About sixteen years ago, I met him for the first time. My trainwreck sibling brought home this adorable puppy he had no business adopting because he had not one thing in his life that wasn’t a mess. I was furious at my sibling – he didn’t even take care of himself, how could he drag
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September 30, 2008
It’s not like this is a new phenomonen, but I’m sad that I have only a few dollars left in my wallet after the weekend.
BF actually looked at me like I’d sprouted a new head when he realized I’d paid:
$4, movies on Saturday – they requested CC use only for transactions over $5 and since they’re an independent and I want them to thrive …..
$5, tip/part of the bill for lunch on Sunday
$15, dinner at a cash-only on Sunday
all in CASH. And now I’m back to a few dollars and jingling coins.
September 29, 2008
Some months ago, a friend and I discussed how buying banks is currently A Bad Idea. Considering Wamu had dropped to about $12/share, it definitely seemed like banks were in for a wild ride. Friend recently confessed to buying more financials: more Wamu, Citigroup, Wachovia, Amex. Given our conversation and conviction with which “banks are bad” was previously stated, I couldn’t resist ribbing Friend today.
Revanche: Did you hear about Citi + Wachovia?
Friend: Don’t remind me about Citi + Wachovia.
R: Why, isn’t this a good thing? Doesn’t this mean at least one set of stocks won’t be worthless? *blink blink*
F: I hate you.
R: Hey, good news: current bailout plan voted down! (Friend was unhappy about the bailout.)
F: Hm, modified bailout (less money) will probably come up for vote soon. Maybe they’re waiting for my financials portfolio to become insolvent first.
R: That’s not going to take long. Are you really going to hold on to them?
F: What choice do I have?
R: Do you have a good reason to hold on? “Hope” isn’t really a strong strategy.
F: Locking in my losses isn’t a good strategy, either. Any other advice, Ms. Buffett?
R: My logic sucks less than yours, Wamu.
F: Grrr…..
I wanted to point out that selling at a loss and having a tax credit seems better than having more worthless stock (a la the Wamu shares) at the end of the day. Buuut I think Friend was no longer in the mood to chat. And what do I know, anyway? I don’t play in the stock market.
I wouldn’t be opposed, myself.
Saturday was packed, and yet felt like I didn’t get much done. Friend and I finally tackled the nagging car problems and mid-way through diagnosing the window issue, the car battery died. Excellent timing. $80 later for a new battery, and $8 for Mcdonald’s as payment for the labor, my car was ready to run again, and we’re ready to research and order new parts. Our best guess, since we’re clearly not mechanics, is that since it’s not an electrical problem, and the fuses are ok, it might be the window regulator.
We’ll use his mechanic as a resource to price the part and the estimated (recommended) labor. That’ll be compared to the warrantied used-car-parts place that Friend uses as well. We’ll decide what to do (go with a new part, and personal labor, a used part and personal labor, or either part and mechanic labor) when we’ve got all the angles covered. Bonus: It’s amazingly refreshing to know that the cost is covered by my auto maintenance fund.
Working on the car took four hours. I was pretty beat, so instead of getting right to work when I got home, I talked in the phone for an hour. Lunch with the friends at a new sushi restaurant ate up another 2 hours, and food coma quickly took care of the next hour and half. I’ve been making my way through Neil Gaiman’s Fragile Things (a birthday gift) and fell asleep somewhere between a short story or poem.
The pressing need to do laundry, work, cleaning, organizing, more online research and submissions of things, blog posts, etc. fueled a bit of guilt, but honestly, I needed the time to become human again after a long week of work.
Becoming more human included having a spot of dinner with friends, and watching Run, FatBoy Run that night. I like Simon Pegg, and the movie was amusing, but it didn’t have the unpredictable plot or twisted humor I’ve come to expect from him. It was a bit disappointingly predictable, really. And I know, it wasn’t his movie, so I can’t really blame him. Happily, I continued to honor my strike against Blockbuster and their ridiculous prices by renting from the local independent video store. They charge $1.79 per movie, per day. Since I rarely watch movies, and don’t have any need to keep the DVD for more than the day it takes to watch, I love this kind of rental. Actually, it’s an ingrained preference since I grew up renting from an independent store for a dollar a day, per video. None of this chain, $5/five days for a single movie nonsense for me! $4, two movies, one go. Good stuff!
Sunday was even more jam-packed: started working as soon as I got up, did laundry, met up with a friend to lend a sympathetic ear, took loads of recycling to the center, and tried to compose some general letters. Also, watched the second movie, dodged a possible birthday party out in the city because I couldn’t stomach the idea of another sushi meal so soon after the last, and and and …!
I think, perhaps, the better idea than to try to squeeze more hours or days out of the weekend, better time and task management is in order. It’s not that I find any of the above tasks distasteful, so it’s more a matter of proper distribution throughout the week so that I’m not cramming a thousand and one tasks into each day, and wonder why I’m so tired on Monday. Something like SavingDiva’s cleaning schedule. While saving up all the tasks makes it seem like everything gets done in a single go, the truth is, they’re all just waiting until the end of the week, and if we’re lucky, most of it’s completed.
Taking into consideration I don’t get home before 8 pm most nights, there are still ways to incorporate micro-versions of some of these chores into each night.
1. Laundry always takes about an hour and a half per load, so that’ll remain a weekend chore.
2. Letting mail pile up, though, has recently become a bad habit. I’ll open and read the mail, but won’t file it for a couple of days. That needs to stop. I’ll discard (appropriately) as I go, daily.
3. Cleaning: I will pick up after myself as I go, each day. Jackets get hung up, laundry goes into the basket or hung up again (jeans) each night. No more letting it pile up so I can “decide” later.
4. Letters/correspondence/career related writing: Pick one item, just one, and focus on it every other day.
September 26, 2008
If I were big money and already had up to my FDIC limit in Chase banks, I would be a little concerned because I’d have to find another home for my ex-Wamu money. But the grace period for separate deposit coverage for each bank lasts six months, so that’s not too shabby.
The good news is that the deliberate takeover means that JP Morgan has assumed the responsibilities for Wamu’s deposits so we won’t be taxing the limited resources of the FDIC reserve fund. I think it’s sad that everyone keeps referring to the fact that no one has lost their insured deposits since the FDIC was formed, and ignoring the fact that the fund isn’t a bottomless pool.
In the meantime, as a new Chase bank account holder, I can expect the following:
http://www.chase.com/welcomewamu/
What’s different?
* Your deposits at WaMu are now backed by the financial strength of Chase in addition to continuing to be insured by the FDIC.
* If you bank at both WaMu and Chase, your deposits continue to be insured separately today just as they were yesterday, and generally will be for another six months. At that time, your deposits will be insured by the FDIC for up to $100,000 per depositor (with an additional $250,000 for self-directed retirement accounts), and will continue to be backed by the strength and security of JPMorgan Chase.
* Learn more about the size and strength of our company.
What stays the same?
Continue to bank just as you usually do:
* same account numbers,
* same Washington Mutual name on your account,
* same checks, debit cards, credit cards, deposit slips,
* same online banking website and passwords,
* same branches & ATMs,
* same familiar bankers, and
* same great service!
What will change?
Soon
* You’ll be able to use over 9,300 Chase ATMs fee-free – jointly, that’s 14,000 ATMs for your banking convenience!
In the future
* You’ll begin to see the Chase name on your statements, online, and on your credit cards as they reissue.
* Your branch will be re-named Chase and you’ll be re-issued new debit cards with the Chase name. Until then, bank as you do today.
* As our systems merge, you’ll be able to use any of the Chase branches nationwide. This won’t take place this year, and we’ll let you know well in advance of any changes.
I get to keep my checks! And my money.
September 25, 2008
Hm. This is how unpanicked I am about the whole thing: my first thought was “Aw man! Do I have to get new checks? I like my old checks!” It’s not that I’m entirely blind to the whole picture, it’s just that in this particular case, there’s not much cause for panic. We’ve known that Wamu was struggling for some time now, and this was a pretty organized dealie. And to be honest, I still don’t know the answer to my sole burning question.
I do know that since this was a government mandated seize and closure, the transition is expected to be seamless, per WSJ:
1. We’re fully covered by the FDIC.
2. We should expect business as usual tomorrow morning.
Pretty basic, thus far, since it’s considered breaking news, though as you can see in the WSJ article, it appears that the steps taken were fairly deliberate and not a surprise to the players involved.
It’ll be nice to find out what adjustments, if any, I’ll have to make to my account. I don’t like the idea of only having one B&M bank, so I’ve got my fingers crossed that nothing more than the ownership really changes.
After the pleasantly sub-$100 electric bills of the past few months, I thought we’d finally nailed down some of the basics in reducing our energy usage. This past month should have been even better than the summer months because we didn’t use the air con once all month, and we were down to two people in the house for half the month while Mom was away visiting family. That should have made for a stellar-ly low bill, not a 120% increase!
Perhaps this is something electric companies just do, perhaps it’s something that I’ve simply failed to notice and is considered “best business practices.” Whatever the case may be, I’m fairly, oh, not ok with it. Our electric company has deemed it acceptable to send me a bill for more than twice the amount of last month’s, based on an estimated usage. An estimated 40% greater usage. What the heck is that all about?
You know what? It doesn’t matter what they think that’s all about it, because that’s completely out of the question. I sent in a request for a meter re-read because if they think I’m just forking over nearly $200 because they think I used that many kilowatts when I know I didn’t …. !! Hmph. The nerve of some people.
As I scroll down my usage history of the past few years, I see that there’s a spike every September billing period, and wonder if I foolishly missed the part of the bill where it states “Estimated read” every year before. Then again, I do have bills from November of last year, and it couldn’t have been that hard to miss. I suppose it doesn’t matter now, it’s too late to go back to last year and 2006. For now, though, I’m going to make sure that darned meter is actually read.
Note: They initially refused to come out saying that it was “in line” was previous billing history and that a re-read was “not justified.” Uh-uh! A firm note telling them exactly what I’d do if they continued to balk convinced them of the error of their ways. Guess what? The re-read of the meter two days ago resulted in a total read of 100 kW LESS (halfway through the next month) than their estimated amount for the last billing month. See?? Jerks.
September 24, 2008
Just remembered. Colleague is now on vacation, so I get to do all her work, in addition to mine, for the next two weeks. And prepare some employee training guides. Oh goody. I’d just excavated my desk!
