When the world bites back.

OK, I think it was Wednesday when I got that bug bite on my right index finder. On the middle digit, it was red and only itched slightly.

Then Thursday morning comes along and we were looking at an entirely different ballgame. The itchiness of my finger was super intense and swelled up on the second and first digit almost to the knuckle. I drenched it under cold water after feeding my old cat and then I took my normal hot morning shower and it exploded with itchiness and pain. I gave myself what amounts to a Indian burn, gripping that right index finder and twisting it with my left hand back and forth until the itchiness subsided. Went to work, ran it under some cold water in the women's restroom longer than it would normally take for me to wash my hands for the times I had to go relieve myself and got through the way without too much distress. Came home and found mt Cortizone 10 cream and found it was not expired (yeah) slathered that right index finger with the cream and kind of babied it for the rest of the night.

Friday morning, I had swelling from the nailbed into the knuckle of the right index finger. The mid joint was so swollen front and back, I could not bend the finder without a considerable amount of pain. I decided this bug bite issue was getting worse, not better, so I better go to a walk-in clinic to see if they can help this situation along so we can IP it in the bud and to have it progress into something much worse. I read on the internet trying to look for answers that it could become infected, turn into sepsis/death. From a bug bite. I'm not having that.

So I was released from work two hours early on Friday due to the Labor Day Holiday weekend and I drove my sorry ass to the UCI Health Center where Dr Nguyen is (who takes Aetna-my health ins), but some to find out UCI Health does not so going to be seen there is considered "Out of Network" which made me mad, but at that point I just wanted to be seen. Which I was by a nurse practitioner. This place since it opened has been my go-to for care. They asked a lot of questions including ones about my mental health at which I'm still kind of creeped out about, but that's what they have to do these days. And then here's the new info that I really never thought of before. I has described what the bug bite looked like and progressed to and she examined what it looked like at the office, and she told me to take pictures of the affected area to ensure that it's getting better and not worse. She tried to prescribed predisone and I was oh no no, that makes me psychotic, I had it before when I has my last surgery for illitius and I had to stop using it because of the side effects, please something else. So she then prescribed keflex and a couple of different antihistamines and topical cortisone 2.5 cream ( my son called it "the good stuff" ) and I was sent on my way.

I went home, took a nap, and by that time after I had to reset my password for the CVS app, I found out that the prescriptions were ready for me to pick-up. No text. Grr. And I needed gas in my car, so I went to the new gas pumps at the little Costso in Tustin and they were busy busy busy on the Friday night before the big three-day holiday weekend. That fucking exit after you pump is an accident waiting to happen. They need to change that. And then made my way out of the Tustin Marketplace and drove on the 5 Freeway because going south was not stop and go mess like the northbound 5 was and got off two exits later at Jeffery. My preferred CVS is at Jeffery x Alton in Irvine.

I had to push the customer service button in order to buy non-drowsey claritin which was suggested by the doctor to help stop the histamine reaction in my body that's irritating the bug bite site. So I bought a 24 pack of that and found a bottle of my vitamins and bought those too and then I headed to the pharmacy counter to get my three prescriptions... the creme, the keflex and the other antihistimine that is so strong I was told it's going to make me drowsey and that I cannot drive using it which make me think I should maybe just take that one at night time.

So here we are. It's Saturday morning. I have taken my second dose of Keflex and just burnt my right thumb a little putting foil over the potatoes I just took out of the oven and I swear all of this jibber jabber was leading up to the photo of what my bug bitten index finger looks like this morning, 09/03/2022 at about 8AM. The skin is still red, the knuckle is swollen to the point where I cannot make a fist, but overall it's not as swollen and irritated as it was yesterday when I went to the doctor.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/rBChhXTTrMCATpAM6

https://photos.app.goo.gl/rBChhXTTrMCATpAM6 

Where's the money? Is it coming??

If you are unemployed in California...

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/unemployment-checks-with-600-boost-rolling-out-this-week/2272524/

So it's supposed to be your UI award plus $600 per week for four months.

My max award started on 3/22/2020.

About the federal stimulus check:

https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/economic-impact-payments

A one-time payment of $1200 for single status filers, no dependents. My son's father owes me back child support so his federal stim money is supposed to go to me, even if he considers himself disabled. We'll see how that plays out.

Today is day 26 staying at home with no job and I've seen no money yet. I mean, I'm marking it on my calendar each morning.

Bye Bye November, Hello December!

There are three-four things I used to look forward to in November. Two holidays where I had the day off of work, my dad's birthday and black Friday.

Under the government contract I work for, I don't get Veteran's Day as a Federal holiday? Who screwed up that one? Not me. The building was closed and I had to either work at home or mark off one of my vacation days to get paid. I chose the later.

Thanksgiving was so weird this year. It was the first year in which my son was the one working in the day and I was working at night. And because of that, our schedules weren't synced up and when I got up the next day after working until midnight, I was hungry for breakfast at 10AM. So I made ham and eggs. And then I started cooking the Thanksgiving meal soon after so it was done at around 2PM. Neither I nor my son was hungry at that time, so I packed it up to be placed in the refrigerator. We grazed on Thanksgiving foodstuffs for about 4 days until it was all gone.

I had to work on black Friday and I wasn't really in the shopping mood. If there is actually a shopping mood. Whatever that's supposed to feel like. But still, I know that it is gift giving season so I need to buy something for someone.

At work, we organized two potlucks...one at Halloween and another right before Thanksgiving. The first one I ate some Vietnamese food and it did a number on my guts so I was running to the restroom for nearly half of the shift. I don't know if it was because it was greasy food, or just ingredients that my guys just don't digest any more or the fact that it sat out for hours before we ate. Maybe it was a combination of the three, but anyways, I felt horrible after that, so when Thanksgiving time rolled around and them the team were asking was it O.K. with me to have a potluck again, I was like yeah, it's OK, but it's too much food for me right before Thanksgiving, so you guys go ahead and I'll just eat my dinner (whatever I brought that day. I've been eating fruit for dinner because that's what I can tolerate.... like banana or orange or peach. Apples anymore are too fibrous.)

I had a somewhat strange conversation with my manager on Thursday. You see, each day I'm getting feedback to relay to the team and I'm supposed to be tracking all of it on a spreadsheet so we agreed on Thursday, but then she told me with the volume of work going through the team the number of problems is expected. But it just makes me feel bad that we are having any at all and I told her it felt like, "What now?" and a stab in the heart when she does it. Because maybe I expect more of myself and the team. But anyway, she asked me if I had any questions, and I said we get all these emails asking for help finding stuff and I don't know where to go or even start to look so I feel like the "dots are not connecting". And then she tells me that the first shift supervisors she leans on hard which is kinda baffling to me because the manager has been there for over 10 years and the supervisor has been there for just 5. So what is really going on here and how is it that a clerk turned supervisor gets all these knowledge and not the manager? Blah Blah Blah work, right? Anyway, I'm supposed to have yet another scheduled training session with the first shift supervisor for a week this time to see if I can get the dots that I'm missing. But now I'm thinking that if I'm missing this training, that they didn't follow through with the last training plan, that maybe I should be putting the trainer on notice instead. Otherwise, my relationship with the first shift supervisor might deteriorate.

And now it's December. So I went on Facebook this weekend, the first weekend of December to find out that The Alley is closing. And it's not an unexpected closing, because the pattern of what was happening with the store, but it's sad. The two generation family that ran it once, is retiring, so it's going away. The last store is in Indio or Palms Springs. And it made me thought of the fact that when I went to their store when the closest one to me as in Rancho Cucamonga, I picked up a business card while I was making a purchase. And I had that business card in a pile of other business cards in one of the desk drawers where I have my computer stationed. So I pulled out the pile of cards and went through them because it was OK that I threw away the card to The Alley because that was a store that was going out of business. I actually threw a bunch of them away until I came to one from Peer Development.

I acquired that business card from a guy I dated briefly in 2005? His life was in flux after a divorce, I remember mine was in flux, but don't remember the event other than I thought it was around the same time when my dad died. I googled his name from time to time thinking he died because the excuse he gave me to get out of our relationship was that his lung cancer metastasized and he was selling his house and moving after a nasty divorce, blah blah blah his drama. But I remember years later he calls up at home and I said I thought you were dead, and he asks me about a 3-some out of the blue says his receptionist is a fat slob and doesn't look as good as me. What? Yeah, that's men in a nutshell right there. Women want substance and to be taken care of and to get a feeling of security and men want good looks and somewhere in the process time, aging and the lack of motivation and energy fucks that all up. And at that time I told him to lose my number and never call me again. So yeah, I find his business card and I googled his name and low and behold he didn't die (so was his cancer story all a lie?). It seems he may have burned his bridge in the commercial restaurant remodeling biz, as well as mine, and moved on to people's homes and did a crap ass job of that because there are these reports online that people want to sue him for the lack of quality in the jobs that were performed. I had to laugh because he never did any of the work himself. He had a group of Mexicans working for him for cash probably, I don't know for sure. They painted his home before it was sold and rented back to him. Years later, I remember seeing that someone was shot dead at the same address he used to live at. And I'm thinking that place had bad karma - juju. It just always felt cold and never homey. Maybe that was just the bad energy left over from his divorce in the house. So do I want to track this guy down? No, not in the least seeing all the stuff written about him after I gave him up for dead but isn't it interesting to see the wormhole you can go down just by one doing inquiry on the internet from finding an old business card.

You know the good thing about December, besides Christmas and New Years Day? December 21st or there abouts is the Winter Equinox. The day with the shortest daylight. It only gets brighter longer from there, baby. It's the upswing for spring and summer. And that day is almost exciting to me as Christmas. 19 dark days and counting.

A Great Read: Poor Millennials

http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/poor-millennials/

Touches on so many reasons and factors why we are where we are today.

Fancy That

So this week, I'm emerging from a period of mourning over the loss of my uncle after having attended his memorial and getting back into town from being in New York for a week. I didn't feel like I was able to go through the grieving process for him while stressed out over my job, so it might have been a good thing that I separated when I did so I could go through and get through what I felt I needed to do in dealing with his passing. Now that I'm feeling better about it, ...

I've got to get a job. Or at least some money going. It's been a little over two months since I've had a paycheck. Going to check out Uber and see what that's all about. But in the meantime...

Even though I've previously sworn off pursuing the music scene like I used to, I'm getting into one band that sparked my attention from the Alt radio channel on SiriusXM - The Struts, and I could just kick myself that I missed going to their concert at the Observatory in Santa Ana on 03/29/16. Probably won't ever see $16 tickets for their shows after again after all their touring all over the world.

And in getting acquainted with said band, today, I was perusing the videos they have posted on Youtube.com and I have come to the realization that the one song that has captured my attention on the radio, i.e. "Kiss This", sounds familiar. Really, really familiar.

Listen, I'm no expert, but I am almost twice as old as some members of the band and as time is on my side with regards to a larger catalog of music that I've been exposed to, I couldn't help but searching for the song that sounds, in part, like theirs.

In doing so, I reacquainted myself with the goings on with the popular Swedish duo Roxette. Sadly, their lead singer made the hard choice to cancel the remaining tour in Australia due to the further breakdown of her body after having a brain tumor (see: Roxette Makes a Tough Decision to Quit Tour). At least we have the wonderful catalog of music from the band that spans from late the 1980's to 2016, which is when their last album was released.

When Roxette was first making the charts in the U.S. in , one of their most popular songs was titled "She's Got The Look", or some would just call the song "The Look".

I can even can hear that the phrasing tempo seems similar, even though the actual lyrics are different.

Now, only copyright lawyers and royalty trackers have the ability to sort  out these things out in a court of law if it has to come to that, but there have been recent settlements out of court in the news for this very same thing. See:  https://www.buzzfeed.com/

Now listen to both for yourself and you decide.

And then recently, I found this posted on Variety:
http://variety.com/2016/music/news/ed-sheeran-sued-copyright-photograph-x-factor-1201791603/

Finance in the News 05/02

Puerto Rico Defaults:

http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/03/investing/puerto-rico-default/

http://www.ibtimes.com/puerto-rico-default-how-we-got-here-what-happens-next-2034788

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/14/rescue-bill-for-puerto-rico-as-major-debt-deadline-looms.html

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-01/puerto-rico-will-default-on-government-development-bank-debt

Why you should avoid buying anything from an infomercial at 3AM

You have to be careful because everyone wants to separate you from your money. I think about this fact every time I read the emails that land in my inbox advertising for this or that.

And then there is all the commercials on tv. Buy our product because you're getting older, uglier, sadder and sicker as time rolls on and if you buy our products you'll be less of those things. But you need money to buy all of  those things. And when you don't feel like you have enough, people will go through all sorts of lengths to get it. So here I am, currently unemployed and wide awake at 3AM watching the latest infomercial selling the idea that life can be easier if you follow our system to be a real estate investor. Immediately, I'm skeptical. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Bait and switch. These were the things that were running through my head watching advertising for a seminar to get rich quick flipping homes cloaked as become a real estate investor.

So here's how it goes. You attend a seminar. You are baited by a book and some sort of minimal free giveaway of cheap electronic equipment they bought in bulk. You get some general information, but not enough to do anything with unless you buy into additional workshop. So you have to then buy into the workshop. And then at the workshop, you are sold access to the experts and walkthroughs. "This is how I did it and if I can do it, you can do it, too."Learn the steps to success and repeat these steps over and over again."

Doug Clark. Who is this guy? Someone from Utah that flipped houses and was filmed doing so to make a certain type of reality tv show. You can find this out if you search for "Flip Men" and watch shows on youtube. The tv show went off the air four years ago. Investigating further, the Better Business Bureau currently has a great example of what it's like to go through their learning process and you can read how these poor people from New Mexico feel like they were duped:

http://www.bbb.org/utah/business-reviews/seminars-and-training-wealth-building-and-real-estate-results-not-substantiated/doug-clark-in-lindon-ut-22364446/Complaints#breakdown

So how does this go for them? They buy an LLC. They make a business selling you the same LLC paperwork to you. You pay the filing fee. They call an infomercial company and create 10 minutes of script that's repeated 3 times to create a 30 minute show. They hire a host to ask scripted questions of spokesperson. The background for the host looks like a newsroom or a talk show stage. The spokesperson looks like they are sitting inside a beautiful home, but it can be a photo projected on a green screen which provides the desired appearance for you to think, "Yeah, I want what this guy has." In actuality, he's sitting in another part of the studio. Once the infomercial is filmed and produced, they rent seminar rooms in hotels around the country. They develop presentations at four different levels. One for the free talk to get you to come in (the infomercial). Two to provide some more information to bait you to buy the seminar. (They have to sell enough seminars to pay for the space they rented on credit cards.) Three is to buy the access to the process and techniques they are familiar with but you're not..Maybe even a website they feed with the foreclosures that you can get from newspapers yourself.  They prey on the fact that you're not confident you're doing things right because you're not gaining the expected results they tell you you should be having so... Four you get access to the experts... the people that keep you in the process so they can use any amount of success you may have to bolster what they are trying to sell in the first place.

You paid for a seminar, a LCC, you maxed out all of your credit cards and then paid for access. You haven't bought a foreclosed home yet which is what you wanted to do in the first place. You'll need more money to do that so you'll have to get others to pay for the purchase of a foreclosed home reducing your profit margin. You'll have to pay for others to fix the home because you're probably not a licensed contractor and then will reduce your profit margin more. If you couldn't find other serious investors, you went to a bank or mortgage company to get a loan and then the mortgage comes due between 30-60 days. That's the same time frame you have to fix the property and sell it. This is why you want a buyer on contract to get you out from under having to pay for that mortgage payment. They also forgot to tell you you also have to file two tax returns, one personal and one for your business. They also don't tell you that as a real estate investor, you're responsible for self employment taxes on all money you make.

You don't need to buy someone else's seminar to know that everything you do involving a home is expensive and you end up paying for it in the end. You don't need to buy someone else's seminar to tell you that if the mortgage payment is more than the going rental rate, you'll forced to sell. Guys like these love to sell seminars like these in states where the real estate is expensive so you have no recourse when you fail because you didn't follow their program.

And then I was thinking... 02/16/16

They say the essentials we all need are food, shelter and clothing. [...and then the government taxes us for what they provide while we provide some sort of existence/life for our ourselves and our families. Paid taxes in 2015 for the first time in a while.]

But as I was walking back to my home after driving home from work, it hit me that these things are driven by money, emotions, and comfort.

One's ability to earn enough money could either raise or lower the emotional state resulting in a level of comfort in life. Personality and education back it up. Health, whether it be physical or mental is controllable to a certain extent, but for the most part, your health outcome is in the genes you get from your parents. You get what you get healthwise, from genetics, unless you smoke, drink, or take/abuse drugs and food and don't choose to move your body in vigorus ways to help build muscle and remove the toxins then the results or the lack thereof - you did to yourself and your genes did it to you. [Yes, I have Crohn's disease, but changing jobs has changed my commute and my stress level is down due to less of a commute, up to new surrounding and standards to get re-acquainted with on job tasks I'm already familiar with and working for a manager that actually cares to manage, but change is good.]

And then I was thinking, that,  "Isn't it enough to be a good person?" ...as I drive home on the "freeway" in this car, with this amazing horsepower as I grasp the steering wheel, this conveyance I'm seated in, that others, too, are seated in as we travel to our destinations and in my mind's eye/imagination- the exterior of the cars melted away and all people commuting on the freeway were seated floating in a dimly glowing interior blue light with powertrain and frame assuming the driving position with hands on their steering wheels, no upholstery with tires-this technology that really hasn't changed all that much in over 100 years [but to make it faster, safer, use less gas, or another fuel, but really at what cost to our environment if the power to make that alternate fuel was derived from fossil fuel?] and when we as humans end up using up all of the fossil fuels this world has, would we then need to worry about the need to expand our roadways or instead how they scarred the earth, contributed to global warming and how they'll need to be deconstructed?

No, it's not enough to be a good person if you're not exhibiting that goodness for someone else other than yourself to recognize, witness and benefit from. Hence we reward the leaders in their field - whatever they may be and punish those who don't meet society's expectations of what is good and right and true and sometimes - most of the time - logical.

If people were forced to work and live only within the areas that their feet could carry them, how many could? Could one's life be richer and still not have to worry financially?

And to think the fact that management tools are being rolled out to my team tomorrow. And I'm so excited, I can't sleep.

Finance in the News w/e 1/9/16

Finance in the News for the week ending 1/9/16.

This is my first financial post of the new year!

1)
Just when you think the country has gotten passed the ridiculousness of the subprime mortgage crisis and learned its lesson having to bail out under capitalized financial institutions, Fannie Mae has devised a way to entice those desperate to own a home with another high risk mortgage product:

Fannie Mae Rolls Out Easy Mortgage, Catering To High-Risk Immigrants Read More At Investor's Business Daily: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/010716-788747-government-wants-to-lend-more-to-high-risk-immigrants

https://www.fanniemae.com/singlefamily/homeready

2)
Powerball soars to a new record high $800M with a drawing tonight at 8PM. Image having an extra $400M laying around after taxes. Wow. And remember, you can't win if you don't play.

http://www.powerball.com/

http://abcnews.go.com/US/powerball-drawing-clues-previous-lottery-winners/story?id=36143401

3)
Millennials are debt averse. I should know. My twenty-something son, who still lives at home, is one.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-11/these-millennials-are-socking-away-15-of-their-salary

Happy Christmas 2015

As a result of my son working black Friday, he received a 25% off voucher so I decided to take advantage of that discount and bought an xbox with Kinect, a year games with gold subscription for xbox, ooma, new cable modem so I don't have to rent one from TimeWarner Cable anymore, and a mattress topper. Merry Christmas to me.

I also switched out the cable box with dvr because it had an issue with turning on we were struggling with for awhile. Now, maybe it was just us moving the remote too soon to the coffee table before it was switched on fully or maybe it was the level of crap on the coffee table preventing the signal from getting to the cable box in the first place, but anyway, the new box is smaller and sleeker and comes with a better menu. Last weekend, I was able to turn in the two cable modems and turn off the phone with TimeWarner since my number porting operation was completed with ooma earlier that week.

Wednesday, we had a pot luck at work. I brought in a 4-flavor variety cake from the Walmart bakery and picked up a dozen tamales from a local mexican bakery (Yelp Review #1026 & First Review #147) because someone who was let go from another team had noted those on the pot luck sign-up sheet. I also brought in a bag of mandarin oranges for my team for an extra shot of vitamin C to stave off the colds and flu we have been passing around the office. Way too many people have been sneezing and sniffling this season. I need to get a jumbo bottle of hand sanitizer going again on my team since we handle the files after at least five other groups handle them (set-up, processing, funding, closer, underwriter) and it's a proven fact that paper harbors germies, especially paper money.

I was let off work at 3PM yesterday, forgot the gifts I received on my desk (santa bear, itunes gift card, Starbucks gift card, snack container, tea cup and saucer and a bunch of candy canes) and the leftover cake when security was doing their sweep of the building, and made my way to the local Albertson's before heading home where there were a ton of shoppers gathering foodstuffs for the holiday. I don't remember the parking lot being so full since... probably Thanksgiving. My own shopping basket held a Foster Farms turkey breast, chicken strips, corned beef, crescent rolls, biscuits, pie crusts and sage sausage.

Breaking tradition, I actually prepared Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. Roasted Turkey breast, roasted rosemary carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy. Banana Bread for dessert.

When I got home, I checked the freezer while putting away the groceries for the mixed vegetables and found none. It appears my son is the human vegetable vacuum. So it seems I need turkey gravy, said mixed vegetables and mayo (it's expired 11 days ago) to get through the weekend.

A side note: I love the fact that I earn enough to not worry about paying my bills, but especially not having to worry about what I spend at the grocery store. I basically get what I want when I want it. I guess that helps to satisfy, on some level in my life, my need for spontaneity.  

So my Christmas morning started with me turning on BBC America to watch the Dr Who marathon and working on some crochet.

I'm thinking about making monkey bread this morning while the Disney xmas parade is on.

Finance In the News 05/12/15

Deutsche Bank to Pay $2.5 Billion to End Libor Probe By Shane Strowmatt, Suzi Ring, Greg Farrell 
http://bloom.bg/1Jx7hw1 
Bloomberg

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/certain-deutsche-closed-end-funds-210000245.html

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/nomura-rbs-face-805-million-damages-u-ruling-182443514--sector.html

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sf-fed-president-says-first-rate-hike-likely--later-this-year--143121592.html

In The News: Lots of Retirement Information

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-key-to-happiness-in-retirement/

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/3-ways-to-save-more-money-2014-04-18?siteid=yhoof2

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-ways-run-money-retirement-135956313.html;_ylt=AwrTWVW8EVNTRxsApxCTmYlQ

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertlaura/2014/04/15/7-life-hacks-for-retirement/?ss=retirement

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-the-us-gets-no-medals-for-retirement/

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-free-online-retirement-planning-guide/

A Penny Here, A Penny There...

The State of California just approved a quarter of a cent sales tax increase with Proposition 30 for the next 4 years. This mean on January 1, 2013, the state sales tax for everyone is going up to 7.50%. In addition, it also increases the personal income tax for residents who earn over $250,000 for the next 7 years. And , no, I did not vote to increase my state's taxes.

http://www.boe.ca.gov/news/pdf/l337.pdf

http://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2012/general/pdf/30-title-summ-analysis.pdf

Being lower middle class in OC is looking better all the time... as compared to the city of Los Angeles...

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Los-Angeles-City-Council-Gives-Initial-Approval-to-Half-Cent-Sales-Tax-on-March-Ballot-179214271.html

The sales tax there is already 8.75%

The New Business of Old Music

The New Business of Old Music(c) written by JStutz 11/08/2012

1. An old man's indulgence of recording songs he likes that are not his own and calling it an album.
2. A band leader, usually a singer/songwriter, who re-records beloved hits all on his own playing and singing all parts to re-sell and removing any opportunity for royalties going to the musicians on the originally released songs.
3. When songs from your 30-40 year old music catalog get less airplay, you sell your music to the people who make movies and commercials to keep your songs in circulation. And you allow it to be part of other compilations with various artists.
4. The new trend for old music is to re-release it in collectors, special, anniversary, box sets, or vinyl versions. Sometimes re-engineered, sometimes remixed, sometimes not when you don't have the money to do it.

This is the new business of old music.

Initially, I couldn't figure out why Jeff Lynne's new album wasn't getting any attention, but after listening to previews of each song for the first time this morning on iTunes, I figured it out. He perpetrated #1 from the above list. It was released in March in England and in the US on October 9th. It only came to my attention after the promotion of a BBC documentary showing on 11/14 at the Grammy Museum in Downtown Los Angeles. Tickets went on sale 10/31 and now are sold out. I could kick myself.

He also released Mr. Blue Sky - the very best of ELO. On this recording, he perpetrated #2 and #4 from the above list.

I can't say that I've lost respect for the man, but due to his ongoing aggravation from musicians that used to play with him in ELO and of the music business in general, I really can't blame him for his actions.

After all, they are his songs and he is Mr. Blue Sky.

Later, I found the same BBC documentary on Paladia and recorded it. It started out good and then went astray. I wish it was more like this website (in Danish) to a point, then interspersed with parts of ELO videos and concert footage. http://www.10538overture.dk/Member%20page/JEFF%20LYNNE.htm

A Retirement Wake-up Call

I woke up really early this morning, my body anticipating the time change this weekend and to the noise of the TV being on to that Ed Slott infomercial about saving your retirement. I've seen it before. I'm sure I'll watch it again. But something struck me. 2012 went by so fast and I probably have about 20 more working years before I retire.

FACT: The three things you cannot live without are food, shelter and clothing. People will give you clothes and share their food with you as these things are relatively cheap but you have to maintain a roof over your head or eventually you'll die of exposure to the elements.

FACT: The single most expensive financial decision one will ever make is to buy a house.

I went to lunch the other day with my cheapskate lunch date (who is in retail loan sales) and somehow the conversation always turns to money. Previously, I discussed with him my need to refinance my home  because I currently have a Hybrid 5 year Fixed/6 month Libor Note that's been adjusting for awhile now. Since LIBOR rates are tied to the European economy and it followed the U.S. economy decline with the credit crunch and the housing market crisis, my Note rate dropped from the initial rate and has stayed low... but the economy is improving. Jobs are coming back to the finance market because even I've had opportunities to interview recently for what I do which is highly specialized and I'm not looking for a new job now. And with an improved economy, interest rates will start to creep up higher. And the interest rate I'm paying today for my home loan is close to market rate and I don't want to put myself into a situation where I have a high interest rate and may not be able to refinance in the future. I also know that my loan is owned by Fannie Mae and HARP Loans, that are easier to qualify for with a high LTV and that require no appraisal, are going away next year.

After getting back to work, he sent me this email:

"Your goal this week or next is to contact HR in order to open a 401(k) because retiring poor sucks. I have to turn down seniors all the time (for cash-out refi home loans) and it makes me sad."

I had a 401(k) before I was laid-off from my mortgage job (the company closed) and because it lost half it's value and I didn't know when I was going to get my next job, I liquidated it the moment I could. Almost right after my severance pay ran out, in February 2008, I was hired as a contractor to Fannie Mae for a year and a half driving 150 miles round trip for work each day to manage the default vault at 1800 Tapo Canyon (if your're in the industry, you know that address holds one of the highest number of mortgage loans on the west coast) of loans moving from Countrywide's safekeeping into my custody. I supervised the vault's growth to hold 325,000 files (who knows how large it is today). The stock market tanked in October. HBO produced an excellent movie called "Too Big to Fail" which is a portrayal of what happened in October 2008. I was sitting in the belly of the beast and the beast was required to be bought by B of A and the behest of the U.S. federal government due to B of A exercising a large repurchase of poor performing loans.

FACT: You only have about 45-50 years to save before you retire.

When you're in your 20's and busy establishing your career, home and family, you're probably not thinking a whole hell of a lot about your retirement. My cheapskate lunch date is actually the same age I am, mid-40's, and as he's also a Realtor,  he's put his money to work more than I have in the past so I have to give him some respect for the financial position he's in now as compared to mine own.

My parents, when they retired, didn't really plan for it. Both had to work after retirement because they didn't have homes to sell and live off of the proceeds or even homes that generated a net income from rent. They had no savings accounts, just checking accounts. Both had meager life insurance payouts. I was able to settle my father's estate, but my mothers???

She lived off of credit cards until the day she died. As I cleared out her apartment, I found many newly bought items and at the time, couldn't figure out how she could afford it. That is until I found a brown box in the back of her closet full of unpaid credit card bills which turned into charge offs. She couldn't afford it. She consulted with a family friend, a lawyer, that told her not to pay them after she was 75 and had triple by-pass heart surgery.

I took back to the store those items I could find receipts for and threw the contents of her apartment in storage because it was right before Christmas when she passed. I paid the final utility bills with the cash on hand and that refund money and also ignored those credit card bills. Because of the lack of her financial and retirement planning, I had to pay out of my own pocket for her cremation, her headstone, her funeral and the transfer of her ashes to New York where they were buried with her parents, my grandparent, as she wanted. It took me a year and a half to get rid of that storage unit, finally donating the majority of the contents to Goodwill after giving away some things to friends and I paid for that storage unit, too. I can imagine my story of not being able to settle my mother's estate multiplied by the number new retirees and the debt river that's coming.

So in essence, if the vast majority of people now have the lack of retirement planning, execution and savings like my parents had, you and I will be paying for it all the way through the period the baby boomer generation (born between 1946 and 1964) goes into retirement (2011 to 2029)  and subsequently passes away passing their unpaid debt onto the large financial institutions who will pass it on to the consumer in the form of higher fees and interest rates. That consumer is you and me.

Ed Slott says the biggest retirement killer are:
1. taxes
Tax free safety zone (life insurance and annuity)
Payouts from Life Insurance are tax free.
Roth IRA's conversions. You can get an annuity inside your Roth IRA.

2. risk 
You cannot rely on the stock market for a secure retirement future. Think about an annuity. It guaranties your retirement income for life.

3. saving money
Sometimes you have to spend money now to save money later. Buy life insurance. Seek out qualified financial planners.

4. uncertainty
No one will ever care about your retirement money more than you.

5. inactivity
Doing nothing will be costly because prices rise and taxes increase. Do something now when you can. If you want a secure financial future, you have to do something about it.

I emailed HR about establishing a new 401(k) blind-copying my friend and then I called and was qualified for a HARP loan all in the same day.

Lets see where I am this time, next year...

Did you see that stage coach with a busted wheel?

It's been an ugly year in Wells Fargo mortgage business history.

March brought a 49-state consent order over foreclosure practices:
http://www.nationalmortgagesettlement.com/states

Judgement over redlining:
http://www.jgmobile.net/article/20120713/BIZ/307139932/1031/BIZ&template=mobileart

Wholesale division closure:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-12/wells-fargo-to-exit-wholesale-channel-after-fair-lending-accord.html

Let's wait and see if their fees go up again.

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.