You may have seen the ESPN report of top NBA pick Greg Oden playing in a pickup game at a local gym (he had microfracture surgery, the same as CC). Here is the original forum post where he was outed.

Thanks to the emails and comments regarding help with WordPress/redesign. I’m still investigating but will keep you posted.

As I’ve been researching, I found this article on ThemeShaper regarding the Future of WordPress Themes. Eleven leading designers give their two bits about where things are headed. I’d strongly recommend reading this then exploring more.

I’m prepping for a meeting in an hour (currently in Rock Hill, SC). Wish me luck!

circa 1980

“I Will Follow (1980)

Ireland (1980)

I’m looking for a WordPress/SEO guru to help me with a redesign of this site, as well as give me further guidance for where/how to host this (as well as if WordPress is the right thing to migrate to or not). I have a design mocked up to use to discuss to get started. I’d like to be able to advertise on the site and hosting can be paid for if that matters. Please email me at csquard@gmail.com or leave comments. Thanks.

I don’t know if I was expecting this, but Britney Spears’ stint on “How I Met Your Mother” was a terrific guest spot on a really great episode. You can sf.

Condensed Milk=Caramel
Originally uploaded by csquard

Totally bizarre from my eldest son’s Social Studies project (cooking a dish found in Latin America). This Argentine cookie recipe called for two lemon cookies with a filling in between. The filling was made by boiling a can of condensed milk (in the can without opening it) for three hours. The milk becomes caramel. It didn’t explode or anything; they just had to keep water over it and keep checking on it for the three hours. A fun thing to try with your kids (or no kids) next time you want something yummy!

Senator Hillary Clinton called for Federal intervention in the US Housing Market problems, with recommendations of using $30bil to directly assist states, cities, and homeowners facing foreclosure. “That’s why I’m calling for the creation of a one-time emergency $30 billion fund that would go directly to cities and states to address the housing crisis,” said Senator Clinton (text of the speech published in the NY Times). “This money could be used to purchase foreclosed or distressed properties, which cities and states could then resell to low-income families or convert into affordable rental housing. It could be used to help neighborhoods with high foreclosure rates avoid increased crime and blight by investing in everything from police and fire support to graffiti removal and better lighting. It could be used by local agencies to provide counseling and refinancing to help families avoid foreclosure in the first place.”

Is intervention a good idea? Let’s be clear about why a financial institution forecloses on a property: because the debtor fails on repayment. Let’s be clear why a debtor fails on repayment: because he/she lacks the liquid funds required to make the payment month after month. Let’s be clear how this could happen:

• Unforeseen circumstance This may include loss of income for an extended period of time or drop in income for an extended period of time, among other reasons.
• Financial decisions that are risky This may include buying a house that one cannot afford (too much house for not enough income), spending on other things that put a mortgage payment at risk (e.g., stuff like TV’s or automobiles), committing to an adjustable rate mortgage which allows the debtor to buy a more expensive property by lower payments for a period of time.
• Inflation and increases in expenditures If general expenses for a household increase significantly more than income over a period of time, then there will be less income to devote to a “fixed” cost like a mortgage payment. This may include increases in costs for health care, vehicles, tuition for children, and other budget items which may be added as well as broader inflation of items including fuel and utilities.

Financial institutions involved in financing homes make their money from fees, from timely payments of their loans, and from minimizing their risk (including defaults). As more financial institutions transferred more of their loans elsewhere, more of their income was derived from fees associated with originating new loans, home equity loans, and refinances.

For the American homeowner, this is not to me a cryptic story of the “…unscrupulous mortgage broker…” preying on the unsuspecting renter who all of a sudden decides to buy a home. Nor is it those with home values now underwater, although clearly this is a horrible situation that many from the Bay area remember none to fondly from their last housing bubble in the Internet-inspired frenzy.

No, this is more to me about too many wanting too much. How many of us plan for 10-20% less income each year? I confess I do not, nor am I anything approaching fiscally perfect in my household. Yet there are levels of fiscal responsibility that each of us has to live with. For some, they are able to take on great risk with hopes of a big payoff in a business or an investment. For others, they take on not risk but simply greater consumption for a lifestyle that delivers happiness or lessens melancholy, however fleeting. For still others, they live frugally to a fault, never spending yet delaying their enjoyment of their wealth.

None of these are the right path toward long-term security and joy, yet each of these have their own downsides. Intervene in those downsides, and what does that say to all of us remaining. I remember telling my broker in the Fall of 2000 that I wanted to sell a stock that had reached $200/share only be talked out of it. I finally sold the shares a couple years later at $10/share. Would I like to sue to get that $190/share difference back? Sure, but it was my decision. No one did this for me or to me, it was me and me alone.

This may be too indicting, and as many things I ask for consideration in my lack of expertise in this area that I type away in. One man’s thoughts and opinions, for your consumption. And as always, eager for any thoughts on the matter.

Mostly off in Frank DeFord’s article written in September 1979 about the changes coaches and an inventor working with the NFL predicted for the NFL 2000 edition.

Cliffs at Glassy Chapel
Originally uploaded by csquard

Just a quick hello after a great weekend. Caught this photo as my middle son and I left a sunrise service Sunday morning.

Teapot #17
Originally uploaded by csquard

I’ve just completed putting up photos of the seventeen teapots I’ve given my wife for our anniversary (plus one on our wedding day). Have a great weekend and Easter. We’re heading to the mountains north of G-Vegas, so a trip report and photos on Monday.