Sunday, December 31, 2006

from a recent yahoo article

About the housing crisis, I especially like the comment about wives pressuring... there must be a great amount of economic decision making out there that seems irrational by any means, unless the pressures of partners are taken into account. It seems the naive view had been that men were showy first as competition for mates, and then as competition between men. But in an age of divorce, the competition for mates never ends... it is very hard, and maybe the most important part of marriage, to find someone you can trust, and with whom you are able enough to face facts with.


Taken from yahoo without consent... if this is illegal (it may be) please someone say something. Fair use is thin ice.

A native Midwesterner, Mr. Killelea worked in Chicago in the mid 1990s before moving to Silicon Valley in 1997 to take a job at Sun Microsystems Inc. He was excited about the $77,000 starting salary -- a 55% increase from his previous job -- until he discovered how much housing cost in California. He and his wife, Leah, rented for a few years in Palo Alto before deciding that they might find cheaper housing in Berkeley.

"We spent several months looking at open houses and bidding on properties," Mr. Killelea recalls. "We bid over the asking price, but never enough to win. On the last one, they were asking $395,000 and we bid $500,000. We got a call afterward, asking us if we wanted to raise our bid. We said, 'No.' We thought that was enough. It turned out that the house sold for $530,000."

After losing that Berkeley home, Mr. Killelea told his wife they were calling off the home-buying search. She says she wasn't thrilled. But they moved to a new rental -- their fourth in five years -- and nestled their two children into an upstairs bedroom with bunk beds.

Even though prices have come down a bit in parts of California, Mr. Killelea vows to resist the pressure to buy. Recently he mused on his Web site about why more people don't follow his example. "I get the feeling many wives are pressuring the husbands to buy," he wrote. "I know it's not politically correct to say so, but I think a lot of irrational purchases are driven by female nesting instincts."

Mr. Killelea says his wife has been "very understanding" about his refusal to buy at today's prices: "She can do the math, too."

But Ms. Killelea seems more open to the idea of homeownership. "We haven't really talked yet about when we'd want to start looking again," she says. "I think we're going to need to discuss that."

Monday, December 18, 2006

Thank You

Thanks to the folks at PSE for bringing electricity back to our home.
After 72 hours in the dark (a whole weekend), I think I can gladly say how nice it is to have power.

Thanks to Monty for pointing out the black widow whose nest I was disturbing, strange to see an egg sack on a cable in an electronic enclosure.

As always, thanks to the CHP for pulling over the other guy. Nice to see you, hate to meet you.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

End to Work

Well, we finally got the house in a bearable condition. Our bed is back in the bedroom, the walls are painted, the floors are in, the edging has gone up on the ceilings, and we even put garlands in the living room.

We threw a party, expecting between a dozen and twenty guests. Many called to say they couldn't come, and many more just didn't come. It was a fine time, for the five guests we had. Bacon wrapped apricots, bacon wrapped asparagus and horseradish sauce, and bacon wrapped sausage with bread crumbs. There were bacon wrapped blt's (cherry tomatoes), and cheeses, crackers, and salad. There are quite a few empty bottles of wine, and we all had a good time. I passed out too early, and missed some of the fun.

I will be in and out of town all week. Hopefully the warmth of sunny California will do me well.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Electric Orange from ING

I am a little wary of innovation, but as I am a little hungry for interest on my checking, I am pleased to find that ING Direct has come out with a no paper checking account. I don't know how confident I feel about the inability to order checks, but I have funded an account and look forward to switching completely within 6 months.

On the plus side, a 3.00% apr on checking seems like a steal. I can't wait to send a paper check through a web page. I have been a financial luddite, but this is easy and straightforward enough that I couldn't resist. And to announce it on payday! A double success.

Also, the fine folks there have increased the savings yield to 4.5%. What's your money doing for you?