Blaze
Blaze: A Novel by Stephen King
My review
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I'm usually a big Stephen King fan. I even liked most of his Richard Bachman work. This one, a Bachman "trunk novel" (that is, one that was written and put in a trunk until it was rediscovered), fell short of my usual expectations. The characters aren't really fleshed out very well. George, who exists in Blaze's mind, could have been pretty creepy if taken to King's usual places, but instead was just kind of there to tell Blaze, our oafish protagonist, when to flee from the cops, yet again. The story is totally predictable, and the only real enjoyable parts were the flashback sequences describing poor Blaze's life in an orphanage. Maybe it's because I have a baby of my own who is very close in age to the one that Blaze kidnaps that caused me to not like Blaze or the book, but I was disappointed by this one. The short story that appears at the end as a teaser for the upcoming 2008 release of a novel based on the story was more interesting than Blaze to me.
Up next, I delve into non-fiction again for a tour of Weird Virginia. (Side note: this is part of a series of "Weird" books which includes Michigan and Illinois. Check out the whole series and see if your favorite place is included.)
So Much For The Digital Age
We were psyched last week when we got our refi check. Ultimately, I planned to open a new savings account for this money, but I was lazy and decided that I would open the account online rather than try to make it over there with Lisa during their regular hours (9-4). Big mistake. Our credit union has now had the money on hold since last Wednesday (we technically deposited it Tuesday, though it was almost 7pm by the time we deposited), and is not going to release it until Thursday. I called up to complain and find out what's going on. It was a local business check, which should have eliminated two of the normal reasons for a hold (the other being the large amount, which we couldn't do anything about). The first person said they would call and have a copy of the check faxed over from where we deposited it, and then a manager would take a look and see if the hold could be released. So much for "Check 21," the revolutionary law that was supposed to make everything electronic and make check processing faster. Instead, two banks that are physically located within 10-20 miles of each other can't even figure out if the other one has the money. That rep said she would call me back after getting the copy. 3 hours later, no call yet, so I called again. The second person said that they don't call over, that it's the member's responsibility. So I asked if the first person lied, and she got all flustered and said the original person would call me back. Finally, the first rep called me back to say that she hadn't heard back from the service center yet, and she called again and it should be 15-20 minutes until she finds out. At this point, it's pretty much pointless because the hold is being lifted after COB tomorrow, but it's the principle of the thing, as it often is for me. It just bugs me that I put this big fat check into a non-interest earning account, with the goal of getting it into an interest earning one fairly easily, and it's turning out to be the complete opposite. This is exactly the kind of thing that makes me switch to a different provider.
Update: They finally called back about an hour later and said that the hold had been lifted on the check. Now how hard was that, really?
Soon I Will Be Invincible
Soon I Will Be Invincible: A Novel by Austin Grossman
My review
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I think that by now it has been well established that I am a geek of major proportion. So it should come as no surprise that I am wholeheartedly recommending this book. It is a great summer beach read, escapism to its utmost. If you like Batman, or even The Incredibles, or any other kind of superhero-evil genius story, you have to read this book. Novelizing the comic book genre allows the author to more deeply delve into the backstories, origin stories, and the psyches of these characters, making it very enjoyable. My wife remarked to me when I gushed about the book, "You realize you are 12 years old inside, right?" Yeah, and your point is? Being 12 allows me to enjoy such a fantastic book with its fascinating tales of superheroes and villains for what it is: great entertainment.
Next up is Blaze by Richard Bachman aka Stephen King.
Wal-Mart the Bank
I was reading through this article from the Washington Post today, wondering why anyone would buy a Wal-Mart "MoneyCard." The MoneyCard costs $8.94 and has a monthly maintenance fee of $4.94 (unless you put $1000 on every month). It also costs $4.64 to reload the card. Why would anyone use this? Then I read that roughly 20% of Wal-mart shoppers do not have a CHECKING account! What? Where do they put their money? It baffles my mind. We use our checking account so much we don't even think about it. Pay bills, use the debit card to pay for gas or groceries, a gazillion other things. I just can't imagine what people would do without a checking account.
Shop at Wal-Mart, apparently.
Beer… On a Stick!
I have written about Rustico before, a nice restaurant with an awesome beer list. They also cook some good dishes with beer. But this is getting extreme: beer-sicles. It is so awesome, I am going to have to head down there before the stupid Virginia regulators shut it down.
Underwear Travails
You'd be surprised at how itchy certain areas of your body get when shaved. Yesterday I wore boxers for the first time since Friday, and that was a mistake. The itchiness was uncontrollable, and it turned out that I still needed some support that boxers do not provide. So off I went after work to Old Navy, where I saw they had two-packs of boxer briefs for $6. Old Navy is the freakin bomb. I also got 3 pairs of dress socks for $3.60 and 3 pairs of ankle socks for $3.60. Unbelievable.
Browsing the undies, I was looking for medium size (32-34 waist), but they only had one package of medium, and tons of large (36-38) and XL (40-42). So I bought the medium and one large too. But then, I got hope and ripped open the package, only to find that I had mistakenly bought two packages of briefs, not boxer briefs. Ugh. Back to the store after dinner, and I bought two packages of large boxer briefs. Got home, tried them on, and they provide no more support or itch relief than regular boxers. Argh! Well, what do I expect for $3, right?
Luckily for me, I had one pair of old clean boxer briefs left in my dresser, which are providing me with a blissful lack of itchiness today, so hopefully I can return the wrong sized new ones to a different Old Navy later on today. I never thought I'd be blogging about underwear.
Then We Came to the End
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
My review
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Since the subject of this novel is, essentially, office life, comparisons will surely be made to the movie Office Space. They're not out of place, I would probably refer to this book as Seinfeld meets Office Space. But while Mike Judge took Office Space to the revenge angle, this book finds that, as much as the office drones hate their jobs, they love them just as much. The novel provides an interesting take on interoffice politics and gossip, and really delves deep into the relationships we form at work, not to mention that it takes place in Chicago, and includes some mentions of Naperville. I ripped right through this one and had a tough debate over whether it deserved a 4 or a 5 (I need those half-stars), but ultimately decided on a 4. Well worth a read for you office drones.
Next up is Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman.
Ow, My Vas Deferens
So that big surprise happening today? Vasectomy. We always planned to just have two kids, and now it's official. No bike riding for me for a couple of weeks. I'm off to ice myself down.
That’s a Relief
We closed on the refinancing of our house yesterday. Much to my relief, since rates have gone up from 6.00% when we locked in to 6.625% now. The representative showed up at our house at 3pm, when I was expecting him at 3:30pm. I could have sworn that it was 3:30pm when I called to confirm, but I may have just been tuning them out and putting my own time in my head. At any rate, after Lisa called me, I rushed home and we signed the 80 bazillion papers. The only thing I was slightly annoyed with was that they did not tell me sooner that, since our real estate taxes are due at the end of July (less than 60 days from closing), they would be paying them for us. That means that our initial closing costs were higher by about $2500, and that our cash out is initially lower. Still, we will be getting the escrow money back from our old mortgage company in a few weeks, and things will even out.
Lisa and I talked a bit last night about how to organize our finances. She is of the "simplify" train of thought, while I like to have my money sorted into different baskets so that I can keep it straight. To that end, we already have a savings account for our emergency fund, and I wanted to open a different one for the refi cashout, but we will have to negotiate on that for a couple of days. Has anyone tried this Mvelopes service? It seems a little pricey, but at the same time, it could keep our various savings funds straight for me without adding the complexity of multiple accounts. There are a couple of other applications that do similar things, but Mvelopes adds the simplicity of Yodlee by connecting to your financial institution and downloading your transactions for you, which you know I love.
The Yankees are now 2 games over .500, so I feel somewhat safe talking about their recent run. Of course, now watch Roger Clemens go out today and get himself hurt. But it's been the offense that has finally come around. Jorge Posada and Alex Rodriguez are "en fuego." The bullpen has finally been able to get some much needed rest thanks to the big leads the starters have gotten. And everyone is just playing more relaxed. Everything is easier when you're having fun.
It’s Good to Have Goals
We're closing on our refinance today, fulfilling one of my major goals for this year surprisingly early. I had been thinking about refinancing for a while, but when I saw the Pentagon Federal Credit Union rate and deal on closing costs, I had to jump at it. Good thing I did too, because rates have gone up by 3/8% 5/8%! since we locked in.
In light of this accomplishment, I thought it would be a good time to go over some of the other goals I have set for myself for this year. It's good to have goals, they give you something concrete to aim at.
1) Refinance. Check. With rates slowly creeping up, I wanted to make sure to get out of our ARM before it reset.
2) Set up a real emergency fund. Almost there. We've got about $4000 in it right now, and we're having about $550/month automatically put in via direct deposit. It will probably top out somewhere around $10k ideally, but I would be comfortable with anything over $5-6k.
3) Buy adequate term life insurance coverage. This is part of a broader goal of ensuring that we have our financial house in order in case something happens to either of us. We're planning on going to see someone about getting a will and such things taken care of later this summer.
4) Get a new (to me) minivan. Our poor Intrepid is getting old, and with two carseats in the back seat, it pretty much only fits two adults in the front and the two kids in the back. We're hoping that we will be able to put some money aside for a decent downpayment on a minivan before Christmas. I plan on setting up another automatic direct deposit for this purpose, because money you don't see, you can't spend!
5) Set up Evan's college fund and a Roth IRA? These are not priorities at the moment, but they are definite goals. I already set aside a good portion of my paycheck in my 401(k), but it never hurts to get even more socked away for retirement. When Ellie was born, we signed her up for Virginia's prepaid tuition program, but we haven't set anything up for Evan at the moment. I plan on opening the Virginia Education Savings Trust 529 plan for him in the near future and contributing monthly to that, but other expenses are taking precedence right now.
Do you have any goals? What are they?
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