Happy Holidays?

Is that the politically correct term? I'm so confused about the proper terminology in spreading the holiday spirit these days. Well, either way, what a Happy Holiday it was. I was successful in my first attempt to cook a Christmas day dinner! Turkey, ham and all the fixings, go me! I told my mom since I mastered the home cooked meal, I would no longer need to travel back home. She didn't seem to appreciate that comment. Here's a couple pictures for your enjoyment. First picture is an interesting one of a surfer girl pearling at Puerto Escondido on Christmas day. Last, but not least, the family Christmas photo. Happy holidays everyone!

Happy Holidays...

I am finally getting into the spirit of the holiday season, as evidenced by the following photo. I have never owned a Christmas Tree, and even though my 36" Walgreens special may not exactly qualify as a full fledged Christmas tree, it's a huge step for me. Another example of what happens when you turn 30 and begin to settle down I imagine. I look forward to a nice 5ft swell monday, no work for a week and plenty of college football!!

That Just Happened...

Can someone please explain to me how this guy got off not one shoe, but two, before the Secret Service even flinched?

Pure Confusion...

I'm hoping that someone can explain to me why it is becoming so trendy to bail out corporate American lately. It seems so common now for our country to reward people for under performing. The American auto makers are constantly putting out inferior products and heavily overspending. How does a company "suddenly" find itself $19 billion in debt? Not only that, they are putting over 682,000 retirees at risk. http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/07/news/companies/sloan_detroit.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008110715

Just another reason why I wish to stay self-employed and stash my retirement fund under my mattress! What really upsets me about this economic downturn is that, I believe, many of us saw it coming and quite frankly our greed facilitated it's arrival. What do I mean by that? Well, at the end of the Clinton administration, Uncle Bill signed into our existence a wonderful product called variable rate mortgages or adjustable rate mortgages (ARM's). After working in the mortgage industry for a year, I am fully aware that anyone who has every sold a ARM loan knew full well they could be putting their client in a sticky situation in the future. This is where the greed of the lenders, whether to pad their bank accounts or to get ahead in the corporate world by selling more loans comes into play.

When mortgage rates hit an all-time low, it doesn't take a genius to conclude the rates are going to rise again. Quite frankly, they are guaranteed to rise. Knowing this, I personally saw loan officers sell customers ARM loans because they wouldn't qualify for fixed rates and went ahead and wrapped in ancillaries such as their credit card bills into the loans. Sure, their monthly payments may drop a couple hundreds bucks, if at all. But how can someone justify selling this product knowing they just extended their finance charges on those balances from a few years to 30 years!! Have to get that loan closed though, right? I can't begin to imagine the stress these loans put on their clients.

I specifically remember a client in 2003 who refinanced her mortgage ($600k) and included all her credit cards ($50k) and her car payment ($13k) into this wonderful ARM note. Her rate was around 4.5% and was fixed for the first three years with a variance of +or-3% at the end of those three years. Not only that, it could adjust +or-.5% every six months thereafter. This client was self employed and could barely afford the monthly payment even after all these expenses were combined. Knowing this, take two factors into account. First, her rate more than likely increased at least 1%/point after the three years. http://mortgage-x.com/general/historical_rates.asp and secondly, her property value very likely decreased causing this client to not only have an unaffordable monthly payment, but unable to convert their loan to a fixed rate due to the fact they are quite possibly upside down in their property. Meaning their debt/mortgage might be higher than the value of the property.

The one year I worked for this particular lender, the company CEO reportedly took home nearly $50 million on the backbone of the variable rate mortgage. After sucking all the money out of the economy and destroying property values in America, these individuals are asking for the tax dollars of the very people they screwed in the first place to bail them out. Forgive me if I don't feel so inclined to dip into my back pocket to help them out.

Just my thoughts on the matter...

Random Updates...

I don't have a clear direction as to where I am headed with this particular blog, so let the random blogging begin. The majority of my time has been consumed by work as of late. Most recently with Hurricane Ike in Texas. Here are some photos of the damage I saw in Galveston.

I never cease to be amazed at the power of mother nature's fury. Family Guy is on, more blogging later!

Gnarly pics...

Just a couple more pics I came across...they speak for themselves...enjoy...

Long Days at the Office...

Today is another glorious 8am to 8pm workday. I finally have a lunch break and am spending it updating this blog, for no other reason than to take my mind off work. Surf has been flat lately, but it appears there is some liquid joy in the making. Feel free to check the surf report I view daily for independent verification http://magicseaweed.com/Deerfield-Beach-Surf-Report/357/

Hopefully we'll be seeing those 7ft faces breaking on the shore in a day or two. I also ran across two surf photos this week that piqued my interest enough to include in this post for your viewing pleasure. The first photo basically sums up my dream day for a surf session. I believe it is somewhere in Spain or Portugal, the posting did not have an exact location. The second photo is of Mike Parsons at Jaws. I simply cannot fathom the sheer dynamics of what Mike is experiencing in this particular photo. I have a lady friend joining me on the beach Thursday, so hopefully I can coax her to snap some photos of this Burro Brother surfing from the pier.

Stealing Cardboard Boxes...

Some of you know my first corporate job out of college was selling sub-prime loans and mortgages in Hawaii. It was a less than desirable job simply because it felt very predatory in nature. Selling high rates to customers who could more than likely qualify for much better rates almost anywhere else. Such is the nature of sub-prime financial lending. I definitely feel the mighty dollar that was made by these corporations, especially with the magical "three year arm" loans, caused the foreclosure chaos we are currently dealing with. Having said that, I was very enthused to start my new career last year as a public insurance adjuster instead of as my friend Matt so eloquently put it "stealing cardboard boxes out from underneath people" like they were poor homeless people. Basically that means I do the same job I did as a property insurance adjuster, except now I represent the homeowner instead of "the man".

One would think after all these years of representing "the man" in business dealings I would feel justified in helping the everyday layman stick it back to "the man". At first I have to say things were great and I was definitely making a difference in recouping funds for those that were shortchanged by the insurance company. But now my views are starting to change. It's becoming very clear why large corporations act the way they do. There are so many greedy people in this world with their hands out expecting things that aren't deserved.

For instance, I recently settled a claim for a client helping them receive over $30k from the insurance company for being underpaid on a claim from hurricane Wilma almost three years ago!! This client was originally told their damages were minimal and claim would be under their deductible so no payment was made. What a great job, right? I can not tell you the hell this client raised when I told them, with great pride, I was able to recover 30k in new money. The client basically cussed me out and threatened legal action because it wasn't enough. The story goes much deeper into legal issues between the client and insurance company that I can't discuss here, but I see this on a weekly basis.

Now that I have represented both sides, it's sickens me to see how each side is out to get the other, but in some strange way they need each other to exist. Leaves me to wonder where I fit in the business world between all of this mess. Other than that, I am meeting the Swiss ladies tomorrow at the beach for lunch, surf is flat and I'm taking my boat out this weekend for some drunken shenanigans. Oh yeah, it hit 92 degrees today with 100% humidity. Looooove South Florida!!