Bad Lender

Now that the government has started talking about government assistance to the people who have taken out bad mortgages, it is only a matter of time before some Senator or Representative puts forth the idea to bailout bad loans.

My question is this: Where do I get MY government assistance? How come I don't get a handout? This could just reek. Already, because of corporate and individual irresponsibility towards debt, I will have to pay more in fees or higher interest rates.

Face it, folks. This is the morning after the cheap and easy days of virtually free money. It had to happen; maybe next time we'll be a little bit smarter when signing a 30 page document involving $300,000.

Sheesh, some days you wish you were a Helmsley dog.

Tag is now bad?

Can someone PLEASE explain to me what the heck is going on in the schools these days? An elementary school in Colorado Springs has banned the game of tag from being played at recess. Now the story isn't clear if the students who complained about being chased were playing or not, but being chased the point of the game? If a child does not want to be chased they should not play the game.

What am I missing here? Anybody? Hat tip Lucianne.

Iraq and other new items

I didn't get to the gym last night, so played the Wii instead to get some exercise. I'm getting better at golf on the Wii sports games. I shot one under par on the 9 hole course. Of course that means I'm ready for Tiger Woods game and then take that knowledge to the real course and do terrible.

On to the news, yeah, not much happening at the moment worth reporting.

Iraq:

When the bad guys are reeling from all the blows you've delivered, what do you do? Hit them harder and faster and DON'T give them time to recover. This ain't the movies. If your the bad guys and getting your butt kicked by US or Iraqi forces, what do you do? Why hit at noncombatants who can't fight as hard. Of course that kind of destroys the whole heart and mind program so the bad guys can't count on much support from the locals but they don't seem to care knowing the locals hate them more then anyone else. Hat tip Lucianne.

Iraq #2

Your private army is getting its butt kicked by coalition and Iraqi forces, each commander thinking they are independent and your supporters are starting to leave you because your troops are treating the locals poorly. What do you do? Call a six month cease fire and reorganize the force. Of course you have to hope the other side will honor the cease fire and not use the time of your weakness to attack and destroy your private army and yourself. Hat tip Lucianne.

Practical jokes

Karl Rove is leaving his job at the White House. Someone decided to give him a send off he will remember. They wrapped his car in plastic and put stuffed animals on the corners. How did they manage to convince security to let them do that?

Sign of our times:

Leona Helmsley's dog will continue to live an opulent life, and then be
buried alongside her in a mausoleum. But two of Helmsley's grandchildren got
nothing from the late luxury hotelier and real estate billionaire's
estate.

Tuesday

This weekend (Friday - Sunday), we went to Vegas to have a short vacation. Something very rare happened there. In fact, it was a first for the two of us.

We left Vegas with more money then we started.

Yep, we won at gambling.

Normally, we go and spend part or all of our designated play money, but this time we brought it all back and then some.

Ok, our gambling winnings only netted $18 so we won't be giving up our day jobs, but it was nice none the less. In fact the $18 was about the amount of gasoline we used going to Vegas and driving around while in Vegas. It wasn't enough to pay for the gas to come home but it would have paid for part of it.

We went to one show, Phantom of the Opera. The stage was incredible. In fact, I wish I could have seen all the effects with the house lights up and no actors or music to distract from how things were done. It was great.

On the way home we stopped at Primm to allow some of the traffic to pass, more comfortable to be in a casino then stuck in traffic. While there, we ran into a fellow contributor at Carpetbloggers. Ok, so he hasn't contributed for a while, but hopefully he will have time in the future. Didn't have time to chat because he was getting ready to leave as we walked in, but it was interested to suddenly see a person you didn't expect and didn't know was there appear in the crowd.

I echo the boss' lament about the separation from the fast food I enjoy by statin. Sigh. Oh well, fast food is the food of the young not those who wish to reach old age.

Now it Fits

Today brings new revelation! I have learned that I was brought into this world at the same time as this icon, and since our lives were to be forever destined to be intertwined. That Mother Teresa felt deep conflicts of faith within her soul was overshadowed by the discovery of my true soulmate, born the same year as I. Alas! If I had only realized sooner, precious years have stolen away now that we just have barely begun to know each other. Now, cruelly, lovastatin separates us.

For the record, I would be interested in reading the context of Mother Teresa's statements. There are times were I have cried out to God, seeking His presence in the middle of the night. Those are the times when faith can ask the question, "Where are you?". It's about being honest to God.

He knows. Why attempt to pretend otherwise?

It's not just weakness, it's the reality of our weakness. Jesus, Son of Man, also cried out to the Father on the cross at the moment of His abandonment. Jesus knows what it means to feel alone, without the Presence. Should we be so arrogant to think that we are cut from a much different cloth? Mankind is a shiftless lot, prone to cast our loyalties wherever our winds of mood blow--one day I place my trust in God; the next, I trust only in the possessions I "own". There will be one day, in the twinkling of an eye that faith will be made sure, but only just then. Until, we must humbly fight the daily battle against the things around us that pull us from God.

Time marches on

Not a whole lot going on around here. Work is work, the gym is the gym and the office at home is slowly getting cleaned up. Its amazing how much paper a home office will generate and how much is tossed every day. Yes, we recycle all our paper, much of it shredded. Actually, given all the stuff we put in to the recycle bin, I think we are recycling about 50% of our total trash.

I did renew the warranty on my dell computer for another two years. It may seem silly to do so since the computer is two years old, but I prefer to keep them longer and this one has been in the shop once and if it needs to go in one time, the insurance will pay for itself.

Going to Vegas on Friday for 3 days. We asked my sister in law's which buffet would be best and I was surprised with the number of responses. Apparently Paris is no longer any good, Bellagio is good for breakfast but not worth it for dinner and consensus is Wynn is the best one to go to. I like the Paris buffet but haven't been there for a while and never been to the Bellagio or Wynn so may have to try them out.

Several items in the news today:

Sunday August 12 was the 65th anniversary of the Dieppe raid. For those who don't remember it, it was a disaster, the Canadians lost a lot of troops and the question is always, was it worth it. It may have been, but not sure we will ever know. It definitely helped change the planning for the D-Day invasion two years later and so helped to guarantee the Allied victory in World War 2. Hat tip Lucanne.

A story about Nat Adams and how his actions in World War 2 saved the life of George HW Bush. Read it. A man who did his duty and went on with life and never bothered to tell anyone what he did. An American Hero.

When California Democrats and Republicans agree on something, its usually safe to fear for your property or liberty. Last week Republicans started to gather signatures to change the way California allocates its electoral college votes from winner take all to allocation based on who won each Congressional district. If this is adopted, any presidential candidate will ignore San Francisco because it's electoral vote will go for the Democratic candidate. Likewise, Orange County will be ignored because it will go Republican. So each candidate will be able to ignore the State and take it for granted. Not a smart move.

Well the Democrats, not wanting to left out of looking foolish, have started to gather signatures for their own initiative. They want to allocate electoral college votes nationwide based on popular vote. So New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles will decide the elections and the smaller States would be ignored. How this would work would be to pass legislation telling the California members of the Electoral College to vote for the candidate who received the most popular votes in the nation regardless how the citizens of the State voted. So in the 2004 election, California voted for John Kerry, under this new plan, California would have gone to George Bush, local votes be dammed. Again, not a smart move.

Hopefully both will go down to defeat and if only the parties would be punished by the citizens for making these stupid suggestions.

And finally, data thieves hit Monster.com. So if you have a resume there, be prepared for spam (email, snail mail and phone).

Have a good day.

Its Monday

I'm finally starting to get caught up with life after school.

This weekend got the new fuser unit into the HP 2840 so it is back up and running. Its amazing how much we were using the copy function and how that is a recent luxury to have a copier in the home. Also got most of the bills paid, most of the filing done and my note book computer fixed. Dell did a good job with their tech support, I'm impressed. I also ran our credit reports and everything is as I thought. So all in all it was a productive weekend.

Two stories in the news today.

The first story is about another possible change to how Credit Unions operate. The government is looking to change the tax status of these institutions from tax exempt to regular corporations. This would increase the costs of the organizations and restrict credit or the loans the CU's can make. Banks like this because they feel CU's have an unfair advantage by being tax exempt and therefore can operate at lower costs. The banks are right, it is an unfair advantage. However, one has to look at why CU's started in the first place and why they are still popular today. CU's started because banks were not interested in the accounts of small depositors, they still aren't. Lets face it, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and even WaMu would rather you go else where then have an account open with a balance of $50 and adding $5 dollars a week. Its not cost effective for them to service such accounts and even costlier for them to service the small balance checking accounts. They will make these accounts available because the law requires them too, but there are fees and restrictions on these accounts that can often make them cost prohibitive to the depositors.

So if the CU's have to pay taxes instead of returning all the profits to the shareholders (depositors), the people most likely effected will be those the banks do not want as customers anyway. Those of us who the banks might like, who can have higher balances, can stay at the CU's because the fees will still be comparable to banks. Long live the CU's.


The second story is about a new wonder material called Aerogel. This stuff is an insulator like none other and can be used to clean up oil spills and other hazardous waste sites. If it works as advertised, it will make the company making the stuff very rich. Read the article.
Hat tip Lucianne.

Have a good day and thanks for stopping by.

A repeat of 1989???

Well the news on the housing market and the mortgage bankers is grim today.

Countrywide has tapped its entire $11.5 billion bank line to maintain liquidity. That means they are basically shut out from the short term and long term capital markets. No one wants to lend them money because of the fear they declare bankruptcy. Of course the banks don't like this either but they have clauses in their agreements to protect themselves.

This does not mean Countrywide will go BK, rather it means they are facing a credit squeeze or rather a cash squeeze. Countrywide makes mortgages and then sells them on the secondary market while retaining the servicing rights. So many people make their mortgage payments to Countrywide, the actual loan has been grouped with others and sold to the bond funds or to FANY MAE or FREDDY MAC who then resell them to the secondary market. If you have a bond mutual fund, there is a good chance you own some of the packaged mortgages. If there are a 1,000 mortgages in a bundle and one goes bad, the return for the group will be less but everyone should still make money. The problem is when a large number of the mortgages default and the investors start to lose principle. Some of the big buyers of the mortgages (insurance companies) often have clauses in the purchase agreements to force the mortgage bankers to repurchase the mortgage bonds if a certain percentage go bad and reimburse the insurance company for the losses incurred. This causes the mortgage company to lose liquidity as they have to take back mortgages and can't make new loans which reduces their income while also having to absorb the loans that go bad.

But with buyers of mortgage back securities being picky on what type of mortgages they will buy, no more sub-prime loans, the number of mortgages being generated has fallen and thus reducing the income to the mortgage banks. The banks also have to set aside more capital for loan loss reserves and if too many people panic, they could be overwhelmed and have to go BK. That is the exposure to Countrywide and other mortgage banks. Its not that they have made so many bad loans, but rather so many people are scared, they dump good mortgages and the mortgage bankers run out of liquidity.

The same thing happened to banks in the 1930s in the US. Banks only hold on to a fraction of their total reserves because they turn around and lend them out to make money. Well when too many people wanted their money out of the bank, the bank runs out of reserves and folds, even though it was profitable and well managed. That was one of the reasons for the FDIC back in the 1930s. To make sure a bank had the liquidity to handle a sudden surge of withdrawals in the short term without causing economic ruin in the long term.

Mortgage bankers are not covered by FDIC insurance (which is a good thing I think) but it also makes them more susceptible to panic withdrawals when the market goes sour. Hopefully the well run companies (like Countrywide) have set up enough contingent funding to ride out the panic and can weather the storm.

For anyone who has a Countrywide mortgage, what happens if the worst happens and it goes BK? Nothing. The company you make the payments too may change or may not but the terms and conditions of your mortgage will not be effected.

Change is difficult

I've been out of school for over a week now and I'm not sure I really believe it. I find I'm still wasting a lot of time watching TV, playing on the Wii and PC computer games. Its like I'm determined to keep the graduation party going for as long as possible.

There are things I need to get working on and time is passing by. But going from hard core study to freedom has been a bit of a jolt, maybe I'm afraid of how to fill the hours or as one of my classmates said yesterday when we had lunch its the fear of spontaneity, having to manage everything and everyone, even when it doesn't matter. It comes down to letting go of the highly planned schedule and letting things flow. I'm learning to adjust, partly by setting goals for things I need to get done every night so I don't end up watching TV all night. Also need to make sure I get to bed on time so can get the sleep I need. The only constant in life is change it seems.

I'm reading (well listening to) a book by Donald R. Hickey, The War of 1812. I don't know that much about the war and the more I listen to the causes of the war, why it was fought and how poorly the Americans were prepared, I'm beginning to understand why it isn't taught in schools. The politicians were SO bad, the military so unprepared and the reasons so petty it can make one weep. The government had disarmed the country and then tried to increase the army with political cronies. It suppressed the speech of those who opposed the war and acquiesced when mobs burned down newspapers and killed people who disagreed with the war. I was skeptical when reading Winston Churchill's "History of the English Speaking People" and he said the War of 1812 was totally unnecessary and Britain never wanted to fight the US. I'm starting to come around to his view point. The US was at fault for starting the war and we were very lucky to get out of the war without losing any territory or becoming subject to British rule again.

Have a good day.

Will this actually work? One can hope

For ethanol, the holy grail is cellulose based instead of corn based.

Unfortunately, it has not been economically feasible or possible to make ethanol from scrap wood, biomass or other waste products. Well a demonstration plant is being built to do just that. Will it work? Time will tell. Hat tip Lucianne.

News, News, News

Went to the gym for the first time this month. I got 20 minutes on the bicycle and its a start, will be working my way up, but don't want to push too much since my procedure was on Aug 3 and don't want to do anything to delay the complete healing.

On to the news and there is a lot of it today.

In the UK they have a new type of uniform for school children. Stab proof. Like the vests prison guards wear in the US, your children can now have uniforms that will protect them from their fellow student who wants to stab them. Its good that parents have a chance to protect their children, it is very sad that such protection is needed at school. Hat tip Lucianne.

Expanding on Sunday and Monday's posts, a story about "How to live like you are dying". Worth reading and helps to remind and keep in perspective what is important in life.

What to do when BIG crocs are looking to make a meal out of you? Climb a tree and wait. Hat tip Lucianne.

Have a good day.

The return of bedbugs - YUCK

LA Times has two stories (here and here) on how the common bedbug is making a dramatic comeback after being banished in the second half of the 20th century. What caused this return?

(digression on unintended consequences)
Another example of the ban on DDT. The folks who are responsible for the ban on DDT have a LOT of blood on their hands. They are responsible for the death of more people then Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot and Saddam combined. These five men killed millions of civilians (not counting soldiers in the wars they fought in) during their reigns. Exact numbers are hard to come by, but the number is likely to be around 75 million people. If you count their own soldiers they killed due to their military blunders, the number goes to over 100 million. Those who banned DDT have killed more because they allowed the mosquito that carries Malaria to make a major comeback in Africa, Asia and South America.

I'm not talking about the crop dusting of DDT over everything, that was foolish and overkill. I'm talking about spraying DDT on the walls inside a house to repel the bugs.

So now we have to learn how to identify the bedbug because it is appearing in many places and is easily transferable.

Life is passing faster and faster

The last two weeks have been very strange, read hit up side the head with a 2 x 4.

Jul 30, my mum-in-law fell and hit her head. Had a big lump on the side of her head, thank goodness nothing serious.

Jul 30, my sister-in-law goes into the ER, checked into the hospital for observations. CAT scan and blood work comes out ok, able to go home but really scared her daughter. My sister-in-law's husband passed away back in 2000 due to an allergic reaction to medicine, my niece is maybe a little more nervous about her mom having problems then other kids because of this.

Aug 1, I go to ER and in the hospital till Friday evening. After all the checks, everything is normal figure too much stress from school.

Last week, the controller at work had to attend her father's funeral.

This weekend, the boss writes about his HS friend who is terminal with cancer.

This morning, my co-worker wrote an email to us, her husband passed away suddenly.

So in a two week period, two people died, one is terminal and three had medical problems of a serious nature. And this is just within my own little part of the world.

I can read about the war or disasters with a detached view, but when things are this close, it has a stronger impact. I believe that would be true for most people.

I remember when I took my health for granted and basically felt untouched by death since so few people I had known had health problems (even parents or grandparents) and I was healthy. I didn't think I was invincible, but never thought I was vulnerable either. I don't feel so invincible now, appreciate each day God has given me a lot more and am not content to just waste time as in the past. Like the boss said "remember what is important and hug loved ones".

My prayer for today and everyday, that I may live for God and do what He considers is important for me to do each day.

Life

Real life intruded tonight into my virtual world as I received an email from an old high school friend while scanning the web.

First, A little background. Just before our senior year in high school, my family moved to California. Graciously, the families of my two best friends opened their homes for six months so that I could live with them while finishing up high school with my class. An act of love, I will never be able to repay either families or friends.

Forthwith, the email.

Subj: Ken is dying of cancer Hi Guys, We wanted to let you know that Ken will pass away sometime in the next several days after a long battle with gall bladder cancer. I have logged on Ken's computer to find your addresses and make this contact from his home. He is at home, medicated to the point of comfort and unable to live much longer. You could keep an eye on the XXX Herald, XX Trib or XXXX News for the next week to learn when his funeral services will be held. He loved you guys and I thought you should know his situation. God Bless, Dave X in behalf of Ken X

I called Ken's mom to offer my condolences. We caught each other up for the last 22 years of our lives. I relayed where I am living and the details of my family. She lost her husband last fall and is now losing her son. She passed along Ken's status--coma, sedated. I offered that who I am and the humor that I have is in no small way formed by my friendship with Ken. My views of the world, the ways that I look at things, have been influenced by the quirky friendship we shared. We played Dungeons & Dragons, Squad Leader, Third World War, Intellivision. We talked about girls. He encouraged me to take a creative writing class. Heck, we were arrested together. He is 6'4", having to duck in doorways. I am 5'5". He is white. I am Chinese, and in the state I lived in during those days, that meant something (think mid-West). As my dad says, a real Mutt and Jeff.

The suddenness of the news is shocking; I'm not sure what to think. I'll be 40 this year. Events such as this will happen more frequently, not less. There is more life behind than before. Rest in the security of Jesus. Remember to focus on what is important. Enjoy what is there. Start scanning the old hometown's newspaper. Hug loved ones tonight and remember what is precious. (Hint: It isn't the signed copy of Deathly Hallows).

Peace be unto you.

End of the first week

Well, today marks the end of the first week after school.

So what am I doing with all my free time?

Well, lets see: The fuser unit on our HP 2840 has gone out so am trying to get that replaced. Unfortunately, the fuser unit from HP for 110 volts is on back order so will go off to Ebay to see if I can get it sooner. Of course when we purchased the unit in Feb 2006, I didn't buy the extended warranty offered, after all, if the unit doesn't fail in a year, its good for life. Well the warranty would have paid for itself now. The fuser unit costs $209 plus tax and shipping from HP. Joy, if I can get it. Of course the fuser unit for the 220 volt unit (the unit sold in the EU) is available for immediate shipping.

Office Depot is selling the HP 2840 for $700 new. A drum costs $170 (that needs to be replaced too) and a fuser unit costing $209 means I'm paying 50% of the cost of the machine just in parts. I'm still thinking about just buying a new one.

In addition to this, my lap top wasn't working on Monday and haven't tried it since. I'm not sure what it is, but it looks like the hard drive might have died. That would be very bad because I haven't had a chance to back up all my school work on it, two years of my life are on that hard drive and didn't want to just throw it away yet. So that is a project for this weekend. I've already paid about $300 on repairs for it due to an accident and hope it is still working. But if it has died, at least it got me through school in one piece.

The office where the computer and printer are is still a mess, need to get the hardware fixed and then can start getting everything cleaned up in that room. A flame thrower might still be the answer for all the paper but we will see.

Not much in the news today. The big story is the miners in Utah. Rescuers have been able to drill a hole to reach the pocket where the miners are so air, water, food etc could be gotten to the trapped miners until they could be dug out. But there hasn't been any contact with the miners since Monday so the rescuers may be to late to save them. Our sympathy goes out to the families and thanks to the rescuers for trying to reach the miners and for continuing the work even as hope dwindles.

James Lileks birthday is today, he has asked no emails or electronic cards, but he has a diner podcast where he plays an interesting sample of birthday music, some of it really bad. Worth a listen if you have time.

Have a good weekend.

What's next?

I hate getting older. I can't recover as quickly as in the past. After I was released from the hospital on Friday, took Monday off to make sure I was ok, went to work on Tuesday and Wednesday was too wiped out to go back to work so took the day off and recovered. Folks at work said I was a fool to come back so quickly, but its a desk job and should have been manageable. Ok, so had to rest on Wednesday and now back and hopefully to stay at work. I have to keep reminding myself to allow the body to heal so I won't have any relapse and that will mean I recover more quickly in the long run.

I did buy myself a graduation present, a Wii game console. Its a lot of fun, but when purchasing it, I was thinking, is this really something I need and will it be a good use of my money? I mean, its a new way to spend money because the games are not cheap . . . . but it is a lot of fun to play so guess I have a new toy.

Two articles in the news I wanted to highlight.

The first is about how an ER doctor in Philadelphia and how he is seeing as many casualties there as he saw in Iraq at an army hospital. There is a war in many of the inner-cities and the price being paid by the victims is high. Hat tip Lucianne.

The second is how the Democratic Party is now admitting they want the US to fail in Iraq for if the US succeeds, it will hurt their political prospects in 2008. I don't know which I find sadder, that a major American political party wants the US to lose overseas or that they are more worried about their own interests over the national interests. Besides, if they admitted they made a mistake, they can still compete by pointing out their views are based on facts and principles and not on pure politics. Hat tip Lucianne.

New Chapter of Life

Well, the most stressful quarter of my grad school life is over and the program is done. I have my MBA (and the school loans to prove it) and can think about life other then work and school.

However, the goal didn't come without costs. Last week I went to the ER with chest pressure and was in the hospital until Friday evening. Everything is ok, and the symptoms I was feeling were most likely stress related but it is a reminder that everything we do has a cost. Now, I get to recover again from all the tests and start to figure out the next phase of my life. Same company or not, etc. etc.

I think I may have to find a way for the boss to start writing again or his cats may end up like the horse in the movie godfather (jk, i think).

I don't really know what I'll be writing about in the future, the news and politics for some of it, but that will only go so far. I'm losing interest in politics as both sides are bad, although the left seems to take all the wrongs of the right and go farther. I'm tired of having to vote for the lesser fool or idiot.

I don't know if anyone who has visited here has heard about Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp and his story in The New Republic magazine. Basically he claimed that he and his fellow soldiers were behaving very poorly due to the stress of combat. At first, no one was sure if Beauchamp was a real person. So the Mil Blogs started to dig and they found out Beauchamp was real, he is a soldier and has or is serving in Iraq. However, the truth seems to have ended there. The things he wrote about he and is fellow soldiers were doing were "fabrications containing only "a smidgen of truth"" as reported by the Weekly Standard. Beauchamp's claim has been investigated by the military and he has signed a sworn affidavit say the stories in TNR are false. He said he joined the military to help his goal of becoming a writer. Well he has a lot of publicity, wonder if it is of the type he wants. Hat tip Lucianne.

Have a good day and will hopefully be here daily, on weekdays from now on.