JerseySmarts.com

The Death of the Monmouth Mall

Joe — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 01:58:58 +0000

Last year, the Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, New Jersey closed. Admittedly, the Monmouth Mall was in poor condition for a very long time and the plan to close the interior mall had been in the works for years. The property is owned by the Kushner Companies and they’re planning to turn the site into an outdoor, walkable commerce area along with new housing (apartments and condos, I believe) along with dining, healthcare services, and more. Anyway, I took the pictures below in May 2024 and you can see how utterly empty the mall was back then. you can click any of these pictures to get a bigger view of the image.

Some of the existing stores have already moved to their new locations, including Barnes & Noble. For my part, the new format for the Barnes & Noble isn’t really for me. It’s beautiful, I guess, and there are a ton of books (and non-books, along with a café), but the space is definitely more of the Amazon style (books facing outward) and less of the classic library style that they had in their old footprint. So, since it’s pretty much Amazon, but with higher prices, I’ve been buying my books on Amazon since the new Barnes & Noble opened in November 2024. Kind of a bummer, although I’ve been to the Barnes & Noble in Freehold and Toms River and they’re both still in the old format, thankfully.

Just wanted to post this entry to share these pictures. As of this writing, the old Barnes & Noble is actually torn down except for the roof as is most of the interior mall, though the roof is gone from that part of the mall. It’s a little weird being able to look directly through where the mall used to be, but that’s how these big real estate developments work. I used to love going to the mall to walk around and see what the shops were selling – especially around the holidays. I don’t think I’ll be doing that in the new, outdoor format because, well, it gets cold out side!

Owl Talk Podcast, Episode 4 – History: Sigma Pi Society

Joe — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 17:54:03 +0000

Just like the last few months, this month I was interviewed by my fraternity’s podcast to talk about a portion of our history. This time around, we interviewed one of the alumni members from Sigma Pi Literary Society – the organization that inspired Sigma Pi Fraternity’s name!

I hope that you enjoy the podcast!

Owl Talk Podcast, Episode 3 – History: Robert George Patterson (Part 2)

Joe — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 18:44:15 +0000

For the past few months, I was interviewed for my fraternity’s podcast regarding the history of our organization. Last month, we began the first of a two-part series on the person who was responsible for the fraternity changing its name. This month, we complete that series with part two. Enjoy!

I hope that you enjoy the podcast!

Owl Talk Podcast, Episode 2 – History: Robert George Patterson (Part 1)

Joe — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 18:33:32 +0000

Just like last month, I was interviewed for my fraternity’s podcast. This time, I was interviewed for a two-part series on the person who was responsible for having our fraternity change its name back in the early 1900s. Digging into this type of history is a lot of fun and I will be doing more of it in the coming weeks and months.

I hope that you enjoy the podcast!

Owl Talk Podcast, Episode 1 – History: Reflecting on the History of Sigma Pi

Joe — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 23:32:10 +0000

One of the cooler things that I have had a chance to participate in while serving as the Chairman of the Board of my fraternity is being interviewed for the first episode of our new podcast, Owl Talk. The purpose of the podcast is to talk about different elements of the fraternity’s history within a modern, contemporary context. Check it out below:

I hope that you enjoy the podcast!

The New York Times Academic Rate Costs… MORE?!

Joe — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 23:48:37 +0000

In my constant quest to find high quality journalism, I often find myself reading articles from the New York Times. Granted, I have little to no use for their ultra biased opinion/editorial pages (read an inside view from their former editor) and I sometimes find that bias seeping into their political news. However, their non-political reporting is, in my opinion, among the best on the planet. They also have an army of reporters all over the globe covering all different types of topics. If you’re looking for someone covering the impact of pine needles covering the northern reaches of a certain forest and how it impacts local fauna, chances are that the New York Times has someone covering that topic.

Before I subscribed to the paper (to be clear, I did wind up subscribing to the paper), I came across the fact that their special academic rate… actually costs more than the regular rate! That’s right, if you’re trying to get a discount because you’re an educator, then do not hold your breath because there is no discount offered. In fact, you will pay more for an all-digital subscription (see the chat screen shots below).

What I was not able to cover in the screenshots above is that the weekend subscription at the academic rate, which is the one that I ultimately chose, offers no discount. The rate is the same whether or not you are subscribing as an academic. The only difference is that the academic rate continues beyond the first year of the subscription and, at that point, you wind up paying less than the traditional subscription rates for either the all-digital or any print subscription. But what a horrible marketing approach to offer an academic rate that, for the first year at least, actually charges you more for an all-digital subscription!

Believe me, I want to be outraged by this, but at the same time and as I noted above, I went ahead and got the subscription anyway. I want to give it a shot, especially since their non-political reporting remains among the best on the planet. And for those of you who think that the New York Times makes everyone who reads it an extremist – stop it. I also consume quite a bit of right-leaning media sources as well as an increasing number of high quality independent and nonpartisan sources, so this subscription is just helping to round out my overall media consumption.

Some Awful Corporate Marketing/Sales Speak By Netflix

Joe — Sun, 29 Nov 2020 22:55:41 +0000

A few months ago, the team at YouTubeTV raised their prices to pretty much match traditional cable television rates. They justified their egregious price increase by saying they were adding new channels (the Viacom family of channels, among others) and investing in new technology. I, and many others, did not like the price increase at all and I, for one, thought it was insulting. The entire promise of digital “cable” programs like YouTubeTV, Hulu, Sling, etc. is the ability for the consumer to leave behind excessively-priced traditional cable companies and move to a more consumer-friendly and consumer-focused product where they can receive what amounts to a la carte programming. Forcing new channels on consumers without their agreement just feels too much like the traditional cable companies to me and if this is the way that YouTubeTV is going to operate, then I probably will not stay with them too much longer.

When YouTubeTV raised their prices, I contemplated canceling and being done with cable/streaming television for the second time in two years as I previously canceled Xfinity/Comcast a year and a half or so ago and then just didn’t have cable television for about six months (it was great). However, given that I use the family option provided by YouTubeTV (where others in my family can have their own YouTubeTV account under mine), I decided not to cancel the service… for now.

The one thing that I can say in favor of YouTubeTV and their awful, consumer-unfriendly price increase is that they (poorly) explained the need for the bump in price by providing an analysis of how the increase in the number of channels offered resulted in an increase in the price charged. Okay, fair enough (not “good enough” because it was a terrible decision by YouTubeTV, but fair – I get it). Well, Netflix recently announced that they are raising their prices and sent out this incredibly insulting, non-explanation email that is riddled with more corporate sales speak than actual information and justification. Check it out:

Awful email update/marketing from Netflix

The subject line of this email is, “We’re updating our prices — here’s why.” One would read that subject line and think, “Okay, let’s see what the increase in membership fees is going to be used on this time.” And then you read that email and all they say is that they’re going to keep doing what they’re doing. They justify the fee increase by saying, “This update will allow us to deliver even more value for your membership — with stories that lift you up, move you or simply make your day a little better.”

What?

What does that mean? How, exactly, is Netflix going to bring me “stories that lift you up, move you or simply make your day a little better?” What an awful message to send to your customers! Why not drop the corporate sales speak and, instead, tell your customers the truth? Why not just say, “Hey, production costs are not decreasing and licensing fees aren’t going down either, so if you want us to stay around and if want us to continue making our own shows for you to watch, then we need to charge a little bit more, okay?” What is so wrong with the truth?

Perhaps they do not want to come off as greedy by telling us the truth. Or perhaps that is exactly what the issue is here – corporate greed. Why might this be where my mind goes when thinking about Netflix? That’s easy – they just reported earnings of $6.44 billion (that’s billion with a B, folks). Yeah, they really seem like a company that needs to increase fees on their customers… during a pandemic…

The Actual Final Student Loan Payment Screenshot

Joe — Sat, 28 Nov 2020 14:00:57 +0000

Several years ago, I posted an update showing what the screen looked like after I paid off my undergraduate and graduate student loans. It was great to finally see the “current balance” on those loans paid down to zero. As my Mother mentioned the other day, it gives you a real feeling of accomplishment having paid off a major student loan. And now, more than 7 years later, I am posting another screenshot of a zero balance, but this time for my doctoral student loans. Check it out:

My last student loan – for my doctorate – showing a zero balance

There you go, folks. That is what it looks like to no longer owe anything in student loans. Not only does it look pretty good, but it feels pretty good, too. Also, here is another screenshot from another part of the student loan website showing the zero balance. Check it out:

My student loans are fully repaid – all of them

As I mentioned the other day, I plan on writing more about student loans from time to time, but I just do not have much more to write about my own repayment journey because it is now, completely, over.

I repaid $244,826.91 in undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral student loans. The debt was comprised of $193,430.16 in loan principal, $14,313.42 in capitalized interest, $2,146.59 in closing and refinancing fees, and $34,936.74 in interest. My lenders included the United States Department of Education’s (USED) Perkins loan program, their subsidized and unsubsidized Direct Loan programs, the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority’s NJCLASS program, CitiBank, and SoFi. You can read my entire student loan repayment story on JerseySmarts.com.

Just Finished Paying Off My Student Loans… Again

Joe — Tue, 24 Nov 2020 15:00:14 +0000

It seems like it was just yesterday (or seven years and three months ago) that I announced I paid off my student loans… for the first time. Back then, I was happy to announce that I paid off my undergraduate and graduate student loans over a repayment journey that lasted seven years and one month. That journey covered a total repayment of $149,455.12. But it wasn’t just $149,455.12 repaid and then everyone goes home happy. No. I repaid that amount during the beginning of my career when my income was also at its beginning and without any financial assistance coming in for any living expenses or any other costs. In fact, USA Today covered my story in an above-the-fold cover story in their newspaper. During that repayment, I learned that if you focus, work hard, and do not waste your income on frivolous garbage, then you can redirect a substantial amount of that income towards paying down debt and actually be successful in paying it off. So that’s just what I did to repay my first student loans off in August 2013.

A screenshot of my last student loan payment, which went out this morning

Then two years later in August 2015, I started on a new academic journey to earn a doctorate. That quest ended in May 2018 when I earned my doctorate from the University of Southern California at a grand total cost of $89,286.86. I also financed my doctoral program through student loan debt. Repayment on those student loans began in December 2018 and now, just about two years later, I am happy to announce that I have fully repaid the doctoral student loans as of this morning. When I have a screenshot available of that student loan balance coming in at $0, then I will share it here for everyone to see.

The final count for the doctoral student loans is as follows:

$87,360.16 in loan principal
$1,878.84 in capitalized interest
$47.86 in closing and refinancing fees
$6,084.93 in interest

Total Amount Repaid: $95,371.79

When you add up the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral student loans, the total amount I repaid is $244,826.91. I never missed a payment, never incurred a late fee, and never asked for a deferment for any reason. I took out this debt knowing that it meant I would have to repay the obligations I was incurring. I never asked for my loans to be forgiven. I never contemplated a world where I would want them to be forgiven. I never believed that other people should be forced to pay for my student loans. The discipline needed to pay off these loans gave me a near perfect credit score.

While I am thankful that my student loan repayment journey is at an end (for good, this time), I am even more thankful of the financial discipline and education that I was able to garner over the last 14 years. Stay tuned to my blog for more student loan entries in the future… they just will not be covering my own student loan repayment because it’s finally over!

Start the Weekend Right Link Series – Volume #5, Edition #5

Joe — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 13:00:48 +0000

This week, I have some links that relate to much of what is going on in the world including how you can build a great home office for these working from home times. I continue to recommend using Feedly as an RSS reader (and, again, I am not getting any payment for recommending this product – I just really like it as a replacement for the old Google Reader). If you already have a Feedly account, then you can follow my blog by clicking here.

Build the Perfect Home Office, Men’s Health
This very quick read was published way back in 2014 and gives five great tips for improving your home office. I agree with – and follow – all of these but one. They recommend painting the home office red because that color helps you focus more on your work. I just couldn’t imagine my workspace being red (my entire home office is shades of gray and black). Also, they suggest not having a television in your home office. Though I have a small television mounted to one of the corners of my home office, I do not keep it on unless there is a major, historic event going on (incredibly rare these days).

Civic Engagement: Teaching Students to Be Partisan Activists, Minding the Campus
This is another old link, from 2013, where a professor of political science indicates his concern about the enthusiasm around civic engagement education. Before he passed away, Dr. Lawler was a professor at Berry College and, in addition to writing about political science, he would occasionally write about higher education (one of my favorite topics to study). Reading about his perspective on how earning credit for civic engagement should be avoided.

Higher ed faces pressure from students to cut tuition, Axios
Just a quick aside, these days I use Axios as my primary news source. They are a low-glitz, web-based platform that is designed to give you a story quickly and efficiently without embedding an opinion. In this story, they talk about how some colleges are cutting tuition due to the COVID-19 pandemic and others are actually raising their costs. I know some of the colleges here in New Jersey are upping their tuition… and I know that their students are angry about it.

Brian Fargo on a Pending Golden Age for RPGs, Tides of Numenera Dev Blog
Years ago, I used to scour sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo looking for new and exciting projects to support. I typically supported projects related to writing (new pencil styles, notebooks, pens, etc.) and those related to classic Japanese Role Playing Game (RPG) video games. With hindsight being 20/20, I now know that I got infinitely more use out of the writing projects (I write in a journal every day) versus the video game projects (I rarely play video games and have not played them regularly in 20+ years). With that out of the way, this link takes you to a very short developer blog entry where one of the folks behind the Tides of Numenera game suggest that we may have been entering a golden age for RPGs. This was posted 7 years ago and while I do not know if the video game industry entered a new golden age, I do know that video games seem to be as popular as ever.

Seven Surprising Truths About the World, Reason
Seven years ago, the folks at Reason put together a great little article about seven surprisingly good things going on in the world… at the time. Among the surprising “good news” stories: cancer rates were on the decline, average IQs were increasing, and local biodiversity was increasing. I wonder how those stories hold up 7 years later, especially with everything going on in the world today.

A random note before I end this one, folks. As I went through my old links for this entry, I noticed that a lot of them from what used to be bodybuilding-styled websites were gone and that those websites had all closed up. In fact, some of those now-former writers have become born again Christians because they suggest that they led horrendous, sinful lives for far too long. That, in itself, is an interesting development and if someone ever writes about it, then that story may find itself as a link on a future edition of this series. Anyway, though I would share that commonality since it was so, well, uncommon in my experience.

Have you come across any great articles lately? If so, then please share those links in the comments below. And one more time for those of you who love reading online articles, I strongly recommend using Feedly as an RSS reader. You can follow JerseySmarts.com on Feedly or you can add us to your existing RSS aggregator. Enjoy!