Chisoxfn

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Feb 1, 2012 -> 06:54 AM) College basketball, to me, is far more entertaining and enjoyable to follow than the NBA. And it's not even close. I can't agree. I think the tournament is incredibly entertaining and I enjoy watching the game but the quality and level of play in college just doens't compare to the NBA. And that is coming from someone who thinks the NBA has a lot of quality issues.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 1, 2012 -> 06:20 AM) If I had $40 million in cap space, I'd absolutely risk that. I'd probably try my darndest to sit down with Manning and renegotiate part of that deal, which he might well do because he'd be aware that having his whole bonus hit the cap that year would hurt any chance he had of having a winning team around him. But if I'm again, the Jets, and I had to cut the Sanchize and give up a first and a conditional pick or something like that to put Manning on my roster, it happens. It isn't cap space though, we are talking about real money, if I'm not mistaken. Would a team pay 28 million for a 1st round pick and a 3rd round pick? I'm not sure. I think I'd rather just use that money on free agents (or stash it until the team is ready to contend again).

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 31, 2012 -> 02:32 PM) I think that's a bit harsh. No matter what he did he would be criticized for it. There was literally no ending that would have been satisfactory for as much build up as that show produced. I'd also disagree with the hack assessment. If he was a hack other people would be able to copy what he does successfully. Far as I can tell every Lost-style show since Lost has failed pretty miserably. Edit: Though I guess to be fair, even a show like Fringe, which he produced and wrote and co-created, has been pretty successful. Lost was a great great television show. No matter what people would have been dissapointed given the great build up. In regards to Fringe, he's done a tremendous job. Alcatraz (albeit I haven't watched this weeks episode) is an entertaining show but so far it has been more of a CSI show involving Alcatraz. If thats the case I probably won't continue to watch it, however, I'll give it a few additional episodes to create some sort of back-story.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 31, 2012 -> 08:00 AM) Oh I wasn't referring to Emery as having anything to do with the Pats...I was responding to the other posts about the Personnel guy we interviewed from the Pats. As far as Emery goes, I know very little about him other than what has already been discussed. My bad. I figured we were talking about Emery since he mentioned the "Patriot Way" during his press conference.

Shack. Talked to them yesterday. Sounds like you are pretty out of luck in terms of what an in-store branch can do. She said she would have been able to waive/reverse your fees, however, once it hits collections, they (meaning the instore branch) lose any ability to assist there customers. Basically she said it is up to whomever you talk to at customer service.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 31, 2012 -> 05:50 AM) I was going to post something similar to Wite yesterday...we should be looking to begin the NEW Patriots way, i.e., the Bears way, not try and duplicate a system that half the rest of the League is attempting to emulate. One thing in regards to Patriots coaches, I do think Charlie Weiss and Romeo Crennel are very good coaches, but once you start trying to bring in some of the lower (or lesser developed) branches from that coaching tree you start reaching. I'm not thrilled with Emery, but I wasn't part of the interview process, nor do I have any sort of intimate knowledge of the candidates, so I am going to give the Bears the benefit of the doubt and believe this guy was the best candidate for us at this time. I'd point out that Emery has also said in some areas he's different than the Patriots. The one thing I've figured out about Emery so far is that he seems to be the type of scout that likes athletes. He talked about getting guys that were bigger, faster, and stronger than the rest. I think the Patriot way he was referring to was the overall confidence factor and the fact that he wants to keep things quiet (no more leaks at Halas Hall).

I'm really excited about the Emery hiring. He has a very strong history of drafting talent. I'm curious to see how he does in the peronsell move department (as that will be a bit new for him). However, I have a feeling we are about to see a bit of a culture change in the front office.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jan 27, 2012 -> 05:25 PM) I love fringe too, but seemingly it struggles with ratings. Its definitely cause it is sci-fi in nature, which will limit the ratings, but also because of the fact that you really have to have followed the story for a long time to understand and get a lot of what occurs on an episode by episode basis. But for those that have followed it from the beginning, the've been treated to a very very entertaining and intelligent show, imo.

Fringe is fantastic. One of the better shows ever done in my opinion.

Options 3 sounds like it wouldn't be worth it. No reason to take the hit to your credit score (even if you aren't sure whether it would happen or not). I really can't believe they wouldn't do something about it. I'm sure I'll see this person over the weekend but I'm also going to ask my wife tonight. The one unique case might be that the branch people have no authority since your account is "technically" closed.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 25, 2012 -> 05:42 PM) Yeah, once I am completely cooled down, I will figure out something. One of my questions to the woman was "What if it would have been an American Express' policy to just keep trying to withdrawal the funds, one time after another after another? What if they would have tried 20 times? Would you have charged me 20 insufficient funds charges? Where do you draw the line? Where does it end? I only tried to pay the bill one time. How can I control how many times a third party tries to carry out that request?" She was like "There are costs associated with a third party trying to draw funds on an account without the funds." I said "Oh and I am certain it is thirty-five dollars, too." She admitted "Of course not, but that is our policy." I swear, I would pay the $105 at this point if they would furnish me a copy of the recording. It must be priceless. Shack, I'll reach out to someone I know at Wells and find out what the real answer is. I'm pretty sure they can waive those fees. My wife and her whole family has worked in the banking industry a lot (BofA and Wells) and one has been at Wells for a long time. When I see her this weekend I'm going to ask her out of curiosity sake. I know I've had a couple fees waived no questions asked (purely based on an extensive account history of NOT having issues). Usually if that is the case, you are fine. Typically there system prevents them from doing it multiple times (so if you had like 4 waived in one year, they'd cut you out; but if you had 1 or 2 over a 4 year span, that shouldn't be an issue at all). Talking to the people involved, you'd be amazed at what people have the authority to do (whether people chose to use it or not, that is a whole nother story).

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 25, 2012 -> 03:56 PM) So I just got off the phone with Wells Fargo. When I moved to Vegas 3.5 years ago, I was a Chase banker, and Chase did not have branches out here yet. So I opened an account with Wells Fargo just so I would have a checking account I could deposit checks into. Well, then about 2 years ago Chase bought out WaMu and took over all their Vegas branches, at which point I went back to exclusively banking with Chase. Unfortunately, I did not close out my Wells Fargo account, but rather reduced the balance to mere pennies. I figured I would leave it open as long as there were no fees associated with it that would cause the account to be overdrawn. Bad mistake. In November, I went to pay my Amex bill. Unfortunately, in the drop down menu, I selected the Wells Fargo account instead of the Chase account. Thus, Amex tried to pull the money from my Wells Fargo account (in which there was no money) three separate times. Wells Fargo, rather than call me to alert me to this, instead charges me three separate overdraft fees of $35.00 each. They took no other action than to leave my account overdrawn at $104.83. They did not place a courtesy call, they did not send me a letter, etc. So today, some 2 full months later, I get a letter from Wells Fargo stating that my account has been closed due to its "prolonged overdraft status" and that I can call to resolve the overdraft at such and such a number. So I call and ask the woman if she can explain what happened for me to accrue an overdraft of $105 at which point she looks at my account and explains to me the issue with Amex. At that point I say oh, alright, well can I pay for the one overdraft fee and have the two others waived? This was obviously a simple mistake and certainly there is no need for three separate overdraft charges. She then says no, she cannot offer to waive any charges, but she can offer me a settlement of 25% off of the charges of $105. I asked to speak to her supervisor. She refused. I asked again, and she refused. She then mentioned that "no one is going to offer to waive these fees for you." I said how can you possibly determine what someone else is going to do? Anyways, to make a long story short, she refused to do anything for me other than offer me 25% off, and would not allow me to speak to anyone else. I said "Do you really think it is worth $100 to Wells Fargo to lose a potential customer for life? Do you think I will EVER purchase a Wells Fargo financial product after the way you have treated me?" She said "We are not liable for your online banking errors, sir." I said "You are probably correct. However, this is perhaps the most terrible example of customer service I can ever recall being the recipient of. I am certain this phone call will be used for training purposes. I hope you enjoy your 15 minutes of fame." I then called Amex, who, unsolicited, offered to refund the late charge and the insufficient funds charge they assessed to my account back in November. A lot of companies could learn from their example of customer service. I understand I am not without blame here, which is why I was willing to pay for ONE insufficient funds charge. What I was unwilling to do was to pay for more, or to be treated like a piece of s***. Now I am going to have to go in and sit down with someone at a branch and resolve this. Ridiculous. I truly love American Express. The few times I've needed something from them, there reps/service have been nothing less than outstanding.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 17, 2012 -> 07:15 AM) I don't auto-pay the credit cards, it gives me a reason to check to make sure statements are accurate every month. I set-up auto pay in case I somehow forget, but I have a reminder on my outlook that pops up a couple days before the due date so I can do a quick check.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 16, 2012 -> 07:18 PM) Everything onto a credit card. Credit cards paid in full once a month from bank account online. Thats what I do.

I will say this much. The staff/seniors/mgr's you meet in the recruiting process for the big 4 firms are important connections as they have heck of a lot of say in the ultimate hiring process.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jan 24, 2012 -> 12:18 PM) Many companies have 3.5 GPA cutoffs now, but there are ways around it but it makes it a lot harder to apply if you don't have a high enough GPA. That said, once your application makes it past that first set of screeners then it doesn't matter much. Given I'm one of the final screeners at my office at the big 4 I work at, I can say that in terms of accounting that isn't very much the case. We talk about GPA until the very end. We might be in that rare position but we look at a ton of candidates and ultimately all of them are deserving but we only have so many spots to pick and as a result, the GPA is an important thing. I probably dont' look at someone with a 3.5 and a 4.0 much different, but either way, that 4.0 (along with good experience) is certainly going to help get them in the door to start things off. And when I look and say, what has candidate X proven, I'm going to look at the various work experience they have as well as the GPA as my basis. If you barely worked, I expect a damn good GPA. If you've worked a lot, I can live with a lower GPA. Just my experience and I'm going to assume if one big 4 works that way, the rest of them do as well.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jan 16, 2012 -> 11:24 AM) Your GPA means pretty much nothing, fwiw. That couldn't be less true in a lot of areas. I know if you don't have an X GPA and you went into my profession, you'd have zero chance working for one of the top 4 firms in my industry.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 22, 2012 -> 09:19 PM) Yeah, I agree...Eli played so so, but his lack of athleticism really showed tonight. Several times there was pressure in the pocket that a guy like Rodgers or even Brady would have eluded and Eli just could not escape it. I thought both games were pretty sloppy...not particularly great execution and I didn't think it was a direct result of any dominant defense or anything. Hopefully the Super Bowl will have a bit more solid execution involved. Eli proved one thing. When it matters, he is the better "Manning". Peyton can't hold Eli's jockstrap in terms of post-season performances.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jan 21, 2012 -> 12:02 PM) There were some who questioned it with his specific philosophy, but I call them misinformed people. Almost anyone was better than Rambis (especially with his triangle offense) in many people's eyes anyway. If only the Clippers had a legitimate coach. Sterling is a total moron, plus he's racist, so I'm sure that will never happen.

Welcome back Cubano!!!

I'm trying to find a statistic and was going to see if anyone can help. I'm trying to look up what Kobe's record was scoring 40+ per game (W/L) and what Jordan's record was scoring 40+.

What the f*** is going on in Iowa. WE can't keep good RB's at all. Coker gone after putting up a ridiculous season and he had 2 years of eligiblity left. He had a shot at shattering every Iowa record. I don't follow the little details of college football but they seem to have had a ton of off the field problems lately as well as just guys leaving the program. It certainly seems like more than normal attrition and it irritates me since Ferentz seems like a classy guy (and he's clearly a well above average coach). It sounds like Coker was very grateful to the Iowa program and that something had happened at his house and that is why he is being dismissed from the team.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jan 14, 2012 -> 11:37 AM) Michigan has no length down low. Outside of Burke and Hardaway, very unauthentic. Beilein won't play one of the best in Illinois in 09 over two kids who do nothing but throw up bricks. Add that the Salukis aren't as terrible as I thought and are saving CLo's job. Ugh Iowa freaking dominated the Wolverines today. That was fun to watch. Iowa with 3 pretty damn good conference wins (vs. Michigan, @ Minn, @ Wiscy). They still have had there bad games but they are an improving squad. White can fill the bucket for a freshman and Basabe is slowly getting back in shape. Marble has made tremendous strides at the PG spot this year. I think McCaffrey can coach and they actually have some talent coming in from the recruiting trail. Please let Iowa be slowly coming out from there long rut. Note: I am not saying Iowa is great; They have tons of flaws still but man, they are light-years better than they were a year ago.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 11, 2012 -> 05:30 AM) But I thought only Keith Law made disparaging remarks about the White Sox farm system? The farm system is deeper now but it still lacks elite talent. Phil Rogers isn't exactly one to say many good things about the Sox either though (and he is pretty much responsible for the Sox Top prospects lists).

Dude....316 yards and a avg. pass per completion of 31.6. Coincidentally, it is the same as his favorite scripture and what he writes in the eye paint of 3:16. And yes, I'm just posting this because I think it is phenomenal at the odds of this happening at this point in time for the guy.