Thursday Tidbits - Deacons, Health Insurance, and Interviewing Hotties

Yea for Wake! They are 10-2 and have the best record in school history. Their head coach, Jim Grobe, was unanimous choice for ACC Coach of the Year. The quarterback, Riley Skinner (who is really cute, SHOCKER!), was voted the Rookie of the Year. AND ... the Deacs are playing in the ACC Championship Game in Jacksonville on Saturday against Georgia Tech. I started to get a wild hair and go down there for the game (since I know a couple of guys who are going), but I decided to save my miles and continue to build up for a better trip than a weekend in Northeast Florida in December. I'll still be watching ... GO DEACS!

There was an article this week in The Washington Post about the naming of the Nationals' new stadium. What will it be? The two other big sports facilties in town (FedEx Field and Verizon Center) are not named for local corporations, so who knows if the baseball stadium will follow this trend. Personally, I think something like "XM Field" (or XM Radio Field, probably) sounds cool, although we're more likey to see something like "Discovery Networks Stadium" or "Marriott Park" ... anything but "GEICO" or "Capitol One" ... BLECH!

Today is the last day of open enrollment at the company to choose our benefit plans for 2007. I am switching from Kaiser Permanente HMO to CareFirst BCBS's POS Blue Choice plan. It was a tough call, but I think I'll enjoy having the freedom to have a little more choice, even it if it does have higher copays. Kaiser has been fine, but reading the feedback from fellow employers on message boards has made me reconsider. Plus "HMO" has such a stigma behind it. Both our dental insurance choices are kind of blah, but I think that's more often the norm than the exception for companies.

We're interviewing to replace my favorite work colleague, who left two weeks ago to move to Atlanta to be closer to his wife's family. Now, have you ever interviewed someone that you thought was hot? My 30-minute block is coming up at 11:30am, but I've already seen him around the office. He's not the chisled good looks type, but rather the masculine jocky-athlete type. His resume indicated that one of his hobbies is being a lacrosse coach, too! Gaydar is NOT going off at all, but still, it could pose a dilemma. I'd rather not work around hot guys; lord knows I don't need the distraction. Maybe he won't pass muster with the interviewing team today and the issue will be dead in the water. We'll soon find out ....