From the Piedmont Credit Union inbox:

On Saturday, May 30, 2009 from 5pm to 8pm the Danville Science Center will host a Beach Party by the Dan.  The entire family is invited to a fun-filled evening featuring music by the C. Shells, a musical duo from Virginia Beach.  With a delightful mix of songs and musical styles, the C. Shells will have children of all ages laughing, smiling, and stamping their feet.  Guests will enjoy a summer buffet, beach music, shag dancing and kid’s activities– to support a great Danville resource– the educational programs at the Science Center.

Ticket prices: Children age 4-9:$5; Ages 10-18: $10; Adults: $20; Children 3 and under are free.

My family has benefitted quite alot from visiting the Danville Science Center.  Over the last several years it has really expanded and begun to offer many new programs and exhibits.  Just to say the words “Science Center” causes my kids to celebrate and talk about what they’re going to do and see there.

A few years ago Aime started with just a single employee, herself.  Even then she didn’t get paid but put all the revenues back into the business.  She was beginning to get accustomed to all kinds of bankers and bureaucrats telling her that her endeavors would certainly fail!  None of that seems to have mattered as today the Piedmont Regional Feeding & Oral-Motor Clinic employs 15 full time staff who have come from all over the nation to work.   A major point that Mr. Marshall made was that the clinic’s great success was accomplished without any government assistance or funding!  How can this be in an era of government bailouts and economic stimulus plans?  The answer is simple; Hard work, careful planning, diligence, outstanding customer service, committed empoyees, the drive to suceed, and the unstoppable spirit of a true entrepreneur.   One can see these qualities clearly at the Piedmont Regional Feeding & Oral-Motor Clinic.  The more we all embrace them, the sooner our nation and economy will get back on their feet again.

The security features are just as strong as NetBranch because the features are more limited.  NetBranch Mobile cannot create new bills, only pay existing ones.  It can only transfer within your accounts at the credit union.  It is not able to transfer outside of the credit union like our full Online Billpay can.  I like how it doesn’t show any private or personal information on the screen.

The only tip I have for using NetBranch Mobile is this.  Double check your MFA security questions and choose more simple answers for them.    A simple, short one word answer is best.  That makes it a little faster to logon to NetBranch Mobile.  I’m interested to hear what other Piedmont CU NetBranch users think of NetBranch Mobile.  So far I really like it alot!  I may finally decide to ditch my Palm TX get a real mobile phone!

I also had the chance to meet and speak with several vendors.  There was Steve from Summertime Pool & Spa, David & David from Culligan Water, Karen from Pine Hall Brick, Brad from Security Zone, Liz of Danville Parks & Rec, Durdana from Durdana.com, and the guy from Sound Solutions (sorry I don’t recall your name!).  But the most interesting of the vendors was right next to me.  Piedmont Credit Union was beside Saunders Building Supply.  Saunders is the oldest and sole surviving family owned building supply shop in Danville.  They pride themselves on customer service, flexibility, and going the extra mile for people.  (Sounds a little like Piedmont CU.)  On Sunday I had the pleasure of meeting their owner, Elsie Stanley.  I had heard her described as “tough as nails”, ” a catbird”, and “no nonsense”.  She may be those things in Donald Trump’s board room but here at the expo she was kind as could be and quite the salesperson.  In fact I may be by for some lifetime porch rails or a drain pump for the basement.  She took home my very last back scratcher and a set of Piedmont CU playing cards left over from a previous trade show.   So if you have some building or re-modeling to do check out Saunders Building Supply and say hello to Elsie and the grandkids.

Does anyone know what exactly a “catbird” is?

I went to Ruby Tuesday in Danville recently and found it to be very good.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/1389/saturday-night-live-dont-buy-stuff

Hulu has hundreds of TV shows, movies, and clips that you can watch any time you want with just a few tiny 15-30 second commercials.  It’s free so it might help save on the cable or satellite bill.  If you are looking for more money saving tips check out the Dave Ramsey Show on hulu.

“PCU is doing an excellent job of handling this. I had my money back within 1 hour of discovering the fraudulent charges. They also said they are going to call people who have suspicious activity on their account who may not do online banking and find the error.
It’s nice to know when something like this happens that they are going to do everything to make it right for you.”

Thank you!

Before I had gotten out of the car my wife says something loudly from the back door.

Link to "Repair a Broken Refrigerator"

Our refrigerator was dead.  Hundreds of dollars worth of food now sat spoiled on the shelves.  On our beautiful wood floors there was an unholy mixture of previously frozen items from the freezer.  The floors had already started to warp from the moisture.

The cleanup lasted well into the night and early morning.  When I was just about done cleaning the floors  I thought about Murphy’s Law, “Anything bad that can happen, will happen.” Then I thought, “This is why I have money in savings.  I need to be an example to my family and the ones I care about to show them how to responsibly cope with little disasters such as this.  Bring it on Murphy!  I’m ready for whatever you can throw at me!” It was about this time that my wife noticed some little bugs in the house.  No problem, they probably came in when I had the doors open dealing with the fridge.  Wrong.  Our Christmas Tree(real tree) had about a thousand little dead bugs lying under it.  We figure they were in the tree and must have prematurely hatched outside of their natural habitat.  A few survived and were now living in our house.

On to round two where we hurriedly took down the decorations and escorted the tree outside!  With all the cleaning and vacuming done that night, one might have thought we had the mayor coming to visit the next day.  But all in all this whole thing was a breeze to cope with because there’s no question of how we are going to pay for the repairs.  The fridge was fixed for $120.  The bugs were no big deal once the tree was removed.  The floors might cost as much as $500 to repair.  Nothing a little savings can’t handle.  Now, taking the repairman’s advice, we’re waiting for Murphy’s third pitch.  Nothing yet, but I’m checking the air in all the tires!  We’re confident that whatever comes next, we, and our savings, will be ready to tackle it.

• Don’t Save It All For Christmas Day – Save some for vacation, retirement, college, and other emergencies that are bound to happen.  Or just go and spend it all the day after Thanksgiving and continue living the American nightmare called out-of-control debt!
• Light a Candle – The politicians all say we need to conserve energy.
• Jingle Bell Rock – What misbehaving kids are getting for Christmas this year! (Rocks are  better for the environment than lumps of coal.)
• Away In a Manger – Where people stashed their money when banks started failing.
• I’ll Be Home For Christmas – I’m still recouping from last summers high gas prices.
• Silver Bells – No! Not another precious metals advertisement!
• Silent Night – What you hear when you ask a group of sub-prime lenders “What were you thinking?”
• Here We Come A Caroling… In our private jets and asking for a bailout.
• A Strange Way to Save The World – That’s what we thought about the first bailout. Aww, maybe it will all work out after all?
• All I Want For Christmas is … my 401k back!

Honorable Mention:

• We Three Kings of Orient Are … Making everything in Wal-Mart.  (Hint: Made in China)

What do you think? What days do you have off this holiday season?  What days do you wish you had off?

Recently we actually lived it out right here.  Last week while visiting a school I ran into a teacher who was already a member of Danville City Employees Federal Credit Union (through her husband).  Since I’ve seen the statistics which say that credit unions only have about 10%-15% of the personal finance market share in America, I really didn’t try very hard to win her business.  Rather, I complimented the other credit union and thanked her for supporting it.   With 90% of people using banks, credit unions don’t need to be fighting over each others members.  It really is for the good of all credit unions that we continue to support each other even when our memberships overlap like this.

Another example happened at last nights meeting. Kevin from Martinsville DuPont Credit Union, shared about what they learned from the recent phishing and vishing attack directed against their credit union.  The information was very valuable and will no doubt find it’s way into one of our upcoming financial education courses.

I’m so pleased to once again be active in our local credit union chapter.  I’m also glad to see the goodwill and cooperative nature of local credit unions being lived out in tangible ways.  If you’re a credit union employee reading, you should certainly consider coming to a chapter meeting.  The next meeting is November 6, 2008 at the Ballou Park Senior Center in Danville, VA.  If you’re a member, you should be proud to be part of your credit union and please let your credit union know what you think of it.  If you’re not a member, you need to find a credit union!

Yea!!! My mom just made a donation, thanks Mom!!! (p.s. send more money)

Actually at this time Piedmont Credit Union is financially stronger than it has ever been!  This is thanks to the thousands of members who have trusted us and faithfully used our services over the years.

Here’s a little something I took away from the event…

…A new avatar!  Russ Liberty made visitors “Look Like a Lego!” He had a long line even after the Build-Off was over.

One person I met is Miguel, a Spanish teacher.  In speaking with him I found that he has traveled the world and was once a lawyer in his home country of Spain before teaching in the U.S.  I don’t doubt that his overall life experiences will make him a wonderful teacher and a favorite among students.  Then there was Mrs. Layne, a returning Henry County teacher, who I found looking up at the list of students who have received academic honors over the years.  I asked if any of her kids were up there.  She proudly said “Yes, quite a few”.  Upon finding out that she taught English I told her my story about how I did very poorly in high school English.  However, I learned much more about English (and about life in general) from those classes in which my teachers challenged me and made me suffer the consequences of half-hearted work.  (Thanks Mr. Raferty!)

There were other teachers I met both new and returning.  Magna Vista High School is nestled in a beautiful part of Virginia.  They even have a really nice greenhouse where they grow plants and flowers for sale.  I bought a lovely Caladium for $2!!!

Here are a few flickr photos from the New Teacher Orientation.

You can read all the books you want and not pay one red cent!  Many libraries even let you check out dvd movies for free!  Last weekend my wife & I watch a delightful romantic comedy called “The Holiday”.  We got “Old Yeller” for the kids.  I cried, again.

So when is the last time you used your library card?