This is the website of Abulsme Noibatno Itramne (also known as Sam Minter).
Posts here are rare these days. For current stuff, follow me on Mastodon
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Over the last week or so (maybe a bit more) I’ve kept a list on a piece of paper of things I wanted to blog about. Of course, I haven’t really had the time. Especially with me doing the blocking the web at work thing. And then when I get home there are almost aways other things going on. Either that, or I am sleepy and crash.
Anyway, rather than full posts on any of these, here are some quick notes on several topics:
In early July we went cash flow positive for the first time since buying the house and moving. (With the exception of a spike when I liquidated some stuff to pay taxes in April.) Now, the total net worth trend has been up since the taxes were paid. But a lot of that is in forms that aren’t easily usable (like retirement funds), and some of it will eventually go away (like withheld taxes). Here I’m talking JUST checking accounts (mine and Brandy’s). The month over month delta numbers on our combined checking balances finally moved into the green around the first week of July. I was very happy about that. Of course, for a variety of reasons, I expect we will dip slightly back into the red shortly, but hopefully that won’t be for long and we’ll soon be green for good… {If this had been a full post, I would have added graphs and stuff…}
At one point last week there were NINE baby frogs sitting on the egde of the tadpole tanks waiting to hop away. And we’ve seen bunches of new medium size frogs hopping around that probably came from our tanks. Yea! Bunch more tadpoles still in the tanks.
DirecTV slowly but surely pulling away from Tivo pisses me off. I’ll reserve full judgement until they release their HDTivo replacement thing later this year. If it blows the socks off the HD Tivo, well then… OK. I’ll reluctantly say goodbye to Tivo and go on to the new best thing. But… I love my Tivo damn it!
In the new Battlestar Galactica, a spaceship named the “Gideon” was the site of a massacre a couple of episodes ago. I congradulate this Gideon on his obviously mounting influence.
Speaking of BSG, I was shocked to see there were a bunch of online discussions a few weeks back on who was right, Adama or the President, when Adama jailed the President after they had a dispute, Adama would not do what the President wanted, and the President went around him to get it done anyway. Obviously this was a military coup and the President was in the right. Or at least I thought it was obvious. Lots of people seem to disagree though.
The people who are going to put the screen back on our pool will be here “any day now”. It was supposed to be mid week last week. Now it is maybe tomorrow, maybe early next week. We (well, mostly Brandy) spent a bunch of time and effort trimming back the bushes and plants around where they need to work, so they can do what they need to do. Time for them to show up.
I’d been delaying taking my car in to service for awhile (other things to spend cash on). A couple weeks ago it started making noises that made me think the wheel was about to come off. Actually, it didn’t start suddenly, but slowly built up, but only recently did it get so bad I was afraid for my life. So I took it in. Needed a new bearing and hub on one wheel, and new front breaks. About $600. Bleh. Done now. Car is much better.
I’ve been playing more games on ICC lately. I play maybe once a week. I was really excited a few days ago when I won my fourth game in a row. (I always play people within 10% on either side of my own rating.) But then I lost the fifth game. Oh well. Maybe I should post my games here? I am also in the middle of a game with Amy. She has improved a lot. She is holding her own with me in this game at the moment. (I think I’m like a pawn up, but I’m not crushing her.) I am very impressed.
In the last few weeks, I have gotten emails from people who live in both Lac Megantic, Canada and Orotukan, Russia. They both found my webpages about those locations and wanted to comment. The person from Lac Megantic said that I hadn’t visited long enough, and I should come back for a longer visit and I should be sure to visit a specific restaurant he recommended. The person from Orotukan mentioned that in my list of links about the place, I neglected the site that he manages… orotukan.ru Which is of course in Russian, and I can’t read a single word.
Brandy’s dad has been in the hospital and has had a couple of surgerys to address some serious problems in his leg. He is doing much better now, and is in better spirits than he has been. But he is still in the hospital right now, and once released he will be in a rehabilitation program for quite a while probably. Here’s hoping for as quick a recovery as possible, and no more complications…
A few months ago they opened a Whataburger near where I work. I had never of heard of them before, or eaten there. To be honest, I was kind of scared. Earlier this week I went there at lunch and got take out. It wasn’t bad. I went again yesterday. I may add it to my rotation of Wendy’s and Burger King that I go through when I forget to bring lunch from home.
Kelly emailed me a little bit ago to let me know that my former employer in New Jersey now blocks this website as inappropriate for work viewing. “Clubs and Discussion Groups” category. Woo! I have been banned by a major financial institution! (Or, more likely, whatever blacklist provider they use.)
OK, all that is more than enough for now. I have held back a couple of things which I still intend to make full posts on. Perhaps I will post about those things this weekend. Maybe.
We’re in Palm Bay, Florida. One of the 53 housing markets in the country that are “extremely overvalued and vulnerable to price correction” according to this analysis. To be specific, we’re #35.
High-priced housing faces risks
(USA Today)
Fifty-three metropolitan areas representing 31% of the total U.S. housing market are considered extremely overvalued and confront a high risk of future price corrections, a study conducted by National City Corp. says. The study determines a market extremely overvalued if prices are 30% above where the study estimates they should be based on historic price data, area income, mortgage rates and population density.
Metro areas that are extremely overvalued and vulnerable to price correction:
| Rank |
Metro area |
Q1 valuation |
| 1 |
Santa Barbara, Calif. |
69% |
| 2 |
Salinas, Calif. |
67% |
| 3 |
Naples, Fla. |
62% |
| 4 |
Riverside, Calif. |
60% |
| 5 |
Merced, Calif. |
59% |
| … |
… |
… |
| 35 |
Palm Bay, Fla. |
38% |
(via Yahoo! News)
Go us! Uh, well… how about go up a little bit more before the housing bubble bursts, so that when it goes down, it still stays more than what we bought it for. K? That’s all I ask…
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