Americans of TFF

[Meier Link]

Well the current home loan situations are rediculous. I have seen many houses on the market and most of them have beem that way around here, it is kind of sad. Also with the current increase in requirements that are suppose to make it easier for people to get a home loan has made it almost impossible for anyone wanting a home fast to get one, that is unless you have a hell of a credit score.

Some statistics for you to ponder over

Lets take a walk through a random number

A house for $125000

30 years at 0% APR would roughly make the payments about 365 dollars a month.

30 years at 6.5% APR (the average real APR) makes a house payment 987 dollars a month, almost tripleing what you whould pay at 0%

Making the grand total you pay back to a bank roughly $356000

Now that is not including the 3500 for closing costs

3.5% down payment 4375

2 months worth of payments in the bank 1975

All of this is just a stipulation if you can actually find you a bank to loan you the money.

I think my point is made here, it is just rediculous.

[Joe]

haha, Rocky, i believe it took THREE cosigners for me to get my loan for my computer classes program. I have no credit, because I've never had an opportunity to build credit, so it was a nightmare, though once it's paid off, it'll be a boost on my Moms, grandma's , and grandpa's credit, not to mention mine.


And does anyone else find it odd that you can't make a big purchase, if you've never gone into debt before, then worked your way out of it? (hence how you build credit, in a sense)

[Walter Sobchak]

And does anyone else find it odd that you can't make a big purchase, if you've never gone into debt before, then worked your way out of it? (hence how you build credit, in a sense)

I never went into debt. I got my first credit card when I turned 18, and I used it to buy everything, and then paid it off in full each month. For two years, I continued to do this. I actually started to buy things for my family and having them give me cash so I could increase it that way. Now, my credit cards all have limits of at least 2500 dollars. It is nice.

But I started before this credit crisis, so it could be very different now.

[Meier Link]

So Thanksgiving has come and passed so I was curious as to if anything interesting had happened with any of you!

My Thanksgivning started off the normal way, went to my aunts and ate lunch there, next we ended up at my Father-in-laws mothers house. On our way home my wife asked what I thought my ex was up too seeing non of us have tallked in a really long time (point to note here people: my ex was friends with my wife before I got to know my wife, don't ask it's a long story, also she was best friends with my exs current boyfriend). Well I recommended her to text her and find out, then after that the texts turned into a phone call before I knew it we where heading over to their house with a couple cases of beer and hanging out with them until 2:30 A.M.

all in all it was a really good day and the night even though it seems like an odd situation was a blast, my ex and I were friends for about 9 years before we got together and I am glad to see that we can still be friends after all that has happened.

We had such a good time that 2 days later we where back over there hanging out again!

So what about you guys,I spilled my beans now it's your turn haha....

[Walter Sobchak]

Meier, it feels like we are the only ones keeping this thing alive. Sigh. Lets come on, everyone! Lets win Best Club in the TFF awards, and show those dirty Aussies and Brits (the Canadians don't even have a club! Ha!).

It is winter break for us students, finally. I am glad to have it. I am taking a bike trip next week to the West Coast of Florida, and it should be grand. What is everyone else up to?

[Meier Link]

Working and lots of it, I have been off the last few days and still haven't got anything done. For those that don't know my wife had an accident yesterday morning totaling her car, so for the most part of this holiday season I will probably be trying to get her a new car. Read my journal when I get it updated later tonight if you want the details of the wreck.

Edit: added the enrty into my journal

[Joe]

My winter break stated 10 or so hours ago, and I already have the single best news I could ever have hoped for, EVER>

I FREAKING PASSED GENERAL CHEMISTRY II !!!!!!!

I'm going to be lazy intermittently before I go back to class on the.....7th? I think.
in between the laziness I'm going to be studying for my MCP Server 2003 certification. that's a tough test, and I need to beat it.

My new project is re-installing an operating system on my laptop, as I have some malware on it, and couldn't be bothered to hunt it xD

[Sasquatch]

For those that don't know my wife had an accident yesterday morning totaling her car ...

Damn, I'm sorry. Is she alright?

As far as my Christmas break goes ... well, since I'm not in school, I don't have a "break". And since I don't work, I'm always "off" anyway. But I'm trying to take a new direction in my life -- getting out of the clinical depression, finding a purpose, advancing my life. (It was getting pretty bad, but I'm coming out of it now.) So, over the next month or so, I'll be moving to a new town and getting into school.

It's only about an hour away, but it should be a good change for me. It's about three times the size of the city I'm in now (which is about 20,000), and I'll be very close to about half a doen guys from my unit ... ten or fifteen minutes from my Reserve Center, about the same distance from the school ... Should work out pretty well.

The only problem is that I'll still be in Wisconsin. Which sucks.

[HUNK]

Well I have been absent for awhile and now im back with avengence. My apologies for not having posted in awhile.

Going back alittle to what James said about the Lions...I agree. The Lions have been really sucking(no offence met to any lions fans.) I personally vote for the Packers even though I live in NC, and I get a lot of dirty looks but still I like packers as far as football goes.
Christmas break will soon be over but I can still look forward to New Years eve. Just chilling out with friends and root beer floats...its my favorite holliday.

Merry Christmas!

[Sasquatch]

Lions DO suck ... but I'm sure that even Lions fans will admit that. They're not like Patriots fans who won't admit that the Pats probably wouldn't even make the playoffs without Brady ... and oh, look what's happening.

H.U.N.K., you "vote" for the Packers? To win the Division, you mean? Dude, they're 5-10. The Vikings can take it with a win, or the Bears can, with a win and a Minnesota loss. The Bears win is do-able, though it won't be easy -- they're going to Houston against a mediocre team with no playoff hopes, but of course the Texans won't want to finish below .500 again, so they'll give it their all. And the Vi-queens will have their hands full with the Giants, but they're playing in Minnesota, and New York already has their Division and Home Field Advantage, so they'll probably bench some of their starters, as they can't win anything from the game -- but they're still a damn good team, and I wouldn't expect them to hold anything back either.

Should be an interesting week, of course.

... and I get a lot of dirty looks but still I like packers as far as football goes.

Try being a Bears fan in the middle of Wisconsin!

[Walter Sobchak]

Come on, homeboys and homegirls!

I hope everyone had a good New Years. I am now entrenched in the new semester of school. Some good classes, some boring ones, and a lot of time spent doing things that are not productive.

Is anyone alive out there?

[Dimi]

School sucks but I start college this fall. Or at least I'm planning to. But if I do go, then I'll be looking forward to it. I just have to decide until March to register and to also find a way to come up with financial aid to afford it. At this point though, I really need a job.

I haven't been looking long but it seems that no one is hiring. And I know the economy is very bad right now with people getting laid-off and trying to look for employment so in a way, I see it as if I do come across a position I'm trying to apply for, I have to compete with someone whose had years of experience. But you never know. I'm trying to be as hopeful as I can about this.

[Meier Link]

Sorry for my absence, if you check forum announcements you can see what I have been orking on that has take up so much of my time.

Yeah the New Years was great, had a blast. And glad to see that 2008 has come to a close and that everyone made it through alright.

As for the recession, we finally started to feel the affects of it. As of Jan. 9th we had our first round of lay offs. We lost 14 out of the 104 people that worked with me. Sucks that times are this hard and that people are now with out jobs.

Hopefully our new president-elect can do all the stuff that he has promised to, doubtful though. Seems like they never realy do, but then again the president can make promises all day long but he is not the only person that has to be involved to make those changes.

So what are your guys opinions of the president-elect?

:edit:

BTW - good luck Fishie, I know it is hard right now but don't let that get you down.

[Lilium]

I start a new semester on Tuesday, which sounds really stupid, because, even though it's not a holiday, it's the inauguration of our new president. Now, I can see the school saying "well just tape it," or many students going to see it in DC, but this is a historic moment. Our country is having it's first ethnic president. I don't see why we can't skip school due to this historic event. Since we'll be going over our new classes, I doubt they'll be playing it on the televisions in the classrooms. Oh well. At least my mom's taping it. I can just watch it at her place after school.

Even though I was a McCain supporter, I didn't have that much prejudice against Obama, except for some of his policies. Although, after seeing how he chose his cabinet, I'm impressed. It's like how Washington chose his, with many diverse beliefs and political stances. Now, two of Washington's cabinet members brawled on some aspects of policies on how to run the country like there was no tomorrow, but I think that Obama's cabinet will do okay. He hasn't begun to run the country yet, so no one can say for sure. All of these guys running for office lie their asses off during elections, so I doubt that Obama will live up to all of the hype and everything, but overall, he'll probably be a decent president. That's just my opinion, though. We can't say for sure until he takes over.

[OceanEyes28]

Haha I think you have a pretty reasonable view on him, Lilium. I'm excited to see him president and he seems like a good and decent person. I hope that helps him be a good and decent president.

I've been caught up in reading assignments, rehearsals, and drawn out emotional conversations. But life is good as usual. I can't complain, even if I have a lot on my mind.

[Sasquatch]

I've had one class so far -- the other was cancelled because it was too damn cold. Windchills blow negative twenty and such. I'll have two classes a week until early February, when it'll be five classes (for four courses -- one is Chemistry, which includes a lab). I'm actually looking forward to it all. I haven't been in school (save one semester) since I got out of high school in '03, so I'm a little nervous about jumping back into it, but I think I should be fine. I'm in a technical college, which means it should all be a little easier, with a good schedule (classes only Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and mostly evenings).

On a side note, something interesting about me. As part of a TBI screen and evaluation (Traumatic Brain Injury) upon return from Iraq, I was administered an IQ test. It discovered that I have serious deficiencies in the "delayed recall" field ... basically, I have short term memory loss. The problem is to such extent that I qualify for LD (Learning Disabled) programs, should I choose to get into them. It also discovered that my IQ is easily high enough to join Mensa. So, basically, I have both ends of the spectrum covered.

In other news ... B.O's inauguration celebration is today, so I'm sure that'll be all over television, though the ceremony isn't until Tuesday. While I acknowledge that Bush wasn't a good President, I also prefer to wait until he actually screws up to blame him for something. I'm not sad to see him go, though I am sad to watch his replacement come in. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and wait until he gets into office before I start any criticism, but with Obama, it would be his keeping of his promises that would hurt the country, not his lies.

The Eagles are in Arizona to face the Cardinals today, which should be a good game. But a better game, I think, will be in Pittsburgh, as the Baltimore Ravens come to take on the Steelers. However that turns out, Joe Flacco looks to have quite the future ahead of him -- though Matt Ryan of the Falcons looks even better, I think.

[Rocky]

Go Cardinals!! (Got to root for anything that comes from Iowa, that's just how us Iowans are, lol) I have a friend that was home on break during the first playoff game they had, and when the Cards ended up winning, the whole state of Arizona became one giant party. I wish I could have been there. Also, did anyone see the NCAA Arizona State vs UCLA game? UCLA absolutely choked in overtime, and didn't score a single point for over 12 minutes, lol.

Sasquatch, what exactly is Mensa? I don't think I've ever heard of it. And yeah, I started back in school on this past thursday. With 17 credit hours being taken, along with me committing to at least 24 hours of work a week, I should be in busy mode for this second semester.

Did anyone see that Obama is in the process of creating a new cabinet position? I can't remember what it is called, but the offical in charge is supposed to observe the current situation of the economy, so this could become a form of help for us Americans in times like this. What are your thoughts on it?

Also, what is up with the weather where you all live? Up here it gets kinda loopy; one day it will be -7F without even windchill added in which makes everything miserable, the next day the weather will be 25 degrees and no wind, and it feels so nice that no one even wears jackets, lol. Crazy stuff.

[OceanEyes28]

25 without a jacket? -7... at all? That's horrifying. It was 32 here in Savannah a day or two ago, and I admit... I bitched. It hurt my hands! But then, our bodies are all used to 40-50 degree weather at this point so when it got below 30 on Wednesday, it was weeeiiiird. It's been nice, though. It's raining now, but until today, we've had pretty skies and crisp air.

[Meier Link]

I have been really suprised with the not so harsh winter that we have had here. Only one ice, hardly any snow. The nights have gotten pretty cold but thats only because ot the windsheild factor. I would say the average for this winter has been 30 degrees.

So we have the Cardinals and the Steelers going to the super bowl any pregame predictions?

[Joe]

It's 40 something right now, but oddly, enough, we North Carolinians are looking at our first snow of the year. and a Big one it seems.

my area of the state should expect between 3 and 6 inches of snow. and I don't forsee it melting either, as the forecasted high tomorrow is only 31. o.O

Whoo the entire eastern half of the state will be shut down tomorrow!


Seriously. North Carolina is not equipped at all the deal with any snow. I remember one time things got so bad over an inch of snow in raleigh, and traffic from people trying to get home was so bad, that some schools had to have their students stay the night becuase they just couldnt get buses out.

YAY MEANS I'M NOT GOING TO SCHOOL TOMORROW, AND I GET TO WATCH THE INAUGURATION! (spelling?)

[HUNK]

Man I have to tell you I dont think we will ever have snow stick for more than a coupple of hours. Global Warming must be hitting us hard.

Anywho, I am rather excited to some degree to see Barack Obama as our new president. I just hope he can pull off all the things he has promised. I must bring up one contraversial(spelling?) subject...People are Freaking out over Barack Obama. I mean he now has a dang comic book. COME ON! He is currently more of a celebrity than a president. When some people are asked why they voted for him they will say things like "He is hot." I mean come on that is not why you vote for a president.
All in All though I support Barack Obama and hope he dose a good job for America.

[Joe]

Man I have to tell you I dont think we will ever have snow stick for more than a coupple of hours. Global Warming must be hitting us hard.

Anywho, I am rather excited to some degree to see Barack Obama as our new president. I just hope he can pull off all the things he has promised. I must bring up one contraversial(spelling?) subject...People are Freaking out over Barack Obama. I mean he now has a dang comic book. COME ON! He is currently more of a celebrity than a president. When some people are asked why they voted for him they will say things like "He is hot." I mean come on that is not why you vote for a president.
All in All though I support Barack Obama and hope he dose a good job for America.

True enough about the snow, but you know how everyone around here freaks out over flurries. so I'm assuming it'll be a relatively chilled day tomorrow.

About people voting for obama because he's hot....a lot of people did that for Sarah Palin and McCain as well.

So. Circuit City has finally kicked the bucket completely, with all 500-some of their american stores shutting down, and the future of the canadian store in limbo. Other than best buy, does anyone know of a relatively decent chain to buy computer parts/accessories at?

I LOATHE Best Buy.

[HUNK]

Yay i got out of school for snow!
I tried to watch the inaguration but I had slept to long....lol.
Did anyone else watch it, im sure you have. Anyway im looking forward to seeing what our new president will do in the coming years. CHEERS!

[zodiark12]

Where I'm at we have at least a foot of snow we would have had more but it rained a while back and took all the snow away. Employment sucks in this state (michigan). I'm hopeful that something changes really soon. On the president subject, I think he'll do better that the last one did.

[Meier Link]

zodiark12 you have to be a member of this club to post in here. I did not see your name on the member list, BUT we would love to have you in it. Refer to the OP to apply. Gaining access is not hard.

[Walter Sobchak]

I guess he/she wants to join. Welcome!

I was going to go to the Inauguration. I drove up to Georgia and someone I worked with on the campaign told me there was no way I was going to get in. People had lined up the day before, and I was not going to get to D.C. until 2 in the morning or so, so it wouldn't work, so I turned around. So much driving.

I enjoyed watching it on television though.

Cardinals and Steelers, who saw that matchup? I would love to see Kurt Warner get another ring, and I have never been a fan of the Steelers. I don't hate them as much as I do other teams, but their reputation for headhunting is unsettling.

[Meier Link]

See I told you zodiark12 that it wasn't hard.... Welcome to the Americans of TFF. Good to see a new face amongst us. Sorry if I came across as a little harsh, I didn't realize it was an application post. Most fo the time people make the comment "oooo o.O I wants to join" heh.

Anyways BOT

I was trapped up at work all day so I didn't get to watch Obama become president. But I did stay pretty up todate via web news pages. Heard on the radio this morning that abosolutly 0 arrests where made in concerns with anything to do with the presidency. Any body have confiramtion or more info on that?

As for the Cardinals VS Steelers I am impartieal to both, though I will be routing for the Cardinals. I am always going against who my wife is routing for.

Got any plans made up for SB Sunday?

[Joe]

I actually dont' have plans for SB Sunday. It's the weekend after my birthday, and we're moving. so I'm assuming that a lot of yelling will be going on, and I may be internet-less, if I can't get a router for my birthday.

So I gues I DO have plans. Moving, and trying to get internet into my room, since it's seperate from the main house and I'm pretty sure the router won't project wireless that far.

[Meier Link]

Just curious as to who has all been hit by this freakish snow/ice storm?

My plans for the SB consist of the same thing Joe, moving. Hopfully will be able to catch most of it on the radio.

[HUNK]

Well For anyone who has seen the NBC news today then im sure you saw the gigantic ice/snow storm line.

As stange as it is the ice and snow was heading straight for me and then it turned to rain. We got alot of rain and that was it. After seeing how many people went without power i am glad that we did not get the snow.

Oh and With me not being big on football, I dont have plans for super-bowl sunday.