’t denied.  My card number had been changed by Bank of America fraud alert services because a company in Florida, the Xacti Corporation, was trying to fraudulently process transactions against my Visa check card.

So Diane called Amy for a payment last week that I think Amy committed to.  She called Amy’s cell number, the one everyone had ending in 4715.  Everyone that knows us personally and well knows that Amy washed that phone about two weeks ago and it hasn’t been replaced because she’s carrying the phone ending in 6029 now.   She could not check the old messages.   Regardless, at some point in the last two weeks Amy did commit to pay $60 to Diane and the practice but neglected to call Diane to make the payment last Thursday.

So after Logan had a Grandma seizure Saturday, a full seizure Monday night and a trip to the ER Amy called Tuesday morning to see if she could take Logan to Knightdale Pediatrics for follow up.  She had to call “Diane” for clearance because the practice wouldn’t see her until she said it was okay.  So much for caring about the children before money.

Amy asked Dianne if she could come Tuesday morning and make a payment to them on Thursday.  Note: we could pay the entire outstanding balance that very day but it would have been nice to wait until Thursday.  It was just a request.  Amy explained to Diane about the seizure.  Diane told Amy she could not bring Logan in unless she made a payment to her on the phone at that moment.  Amy got mad and cussed at Diane.  Amy just wanted Logan taken care of.  Eventually in the conversation Amy agreed to make the payment to Diane and went to okay it with me.  I was in the shower.

Amy didn’t want to make the payment without asking me.  She got back on the phone with Diane who told her Logan wouldn’t be seen without a $60 payment on the account and the co-payment of $20.   Amy got mad and cussed some more at Diane.

So I got out of the shower, gave Amy a wad of cash (she could have paid anything they asked for) and sent her to Knightdale Pediatrics.  Money was not an object and we are insured.  When she arrived the  receptionist would not admit Logan right away.  Amy told me the receptionist turned to speak to a doctor in their hallway (I’ll get his name from Amy later).  The receptionist returned and said “We have no responsibility to see your children anymore, we can give you the forms to release your records to another practice”.

So there stood my wife with my 23-month old who was shaking with fever in a medical practice that was refusing him treatment.  Amy told them she had their money and what “Diane” said about the $60 payment on the co-payment on the phone.   They refused to see Logan because apparently “Diane” calls the shots at this practice and if you don’t speak kindly to her the doctors will not like you and they will not treat your children.

Minutes later I met Amy at Carolina Urgent Care in Knightdale.  I was going to get back all the money I had given her and put it back in the bank on the way to work.  Amy got Logan out of the car and laid him in the front seat to change his diaper.  That’s when he had his second full seizure and I ran him into the Urgent Care.  Amy couldn’t help but speak about the whole ordeal at Knightdale Pediatrics.  The attending physician recommended we go to The Growing Child in Zebulon which Amy says she’s heard good things about.

I called Diane myself that morning.  I started the call by letting her know I would never, under any circumstances, return my children to their practice but I wanted to know where the breakdown was between her telling Amy to pay the $80 and when Logan was denied treatment in the office.  Her response was “ya, that was before she cussed me out”.  She then went on to elaborate to me about how she had never spoken to me about the account and said “I might still be able to work something out with you guys”.  I guess it was because I was being pleasant.  I responded “Okay, thanks, I understand now.  You tried to pressure account collections on  Amy, she got mad and cussed you out, you got pissed and decided to refuse my child treatment”.  I heard the beginning of her next sentence “No sir…”.  I hung up.

So there you have it.  Form your own opinion.  Apparently if a parent makes harsh remarks to an Accounts Receivables clerk at a medical practice they will refuse treatment.  Funny thing is, I can tell you from my own  conversation that Diane is not a pleasant person to talk to.  After all she’s an account receivables (i.e. collections) clerk.

Knightdale and Wake Forest Pediatrics biggest mistake was never discussing this with me before denying treatment to my child.  I will now spread this account of events in every public venue I can find.  These events are factual and not opinion.  Sure it’s up to their discretion who they treat and they were within their bounds to eliminate my children from their patient list.  I will provide them the publicity they asked for.

Now I will only pay the $400 as soon as I actually see a bill.  Then maybe the Doctors of Knightdale and Wake Forest Pediatrics can get their paychecks because their “care of the children is their primary concern but (they) deserve to be paid”.

All repercussions aside, this is a fight to me worth having and I’m taking it to the NC medical board.

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My 2008 Forecast in Review

Last year, on January 2, 2008 I posted my 318th entry titled “1st Annual Forecast – My Predictions for 2008”. Now I’m going to look back at it and see how close I was.

“Financial: A major US recession is coming due to the massive credit bubble bursting, an inability of the central banks to continue using credit to create a false sense of prosperity, and continued stagflation. Look for expanded government backed plans like the sub-prime mortgage rate freeze to combat the falling value of the dollar.”

While there was never a sub-prime mortgage rate freeze passed as legislation the rest of this prediction was, well, right on the money.

“Health: Health care costs will continue to rise during a long period of stagflation as health corporations attempt to increase profits or reduce profit loss for their shareholders.”

I guess that was pretty open ended. I don’t know that costs rose exponentially but I’m pretty certain they didn’t go down.

“Politics: My prediction is that the race will be tight. It will be a race between those who support Holy Wars against Muslims and legislating morality verses those who know that if we keep this up “Fascism will come to America wrapped in a flag carrying a cross”. – Sinclair Lewis”

Well it was close (up until the end at least) and after 8 years logic and common sense prevailed over failed fundamentalist ideology. Finally.

“Music: Look for me at any nearby shows performed by KT Tunstall or The National.”

Neither one of these acts came anywhere close to Raleigh. So sad.

“Technology: Microsoft will continue to take a beating for creating Vista and if the new 2008 Server is released it will not be embraced at any influential rate…

Look for more touch screen cell phones to flood the market in response to the iPhone rage…

Flat panel LCD and plasma TV’s will fall below $750 for a quality 42″ 1080p model…

Playstation 3’s will fall to a steady $299 this year and Wii’s will be more widely available as Nintendo increases production…

IBM Network Services Division contractors should be wary of the coming acquisition by AT&T. This could mean more layoffs in Research Triangle Park…”

These weren’t exactly predictions made on the level of Nostradamus but I nailed every freakin’ one of them… Boo-ya! Makes me a little more comfortable going into 2009 since I am suppose to be technology literate by trade.

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I have entered the stereotypical, statistical parenting phase of my life.

I stood in line to pay $60 for the “hottest toy of the season”, Elmo Live.  I also went in search of the best price on a Playstation Portatble (PSP).  Then I bought the games, memory card and every other damn thing the sales kid told me I had to buy for it to work.  I argued for an item in a toy store…and won.  The smile on my face was quickly replaced with a blank stare as I realized my own mediocrity.

Some ultra-wealthy parents buy their kids cars, apartments, ponies or spa memberships.  And lots of ultra-granola parents buy their kids a tree to plant and a card memorializing the contribution made towards saving a gorilla in their name.  Not me.  I go straight for whatever I’m sold by the capitalist marketing machine.  Stir the economy stupid.  However there is one big difference in how I operated this year compared to the majority of American consumers: I paid cash.  There will not be one credit card debt in our household as a result of this holiday season.

So what if I bought my child portable attention deficit disorder (see PSP) when he didn’t even ask for it.  I know he will wear the paint off the buttons.  And if Logan only laughs at Elmo singing and dancing for 15 minutes well, that’s what I paid for.  And don’t get me started on what I spent on Amy.  She’s getting less gifts and for more money than either of the kids.  If it wasn’t made by a brand name designer or personalized she isn’t getting it.

Ya I’m a mediocre consumer drone and I don’t care.  I give the gifts people want without pretending that I’m giving them something they need and won’t give a damn about.  Christmas is about want, not need.  Don’t ask me what I “need”.  I’ll buy what I need.  You get me what I can’t or won’t buy for myself (my dad is pretty good about following this rule).  That’s the real spirit of Christmas, like it or not.  That is unless you are the purist of Christian and genuinely celebrate the season based on it’s original intent.  I don’t know too many of those people anymore.  That is, I really don’t know anyone who would display the same “spirit” of Christmas without giving or receiving gifts.  Do you?