the-richmonds.net

Over the years, we've taken many short video clips with our digital cameras. I was finally able to figure out how to upload these videos to YouTube, and I've started to upload them to my YouTube profile.  I have added a link to the menu on the right so that you can find them easily if you want to.  I've begun with the most recent videos and will work my way back to our first video clips eventually.  Videos taken with the Nikon do not have any audio, so you'll just have to imagine. :-)

Why is it that the banks are getting the financial bailout?  Isn't it supposed to help families keep their homes?

Countrywide is still mailing me statements for the 20% of the home loan that was based on the equity of the house.  After talking to them, I found out that after the house does finally sell, they will tack onto the 20% that I still owe the difference between what they sell it for and what I owed on the 80% portion of the loan.  By the way, they just reduced the asking price on the house by another $11,000 yesterday.

Oh, and that 20% that I still owe on the house in New Hampshire would buy about 80% of a house here in this part of Ohio.

I just did some quick estimating math ... what if, instead of giving the banks $700,000,000,000 dollars, that funding was split up among those of us homeowners in financial struggle (with the condition that the money actually be used toward the mortgage)? The banks would still get their money and come out okay in the end.  If the US population is about 300 million, and if the average family is about 3, that would leave about $7000 per household to go toward housing.  But not everyone owns their own housing, and not everyone of those who do are struggling.  So if one in ten American families needed help, that would allocate about $70,000, which would just about cover what Countrywide wants from me.  And we'd both be happy - I'd be done with the house, Countrywide would have it's portion of the bailout applied through my account.

From what I understand, I probably won't see a penny of that bailout money, because it's too late for me.  I've already lost my home.  Just like I didn't qualify for any of the assistance programs that Countrywide was running a few years back when everyone's adjustable rate loans were getting too high for them to pay.  I was struggling too, but I had a "good" rate locked in, so they couldn't (or wouldn't) help me in my situation.

...

Come to think of it, if each family could take $7,000 from this bailout deal, where is that money coming from?  Are we all going to have to cough up an extra seven grand per household at tax time next year?

Heather and I traded in our New Hampshire driver's licenses on Thursday for our Ohio ones.  The State of Ohio will not simply "trade" licenses.  They made us take the written driver's test  (Heather especially didn't like that, since she took it once already when she was 16).  After studying the driver's manual for the last two weeks, we both passed the exam and now have our official Ohio driver's licenses.

Countrywide could learn a thing or two from Discover Financial. I had a concern, called customer service, and had my issue resolved within 10 minutes.

When we moved last month, I closed the account that we had at the credit union in Maine, and moved everything back over to the bank that it was at before our move out of New Hampshire.  I neglected to update the account information with Discover Card before I went to pay last month's bill.

I got an email from Discover Card the business day after I submitted payment, letting me know that the payment had been declined due to inaccurate financial institution information, so I resubmitted payment with the corrected information.

I noticed on the newest statement from Discover that I had a $35 "returned check" fee and a $39 late fee.  My interest rate also jumped by 10% (which normally wouldn't be a problem, but things are tight for us right now and I am sorry to say that I am carrying a balance...).  All I had to do was admit that I goofed and ask if there was anything that could be done about the fees.  The customer service rep took off the returned check fee and late fees, and reset the interest rate back down to where it should have been.

Our New Hampshire license plates were set to expire at the end of this month, so I went in to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles last Wednesday and got our Ohio plates for the car and truck.  I'll have to get the trailer weighed before they'll give me the plate for that.  Our Ohio insurance coverage starts on October 1st.

We both need to trade in our New Hampshire driver's licenses before we can vote here in November.  We're registered to vote here, but need "official ID" confirming our address.  Unlike New Hamsphire, which will just take an out of state license in exchange for a new license, Ohio is going to make us retake the written driving test.  So I picked up an Ohio Driver's Manual, and we've been studying up.

On September 25, the house that we used to call "home" in Milford reappeared on the market.  Countrywide has put it up for sale at $292,900. (MLS ID 2745233).  They describe it as "gently lived in" and are requiring pre-approval through Countrywide Home Loans to purchase the property.

I'm still getting statements from Countrywide for part of my mortgage, and those were supposed to stop after the foreclosure.  I'll be calling them today to figure out what's going on with that... 

I'm not a big fan of the job hunt.

I have 50 applications outstanding (that doesn't count the ten that I have been turned down for).  Some of these applications have been out for a month and a half now.  Some of those positions are still being advertised for, others I'm assuming are filled with someone who is not me, because they are no longer advertising the job.

Since my last job-related post, I have offered my resume for consideration to additional positions at Carter Lumber and Timken.  I applied to Detroit Diesel (IT Support Specialist).  I have also submitted my application for management positions at Home Depot, Tractor Supply Co, Sherwin-Williams, OfficeMax, Walmart, Lowes, Value City, Best Buy, and Walgreens.

I decided to try for a few entry-level types of work (figuring some work is better than no work).  I still have not heard anything from Scotts (lawn care tech). United Metal Fabricators (installation tech), and neither FedEx nor UPS have positions for handler or driver open in the Canton area.  I even applied for any hourly positions available at Home Depot, Lowes, and Walmart. I don't know if I'm not doing this correctly or what, because I haven't heard a single thing back from even these hourly companies.  I tried stopping in at Home Depot to ask about jobs and was referred to the website.  And since everything is online now, I have no idea about how to follow up with anyone.

I did get one call back from Cable Express wanting me to come in for the drug test to complete the application.  I'm not going to be too anxious to jump on this first opportunity, because I don't think that an $8.50/hr position is the best that I can do.  While it would be better than nothing right now, I don't think I'd feel right about training with them for three to four weeks, only to ditch them when something better did come for me.

I'm still hoping to hear something back from Timken.  I applied for four positions that I was qualified for at their company.  I had a personal reference from a friend that works at Timken.  I'm going to try to call and see if there's anything that I can do to land an interview.  I believe that I would have the most room for advancement with that company.

Hopefully I'll have some good news to post here soon, rather than "still looking..."

Okay, all of the photos are caught up.  For now!

I've added albums for August and September, and all of the size comparison pictures (Hannah's and Mason's) are caught up to date as well.

Yep, that's right!

We didn't stop taking pictures for the last seven months, I've just had so many to sort through (and have been kind of busy with other things too), that I've not posted any here lately.

I've still got to go through August and September for pictures from those months, but at long last April, May, June and July are posted!

I added one picture to the Maine House album - taken the day before we got the foreclosure notice for that property....

I've also updated Hannah's and Mason's size comparison folders through July.  The rest should follow shortly and get us caught up to date.

I've still been plugging away on the career websites, sending in resumés, filling out applications, and checking my email inbox for responses.

I'm applying at all different types of companies for anything that sounds interesting (and I am qualified for).  I don't know how many of them will get back to me if I am not chosen as a candidate for employment.  I've only heard back from four of the positions that I have applied for: Norfolk Southern turned me down for two of the four positions that I applied for, Ohio Dominion denied me immediately last month (I resubmitted the application this week with an Ohio address, so I'm in the running with them again), and Sam's Club denied me immediately after I failed their management assesment questionaire online.

I'm still waiting to hear back from Nationwide Insurance (IT positions), Tiffany & Co (security), FreshMark (facilities maintenance), Cable Express (installation technician), Verizon Wireless (customer service technician), Carter Lumber (store manager, yard manager, non-CDL driver), Bridgestone (security), Sears Factory Service (appliance repair), Hertz (management), Progressive Insurance (facilities maintenance), Norfolk Southern (freight conductor, signal maintainer), RadioShack (store or regional manager), and Timken (customer service account rep).

And tomorrow, I'll get a bright and early start on the day and will keep adding to that list!