Other issues with the lender laws changing..

Will any lender be able to give a 50 or 55 yr old anything but a 10-15 yr mortgage? Anything beyond that, they may sue and say it doesn't meet their retirement goals. So, I wonder if this will just give the lawyers more money and have all the lenders make you sign things that you understand what you are doing....or will the lenders reject certain people like the 50 to 55 yr old who wants to buy a new house. It sure will be interesting...

Raleigh, #1 city for jobs

Congratulations Raleigh...Forbes has released their annual best cities for jobs and Best first jobs for college grads They name Raleigh the #1 city for jobs and, my job, Software Engineer/Developer the #5 job. Awesome!

Lender (mortgage) laws reworked -- The mortgage nanny

Have I gone liberal? I read this article today and I am so glad that the Democrats are looking to rework the lending laws. This is great...but does it mean I have gone liberal?

Primarily, this bill will put responsibility on the lender to ensure the loan they are giving is suitable for the people. Normally I would disagree with a bill like this. Mainly, I would have, in the past, disagreed with this for two reasons:
1) I don't want the government interfering with private business with more laws.
2) This seems to open up for more potential lawsuits, which means we will all pay it in our mortgages.

Now, first let me say my mother was in the mortgage business for about 10 out of the last 11 years. So, nothing personal against the people...but the majority of mortgage brokers are all about one of two things:
1) Making as much money off people as possible.
2) Helping create an ownership society, where people can own a home instead of rent.

That may sound overly simplistic...but I honestly believe that is it. If a mortgage broker is in the latter category, they surprisingly align with many conservative values. Conservatives are about an ownership society...letting people have the money and developer wealth on an individual basis. If they are helping people, this won't be a burden to those people.

I believe that the majority of the mortgage brokers are in the first category...how can I make the most money off people. I have been appalled by stories from friends lately of what people are offered. Here are some examples:
- A friend was offered an 80/15 fixed/adjustable mortgage for 6/8% APR...when that fell through, the broker magically found a much better alternative... a 80/15 fixed/fixed for 6/7% APR. If you don't know what these mean, feel free to write me and I will clear it up.
- Another friend closed on a house a month later with a 75/20 fixed/adjustable for 6/9%. Why 75% and 20% instead of 80%/15%?? The only thing I can figure is the mortgage person found a way to make more money.
- Another friend thought they were getting their dream home....but after they closed on an interest only mortgage and can't afford to pay principal...they realized they all they can do is hope the house prices in the area go up.

I have noticed other tricks the more my friends by homes. One lender, Bank of America, is offering a 100% mortgage at 3/4 of a point over the going 30 yr rate...which means instead of paying PMI or a split mortgage until 20% is paid off...they will pay that 3/4 point for 30 yrs or until they refinance. How is that justice? Their monthly payment is lower...but the overall life of the mortgage is higher.

The bottom line is, as I see it as a late 20s guy whose friends come to him for financial advice from time to time...a lot of my friends have been or are potentially getting fleeced by the lending industry. This is not creating an ownership society.

So, back to my original question...am I becoming liberal? No, I don't believe I am. Like it or not, people are not well informed enough to know how the lending industry works and the lending industry does it on purpose. I support the current lawmakers making the government a bit bigger in this particular case because I believe that these laws may allow people to save and own more in the long run....and thats important to me so that when my generation is old, my daughter doesn't need to pay high taxes in order to support my generation which is blowing all of their money and won't have enough money or own enough later in life.

Social Security doesn't follow the CPI?

I decided to hunt for the changes to the social security amounts today and was intrugued to see that the amount at which you stop paying social security (for an individual mind you) is at now at $94,200 whereas it was at $90,000 last year. Thats just over a 4.6% increase year over year. Also, the amount an individual must pay for 1 work credit went from $920 to $970. Thats a 5.4% increase. Why don't these things follow the Consumer price index(CPI), also known as the inflation rate? They are never that high. My two thoughts as to the reasons are:
1) It wasn't indexed previously and now they are making up ground.
2) Its a means to make up for the under-funded future of Social Security. The 4.6% is higher to get more money from the rich and the 5.4% is higher to pay less out in the long run....thus allowing SS to be funded longer.

Here is the referenced government article on SS rates.

My favorite political statements yet

I hear these two things from Democrats on the news:
1. "President Bush tricked us into going into Iraq by saying they had WMDs" I assume this is from the MANY Democrats which supported going into Iraq.

2. "President Bush is dumb." I heard this the other night on O'Reilly factor from a prominent democrat.

Ok, so if a "dumb" guy "tricked" you...what does that make you? Ha!

I disagree with both of these statements. I think the evidence supported the Iraq war and everyone was fooled by incorrect evidence. I don't think it was Bush's fault. And, anyone that can win 2 presidential elections...isn't dumb. He seems quite intelligent to me. I do think he is a poor public speaker compared to some politicians...but he is better than me...so I have no room to talk.

Back in shape

With the goal to get back in shape, I am working out a lot again. A couple of observations:
1) Every year you wait it gets tougher.
2) My definition of "in shape" is different than it used to be.
3) I need to not stop again...

First, every year it gets tougher. Its true..your body just can't recover from muscle pulls, cramps, and just from the overall stress of working out. I remember when i started working out again after about a 3 yr hiatis (sp?) when I was 21. In 2 weeks, I was on my my way. Now that I am 27 and have had a 3 yr hiatis again, I am still struggling to get a second set of any muscle group in. The wall is a lot closer.

The other thing is my definition of in shape has definitely changed. It used to be, "muscles, muscles, muscles." And, I had them. But now, whether it is my age, maturity, or fact I have a wife and a kid on the way, the bigger concentration is now "cardio, cardio, muscles." Why cardio? Well, for me its not so much about losing weight, although that would be nice. For me its about health. I am a big built guy, always have been and as far as I can figure it, always will be. Even in my worst shape, I had to wear "athletic cut" suit/tux jackets because my shoulders were so much bigger than my gut. While my frame/bone structure can handle me being bigger, the reality for me is that my heart may not be able to. I need to keep it in shape.

Finally, I need to keep the momentum going and not stop. This has been painful and every time I do it it gets worse. I need to keep going...and hopefully, Lord willing, I will be able to.

Getting closer

Well..we are within 3 weeks of the baby's due date...Everything was progressing well as of our doctor's apptmt Friday...we are ready for the little one to come bless our life :-) We had our second and final baby shower on Saturday in Heather's hometown, Burlington. I spent the afternoon with Heather's dad and had some great conversations and watched football. We got a lot of wonderful gifts at all of our showers. I think the majority of the gifts were clothes. Heather and I shouldn't have to buy clothes for the first 6 months. :-)

On Saturday, our neighborhood had a yard sale. Typically they are well attended, but Saturday was cold (high of 60) and misty all day, so not a lot of people came by. We did sell $25 worth of stuff we didn't want and gave away a lot more! :-) I am going to spend some time on Craigslist trying to give away some of the other stuff. We need to get it out of the house!

Bad news in Apex

If you have seen the news this morning, there was a large fire at a hazardous waste plant in Apex. Here it is on fox news. I am slightly worried about it all for my coworkers. A lot of my coworkers are in Apex since it is about as close to our work as I am. Here is a map of my work (NorthWest on this map), Apex (SouthWest), and my home (NorthEast):

Personally, we aren't downwind of Apex..so I am not too worried for my house...but this affects people I know and care about as well as the local environment. :-( Keep Apex in your prayers today.

Awesome dilbert

This is hilarious. What, my coworker has a life outside of work? who knew?

How much is popularity of football teams affected by Superbowls?

Check out this page from Google Trends showing the differences in searches and news from teams. I picked the Steelers, Cowboys, Patriots, Redskins, and Seahawks. Popular teams today, and watch how much the Superbowl spike effects things...or the TO hype in Dallas. Pretty cool.

The other thing to check out is the difference between the Superbowl winner and loser, Steelers vs Seahawks.

baby craziness

Well, we are 6 weeks away from when my life is scheduled to be flipped upside down. People are beginning to send us gifts as Heather has her first baby shower soon. Thats a huge blessing and has me less worried about all this stuff we have to buy. We have the swing, a rocker, and a high chair out for Cassie to start to get used to it.

Heather and I finished the 5 birth classes and 1 breastfeeding course. We are signing up for an Infant CPR course that is happening at our Y next Tuesday. Then, the following week we have a free class from the Family Paws folks on how to train our dog to deal with a new baby. I am excited about both of those classes...but I guess I feel more ready now overall.

Sorry I haven't updated this in a couple weeks, we have been stormed with stuff to do.

To DirectTV, or not to DirectTV

I have been recently again angered by the NFL. I am a huge NFL fan, but do not have DirectTV so I can't get NFL Sunday Ticket and now for now, Time Warner Cable does not offer the NFL Network...so there goes another NFL.

Reasons to go DirectTV:
1) NFL Sunday Ticket is exclusive to DirectTV.

Reasons not to go DirectTV:
1) They don't have low profile receivers or CableCards...which means my LCD TV would need a BIG KLUNKY receiver...or the BIGGER KLUNKY receiver with a hard drive aka a DVR.
2) They still expect you to have a phone line, which means I have to wire a phone line.
3) Dishes on the roof don't help make a house look attractive.
4) I'd have to pay for HD in each room, I get HD for free with the TWC basic package now.

Also, they don't let you purchase NFL Sunday Ticket without a full package, monopolistic jerks. Since I am paying for cable already, I guess I can deal with this for now.

Yea, I will admit the only thing stopping me is #1 up there...if they fix that, I would probably go to direct TV. But, for now, I am waiting for IPTV to take off.

The Primantis sandwich

Looking through the hard drive at old pictures, I found an old shot of a primantis sandwich. Check this out:


In case you are wondering, we are talking about good old fries and slaw on a deli style sandwich..thats quality Pittsburgh style. I miss Primantis so much this picture makes me hungry :-)

Finally bought a car seat/stroller

We debated which car seat and stroller a bit, and in the end we had decided on buying a Peg Perego..because we heard its the safest. We ordered the one we wanted at 10% off...still $475...and then it wasn't coming in for a month..so we cancelled that order and somehow went back to the drawing board. Not that the original price at $530 was that much more, but man its a lot. So, we decided to go back to the drawing board, look again at the metro lite. As I researched it, the I saw a lot of nice reports on the Chicco Flex Lock as well. So, we were going to look at the Graco MetroLite, the Chicco Cortina, and the Peg Perego P3/Viaggo SIP again. Man, we didn't realize how heavy that PP was compared to some of the others. We really liked the Chicco and the features that the Babies R Us employee ran through, won us over. So, we finally have one. It is here...and we saved $250 from the PP :-)

Birth classes

So, we are taking birth classes at Rex wednesday nights. Its very interesting, I have learned a lot. Our birth class teacher is all about "optimal fetal positioning" which is basically getting the mothers pelvis in the right direction to help the baby pop out more easily. Its interesting, but she is pushing that doll through the pelvis a lot...so much I dreamt about it last night. Whew...

One of the other things last night is that she told the men they can do as much as they want in the delivery room as they want to. Specifically, that the nurses would allow you to help go fetch ice chips, blankets, etc. Meanwhile, in the back of my mind is what my cousin Ken told me...he just sat there and the professionals handled it all. I think I am going to sit back and enjoy the experience, let the professionals handle the rest.

Steelers tickets!!!!!

So, I am so pumped. I used some of my patent money to get a pair of Steelers tickets for John and I for the game when they play the Carolina Panthers down here in Charlotte on December 17. I picked up a pair of tickets from ebay in row 11 of section 230. Section 230 is right behind the goal posts:


Hopefully, this will be high enough to get a good view. Here is a small image of the view from there from seatdata.com:


Next, I ordered my favorite player's super bowl replica jersey. Here is what it looks like:


Yea...I am excited. Go Steelers!!!!

Coke in a bottle

There is just something about an ice cold Coke in a bottle. Heather got these 8 oz bottles of Coke in a bottle the other day...there is just something that makes that Coke test better. Maybe its the painted label on the glass, the cold condensation off the bottle, or the perfectly round cold drinking spout also known as the bottle top. I haven't enjoyed 8 oz of any beverage so much in quite some time.

What do you do with caught suicide bombers?

I have been wondering, what do you do with caught suicide bombers. But, I wonder how our courts would handle it. They never actually killed anyone, so they may not get the death sentence. But, I don't see how time in prison will make them want to blow themselves up and kill a bunch of normal civilians any less. I personally think being sentenced to death lets them be martyred...so they will be happy and the world will be safer.

Fidelity adds a bunch of jobs to Raleigh/RTP area

Fidelity just announced adding 2000 jobs to the RTP area and buying a 268 acre campus in RTP. To do this, they got a package worth almost $70 million. Here is some of the coverage:
News and Observer
WRAL video coverage

Cool stuff. The disclaimer is that my wife does work for Fidelity...and I personally think the company is just about the best employer around. :-)

Steelers sadness

So, in case you didn't know, I am from Pittsburgh which means I bleed black and gold. Steelers will play the Panthers in Charlotte this season...and won't play them again in Charlotte til 2014. I failed to get tickets early...I tried to get early tickets and tried to get tickets when they went on sale Saturday and I could again. Its sad...so now the question is whether to buy tickets at $400...hmmm...