The very sexy Macbook Air is on sale for $1149 at MacMall.com! Holy cow! I love that air. It is not practical for a main notebook (no optical drive, ethernet port, removeable battery or exchangeable hard drive) but as a companion or secondary laptop it is perfect. The air feels so good in the hand as it's made from one piece of alluminum and is very light weight. If I had $1149 to spare...or really needed a spare laptop....I would so buy one. Kelli needs a laptop. But she is too practical too buy it right now.
For those that want one...here ya go!
http://www.macmall.com/macmall/families/new~dp~7373085~family~macbook_air.asp
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Best Place to raise a kid? Euless, TX!
Euless, TX made the news. The best city in America to raise kids. I knew this city was a great place to settle down.
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/11/1110_best_places_for_kids/44.htm
Getty Images
Euless
Nearest city: Dallas
Population: 51,891
Median household income: $70,179
Euless, between Dallas and Fort Worth, includes part of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport within its city limits. The city's The Parks at Texas Star is a sports-plex with baseball, softball, tee ball, soccer, batting cages, and a driving range.
Runners-up:
Richardson
Mission
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/11/1110_best_places_for_kids/44.htm
Getty ImagesTexas
Euless
Nearest city: Dallas
Population: 51,891
Median household income: $70,179
Euless, between Dallas and Fort Worth, includes part of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport within its city limits. The city's The Parks at Texas Star is a sports-plex with baseball, softball, tee ball, soccer, batting cages, and a driving range.
Runners-up:
Richardson
Mission
The camera mystery has been solved!
So the camera has been located. It was right where I left it....on the washing machine....in the garage. The last time I used the camera was right after I polished Kelli's headlights. Get your mind out of the gudder. The headlights on the Prius were yellowing. I am sure you have seen older cars with yellow'd over headlights. I bought a polish to get rid of the yellowing. I took photos to show the results. I then put the camera on the washing machine...and left it.
Tomorrow Kelli and I are going to Sacramento to visit Jami (my sister in law), Haley (my niece) and Peggy (my mother in law). I really wanted a camera to take photos. Fearing having no camera I bought one on Amazon. I simply bought the newer version of the camera we already have. It arrived today. Before I opened it I gave one more look around to find the old one. That's when I decided give one more hard look.
We might keep it and use it only for vacation/trips and I will keep the old one when I go to work. I will ponder it. For now though...camera mystery solved. Kelli had nothing to do with this one.
The top photo is the before...the bottom is the after. Hard to tell in the photos...but the difference by the eye is noticeable.
Tomorrow Kelli and I are going to Sacramento to visit Jami (my sister in law), Haley (my niece) and Peggy (my mother in law). I really wanted a camera to take photos. Fearing having no camera I bought one on Amazon. I simply bought the newer version of the camera we already have. It arrived today. Before I opened it I gave one more look around to find the old one. That's when I decided give one more hard look.
We might keep it and use it only for vacation/trips and I will keep the old one when I go to work. I will ponder it. For now though...camera mystery solved. Kelli had nothing to do with this one.
The top photo is the before...the bottom is the after. Hard to tell in the photos...but the difference by the eye is noticeable.
Change
Change. President elect Obama campaigned on it. The day after he was elected his tone changed. Obama stated the changes he would make would not be overnight. The changes might take a year...or two...or three...or maybe past 4 years. What?!?!?! Why so long? Well I began some deep thinking and research on the subject and finally figured out why.
Presidents can only influence the economy. Very little can be done to directly change it. Many of the policies and procedures put in place during a term won't come into fruition until after the term is expired. Think about President Clinton's 8 year term. His first term was right after Desert Storm and the senior Bush. Times were not so great. Clinton began to work on the state of the country and by the end of his first term things were OK. During his second term he helped put into place several programs, policies and procedures that really helped the nation and the economy. Times were great! Then Bush came into office.
The mortgage crisis of today started in 1995 when President Bill Clinton's pressured Fannie and Freddie Mac to expand the number of loans given to low and middle income people. These people previously had not qualified for conventional loans due to credit or income requirements. Suddenly millions of people could afford a house. Great right? Well there is a reason they didn't qualify for a normal mortgage. Although it is the American dream to own a home...it's a dream....not a right!
''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called sub-prime market.'' - New York Times article printed September 30, 1999.
From the same article, ''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.''
Now all of these families are living in homes they could not otherwise afford. Times are good. For a while.
Fannie Mae doesn't give loans out directly. They do buy loans from banks however. Banks were all too happy to give a loan to a sub-prime borrower and then quickly sell it to Fannie Mae. All the risk was on Fannie Mae...not the bank. Fannie Mae became the largest holder of sub-prime mortgages in the country! Some, not a majority, of the loans were poorly written with low starting interest rates that racked up higher later on. The majority of the loans however were 30 year fixed rate loans averaging in the 7% range that would drop a percentage point once two years of payments had been made. Seems like everything should work right?
A ticking time bomb was silently ticking away over the United States. As other parts of the economy weakened (9/11 had a big part in it) these low and middle income households could no longer make mortgage payments. The houses went into foreclosure and Fannie Mae got less than what was owed on the Mortgage. Remember the extreme majority of the low and middle income borrowers put NOTHING down. When the housing market got hot.....prices went up. Many bought at the top of the market. As the market cooled...prices dropped....below what the houses were purchased for initially.
The housing market plays a huge role in the economy (consumer confidence is also a large factor). When all these families were losing their homes the economy began tanking faster. This huge buyout is not the direct cause of President Bush. This ball got rolling....this bomb was put in place by President Clinton. The economy is at a low point. President elect-Obama really only has one direction he can go...which is up. He does have an uphill battle. His own party is trying to increase the amount of money and the number of companies involved in this bailout.
Speaking of the bailout. I think the Big 3 should be allowed to fail. The writing has been on the wall for years. They kept building big SUV's, car and trucks while overseas car companies were investing in small cars, hybrids and fuel efficiency. GM for one is saddled with the huge weight of the UAW pensions. More than $2K of EVERY car sold goes to pensions. They can't make money with that kinda of debt. Bankruptcy will allow them to reorganize and come out stronger.
That's enough of my soapbox.
Oh..I am getting a new cable for our XBOX 360. A HD VGA cable. Should allow for a better picture over composite cables as well as allow regular DVDs to be up-scaled to HD. I feel better now...some kind of technology mentioned in this post.
Presidents can only influence the economy. Very little can be done to directly change it. Many of the policies and procedures put in place during a term won't come into fruition until after the term is expired. Think about President Clinton's 8 year term. His first term was right after Desert Storm and the senior Bush. Times were not so great. Clinton began to work on the state of the country and by the end of his first term things were OK. During his second term he helped put into place several programs, policies and procedures that really helped the nation and the economy. Times were great! Then Bush came into office.
The mortgage crisis of today started in 1995 when President Bill Clinton's pressured Fannie and Freddie Mac to expand the number of loans given to low and middle income people. These people previously had not qualified for conventional loans due to credit or income requirements. Suddenly millions of people could afford a house. Great right? Well there is a reason they didn't qualify for a normal mortgage. Although it is the American dream to own a home...it's a dream....not a right!
''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called sub-prime market.'' - New York Times article printed September 30, 1999.
From the same article, ''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.''
Now all of these families are living in homes they could not otherwise afford. Times are good. For a while.
Fannie Mae doesn't give loans out directly. They do buy loans from banks however. Banks were all too happy to give a loan to a sub-prime borrower and then quickly sell it to Fannie Mae. All the risk was on Fannie Mae...not the bank. Fannie Mae became the largest holder of sub-prime mortgages in the country! Some, not a majority, of the loans were poorly written with low starting interest rates that racked up higher later on. The majority of the loans however were 30 year fixed rate loans averaging in the 7% range that would drop a percentage point once two years of payments had been made. Seems like everything should work right?
A ticking time bomb was silently ticking away over the United States. As other parts of the economy weakened (9/11 had a big part in it) these low and middle income households could no longer make mortgage payments. The houses went into foreclosure and Fannie Mae got less than what was owed on the Mortgage. Remember the extreme majority of the low and middle income borrowers put NOTHING down. When the housing market got hot.....prices went up. Many bought at the top of the market. As the market cooled...prices dropped....below what the houses were purchased for initially.
The housing market plays a huge role in the economy (consumer confidence is also a large factor). When all these families were losing their homes the economy began tanking faster. This huge buyout is not the direct cause of President Bush. This ball got rolling....this bomb was put in place by President Clinton. The economy is at a low point. President elect-Obama really only has one direction he can go...which is up. He does have an uphill battle. His own party is trying to increase the amount of money and the number of companies involved in this bailout.
Speaking of the bailout. I think the Big 3 should be allowed to fail. The writing has been on the wall for years. They kept building big SUV's, car and trucks while overseas car companies were investing in small cars, hybrids and fuel efficiency. GM for one is saddled with the huge weight of the UAW pensions. More than $2K of EVERY car sold goes to pensions. They can't make money with that kinda of debt. Bankruptcy will allow them to reorganize and come out stronger.
That's enough of my soapbox.
Oh..I am getting a new cable for our XBOX 360. A HD VGA cable. Should allow for a better picture over composite cables as well as allow regular DVDs to be up-scaled to HD. I feel better now...some kind of technology mentioned in this post.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Off Spring
So apparently 3/4 of my siblings have had kids. The first was my bother. He married into one kid and then had one with his wife. The second was my second youngest sister. She had one a few years ago......lost it to through the courts....had another....not sure where that one is. She is in prision. I was clicking around myspace this morning and see that my youngest sister had a kid about a month ago.
After my mother passed away my family kinda splintered. I only talk to my dad....and that's about it. I have my own reasons why I don't talk to my siblings. Am I right for not talking to them? I dunno. It's my choice. My personal belief is that neither sister should have had a kid. We all grew up under the same house which had a lot of babies in it for a while.
My mother started her own adoption agency in the mid 80's. She worked hard. When she first started she would sometimes bring newborns home for a few days before they were placed with the families. I still remember running down the stairs on a Saturday morning, jumping onto their bed and seeing a white baby there. The first time I was very confused. This thing looked nothing like me and it was not here the day before.
That didn't last long as she truly had a passion for what she did. She grew her agency into the second biggest agency in Texas. I had a huge shot of birth control seeing all of these women....and girls...pregnant. The youngest girl I saw pregnant was 11 years old. Her family was very religious and didn't believe in abortion. Her parents made her go full term and place the baby for adoption. There were quite a few teenagers who placed their babies for adoption.
One would think seeing all of these women pregnant around them would keep my sisters from getting pregnant before college/marriage. Yes it's possible to have a baby and go to college (I've seen just as many Lifetime movies where women make it that don't), but it's a huge obstacle. My youngest sister is very intelligent but I have doubts on her educational future as she know has to take care of a baby...with a high school education....nothing more.
On a different note. My best friend just sent me a text message that she has been laid off. She used to work for the Carreker corporation for at least 5 years until they were bought by Checkfree and she was laid off. She has been with a new company for 2 years or so. She is a Corporate Event planner. If anyone needs one...lemme know.
I'm still very worried about keeping my job. American Eagle is one of a very small group of airlines that has not furloughed/laid off workers this year. The extreme majority of my pilot friends are furloughed from airlines. They all hired on around the same time I did. Kelli says her job is secure....but is any job really secure? I guess a mortician.
After my mother passed away my family kinda splintered. I only talk to my dad....and that's about it. I have my own reasons why I don't talk to my siblings. Am I right for not talking to them? I dunno. It's my choice. My personal belief is that neither sister should have had a kid. We all grew up under the same house which had a lot of babies in it for a while.
My mother started her own adoption agency in the mid 80's. She worked hard. When she first started she would sometimes bring newborns home for a few days before they were placed with the families. I still remember running down the stairs on a Saturday morning, jumping onto their bed and seeing a white baby there. The first time I was very confused. This thing looked nothing like me and it was not here the day before.
That didn't last long as she truly had a passion for what she did. She grew her agency into the second biggest agency in Texas. I had a huge shot of birth control seeing all of these women....and girls...pregnant. The youngest girl I saw pregnant was 11 years old. Her family was very religious and didn't believe in abortion. Her parents made her go full term and place the baby for adoption. There were quite a few teenagers who placed their babies for adoption.
One would think seeing all of these women pregnant around them would keep my sisters from getting pregnant before college/marriage. Yes it's possible to have a baby and go to college (I've seen just as many Lifetime movies where women make it that don't), but it's a huge obstacle. My youngest sister is very intelligent but I have doubts on her educational future as she know has to take care of a baby...with a high school education....nothing more.
On a different note. My best friend just sent me a text message that she has been laid off. She used to work for the Carreker corporation for at least 5 years until they were bought by Checkfree and she was laid off. She has been with a new company for 2 years or so. She is a Corporate Event planner. If anyone needs one...lemme know.
I'm still very worried about keeping my job. American Eagle is one of a very small group of airlines that has not furloughed/laid off workers this year. The extreme majority of my pilot friends are furloughed from airlines. They all hired on around the same time I did. Kelli says her job is secure....but is any job really secure? I guess a mortician.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Box of photos
I got bored while Kelli was exercising and went to my office closet and pulled out the only box in there. Ok that's a lie...I pulled out the only box I could get out without causing an avalanche. The box contained may photos from my college years and before. I found the best photo showing my previous hairstyle and scanned it in. Scanners...I remember when they first got "cheap" at $150. The interface was horrible. The scanned images were just barely decent...but it worked. I still have a scanner (obviously) that I use a few times a year (like tonight). The first photo is a fraternity portrait while the second one is a homecoming photo (wallet size so a little more fuzzy blown up!) from high school from 1994.
I went to homecoming with my best friend of going on 16 years Katrina. I was really skinny in High School...I think my low point was 150 pounds at 5'10.
I do have several photos that suffered water damage at some point over the years and are stuck together. Anyone know of a safe way to separate them?? I also have a bunch of slides....might need to ask Santa for a slide scanner....and a negative scanner....prolly a combo unit.
I went to homecoming with my best friend of going on 16 years Katrina. I was really skinny in High School...I think my low point was 150 pounds at 5'10.
I do have several photos that suffered water damage at some point over the years and are stuck together. Anyone know of a safe way to separate them?? I also have a bunch of slides....might need to ask Santa for a slide scanner....and a negative scanner....prolly a combo unit.
Thinking outside the box
I have always been a creative person. In high school I took my creative energy and expressed it in photography. I took that craft and majored in Photojournalism in college (along with a dual major in Sociology....that and $1.08 will get you a McChicken). Problem solving has also been one of the skills that I excel in. Where am I going with this?
With our TV now mounted on the wall, I mounted the front three speakers on the wall as well. I pondered mounting them on the ceiling....but there was waaaay too much work involved. Instead I mounted the speakers directly on the wall on three sides of the TV. The rear speakers will eventually go on the ceiling as I can't figure out where else to place them. When I do place them on the ceiling I will likely have to run the cables through the attic and down to the receiver....which will suck. I could run the wires along the wall....we will see.
With the speakers on the wall I had to figure out a way to hide the wires. I ran the wires up the wall and then to each speaker. I was initially going to buy plastic speaker concealers and tape them to the wall. The problem I ran into being they are kinda bulky....and kinda expensive. I went to three stores today and could only find speaker concealers that run along the floor and none that are designed to be attached to the wall. I was about to give up when one of those creative thoughts popped up.
What are two tools that no proud Texan would rather die that be found without? WD-40....and Duct Tape! No I didn't use the WD-40....but I did use Duct Tape. I remembered a month or so ago I bought black Duct Tape to help secure the backup camera in my car. The camera is mounted inside the rear hatch on the roof. I needed the tape for reinforcement. I bought white Duct Tape today for the walls.
I straightened out each cable and then taped it to the wall with the Duct Tape (I have no idea why I am capitalizing Duct Tape). I then painted the Duct Tape using the existing paint color already on the wall. The result? The wires are barely visible.
Digital cameras. I use them often. I lose them often. Most of the time I find them. I lost one this time last year when I was drunk at a Denny's. Our current one has been missing for about two weeks. Last time I saw it was after I got back from a trip and before we went to Vegas. Whenever we go somewhere Kelli get's in this cleaning whirlwind and all of my stuff ends up all over the place. The camera disappeared in this time frame. I have looked for it for a few days...no dice. I might have to pony up and buy another one. I used to take it with me on trips because my camera phone sucked. Now that I have a decent camera phone I won't need to do that anymore.
401K. Most people are upset that their 401K values are tanking. I am not...because I don't have one! I do now! I finally opened an account. Now that I am on 2nd year pay at work (I got an $8 an hour raise Oct 29th) I can afford to fork over some dough for my future.
I might look for a camera on eBay. Bleh.
With our TV now mounted on the wall, I mounted the front three speakers on the wall as well. I pondered mounting them on the ceiling....but there was waaaay too much work involved. Instead I mounted the speakers directly on the wall on three sides of the TV. The rear speakers will eventually go on the ceiling as I can't figure out where else to place them. When I do place them on the ceiling I will likely have to run the cables through the attic and down to the receiver....which will suck. I could run the wires along the wall....we will see.
With the speakers on the wall I had to figure out a way to hide the wires. I ran the wires up the wall and then to each speaker. I was initially going to buy plastic speaker concealers and tape them to the wall. The problem I ran into being they are kinda bulky....and kinda expensive. I went to three stores today and could only find speaker concealers that run along the floor and none that are designed to be attached to the wall. I was about to give up when one of those creative thoughts popped up.
What are two tools that no proud Texan would rather die that be found without? WD-40....and Duct Tape! No I didn't use the WD-40....but I did use Duct Tape. I remembered a month or so ago I bought black Duct Tape to help secure the backup camera in my car. The camera is mounted inside the rear hatch on the roof. I needed the tape for reinforcement. I bought white Duct Tape today for the walls.
I straightened out each cable and then taped it to the wall with the Duct Tape (I have no idea why I am capitalizing Duct Tape). I then painted the Duct Tape using the existing paint color already on the wall. The result? The wires are barely visible.
Digital cameras. I use them often. I lose them often. Most of the time I find them. I lost one this time last year when I was drunk at a Denny's. Our current one has been missing for about two weeks. Last time I saw it was after I got back from a trip and before we went to Vegas. Whenever we go somewhere Kelli get's in this cleaning whirlwind and all of my stuff ends up all over the place. The camera disappeared in this time frame. I have looked for it for a few days...no dice. I might have to pony up and buy another one. I used to take it with me on trips because my camera phone sucked. Now that I have a decent camera phone I won't need to do that anymore.
401K. Most people are upset that their 401K values are tanking. I am not...because I don't have one! I do now! I finally opened an account. Now that I am on 2nd year pay at work (I got an $8 an hour raise Oct 29th) I can afford to fork over some dough for my future.
I might look for a camera on eBay. Bleh.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)