Starbucks for a buck - Emily Carlson

At select Starbucks stores in Seattle, you can buy a cup of joe for a buck.
Ssssshhhh.
It's a new initive by ex-CEO-just-recently-unretired-because-of-falling-stock-prices Howard Schultz. Starbucks is hurting, and something needs to be done.
But who goes to Starbucks because of it's "cheap" prices??
A year ago, Schultz wrote a bitter memo to his executives about what he calls "the watering down of the Starbucks experience." He complained that the soul of Starbucks was gone, and urged the higher ups to bring back customer service.
So he's back in action, determined to change the coffee giant's luck.
There's no question Starbucks is in trouble. In the past year and a half, stock prices have fallen nearly 50%, from a high of $39.63 in May 2006, to closing at $19.66 today. Schultz blames the company's out of control growth. Also ailing are skyrocketing milk prices, the troubling economy, and pressure from McDonald's.
But why dollar coffee?
Isn't that the turf of McDonald's?
But the answer is...not really.
Mickey D's recently announced plans to open "McCafe's." In other words, coffee bars featuring cappuccinos, lattes, and mochas whipped up by baristas, a la Starbucks.
This, after Starbucks added drive-thru windows and hot breakfast sandwiches.
It seems the two mega chains are going after each other... by coping each other.
McDonald's is upgrading, while Starbucks seems to be.. well, downgrading.
The dollar cupajoe seems to be an effort to get crowds in the door, but in the move Starbucks is moving away from it's brand.
Starbucks is the king of $6 cups of coffee. They survived the economic downturn of 2001, when analysts feared the worst for a company who prides itself on hoity-hoity coffee. Starbucks customers LIKE that they shelled out bug bucks for their latte. The well known siren laden white cup is almost a status symbol, recognized in all corners of the world.
Starbucks needs to go back to the "third place." Howard, get rid of the drive-thrus, the expensive merchandise, and the cookie cutter stores. You don't need to sell your coffee for a dollar.

Christmas fund agencies receive record $2.4M - Emily Carlson

Arlene Adamson of the YWCA Sheriff King Home reacts to the announcement of a special donation to the Christmas Fund.

Readers' generosity doubled up

Kelly Cryderman, Calgary Herald

Alongside the loud whoops of surprise and delight were quiet tears from the city's social agency leaders Monday as they learned their organizations would be receiving almost twice what they expected from the Calgary Herald Christmas Fund -- thanks to an anonymous donor.

The fund raised a record $1.2 million thanks to donations from thousands of Calgarians.

In addition, a Calgary oilman, who wishes to remain anonymous, matched Herald readers' donations to boost the 2007 fund to more than $2.4 million, Herald publisher Malcolm Kirk said at a reception Monday.



The heart of the campaign was built on thousands of donations that came in from individual Calgarians, Kirk said.

"The fact is the readers and the community donated over $1.2 million to the fund in various ways, donations big and small, all of it adding up to a record-breaking year," he said.

"This year's campaign has gone above and beyond our expectations," Kirk said.

Every penny raised is being distributed among 14 Calgary social agencies that focus on reducing poverty and domestic violence. They will each collect a cheque for $172,130.49.

"I don't know about you, but my jaw dropped," Kirk said after divulging the total to the audience gathered at the Herald.

The man who contributed the "overwhelming anonymous donation" contacted Kirk this past holiday season.

He had read the Herald's news stories of fund-supported agencies.

"He's impressed by and understanding of the important social issues that we face, the solutions that we're trying to provide and also very pleased that every penny -- 100 per cent of the money that is donated -- goes back to the people who need it," Kirk said.

The Calgary Herald Christmas Fund has been in existence for 17 years, with all of the money raised going to selected organizations.

The Herald absorbs all administrative costs for the campaign.

Herald employees also raised more than $80,000 for this year's Christmas Fund, through raffles, bake sales and fundraising activities.

Each year, throughout December, stories about the agencies and their clients are highlighted in the newspaper and at calgaryherald.com.

Many of the 2007 recipient organizations were taken off guard by the additional money, but said they will make sure it's put to wise use. Some said it's especially important given the cost escalations -- and new people -- that have come to Calgary alongside the economic boom.

"This is the difference between saying 'yes' or 'no' to families. This is the difference for children's trauma counselling, how long we can work with them -- to break the damage that has been done because of domestic violence," said Arlene Adamson, director of fund development and communications for the YWCA, speaking of the organization's Sheriff King Home.

"All of Calgarians' $5, $10, $100 -- all that adds up. And the anonymous donor on top of that, it is a gift. It is a miracle today that somebody is moved to action because of this."

James McAra, chief executive officer of the Calgary Inter-Faith Food Bank, said the money will mean more peace of mind for his organization.

He said the food bank will likely be able to improve the quality of the food hampers they provide for the homeless.

"Something like this just goes beyond," McAra said. "It's an incredible gift. I can plan for an entire year now . . . we spend so much time reacting because we don't know what's going to happen. If we have a little bit of a cushion, then we know if something changes, we have that much more time to react to it."

At NeighbourLink Calgary, executive assistant Sara Barbosa said the funding will be put toward the Infants and Children Under 2 (ICU2) program, and will result in more furniture, diapers and formula going to low-income families with infants.

"Wow, Calgarians are incredibly generous," Barbosa said Monday. "And not only are they incredibly generous, then they double their generosity in one fell swoop."

Worth Waiting - Emily Carlson

A battered package from Iraq makes it Christmas all over again

By Linda Brinson
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR, Winston Salem Journal

This has been one of the best - and longest lasting - Christmas seasons my family has ever had. That’s true for a number of reasons, most of them having more to do with people than with presents.

There was the heartening recovery of our son who’d been in a terrible accident in October. We have been inspired by the good attitude and determination he and his wife have demonstrated. Our younger son made the most of his few weeks home from college; I felt as if I were running a combination bed-and-breakfast and short-order diner.

And a lot of extended family members who are scattered around the country most of the year were able to visit, making my mother’s house their headquarters. That included our nephew who lives in Chicago and his young family. There’s nothing like a lively 31/2-year-old girl and a strapping 8-month-old baby boy to liven up the holidays.

So, while the gaily wrapped gifts were appreciated, the heart of the holiday was the company of loved relatives and good friends.

But one last, whopping 12-pound package that arrived just Tuesday really brought us joy. This was the package from a loved one who couldn’t make it home this Christmas: Emmanuel, our “other” child, who grew up across the road from us after he came to Stokes County from Guatemala when he was in grade school.

Emmanuel and our No. 2 son were best buddies, more or less treating both families’ houses as their own. They “hunted” wild turkeys in our pastures and built snow forts in the winter. For two great years in high school, before Emmanuel graduated, they were also teammates on the South Stokes soccer team.

Then Emmanuel joined the Marines. Just after Labor Day last year, he shipped out to Iraq, and that is where he spent the holidays.

We’ve heard from him sporadically while he’s been stationed there. He tried to call once, but we missed the call. E-mail can be a problem, he has written, because there are long lines waiting to use the computers and because sand storms disrupt communications. He apologizes for sometimes sending group e-mails to family and friends, but we don’t mind.

One of those group e-mails arrived two days after Christmas, apologizing for the fact that his presents would arrive late. The delay, he wrote, was “due to the Iraqis not celebrating Christmas and thinking that this is a good time to attack.”

A little more than a week later, another message arrived, letting us know that our gifts were on the way. Other news from the front in Iraq was that it’s cold and the rainy season is starting; the Marines have been warned that they might see snow. Oh, and Emmanuel said he is “getting fat in Iraq,” having gained five pounds as the result of all the snacks his stateside supporters have sent him.

My primary contribution to that effort was to ship him a loaf of my homemade bread, long a favorite of his. I waited until the weather cooled in late fall before trying to mail a fresh-baked loaf. On the part of the Customs form where you’re supposed to list the value of an item being shipped, I wanted to write “priceless,” but I went with $1 instead.

I worried that the bread would reach Emmanuel either as crumbs or a green lump of mold, but he reported that it was “glorious.” I am going to have to send another loaf soon.

The intermittent messages had left us waiting for the package from Iraq to arrive, and wondering what in the world Emmanuel would have sent. But after a few days, with the holidays well over, the guests gone and real life pressing in, we’d almost forgotten that presents were still on the way.

Then the battered, 12-pound cardboard box arrived, complete with holes, dents, freshly applied packing tape and notices that the package had been “RECEIVED UNSEALED AT YOUR LOCAL POST OFFICE.”

We saw Emmanuel’s handwriting on the label, and it was Christmas all over again.

Carefully opening the already battered box, we found an olive-drab canvas bag (I’m not up on military terms, but I’m sure there’s an appropriate one) decorated with an “Operation Iraqi Freedom” seal, small American and Iraqi flags and the name of our son Sam. We found a colorful desert scene with camels on a black velvet cloth, bearing the words “Operation Iraqi Freedom” and “Alasad. U.S. Marines.” We found an elegant cloth-covered case with a lovely pitcher or teapot and small glasses, wrapped in pages from Stars and Stripes, Mideast edition. We found cards for each member of our family, with warm, personal notes handwritten inside.

And we found a good-size American flag. With it was a certificate saying that the flag “represents American resolve” to protect “the freedom of the United States of America and the World” and that it had been flown on an AH-1W “Super Cobra” helicopter during a combat mission on Christmas Day - “in recognition of the Brinson’s family.”

“The certificate … is what makes the flag so especial,” Emmanuel wrote in my husband’s card.

He sure got that right. Sometimes, Christmas is about the gifts, too.

Santa's share 'war stories' - Emily Carlson

Real-beard Santas head to Knott's to share Christmas 'war stories'
More than 100 jolly fellows with real whiskers to meet at Buena Park Luncheon.
By SERENA MARIA DANIELS
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

BUENA PARK – Now that Christmas is over, it's time for Santa shop talk.

More than 100 real-bearded Santa Clauses, members of the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas, will meet at Knott's Berry Farm Resort Hotel on Sunday for an awards luncheon.

And to trade stories about the 2007 holiday season while working in malls and at private parties and charity events.

The Santa will also plan for next Christmas season, and, of course, check out the latest in Santa couture at the Santa Fashion Show.

Nelson "Santa Nellie" Burke, 60, a retired truck driver from Garden Grove, sets aside six weeks out of the year to play Santa. He has done this for a dozen years.

"Santa comes from the heart," Burke said. "To have a beard does not make you a Santa. We get a reward in our hearts by making children believe for one more year. It makes people smile."

Santas, and those who aspire to be the jolly old man, will get training.

Several Mrs. Clauses will also attend.

Christmas comes once a year - and stays, Emily Carlson

Julie Young removes ornaments from a Christmas tree as her husband, Tige, and daughter, Alyssa, look on. Alyssa's first birthday is later in the month, so the family is making room for birthday presents. (Sun photo by Kim Hairston / January 12, 2008)

Christmas comes once a year - and stays
Thanks to hectic schedules and nostalgia, decorations remain up long after Dec. 25

It was a week after the 12th Day of Christmas yesterday, and Tige and Julie Young of Howard County finally began plucking ornaments off the first of their three Christmas trees and dismantling decorations that had taken a couple of weeks to put up.

"I can almost fully guarantee - not only will it not be done today, it probably won't be done this weekend," said Julie Young, 39, a researcher who lives in North Laurel. "We just hadn't gotten around to take down the trees because we're really busy, and we don't really know what we're going to do with all the toys."

The Youngs are far from alone in lingering over Christmas. Plenty of others around the region were packing decorations yesterday, and some vowed to put it off even longer.

In Hampden yesterday, Travis Shupe and his roommates still had light swags illuminating their porch that they plan to keep year-round.

"Last year, ours stayed up for two months after Christmas by the time the last of it came down, just because we were busy," he said of the yard display they dismantled last weekend. "The people on this street love the lights. It's a nice ambience."

Around the corner, Michael Berlin, a criminal justice professor at Baltimore City Community College who celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah, said his live tree would come down by today.

"It's getting old," he said. "It's getting dry. We don't want a fire hazard."

Nearby, Ed Johnson had loaded up a pickup truck with empty boxes, ready to fill them with Christmas decorations and transport them to a nearby garage he rents to store them. By noon, he figured it would take another three or four loads, in addition to the five he'd already made to complete the job.

"It's our way of giving back to the community," said Johnson, who lives on 34th Street, where extravagant light displays are a Baltimore tradition, for the holidays. "It's worth it just seeing people's faces."

His wife, Hope, meanwhile, was tackling their tree, decorated in Victorian style with old-fashioned shoes and dolls, tassels and beads and 1,650 lights.

Although New Year's Day has long been a traditional time to pack things away, Jan. 6, also known as Epiphany or the Day of Three Kings, is gaining popularity.

The Johnsons typically wait until that day or after to take down their decorations - a tradition that his parents passed on to him, he said.

Experts who study popular culture note a number of reasons for people holding onto the holidays.

Jim Von Schilling, an English professor at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, Pa., who serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Popular Culture, said one reason many people are leaving their trees up longer is that "they're re-creating their childhood."

"The Christmas period was a big chunk of time. Since time goes by faster as you get older, it hasn't been there as long as it felt like when we were kids. So we hold onto things a little bit longer," Von Schilling said.

Because so many trees are artificial these days, it's easy to extend the time they stay up, he said.

Lynn Bartholome, associate professor of English and philosophy at Monroe Community College in Rochester, N.Y., and chairwoman of the Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association, said many people just love the holidays and don't want them to end.

"My feeling is it has to be the uncertainty in the world and the comfort that the holidays bring," Bartholome said. "People just don't want it to be over."

To T.V. Reed, a professor at Washington State University who deals with popular culture topics, the extended Christmas reflects the hectic modern pace.

"The phenomenon is most likely a side-effect of the general speed-up of American life - too many commitments, too much work time, too little time for important family rituals," said Reed, who admits his own tree is still up.

To electrical engineer Tige Young: "The ideal tree for me would be one that operated like an umbrella."

Carefully, he reached for his favorite ornament first, a catfish, with the head of a cat and the tail of a fish, then a glass ball from his alma mater, Virginia Tech.

This was the Youngs' first Christmas with their daughter, Alyssa, who will be 1 year old this month.

That coming birthday is part of what prompted the couple to get Christmas packed away - to make room for all the new toys likely to arrive for the baby who is the first grandchild on either side of the family.

At the Youngs' house, one tree was live and the other two were artificial.

"It's a little bit sad," Julie Young said, watching their live balsam fir grow increasingly bare. "But it's almost a relief to get the house back to normal and get ready for the birthday."

Traffic To Divorce Sites Up After Christmas - Emily Carlson

Ouch. The holidays are rough for some people. Isn't the point of Christmas to be with your family, celebrate and give thanks for having them in your life? These couples must have been having troubles already. You're supposed to WANT to have more time with your loved ones!

By Doug Caverly, WebPro News

Does your wife nag? Your husband snore? If you're noticing lots of small, irritating qualities (or big nasty ones) in a significant other, you're not alone; the latest research from Hitwise found that traffic to divorce websites has nearly tripled since Christmas.

To be fair, Hitwise's Robin Goad writes, "We aren't morbid enough to have a Hitwise 'Lifestyles - Divorce' category . . ." And to be accurate, this data comes from the UK, not America. Still, marriage certificates are getting thrown out with sad-looking Scotch pines at what seems like a record rate.

About 0.0012 percent of UK Internet traffic went to a divorce site on January 8th, according to Goad. This was down from 0.0015 on January 7th, but still up significantly from the December 25th standing of 0.0004 percent. Goad also reveals "the number one downstream site visited after quickie-divorce.com": Her Majesty's Courts Service.

Yikes. Well, at least the visitors' follow-through can be commended. That's the follow-through on their divorce site visits, of course, rather than any original marriage vows. In that respect, well, everyone may need to do some work. But Goad also explores a happier subject - wedding site stats - for the optimists out there

Shed some post-Christmas - Emily Carlson

From icWales.co.uk, by Our Correspondent, Western Mail

WITH Christmas over and despite the reports that December’s retail sales were down on last year, many of us probably did overspend our budget even with the best intentions not to.

According to a poll carried out with over 5,000 visitors to the Jobcentre Plus website in November and December 2007, more than half of people in the UK (55%) spend more than they can afford over Christmas.

For every person that doesn’t plan their finances, there is a person that does, as 45% of us do plan ahead to ensure we don’t end up in debt in the new year.

People in London and the East Midlands are the best at planning their finances for Christmas whilst those in the North East are most likely to over spend. In Wales 59% struggle to pay and 40.7% plan their spending. This compares with the overall average of 55.4% who struggle and 44.6% who plan ahead.

As New Year resolutions come to the fore Susan Clark, personal adviser at Jobcentre Plus, advises people who have overspent to examine their finances and think about improving them longer term. “Struggling to pay the bills after Christmas is a situation that many people find themselves in and it can be very stressful. Short-term fixes provide temporary relief but getting a job is the best way to improve your financial situation in the long-term.”

TV presenter Philippa Forrester said, “All my life I’ve worked hard, whether it’s been a part-time job during school holidays or building a career in television. For me, having a job means having a regular income, which means I’m in control and have choices. As well as the financial flexibility it gives me and my family, working also provides me with an important social element to my life.”

Pay day may seem like an eternity away, with your bank account put under extra pressure trying to cope with your post-Christmas spend and regular household bills. But it is vital that you keep on top of your finances. Going into unauthorised overdraft, buying items without the funds to cover them or having items returned by your bank can be a costly mistake.

Lisa Taylor, analyst at Moneyfacts.co.uk says the average cost of unauthorised debit interest is almost double the cost of an authorised overdraft.

Average authorised rate is 12.08%, compared with 23.27% for unauthorised borrowing.

If your bank pays an item for £100 taking you into unauthorised overdraft, bank fees and interest could cost you more than £160 if you don’t clear this debt for two weeks. Depending on your current account provider, this charge could vary by more than 600%.

“Rising bad debts and the impending decision on overdraft charges due from the OFT mean that some borrowers have started to see some radical changes to how their overdrafts and fees are calculated. With the introduction of new fee types, fee tiering and, in some cases, the replacement of debit interest charges with fees, it’s now an even more varied set of charging structures to get to grips with.

“While some borrowers may have seen reductions, I suspect many more will be facing higher fees this year if they slip into the red or into an unauthorised balance.”

Some of us may be making resolutions to shed pounds, give up drinking and/or smoking, but it is also worthwhile starting the New Year with a promise to lose any debt we may carry.