Insomnia Cookies opens truck at Temple

Although many Temple University students may not have insomnia, but beginning next week they will have Insomnia Cookies.

The popular cookie company – started at Penn in 2003 – will open a vending truck at Temple University, a goal the company has pursued since its beginning, said founder, CEO and Penn alumnus Seth Berkowitz.

He said the truck – purple with the company’s logo – will be located in the center of Temple’s campus and will offer its typical late-night menu of cookies, brownies and beverages.

Although Berkowitz began by baking for his friends, his cookie conception developed into a national corporation that provides college students with a late-night snacking option. The company now boasts 10 store locations, 18 delivery locations – including Penn – and six trucks. Temple University will mark the seventh truck location.

Berkowitz said he has no plans to open a truck at Penn.

“We have a wonderful relationship [with Penn] that we really want to preserve,” he said.

Still, he added, “You never know where the future will take you.”

After hearing about the upcoming truck at Temple, Wharton freshman Aneesha Narra said, “I only eat Insomnia Cookies late at night, so to me, it doesn’t make sense to have a truck [at Penn].”

Temple junior Alyson Ledder predicted that Insomnia Cookies will be successful at the school. “There are a lot of food places open late on the weekends, but it would be a different type of late-night food,” she said.

Temple graduate student Abhishek Dhawan said he is “psyched about the fact that there will be cookies.”

“Subway is the only place that has decent cookies, and there’s no Subway outlet in the main campus,” he added. “I go to Subway every day just to get three macadamia nut cookies.”

Insomnia Cookies truck locations include the universities of Michigan, Wisconsin-Madison, Kentucky, South Carolina and Delaware-Newark.

Temple’s “intense truck culture” and limited real estate space influenced Insomnia’s decision to open a truck, according to Berkowitz.

He compared the setup cost of the truck to that of their delivery service but would not disclose the exact figure.

Setting up the truck at Temple “took a lot of energy on our part,” Berkowitz said, explaining that to accomplish its goal, Insomnia had to acquire a vendor’s license, public health permit and Department of Health permit.

The Temple administration’s only involvement in the process constituted phone calls made by Insomnia Cookies to their receptionists “to confirm that there was no way to stop us from doing it,” he added.

Cycle Oregon Route 2009 Announced

Cycle Oregon announced at its annual Kickoff Party today the Week Ride and Weekend Ride routes for its annual bicycle tours of Oregon’s back roads and small communities: the mythical “State of Jefferson” for the 22nd version of the longer tour, and the area surrounding Monmouth for the weekend event. In a multimedia presentation before more than 1,000 people at the Tiger Woods Center on the Nike campus outside Portland, ride founder Jonathan Nicholas announced the routes, along with the recipient of the Cycle Oregon Fund’s $50,000 Signature Grant for 2009 – Oregon’s Department of Parks and Recreation, for their continuing efforts to create an official network of State Scenic Bikeways.

Waiting on Amanda Beard

Orange County’s own sexy swimmer Amanda Beard knows how to make a splash. The former Olympic gold medalist caused a stir in 2007 when she posed nude for Playboy, and again in 2008 when she posed nude for an eye-catching, anti-fur, ad campaign for animal-rights group PETA.

Some (not us) thought her pictures went over the line.

So we wondered what Amanda thought of Olympian Michael Phelps’ controversy-of-the-moment: caught smoking pot at a party.

Is that over the line? Or a personal matter? A career ender? Or a tempest-in-a-teapot? What’s her take?

We left a message at Amanda’s website. If she responds, we’ll let you know what she says.

Rielle Hunter Is John Edwards’ Girlfriend

eet Rielle Hunter, a.k.a. Lisa Druck, the producer of John Edwards’ One America pre-presidential campaign films, and also his rumored girlfriend. See her biography and photos here.

Rielle Hunter

The National Enquirer is reporting that John Edwards had an affair with a woman from his campaign, and that now there is a secret love child. And in the latest update, National Enquirer says they caught John Edwards red-handed visiting her in the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles, California. Read the story.

Rielle had driven to Los Angeles from Santa Barbara with a male friend for the rendezvous with Edwards. The former senator attended a press event Monday afternoon with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on the topic of how to combat homelessness.

The Inquirer says that when Edwards was confronted with reporters as he left Hunter’s room, he dashed around the hotel trying to hide, eventually walling himself into a bathroom.

Finally her John admitted it on August 8th, 2008. But he still denies the baby. They spell her name incorrectly as “Reille Hunter” on that story.

Rielle Hunter Biography

As a biography, Rielle Hunter is a producer and aspiring actress. She has been described as “formerly hard-partying girl who claims that she found enlightenment.” She is credited with writing and starring in “Billy Bob and Them”.

Rielle met Edwards at a New York Bar. Of the meeting she says,

“I didn’t think it was John Edwards because the public persona did not mesh at all with the person who was sitting in front of me.”

Hunter has a video production company, which was hired by John Edwards on a $100,000, six-month contract to terminate December 31, 2006. The allegations stem from this relationship. Hunter denies all allegations and says their relationship was strictly professional.

Interestingly, the Enquirer also says that Hunter is now living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in a gated community a few blocks away from Andrew Young, a key official in Edwards’ campaign. Supposedly Young has been in charge of looking after Hunter while she stays in hiding. And apparently HE is claiming responsibility for the baby, despite being married with children himself.

Only time will tell if this is true, but it could just be another scandal born of dirty politicking.

Spectrum Brands, Battery Maker, Seeks Bankruptcy

By Christopher Scinta

Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) — Spectrum Brands Inc., the maker of Rayovac batteries and Spectracide lawn-care products, filed for bankruptcy protection with agreement from most of its bondholders to trim debt.

The company listed assets of $10.1 billion and debt of $4.4 billion in papers filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Antonio. Fewer than 10,000 creditors have claims against Spectrum Brands, according to the court filing.

The company, which also makes Remington razors, Cutter insect repellent and Nature’s Miracle pet care products, said today in a statement that it reached agreements with noteholders representing about 70 percent of the face value of its outstanding bonds to pursue a refinancing.

“A refinancing on the agreed terms would enable Spectrum Brands to reduce the amount of debt on its balance sheet by approximately $840 million,” according to the statement.

U.S. Bank N.A. of St. Paul, Minnesota, was named as the largest unsecured creditor in its role as indenture trustee for more than $1 billion in bonds. Harbinger Capital Partners Master Fund I Ltd. was listed as the next largest creditor, though the amount of the debt was withheld in the court filing.

Spectrum Brands failed to make a $25.8 million interest payment due yesterday on its 7 3/8 percent senior subordinated notes due 2015, triggering a default, according to the company’s statement.

Bonds, Shares

Under the reorganization plan the company will ask the court to approve, Spectrum Brands would eliminate about $1.05 billion in existing bond obligations by issuing new bonds to current noteholders equal to 20 percent of the unpaid principal and interest on existing bonds. The noteholders would also receive shares of new common stock to be created under a reorganization plan, the company said in the statement.

“We estimate that when this refinancing has been completed, the company will generate in excess of $100 million in annual free cash flow,” Chief Executive Kent Hussey said in the statement.

The claims of existing secured and other general unsecured creditors would be unimpaired, while existing common stock would be canceled and shareholders wouldn’t receive any distribution, Spectrum Brands said.

Spectrum Brands fell 64 percent, to 1.6 cents in Over-the- Counter Bulletin Board trading. Existing term and asset-based loans had about $1.47 billion outstanding the company said in a regulatory filing. Spectrum Brands has commitments for $235 million in loans to fund it through the bankruptcy case, which it expects to take less than six months, from some of its existing lenders, the company said in the filing.

Spectrum Lawyers

Spectrum Brands, based in Atlanta, is represented by attorneys at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP. Perella Weinberg Partners LP is acting as financial adviser and investment banker. The matter was assigned to Judge Leif Clark.

The case is In Re Spectrum Brands Inc., 09-50456, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Western District of Texas (San Antonio).

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Scinta in New York at cscinta@bloomberg.net.

Miley Cyrus is in hot water with some activist groups who are claiming that a recent photo of the teen star is racially insensitive and degrading.

In a photo obtained by TMZ, Cyrus, 16, is shown sitting on her boyfriend Justin Gaston’s lap surrounded by a group of friends all making a stereotypical gesture by pulling their eyes into a slanted position. The gesture is commonly thought to be offensive to Asian Pacific Americans.

The OCA, an organization dedicated to advancing the social, political and economic well-being of Asian Pacific Americans in the U.S., has slammed Cyrus for the photo.

In a statement on its Web site, the OCA says: “The photography of Miley Cyrus and other individuals slanting their eyes currently circulating the Internet is offensive to the Asian Pacific American community and sets a terrible example for her many young fans. This image falls within a long and unfortunate history of people mocking and denigrating individuals of Asian decent.

Not only has Miley Cyrus and the other individuals in the photograph encouraged and legitimized the taunting and mocking of people of Asian descent, she has also insulted many of her Asian Pacific American fans,” George Wu, the executive director of OCA said.

And while there is a young man of Asian descent in the photo, Wu says that is hardly enough to make it acceptable.

Wu says he hopes Cyrus will apologize to her fans and the APA community.

A rep for Cyrus did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

5 Sites For Clipping Grocery Coupons

Coupon-clipping on the web has become a serious business. And for good reason: Consumers saved roughly $3 billion on food, cleaning products and other packaged goods last year, just by redeeming coupons, according to consulting group CMS.While the Sunday coupon circular in the newspaper is still No .1, many consumers are turning to the Internet to match up store sales with print-at-home manufacturer’s coupons, says Gail Cunningham, spokeswoman for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling. Combining the two saves an average $678 annually, according to Consumer Reports.Of course, the best way to reap savings like that is to know which sites to visit. We asked Cunningham and other consumer advocates to point us to sites with a good selection of easy-to-access coupons. Here are five worth checking out:

Coupons.com

Find out about the latest coupons and deals through daily updates on the site and its weekly email newsletter. A favorite in our broader e-coupon site assessment, Coupons.com lets visitors browse by food category, or check out offers expiring within the week. Enter your zip code to see even more offers. Click on the coupons you want and print them all at once. Some stores still don’t accept home-printed coupons, so check that your store does before downloading the site’s coupon-printing software.

SmartSource.com

Answer questions about your shopping habits and boost the savings you receive on a range of printable coupons and offers. (For Biz Stain Fighter products, noting your current brand preference and time zone made a $1 coupon jump to $2.50, while saying which baking powder and cornstarch brands you use pushed a 50-cent Clabber Girl baking powder offer to 65 cents.) Enter your zip code, and you’ll get listings of sales in your area.

TheCouponClippers.com

If you’d rather not go the home-printed coupon route, look to this clipping service for more than 1,300 options from Sunday circulars and manufacturers. Load your cart, and they’ll mail you the paper coupons. You’ll pay a small per-coupon handling fee (five cents per copy of a coupon worth 50-cents), plus a 50-cent administration fee per order and 42 cents or so for shipping. Orders must meet the $3 minimum, and most coupons require a minimum of five copies. Given all the fees, make sure you’re saving enough to offset the cost — or split the price and coupons with a friend or neighbor, advises Catherine Williams, vice president of financial literacy for Money Management International, which oversees nonprofit credit-counseling agencies.

ShortCuts.com

This free service from AOL offers clipped and printable coupons. Simply click on the coupons you want. The online account syncs with your grocery store loyalty card and automatically redeems the coupons when swiped at checkout. The catch: Coupon offerings and participating stores are still relatively sparse. AOL’s ShortCuts is currently available only for Kroger supermarkets, including Ralphs, City Market and Fry’s.

RedPlum.com

Browse the free print-out coupons by category, or enter your zip code to check out store specials in your area. (Parent company Valassis creates Sunday newspaper coupon circulars, so you know you’re getting the most usable fare, says Phil Lempert, founder of Supermarket Guru.) You can also save coupons for later, or send them to a friend. Download the Sweet Saver widget to alert you to new coupons on the site as you surf the Internet.Make sure you read all the restrictions, because not all retailers accept online coupons.Source: SmartMoney.com

Coupons, job search and classified sites gain in 2008

ADOTAS — With the recession hitting full on, it was was no wonder that several of the top gaining site categories in 2008 reflected the current environment.

Notably, the job search category ranked as the top-gaining site category for the year, up 51 percent to nearly 19 million visitors in December 2008, according to ComScore, as the millions of Americans affected by the deteriorating job market sought online job resources for assistance.

Other top-gaining categories in the comScore 2008 Digital Year in Review Report included coupons, up 46 percent to 31.6 million visitors, politics, up 43 percent to 12 million visitors, and classifieds, up 27 percent to nearly 53 million visitors.

The report highlighted the trends in several areas of digital marketing, including e-commerce, top-growing sites and site categories, search, online video, online advertising and mobile, and how digital marketers can capitalize on these trends in 2009.

Search query volume on the five core search engines increased 21 percent in 2008 from the previous year, with Google Sites accounting for nearly 90 percent of this growth. Also, online video viewing accounted for 12.5 percent of Americans’ total time spent on the Internet in November 2008, up from 8.5 percent the previous year. In addtion, the mobile industry continued to witness the growing popularity of smartphones in 2008 with subscriptions to smartphones increasing more than 100 percent during the year.

U.S. Internet users viewed a total of 4.5 trillion display ads during the past twelve months, with the average person viewing more than 2,000 ads per month.

Retail (non-travel) e-commerce spending grew 6 percent to $130.1 billion in 2008. The year ranked as the softest year for retail e-commerce spending growth since comScore began tracking the industry in 2001.

Langerado Festival Canceled Due To Sluggish Ticket Sales

This year’s Langerado Festival in Miami, Florida, has been canceled, the fest’s organizers revealed today in a statement. The seventh annual Langerado, scheduled for March 6-8th at Miami’s Bicentennial Park, was set to feature performances by Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, Ryan Adams, Snoop Dogg, Deerhunter, Thievery Corporation and many more. “Sluggish ticket sales” were the reason for the cancellation according to the festival’s Website, as “Langerado’s independent local promoters, faced with a very tough decision in a dismal economy, canceled the 2009 event only after every possible option was exhausted.”

“Unfortunately, during these difficult economic times, and facing a first year in a new venue, it’s become apparent that we cannot execute a production that lives up to the high standards of our past events,” Langerado Co-Promoter Ethan Schwartz said. “Putting Langerado on hold was the toughest decision we have ever had to make. We are very grateful for the support of the greater-Miami community and the music community during this difficult time.” All tickets purchased for the event will be refunded.

It seems like all facets of the music industry, from album sales to ticket sales to merchandising, is bracing for or is already feeling the inevitable effects of the recession. Sadly, Langerado is one of the first of many festivals that will either be canceled or postponed due to the current economy. British Columbia’s Pemberton Festival also announced plans to take 2009 off to focus on their 2010 fest.

All City Pawn

Citi Bank is suing All Citi Pawn Shop. Citi Bank thinks All Citi Pawn Shop is pawning off their trademark (photo above) and wants money.

First Citi Bank asked for your bailout money. Now Citi Banks wants money from an pawn shop. What next, the hot dog stand?

told CNN. In fact, the website doesn’t use it currently at allcitipawn.com

Says CNN: “removing the offending logo should resolve the case. According to [the pawn shop owner] … it has not.”

Crazy!