energy followup.....

This weekend we have Cassie's last summer swim meet on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and then on Sunday night Morgan and I will be baptised down in La Jolla in the Pacific Ocean. We are really looking forward to it. Not sure, as it might be Cassie, but will try to have some pictures.

Yesterday's post about energy seemed to get many reads, and a few responses. One from Chris was questioning my thinking that $5 gas was a good thing in spurning on "green" alternatives. While there are many suffering because of the high fuel prices which in turn makes everything else more expensive, my comments were not to mean I'm glad they are suffering. My point is that we as a society seem to only really innovate when something else effects our wallets, and I mean that in the bad way (higher costs) and the "good" way (someone can make a buck). My hope is that gas prices drop below $3 a gallon, and in turn, other costs follow the downward trend. I don't think that is going to happen, but it is my hope. A bigger concern though arises from that scenario, and that is we cut back on our thoughts towards alternatives because $3 a gallon does not seem like a big deal. I don't want people to be choosing between gas and food, and I pray that people don't have to make that choice, but it is these tough times in America that usually bring about bigger and better changes. I hope as a nation we follow suit and repeat our record of making things better at the end of the tunnel.

He also mentioned his IRA and the housing market. While I did not mention anything about finances, he did, so I feel that I should/can follow up on his comments.

An IRA not doing well is something I hear from many of my clients. I get the "it's gone down, so I'm not investing anymore" excuse, quite a bit. My answer is "fine, it's your money and decision", but I always ask when did it go down, and has it gone down to where you have less than what you have invested. Nine out of ten times the answer is usually that it went down in the past couple of months, and virtually never have they lost their initial investment if they have been investing for more than 3 or 5 years. We are an American Idol, I want it now, society, and are investment strategies are falling into that trap. I am not sure where it was written that eight to ten percent growth each year was the norm, but people sure feel that way.

Take a large timeline snapshot of investments, and you will see a pretty steady average growth rate when looking at 20 or so years of numbers. Patience is needed with any and all investments. The economy always has its ups and downs, with history showing that there is more overall "up" than "down".

Now some might be "hissing" at me and asking what to I know. Is my family suffering? No, fortunately, my family has been blessed, and although we have tried to destroy ourselves financially (some would say), we have been patient, and not "knee jerk" in our ways. Will we be rich come retirement age? Probably not, but we will be OK, and to me that works just fine.

As for the last point about the housing market. I'm not even sure where to start. There is a ton of blame to go all around, but the first thing I will say is that I do not want to hear anyone cry out that they were forced into a home and mortgage anymore.

People were greedy, and it starts with home buyers thinking homes were going to keeping rising in value at ridiculous rates which made them go look for a home. Then when they did find one, it was usually more than they could afford, but then in came banks and mortgage brokers telling them that they would get them a loan that would "fit" them. Simple division, would have shown them that a $360,000 house with no money down and with no interest is still $1000 a month for 30 years. If that was OK, then add interest to the equation. Start with that teaser 2% interest and the payment is $1330 a month (before insurance and r/e taxes), but then even if the rate doubled to 4%, which is still low, it raises the monthly payment over $300. People were not thinking ahead, and if they were, it was that the $360,000 home would be worth $500,000 in five years. That's great, but unless you were selling or getting a raise, you were still not going to be able to afford the initial payments no matter how high the house value rose.

I am not discounting the fact that there were many crooks out there selling mortgage packages that were wrong, and selling them to people who were marginal loan applicants at best, but again, some simple math and taking a step back could have prevented many of these ills. If these brokers or banks falsified papers, or did other fraudulent acts, I believe they should be prosecuted and punished to the fullest extend.

Sorry, but again, there is no law stating an annual rate of return on real estate. Again, just look over an extended period of time, and you will see that real estate is a sound investment. Yes, prices are falling, but maybe they were too high when they reached their last peak. I know many used this "paper equity" as a piggy bank to take out loans for other items, and now they are upside down, but patience, and it will all come around. Again, this might be a "good" thing it making people think about saving and not overextending themselves the next time we are riding on the high side of the wave.

I don't want to get too much into this, as I try to keep these posts from making you fall asleep. Also, I want to please remind you that I do want all comments, good and bad, agree and disagree, and to not let this post discourage any comments or questions. It gets me thinking, and I appreciate a good "think".

I have been dealing with finances and hearing and seeing peoples money situations and investments for the past 20+ years. All, I'm saying is that these are tough times, and we will get through them. I know this all seems dire, but I think part of that is 24/7 news and stories about it. Actually these times are probably not the worse in the last 40 years. Go back to someone who was an adult in the early 1970's, and they will have stories of double digit unemployment, inflation, and mortgage rates. Plus, let's not forget the lines at the pumps for "every other day" gas fill ups, which brings us back to gasoline, which brings us full circle to the start of yesterday's rant.

- Your Olympic mention for today. You are watching?
- Hard times for Mrs. Fields. Maybe it's those $5 cookies.
- OK, why can't this Friend keep a man?

Until the next time.....
-

oil & water (or politics) don't mix.....

All is quiet on the work front today. A couple of follow ups, but after the long day yesterday, this was very relaxing and easy. Good thing too, because I was not too bright last night and played games until 1am. Again, with no nap. The alarm at 5:30am comes really quickly after those late nights. Will I ever learn?

I need to send out my summer email to clients, but I think I'll wait another week or so as most of my clients are in NC, and will be back from vacations next week because school starts. That way maybe somebody will read it, and not just delete it with their 150 other emails in their vacation inbox. :-)

I found it funny the other day when Cassie saw the prices at the local Shell station and commented about the "cheap" gas at $3.99 a gallon. That is down from the $4.59 I paid (regular) only a few weeks ago, but when I thought about it, I just shook my head. Cassie, and our kids will think $4 and $5 a gallon gas as "low" when they are growing up and starting to drive. Going back, I can remember 89 cents a gallon, but not much less than that when I started driving.

I don't see it going down too much further (never less than $3 again), and I think it will steady for a while until next summer. I see the price of a barrel is hovering about $114 per, today. Down over $30 a barrel from a couple of week ago. While I don't like high gas prices, it did get people to think about driving routines and what they drive, but I fear that if it gets down in the low $3 range for a while, people will "forget" and go back to their old ways.

Of course the cry has been for more offshore drilling, and I think we should have more drilling, and not just to get more oil. I hate the fact that there is an untapped resource that could be helping Americans with jobs and would keep the money in the USA, but instead we are purchasing that amount from foreign sources. I believe that even if we only reduced our foreign dependence by 3%, that it is 300 times better then sending our money overseas.

***(Warning! Political rant!)*** Of course this has turned political, as John McCain wants offshore drilling now while exploring alternatives, including nuclear power, while Barack Obama is opposed to it, although he said recently that he could be persuaded, but in actuality has been opposed to any drilling and would rather give people tax rebate incentives to change their ways. To make matters worse, the Congress, knowing that a majority of people are for off shore drilling, but because it would help McCain's campaign, decided not to even vote on the issue. The Democrats would have voted down the bill to allow of shore drilling, but they don't want to have the public actually see them voting against the drilling, so Nancy Pelosi said, "no vote". Congress then closed down for "summer vacation", and that is that. They didn't want to actually have to explain to their voters why they don't want a part of the program. Instead, the Democrats can just say that they didn't vote against it, because there was no vote of record. Ugh!

Of course, part of this changed Monday when SOH Pelosi was questioned on Larry King Live (how does he still have a show?). She now says she is willing to have a vote if it is part of a bigger package that includes release of fuel from the strategic reserves, extension of energy saving credits that have or will due to expire, and although not said, I would bet some sort of "tax" on oil company profits.

Extension of the energy credits, I am all for, as I think a large part of the population's problem in converting to fuel/energy efficient devices is the cost. Morgan and I were seeing this as we tried to make the new house as "green" as possible.

As for the "tax" if there is one passed, well that would be a disaster. Economics 101 says that if you raise the price on a business to do business, they will pass along that cost to the consumer. Oil companies and its shareholders like $10 billion profits, and they will do all necessary to keep them.

The other part about releasing from the strategic reserves is just plain stupid. These are reserves for a national emergency, not an inconvenience of our wallets. An attack on our soil, a terrorist attack on Middle East oil production, or a large scale natural disaster (larger Katrina, "The Big One" in California) might be a reason to release some of the reserve, but not for trying to take a dime a gallon off the price of gasoline. ***(End of rant)***

I am not saying all gas powered cars need to be gone, but I do think $4 and $5 a gallon gas started the ball rolling on producing other ideas for automobiles. Lower prices might stall (no pun intended) that process, and not make it such an emergency in people's minds until oil starts spiking again. Then the public will start their normal crying routines about alternatives, but only because their wallets hurt, and not because finding alternatives is the right thing to do.

I'm not trying to come off as some "green machine", but I think whether you believe in global warming or not, that we are a smart enough society, as a whole, that we should be coming up with more ideas to make better use of the resources, and not put so much "waste" back into atmosphere. I also think that after 100 years of gas powered vehicles, there should be more automobile alternatives then just a few hybrid or a couple of natural gas models.

We got people from the earth to the moon almost 40 years ago, and that process was started almost 50 years ago. In these days of technology, we can certainly find better ways to get us from "here to there", then the same old ways that have worked since Henry Ford and the Model T.

- More newspaper job cuts. Does anybody read one today?
- Used to be you could only buy Apple products from Apple.
- Cammi makes the US Hockey Hall of Fame.

Until the next time.....

Lego pictures.....

Legoland pictures mentioned in prior post.



Pirates' Life


The Mini City Displays:



Las Vegas, baby!!!



New York City



New Orleans & Mari Gras



San Francisco Seaport

Los Angeles:

Gruman's Chinese Theater & The Hollywood Bowl

Washington, DC

Cassie & Courtney enjoying a ride?

Around Legoland:

The Force is strong with this one!

Bubble Girls

Welcome to SeaLife

Some real poor aquarium pictures. :-(

Until the next time.....

Lego time.....

Went to Legoland and the new SeaLife Aquarium next door yesterday, and had a real nice time. Even though it is a young kids park, I really enjoy the Lego creations around the park. I'll will get all the pictures online later in a separate post.

Of course taking the whole day off yesterday meant that I would have 10 or so pieces of work waiting for me to do, after not hearing from anyone for a couple of days. It always happens that way, so today was a big "catch up" in the office. I expect a couple more tomorrow, then I should be all set for the month.

Had a conversation with an income tax client today about houses and rental homes. This year was his first as he got my name off the American Airlines message boards from another pilot from NC that is a client. This gentleman and his wife live up in LA. Anyway, after about a 10 minute conversation, that answered his questions, he stopped me from hanging up to tell me how much he appreciated me emailing him the other day after receiving his email (he had emailed me his questions, and I replied back that I would not be able to answer him until today), and that I took time with him on the phone to answer his questions, and did not try to rush him off. He said that was the reason he was looking for another accountant, because he last one seemed "bothered" to do his job. I thanked him for the nice words, but felt like I did nothing special, except did my job. I wonder if me just doing my job like it is supposed to be done is now considered "special". Thinking about it, it might be true, and also sad. Well, if bad customer service by another accountant gets me more clients, I'm OK with it.

BTW, yes, I did wander out of the house after 11:30 on Monday night to pick up my copy of Madden 2009. There were about 50 of us or so when the game went on sale at midnight. Of course being the "old man" that I am, by the time I got home I was too tired to play (really should have napped), but I did see and know enough through online sites to be able to speak about it on the air with Morgan on Tuesday morning.

Lego pictures, and plenty of them, to follow.

- Your Olympic stats and front page.
- Some Hybrid pricing competition.
- Cassie got to talk about the Jonas Brothers on the air today.

Until the next time.....

homeless.....

Looking forward, we have a pretty busy week coming up. It will start off tonight with me wandering over to GameStop at midnight to pick up the new Madden game. Morgan and the guys are calling me tomorrow morning to talk about it, so I will try to get in a game or two before sleeping. If not and sleep takes over, I'll just wake up early and get a game in. Tomorrow, during the day, we are heading out to Legoland. Today a new aquarium is opening next to it called Sea Life. So besides the normal park, we get some sea life education. I like Legoland, and I will be bringing my camera to take pictures of the mini cities that are set up in the park. The aquarium is new to the United States, and we always enjoy them, so it should be a good day. On the weekend, Cassie has a swim meet on both Saturday and Sunday mornings, while on Sunday night, Morgan and I will be baptized. OK, I'm tired already. :-)

Saturday night brought our last guest speaker of the summer (and maybe the best) to our church. His name was Mike Yankoski, and he has an amazing story. Mike was brought up in upper middle class Colorado, and did not start going to church with friends (mom and dad are non-believers) until high school. While in college, he was out with some friends one night and purposefully ignored a couple of homeless men, as to wish them to go away. The next day in church he remembered the incident, and how it was not the Christian way to act, and was not living in a Christ like manner. That lead him to decide to leave school for a semester (five months) to live as a homeless person in six different cities across the country. Mike had a friend join him on this journey, and for the five months he kept a journal and wrote about their experiences in Under the Overpass.

I purchased a copy of the book and was able to speak with Mike for a little while on Saturday night. In the book, he talks about their times on church grounds and with Christians, and how they did not always act in a Christian manner to these two homeless men. His message was inspiring to Morgan and myself, and has made me think a little about how I may go about encounters with those less fortunate than me/us. His message is not to go "crazy" about it, as he is not looking for all of us to house and take in those on the street, but just be compassionate to those less fortunate. Maybe a $5 Starbucks card, or a bottle of water and chewy granola bar to get them through the day. That with a "hello", may just make someones week a whole lot better.

Morgan and I talked about it, and we need to leave the cynical part of us to the side when it comes to matters like this. We have all been "burned" by a scam of some sorts in our lives, and it makes us put up a wall to not allow it to happen again. By doing that, we shut out those that really need our help. We need to believe that when those situation are presented to us, that God will put those truly in need in front of us.

- Great first 3 days of Olympic action.
- Hillary says John Edwards cost her the nomination.
- A slow and respectful changing of the New Year's Guard.

Until the next time.....

camp girl.....

Cassie returned from camp late this morning. She had a great week, and enjoyed all the different activities they had them doing while they were there. Between the rock climbing, crafts, swimming, games, worship session, etc., they seemed to be non-stop all week long. I'm real happy that she likes these times away at camp. I think they are good for her, and all kids, to be away from mom and dad, and have fun experiences.

Morgan and I needed to "sand blast" her, and her stuff when she did get back home, but other than that, she was pretty much bug bite free, and didn't have any cuts or scrapes from all her outdoor fun.

The lot of our new house being build was cleared on Thursday. Kellie was nice enough to take some "before and after" pictures for us. (Casey, you are also more than welcome to do the same.) This was the first I had seen of the lot, and it looks fine, and I am really glad that there are still plenty of trees to be standing around the house. Only a little more than six weeks before Morgan arrives to see the framed house and pick out the "insides" of the home.

After I finished posting my entry on Thursday, I did update all of my income tax worksheets. I now have a generic one for all clients, along with one for clients that have a side business, and another for clients with a rental property. I think these should be pretty good templates that will last quite a while, with only some "tweaking" for different items that might be new or have changed for that particular tax year.

Between the updated worksheets and the scanning, then shredding of all client documents, I feel pretty good about getting caught up with that "administrative" work. Now, I can just take care of client work, and when I get free time, not worry about completing those projects.

Morgan and I were discussing the John Edwards' affair, and there just seems to be pieces missing. First, I find it funny, well actually pathetic, that this "admission" was well orchestrated. Following politics these past year, and especially this past month, much was said about a "news vacation" when the Olympics started. That is the reason Barack Obama is vacationing in Hawaii this week, and John McCain has no real news making events planned. The US and the world would be watching the Olympics, not politics. So when does this "confession interview" occur, but the night of the Opening Ceremonies, with the hopes that it will be forgotten by Monday morning.

A point of question, starts with the story of the Dallas attorney paying to move this woman, Rielle Hunter, and another Edwards' staff worker, Andrew Young (who claims to be the baby's father) from Chapel Hill because the "press were hounding them". I have a feeling this story will have legs, as there is something very strange about this payment arrangement.

Another couple of pieces that bothered us comes from Elizabeth Edwards' statement, which she asks for privacy at this time as they go through this terrible ordeal. The problem is that earlier in the statement she says she has known about this since 2006. Well, that was two years ago, and if she was willing to forgive him, and then campaign "side by side" for the Democratic Nomination with him for almost a year (I know this "stand by your man" irks Morgan something awful), I would think this would be a "water under the bridge" event, and it coming out, while a nuisance, really should not effect the family at this time. Aren't they "over it"? Or maybe, she really did not know about it until a much shorter time ago?

The other piece of the statement that bother me was her saying that "This was our private matter, and I frankly wanted it to be private because as painful as it was I did not want to have to play it out on a public stage as well". Um, excuse me, but you were out there campaigning with him for the Presidency of the United States! You have no privacy when deciding to run for President. This was bound to come out in the public.

Ugh! Well that's enough of my ranting on this. I like watching politics, but I hate politics. I may not like your views, or agree with your politics, but stand up straight, tell me the truth, leave nothing in the closet, and let me decide. Tell me things I don't want to hear. I'm a big boy. It's OK. I may not vote for you, but I will respect you. Smarmy and hiding things, gets you on the bottom of my list.

- Let the Games begin!

- Did not know Bernie was ill. Funny in the Ocean movies.

- Anyone know about the Jets getting a new quarterback? :-)

Until the next time.....

no long ride.....

I did not get an invite to the Madden video game party going up in Pasadena on Monday. At first I was not really interested, but when I thought about being able to get a long ride (about 250 miles round trip) on the motorcycle, and being able to see the Rose Bowl for the first time, I got excited and hoped I would win one ticket from an amount being given away on the web. Did not happen. Oh well.

Otherwise this is about as quiet a time as I have working during the year. Clients are a bit "slower" in sending in their normal monthly work, and income tax clients don't seem to have many questions (that ramps up again when October starts, and gets full throttle on December 1st). Now if I could just get myself in gear and update those worksheets. :-)

Morgan and I are sure that Cassie is having a great time at camp, and can't wait to see her when they return Saturday morning. The website of the camp has been down for a couple of days, so we haven't seen any pictures in a while. That's really bumming out Morgan. Though even with the site up, we haven't seen any pictures of Cassie yet in the first few days, but with so many kids at the camp, that's what happens.

Off to find something to do. Maybe those worksheets.....

- Woo Hoo! Tivo/DVR external drives.
- Opening Ceremonies are tomorrow.
- $300K for a jumpsuit?

Until the next time.....

movie day.....

Finally got out to see the Batman movie, The Dark Knight. Excellent movie, and has set it up nicely for the next movie in the series. I will be interested in seeing if the next will be the third and final of this "series" or if it will be made to continue.

The only downside to the movie was the chatting young girls behind us. They were with an adult, who was their older sister, maybe mom, aunt, etc., and after about 20 minutes into the movie, and talking throughout, I finally had to turn around and ask them to be quiet. It was finally at that time where the adult asked them to keep it down. Unbelievable! Well, not really, as this world just gets more self absorbed, and without a care for anybody else in it except for that person themselves.

Other than that, there is really nothing going on. I have work coming in slowly this month, but nothing overwhelming. It will be a good time for me to update my tax season worksheets, and actually be all ready for the upcoming year. The idea is good, now I just need to execute it.

Just signed up for another fantasy football league with guys from Geezer Gamers. That is two with them, and probably one more with my buddies from high school. They always get these together at the last minute, as they are busy, fancy New York lawyers. :-)

With football being only one month away from beginning, it means to me that hockey is only two months away from starting its season. Woo Hoo!

- Get well soon, Mr. Freeman.
- Yes, I will be getting my Madden game at midnight on Monday.
- Hooray! Less commercials to watch.

Until the next time.....

child is away.....

The bus left the church at 1:10 this afternoon, and with that, Cassie is away for the week until next Saturday morning. It is good for Cassie to be away on her own. The past few years, she has always gone away to two different places. Usually almost 2 weeks in Florida with my mother and step-father right after schools ends, and then another week or two at sleep away camp. Was not sure if wither of those were going to happen this year with so much going on, but we were able to get both done, even if they are only one week each.

It is also good for Morgan and I to have the time free. We really only have 5 days this time, as my brother and friend were here when Cassie was in Florida, and do not have anything real special planned, but it will be nice to just have it the two of us for a few days.

There is an email sitting in my inbox from what I thought was a former/lost client, asking me to prepare numerous returns. I say "former/lost" because I did a piece of work for them in early January and was paid, so all seemed normal. Then when I was supposed to take care of three corporate returns, plus her personal return, I never heard from her. None of the emails sent during tax season were ever answered. Not even with a "real busy, will get back to you" reply. With the move, I just figured she did not want to work "long distance", but never got that feeling before, as we always worked "electronically" through emails and faxes. So, as with other clients that I do not hear from by April 15th, I just delete all their information the next week or so after tax season and move on.

Now I am looking at a significant amount of billings, but I am getting a "don't want to be bothered" feeling coming over me. We could use the money from this billings to give Morgan spending money for her Ireland trip, and I was trying to rationalize it to myself for that purpose, but it just does not feel right. I'll have to think and pray a little over this and see where I am at tomorrow when I get back to my office computer and answer this email.

I know I will have to increase billings and clients over time, but I want "good" clients who I give direction to, and then they work with me. I don't want to "chase" clients for information just to get a billing. I can honestly say that I "like" all my clients. They may not all be perfect, but for the most part, a pretty good relationship between myself and them. Plus, I know that the real "base" of my clients will provide me with other good clients for that needed growth when we return to NC, and I crank up business one final notch.

Yes, I am going to talk about it again. Last night, Morgan and I finished watching all six plus hours of Long Way Around, and did we love it. Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman are great together, and you see a great friendship between the two of them. You also see some areas of Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia, and North America, and plenty of local characters and charm. There is many droppings of the "F Bomb" (as an adjective) during it, so if looking for it, you may want to find the TV edited version.

I will say that now besides wanting a touring motorcycle for myself, I do want to take more little trips. Again, I'm not good for long times away, but I think I can ease myself into smaller visits and over night stays.

OK, as I'm typing this, I received a call on the business line. Yes, on a Sunday, but I waited for the machine to pick up to see who it was. Well, it was an income tax client, who is a r/e agent, and he had a question for a client that was moving from Arizona to NC. Looks like I might have a new income tax client, and a clearer view on the decision I was discussing above.

- Still #1 at box office. Will see it this week.
- Favre should reconsider staying retired, or face "The Curse".
- The Olympics start at end of week.

Until the next time.....

camp week.....

On Sunday, it will time for Cassie to go off to camp for the week. This camp is through our church, and she will be gone from Sunday afternoon until next Saturday morning (I can see the sniffles from Morgan now :-) ). Cassie likes going away to camp, and they already had a "get to know you" meeting at the church a few weeks ago, so Cassie knows the other kids who will be with her, and also the camp counselors.

This means that Saturday will be Morgan and Cassie's time for packing the trunk for the week. We are pretty sure that we have all the necessary items, so this go smoothly with little, and hopefully with no emergency trips to Wal*Mart or Target. (I hope).

The shredding company came this morning and took all the papers from the garage. They do the work on-site, so I was able to see everything being destroyed and made into tiny confetti sized pieces. It was a little pricey, but for as much as I had, I could not have done it on my own. From now on, there is a place in town that charges about $5 per "banker's box" for "do it yourself" service, so that will be where I take what I accumulate every couple of months.

Last night, Morgan and I both enjoyed the Ewan McGregor documentary, Long Way Down. The theater was quite full, which surprised me, due to the fact that I saw absolutely no advertising for this, and if not for Morgan sending me the link, I would not have know about it. Anyway, the "movie" was cut to 2 hours, and the television show, which originally was shown on BBC, will be a six part series on the Fox Reality Channel. I already have it set to DVR.

As I mentioned yesterday, the first documentary, Long Way Round is on DVD, and Morgan and I hope to watch it next week while Cassie is away. If it is marked "wait" on NetFlix, we promise to have it back by next weekend. :-)

I also hope to get out and finally get to the theater and see The Dark Knight during the week while Cassie is away. I feel like I am the only Batman fan who has not seen it.

- Life on Mars? Well, at least some water.
- I just think he has invisible gills.
- $20 million to stay home? What a mess.