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JerseySmarts.com

The Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, Dead

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The world famous “Crocodile Hunter,” Steve Irwin, died today while filming a documentary on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Irwin was reportedly struck directly in the heart by a sting ray’s barb, killing him instantly.

The Crocodile Hunter will be remembered for his love of animals and his constant fight for a cleaner, safer environment. Irwin’s show on Animal Planet did more to bring regular folks “into the wild” than any other show in recent history.

Steve Irwin is survived by his wife and his two children.

Student Loan Update

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For anyone looking for a quick update on the “poster child for student loan debt” (thanks to our friends at USA Today) with respect to paying back some of these loans, there’s not much to tell.

I began making my monthly payments to the rotten, poor customer service folks at NJHESAA in July. And while I will always repeat that they are the worst company I’ve ever spoken to on the phone (and that includes when I called Hewlett Packard and was transferred to India to talk with “Mike” and I couldn’t understand him), I will give NJHESAA credit for one thing – they did process my loan consolidation correctly.

That’s more than I can say for our friends at Direct Loans (a federal agency). I submitted my loan consolidation application for the 25 year term and they sent out a bill for the 10 year term! I don’t really know how you make that ridiculous of a mistake, but when I called to advise them of their mistake – wow! It was a whole dog and pony show! What bothered me the most was the woman’s response to my statement of, “Hey, this is wrong. You’re charging me more than double the monthly payment that I signed up for. I have the regular monthly payment that I can give you right now, though.”

Her response was, “No. You have to pay the full amount that we charged you. I’ll go in and fix the loan for you for next time, but this time you have to pay the full amount.”

Well that’s a little uncalled for, if you ask me. Think about it in terms of logic. Company A made a mistake and sent a flawed statement to Consumer B. Consumer B sees the mistake and contacts Company A to alert them. Company A recognizes the mistake and fixes it for future statements. Company A still requires that their original, flawed statement be paid (or folded back into the principal of the loan).

How ridiculous is that?

Anyway, the update is that I’ve started making payments on those two loans. I’m going to start paying back the CitiBank loan at the end of September and I’m hoping that I can pay it off in huge chunks (since it’s a much smaller loan). More updates as they come…or at least when they’re interesting!

“Boring, Old, Terristrial Radio”

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Howard Stern took Sirius XM from a small company of less than a million subscribers to a juggernaut in the radio industry with 4.7 million subscribers as I write this.

One of Stern’s selling points has always been that, “Sirius XM is much more listenable and just a better product than boring, old, terrestrial radio.” Well, I have a comment on that “boring, old, terrestrial radio” statement…

For the fun of it, I flipped over from my Sirius XM to NJ 101.5 about a month ago. It was great! I got to listen to the Jersey Guys for a few minutes and then it went to commercial. I RARELY hear a commercial on Sirius. When Howard 100 hits commercial, I just flip over to New Country and listen to music or over to one of the news stations or anything, really. Anyway, NJ 101.5 flipped to commercial, so I flipped to G-Rock Radio 106.3. Unfortunately, there were commercials there, too.

Not to be led astray, I put the dial over to what used to be K-Rock at 92.3…yeah, commercials. At this point I flipped back over to Sirius, but then again – I was only in the car for a few more minutes anyway.

Fast forward to when I get back into the car, I admit that I had a hankering for the Jersey Guys so I flipped back to NJ 101.5 and lo and and behold, there was one of the Jersey Guys giving the radio weather report. They do that on that station – it’s a nice service to the listeners. Then, back to commercials.

At that point, I flipped back over to Sirius XM just in time to hear Howard Stern in the middle of rant against, “boring, old, terrestrial radio.” And you know what? Howard was right. Once you get used to satellite radio, hearing the old terrestrial radio just isn’t quite the same.

Finally, First Day at Gold’s Gym!

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Finally, I was able to get into Gold’s Gym and do some working out…at 5:30am on Monday morning!

Actually, I’m not really complaining that much about the time of the workout. My only nudge about the whole thing is that working out at that time of the day doesn’t allow enough time to get in a real, power-packed workout before I have to head off for work, but I’m sure I can work on making that happen somehow.

The Gold’s Gym was clean and tidy, which is a nice change from my previous workout place. Also, there was new rock and alternative music pumping through the place (at 5:30am) from the “Gold’s Television Network” or whatever it’s called. That’s a much welcome change from the absolutely horrendous music being pumped through my old gym. Well, it’s not the music that was bad in the old gym, it was the fact that it was WAY too loud and that it was just radio stations that they changed throughout the day – so we got to listen to REALLY loud commercials for most of the time

It sucked.

There were a bunch of other things that I liked about Gold’s. There were no creepy old men skulking around the place, there were no walls completely boarded up due to construction, there were no gym workers giving everyone arrogant eyes or anything like that. It was a nice little trip, I guess.

I got a good cardio workout in this morning and I guess the next step is to start banging on those free weights that they have over there. More gym stories as they come…

Sigma Pi Fraternity Press Release

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Since local outlets RARELY cover any positive fraternity news, here is a press release written by Brett Stevens of Monmouth University’s chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity:

DELTA-BETA CHAPTER OF SIGMA PI FRATERNITY AT MONMOUTH UNIVERSITY NAMED BEST CHAPTER IN THE NATION!

Fraternity brothers from Monmouth University’s chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity, International returned home from their 2006 national convention with their arms full of awards. The Delta Beta chapter closed in the mid-1970s, but reopened in 1991, though the chapter has endured many highs and lows on their way to their current accomplishments. Over the last half decade the chapter underwent a fraternal rebirth by dedicating themselves to first being the best Sigma Pi brothers that they could be –shattering stereotypes in the process. Shedding petty, campus-based inter-fraternal fighting, rearranging alumni advisors, establishing an alumni organization, and working with the international Executive Office were all key components of Delta Beta’s turn-around.

Their efforts, though sometimes misunderstood by their host institution, paid off in dividends at Sigma Pi Fraternity, International’s 48th Biennial Convocation. At this conference, awards were given out for everything from operational performance to educational excellence to community and campus service and more. Delta Beta chapter came home with the top award in almost every category.

Sigma Pi Fraternity’s Delta Beta Chapter, currently the largest fraternity at Monmouth University, was awarded with the 2004 – 2006 Grand Sage’s Cup, an award given to the number one chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity, International for the last two years. There are currently 118 chapters of Sigma Pi Fraternity, so this award is certainly a mark of distinction for the chapter. Along with the Grand Sage’s Cup, the chapter won the Grand Chapter Award for their top 25 performance and the Grand Council Award for their top 12 performance.

Delta Beta was also one of only two chapters in the entire fraternity to win the Beyer-Fryburg Award for scoring perfectly on the fraternity’s efficiency self-evaluation reports. In addition, the chapter won 11 All-Sigma Pi Collegiate Honors out of a total of 30 given out. These awards recognize brothers who carry at least a 3.25 GPA and are involved in myriad extracurricular activities.

Monmouth University and Sigma Pi Fraternity alumnus Joe Palazzolo, Delta Beta’s Chapter Director since 2003, was awarded with his second consecutive Most Outstanding Chapter Director award. These awards follow Monmouth University’s S.O.A.R. Awards where Dr. Joseph Mosca, the Delta Beta’s Faculty Advisor, was awarded Faculty Advisor of the Year Award. These awards show that while the chapter functions at an extremely high level, the alumni foundation around these young men is arguably the best it nation (Sigma Pi’s Regional Director for New Jersey was also awarded the “Best in the Nation” award).

Back in April 2006, the Delta Beta chapter hosted a Sam Spady/Alcohol Awareness Week as their annual ACE Project. For their efforts, the chapter was awarded the 2006 ACE Project of the Year Award.

The ACE Project and Recruitment Chairman Brett Stevens was awarded with the Frank E. Gray Scholarship for aiding Sigma Pi Fraternity in expansion. Delta Beta Chapter was also flattered at Convocation to have two members serve on the prestigious International Philanthropy and International Nominating Committees, respectively. Finally, the chapter was awarded with certificates of excellence for exceeding pledge goals and exceeding initiate goals; Delta Beta increased their membership by over 100% in the last year alone and has maintained 100% retention of pledges over the last two years.

Sigma Pi Fraternity invites anyone who has any questions about or wants to comment on the above information to contact Joe Palazzolo, Delta Beta Chapter’s Chapter Director and the new Regional Director of Sigma Pi Fraternity for New Jersey. More information is also available by calling Sigma Pi Fraternity’s Executive Office in Brentwood, Tennessee at (800) 332-1897.

Sigma Pi Fraternity was founded in 1897 at the Vincennes University, in Vincennes, Indiana and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee. The Fraternity is one of the fastest expanding men’s college organizations in North America, with 118 active chapters and 14 colonies in the United States and Canada, and over 85,000 alumni. The Fraternity teaches its core standards and values of scholarship, leadership, and service through educational programming, and is the only Greek organization with an international philanthropic program, The ACE Project, specifically designed to give back to our host institutions.

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