Two observations:
- Our national expenses FAR exceed our national income.
- We spend way too much on military and national defense.
(See the full, high-resolution graph of the 2010 national budget -- with all its gory details -- here.)
7/26/09
The 2010 National Budget
Two observations:
7/23/09
Lagoon
Went to Lagoon last week. Hadn't been there in over 20 years. It was better than I remember it.
DIY Castle
How to increase property values and make your neighbors love you: retrofit your ordinary dwelling into a castle.
We saw this in Payson when we went to the Patio of Fire concert. Lovely.
Big Rock Candy Mountain
2/18/09
The World's Most Famous Plane
Long Lost Friends: Rebecca Shahan Snow
Becky and I had a blast crashing Rebecca's older sister Laurie's 40th birthday party.Once again, Rebecca proved herself to be one of the world's leading conversationalists.
(Rebecca has been a great friend since we first met at a Junior High party -- 20 years ago!!)
Long Lost Friends: W Hall Boys
Unbelievably, freshman year was half our lives ago. The W-Hall Boys: Bryce Arnett, Me, Chris Short, Jeff Arnett, Mason Lundell, & Rob MacDonald.
(Nate, we missed you)
2/1/09
Superbowl Commercials
Hey...I know you're not doing anything right now, so why don't you throw me a bone and go vote for my brother's ad as your favorite Superbowl commercial? (Even if it's not...hey it's good for business):
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-SUPERBOWL09.html
One thing he excels at is polarizing people. When I checked a few minutes ago it was winning in BOTH the best and the worst category! I think it's hilarious.
1/28/09
1/13/09
Palm Pre
If you would have asked me one week ago, I would have said that Palm was a sad company on the brink of collapse that had somehow become irrelevant in a market that they once held 90% market share.
That was before I watched the CES product launch of the new Pre phone. Wow!
Here's my summary: They not only caught up to the other major smart phone offerings (iPhone, BlackBerry, Android), they surpassed them. The operating system is really, really cool. Don't believe me? Watch the launch.
The best features:
- Synergy: Unified contact list and Calendar from all your disparate sources...without affecting the sources. This isn't a scaled down version of a desktop application; it's better than a desktop application.
- True multitasking: You don't have to close or shut down what you are doing to do something else.
- One search: It pulls up everything relevent to your search and when it runs out of "local" options, it turns to the internet.
- The notification system is very cool.
- Seamless switching between IM and SMS for a continuing conversation.
- A real keyboard. Sorry, Apple the virtual keyboard has limitations.
- Inductive charging (no cables required)
Here's Engadget's rather glowing review.
2010 Toyota Prius & Honda Insight
The Insight design looks more like a sibling to the Prius than a competitor. Maybe they’ll look less alike in real life.
Early figure are that the new Insight may be more fuel efficient than the new Prius. Good news: The Insight is slated to cost less than $18k.
Cool new innovation: the Prius will have optional solar panels on the roof that run fans and some portion of the a/c to keep the car cool(er) while it is parked out in the hot sun. Very cool for AZ.
1/9/09
Best of 2008
Favorite Blogs: 1,001 Rules for My Unborn Son and The Jolly Porter {Christian & Stephanie’s b-i-l. A hilarious man.}
Favorite individual blog post of the year: A Secret Crush
Favorite musicians of the year: Band of Horses, Feist, Frou Frou, Death Cab for Cutie, Iron & Wine
Favorite Albums: “Once” the Swell Season, “Viva La Vida” Cold Play
Great Song: “The Geeks Were Right” The Faint
Favorite Books: Made to Stick, Super Crunchers, The Birth of Plenty, Words that Work, Wikinomics, The Long Tail, You: An Owner's Manual, Predictably Irrational, Why We Buy
Favorite movies watched in ’08: Once, Juno (both watched using ClearPlay)
Favorite Financial tool: Mint (their related app for iPhone or iPod Touch is fantastic)
Favorite Web Tool: Pandora
Favorite new gadget: iPod Touch
Favorite non-Person: Roomba
Favorite Person: Becky (she has held the #1 position for over 13 years)
Please tell me what your favorites are.
Here's my Best of 2007 list.
Comparing Loan Offers
Like many people, with rates at or below 5%, I am evaluating refinancing my mortgage right now. When doing so it can sometimes be bewildering how the different offers compare to one another:
1. Interest rates differ
2. Points differ (prepaid interest)
3. Origination fees differ
4. Other fees differ
5. Monthly payments differ
I am sure there are many other similar tools available, but the comparison tool that I have been using extensively this week can be found here.
(1) Enter the two competing offers, (2) use the APR not the stated interest rate, (3) ignore the “Loan Adjustments” fields unless you are getting an ARM, (4) press “Calculate”.
I am sure there are more elegant ways to do it, but the tool also allows you to do scenario analysis by playing with adjusting the points and origination fees.
As far as generating competing offers to evaluate, I’ve been using the link on Yahoo Finance here (it uses BankRate.com data). Sort on the “APR” column not the “Rate” column.
If you want to throw yourself into some serious mortgage/refinance research, the Mortgage Professor appears to offer information skewed in the consumer’s rather than lender’s direction. (Warning: His website looks like it was designed in 1996, but the info is good and regularly updated.)
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