Monday, December 12, 2011

Fed nearing a plan to clarify direction of rates - Yahoo! News




http://news.yahoo.com/fed-nearing-plan-clarify-direction-rates-080201555.html
The Federal Reserve under Ben Bernanke has gone further than ever to explain its policies to the public. It's ready to go further still.
Read the full story                                                                                        

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Fall fell and now winter is creeping in

I don't like waking up in the dark and going home in the dark. I can't wait for December 21st because then I know the days will be getting longer until June.

Ever since I got back from my vacation, it's been work-work-work. I took a half day off to get a recall notice taken care of on my car, but that was it. My supervisor took off to Oregon for Thanksgiving, so I worked her desk as well as mine. And I was appointed the Treasurer of my HOA and I'm not liking it so much. A few years ago, I used to be the Secretary, but I resigned because I got tired of listening to eveyones complaints. Now, I have to listen to the president complain. And I don't have the information I need to do the job. I half repaired the doors in the laundry rooms, the demo anyway. They were both kicked in due to vandalism I don't know when.  I also changed the locks on the storage rooms. Now that it's December, I'm preparing for a MERS annual audit at work. And after working at the CU for 2 years, I finally got connected with someone from the ride share website. We met up on Friday for a few minutes to talk. She works in the building in front of mine and we park in the same structure. Traveling in the HOV lanes for my commute starts tomorrow.

And then Friday rolls around and at the end of the day, I was so busy, I didn't even see the meeting notice my supervisor sent out. She announced she's leaving as of the 14th. All I could do was smile and kid with her like I was going to cry but I wasn't. She already talked to me about her moving to Oregon with her daughter so I wasn't that surprised about her decision. Now, it's just a wait and see what my manager wants to do. The company is in a holding pattern prior to a merger. This could go many different ways.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

2011 LA Auto Show

I went to the 2011 LA Auto Show. I got fee tickets while I was at Guaranty Chevrolet getting some recall work done on my new car.

There were about a handful of Hot Wheels inspired cars at the show this year. This green Camero with the custom paint job caught my attention.






You rarely see brown Mini Coopers.












This is the Chevy Cruze - stylized for racing.












This is the 2012 Chevy Cruze - street legal version.












This is the European version of the Chevy Spark. It comes is cute colors like this blue or the lime in the background.










This is a head on view of the Chevy Spark in champagne color. Such an aggressive look for a commuter car!











Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Vacation day 14, October 21st



It's Friday and I'm going to have a full day at DisneyWorld today. I'm getting better situated with what attractions are where finally by using this map:

At 7AM, I was toying with the idea of going off site for breakfast, but I really don't want to hop into my car until it's time to go tomorrow morning.

I ended up skipping breakfast and buying a lunch of fried shrimp with fries and a large light lemonade. Then I made my way over to the other side of Epcot.

On the schedule today, The Orchestra ( http://www.theorchestra.net/ ) starring former members of ELO (Parthenon Huxley [in a black "former member" tee-shirt on guitar and Mik Kaminski on violin) were performing as a part of the "Eat to the Beat" series at the American... They played for exactly 30 minutes.


Set List:

Don't bring me down
Can't get it out of my head
Tightrope
Hold on tight
Telephone Line
Do Ya

Seeing that performance pretty much was the 'cherry on top' to my entire trip.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Vacation day 13, October 20th

Yeah, I'm on my way to Disneyworld today. Now my real vacation begins.

Stewart International Airport doesn't seem very international at all and it's actually very quiet at 7AM in the morning. I had no idea what the traffic would be like or how busy the airport would be. I just got up and got ready, packed up my things and got on the road as quick as I could. Stewart Airport is 17 miles from where I was staying in Fishkill. Of course, it was raining almost all the way there. I'm done with the NY rain.

O.K., the drop off for the Hertz rental I've had for he past 13 days is weird at the airport. The way this is set-up is one of the reasons why it feels like it's not an actual international airport but more of a regional one. It's on your honor. Shocking, huh. I know I was. You find a marked space to park your car and then get your stuff out and mark the envelope with the date and time you brought it back and the mileage and the gas tank reading, too. Then you lock the car taking the keys and your rental paperwork with you and walk into the terminal with your stuff to the Hertz counter where there is no one manning the thing at 7AM. All that they have there is an early drop-off box that tells you to put your paper work and your keys in the box. Done.

Since I was able to print out my tickets last night and check in online, I didn't have to do that at the counter. So now I had to go find the TSA line. And typically, I'm looking for this long line of bleary eyed people and grumbly TSA folk barking orders to get you though as fast as possible. But again, at 7AM, no line. I went through by myself with no one before me or after me. I was thinking that maybe I'm in some Twilight Zone or the wrong airport, but nope. I found my gate and sat there until it was time to board.

Seat 12F was a much better choice than 9A which was designed not to recline. So everyone got onto the plane and we waited. And we waited. And then the captain announced that his maps were expired and he was waiting for the new ones and I guess there was a printer problem on top of it. We waited on the tarmac for an hour and a half. So our 3 hour flight which was supposed to land at 11-something AM went to 1-something.

Orlando Airport is huge. On the level where you leave the gate area but before you get on the tram, it looks like a freakin' mall. There was even an ad that said they hold church serves there.  Thrifty rent-a-car held my car reservation for me knowing my flight was delayed. That was nice. They do not have cars with GPS. That was not so nice. And the map that they give you is crap.

So I used the navigation on my cellphone to get to the Dolphin Resort.
This place is huge. They give you a map at the front desk when you check in order to navigate the place. All I know is after I got to my room and settled in a little, my stomach was growling. I had toast this morning for breakfast, and water and some blue terra chips on the plane.

I went down to the first floor and found a small buffet/store called Picabu which has a lot of bird chirps and elephant sounds on a loop to greet you as you walk in.

I ate the chicken dinner, rice and greens. It was about the only thing on their menu that didn't have dairy in it.

I still have 2 and a half hours before the park closes and that's right before the Illusions Fireworks show.
*****************************
O.K., so I was able to pick up my prepaid two day park hopper ticket using my voucher, walk around a bit, find the nearest women's restroom from my entrance gate with a line, and then I walked to the center of the park where the sphere is to go on a ride called "Spaceship Earth". How do I explain this attraction... It's states that through time, communication through the written word and then on computers has been the driving force that is propelling us towards our future. It's depicted through stages, some with animetronics and some not so much. At the end, it inserts a photo of your disembodied head into a future based cartoon based upon a brief questionnaire of your likes and dislikes. And then after the ride was over, I wondered to the pin station and bought an officially licensed Epcot pin.

People start to sit down an hour before the fireworks. Yep, that's DisneyWorld for ya. It occurrs at the California park, too.

I'm falling asleep here at the keyboard. It's time for me to sleep. The park opens at 9AM tomorrow. Woohoo!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Vacation day 12, October 19th

Wednesday, October 19th at 11AM was the designate day of the memorial.

In attendance:
Aunt Jane Metrando
Aunt Tressa Spoor
Uncle Frank Spoor
Aunt Grace Staub
Cousin Barbara McCann
Cousin Cate Schmidt
Catherine Hall


I planned it months ahead of time, but just hours before I was working on the final draft of the eulogy.

It was another rainy day in the Hudson River Valley. The company in charge of the burial said that if it was raining, they would erect a tent for us, no charge. For the money that I've had to spend on this whole damn thing, that was the least they could do. I paid for out of my pocket the headstone, the urn vault, the urn, the service and the cremation back last December in El Cajon. The remains stayed in the original package on my shelf since I brought them home, but I had to pay for the shipping on those, too. Why you ask I didn't take them with my as carry-on when I flew? Here's why. My friend at work told me about how a mutual friend of ours took the cremated remains of his dear relative with him on a plane and said TSA did an extra special screening picked through the ashes by hand. I didn't want to go through the indignity, so I shipped them with a copy of the cremation certificate.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Vacation day 9, October 16th

On Sunday, October 16th, I was invited to dinner at my cousin Chrissy's house in Pine Island, NY. Actually, I was invited over Facebook chat on Saturday night for Sunday dinner. So I wouldn't feel like a total freeloader, I offered to bring an apple pie. I remembered reading that they baked them fresh at the Overlook Farm and that was on the way. Actually, I went early and bought the pie and some Honeycrisp apples for myself. The lady at the counter was great - friendly and chatty.

On the map, the drive didn't seem all that far, but once I went past the airport, it seemed like it would never end. In actuality, they live quite close to the New Jersey border.

The farm land around them was filled with onions in the gutters left over from the high water hurricane damage that occurred in that area.

I got my meet my cousin Don as an adult for the first time and his wife Alice, who is a self proclaimed Disney nut. I also got to meet Chrissy's husband Brian and their kids Samantha, Ben, and Cora. They made meatloaf, corn, and mash potatoes. The meatloaf was good. Below is a photo of me and my cousin Don. I think he looks a lot like brother Kris.

 I think it's kind of weird that they all work for the school district in one capacity or another.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Vacation day 8, October 15th

I drove to Watertown, CT, for some unfruitful genealogy work. It, again, was raining on and off all day. I took my umbrella with me. I found the Old Watertown Cemetery and the entrance is at the back of the lot. All of the streets that surround the cemetery was painted red, so parking was difficult. There is one spot for guest parking at the apartments next door and I took that up and then went for a walk into and around the grounds.


My thinking was that if this was the oldest cemetery in Watertown and it was written that Gershom Fulford passed in Watertown, then I might be able to find his headstone so that's why I went. The list of names is not available at the cemetery anymore. I wondered about in the rain searching for the oldest stones, but to no avail.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Vacation day 7, October 14th

Friday, October 14th, I had an appointment at 3PM to meet with Bill from Kol-Rocklea at his shop to examine the urn vault and the urn I had purchased online from a company in Colorado and had shipped to him in Red Hook. I also had to pay for the service. To spare myself the pain of having to deal with TSA and having then perform a physical examination of my mother's remains before I could board the plane, I shipped those to Bill, too, the night before I left for Seattle.

It was a rainy day on and off all day just as forecasted. I left my hotel in Fishkill early to do something touristy before my somber appointment.

On the way, traveling north on Interstate 9E, in Hyde Park, there is the FDR Presidential Museum, Library and his former residence/family compound. You can only view the interiors of the home if you participate in a decent lead tour which costs $14. The grounds are beautiful. Full of trees, vast areas of open space and decent parking. In the large green space in front of the reception area of the park, there were Canadian Geese doing what birds do. It was a change for me to see them instead of seagulls, pigeons, mallards or the random crane like in California.  Anyway, there is some major renovations going on and so... I didn't think I got my money's worth out of the visit.

To the right is a photo of the sign on the path that takes you to the Presidential Library. Note the construction. The contents of entire library was moved to the Bush Presidential Library in Texas while the renovation is taking place. Nothing much to see here today. Moving on...
This photo is of three busts on the grounds between the visitor's center and the residence. If you like photography, you might find this angle somewhat odd, but that was because I wanted a natural setting in the background instead of more the signs of construction - heavy equipment, roll away refuse containers, etc.
As it was 11:30AM when I arrived, I was the last to join the tour group. I was dressed nice for my appointment with my leather jacket to try and stay dry and out of the rain. The humidity was up and it finally did me in after standing around inside listening to the decent in the FDR residence. It has no air circulating inside because of it's preservation efforts. I was hyperventilating and had to excuse myself from the tour. And then, while sitting upon a park bench trying to catch my breathe, I took this photo in between the sprinkling rain and other tourists roaming around on the grounds. I think it's gorgeous. I would love to visit again when all of the renovations are complete.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Vacation day 6, October 13th

It's Thursday, October 13th and I decided it would be remiss if I didn't do something foodie today. After all, I'm in Hudson Valley. I decided to drive to Red Hook to see how long it would take from the hotel and see if I could find the Feller grounds. The drive into Red Hook is on the 9 East (side of the Hudson River and not a toll road ) going North through Wappinger Falls, Poughkeepsie, Hyde Park, Rhinebeck, and then finally Red Hook. I located the memorial company that's been helping me with arrangements first, not that far away from the church yard where the cemetery is located. I tried to find the Fulford headstone, but the place is huge with rolling hills. The drive takes about an hour one way. Further north outside of the town, I found Kerley's Corners, but after traveling all the way to Trivoli on one end and horse ranches on the other, I gave up. I'm going to need a local historian's help on this. I went to Gigi's Market and bought some fancy chicken sausage with rosemary and sundried tomatoes. I made the entire package of 4 for dinner but only ended up eating 2. They were good. The farm's website where they came from said that the flavor I picked was it's most popular.

Vacation day 5, October 12th

It's Wednesday and I decided it's laundry day. I found the laundry room on the first floor of the Homestead Suites where I'm staying, but with the drier fee of $2 alone, I think I'll take my chances washing elsewhere. As I was getting ready to leave, I opened up the yellow pages I found in the top drawer of my kitchen and located a few in my area. The closest one travel wench couldn't find on Commonwealth. But I remembered from reading, that there were three in Newburgh, so I traveled over the Hudson not exactly knowing where I was going but with the goal of finding a laundrymat. I somehow made my way to Broadway. I found Snow White Laundrymat, but it was rusty, old, and had no vending machines for soap and dryer sheets. After my quick audit, I hopped back into my car and went to the next one. I found Newburgh Laundry World off of he corner of Fullerton and Broadway. *ting* tha will do. It was huge and had everything I needed complete with a Spanish speaking attendant. It was $2.50 to wash in the small commercial front loading machine. They had no top loaders. To dry, it was .25 cents for 8 minutes. I put in 4 quarters and waited. Once all of the folding was done, I decided to drive to the end of Broadway straight into the Hudson. Not really, but as I went towards the river, I found another historic marker and this one was about General George Washington. My son is related to him. Fancy. I have to check that out, but first I have to get back to the hotel for lunch. And then I never sent back. Yet. Here's the link to what I found on my excursion: http://www.nysparks.com/historic-sites/17/details.aspx

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Vacation day 4, October 11th

Tuesday, October 11th. This was a lazy travel day as I had two more hours to get to my destination in Fishkill, NY I checked out of the Marriott in Waterbury and on my way out of town I tried to get lost, but Travel Wench would not allow me to do so. I drove toward the bell, but I think my hearing was off because instead I found a large gothic looking church.I crossed a river and then was on my way again. I realized I did not pack my transfer cable for my camera by this time after taking pictures of and around city hall. There was a traffic jam due to road work in Connecticut on my way into New York. I had to laugh. It was Tuesday afternoon. Is this someone's way of telling me I still have work to do? I don't know. I decided on contacting the city historian to get the details on the headstones in the park. I wasn't expecting a reply with all of the budget cuts, but I got one and she even gave me a clue as to where to look further. After passing the large green "Welcome to New York" sign along Interstate 84W, it was smooth sailing down the road. I pulled over at the first rest stop I could find for a drink and I found this sign:
After I checked into my hotel room a rested for awhile and decided I needed provisions for my stay. I drove myself to the 24/7 Super Walmart on the other side of the highway. I ended up spending about $100. So a little over $10 a day on 2-3 meals a day.
Shopping list:
English breakfast tea (because the hotel only serves coffee)
ginger ale, 2 liter
orange juice, half gallon
silk soy milk, vanilla flavored half gallon
lenders bagels
rye bread
turkey lunch meat
frozen chicken strips
4 bell peppers
one red onion
4 bananas
6 roma tomatos
tub of Best Life spread
morton salt & pepper
tiny bottle of musard
a dozen eggs
two boxes of Oscar Meyer cooked bacon
a steam bag of peas
a steam bag of broccoli
sugar free jello six pack
kettle pop corn bag
pringles original
transfer cable

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Vacation day 3, October 10th

It's Columbus Day! Yeah!

I'm up early again. I decided to partake in the free breakfast that's offered at this hotel. It's served in the breakfast room across the hall from the check-in counter.

It's a meatless breakfast. You can make your own waffles, they have biscuits and gravy, bagels, danish, yogurt and fruit cups, oatmeal, two choices of cold cereal and 2%, coffee, tea and juice. I was able to pull together a meal of a couple pieces of wheat toast with spread and apple jelly, a fruit cup and to drink a cup of coffee with three sugars, no creamer and a half a cup of orange juice.

I grabbed an apple for the road.I also picked up a hotel directory and a brochure for the Mohegan Sun Indian Casino in the lobby on the way up to my room.

So the goal today was get to Waterbury, CT, because, hey, I screwed up the hotel reservations in Fishkill, NY and shorted myself one day because I honestly did not know how long it would take to get from Brockton, MA. Guess, what? It takes four hours. So, I somehow found the nearest hotel, Courtyard by Marriott, to this place called Library Park that, so I was told, had headstones in it. Possibly a Fulford headstone in the park of this guy:

Name       Lt. Gershom Fulford, F416, M
Birth Date      1701
Birth Place     of Waterbury, New Haven Co., Connecticut
Death Date      7 Jan 1790 Age: 89
Death Place     Watertown, New Haven Co., Connecticut
Occupation      Blacksmith
Flags           Military
Father          Abraham Fulford , M (~1675-)
Mother          Phebe Clark , F (1675-1717)

Yep, that's one of my ancestors, my 6th great grandfather. He was a Lieutenant and fought in the French and Indian War from 1754 to 1763. But since it's a federal holiday, everything in the downtown area is closed. I took a walk to the park where the headstones are supposed to be, but I honestly think they are not there anymore. there were some knuckleheads along the wall I was supposed to look at, but I'm thinking the stones were move or removed due to their deterioration.

I located a German Fine dining restaurant at Dreschers but I was devastated to learn they are not open for dinner on Mondays.

I thought I was going to go on the hunt for my 6th great grandfather in the biggest library I can find in Waterbury while I'm here before driving the last two hours to Fishkill, but decided on doing more online research instead. On the city's website, it named someone from the Silas Bronson Library as he city historian. I've decided to contact her.

My Aunt Tressa called last night to tell me that my cousin Debbie just had a baby and that I should visit her in LaGrange since she's off work. More family time. Yeah!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Vacation day 2, Oct 9th

Vacation day 2, Oct 9th:

I took my time getting up and getting acclimated to the time change before driving down to New Bedford to meet my cousin Debra, her boyfriend Ed and her kids Chelsea and Brittany. Debra is a ministry assistant and I'm not churchy, so I didn't want to impede on her Sunday too much. The kids, who are actually college age, were working at iparty.com at the South Dartmouth Mall. iparty happens to be the east coast competition/equivalent to Party City. We sat and talked and watched football. We have so much in common as people but not so much in life experiences.


I can't say that it's an interesting fact that many of the men on the Stutz side of the family are estranged, but it is noteworthy. More and more I'm thinking that is has to do with a strong sense of French heritage. C'est La Vie. But that'a just my theory.

Debbie took me to St Mary's Cemetery in New Bedford where my grandmother was buried, but we couldn't locate the headstone. I'm not surprised. She hasn't been back in two years since the funeral. We then drove to 270 Shaw Street, the childhood home of Bernie. It's a two unit property. All of them on that street are. Then Debbie took me to see Dorothy Aguiar at 330 Query Sreet. She's 76 years old and still lives in her family home, though her parents has long sense pasted away. She's pretty deaf, but still talks. Everyone says she's a little off. Her front door was plastered with bumper stickers. Ed lives in the area so he sees her frequently walking around the neighborhood.

We came back to Debbie's house, said our good-byes to Ed and then took off to pick-up her daughters from work. After, Debbie took all of us to dinner at Friendlys. Debbie is on a high protein diet and mine is non-dairy so I struggled but found a dish I could eat Teriyaki chicken stir fry.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Vacation day 1, Oct 8th

Day one of my vacation started at 4AM to wake up and get ready to meet up with the shuttle service, Primetime. I packed the night before and it took so long, I really had only a nap instead of a full night's sleep which for me would be a whopping 6 hours. It's nice that not long after my alarm went off, then my cell phone was ringing and it was the automated wake-up call from the shuttle telling me they will be there to pick me up in 75 minutes. I took a shower. I was anxious. Knowing that there was rain in the forecast, but the weather would be mostly OK, I wanted to take an umbrella but not my raincoat because I thought that would be just too hot for the trip and hard to store if I didn't end up using it. My umbrella was toast - the end cap was missing, so I took my son's and my leather jacket. Before I stepped out of the house, I fixed the hole I made 3 years ago at work in the jacket on the lower right side, finally, with crazy glue. I went through my purse again to make sure there was nothing in it that wouldn't go through the TSA security checkpoint easily and had to put my lipstick and Vaseline in the quart baggie for inspection. OK, I'm ready and waiting on my side street to go. It's 5AM. My neighborhood is a mass of humanity with all of the apartments and if I stand outside your front door, I'll see the ebb and flow of the neighborhood. There were two men standing on the overpass before the bus stop waiting for a ride, but I don't remember the bus coming or maybe their ride never showed up, but I was still waiting for the shuttle service when they were walking home chatting in Spanish. I wanted to ask, "No trabajo al dia?", but did not want to shout it from across the street in the dead of morning. I shuttle called my cell home again this time to tell me that they are on my corner and I instructed him to turn right - I can see the van. I rode with other travelers to the airport to begin an adventure. There was one other bleary eyed woman from Foothill Ranch, a city further south than mine, on the trip to Long Beach Airport (LBA) with me. There was no traffic so we got there on time. I know it's early and you'd expect that there is no traffic, but frequently there has been many overnight freeway closures for road repair and it jams up because of this fact. No such thing on he 405 north traveling to the airport though. It's nice that the drop-off point was at the front of the terminal. I executed an electronic check-in with Jet Blue online the night before so I was able to walk right past the counter and straight to the security checkpoint for TSA screening, which was in a portable trailer. This airport is old and under construction. They way it's set-up now reminds me of how Ontario was in the early 90's... full of portables disguised as gates that lead you right out onto the tarmac. I went though security without a hitch. I wore my favorite pull on city pants from New York and Company, black silk knitted polo and my DKNY flip flops with the 'shape-ups' sole. Thinking about all of the walking I'd be doing, I thought they would be good for the trip, but especially at Disneyworld, because those shoes are nice and cushy. TSA informed me that the laptop must be placed into a tray on it's own, everything else you strip off of your person can go in a second tray... jacket, keys, purse, shoes, yes they are still x-raying those, and your quart baggie with any liquids your traveling with. There was a buzz at the Jet Blue gate about going to Utah for a football game. Others were going to Reno via Utah. I was flying to Boston via Seattle. Our gate assignment was changed. They, Jet Blue staff, walked us outside to the other gate where we waited until it was time to board. The ramps are ghetto, but ramps none the less. They are old and kind of rickety and kind of steep. They are lined with grit, but I felt like I was sliding backward in my flip flops getting up to the plane. About my seat assignment... row 9 is between other rows people pay an extra $35 to get for extra legroom. Now I'm 5'1", so I don't take up much space, but if I knew in advance that the seat wouldn't recline, I wouldn't have sat there on such a long flight. I was in 9A so at least I could stare out of the window. The snacks are cool on Jet Blue. They make you feel like a grown-up. I'd like some corm poppers - kettle flavor and a ginger ale. The bottled water is Danasi mineral water, which I don't like. It leaves you with a fine grit in your mouth. That can't be good. I pooed on the plane for the first time in my life. When I've got to go, I've got to go NOW. I timed leaving my seat just as someone was leaving the john. The flight attendant said to be quick because they were starting to descent into Seattle soon. I don't think I ever went so fast in my life. I hate the ascent and descent part of flying just like I do roller coasters. My stomach feels weird. We landed early at Sea-Tac. I had a lay over which was OK because it was almost lunch time and I hadn't eaten any breakfast except for the chips and soda on the plane. The trip from Seattle to Boston was long and had a bit of turbulence. Throughout the flight, I would change the DirecTv to channel to 14 which was a google map with an ever moving icon of where the plane was located over the US and Canada. I drank only one can of ginger ale and no snack on this trip. I had to use the john again. I found the men were peeing in the sink on this flight. Don't they know the difference between the sink and a toilet? A sink had no urinal cake in it. Eew. Logan International Airport. It's big and old and being remodeled, too. On the approach for landing, we had to fly over the Atlantic and past Nantucket. I bet those high dollar residents love that. The buoys out in the harbor have blue lights on them. At this point, you should read my Yelp.com review of Hertz dated 10/08. It took about 30 minutes to drove from the airport to the hotel in Brockton. And then you should read my Yelp.com review of Country Inn & Suites. I finally went to sleep at 1AM..

Saturday, October 1, 2011


This was posted on my friend Suki's Facebook page and I thought it was cute, so I borrowed it.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

My new car

My 2012 Chevy Equinox on Twitpic My 2012 Chevy Equinox on Twitpic My 2012 Chevy Equinox, interior on Twitpic

My new 2012 Chevy Equinox - Twilight Blue. My 2007 tan one was totaled as a result of a hit & run incident on the 9/13. This is my 3rd Equinox and my fourth Chevy. The difference in technology between my old car and this one is leaps and bounds. I had to gas it up Tuesday night for the first time and couldn't find how to open the gas cap without reading the huge manual. It's the LTZ model 4 cylinder with on board navigation, OnStar free for 6 months, XM Radio free for 3 months, chunky rubber mats, trunk privacy cover, cargo net, cross rails, heated seats, rear view camera, parking assist. The longer I drive it, the better the gas mileage gets. I was used to 24 mpg with my old six cylinder, but already this has got 27 mpg after 300 miles. And yeah, it's got that new car smell. And the best part is I bought at the dealers cost because I walked in with approved financing from my credit union.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Cheap Trick Concert 9/23/11

Free tickets to see Cheap Trick play Dream Police in its entirety? Hells yeah. It has some of my favorite Cheap Trick songs, so I couldn't pass it up. I won the tickets from a manager of Wahoo Fish tacos. This was actually the second show I've been to where the artist/band performed their album. The first one was Judas Priest. I guess this goes to show you we're all getting older. Minus the technology glitches (video screens weren't working well during the first 30 minutes), the show was excellent. And I loved the venue. I had never had a reason to go to The Greek Theater before this show. It's located in Griffith Park. I had to drive on Vermont through Koreatown in Los Angeles to get there.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

This Week in News

Monday - I had a dentist appointment. After three shots in an hour and a half, the numbing agent didn't work. I have temporary fillings on my lower right side.

Tuesday - I was the victim of a hit & run auto accident on the 405N while driving to work. The force of the impact pushed my car into the one that was stopped in front of me. It also left a reverse impression of their license plate on my rear bumper. CHP called to say they caught the guy. The bumpers are bashed in. Cass was at work and could only provide comic relief.

Wednesday - Productive, uneventful day at work. I'm moving 10M moutains and getting mole hills in return. MERS is on target. Went to Fresh & Easy for provisions then made steak burritos for dinner. Their Salsa Verde is delish. The insurance claims adjuster called to tell me I have a $500 deductible.  I'm still paying for storage for my mom's crap. I feel like I just keep throwing money down a hole I am never getting back.

Thursday - I have a dentist appointment today before work. I have a happy hour UYE to attend in El Segundo after work. It's also Farmers Market day there and I need bread.

Friday -  Claims adjuster appointment today. To fix or total, that is the question. At this point, I probably owe as much as it's worth. 115,000 miles. My work wants to get me into an auto loan.

Monday, September 12, 2011

At the dentist office...

At the dentist office today for my 9:30AM appointment, I was greeted, seated in treatment bay #1 and then shot up with a numbing agent three times in an hour and a half and I didn't get numb. How weird! I've never had that happen before. I remember my dad telling me stories about that happening to him, but he was 6'4" 250 lbs. I'm 5'1" and about 120. I tolerated the pain long enough to be able to get a temporary filling into my tooth. Then I was done until Thursday. I drove to work and by the time I got there, it was Noon and my tooth was throbbing. I took two Aleve to smash the pain. Then I got a freshly brewed hot coffee. All day while at work I was thinking about how I felt the last shot going into my neck. It was the strangest feeling. And then I was thinking if the numbing agent didn't go where or do what it was supposed to do, where did it go in my body? I know it eventually wears off.

I wasn't hungry until I got home from work. I decided to stop by the Asian market in Irvine since the one by my house closed to pick up some stuff to make udon soup. Something soft to eat so my temporary fillings don't fall out. I have to eat soft food for another day and then I go back to the dentist.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

I'm trying out the new blogger interface this afternoon. I have to say it's a lot cleaner, but doesn't do anything extra than the old interface does other than adds a location. The cleaner interface is probably a good advertising point for people who are new to bloging and that may make blogging from mobile devices easier... I don't know. I used the mobile site for blogger and it's OK.

I'm loosing respect for doctors.

I'm loosing respect for doctors. Here's why:

1. When I went in for my annual check up with my OB/GYN, she charged me a co-pay for an office visit and $20 for using insurance instead of paying with cash. That is utter bullshit. Then the prescription and/or the software that she uses now to write up prescriptions electronically did not transmit to my local Walgreens correctly delaying my refill. I didn't find out until I went to pick it up.

2. When I went in to get my swollen left foot looked at, the doctor told me nothing to take the swelling down and instead sent me to take x-rays and blood work. He thought it was gout. It wasn't gout. I figured out it was new shoes. I talked to a friend about it who suggested arch supports for my new sneakers. Problem solved. I paid two $20 co-pays for chatting with my Dr. Arch supports from Dr. Scholls were $12. Also picked up epsom salt for $5.

3. My son said he had a cyst on this inner thigh. I tried to get an appointment with the Dr., but it seems as though my PCP only practices two days a week now due to old age and it booked up solid for the next two weeks. When I asked about going to urgent care, they gave me an address of a location I used before. Two hours later, urgent care performed no treatment. Said it wasn't bleeding so it wasn't an urgent issue and sent him home. I paid a $20 for nothing.

4. I asked for a referral for a GI since this is the required procedure in order to see a specialist when you have a HMO for medical insurance. The nurse left a message on my voicemail I couldn't understand. Shouldn't important information like that be mailed to you? You know, with their affiliate information, subscriber code and if they are open to new patients? Hrmm.

Friday, September 2, 2011

How I spent my summer vacation 2011

My summer vacation blog entry has been postponed until October. One day will be about burying my mother's ashes next to her parents in Red Hook. The rest of the time is mine to do what I want. I'm taking two weeks off work.

JetBlue.com states that with a 2 hour layover in Seattle, I will get to Boston 2 hours eariler than if I flew directly to JFK. O.K., I'm game because the experience of flying with JetBlue is supposed to be nice. So then I'm an hour away from my cousin Debbie. Since I'll be landing at about 9:30PM east coast time, and having flown all day, I'll pick up my rental car and stay at a hotel in Boston. Sunday morning, I'll drive to Debbie's house meeting her after church. Family time. I want to do as much "meet & greet" with family as well as geneology research as I can while on the east coast, so coordinating all of that has been a big part of my plans. I'll be visiting MA, CT, and NY.

There is something weird going on with my aunts and I'm not quite sure what it is. Tressa and Grace talk but not to their oldest sister, Jane. Tressa was written out of her mother's will. Grace took care of my grandma until she passed away and was buried with grandpa in Red Hook and that's where my moms ashes are going to be placed because that was my mom's wish and she was a heir. I'll be dealing with that drama while there. I also have to do a speech at the event which I'm not looking forward to. I realize no one really knows me and I can say anything I want, really. It's more for them than for me. If they only knew some of the crappy things my mom did to me and my brother when we were kids, but now that she's dead, does it really matter that much? I have a theme and I think I'm going to read from the bible psalms 34 since that was the year she was born. What the hell.

The day after the remembrance, I'm flying on JetBlue again from Newburgh to Orlando to go to Disneyworld/Epcot. I'll have a day and a half there and then fly home on Jet Blue for the 3rd time Saturday. I've got to have some fun while on vacation...

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Yahoo! News Story - S&P replaces president with Citibank exec after U.S. downgrade - Yahoo! News

Personal message:

I'm not surprised by this. Citi execs...

S&P replaces president with Citibank exec after U.S. downgrade - Yahoo! News

http://news.yahoo.com/p-president-sharma-stepping-down-report-011516843.html

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Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/

Yahoo! News Story - Deutsche Bank knew mortgage co it bought lied: Justice Dept - Yahoo! News

Personal message:

I left DB in April, 2003.

Deutsche Bank knew mortgage co it bought lied: Justice Dept - Yahoo! News

http://news.yahoo.com/deutsche-bank-knew-mortgage-company-bought-lied-u-015111581.html

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Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/

Monday, August 15, 2011

Friday, August 5, 2011

Yahoo! News Story - Insight: Jaded traders ask "What, another crisis?" - Yahoo! News

Personal message:

I love this story because it highlights the same time period I started working at Banker's Trust and what it's like now as a trader. I used to interact with traders and transaction managers when I was a Custody Admin.

Insight: Jaded traders ask "What, another crisis?" - Yahoo! News

http://news.yahoo.com/insight-jaded-traders-ask-another-crisis-120353312.html

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Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

PopMatters Article: Born Again, Again

A friend has sent you the following article from PopMatters.com

Columns: Born Again, Again
by Adrien Begrand
02 August 2011

Critically panned 28 years ago, Black Sabbath's bizarre 11th album, Born
Again, has gone on to earn a cult following of its own.
Link: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/column/145473-born-again-again/

PopMatters
Popular Voices, Cultural Matters
http://www.popmatters.com/

Monday, August 1, 2011

Yahoo! News Story - HSBC to cut 30,000 jobs in global overhaul - Yahoo! News

Personal message:

Late to the dance as usual and too fat for it's own good. This is another slap in the face for the US and global economy.

HSBC to cut 30,000 jobs in global overhaul - Yahoo! News

http://news.yahoo.com/hsbc-cut-30-000-jobs-global-overhaul-094033219.html

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Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/

Sunday, July 31, 2011

How connected are you?

Google+
Klout
Twitter
Blogger
GetGlue
Facebook
Yahoo
flickr
Linkedin
photobucket
Yelp
angelfire
Hotmail
Yahoo
Gmail
roadrunner
shortmail

This is how connected I am.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Yahoo! News Story - Goldman Sachs rates desk hemorrhages traders - Yahoo! News

Personal message:

I'm not surprised by this. It's better than getting laid off. I've read too many notices about lay offs this summer.

Goldman Sachs rates desk hemorrhages traders - Yahoo! News

http://news.yahoo.com/goldman-sachs-rates-desk-hemorrhages-traders-123935537.html

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Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Yahoo! News Story - How Money-Savvy Women Can Save The Economy - Yahoo! News

I like this story a lot.

How Money-Savvy Women Can Save The Economy - Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/money-savvy-women-save-economy-235127037.html
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Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/

Yahoo! News Story - IMF chief urges US to raise borrowing limit - Yahoo! News

Personal message:
very x 3 = dire. Remember this event at election time, voters.

IMF chief urges US to raise borrowing limit - Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/imf-chief-urges-us-raise-borrowing-limit-140001985.html
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Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/

Monday, July 25, 2011

The Late Ladies

I finally have something to write about in contrast to my "Early Girls" posting.


The Late Ladies.


I went to Friday night Bingo at the Hollywood Park Casino last night. Bingo runs from 6:30PM until about 10:30PM. On Fridays, you get 30 games for $11 a pack. I imagine the vast majority of the people who play bingo there are predominately women... ladies. The bingo hall is located on the 4th floor of the casino. We all funnel out of the building once the games are over. Everyone holds the door for the next person leaving. And then we scatter to the parking lot.


Now, the first time I went to play bingo here, my bff work buddy came with me because she said she would be uncomfortable going by herself. I asked, "What do you think will happen? You'll get beat up on the way out to the parking lot if you win?" After all, the casino is located in Lawndale even though its name is Hollywood which is 18 miles away. But I told her if you mind your business and be aware of your surroundings, I don't think you'll get into any trouble. And I was right.


The Late Ladies.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Yahoo! News Story - Fitch: Greek deal to put country in default - Yahoo! News

This is bad news to Greece, good news for those with LIBOR notes in the US. It will take longer for the European economy to recover, therefore that particular interest rate will stay low.

Fitch: Greek deal to put country in default - Yahoo! News

http://news.yahoo.com/fitch-greek-deal-put-country-default-104608996.html

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Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Chunky Monkey

Epic photo: All have OC blogs about food.
From left to right: Judi Stutz, Suki Beasla, Mariane, Austin Trask, and Anita Lau.

I don't remember being this heavy since... well, lets say it's been a long ass damn time. Over twenty years in fact and probably while I was pregnant. And no, I'm not pregnant. In preparation for last night's yelp elite event, I tried on a white skirt that I couldn't zip up and then a dress with a tropical leaf pattern that, to me, only accentuated the fact that my gut is larger than it should be. I opted for a white pair of jeans, a white tank and a white lacy blouse to try and hide my rolls of blubber.

Meeting new people is never easy for me and being more self conscious than normal about what I look like to others was not making it any easier. (From Left to Right) The lady next to me is Suki and I think she goes through the same girl stuff I do. She's even more mellow than I am and she geeks out, too, so that's cool to me. She's actually a published internet media expert for hire. The one in the middle is new to me and she seemed nice, but in her own little world. Eh. The guy, Austin, I think is my age and into cooking, which I think is cool. He was getting all excited about tweeting to the LA foodie about weekend eats. Anita is #2 most prolific yelper E-V-E-R. When I first started on yelp.com over four years ago, I had a hard time finding businesses to write about where Anita had not been yet. [Photo credit: Albert Evangilista]

The event, held at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton, was better than good, but it's own kind of mellow. I found a group of yelpers I was comfortable having around more than most and as the event was winding down, Anita Lau chose "The Twisted Vine" to eat and lounge at.

07/19/2011 Funny


This was found at the bottom of a "Mortgage News Daily" article here:
http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/channels/pipelinepress/07192011-arm-hedging-wells-fargo.aspx

"A woman in a supermarket is following a grandfather and his badly behaved 3-year-old grandson.
It's obvious to her that he has his hands full with the child screaming for sweets in the sweet aisle, biscuits in the biscuit aisle; and for fruit, cereal and pop in the other aisles.
Meanwhile, Granddad is working his way around, saying in a controlled voice, "Easy, William, we won't be long...easy, boy."
Another outburst and she hears the granddad calmly say, "Its okay, William, just a couple more minutes and we'll be out of here. Hang in there, boy."
At the checkout, the little terror is throwing items out of the cart, and Granddad says again in a controlled voice, "William, William, relax buddy, don't get upset. We'll be home in five minutes; stay cool, William."
Very impressed, the woman goes outside where the grandfather is loading his groceries and the boy into the car.
She said to the elderly gentleman, "It's none of my business, but you were amazing in there. I don't know how you did it. That whole time, you kept your composure, and no matter how loud and disruptive he got, you just calmly kept saying things would be okay.  William is very lucky to have you as his grandpa."
"Thanks," said the grandfather, "but I'm William. This little idiot's name is Kevin." "

Monday, July 11, 2011

Yahoo! News Story - Aging boomers strain cities built for the young - Yahoo! News

j (judi.stutz@gmail.com) has sent you a news article.
(Email address has not been verified.)
------------------------------------------------------------
Personal message:

It appears as though I'm living in a great area for aging. The only services I'm missing are the post office.

Aging boomers strain cities built for the young - Yahoo! News

http://news.yahoo.com/aging-boomers-strain-cities-built-young-130207113.html

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Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/

Friday, July 8, 2011

Yahoo! News Story - Oil slips to near $98 ahead of key US jobs data - Yahoo! News

j (judi.stutz@gmail.com) has sent you a news article.
(Email address has not been verified.)
------------------------------------------------------------
Personal message:

Slip some more already! Reg gas was $3.65/gal this morning when I fueled up.

Oil slips to near $98 ahead of key US jobs data - Yahoo! News

http://news.yahoo.com/oil-slips-near-98-ahead-key-us-jobs-120258757.html

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Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Yahoo! News Story - JPMorgan dismisses mortgage head Lowman - Yahoo! News

JPMorgan dismisses mortgage head Lowman - Yahoo! Newshttp://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110614/bs_nm/us_jpm_mortgage_3
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Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/

************

Why am I highlighting this article over other similar ones posted on the internet?

This one has a bit more meat than the others and one can appreciate that if you've been in this business for awhile. My comments from this point on are in blue.

"Lowman joined JPMorgan from Citigroup in 2006. During his tenure at JPMorgan, the bank picked up bad mortgage assets through its acquisitions of investment bank Bear Stearns & Co and retail bank Washington Mutual. They make it sound as though they picked up a germy virus. No, they willingly bought the bad loans of these two companies.

acquisitions: a decision made at a meeting by all the major banks at the time and the Fed of what company among them could bear (pardon the pun) the debt that WAMU and BS had on their books. WAMU's underwriting was crap due to long standing technology issues. Among other loans purchased, BS was buying up much of the remaining RTC securitizations and repackaging them trying to make a pool of marginally performing loans shiny, newish and attractive to investors. JPMC knowingly bought bad mortgage assets by acquiring these companies. WAMU in September 2008 after a FDIC seizure. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/25/bear-stearns-fraud-emails_n_813855.html

Lowman was pushed aside in February by JPMorgan's CEO, Jamie Dimon, who assigned his top aide, Bisignano, to the company's retail banking unit to fix its mortgage business.

If you look up Frank Bisignano on Forbes.com, you can see that he has a been at Citigroup since 2000. If you look up David Lowman, you can review on  the press release that he came from a place where he appeared to have no or minimal mortgage background. http://www.forbes.com/2006/10/27/leadership-careers-jobs-lead-careers-cx_ll_1027hfr.html

During Lowman's tenure, the unit was so disorganized that the bank seized homes of at least 33 U.S. military servicemen on active duty, violating federal law and prompting Dimon to apologize at the company's annual shareholder meeting. The bank has said it is forgiving those loans.


The above paragraph is particularly nasty because of the Soldiers & Sailors Civil Relief Act that was revised and went into effect in 2003 (one of the good things that came about during the Bush presidency) which grants certain protections for military troops on active duty. Protections like the fact that you cannot foreclose on the home of active military personnel.

Lowman could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday. Technically, he can't comment because he'll sign a paper that says he can't discuss any business dealings by his former employer. Lowman appeared before congressional committees last year ( http://www.ncsha.org/blog/house-and-senate-committees-address-foreclosure-crisis-and-loan-modification-problems ) where he was chastised for his division's refusal to cooperate with borrowers and modify mortgages. Read the article. Ahem - we learned a new word today kids - robo-signing. Now we're making up words because acronyms in the mortgage industry are not confusing enough. Reminds me of dangling chads and how the general public had no clue what the news media were talking about at the time.

I imagine Lowman was probably told by the CEO to minimize losses. Regarding loan modifications: Simply put, if you don't have an earned income (many people lost their jobs over the credit crunch), you won't get your loan modified. If you don't want to provide your financial statements (because you're trying to hide the fact that you didn't qualify for the loan in the first place), you won't get your loan modified.  If you botch the documents requested of you in anyway (late, missing, erroneous), you won't get your loan modified. If you don't like the terms of your loan, they suggest that you refinance instead. 

Lowman said in a June 2010 hearing that the bank was understaffed, (at that point they probably had a RIF throughout the  entire organization, not just in mortgage lending) but was adding employees to work on problematic mortgages. They opened temporary regional offices called "ChaseWorks" dedicated to help distressed mortgagors.
 In a hearing in November, Lowman acknowledged mistakes in foreclosure paperwork and said the bank was cleaning up errors." Mistakes happen, but they can also be fixed.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Invasion of the...

Possums!I think there were two.  My son, who is now home on summer break from college, keeps the sliding glass door open so that my two cats can run in and out as they please. I guess, after living at my home  for twelve XII years, other critters ( ,  ) in the neighborhood have now figured out my dry cat food, which is always available to my cats  on the dining room floor, can be accessed from my sliding glass door. Not good. The last thing I wanted to tackle on a Friday  night was varmint eradication, but there I was. Sitting at my computer , I wanted to knock out three III entries on my blog of things that have been rolling around in my head  in one form or another and I hear this ravenous crunching... NOM NOM NOM! My one cat was laying at my feet  under the computer chair and I turn around to see the other cat in the hallway staring at me. So what was eating the cat food so loudly? I walked into the kitchen and I saw a possum  eating from the cat food dispenser!  I yelled at it and then it ran out of the house . I shut the sliding glass door and kept it closed for the rest of the evening . I fell sleep on the couch after watching tv . At about 3AM , I walked into my bedroom  in order to the bathroom  and I hear an intense scratching sound coming from the inside of the ikea cat bed . I tilted the cat bed on it's side and saw a possum's tail  hanging down. At this point I thought I had an infestation! I opened the sliding glass door in my bedroom and chucked the ikea cat bed outside onto the patio. The second possum  scampered away into the darkness .