Come on ride the train.

Aidan’s always seemed to like trains (the gym we go to has a busy rail line running past it that he can see from the kids area, and he’d just stare at them going by). So, Jill found out about a miniature railroad around here and we decided to check it out. It turned out to be a 1/2 scale steam locamotive that runs in a track around the property (details here).

Aidan seemed at first kind of nervous, but then excited.

The train went around a pretty decent little track, with a road crossing, tunnel, a mockup of a little town, etc for maybe 15 or 20 minutes. Which is probably about the right amount for a 2 year old. He seemed to enjoy it, although he had kind of a funny look on his face most of the time.

It was actually a pretty pleasant ride, with decent views in a couple of spots.

So, that made for a fun family outing. Not too expensive either, and the money they make goes to charity.

Slackin

I've been slacking on the blog lately. Mostly because I'm lazy, and been doing the Facebook thing, which is like blogging for the lazy. So, hit me up on there if you like...

And here's a random picture of little dude playing outside with a ball. It's definitely spring here now, and he likes to play in the yard and driveway. So much so, that it's not too fun to try to bring him inside now. He throws quite the little fit.

They didn't listen....

Evidently, the President didn't read my housing bailout post. Too bad too, since what they're coming out with seems to me to be a half meaure that won't work. And the whole pay incentives to loan modifications that don't redefault seems like a payoff to banks and people who got in over their head, and it doesn't help anybody who has been responsible and current on their loans regardless of what other sacrifices were needed to do it.
I'm sure people are going to game the system big time too. What's to stop me from quitting my job, having my loan terms modified to get payments of 31% of Jill's income, and then going back to work? Maybe there is something in there to prevent such a simple scam, but you get the idea.
And this whole "we're not going to nationalize the banks" talk today is dumb too. Why rule anything out at this point?
On the bright side, it has been fun watching Rick Santelli on CNBC blow up....
This crap just keeps getting worse, and I'm starting to wonder if the new administration is willing to really bite the bullet and clean house like I'd hoped.

El Segundo

Kid 2 is on the way! Come July, Aidan will have a little sibling of some variety. We're very excited!

Where's my freakin bailout?

Now, I'm hardly of the government-can-do-no-right sort, but it seems to me like the whole bailout thing is a bit wrong headed. We threw 350 billion down on the banks so they would lend again, but they still didn't lend (Needed the cash to reduce their leverage ratios? Probably. Money will disappear into bonuses and off balance sheet crap? Yup, probably.) So, absent a careful accounting of where the first chunk of cash went, I'm not thinking it's a good idea to throw more good money after bad. At least the auto makers bailout helps people keep their jobs....

So, here's what I think we need to do. Supposedly the whole root of the problem here is mortgage deliquencies. So, I think the government needs to step up and offer 3.5%, 30 year fixed rate mortages on up to 90% (or even 95%) of present home value. Let Fannie and Freddie buy these notes up. And maybe also offer a 3.25% 15 year fixed as well. To anybody with semi-decent credit. Here's why.

• Banks aren't lending to anybody, so giving them more cash won't do squat.
• People in trouble because their subprime loan reset to a higher rate could avoid forclosure if they could refinance into such generous terms. This would reduce forclosures, helping to stabilize property values, and all the old subprime debt would be paid off and out of the system.
• The 90% amount would help people who had more than 20% of value in their house when they got the original mortgage but are below that threshold now because of dropping home values. This would also allow some people to take cash out to pay off other higher interest rate debt or buy something (car, home improvement, college tuition, whatever), which could help keep someone else employed.
• Most people would knock a few hundred bucks off their mortgage payments, freeing up that money to pay off other debt, be saved or invested (helps the stock market...), or spending (helping jobs).
• Put a time limit on it, (say, only good during 2009) and anybody waiting for the bottom in housing is going to get off the fence, and the housing market should stabilize. And since the government is already offering a $7500 tax credit to first time home buyers, just allow them to use that for a downpayment. If you set the limit and 95% of value for the loan, that would mean a first time buyer could get a $150k house with hardly any cash. Talk about stimulus. But, this time that buyer should at least verify they're employed....

And the best part is, since the government is basically borrowing money at 0% right now, this would actually be profitable for the government. Which could then use the interest to retire some of the massive federal debt.

So, what's not to love? Don't think the government should interject in the markets? Then let the banks fail, otherwise shut it. The banks would definitely be losers in this plan, but I don't really care right now, since they pretty much did it to themselves. And I realize this won't help everybody, since those who are completely underwater on their mortgage would have to get some other help too. But if somebody was close to the line, say 110% of home value in the current mortgage, put 90% in this loan and the other 20% into something else, then maybe the payment could be manageable. Maybe allow somebody to defer principle on the 90% note for 5 years or something and set up payment plan to pay off the other 20% as quick as possible. If somebody is much further underwater than that, they're probably better off walking away if the bank won't write down the amount.

That's my plan. Sound good, Mr. Obama? I'm not holding my breath though. This would be entirely too helpful for ordinary people to make it through our bought and paid for congress. Sigh....

Full Panic Mode.

This year's visit with Santa Claus didn't go quite as planned.....at first there was general panic.

Then more of a "how could you do this to me" despair.

Better luck next year! On the bright side, we showed up right before Santa's break, and for being the last ones in line we got the picture for free. Just imagine if this precious memory cost us something...

As of late...

It's been a while since the last post, but it's a busy time of year, as I'm sure you all know. We were up in Michigan for Thanksgiving, which was good except for the ride back. The only snow we've really seen so far this year was during the drive, so it took about 7 hours vs the usual 5. Part of that was due to traffic in Dayton, where there is a bunch of construction. And since we hit that around 6, as we ground to a halt we started hearing Aidan saying "eat" in the back. It figures that he'd learn that word early. So, we had to stop for dinner on top of that instead of just getting home. At least he just used the word instead of throwing a fit...

Then, last weekend my parents came over. We're also doing Christmas in Michigan this year on account of the new baby, so we had an early Christmas with them.

My dad was also nice enough to bring over a new CPU for the computer out of one he had that had died and been replaced. It was a pretty decent quad core, so a good upgrade compared to the dual core I'd been running, so he was kind enough to donate it and I went out and bought a new motherboard to set it up. I don't buy computers, I build one and upgrade a few parts at a time to keep it current, which avoid that painful lump of cash all at one time and keep me pretty up to date, but it seems these things never go as smoothly as planned (CPU fan I had didn't fit the new board, first board I bought wasn't quite what I wanted, etc), so it's taken a good week plus before I feel like it's all ironed out now. But, it's noticably quicker (the HD camcorder video used to be very choppy in the editing software, now it's smoothed out), so it's worth the effort. So, enough of my dorkness, but that's why we've fallen off the planet temporarily.

So, now we just have to work our way through this week, and then Jill gets the nice 2 week break. I'm working until Tuesday, but then we're leaving town for Michigan that evening for about a week.

I hope all of you that are brave enough to read this blog from time to time have a happy holidays.

Aidan has a cousin!

We were very excited this weekend to meet Kade. Jill's sister had her baby on Wednesday, so we headed up to Michigan for the weekend to meet him. He is one cute kid, we think.

As luck would have it, Jill's brother also came to town, so we got a picture with all of Aidan's first cousins. Aidan was being less than cooperative with the pictures though....

Only 3 first cousins at this point, but I think we're past 30 second cousins so far.

The night we got there was also the birthday of a girl that Jill's parents watch on Fridays, so we took her to Huckleberry Junction, a sort of Chuck E Cheese kind of place. They had a toddler section with little mechanical horses, cars, planes etc of the sit in front of the grocery store just put in a quarter variety, but he was having none of that. He was all about the ski ball.

He did need a little help from dad though. He doesn't quite understand the underhand roll technique now, but he does have a wicked overhand fastball which almost makes it up the ramp. This can cause problems with those on the neighboring ones, so we had to provide some guidance as to proper technique.

The next day we also went to Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland, which bills itself as the world's largest Christmas store, and they seem to have done their best to ensure nobody ever comes close. Jill said she took this picture for the blog, so here it is....

We were looking for a tree topper of a Santa and sleigh which rotate about the top of the tree, but no luck. Jill had one as a kid so it's a sentimental thing. They did have a whole bunch of ornaments you could pick out and then have a name put on right then and there, so we did that for the babies.

And that was the trip. I'll close with a picture of Aidan hanging out with Bosco, 70 pounds of lovin English bulldog....

He snores like a jackhammer crew and when he's excited, he throws up. But, he just really wants to be loved....

Si se puede!

We tried to run this state blue for Obama (and most of the other states too), but didn't quite make it. And McConnell managed to squeak one out too, despite our efforts.

But, WOO HOOO! anyway. Definitely excited that Obama won, and looking forward to good things to come.

And I ended up voting for the guy, although with some hesitation since the local teacher's union had some not so nice things to say about that, and of course we're big supporters of education in this house. And the guy won big time (like 62-36 or something), so all my thought on the matter didn't really make a difference anyways.

Very exciting..but now I can get back to posting about fun stuff, with pictures! As soon as I get some pictures, that is. Jill's sister had a baby today, so I'm an uncle again, and this weekend we'll head up to Michigan to see the new arrival.

A Conundrum

Ok, I said I wouldn't post about politics again, but I lied. No ranting this time, though.

I'm pretty well decided on most of my votes on Tuesday (no early voting in Kentucky, as some have asked...). As you already know, Obama for President. I'm also in the "Ditch Mitch" camp for senate, and will vote for the challenger for representative mostly because the incumbant no-showed at the debates claiming his opponent wasn't running a "serious campaign". Umm, I'll be the judge of that. And we have a tax levy for parks on there too that I'll vote yes on, as I appreciate the good public parks we do have here.

The one puzzler here is actually the state representative race. I'm most geared towards voting for Democrats this year, but I'm wondering that's the right call on this one. I'm really an independant, so party loyalty isn't the issue here, I'm just in general agreement with Democrats on most issues. But, our local state representative, a Republican, stopped by the house yesterday (third time he's done it, second time this year), to ask if I had any questions. So, we had a nice chat, and while we don't agree on everything, he's not a reflexive "government bad, free market good, do away with taxes" guy (funny thing, his Democrat challenger has been hitting him in ads for having raised taxes as county commisioner a few years back). He definitely gives stuff serious thought, and is willing to consider taxes if needed for a balanced budget as long as other things for raising revenue/controlling spending are also considered. And he was also for supporting the schools better and providing assistance for teachers to get their continuing education. So, we do agree on a number of things.

And at the end of our discussion, he said "Go to this website and watch my debate with my opponent, and if you think he'd be better, than vote for him, otherwise, please consider voting for me". Bold I thought. So I did, and he did seem to have a better grasp on the issues.

But, my conundrum is this: I'm none to happy with his party, and a vote for him helps them out at the state level. So, should I put party aside and vote for the person I think is better on an individual level, or am I just being an enabler for a do-nothing Republican party in the state. The incumbant won his seat in a real squeaker the first time, so the vote I cast wil probably be pretty important here.

This has me kind of vexed, to be honest. You might be able to tell that I am leaning towards judging this my the individual, but I am a bit torn. And it's a bit inconsistent of me, since I'm not applying the same logic to the senate race (if Mitch stops by, we'll talk...).

I'm curious as to what anybody who might happen to read this thinks. Come on, sway me!