craigwenger

I have a couple credit cards and I choose which one to use based on where I get the most rewards, so I want to figure out where I get 5% bonus points from Chase Freedom. It would make life so easy if on your statement they marked which transactions qualified for 5% bonus points. Instead they just give a single number, "Bonus points from 5% categories: Jan - Mar". For example, on this month's statement I spent $241.99 at a drugstore, $29 at a gas station, then $32.27 at a gas station. I am 99% sure all these purchases qualified and I have definitely not reached the $75 limit this quarter. So $303.26 × 4 = 1213. But my statement says 1084 bonus points. If you exclude the last gas station purchase it comes out to 1084. But maybe that is just a coincidence. The two gas station transactions were at the exact same place so there should be no reason the latter didn't qualify. I have this problem with every statement. There is only once I have been able to confidently figure it out and that was when I only had two $25 qualifying transactions and got the expected 200 bonus points.

I started a health savings account last year. I didn't fully understand the tax benefits so I just used my employer contributions. Now I realize the tax advantages so I am going to max out my contribution before the end of the year. My question is, can I now request a reimbursement for the medical expenses I paid out of pocket during the year (I kept receipts), even if I didn't have enough in the account at the time to cover them? If so, what is the deadline for requesting and/or receiving the reimbursement? And finally, is it a good idea to get the reimbursement?

I am a big NFL fan and I have recently moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. For the previous several years I lived in the Midwest and have gotten used to 4 NFL games on TV every Sunday--typically 2 early games, 1 late game, and 1 night game (occasionally 1 early game and 2 late games). However, in the Bay Area, this past Sunday and this upcoming Sunday, there are only 3 games televised--1 early game, 1 late game, and 1 night game. Last week it looks like CBS could have showed the Chargers-Patriots game but didn't. Why is this? Are the networks choosing not to show the games or are they now allowed for some reason?

I have about 3 weeks of vacation time left at my current job. I am planning to resign such that December 12, 2008 is my last day, and take vacation until the end of the year. Obviously I will get paid until December 31, 2008. But since I have some leftover days, could I technically be considered an employee on January 1, 2009, at which point I could take my 3 weeks of vacation time for 2009, and get paid for those extra 3 weeks?

I assume it depends on the company and I will have to ask payroll, but is it typical to allow that?

Whenever a college or pro football teams runs the "victory formation", i.e. a quarterback kneel-down, one player always tends to stand way back from the rest of the players, like 10 yards or more (e.g. http://laist.com/attachments/la_ryan/IMG_9684a.jpg... Why do they do this? Is it necessary because of an offensive formation rule or is it intended to prevent something?

It played right after her introduction as presumptive Republican Vice Presidential nominee on Friday, August 29, 2008. It is a brisk patriotic theme which I believe comes from a movie score. It also played at one point after McCain's speech at the Republican National Convention on Thursday, September 4, 2008.