COMARA Newsletter - Sep 26, 2004 Annual Meeting - RSVP by October 8 Vote for COMARA Board Directors Long Term Care Seminar Have You Seen Clarksburg Lately? Phishing - Don't Get Hooked Call for Pictures _____________________________________________________________________ ANNUAL MEETING - RSVP NOW! http://www.comara.org/home/annual2004.htm A chance to get together cleverly disguised as a "business meeting" will be held October 13 starting at 6:30pm at the Brickskeller Restaurant in the Dupont Circle area. The hors d'oeuvres are free - you buy your beer or whatever. If you can join us, send an email to annual.meeting@comara.org and let us know by October 8. Metro is a great way to get there. It's a short walk to the Brickskeller. See the announcement. _____________________________________________________________________ VOTE FOR COMARA BOARD DIRECTORS http://www.comara.org/home/ At the first election last year, the membership elected nine directors to the Board. Three directors with terms of 3 years, 2 years, and 1 year. Future elections are for terms of 3 years. The three nominees for this year are Irv Dostis, Walt McKee, and Peter Weiss. Members who have paid dues are eligible to vote. If you haven't voted yet, please visit the web site and sign in. You will need either the PIN assigned to you or a password that you provide. If you aren't sure of either, there are links on the sign in page that will either email your pin to you, or provide you with the link to enter your password. If you have any problems with sign in, please contact webmaster@comara.org. _____________________________________________________________________ LONG TERM CARE SEMINAR Did you know that at least 40% of Americans over age 65 may spend some time in a nursing home, and 75% of retirees over 65 may need some type of home care? Or that the average stay in a nursing home according to MetLife is 2.6 years? Or that the cost of a Nursing home in the D.C. area may exceed $60,000 - 70,000 per year? You may wish to consider placing long-term care insurance, if you haven't done so already. A MetLife team has already made a presentation to the INTELSAT Retirees Association, and the response was generally positive. They would be prepared to do so for COMARA members if we gather ten or more. If you are interested, contact Jack Hannon, Benefits Chair (benefits.info@comara.org) or call (703) 356 2181. September 16 update: only two persons have thus far indicated that they would like to attend a briefing on the subject. If you are interested, please contact Jack Hannon and add your name to the list. Jack provided a summary of a recent article that suggests that people most likely to benefit are those with total assets between $200,000 and $1,500,000. http://www.comara.org/benefits/ _____________________________________________________________________ HAVE YOU SEEN CLARKSBURG LATELY? If you haven't driven through Clarksburg recently, you might find a surprise. New homes are being built as far as the eye can see in some places. West Old Baltimore Road, Clarksburg Road, Stringtown Road are lined with hundreds of new houses. There's even a rumor that the COMSAT Laboratories building may be torn down. Send any thoughts you have to members@comara.org and we'll publish a summary in a future newsletter. _____________________________________________________________________ PHISHING - DON'T GET HOOKED http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spam/phishing.mspx I didn't know the practice had a name until this week. I have been getting suspicious email from CitiBank and Bank of America asking for information for my "account". I don't have accounts with either institution, so quickly discarded them. Also had one that appeared to be from Pay Pal where I do have an account. That was also a "phishing" attempt. "Phishing" is a popular new scheme among Internet hackers eager to get their hands on your private account information. Scammers use the layouts and logos from reputable companies to create copycat or look-alike emails and Web sites. Because they copy real images, these communications may look very convincing and many consumers are fooled. If you ever suspect an email from COMARA, please send an email to webmaster@comara.org. This address is the one most closely monitored. _____________________________________________________________________ CALL FOR PICTURES Several comments about the new web site design is that it needs pictures to liven up the pages and make it more fun. I agree - but since I don't have many pictures around, this isn't easy to do. If you have any snapshots from your years with COMSAT, I'd like to make room for them on the web site and display for all to see. If you have some pictures and a scanner, please send me the results. If you are willing to trust the mail, you can mail be a copy. I'll scan it and return it to you promptly. Send a comment about each picture if you can. Especially names of anyone who is it the picture. If you live in the area and have some pictures you don't want to trust to the mail, perhaps you can drop by some evening or weekend and I can scan them in. It only takes a few seconds. Ron Garlow 26617 Haney Ave Damascus, MD 20872 _____________________________________________________________________ COMARA PO Box 34594 Bethesda, MD 20827