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At the main branch on Friday, I was talking with a co-worker that is pretty cool - we get along well. He gave me an odd look at one point and asked me about my trees and plants. Yes, they're doing well. He says, well, when we move out of our house, if you're interested, we're going to sell everything that's ours - which is all the landscaping (it was a dirt property like mine when they moved in) included the trees and plants. Actually, he said people could come over and give a whatever donation to their cause.

The sad truth of the matter: they are going to lose their home to foreclosure. His wife lost her job a while back - like a year or more ago, found another one and then got laid off of that one the SAME day that we all found out we are losing an hour per day at our company. He got a double-whammy in one day. I immediately agreed about the trees - but then felt bad for saying so so quickly. I don't want to see the guy lose his home. He's a go-with-the-flow person, he figures to rent an apartment at less than half of what his mortgage is and start saving money.

Perhaps - but I've been over there a couple of times. They did all kinds of upgrades and modifications on the property. They spent a truckload on the landscaping and the place looks really nice, including a nice swimming pool. He tried to talk to the lender - nothing. They call him on the phone and he's like: well what do you want now? "When are you going to send in a payment?" I can imagine his frustration considering he's called them, talked to them, got nothing but the runaround and they continue to call anyway.

What're you going to do? Well, it's not too late. The "making homes affordable" program should be able to help him. He doesn't have to talk to the bank, he just has to fill out the paperwork and send in the necessary documents. I did mine online. I did talk to the lender, but they referred me to the online applications for everything. Fine and well. It's just sad to see so many people going through this, even worse when it's someone you know.

On that note, I just accessed all my accounts that I can access online - which is all of them excepting paying the mortgage online. I have come to the conclusion my mortgage company does that on purpose - force you to send it in snail mail. Then, if you're going to be late, they charge you a $25 fee to send it Western Union. Whatta scam.

Anyway, I was surprised to find all of my accounts are paid up. Excepting the mortgage that is - a given for right now. I expected to see a water bill on there - it's a 0 balance. Credit cards either paid current or not due for 20 plus days. DirectTV - 0 balance. The only thing I owed current was the broadband bill - due by today. It's now paid, of course. I've been doing my due diligence to stay on top of everything else as much as possible besides the mortgage. The only other payment that I get behind on is the car payment. The "lateness" of the payment scales back by 2 to 3 days per month. Right now it's paid current, but due on the 16th. Last payment was almost 2 weeks over, this next one will be about a week and a half late. In saying that, it does NOT show up on my credit report as late, it just means that I am dumped with a $10 late fee.

I'm totally way over-impatient to get the stuff unboxed at work - all the drip watering system stuff - and figure out what I need. I would have loved to have started on that project this weekend. It may be a while before I get the stuff, but the wait is worth the huge reduction in cost that it will be.

That's about it. I'm still psyched by my winnings at the casino today. I'm sure they don't much care for it, but the risk goes both ways when you're playing. From what I saw, they MORE than made up for it just from other players at the same table.
Think that's enough writing for one day.
G'nite.
ben