weidemannia one

I wonder if anyone else noticed that the annoying dancing girl on those ubiquitous LowerMyBills ads has been going through some changes. It appears they are now targeting amputee homeowners in Alabama.

Too weird for me.

What a way to end a year; and begin another.

Although not official, it appears that there has been physical evidence of changes taking place that could make a dramatic impact on life, as we know it. A few more days, but I expect to see this “proof” with my own eyes and ears - and confirm the rumor.

The door has been unlatched, and is beginning to swing slowly into the room…

Suddenly, when least expected, there is some commotion just outside the long-closed and latched door. The knob begins to slowly turn…

It’s funny how some times simple words or phrases can take on a new meaning when your perspective changes?

Over the last 10 years, whenever I may have rolled my eyes, or questioned the purchase of some strange trinket or thrift store find by my “roommate”, I was told that “Hey, it’s all inventory” - which was to dismiss any justification for buying the item. Made complete sense at the time since she is in the collectible business, and what may cost her a few dollars could in fact return 10 or 100 times more when sold online or in her antique store. She has a good idea for spotting the hidden treasures. And so the ever-growing “inventory” became a part of our home’s decor, and stuffing for our ever-decreasingly useful garage. All in the name of business.

Now that its coming time to put real market value to all of our belongings, it will be interesting to see the perceived value of this “inventory”. Because most of it was acquired after we became a legal entity, half of the “inventory” is suddenly mine. Not that I want any of it, but its worth needs to be considered as community property.

When I look back at EVERYTHING that I acquired in my life, I never once purchased it thinking of what it could be sold for later when it ended its usefulness. For example, I collect vinyl records, but have never sold a single one. Even though a few may have some unbelievable street worth, I have no intention of letting them go. Records, to me, are not inventory, but things with memories, meaning, value and permanence. Unsurprisingly, I entered into marriage with the same attitude.

Others, it is now apparent, considered a spouse just another piece of inventory.

What am I bid?

After what seems like a bajillion days of dryness, today the skies have decided to shed some tears on the Southland. Welcome to fall, 2007.

No doubt the local TV news will crank out their “Stormwatch 2007 Doppler HD Turbo” graphics and over=report on something that nature has been doing on a regular basis since it all began.

A good day to stay indoors, and document all the accumlated assets we’ve acquired over the last 15 years so that we can split it up equitably, and I can move on to the next season of my life.

I guess the rain-slicked roads will be a continuous reminder to me that you never get advance notice when you are about to be blindsided.

Drive safely.

Is it just me, or is the juxtaposition of the random sponsor add on this newstory about Country wide cutting staff a serious comment about the state of the entire mortgage and housing industry.

You KNOW the displaced, unscrupulous mortgage loan ‘officers’ and brokers that had been selling over-extended homeowners new loans they really couldn’t afford, are going to be jumping this new bandwagon. This way, they get rewarded for creating a situation they were rewarded to in the first place. Like being a bounty hunter, and knowing exactly where the prey is hiding.

I hate the mortgage business - and that’s why I no longer call it my profession.

With apologies to my previous clients.

Well, today, the critical key components of the machine finally fried, and I don’t know if the motherboard will be able to recover. Its been in heavy use for a long time, but during the past few years, daily operations have become more and more sluggish - especially in the last six months. Can’t ignore them any longer.

I’ll make some calls on Monday and try to contact some experts to help me put some patches in place. However, I have my doubts if they will actually work in keeping the machine in operation. Frankly, I’m seriously wondering if it just isn’t time to change platforms altogether.

How did Foghat so eloquently capture this scenario?

The first time, I was a fool -
Never knew that love could be so cruel.
It happened to me again.
Third time, lucky.

I’m not proud of the fact that I haven’t been to the doctor in over 15 years. But seeing that I have passed the legal speed limit (55), and inspite of the fact that I have no pain, no sickness, no problems, and do not take any medications or vitamins, I went ahead and scheduled a “meet-and-greet” with a doctor at the local Kaiser Permanente. My check-up was on June 7.

I guess the big fear with guys my age is finding out you have issues with your prostate. Well, according to the doctor, there was no physically-identifable swelling or enlargement of this elusive gland. But I feel he and I have a much closer relationship at this point. I also am concerned with my PSA numbers, but am waiting to hear back on the analysis from the lab.

I was surprised that my blood pressure was on the high-side, but is not considered “high” blood pressure. I recall it was officially higher a few years ago when I was a proud member of the corporate workforce. Maybe 3 years of self-employment tends to relieve one’s stress. (Right. You ever tried to get a refinance completed working with third-party escrow, title, appraisers and lenders?)

I had 5 vials of blood taken, and they sent it off to the lab for a complete series of tests. Over the last few days, I’ve been getting nifty little emails from Kaiser letting me log in at the website, view the results and read more about any of the tests or results. Very informative.

Anywho, according to the results I’ve received so far, nearly all of my readings were smack-dab in the middle of the normal ranges. All organs appear functional and are doing what they are supposed to. So on the surface, my years of “hamburger, fries and a coke” and lack of exercise had no adverse imact on my health. See, everyone. I told you!

Well, I said “nearly”, didn’t I.

I have a follow up with the doctor next Friday to address my HIGH CHOLESTEROL. (Now, what have all the commercials and magazine articles and news stories told me I need to do to lower my cholesterol?) I feel like such an idiot, but I’ve decided that if anything is going to change, it has to come from within me.

Taking charge of the situation, I have begun a daily exercise ritual - to get in the habit of moving my sorry ass around more, and getting back into shape. Each morning I walk briskly for 45 minutes, and then come home and swim laps in the pool. (Finally, after 15 years of owning a swimming pool, I use it for something other than floating on a raft soaking up rays.) I also have started keeping a log of time walked, laps swum and bare-naked weight. I’ve recorded some yoga programs for the wife, and think I may also block out an hour each day to begin yoga-ing (is that a word?) At this rate, I’m going to have to get up at 5am to get all this stuff out of the way by 7am… which means going to bed at a “decent” hour. The hardest part of all this new lifestyle may be trying to go to sleep at 10pm.

Well, I’m sure the doctor will have some other ideas of what I need to be doing to control my numbers, but am sure that what I am doing will put me in the right direction. I’m not overly concerned, and am confident that I can put the numbers back in the normal range.

Will try to update the blog every so often to record progress.