Why American Express Is In Deep Sh**!

American Express received permission this week from the Federal Reserve to in essence, shift from being merely a credit card company to becoming instead a full-fledged bank. The move is being made so AMEX can get in line and put its hand out for some of that 700 billion dollars in federal bailout money.

Maybe AMEX wouldn't be in the crapper if it was more selective about the customers it goes after, and if it didn't give away the store in an effort to generate more business!

I received an offer in the mail this week for an American Express gold card. If I signed up and spent 500 dollars on the card between now and the end of January, AMEX would give me 50,000 Membership points - enough to cash in and receive 500 dollars in gift cards. Plus - the 150 dollar fee for the Gold card would be waived for the first year.

Now, I do have excellent credit, but I haven't had a regular job in nine months, so I was a bit concerned my application would be turned down. Silly me. When I went on line to apply for the card, and declared myself "self-employed", that was enough for AMEX. My application was approved in a few seconds, and the card is now on its way.

I will easily spend 500 bucks over the holiday season (we need a brake job for our minivan - that'll eat up most of it right there), receive my points, pay the bill (on stuff I would have bought anyway) and cancel the card. AMEX will be out 500 bucks, and I'll get a nice little prize essentially for free.

I know this will work, because we received the exact same offer at this time last year, except it was in my wife's name. We spent exactly 504 dollars, paid the bill, cancelled the card, and received two roundtrip tickets on Southwest Arilines AND a 50 dollar gift card to the Cheesecake Factory. Our friends, the Bernsteins received the same deal and did the same thing.... Now imagine how many other people did what we did.

Is it any wonder American Express is now asking the government for help? Maybe if it didn't give away so much money, it wouldn't be in such dire straits!

Not that I'm complaining!

Happy Take Your Child To Work Day!

As you know, one of the major running themes of this blog is to share what it feels like to be unemployed for the first time ever.
Well, today we run smack into the annual "Take Your Child To Work" day. That's never been an issue for me because I used to go to the office at 4:30 in the morning, so it was never very tempting for my kids to see what it was like at Dad's job. Now, I AM going to take Spencer to his Mom's job today - he'll sit in Robin's classroom and watch her teach her pre-schoolers. Meanwhile, my older son, Brad, has practically begged for me to take him to MY job today... ha ha ha. Smart ass.

Still - things could be worse. To be honest, I always hated "Take Your Child To Work Day", because having kids around the office is a big distraction. At least in my experience, they always seemed more bored than engaged, and it always seemed like a good excuse for their parents to take a long lunch and/or skip out early. But boy, I'd sure love the opportunity to take my kids to the office now!

First Musings Of A Beach Bum...

Well, here I am... joining the navel-gazing world of blogging. Two weeks ago, I would have told you (as I told everyone) that I spent my day writing stuff for a living - why would I spend my free time writing as well? Well - God (or Farid Suleman, take your pick) had other plans! Now, I suddenly have some time on my hands... and I'm not getting paid to write - at least not at the moment, so here we are!

I've never been unemployed before, so I had no idea what to expect...but my friend, David Burd, explained it to me like this...

Step one - At first, you'll hear from everyone you know in the radio business... the rubber-neckers who can't resist looking at the roadkill (me) as they drive on by... The roadkill appreciates all the attention, and soaks it up like a biscuit to gravy.

Step two - After that, the tedium of updating the resume and the audition tape (how dated - of course I mean the audio file) sets in, followed by hour after hour of repeating your hard work on an online application forms, because employers really DON'T want to read your resume...

Step Three - (sounds of birds chirping)


Suffice it to say we're at step two now... and we don't want to see step three, hence the "Life On The Beach" blog.

Just a couple of personal observations before I bring this inaugural blog posting to a close...

1/ My kids like my new "arrangement", because for the first time in their lives, Dad is home to help them get ready for school in the morning. And while this is a big help to Mom, Mom is not so thrilled to see Dad home. This simply serves as a reminder to Mom that Dad should really be off someplace else...

2/ I used to get in to work in the morning and groan at seeing at least a couple of dozen new emails waiting for me. Be careful what you wish for. I pine for email now... even to the point that I've signed up for some selective junk email because it ensures I'll have something new to read every day! For those of you who might want to contribute to the cause, the address is jematthews2@gmail.com.

3/ Old habits die hard - or in some cases, don't die. I still find myself sitting with a cup of coffee at 6 am every morning, scanning the Washington Post and making mental notes on how to cover each story. I suspect some of my soapbox rants concerning these stories that used to be released to my newsroom cohorts will be released here on the beach instead. Lucky you.

4/ When I used to hire people, one of the last things I did before making an offer was to google the applicant's name and see if anything interesting came back. To be honest, more than one person was not hired because the person they portrayed themselves to be on myspace or facebook was NOT the person I had just interviewed. I suspect discerning employers may also use this practice... so don't expect to read any stories of debauchery or other tawdry tales here. Those will have to remain the stuff of legend and vivid imagination!

Let me hear from you - ESPECIALLY if you find me getting whiny. I can't STAND whiny... Thanks!