It is really difficult to start one, thus you don't see too many start these days. Realtors FCU is one that comes to mind that is newish. It does need a capital infusion from the chartering group, e.g. a company, a trade group that will form the membership. Then you need deposits. Profits then begin to build and maintain the capital base.
Board members are not executives. I'm not hoodwinked. I know exactly what I'm doing.
I am on the board of a credit union. Credit unions must make a profit or they will die. They must have some fee structure to offset costs of members who are expensive to service. The idea is that fees should be minimized to the extent that the CU can run a healthy business in accordance with its mission.
Since it is a non-profit, the board is unpaid. We are members who volunteer our time. We must make decisions in the interest of the membership as a whole and that means working with the executive staff on decisions related to which services we can provide to the members and how those services will be paid for.
The distinguishing difference between a credit union and a bank is that banks can raise capital in the open markets by issuing shares, issuing debt, or taking on risky bets in the form of loans and investments.
Credit unions, on the other hand, can maintain capital only through profits from loans, investments, and certain income like fees and interchange fees. The investment side is tightly controlled. Investments are boring - bonds, CDs, money markets. The best income is from loans.
There are good credit unions and bad ones. When the bad ones go under, the credit unions are collectively assessed via the NCUSIF (in most cases) to make the the depositors whole. Or the NCUA works with the failing credit union to merge them into a healthier one. But we are all collectively responsible for each other in a small way -- yet we compete against each other and banks too.
Even though I've been with the same credit union for 22 years (and now on the BOD for 3 so far), I don't label "credit unions = good, banks = bad." I also have an account with ING Direct and had excellent customer service - all by phone, mail and email - for a mortgage a few years ago.
Do your homework and figure out what you need and talk to people you trust. Don't think that you are necessarily constrained by a credit union. You might not be. It depends.
Oh, same deal if you want to deposit your check. If you can't find your own bank branch, you're going to be learning their bank-by-mail process.
You need to do some research. First, how many people have checks to cash while on travel? I would take care of that while home. But even if I did, I can go to any 7-Eleven in the U.S. and most credit unions in the co-op network and deposit a check. Getting access to money is easy.
My local credit union in Fresno has served me well even when I lived in the Bay Area for 12 years. It's amazing what can be accomplished with great customer service, even before ubiquitous online banking.
In casual conversation among people who wouldn't know the nuances of the various "programmer"-like terms, I do say, "I'm a programmer." It gets the point across simply that most people understand.
If I'm in a semi-professional setting of white collar adults, I usually say "software developer."
On a resume or among those who know the industry standard, I say "I'm a software engineer" because that's my title.
If it's tied to a conversation that might have career potential, I give the true classification at work: senior software engineer.
I don't see this as an inflation response, nor is it a fair comparison to Netflix. Redbox is a la carte. You subscribe to nothing. Use it a little, a lot, or not at all.
As they built out their system $1 was a simple price point, easy to advertise and a good entry point. Now they have a business model and usage metrics. $1.20 is a price point that they probably think is sustainable and will generate revenue and profit.
I like Redbox and probably use it 3-5 times a month. It's easy to grab something for the family and just as easy to return to about 10 different boxes within 2 miles of my home and shopping areas.
Once I started using Launchy that pretty much took away my need for the Start button.
Launchy plus the Quick Launch toolbar (for Windows XP) pretty much does the job.
Once in awhile I go to Start and am surprised by how much stuff I have installed.
During that heyday of competing desktop search products, I tried all that I could find.
I ended up settling on MS Desktop Search. It didn't seem to get in the way, searches were decent. To this day, it just runs on my work machines and comes in handy from time to time.
It's a very useful product when needed but not very sexy. I didn't RTA, but I presume Google got bored and couldn't monetize their version.
So simple, even a woman can do it.
Yeah, that caught my eye too. My manager (woman), team architect (woman), staff engineer (woman) and last 3 dev hires (women) really depended on tools to empower themselves.
Maybe I need some male empowerment since the 3 women on my team of 5 outrank me. Or, that's just how things came together.
Well one of the GoDaddy girls at least has a day job if they change marketing themes: Danica Patrick, Indy Car/NASCAR racer.
I was in Vancouver for the first time a year ago. Lovely place. Friendly, welcoming people. The most "dangerous" people we encountered were the junkies in the alleys, but they were pretty much harmless.
The best view to survey the area is Top of Vancouver. It's a rotating restaurant. Don't pay the tourist fee of $15. Go straight to the restaurant and have a $15 drink instead.
Anyway, I was just discussing with my wife that there would have been some interesting view of the riots from that restaurant. Safe entertainment from afar.
If you go, visit the Salt Tasting Room. (It's in one of those alleys.)
I am a fan of many sports, hockey, not so much. I get that emotional rush of wanting a team to win and hating when they lose. But when it's over, it's over. Geez. Move on.
Really? I didn't even realize that product still existed.
The only thing worse than the attention to this ridiculous "story" is all the predictable jokes that come from it.
"I guess I don't to pay my bills since the world is going to end." If I had a nickel for every variant of that joke I've heard,
Get a life everyone.
By the way, there is a new Urologist in my town of 10,000, with a lovely office. He just told my wife that both our sons need teen circumcision, under anethesia.
May I ask why he said your teen sons need to be circumcised?
GV is my phone number for everything. It points to my T-Mobile prepaid (using Comet Android), my iPod Touch TextFree, and my office phone.
If I get a text it goes to the T-Mobile (okay, that actually does cost me 5 cents), TextFree, the GV account, and email. I then carry on the conversation from whatever device or app I happen to be near. I use the free apps if I'm in a wifi zone or at home where I work. I may carry the conversation on T-Mobile and pay the fees, but that might amount to $2.00 a month at the most.
For me a text conversation is useful for about 4-6 texts, then I go to phone call at that point. It's what works for me.
"All the people are so happy now, their heads are caving in. I'm glad they are a snowman with protective rubber skin" -- They Might Be Giants
