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With all the recent activity at downtown's northwest edge, Buzz was wondering about another prime center-city property: the Duke Power site at East Friendly Avenue and North Church Street.

Last March, the incomparable Jim Schlosser wrote that the Weaver Foundation had reached a verbal agreement to buy the 5-acre tract.

President Skip Moore said the foundation was buying the land to remove it from the market and prevent it from being developed in a manner that wouldn't benefit downtown, a strategy called "land-banking." The foundation pledged to buy the land in support of Action Greensboro, the non-profit that's backed Center City Park and the new baseball stadium.

When Buzz first heard a TV report about Dell dirt for sale on eBay, we were a bit upset. After all, a close relative of Buzz actually brought home some sand and rocks from the Normandy beaches a few years ago. That's dirt that was paid for with thousands of allied lives!

This red-clay is billed as "Actual Dirt from the Dell Plant Groundbreaking Ceremony in Winston-Salem, NC 2/23/05". And yes, you can buy the dirt, along with a lovely maize Tupperware container.

Then the haze began to clear,(Buzz was enjoying the buzz of two Diet Cokes)and we realized it's a local radio friend,FM TALK 101.1 WZTK, raising some money for charity and having some fun.

It was already fetching well above $200 when we checked in.

So go there, bid if you must, and remember:

Dell incentives from North Carolina: $240 million
Dell incentives from Winston-Salem/Forsyth County: About $30 million.
Historic dirt from the plant site: priceless

Our colleagues over at the Triad Business Journal scoured through the agenda of the somewhat obscure High Point Technical Review Committee and found that the Greensboro pancake institution Tex & Shirley's is planning a High Point location.

Many Greensboro residents have spent a good part of their weekend mornings standing in line waiting for a table at Tex & Shirley's.

And if the cigarette smoke inside put you off, you've been heard. The Friendly Center site has been all non-smoking seating for a while now.

And, an even bigger paradigm shift: the formerly all-cash restaurant is taking credit cards. They say they've been accepting them since fall, but I've been so conditioned to the cash method, I never noticed.

Even though a group of boosters is pushing a plan for an ACC museum near the Greensboro Coliseum on High Point Road, at least one downtown advocate wants the structure in the city center.

This week, in an e-mail with the subject heading "ACC Museum" to members of the Greensboro City Council, local contractor Milton Kern argued there's support for a downtown tribute to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

"Everyone I have talked with want the museum downtown to add to the walking appeal of the Civil Rights, Children's and Historical Museums," wrote Kern, who's helped revitalize several buildings on South Elm Street. "Is High Point Road a 'done deal' or can downtown be in the running?

The ouster Monday of Boeing CEO Harry Stonecipher over an office romance raises a host of interesting and troubling questions that could affect many employees at many companies.

First, it's clear that Boeing wants to keep a spotless reputation, but it does not have a policy banning such romances. The unnamed woman did not report to Stonecipher, but when you're a CEO, everybody reports to you. That's his first strike.

Second, Stonecipher, who is married, has been noteworthy for his campaign to improve the ethical image of Boeing after a number of earlier scandals. And while he didn't violate any policy, the fact that he put himself at risk of a compromising situation was enough for the board to ask for his resignation.

Still, Buzz knows that office romance is more common today than ever before, with few companies (this one included) having any policy against workplace romances/relationships/affairs other than between a boss and a subordinate.

This Buzz writer dated a woman at an office years ago and is now happily married to her. There are many more stories like that here and at other workplaces.

So what do you think about the Boeing situation? Do you think Stonecipher should be treated more severely than a regular employee? What is your workplace like? And for that matter, have you ever had an office romance? Did it cause you any problems?

Let us hear from you.

Real estate developer Marty Kotis, who made a well-publicized but unsuccessful attempt to win a spot on NBC's The Apprentice, emerges as a fashion pundit in today's Wall Street Journal.

Kotis, on the vicissitudes of sartorial elegance, in "The Two Button Suit Returns," page D4:

"Whenever something gains widespread acceptance the fashion industry has to get rid of it," said William Kotis III, a a Greensboro, N.C.-based real estate developer. Just a few months back, despite suggestions by sales clerks he look at two-buttons, Mr. Kotis doubled down on his bet and bought three three-buttons during a trip to New York. Two buttons "should stay in the closet," he says.

According to a report at the Triad Business Journal and a story in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, some of those USAirways call center jobs originally believed to be coming to Winston from Pennsylvania might actually be getting outsourced to El Salvador.

Winston-Salem, you might recall, offered the airline $1.4 million in economic incentives to get those jobs. The airline seems to think that the incentive was for jobs retained, not created. The city thought the company was going to add 300 jobs.

Krispy Kreme has enough legal problems these days without this kind of thing to worry about. Then again, look how far chicken and biscuits has gone.

The meat of the ACC men's basketball tournament is underway. Can you just feel the GDP dropping? Productivity is taking a hit today. Heck, the TV is on right over my shoulder.

This is an interesting case that is going on right now in Nashville regarding Dell, which is building a factory in Winston-Salem right now.

The Associated Press just moved a story about a new survey out showing that one in three American workers are "chronically overworked, with job-related stress varying significantly by age, employment situation, and demands at home."

The survey was done by the Families and Work Institute.

One in three? What's up with the other two? Are we covering their slack?

Dan Neil, the Pulitzer Prize winning auto writer for the Los Angeles Times just wrote a wonderful piece about the equally wonderful Mercedes Benz CLS500 -- at $76,000, a car I can merely drool at.

But he took a jab at our friends in NASCAR that, frankly, is pretty funny and right on target. His piece begins with the misunderstandings that can arise from a car's name, even a seemingly innocent one:

Likewise, the Mercedes-Benz CLS500 will forever be known as the "Cialis" 500 — which sounds like a NASCAR event and, come to think of it, probably is.

I'm all for NASCAR, but I do get weary of the "GM-UAW Teamwork With A Smile and Free Coffee Too 500 Presented by Handi-Wipes" names they're coming up with. At some point, sponsors need to be aware that real people have to remember these names with a straight face.

What's wrong with the good ole "World 600"?

March's Inc. profiles entrepreneurs that can't stick to one company. They start 2...3...4... How do they do it?

Read "They just can't stop themselves."

Greensboro-based VF Corp. is growing its stable of brands with its latest acquisition, surf-themed Reef Holdings.

The company sort of reminds me more of Antonio Carlos Jobim than the Ventures

Seems like Adam Smith et al should have taken some psychology classes. Contrary to popular belief, the market is not rational. It's emotional. Or at least the people making the decisions behind it are.

So says an How Animals Do Business in the April issue of Scientific American. This is one "New" Economics that seems to make some sense. Unfortunately it's not online yet...but buy a copy, it's worth it.

Another tidbit from the April issue:

First their was the "cocktail" of drugs to treat AIDS. Now computer scientists are using a highball of programs to root out SPAM. And they're using research first used to find patterns in genes to block the detritus from your mailbox. Neat.

Kelvin Boston of public t.v's Moneywise with Kelvin Boston will try to dash your fear of making tons of money tonight at N.C. A&T. Check him out at 7 p.m. in A 218 the new classroom building.

Marta Hummel and I spent about two months reporting the Dell deal analysis that ran Sunday. Naturally, we're not going to be able to publish everything we get. Sometimes that means some relevant topics get squeezed or cut.

The Dell deal was a key example of how cooperation in the Triad worked and perhaps didn't work at the same time. The Piedmont Triad Partnership did exactly what it's supposed to do when it squired Dell around last year when it was only expressing interest in the region.

But when Dell confirmed it would come to the Triad, the individual

Small printed note found in the breast pocket of a new sportcoat bought by Biz Buzz at a local department store:

"It took 121 people a total of 233 hours to complete this garment. We almost hate to let it go -- Wait ... Wait ... we said almost!"

Here's an interesting item in light of the continued revival of downtown Greensboro:

The Greensboro City Club, atop the Jefferson Pilot Building, is turning to its members for a cash infusion.

Biz Buzz has a copy of a letter sent to members last week saying that the club is assessing them to help pay back a $100,000 line of credit it tapped recently to meet its cash demands.

The letter, from club president Michael Bumpass, says that $30,000 has already been repaid.

Overall membership is increasing, he says, but he puts out the call to current members to use the club more because "sales to members and nonmembers are still below what they need to be."

Bumpass makes a pitch for members to use the club for receptions, social dinners and occasions beyond business luncheons.

Got an email from Elana Centor up in Minnesota several days ago. She's a big blogger and has been checking out the News & Record's dive into the blogging pool, especially Biz Buzz. Her blog takes a broader look at trends in business that folks are talking about. Have a look.

The Greensboro Chamber of Commerce has released its new annual glossy, colorful magazine all about the fair Gate City. It's basically a primer of all the fab and glorious things to do here. And it's chock full of ads. Top article on Page 8: "It's a Win-Win Situation: Doing business in Greensboro is good for companies' balance sheets and employees."

The slick-looking pub was produced by Journal Communications, located in... Franklin, Tennessee.

April's Inc. Magazine picked Michael Dell as one of its 26 favorite entrepreneurs "for being brilliantly straightforward."

Personally, I am more enamored with another pick who makes a much more practical product: the wrap dress.

Diane Von Furstenberg "made her mark on the New York fashion scene in 1972 with her versatile dress, which was appropriate for the office yet sexy enough for a night at Studio 54."

Back in vogue this year with a new Russian-themed collection the designer says, "I was on the cover of Newsweek at age 29. To do it again now (at 58), that's even better."

Her styles have done for office wear what the jog bra did for women's sports: let women be women.

Now that is brilliant.

U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, the makers of Skoal and Copenhagen, have a rather novel advertising approach. A new ad in a major national publication shows a smiling 30-ish guy sitting on an airline.

Now, perhaps he's smiling because he's on the one daily U.S. flight that isn't crammed to the gills with passengers. There's one other passenger two rows back and a flight attendant in the foreground.

But the headline tells us why he's smiling: "Enjoy tobacco on a 4-hour flight? Absolutely."

So if you crave a smoke -- but can't light up -- the option is a pinch between the cheek and gum? And what's the proper etiquette for placing the spit cup?