Such a dilemma. The IRS has sent me a nice notice saying they owe me $900 from my 1997 return. I thought perhaps I had made a data entry error. But it turns out that one of my employers misreported to the IRS the tax they withheld from me. How this happened, I don’t know; I always assumed that the software that spits out the number for me spits out the same number to the IRS, but my W-2 is clearly different from the government’s data. My software engineer’s inclination, which will certainly be a hassle to all parties involved, is to track down how this happened. My morals say “don’t take the money!”. And of course I’ve got a tiny little voice in my head saying “Hey, the form says if you do nothing, they’ll send you the money anyway!” What to do?

Wedding Economy Tidbits:

• In ancient Rome, the ceremonial kiss was not romantic but legal. It marked the mutual acceptance of the contract of marriage. (from Martha Stewart Weddings Fall ’99)
• Because wedding gown advertisers threatened to boycott, bridal magazines refuse to take ads from, or even mention the existence of, companies selling used bridal gowns. (from the book Adcult USA)
• Diamonds are not really rare, but DeBeers has made absolutely sure that you don’t know that. And Microsoft’s business practices pale in comparison to theirs.

Some newspapers are charging more for classified ads that mention a web site. If you just list a URL (in a cheap one-line ad), they’re losing money since you aren’t describing your services with more text. This is an interesting example of the valuable nature of domain names and descriptive urls. As the Wired article points out, the same thing happened when 1-800 numbers became popular. My question is: for classifieds that are online, will the newspaper charge you more to have a live link to your URL or is that included in the cost? (and does that really matter since browsers could be programmed to pick up the URL as a link anyway?) As newspapers continue their evolution into online “print”, ad revenue models must evolve along with them.

Have you seen the new Palm ads on television? A Palm-toting woman and man sitting in different trains on adjacent tracks spot each other through the train windows. They sense potential chemistry, but oh no, her train is pulling away. She lifts her Palm V, he does the same, and she beams her phone number over. Happily satisfied with their clever use of technology, they settle back in their chairs. My cynical mind flashed this thought “Did they practice safe beaming? What if she sent him a virus?” Will we have to use PDA condoms one day? And can I resist making a pun about how PDA is also short for “public display of affection”?

Top this: according to my inside source, Brio is paying $15,000 for internal referrals to fill certain key positions. No, that is not a typo. Fifteen thousand dollars. Anyone else got recruiting megabuck stories to share?

Do you miss Bliss? Bliss is an endearing comic about a young married couple. The San Jose Mercury News stopped running it this week, stating that it had gone out of syndication. Not one to take what I read in the paper at face value, I did some investigation (online of course!) and found that Bliss is still in print elsewhere. I don’t know if it is being taken out of syndication, but until it goes away, I’m looking at it here. (I can’t link to the exact page because of how they’re serving it up, so click on the Bliss logo to get to it.)

Woke up (way too early) this morning and heard on the radio that eLance has relocated their entire company (“lock, stock and web site”) from New Jersey to Sunnyvale, CA . They spent a hefty chunk of change on moving their employees to the silly valley. My still asleep brain hoarded away one fact from the broadcast: they hope to overcome the shortage of high tech workers in NJ. Didn’t anyone warn them that everyone here can’t find good people either? And I sure hope they checked the real estate prices before they left. Whew. Oh wait, I forgot, it’s cold back there; good idea to move ’em before winter hits! And, hey, if it doesn’t work out, they can all find new jobs in a jiffy!

New twist on the recruiting game. One of my good recruiters called today to see what was up (e.g. am I ready to leave yet? my answer, no) and she informed me that she is now paying for referrals. So if I refer someone to her whom she successfully places, she’ll pay me $1000. Geez. I used to do this as a favor to both parties and now recruiters are sticking a monetary nudge onto it. Altruism’s getting harder to prove in the hiring world.

Well, I guess Amazon would have something to say about my 11/29 post regarding luxury ecommerce. They’re buying into Ashford.com. Maybe they can convince Vendome that you can still have that certain cachet when selling online. I know, how about online shops that you can only access if you’re using a luxury branded ISP? Get a $100/month account from “ihaveblueblood.net” and you can shop for those cushy goods online. Someone get on the line to AOL. AOL-Platinum… for those who appreciate Quality Internet Access. (note: Ashford still lists Montblanc pens on their site. Wonder if they’ll get a reprieve.)

Anyone else remember reading The Adrian Mole Diaries? Well, Feed Daily says he’s back, and apparently he grew up with us, ’cause he’s 30 now and still journaling away with a vengeance. As Feed puts it: “Adrian Mole, teenage poet and intellectual, appealed to the frustrated loser in us all.” It’s nice to see a character grow up with its readers instead of staying perpetually encased in a literary childhood. Just how many mysteries did Nancy Drew solve when she was 18 anyway? And did she grow up to be a lawyer like her dad?