A Friendly Wager

As I am now a Midwest resident once again, and the Chicago Blackhawks are in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, I have agreed to an online bet with Jim Sullivan of Suldog fame.  If the Bruins win, I am obligated to write a post complimenting Boston and the Bruins, along with displaying their team logo.  If the Hawks win, Jim is obligated to do the same for Chicago and the Blackhawks on his blog.  He said it would bring more traffic to our blogs, but since he is a regular blog updater and has hundreds of followers I think that it will benefit me more than him...still, I'm happy to take his bet.  Jim is a great guy and a really good writer, and I look forward to reading about Chicago on his blog once the series is over.

Real Estate: The Agony and the Ecstasy

I am currently looking to become a property owner again.  I guess technically a homeowner, although the property that I'm trying to buy is a condominium.  HOPEFULLY, this will be happening soon, like within a week or so.  As I will describe, though, with all that's happened so far in the process, I am not counting on anything until the closing takes place.

I have owned real estate just once before in my life.  That was in Nevada, in the early 2000s.  In that case, I decided to buy a single-family home, even though I didn't need all the space, since I thought it would be a better investment.  While I was waiting to buy the house, the airline that I was working for there went into Chapter 11.  I ended up deciding to buy the house anyway, even though I liked my apartment that I was living in at the time, and closed on it in April of 2001.  Great timing!  As I'm sure everyone reading this is aware, 9/11 happened later that year and the airline I was working for, already struggling, never did emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  Still, they did keep flying until late 2002.  

My first job that I found after that airline went under was in Wisconsin.  My new employer did include a paid move but I still kind of hoped to keep living in Nevada, so I decided to rent out my house there initially.  I had fairly good renters but my goal of getting a job with another Nevada-based airline never panned out, so I ended up selling the house after I had rented it out for about a year.  Fortunately during that year the property values went up a lot, and I ended up making money on it - not a fortune or anything but it was better than the alternative.  However, the whole experience of being forced to move, rent, etc. left me a little gun-shy with regards to owning property, and I had no desire to buy any sort of real estate in Wisconsin -  because I had no big desire to keep living there.  As long-term readers know, I ended up getting a job in Texas after about three years of living in Wisconsin.

I did look at some properties when I was living in Texas after I'd been living there for a while.  One in particular I did really like, but I also felt like I couldn't afford, so I never pursued financing or anything.  Shortly after we got a new contact at my workplace, thus enabling me to afford to buy something, they announced our merger and pending move to the Midwest, the kaboshing any interest I had in buying a place once again for a couple more years.

I decided I would like to buy a place where I am living now, and I don't expect to be moving again until I retire, but I didn't want to buy right away either.  In my experience, it's always best to live somewhere for a while first to get to know the good and bad areas.  Plus, I don't like being rushed when working with a realtor, especially if I decide I want to switch realtors.  Anyhow, several months into living here, I did find a realtor I liked and started looking at places - townhomes and condominiums.  I couldn't find any townhomes here that I liked but we did finally locate a condo that I am pretty fond of.    After several rounds of negotiating with the buyer, we agreed on a purchase price.  

Now comes the rub - the whole financing process.  As I am a veteran, I wanted to buy the property with a VA loan.  Banks usually like this, you have to put less money down, and you don't have to pay any mortgage insurance because it's insured by the government.  Closing costs can be a bit higher but overall it's usually a good way to go.  When I got my house in Nevada, the process was pretty easy, and I don't remember having to put much money down beyond my initial earnest money on the house and a little bit more at closing.  So, I wanted to get the same kind of loan for my condominium.

The VA has certain requirements for condominium buildings, and while my potential property easily met all of them, this particular condominium association also has a requirement that all the units be either owner-occupied, or only rented to a relative.  That requirement doomed my chances with the VA.  I was informed that they require renting the unit to be an option in case the veteran who buys the unit is forced to deploy with the military.  Even though there is zero chance of that happening in my case, as I have long since left the inactive reserves, the VA does not make exceptions to this rule.  So, I was stuck with conventional financing, or finding a new place.

I decided to go for conventional financing even though it was quite a bit more money down (5% of the purchase price required) since that is the only path I saw towards getting this particular unit.  I went over things with the banker my realtor had recommended, and he told me how much money I'd need.  I am doing a 401K loan for that money, so in essence I'm financing the whole purchase, but from two different sources.  The banker assured me this would not be a problem based on my current income and expenses.  

I had to do a LOT of paperwork for this loan - far more than I remember doing in 2001 for my old house - but after a few weeks, I finally got a letter from the bank saying my loan was approved.  There were some other hiccups - we had to extend the closing date a couple of times, which  at one point we thought the seller was not agreeing to, but ultimately everything seemed to be on schedule.  I had the money for the down payment deposited in my bank account, and things were looking good.

Earlier this week while getting ready for work, the bank called.  "Well, I have some good news and some not so good news," said my banker.  "The good news is, you're all approved, but the bad news is that you're going to need $4000 more than I said you would when we started the process.  I don't know if you need to get more money from your 401K, or what you want to do there."  As I was in the middle of walking out the door I told him I'd call back.  I did initially consider a couple different ways to get the extra money, but the more I thought about it, the angrier I became.  I was especially annoyed with the casual way that the banker had referred to me getting more money, like it was no big deal and whoops, well, these things happen, you know?

I called my realtor after I got to work and left him a message.  I let him know that I was tired of all the paperwork and running around, and that I was not interested in putting down any more money than what I had already been told I'd need, and that if I couldn't close with that amount then I felt like I probably shouldn't close on the property.  This got a fast response, as he called the banker (the guy he had recommended to me) and I guess read him the riot act.  The banker suddenly was able to find a way so that I could close with the amount I'd been planning on, although it will raise my APR slightly.  So for now, everything is on track (again.)  

I hope it works out since my apartment lease is ending at the end of the month (although I could extend it if I have to) and I really would like to get this deal done so I can get moved.  In the meantime, if anyone is looking to buy a house, I wish you the best of luck but be prepared for lots of paperwork and negotiations!   Hopefully I will be able to update soon with good news. 

Twitter

For anyone interested, I also have a Twitter account, as many people seem to these days.  The link to my account is in the sidebar of this blog.  I still have no clue what I am doing there, but I try and have fun with it.

The other day one of those fun events occurred when I discovered that the band Filter, who tweet as @OfficialFilter, are now following me there.  I am not sure why since, while I like their music, I'd never mentioned them on Twitter before to my knowledge.  I was also at one time briefly followed by Art Alexakis of Everclear, but that didn't last.

I harbor no ill will towards anyone who doesn't follow me, or briefly followed me and then unfollowed me, as it's just Twitter and I try not to take it too seriously.  Still, when I find a well-known person is following me, it does give me a little ego boost - and we can all use those once in a while, can't we?

My favorite song by Filter is probably Hey Man, Nice Shot which was featured prominently in the movie The Cable Guy, among other places.  However, it's not the most uplifting song.  Here is what I found out about it from Wikipedia:

The song was written about the January 22, 1987, public suicide of Pennsylvania state treasurer R. Budd Dwyer. Dwyer had been convicted on bribery charges in December 1986, and was expected to receive a long sentence from U.S. District Court Judge Malcolm Muir. Professing his innocence and decrying the legal system, Dwyer shot himself with a .357 Magnum during a press conference.  Although singer and songwriter Richard Patrick frequently clarified this in interviews, as well as the fact that he had first written the song in 1991 before the band even had a record deal, the song's popularity was augmented by a widespread perception that it was about the 1994 suicide of Kurt Cobain. 

And on that cheery note, here is the official video for it.  See you later!

Why I Am Still Single

Figured it was time to shake the dust off my keyboard and post something here.  A friend of mine has recently started a blog (hi, PJ!) and another friend just wrote a post on hers and so forth.  I really have no reason for being away so long.  I have moved to the Midwest as I had said I would - I'm currently living in an apartment with a nice view but looking to move into a condo if the VA ever approves the building.  I have no good excuse like MM did of writing a book or anything.  I just stopped posting for a while.  But I'm back, at least for now.

I am closing on 45 years old this year and I am still single.  For some reason, me and relationships just don't go well together.  I've only ever dated one person I would have liked to get really serious with, and that was only briefly as it happened while I was temporarily attending school in Denver.  For tonight's episode, we will go over a friendship that I felt might have developed into something more, but crashed and burned instead.

It started off when a person emailed me out of the blue.  She was a fan of a review blog that we both were commenting on.  (Hi, Marvo!)  We had several email exchanges - a bit flirty perhaps but nothing really serious.  She did seem like a nice gal though.  The emails proceeded to phone calls and then things dropped off for a while.  However, we did still continue to stay in touch, albeit intermittently.  She lived in Columbus.

Last year, I drove to Pittsburgh to attend a wedding.  As I was driving through Columbus, I tried to get in touch.  I got no reply until I was at my friend's wedding but then she did call back, so we arranged to meet on my way back from Pittsburgh.  My nephew lives in Columbus also right now (attending medical school) and I was already planning to see him, so it was not out of my way.  I had lunch with my nephew and then went back to my motel and called her.

She gave me directions to her apartment, and we talked for a bit before going out for dinner.  We had a very nice meal and conversation - she asked if I wanted to go to a club or something, but I was getting over a cold and I said I'd rather just watch Breaking Bad with her at her place.  So, that's what we did.  Nothing else happened although I did get a goodnight kiss on the cheek.  I didn't return it since I didn't want to give her my cold.

Anyhow, we talked once or twice more after that - I called her when I was on vacation in Orlando last fall and said that my nephew was now engaged and I'd be attending his wedding, and that I would like to see her again when I was there.  She sounded receptive to all of this.  I then made what was probably a mistake and invited her to come to the wedding with me via email - but I also said if she didn't want to come I understood and maybe we could just get together for lunch or whatever.  Anyhow, I got zero response to this.  I tried calling - same thing, it always went to her voicemail.

The weekend of the wedding finally arrived and it was a very nice ceremony and reception.  I saw some family members I hadn't seen in a while and had a good time.  But of course, still no response from this gal.  We were friends on Facebook and the day after the wedding, I noticed she had posted a link about going to some club the night before and what an awesome time she'd had.  For some reason, this pushed me over the edge, and I wrote, "Have a nice life!" as a comment to that post and unfriended her.  Shortly after this, she finally called my phone.  I didn't answer the call.  She didn't leave a message.

This whole exchange seems to sum up me and the relationships I've had or attempted to have - not that I really expected this one to develop into anything serious, since we were living in different cities and all - but I did want to stay friends and I have no idea why I got the total cold shoulder on my last trip there.  Ah well, life goes on.  I have discovered that generally speaking, I am happier being single and not dealing with all the baggage a relationship brings with it.  Of course, things may change in the future but for now, I am happy with bachelorhood.

Your Monday moment of Zen...

Elephant vs. midgets. And people say reality TV isn't educational!

More Gloom & Doom

So. One of my co-workers (same job title as me) went to the Reno Air Races last week, and was killed when the plane crashed into the crowd. He was with two other people, one of whom was unharmed by the crash, and the other who was seriously injured but is expected to make a full recovery. Evidently, right before the crash occurred, my co-worker had gone forward (in front of the stands) to take some pictures, and he was standing very close to where the plane impacted the ground.

At first, he was just considered missing - his family held out some hope that he might have been taken to a hospital without ID on him or something. However, his wife flew out there the next day and ruled that possibility out. Also, although no remains have been found yet, they did find some of his personal effects (wallet, etc.) at the crash site. Unfortunately, the crash was so bad that I don't think there is much left of him other than that.

I guess I'm still feeling a bit stunned by it. You don't think much about mortality when you're still in your forties. And, I have to admit that the guy who was killed was not a close friend of mine - we didn't get along that great, to be honest. I won't go into the particular reasons for that right now, but I guess it does make it harder to sort out how I feel. However, I do feel awful for his wife and kids. They had adopted two children (a boy and girl) who are elementary school age. My co-worker used to work the 6 AM to 2 PM shift, and I heard he would call them every morning while he was at work, before they went to school. He was very enthusiastic about aviation and seemed to be good at his job. So - he will be missed.

I think men are worse than women when it comes to grief and dealing with death. I know that after my father died, I did a horrible job with the grieving process and tried to carry on like nothing had happened. That worked - for a while - but after several months I had a few incidents involving anger and behavior that, quite honestly, is nothing I was proud of. I was able to eventually move past that but it took a while. To be totally honest, I think some of the problems I was having with my last job were related to this (although not all of them) and it was definitely time for me to move on when I did. Hell, even if I'd been having zero problems with my last job, I would have left there to go to a major in a heartbeat.

While I am not an extremely religious person, I also am not an atheist, and I have heard people at work asking what God was thinking with regards to this tragedy. I don't know that, but it does seem to me that when you have a man over 70 years old flying a heavily modified high performance aircraft at 50 feet above the ground, passing directly over a crowd of people watching - this is not safe behavior. And, I suppose the pilots involved know it's risky, as several of them have been killed over the years, and they accept that risk - but I hope in future, assuming that the race resumes, that more steps are taken to protect the crowd, even if it means they don't have quite as good a view.

I will definitely be attending my co-worker's funeral, if I can, and a bunch of us from work are getting together Tuesday night to have a few drinks in my fallen co-worker's honor. And I would advise those people reading to remember that life is precious, and to try not to take your daily existence for granted.

9/11, Ten Years Later

I suppose this is as fitting a date as any to start posting again, and I'm sorry I've been gone so long. I've already posted before about what I was doing on the date of the 9/11 attacks, details can be found here if you are interested. I don't have that much else to say, except that time really does fly - but two airlines later, I'm still working in this crazy industry and mostly enjoying it. I will try to have a more substantive post up soon about what I've been doing since my last post many months ago, so stay tuned. Continuing a tradition, here are the names of the airline employees killed in the 9/11 attacks. May they rest in peace.

American 11 (Boston to Los Angeles)
Crashed into World Trade Center
John Ogonowski, Dracut, Mass., Captain; Thomas McGuinness, Portsmouth, N.H., First Officer; Barbara Arestegui, flight attendant; Jeffrey Collman, flight attendant; Sara Low, flight attendant; Karen Martin, flight attendant; Kathleen Nicosia, flight attendant; Betty Ong, flight attendant; Jean Roger, flight attendant; Dianne Snyder, flight attendant; Madeline Sweeney, flight attendant

United 175 (Boston to Los Angeles)
Crashed into World Trade Center
Victor J. Saracini, Lower Makefield Township, Pa., Captain; Michael Horrocks, First Officer; Amy Jarret, flight attendant; Al Marchand, flight attendant; Amy King, flight attendant; Kathryn Laborie, flight attendant; Michael Tarrou, flight attendant; Alicia Titus, flight attendant

American 77 (Washington/Dulles to Los Angeles)
Crashed into the Pentagon
Charles Burlingame, Captain; David Charlebois, First Officer; Michele Heidenberger, flight attendant; Jennifer Lewis, flight attendant; Kenneth Lewis, flight attendant; and Renee May, flight attendant

United 93 (Newark to San Francisco)
Crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania
Jason Dahl, Colorado, Captain; Leroy Homer, Marlton, N.J., First Officer; Sandy Bradshaw, flight attendant; CeeCee Lyles, flight attendant; Lorraine Bay, flight attendant; Wanda Green, flight attendant; Deborah Welsh, flight attendant