Thursday, June 28, 2007

The Jesus Meme

Lynn, from Spilling Ink In Public, allowed me to "tag" myself with the Jesus meme, on which she posted and made some pretty good observations. The point of the meme is to post five things that I dig about Jesus, so here goes:

1. He shares my burdens and my grief. I Pet. 5:7 - "Casting all of your anxiety upon Him, for He cares for you."

2. He loves me so much He died for me. John 3:16 - "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, and whoever believes on Him will not perish but have everlasting life," and Ephesians 3:19 - "...the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge..." and Ephesians 5:1 -"live in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God," and I John 4:19 - "We love, because He first loved us."

3. He came back from the dead and brought me eternal life. John 11:25-26 - "Jesus said to her, " I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die."

4. He gave me the right be a child of God. John 1:12 - "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name."

5. He stands up for me. I John 2:1-2 - "if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation (the atoning sacrifice) for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world."

6. He controls the wind and the sea. Matthew 14:25-33 - During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

(That was an extra!!)

I liked how Lynn did this - if you want to participate, you can tag yourself in the comments, and then just let us know you're going to post. Cool idea!! :)

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Licensed to Snark

I'm in serious danger of committing assault with a deadly smart-mouth, so I thought I would share with you, instead of the individual I should share this with.

Thanks to Kim, at Hiraeth, I found this video clip of a DUI stop which I found so hilarious, I almost wet my pants:



No, it wasn't real; it was from a comedy show called Reno 911. Which it says on the caption of the video when you go to YouTube.com. The point was, I had already committed one glaring smart-mouth offense yesterday involving a "reply all" that I should have just "replied."

Out of gratitude for the people who didn't let me sit too long with egg on my face, I sent them this video, thinking that it was just a funny video - i.e., not caring if it was real or not, only that it was funny. [Plus, it says right on the webpage the link directs you to that it's from Reno 911 - duh!]

Mr. Same Know-It-All responded to this olive branch with: "You do realize this is from a comedy TV show, right? Not a real stop? Just making sure…."

ARGGGHHHH! I wanted - oh, so badly wanted! - to respond with "and one wonders why you're still single, Radar...." But I didn't. I wanted to, but I didn't. Particularly since I am not the office politician in anyone's office, and you should never snark the hands that might pull you out of the muck one day.

Still......

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Update - Mission: Truly Impossible?

Well, it was as I suspected. This is the corporate response:

"Thank you for taking the time to share your comments with us regarding the selection at our J.Jill retail stores. Please be assured that it was not our intent to slight any of our customers with our product selection. We do offer a service that allows you to order online through the concierge desk at the retail store, if your size or style is not available. Any in-store sales and promotions can also be applied to these orders. We look forward to the opportunity of serving your needs in the future. Should you require further assistance, please contact us via email at customerservice@jjill.com or call us at 1-800-343-5700, Monday through Saturday, 7:00 am to 11:00 pm EST."

Guys have it good – pants are in the right waist size and leg length, even if those measurements aren’t “ordinary.” They can buy shirts in neck sizes and sleeve lengths to fit, and they can get suit coats/blazers that actually fit (even if they have to be altered). When I’ve gone with my dad when he’s been suit shopping, the sales people look through what they have to fit him, and they apologize and go nuts if they aren’t able to find something that will work (he used to be 6’ 6” tall, but he’s shrunk a bit as he’s aged).

When women shop, the attitude is that if nothing fits, it’s your fault for not being able to wear the clothes. I often wonder how much women’s clothing standards would change if men had to wear pants that were too short, sleeves that were too short, darts/tailoring that was too high or too low, and then (even after you had alterations done), the garment only lasted one, maybe two, years – at the same price.

Even this email response holds the same veiled assessment: you can order through the catalog "if your size or style is not available." Why can't stores sell clothes that fit people instead of having a massive amount of junk that they end up having to put on clearance in order to shift?

Mission: Impossible

[Cue music from TV show - DUN-DUN-da-da-DUN-DUN-da-da-DADADA....]

Partridge Creek Mall (Clinton Township, Michigan) is opening a J. Jill store. In case you don't know or haven't heard of J. Jill, they carry clothes for tall women - IN THEIR CATALOG!! - as do Eddie Bauer and Land's End.

Eddie Bauer is also opening a store in this mall; Land's End decided to open "boutique" sections in your local Sears. Neither of them has ever had a tall section for women in their stores/"boutiques", and their sales people are almost snotty about it. I should also point out that BOTH retailers maintain a nice "petite" section for women. But I digress.

Since this will be a brand new store in a brand new mall, and the possibility exists that since they haven't had a retail store in this area before, they might be inclined to listen to people who would actually shop there, I thought I would start the campaign now to see if they will put a tall section in their new store.

So.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to email J. Jill (you can email them online via their website at http://www.jjill.com/), and ask them to consider including a tall section in their new store.

FYI, there is one - yes, that's right, only ONE!! - store that handles clothes for tall women in this area. It's one of those "Tall Girl" shops (that's the actual name), but the selection is terrible with respect to any career clothes.* They carry "resort wear" style casual items, and a few suits and suit separates, but the quality is not very good for what they charge for it.

Anyway, that's my mission, too. I've already emailed them, and if you don't mind doing a good deed for those of us who can never find pants, tops, suits, jackets or skirts that fit properly, you can, too.

This post will self-destruct in 30 seconds. Good luck.

*Footnote: I once inquired at a local Mervyn's if they had any more professional clothes. When the sales girl pointed me to a section full of low-cut and clingy tops, short/tight skirts, and low-rise, too-tight-fitting pants, I said, "That's not the profession I had in mind, but thanks....." She didn't get it.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Happiness is a warm puppy.....

My darling dog is laying patiently on the floor in my office next to my chair. I came in so I could get caught up on the stuff I didn't do because I was stressed about the refinance, and he came along, just glad that Mama took him with her instead of leaving him in the house by himself all day like she usually does. He just was outside to be a good puppy, and he's gotten one of the treats out of the Kong toy (that goes EVERYwhere with us), and now he's sleeping.

What did I do to deserve such a great friend?

[Psst! He doesn't know it yet, but we're going to a local d-o-g-p-a-r-k after Mama finishes her work..... :) Don't tell him!!]

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Sisyphus Speaks

Ever have a day when you just don't want to care anymore? I know that I'm going to do a good job, because that's what I do, but in the back of my head is a three-year-old stomping her feet and saying "but I don't WANT to do this anymore! I want to play with the puppy!"

I added my hours for the month (to date) and subtracted the total from what I would need to put in to make up the amount of time I am behind for the year thus far, and yes, I will make it if I bill as many hours per month for the rest of the year as I am on track to have this month if I keep plugging along like I've been doing.

But my life for the rest of the year won't seem like it's worth living.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

My 300th Post

WHOO-HOO!! 300!! (Um, wait - that means I've spent how much time blogging that I can never get back???) :)

Part of the reason I haven't been posting as much is that I’m discouraged right now. Aside from the work issues, a big part of that is my current refinance thing.

Short version of this story: I screwed up. I should not be allowed to play Monopoly, let alone participate in commerce. I'm great at figuring out how to get out of stuff, but not at all good at how to do it right the first time. (Note to self: remind Mom that she was wrong all those time she told me that if I spent half as much time doing things instead of trying to get out of them, I would be much more productive. If I'd listened to her, I wouldn't be as good at my job as I am now.)

Long version: when I bought my condo, I got an 80/20 loan package which allowed me to purchase the property since I had ZERO money to put down. The first mortgage was supposed to be at a fixed rate, and the second was supposed to be an ARM. I made the mistake of using lendingtree.com, and chose a company that I thought I could trust because they were local (I couldn't) and that I thought would keep the loan in-house (they didn't).

My first mortgage was at 7.100% - high for 2 years ago, but the lowest rate I could get at the time. I thought that with the way housing prices were going up, if I didn't buy soon, I would never be able to buy because I would always be behind. Plus, I had the upstairs neighbors from hell with no help at all from the property management company I was renting from.

First of all, the company I found through lendingtree.com didn't even give me the loan documents to review until the day I was supposed to close - and this, after I'd already put the closing over once because of their delays. I did not see any of the loan papers until I was at the closing table with the van out in the parking lot because the movers had already arrived to start packing things up.

Second, the loan package was written backwards from what the guy told me - instead of having a fixed rate loan on the first and an ARM on the second, it was an ARM on the first and a fixed on the second. Maybe that's the only way they do them, but if he'd told me that up front, I wouldn't have done the loan. I am not, after all, a complete idiot. Inexperienced at how these things work, but not an idiot.

Anyway, my ARM was only locked in for 2 years. Then, it adjusts upward by, like, 3.5% - YIPE. Because there was a prepayment penalty if I'd refinanced sooner (and because I didn't have the money to pay those costs), I waited until the prepayment penalty period was almost over.

As you might have realized, the Michigan housing market (not to mention the economy - thank you, Jennifer Granholm!), has pretty much bottomed out in the 2 years since I bought my condo. I feel like the kid playing musical chairs who's running around looking for a seat only to find that there aren't any left.

So, now I’m stuck with either a changed payment amount that will kick in when the ARM adjusts (translating to an increase in my mortgage payment of about $300), or the adjusted payment terms the lender will give me to refinance everything. Not being made of or married to money, I am pretty much a hostage to whatever I can get.

Now, it seems that the guy handling the refinance - which they laughingly call a "streamline" - seems to be pissed at me because I don't want a prepayment penalty for an undisclosed period of time, since I’ve already had a prepayment penalty period that kept me from refinancing to a lower rate when property values were still fairly solid, and since I made my mortgage payments on time every single month for the last 2 years.

It’s all fine and well and good for him to be pissed – it’s not his mortgage or his life that will be disrupted.

Anyway, I talked with this guy at a company I should have gone with in the beginning - everything he told me 3 years ago checked out (STILL kicking myself over not going back to him) - and he said that I’m doing all the right things. I just have to ride this out and see where I am when the property values rebound.

I’m just so tired.

This is really what the curse is all about: sweat and labor to eke out any kind of life, and you can’t let down your guard for an instant, because all around you, there are plenty of people poised to take it away from you. If it isn’t mortgage scalpers, it’s taxing authorities or thieves. Not that there is much difference among them...

Monday, June 18, 2007

Weekend Remnants

Benjamin asks some good existential questions. He sometimes gets the answers wrong, but he’s asking the right questions. The most recent one (June 17) involves adventures in decorating. I feel his pain, although I'm doing my decorating solo. I'm almost there but not quite. I have some really nice things in my place, but I haven't figured out how to tie it all together.

My cousin and her husband (who have more money than almost anyone else I know) just redecorated two of their bathrooms. I honestly don't know how many bathrooms they have, but it is enough that the master bathroom and the powder room inside the front door were both under construction at the same time, and with four people in the house, no one died. Both places look beautiful. I now feel inspired to put white crown molding in my powder room that I just painted Ralph Lauren "light sky" - it might be overkill, but who cares.

Our choir director at church is going to her ENT today. I don’t know her that well, but I keep thinking about her – I can’t imagine how it feels to be reduced to speaking in a whisper as a grown-up. I had laryngitis regularly when I was younger, but after we moved to South Dakota, I didn’t have any more trouble with my throat. I had migraines, chronic sinusitis, and other maladies, but not laryngitis.

She said that the last time she had this kind of problem, it was a lesion on her vocal chords. She’s hoping that this time, it’s just gook. Me, too.

Time Flies

Wow. I just realized it had been over a week since I posted anything. I hate when that happens!

I wish I could say that it was because I was having a great time, but that's not the case. Work interferes in ways that I can't always control or predict, and it felt like I was doing very well to just read what was going on in other people's lives.

We had a practice group meeting Wednesday – the attorneys were asked to stay after, because Managing Partner had a bone to pick with everyone about their time. One of the others had something to say as well.

Apparently, the firm has written off a total of $300K+ this year, compared to $60K as of about the same time. Plus, the amount of time billed is 1000 hours less for the same time period from last year. Which is a bad thing. That amounts to about $450K down from the same time period last year, and they can’t afford to do that. Nobody can.

Since those of us who aren’t billing attorneys don’t have any information about what gets written down, it was a surprise to us, but supposedly the one guy was going to sit down with each of us and talk about it. I haven’t seen/heard from him all week, so I’m just keeping my head down.

The fun part was, Managing Partner sniped at me in front of the whole group because I had only billed 110 hours last month. I told him that I had gone to one of the guys who has been complaining that he's overloaded 2 or 3 weeks ago to ask for work and I never heard back. Short of parking my behind on his desk, I didn't have any other options.

Apparently, other attorneys in the room were stung for me – one guy called another attorney after the meeting, because she wasn’t there, and he said that Managing Partner had done that but that I’d refuted his charge well. One of my other friends said I looked like I was still upset by it, but that it was good that I was “soldiering on.”

I didn’t want to say anything to them about it, but as far as I was concerned, Managing Partner’s comment only made him look bad himself. I don’t know what he thought he would accomplish by doing that – if he thought I would get emotional in front of everyone or get in his face or make excuses or whatever, he underestimated me greatly.

For some reason, I keep thinking about that story about the bird who fell out of the tree into the snow in the dead of winter. The bird was almost frozen to death when a bull pooped on it. The poop warmed the bird up, and he began to sing. A passing cat heard the singing, dug the bird out of the poop and ate it. Moral: Not everyone who puts you in shit is your enemy; not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend; and, when you’re in deep shit, for heaven’s sake, don’t sing!

I’ve gotten good reports from other people – the one friend has been so cool about giving me good feedback, and another guy was over the moon about that appeal brief and the job I did on a motion hearing (without any complaining, thank you very much). This other partner, too, is good about telling me when I do a good job.

The thing is, I think that with some people, the fact that I don’t mix with others can send a message that I’m not as good as they are. I’m just not that type of person – I keep my mouth shut and I do my work. I’ve had people bigger and more powerful than the Managing Partner yell at me in front of more people, and it just doesn’t rattle me. I’ve gone nose to nose with my dad and my oldest brother – these guys are pipsqueaks compared to either one of them.

I still remember that one New Year’s Eve that my parents went out and my oldest brother and I were home. My parents had 2 boxer puppies at the time, and my brother started squirting the dogs while they were locked up in their cage. He refused to stop until/unless I listened to something he wanted me to listen to. We ended up fighting, and even though I ended up with muscle strain and PTSD afterwards, I didn’t give up. You can say whatever you want about the intelligence of that, but not many people will take on a soldier – let alone a Marine – over something like that. (The good news was, while he was dealing with me, he wasn’t tormenting the dogs).

Anyway, that’s why I say, I’ve dealt with bigger and more powerful bullies than him.

The funny thing was, I was walking my dog at lunchtime, and all I could think of was that song from the 1940s – “Ven der Fuehrer says, "Ve iss der master race," Ve HEIL! [phlebth!] HEIL! [phlebth!] Right in der Fuehrer's face! Not to luff der Fuehrer iss a great disgrace, So Ve HEIL! [phlebth!] HEIL! [phlebth!] Right in der Fuehrer's face!” Not something I want to spread around the office, but still highly amusing and destressifying.

So, now you're caught up. :)

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Pricks

There are days when I really miss the good ole days of the King James Version. A conversion the apostle Paul had in his conversion experience is set forth in the book of Acts (in the New Testament) like so:

"And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks."

Yes, I know. They didn't mean the same thing we mean when we use the word today. The same word is translated "goads" in the New King James version, and the entire comment is left out of the New American Standard and the New International version - apparently, some of the early manuscripts did not contain that comment.

Anyway, it was one of the fun things to do during the morning service when I was a kid: go through the Bible and find all the naughty bits. I read Genesis and Deuteronomy gleefully, looking for the cool stories, the prohibitions, the stuff proper people didn't discuss in the late 60s.

But I digress.

It took this morning's message to help make the connection about what I've been struggling with in terms of People I Don't Like, whether they're family or cow-orkers (oooo. sorry. "Co-workers"), and the connection had absolutely nothing to do with the message. However, the message did serve as a goad to a part of my brain that, thankfully, I wasn't using at the time, thereby allowing one of the pricks or goads to prod it to realize something it wouldn't have realized on its own.

The message this morning was about faith and works, and the connection I got out of it instead was that no matter what insanity is going on around me, I am not responsible for anyone but myself. Gotta hand it to my mom - whenever I would whine about how my sister (or brothers) got away with stuff, or how I shouldn't get in trouble because "she did [whatever]," my mom's response was always: "I don't care what she did. You just take care of you." [Completely unfair, but y'know, right on the money in terms of preparing me for real life!!]

I spent most of yesterday (beautiful day though it was) and this whole afternoon (also a beautiful day) getting my decks cleared at work for more stuff, and as I was whining and feeling quite sorry for myself and grousing about how so-and-so got this or that, I also sent emails to people from whom I have gotten good billable work before, because I really do like my job.

This morning, two of the three people I emailed sent replies telling me that they have work - one said to come see him on Monday. How cool is that! Here I was blubbering like a little kid about how somebody got my office and somebody is getting all the work I used to do and everybody else is going on these things and I'm not, when I only had to ask to be put back in the rotation. My favorite response was "perfect. let me see what is available."

"Ye have not because ye ask not." That's another one from the King James.

Pricks

There are days when I really miss the good ole days of the King James Version. A conversion the apostle Paul had in his conversion experience is set forth in the book of Acts (in the New Testament) like so:

"And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks."

Yes, I know. They didn't mean the same thing we mean when we use the word today. The same word is translated "goads" in the New King James version, and the entire comment is left out of the New American Standard and the New International version - apparently, some of the early manuscripts did not contain that comment.

Anyway, it was one of the fun things to do during the morning service when I was a kid: go through the Bible and find all the naughty bits. I read Genesis and Deuteronomy gleefully, looking for the cool stories, the prohibitions, the stuff proper people didn't discuss in the late 60s.

But I digress.

It took this morning's message to help make the connection about what I've been struggling with in terms of People I Don't Like, whether they're family or cow-orkers (oooo. sorry. "Co-workers"), and the connection had absolutely nothing to do with the message. However, the message did serve as a goad to a part of my brain that, thankfully, I wasn't using at the time, thereby allowing one of the pricks or goads to prod it to realize something it wouldn't have realized on its own.

The message this morning was about faith and works, and the connection I got out of it instead was that no matter what insanity is going on around me, I am not responsible for anyone but myself. Gotta hand it to my mom - whenever I would whine about how my sister (or brothers) got away with stuff, or how I shouldn't get in trouble because "she did [whatever]," my mom's response was always: "I don't care what she did. You just take care of you." [Completely unfair, but y'know, right on the money in terms of preparing me for real life!!]

I spent most of yesterday (beautiful day though it was) and this whole afternoon (also a beautiful day) getting my decks cleared at work for more stuff, and as I was whining and feeling quite sorry for myself and grousing about how so-and-so got this or that, I also sent emails to people from whom I have gotten good billable work before, because I really do like my job.

This morning, two of the three people I emailed sent replies telling me that they have work - one said to come see him on Monday. How cool is that! Here I was blubbering like a little kid about how somebody got my office and somebody is getting all the work I used to do and everybody else is going on these things and I'm not, when I only had to ask to be put back in the rotation. My favorite response was "perfect. let me see what is available."

"Ye have not because ye ask not." That's another one from the King James.

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay.....

I like it that the rest of that line is "....wastin' time."

This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town
And beats high mountain down.

Yes, it's from "The Hobbit."

My whole life I've felt that I'm either trying to catch up or moving too fast. If I can ever retire, I hope that I will not feel so out of sync with time.

I wrote earlier about the whole lawyer/time/billable hours thing. I realize now why I felt so stressed: I have done (almost) everything on my plate to do, and the work won't add up to enough time to meet the goals set for me by myself and others. I don't have enough work to do to justify my existence.

I'm a little ticked off, because on one hand, they (the powers that be) have hired not one but two new associates just in the last 8 months, one of which is worming her way into the environment like a fungus. Fortunately, the other one is studying for the bar exam, so I have a little time to change the landscape there, but I can't seem to do anything about the other one.

Remember when I wondered if the reason she was here was that I needed to witness to her? I've figured out that that isn't the reason. The reason is because she's like my sister in this one respect. She seems to believe that her own advent onto the scene means that anyone else who won't further her position is dispensible and irrelevant. She is here to replace anyone who a) isn't male, and b) doesn't have the connections she's looking for to advance her own career - for which she is going to ride on her father's coattails for as long as possible.

My sister's attitude was the same from the time we were children. She was the youngest - the baby, for about 5 years - so everything revolved around her, regardless of anyone else's needs. Notice, I didn't say "wants" but "needs." It was never a question of whether something she wanted should trump anyone else's wants - it never entered her mind (and still doesn't) that anyone else's needs were important to the extent that they interfered with her getting her own way (even over things that were not "needs").

This new one is just like her. I never learned to fight that in my own family and that's why this biatch is here now - so that I will learn.

Friday, June 8, 2007

New Stuff

I updated the links and rearranged them on the side. Not for any reason, other than to add the new stuff, but there is one I had to add just because it made me laugh and still does - I Can Has Cheezburger. :) If you haven't already, check it out. This is a photo from the site that I had to copy and save:



Who could resist the cuteness?

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Has to Be Said

I like Ann Coulter as much for her entertainment abilities as her view on politics. She says what I would be thinking if I were that smart and informed. What she lacks in tact, she makes up for in accuracy. She had this to say in a recent column:

"...the natural state of the world is Darfur. The freakish aberration is America and the rest of the Anglo-Saxon world.

The British Empire once spread the culture of prosperity around the globe -- Judeo-Christian values, tolerance, equality, private property and the rule of law. All recipients of the British Empire's largesse benefited, but the empire's most successful colony was the United States."

You can read the rest of the article here. Today's column is really good, too.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

And Now A Word From Our Sponsors.....

OK, so they're not really sponsors, but I just wanted to mention the new ad on the sidebar.

It probably would come as no surprise that I am politically, socially, and financially conservative. Not that I don't have a heart; I just believe that, given the government's stupendous track record with anything it takes over, most things like charity, health care, etc., are better left to the private sector.

I don't think the government owes anyone health insurance, retirement benefits, or most of the other stuff that "people" (and by people I mean those on the left of the political landscape) say the government should provide. Socialism and communism failed in every country they've ever controlled - whereas privatization works.

Anywho, the reason I'm making this little announcement is because it looks like Fred Thompson is going to run for President in 2008. Of the candidates out there, I'm not sure if he is the best, from a conservative standpoint. However, I am fairly certain he stands the best chance of winning the election. Giuliani is too liberal a candidate, and McCain scares me. Romney isn't bad, but I don't think he could carry the conservative side - and none of them (other than possibly that sheriff in Aracopa County, AZ, who isn't running) has the right idea on immigration.

The worst thing I could envision for this country would be the election to the Oval Office of Hillary (and Bill - you know we'd get both of them), Obama or Edwards. Without a strong electable candidate on the other side, though, whoever makes it through the Democratic primary could take the election if the conservatives in this country can't pick a winning candidate.

It's a shame that we can't get someone more like Ron Paul or Howard Phillips or that doctor guy who is a part-time legislator in Colorado or someplace, but there are just too many people who have stopped thinking about what is best for the country as a whole. They want peace, they want what makes their own lives more comfortable, and frankly, they just want to be left alone. I don't blame them - I wish things were different, too. I just can't agree with them that not supporting the principles this country was founded on is the best way to go.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. Back to regularly scheduled programming tomorrow, cuz I have work to do.

Summer Goals Meme

Summer Goals:

1. Clean my house - really clean it, not just straighten,
2. Which will involve organizing the basement and throwing things out,
3. Going through the clothes I've accumulated and donating anything worthy of donating, but tossing the stuff I don't need/wear/haven't worn in a year, and
4. Thoroughly washing and airing all bedding items, including comforters and pillows.
5. Preparing for the Detroit Turkey Trot and New Year's Eve run. (I was going to say "runs", but that sounded a bit too excremental).
6. Having the brakes and serpentine belt replaced on my car.
7. Restoring the china cabinet I bought on eBay earlier this year.
8. Moving everything out of the existing china cabinet and into the new one.
9. Making a decision about whether I am going to sell the old dining room set, donate it (for the tax deduction), or keep it (and if so, where????).
10. Replace the vanity in my half bath - which has already been painted in a color that still makes me smile!!
11. Develop a workout that I will actually do regularly in furtherance of item #5.
12. Make (and keep) an appointment with a dentist for a cleaning.
13. Make (and keep) an appointment with my doctor for a physical.
14. Take all of the books I've weeded out of my book collection to a local hospital (except for 2 that I'm not sure should be out in the public, such as "The DaVinci Code" and "Purpose Driven Life").
15. Having at least one weekend a month of fun that is memorable enough to think back on and smile when it's winter and I'm bummed.

OK, that's my list. You're it - what's yours? :)

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Category: Slacker Songs

Not to rag on Sheryl Crow unnecessarily, but the category really requires mentioning that song from the early 90s called "All I Want To Do." You remember the one I'm talking about - Billy peels the labels off his bottles of Bud? Total slacker anthem. As is "Margueritaville," although I like that song. Sheryl Crow has another more recent song that follows the same pattern - "Soak Up The Sun." Catchy tune, slacker lyrics.

Other songs talk about leisure in a different way - as in, relief from the work day (like "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" - which is a spin-off of "Margueritaville") - but it's the slacker-as-role that gets me. Maybe it's a function of my warped upbringing, but I just can't imagine a life in which I didn't have to do anything I didn't want to do.

Procrastinating Leads To This......

Today's word is "Cal•li•pyg•ian."

Pronunciation: "ka-l&-'pi-j(E-)&nVariant(s): also cal•li•py•gous /-'pI-g&s/
Function: adjective
Etymology: Greek kallipygos, from kalli- + pygE buttocks: having shapely buttocks.

Trying to avoid doing something I really don't want to do but have to do anyway, I glanced at an MSN article about Cameron Diaz's current concerns about the new romantic interest of her former flame, Justin Timberlake (about both of whom I normally would care nothing).

Apparently, Le Timberlake has the hots for Jessica Biel (?no idea who she is), who has been described as callipygian. Procrastinator that I am, I had to look up the word, since I'd never heard or seen it before, and voila! a new vocabulary word that I probably will never in my life have occasion to use.

Losing at Musical Chairs

What a day!!

I was driving most of yesterday - best time I've had working in a long time, BTW - because I had to be in Flint at 9:00 a.m., in Saginaw by 11:00 a.m., and then in Battle Creek by 2:30 p.m. The first couple of legs of the trip weren't too bad; Battle Creek was a bit tricky, but that was because of road construction. All in all, not a bad day.

Plus, of the three hearings I attended yesterday, I won 2 of them. .667 is a pretty decent batting average..... :)

I'm saying this to distract myself from the current debate going on with my mortgage lenders..... When I bought my condo, I bought it with what's called an 80/20 loan, which means that I borrowed 100% of the purchase price. The stupid broker I dealt with told me that the prinicipal mortgage (i.e., first mortgage) would be a fixed rate loan, but the 2nd would be an ARM. I said "fine." Not great, but not really another way to do this.

I did not get the documents until the day of closing because of repeated delays on his part even though I'd told him that I needed to be out of my apartment by July 5. He kept telling me that the deal would be done the way he'd promised. When I got to the closing, I saw that he'd structured it backwards. Instead of having the ARM on the 2nd loan, the first loan was an ARM and the 2nd was a fixed rate mortgage. And, the fixed period was only for 2 years.

Since I'd had to give my notice at my apartment and had packed everything up already, I had no choice - either close as scheduled or be homeless. Knowing what I know now, I wish I'd taken everything to the nearest storage unit and waited, but this was my first purchase. I closed, moved in and went on.

Now that it's almost time for the ARM to adjust for the first adjustment, it's going to go up 3.4% - which means that my payment would jump from $758/month to $1,015/month.

My mortgage company is trying to work things out, but the 2nd mortgage being fixed is kicking everything to pieces. Since they're in a fairly secure position, they don't want to do what is called a subordination (which would put them back at 2nd place on the property) because the property may not be worth what is owed on it. If they subordinate (in the event of default), the first lender would get first crack at the property, including any proceeds. Even if they foreclosed, they would have a property subject to the 1st mortgage, which they wouldn't be able to sell.

So they've decided that if the property isn't worth what is owed on it, they would rather risk getting nothing than to subordinate their position, so they won't subordinate.

Which is to say that, in the game of real estate musical chairs, I might be without a seat.

UPDATE: I found an amendment to mortgage form and sent it to the guy at the 1st mortgage company. Bless his heart, he is going to ship it to his underwriter. Maybe I'll even get a new client out of this deal!! :)