Archive for January, 2009
Our Honda Accord is Being High Maintenance
Arrrgggghh. I have to remember that cars won’t just go forever without some drama. It seems like just yesterday that we put roughly $900+ in to our Honda for a new timing belt, water pump and seals. It was an easy decision to make because we fully intend to drive that car for as many [...]
What You Should do if You are Worried About Being Laid Off
So, yesterday was Bloody Monday. Today we have seen an additional 10,000+ layoffs announced. Last month we saw hundreds of thousands of layoffs announced. Frankly, the risk of getting laid off has not been higher in a very long time. For many people the threat has been realized and you are now forced to frantically [...]
Did I Mention Our Refinance STILL Hasn’t Been Completed?
It’s amazing how long it has taken to get our refinancing completed. It all stems from the massive way of people that jumped at the chance to get 30 year fixed loans at historic rates. I had been worried about how long it was taking because I was worried our rate lock would expire. Once [...]
They Are Calling it Bloody Monday
If you haven’t been looking at the news much today, you might be surprised to hear the media has already given today a nickname. They’re calling it Bloody Monday due to the number of job losses. CNNMoney reports that there have been over 68,000 job cuts today alone (announced). With earnings announcements all week, I [...]
Good Riddance Mr. Fancy Pants Restaurants
Okay, maybe that’s a little harsh but we have discovered we’ve pretty much quit eating out, other than an occasional fast food restaurant. After reading Madame X’s post about where she spent her food money last year, I can say I’m quite happy we have stopped eating out at places like Applebees, The Keg, Red [...]
Are People More Willing to Take Salary Reductions to Help their Coworkers?
As I struggled to stay awake in a 7 hour meeting yesterday, I was happy to see that it was time to take a break and connect to a webcast that our Vice President was holding to discuss 2009 goals for IT (Our Information Technology group). He also planned on taking 45 minutes of questions [...]
Back on the Diet Kick
Well, after a couple month hiatus, I’m dieting to shrink my waist line a bit. I’m not really subscribing to a strict diet but I have drastically reduced my food intake and am counting calories through the Weight Watcher’s method. To keep me honest I’m meeting my brother in law at his house to weigh [...]
The Office: Malaysia – Sweatshop Edition
I’m a big fan of the office. I found this pretty darned funny. They found pretty good characters to compare with the American version. If you read fark.com, you’ve probably already seen it. Favorite line: Michael is a big phony wiener face
We Continue to Wait for Our Mortgage Refinance to Close
When we went through the application process to refinance our house we locked our interest rate for 45 days at 4.875% for a 30 year fixed loan. We are quickly approaching the end of the lock period and I have found myself feeling a little bit stressed because interest rates have gone up a bit. [...]
People Continue to be Scammed by Nigerians
When will people quit falling for these scams? A LONELY postal worker has landed himself in huge debt – after handing over £130,000 to a string of internet scammers. Shane Symington started sending cash to the fraudsters in 2007 after he was contacted by a woman claiming she needed funds to help her sick mother. [...]