embracing michael jackson

being a 36m, married, 1 kid (1.5 kids) gives one certain freedoms... e.g. i can finally declare my love for MJ. i've been downloading songs like a madman (thx for tip, connor, the 'new' napster clone). and, finally, after downloading the 'typical' songs (public enemy, remixes of zz top, songs from movie 'cars' for hunter, early 90s hiphop songs that 'take me back'), i threw caution to the wind, and got MJ's beat it, thriller, and bad. you know what? good songs. there, i said it. freak of a 'man', messed up in so many ways, but knocked out some catchy tunes back in the day.

money magazine and me... a love story

click to expand and read...


ok, had to break the blog drought... there was an article in money magazine about folks who won a dream house in an HGTV sweepstakes... then made all kinds of financial mistakes that money mag documented... i had to fire up the old emailer and tell money some things (see below)... well, they took my advice, and published my letter (see the august-2006 issue... page 24... when you're waiting for your dr. appt to fix )

... i googled money magazine's circulation... it's 1,900,000 a month. see http://www.echo-media.com/MediaDetail.asp?IDNumber=4378 this is the first time i've emailed a national magazine. it got published. i should quit now while i'm batting 1000, hitting 100%, perfecta, can't miss, undefeated.

below's the 'raw' email i sent in... of course, they edited it down and softened it. i even proper cased it (as much as it hurt me) to improve my odds of them reading (and publishing) it. it worked. i emailed and forgot about it... got an email back a month later from Money, saying part of it may be used... august issue shows up... i see it in print. not the most exciting story of back-and-forth.

so, i started last summer w/ my 'look at me' phase w/ that letter into the star tribune, which turned into that 'lard *ss of the week story' and before/after picture. this summer, it's this money article... what to do next summer? nationwide tv. i'm thinking fox news... i could be one of their 'fake liberal guests' that goes on there to get beat up by oreilly or hannity.

anyway, i've chewed up about 4 minutes of my 15 o' fame... look for the next 11 next summer....
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Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 9:27 PM
To: 'money_letters@moneymail.com'
Subject: Cruz control - letter to the editor

To the Editor:

Your article, “The House that Swallowed Don and Shelly Cruz” was certainly an eye opener. After reading their saga about their dream house from HGTV that turned sour (their need to sell the house and move back to their original smaller house, the huge IRS tax bill and penalties, running through their 250 large in a matter of a year, etc), I could only wish that Money Magazine would have analyzed their situation BEFORE they made all of their decisions. I believe in addition to the dream home, car and money that HGTV gives out annually, it should also bundle in a free financial planner, a CPA consultation, and a tax expert that helps the ‘lucky’ couple decide what do to with their windfall. Not just give them 4 million in prizes, but another $5000 in financial services would be a very prudent, helpful add-on to the sweepstakes.

Or, better yet, Money should partner with HGTV annually and help the annual winning couple decide what to do, much like you did with Don and Shelly. Then you’d have a nice annual article annually, HGTV would get additional publicity of their sweepstakes, but most importantly, the lucky couple could avoid some of the pitfalls that have befallen the Cruzes.

I cringe with the thought that had they managed their windfall better, they could have sold the dream house right away, wisely invested the proceeds and fixed up their Batavia home, as well as paying off the IRS and setting up a great economic future for the entire family, including early retirement. As it is, they’ll end up with only a wonderful year of memories in a big house and a Money Magazine article featuring them, and that’s about it.

Jeff McComas
Saint Paul, MN

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any questions / clarifications, please email. of course, edit, shorten, or tweak as necessary, and i hope to see it in print next month! thx!


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ok.. and just one more time... the AFTER ink that got published: