Common courtesy

Warning... I may just sound like some old person griping... but...

Driving often can be a frustrating experience, but over the years, I have learned to deal with that frustration by not letting it get to me and just accepting it as it is.  My rant about drivers right now is the prevalence of people not using their turn signals when changing lanes or turning. This doesn't make my blood boil like getting cut off or cheaters who cut in line. This is more of a light frustration. I feel it is now at epidemic proportion, much worse than ever. I am not sure of the demographics, if it is younger vs. older, but my suspicion is that it tilts to younger - although I know 20 somethings that religiously use their blinkers, and 40-somethings that don't and declare that it isn't that big a deal.

I have always been a follow the rules type of person in general, and very much that while driving.  It comes down to common courtesy to let people know your intentions and ultimately it is safer to use your turn signals.

While I agree with the notion of not making people take repeated written driving tests, but perhaps when people don't read the rules for 20 plus years, they get lax.  Perhaps it is just laziness or a more following the example of others not doing it that makes it more rampant today.

Do we need signs? A reminder campaign maybe?  Is this really not a big deal?  What do you think?  Does it make driving more dangerous or is it simply a courtesy thing?

So, my plea to all my non-readers - please use your turn signals. The driver behind you does appreciate it, or should.

Those "people"...

I often hear the sentiment "Those [country]'s people all want war or are this or that. People talk about all the people in a country as if the people of the country were doing what it is their government or fundamentalists in their country is actually doing.

But, when we hear the same about us, we say "I am an individual and I don't always agree with my government and it's actions. So, don't label me as one of those people!"

We hear it from our friends to the north - "Those Americans are all blah blah." - when what a lot of them mean to say is "The U.S. government is..." The point is that while we elect our leaders, our leaders do not do as all of us would necessarily do.

So before we label peoples of a country, think about how we don't like it when it is done to us. We are not held in high regard around the world - not due to what we as Americans do in our daily lives, but by what our bloated imperialistic leadership has done for the past four years. And remember - all the free talk you hear on the radio and TV here is not what those people hear. They hear it from their perspective. Keep that in mind when we talk about other countries. Just like there are two sides to any story in a schoolyard brawl or argument, they have their side too.

Remember this when you speak of "those Lebanese people" or "those Iranians" or "those Isrealis". Often it is the government or terrorist group and not the people who are in favor of declaring this or that decree or offensive.

All this to say - our reality is largely shaped by a media that is "on our side" and you rarely really get an objective viewpoint. Keep this in mind when you decide to label a country this or that.

debt vs no debt

An article in today's paper reports that older people, in particular, retired people are no longer paying off their mortgages, and actually living on the equity in their home - to die without a paid off home. It is an upward trend in the last 25 years or so.

The conventianal wisdom and practice was for homeowners to pay off their mortgage and be as debt free in retirement as possible. Now, that conventional wisdom is being challenged. Some economists say that this may be fine in a boom market, but if housing takes a downturn, then these older people saddled with home equity lines of credit that are tied to current short-term interest rates will not be able to easily downsize should the need arise.

My personal view on this is mixed, but I think overall, the attitude of most Americans toward debt is skewed. I don't know if I have ever had a conversation with anyone where one of their top priorities was to be debt-free. That is, other than my closest friend, who carries virtually no debt. I work amongst people my age, younger and older - and while I do not poll people about their take on debt, the ones I have spoken to do not think it is an issue - or if they do - they say they can't help it. Meanwhile, they drive newer cars, have nicer homes and live beyond their means.

Debt-free vs. being smart: The best decision I ever made was to buy a home. Of course, I am not debt-free, but the equity I have built up, especially in the recent housing boom, is a great asset. What I do with that is the key though. A lot of people think - "Great - I can now "afford" to go out and get more house or more stuff. I can now "afford" to get that $30,000 car instead of the $15,000 more practical car - I can just stuff it onto my HELOC (home equity line of credit) and have ten years to pay it off. (I think 10 years is a common factor in HELOC's - at least it is with mine.) And many of those HELOC's are interest only loans, at least for a period of time.

So - they end up either with more house (do they really need it?) or more stuff and MORE DEBT. The thinking that I have is: "Do I need that $30K car?" or "Do I really NEED that nicer house?" The answer is almost always NO. But, I am in the minority.

But, here's the rub - what does it matter? I think I am better off having a mortgage, and undoubtedly, my monthly expenses for mortgage, taxes, insurance, hoa fees, etc. are more than my friend who still rents. But, my costs are reduced further by tax breaks I get each year - so my taxable income is reduced - and in the end, while my costs out of pocket are higher than my renting friend, the difference is not that great. My advantage is that when I sell, I am also going to get a lot of equity out of the sale, provided I do not go out and mortgage the full amount constantly.

That is exactly the problem with today's thinking. If, due to the rising housing market, you have 50% equity in your home now - that means you could tap into the 30% or more of equity to finance up to 80% of your home value. And the lenders make it so easy. But, in a downturn, then you are financed to such a value that any job change or if you are "forced" to sell, either to take a job in a new town or you choose to sell to get out from under your debt - you might just end up close to upside down or you won't be able to sell and ultimately the price of your home might sink to where you are upside down.

So, why not preach to keep your 50% equity? Why not take the safer route and be in the best position should you need to get out. Then if the real estate market tanks - and you have to take 20% less for your house - you still have a chunk of equity and cash to play with for whatever your need is. Why? Because, all of this refinancing and cashing in on your equity is what keeps an otherwise lacklust economy humming. We seem to have more money to spend, but actually we just end up with more debt. More debt makes us more vulnerable. The prez might say we americans need to save more, but he would not discourage us from taking out the equity in our homes because he knows that is vital to keep the economy moving.

I call it playing it safe - but nowadays, they say - "Why not invest that money?" - and certainly there are strategies to do this - where you use that equity to buy rental properties or invest that money in stocks, bonds, gold, whatever - and if you get the money cheap enough, you make more on that money than having it just sit there untapped. This is riskier and takes more investment acumen than most of us lay people have. Not to say you can't learn it, but I tell you, if you want to get into real estate, fine - but if it is just part-time and you already work 40 plus hours per week, how much can you put in to learning and dealing with your new investment strategy? How many amatuers get in just to lose their shirts?

I am not saying that you should not buy a couple homes to rent out. In some markets, you can charge enough rent to have positive cash flow - but in some, you will need to lose money for a few years for rents to catch up. And as fast as the real estate market zoomed upward in many markets, it may be years before the rents can catch up - they don't go up 30-40% per year because wages cannot go up that fast.

Bottom line - I think it is a dangerous trend that people don't have a goal to live debt-free or with very low debt - and that the thinking is that debt does not matter. We are in a fairly prosperous time right now (even though we are paying a LOT more for goods and gasoline.) - but if there is a downturn, watch out. I am not predicting a big downturn, but even a subtle one could spiral out of control. Markets cycle up and down. But, once it starts and if it gets bad enough, the emotional consumers (including me) will start bailing out - and then the whole cycle down begins.

Rambling On

Rambling on.... I do this. My mind is a sea of thoughts, but unfortunately, they do not always come to the surface in an organized and cohesive way - therefore I leave my audience confused and bewildered.

Concentration: I picked up a course on CD from The Teaching Company about Argumentation at the public library. It is an interesting course so far. But, I am aware of something as I listened to the professor: I have a really hard time concentrating. When I go to a church service, I find my mind wonders while the sermon is being delivered. I have to consciously listen to what is being said - or I will just drift off into the la-la land of thought. But, if I concentrate too much, then I focus on the fact that I am concentrating on listening and end up not actually listening and absorbing what is being said.

This evidence of concentration lapses, although present for quite some time, did not occur to me that I probably suffer from some degree of ADD. Not to diagnose myself. I am certain that many others suffer from this - and only a small percentage are actually diagnosed professionally as being ADD or would be if tested. There is some normal level of this present for most of us too. The key is knowing what is normal and what is not.

So - what do I do with this piece of knowledge, this concern? I don't know.

When I am actively creating something, like my present endeavor of writing this entry, I don't notice it. But, I do notice that I have a hard time keeping in mind all the points I want to make while writing. When writing, I am afraid I will forget some point, but I don't want to stop writing and write it down, as I will then lose my train of thought of the time. I guess this warrants thinking about what to write before I sit down to write - making a list of points or topics I want to cover and in which order. This would help me lay it out more methodically and cover all the points I want to. This is as opposed to just having a general idea of what one wants to write about and then just spilling it from the brain like mental diarrhea. You just don't know when it will be an even stream or a blirted mess.

Okay - so I have successfully rambled on about my lack of concentration abilities and stream of conciousness writing about subjects and found some way to link the two. So, my question is: "Does any of this make any sense to you?"

TV News - channel surfing

Channel surfing:
1. I came across Lisa Loeb on Style. I guess she is learning how to date. News to me. She should be taken. She is a top ten in my book. Regardless, even a person of extraordinary looks like her, might not have the social graces to be a good dater. Whatever - more reality. The show, even though it might make us all feel a little more normal, it somehow debases someone I have on a pedestal.

2. Fox News: Hannity and Colmes. Someone sitting in for Colmes. Debate about some teacher in Colorado involved in a lawsuit because he let his dislike of Bush and the country out in his classroom. End of story. Commercial Break. What is advertised for Greta? Some stupid story about that tragic Holloway case. Or might I say "overblown" story about one person. And I remember about the time of Hurricane Katrina I think - that was the lead Greta had. And then two or three months later, that was still the lead. And now, months later, it is STILL THE LEAD!!!!!!!

Why don't I blow up my TV? (Why, because of interesting content that doesn't debase and fry our brains into little voyeuristic dolts who crave rehashing murder night after night after night.) Give me a break. Try some reality: Our U.S. Senate and House debating issues such as government spying, renewing the Patriot Act, confirming U.S. Supreme Court justices. The things that might get more people interested in important issues and vote the fools out when they squander and demolish our constitution. But, reality TV sells much better so people don't have to actually evaluate their existence and what our freedom really means.

Speaking of freedoms. Hannity is up in arms about this teacher taking a captive young audience in a geography class and telling them one side of the story that he happens to disagree with and thinks is harmful to the students. God forbid, it might pollute their unbiased, fertile baby minds. They might actually go out and think about important stuff. If Hannity is so worried about people adopting what their professor is telling them, then maybe he should stop his pontificating - many millions of people listen to his views every night, and don't think everything he says is without controversy - but he talks as if his views are better. If the professor has the power to change and shape their views, then Hannity certainly does to.

If a person were to only get all their information from Bill O'Reilly and Hannity, their view of the world would definitely be different than if they got a truly balanced view of the world from others in addition to them. Having one source is the danger. Hannity is acting like these kids only have one teacher, one viewpoint being presented. What is he so afraid of???? Perhaps he is afraid that many of those same students might just go out and do some research and start to beleive and act on what the prof was saying and perhaps they might go out and vote and make a change in our leadership. And perhaps some of it will take hold and instead of having all red states through the heartland, perhaps we will begin to have real diverse people who are engaged - some of them thinking the way Hannity does and some the way the prof or all the variances in between.

Yahoo! Buzz Index - Buzz Log - Malibu Mystery Races Away With Buzz

Yahoo! Buzz Index - Buzz Log - Malibu Mystery Races Away With Buzz: "Malibu Mystery Races Away With Buzz
Thursday March 02, 2006 11:00AM PT

Ferrari Crash
Wrecked Ferrari
It was a rare and exotic animal: a Ferrari Enzo, one of just 400 ever brought forth into this world. When you saw this thing coming, you didn't look away. If you wanted to own it, it cost you a cool $1 mil -- and it could earn you a whole lot of buzz."

So..... is this totally non-news in a sense? Some rich bastard, likely intoxicated wrecks his status symbol car and the whole word is gawking like a big rubber-necking event we see in city rush hours when the least little accident happens.

The guy should be jailed or at the very least his license be revoked for years. And he should have to pay damages to all the poor saps he caused to wait for the road to reopen while they cleaned up the road.

Give me a break.

Yahoo Landing Page Different in Firefox vs. I.E.

I hardly ever use internet Explorer. I am a Firefox user. But, there is this annoying issue on Yahoo Mail where the buttons to take action on an email won't work inexplicably and randomly. It is a royal pain in the ass.

SO, tonight, trying to clean up by burgeoning mail box in Firefox, I revert to I.E. after tiring of the sporadic problem.

This brings me to the cover story on YAHOO about some idiot wrecking his million dollar Ferrari Enzo on the main page of Yahoo (under Internet Explorer). The story is so stupid that I wanted to highlight a portion and do the "Blog This" thing. BUT, I am in Internet Explorer, so I can't!

So, open up Firefox, navigate to Yahoo - and the story isn't there. And furthermore, the whole page is totally different with a lot of different stories.

Maybe this is old news, I don't know - I can see a layout difference - graphics varying and such - but WTF, totally different content. I couldn't care less about some rich bastard who wrecked his Ferrari while driving recklessly (up to 162 MPH, they estimate he was going over 100MPH when he crashed on the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway.) But, I need the link and I like the "Blog This" feature of firefox. See my next post for the blog - had to go there from the link jump.

qwantz.com - dinosaur comics - February 3rd 2006

qwantz.com - dinosaur comics - February 3rd 2006

What is it with these weird blogger sites with some sort of sales pitch or theme that makes no sense? I know some of you try that "next blog" feature just to see where you end up, even though you get stuck at my site. I often run into these inane blogger accounts that seem near to being jibberish, but seem to be all over the place. Are they some bot created accounts? If so, then what is the purpose? Do people actually go to them and think - "Wow, this is cool, I better buy something from this or get information to fix my pathetic existence I call a life"?

It just doesn't make sense to me - what is the purpose???? WTF is this?

***
http://web-golf-game.blogspot.com/

Friday, February 03, 2006

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