Most of you who have been watching bank rates know that savings account yields are pretty terrible right now, due to federal lending rates being so low. Lorie and I have both been pretty disappointed at the rate we have been getting on our accounts for the past year. However, the most laughable rate belongs to our friends at the worst bank ever. On its savings accounts, Chase is offering a paltry 0.01% APY. And, if you don't link it to other accounts or have a $15,000 minimum balance, you will get hit with $15 monthly fees. So, let's see....if I invest $10,000 today, I will have gained $1 in interest by this time next year, and this privilege will only have cost me $180 in fees.
As a company, it has probably the best balance sheet of the megabanks, and has yet to report a quarterly loss in all of this mess (thanks to Washington Mutual). I understand that the overnight lending rate is practically zero, so banks can loan to each other for free. I'm just a little concerned about how much longer the boys at Chase can expect their savings-account holders to be providing them with interest-free loans.
Chase sucks. Run away!
Buy buy buy!
As long as you are going to be staying somewhere for a predictable while, it is getting to the point where there is absolutely no reason not to buy a house these days. $8000 in free money, houses on the cheap, and low mortgage rates make it a buyer's market like never before.
There are possibly perks if you take out your mortgage from a bank as well. We took out our mortgage from Bank of America because it was a good program and good rate, but we also found out that having that mortgage gives us the privilege of higher savings account rates, free paper checks on demand, and a free safe deposit box rental. It all depends on whether those things matter to you, but for me it was pretty sweet...
on eating out
I feel very lucky to be living in a place that has been shielded somewhat from the effects of the recession. That being said, it is kind of hard living in a place where the streets are always crowded and the stores are always so busy. We went to Chick-Fil-A last weekend (using a free coupon from the mail, of course) and it was absolutely nuts. Nary a space in the parking lot, 20 cars in the drive-thru, and people running around, well, like headless chickens. Of course, the food was delicious. From what I read, the business is doing really well and is gaining popularity everywhere. Maybe it really is God's chicken.
Because of the crowds (partly due to the fact that Houston is huge, and also to the fact that a lot of areas were very poorly planned), we mostly eat in, even though we both work and it takes a lot of planning to pull off. I read an article about how eating out may save you money, but I think that is absolutely preposterous. Over the long run you don't save money and around here, you definitely don't save time. Just in case, though, we plan on keeping track of our prices and times for cooking at home. Empirical data may get the best of us yet.
Roach in the box
On service
As I type, it is five in the morning on a Sunday. I am on a unit startup in Baton Rouge, and we have a little bit of downtime as we wait for some furnaces to do their “thang.” Once you get used to it, the night shift is great – the pace slows down, and while you sit in dimly lit rooms staring at graphs with strangers who ultimately become friends, you naturally begin to wonder at the natural variety in life, and what it is that brought you to this point. In other words, it’s the perfect time for a letter. The radio is playing Whitney Houston’s “I will always love you,” which is kind of an odd thing to hear in a control room. I guess it was Saddam Hussein’s campaign theme song, so I guess no scenario can be weirder than that.
I think that both Lorie and I would concur that this week has been good. We are beginning to see a glimmer of progress in the organization of our house and in the garden. This week seemed to pass by in a blur, however, as both of us have been swamped with work and longer hours. Just when I was about to leave for the weekend and bask in freedom, I was given the “Jack Bauer mission,” as Lorie playfully quips, to go to Lousiana. It’s fun, and I love my job, but that just wasn’t the right time to be receiving that news. For those of you that have seen Office Space, you know what scene I’m thinking of.
It wasn’t all bad, though, as Lorie and I still had the pleasure of a date night on Friday. We ended up helping our friend Daniel move a motorized bed out of his home and move another one down a flight of stairs. If you’ve never moved a motorized bed, then congratulations – your back is probably still aligned. That was, hands down, one of the heaviest pieces of furniture I have tried to move, including the piano that I suspect gave me that last subconjunctival hemorrhage.
So today, aside from being tired out of my mind, I feel very sore. But it feels good – it was really a lot of fun. Throughout life I have always felt a very strong conviction that we should seek out the opportunities to serve one another and help in making the world a better and more comfortable place to live in.
I think that I first realized the true value of service while in college. Before college, service meant going to pull weeds on a widow’s lawn. Always. In school, however, I found that there were many ways that one could serve. I cleaned up both disgusting parks and beautiful gardens in the city. I helped kids with their math homework. I gave blood. I helped people with their taxes. And really, I could tell that people truly were grateful.
School really isn’t about the books, and neither is life, so to speak. I only truly enjoyed the practicality of being an engineer when it was applied to service. Oddly enough, the service I gave was what made me want to fully pursue my degree. Service really does give you a new perspective on the world; it can change your day and really lift your spirits.
I feel the following quote by Mother Teresa is applicable: “Do not worry about why problems exist in the world -- just respond to people's needs. We feel what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean, but that ocean would be less without that drop.”
Since college, I’ve found myself starting to focus on the causes of problems in our society and in the world. It’s all too easy. Perhaps it is time for me to bring back the focus to my neighbor, and to bringing a spirit of service back into my life.
Perhaps this is one of the main reasons that we are told to multiply our talents. The more talents we have, the more ways that we can serve. And when we have a greater variety of ways in which to serve, it becomes more fun (reference weeds above). We better equip ourselves with the ability to understand and to respond to the problems of others. Learning and growing is the first step, and applying the knowledge is the next.
Haha, well the song on the radio has changed by now. “This is the world we live in, and these are the hands we’re given. Use them and let’s start trying to make it a place worth living in…” How very timely. 10 points to the first person to identify the song without looking it up.
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