random posts

* i have been trying to refinance our houses. rates are extraordinarily low, with 30 year fixed mortgages at about 4.875%. i've found that closing costs are generally more than i'd like to pay, and for some reason i have to pay local taxes when i refinance. i'm not entirely sure what i'm paying taxes on though. i'm having a hell of a time getting anyone to call me back. it appears that no one is interested in my business. one of the existing mortgages is with suntrust, so i thought i would just call them and see if i could renegotiate the interest rate without refinancing. i called them yesterday at 9:30am. i waited on hold for FOUR hours, at which point they stop playing soothing music and assuring you that your call is important to them. i left the office with the phone off the hook on speakerphone around 4:30pm, still on hold. when i came in this morning, i was still on hold. holding for 24 hours must be some kind of guiness record.

* yesterday i went mountain biking at wakefield park in annandale. for some reason, i didn't go all summer last season. i had forgotten how much fun it was and i'm glad i went. i almost ate it at one point crossing a narrow wooden bridge about 3ft above a gulley. i didn't have enough speed and rode off the side. luckily i was not clipped in and just tossed the bike away and landed on my feet. anyway, i also realized how fat and out of shape i am. at least mountain biking is fun enough that it doesn't feel like exercise.

* this morning i was listening to NPR and they ran a sound byte from an upcoming story. they were talking to a banker about how when the FDIC takes over a bank, it ends up costing other banks money. the guy they were interviewing made the comment that his bank was "paying for the sins of others". that made me laugh. welcome to the club blowhole.

"We were very angry that we were paying for the sins of others," Marranca says. "Obviously, the cost of this was because other people were doing silly, imprudent, criminal things. We never got involved in subprime loans. We would never do a loan with no documentation. We didn't cause this problem. Imagine if you had to pay for your neighbor, or your competitor screwed up somehow, and you had to pay for it." Yes, taxpayers, close your eyes and try to picture a scenario where you pay for the mistakes of others.

* on a related note, NPR ran another story on FDIC takeovers a week or two ago that was actually quite interesting. it sounds like the FDIC might be one of very few government agencies that is capable of acting swiftly and effectively.

* my accountant cannot tell me for sure which forms i need to file for MD. i was reading over the instructions because i wanted to double check everything again and it appears as though i might have to file both a resident and non-resident forms. i sent her a copy of the pdf instructions from the maryland website and she doesn't know the answer either. we're kinda running out of time here. also, according to our accountant, it appears that we have to pay taxes on laura's income in MD, despite the fact that she did not live in, nor make any money in MD in 2008. i find this hard to believe.

* last.fm is insisting that i will like the goo goo dolls, the bodeans and hootie and the blowfish. augh.