I think we’re in trouble if we continue to prop up this failing industry. Housing prices in places like California (my home state) are vastly disproportionate to income. This hurts the economy too by driving up commodity and service prices. Any effort to artificially prop up home values as part of any compromise, is in my patently un-expert opinion, foolish.

If the news reports are right, we’re seeing people being foreclosed on or walking away from their unaffordable loans. If this is happening in the volume that the news would have us believe it is, then perhaps part of the solution is to stem the tide. Some repayment is probably better than none; and we might be able to reasonably assume that people were approved for these painful loans on some basis of repayment.

What if the government were to summarily dissolve any contracts preventing the wholesale rewriting of bad loans and allow the lending institutions to work directly with their customers to figure out a repayment plan? In this arrangement, the whole market would have to sacrifice:

• The homeowner would almost certainly lose any equity in their home at the cost of achieving an affordable payment. They may also have to live with a lien on any resale profits.
• The lending institution would have to accept a write down of the mortgage.
• Investors would have to actually accept losses on what actually were risky investments.

I’m not sure how feasible this is, but could the bailout be shrunk if banks could rewrite ALL troubled mortgages to a sum equivalent to a 30-year fixed payment (at this point, does the interest rate matter?) of 40% of the homeowners total income (assuming that number is within 70% of the current appraised value)? Could the government come in and insure these under FHA (under existing guidelines, perhaps) to provide the extra level of confidence to the lender?

I’m no financial expert (and I don’t even play one on TV). I have no idea if something like this might work or if we’re even too late for that. Certainly, some banks would continue to fail as a result of this. I think we have to accept that as collateral damage. Ultimately, we must stabilize our market but not at the expense of a necessary correction.

I’m finally all moved in. I have a few more boxes to unpack and some organization to do in my new home office (which previously lived in the basement). I’m also “done” with the immediate improvements to the house. I scaled back my original plans after a bit of sticker shock, but I’m pleased with the current state of things:

• Replaced the “boob” (these are also called “flush-mount ceiling lights”) upstairs with new ceiling fans (MinkaAire Concept I in brushed nickel) in the bedrooms, and recessed “can” lighting in the upstairs hallway.
• Painted 3 accent walls: a grayish blue in the “Spring Creek Bedroom”/Office, a grayish brown in the “Prospect Bedroom”, and a very nice green under the banister opposite the stairs.
• Installed a new over-the-range microwave.
• “Installed” a new washer and dryer.
• Had a HVAC contractor extend the combustion air intake for the furnace out of the way of the aforementioned washing machine.
• Had electrical contractors string 8 runs of Cat5e wire to 4 locations (2 each): each bedroom, behind the TV, and behind the couch.
• Various touchups to the existing paint and walls.

The next major project will be to finish out the basement. I have high hopes I can turn it into my entertainment/living space, and convert the upstairs living room into a dining room and casual seating area. 

In related news, Wells Fargo sent me my first mortgage bill. I think it’s all real now.

With much help from the Bostwicks, my new place now has recessed “can” lighting in the hallway above the stairs. The cans replaced the two “boob” lights that were there previously. In addition, Myles and I ran new 14-3 electrical wire and installed new ceiling-fan approved remodel boxes in the two bedrooms. We had hung a ceiling fan (a Hampton Bay Edgemont), but I’m returning it because the light is far too dim.

I’ve not done much (if any) electrical work before, and I found this whole process to be very informative. These projects involved a lot of time at Home Depot, a bunch of tools, a lot of time on a ladder, and a lot more time up in the attic. I’m a few notches more limber now that I’ve monkeyed around up there for a few hours. Honestly, the most difficult part of the entire process was properly removing the existing light boxes. It often involved finding the right position to get at the screws and still have the majority of your weight on the framing. The first one I did was incredibly difficult, the second and third were considerably easier.

As soon as I select some new ceiling fans and get those mounted, I’ll have new pics! (on flickr, of course)

At about noon, I’ll own my first place. Bring on the paint!

The first thing that struck me was the amazing interactivity of LAX. To fly through this airport (I flew through Terminal 1), you need to be on top of your game. Things I took for granted at Denver, such as leaving my bags with the airline agent at the counter, are simply not the mode of operation at LAX. Instead, once your bag is “checked in”, you have to move it to the TSA screening area.

Then it came to the security line. They’re easy to discern, since it’s usually a queue of (now-)light travelers staring blankly at the back of the person immediately in front of them. Talking is strictly prohibited, I believe it may be a LA cultural thing. There are no signs. You simply proceed as the rest. For those unaware, security screening comes in two phases: the ID and boarding pass check, and then the physical examination step. At LAX, these two phases are disturbingly far apart. First, you get checked and stamped in by a TSA agent. No big deal. Then you mount a flight of stairs to an empty reception area, again devoid of signs. It takes a helpful, if not brusque, TSA agent to direct you up another flight of stairs to the secondary screening area (cleverly known as “Security Checkpoint 1A”). This is the overflow area; you see, normally you would proceed from the first stairs directly into a rope line. However, they miraculously found room for another area in a very strange part of the airport, about 60 feet past the airport’s Payroll and Administration offices. Again, no signs — except for one at the very head of the queue.

Now, it’s hard to fault LAX for their strange physical arrangement. It’s pretty obvious that the strange flow has to do with post-9/11 security measures that brought in new machines and slower procedures requiring more space. They found it where they could. I also imagine that “clear” signage may lead to sign overload.

I’m not going to even start on the crazy car traffic situation. It’s just nuts.

Suffice it to say, I’m not sure that much can be done about LAX’s Terminal 1 without a major renovation. Barring a way to use the instant between seconds to squeeze in the work, it’s hard to imagine such a renovation not causing a major disruption in the air transit system or making the current problems at LAX significantly worse. Good luck LAWA. I think from now on, I’m going to try to avoid LAX as a origination or destination airport. It’s just crazy!

• Replace the boob lights in the bedroom with ceiling fans with remote controls
• Replace kitchen light fixture with track lights
• Replace kitchen boob light with a recessed fixture (if possible)
• Add recessed lights to living room (if possible/conveniently inexpensive)
• Paint the walls a tan/light brown color — something warmer than the off white (this is, of course, after spackeling and priming)
• Change out the standard apartment-style venetian blinds with something… less crappy
• Washer/dryer
• Perhaps a new refrigerator that’s better fit to the space

In the future:

• Change out the carpet (berber = bad)
• Perhaps hardwood flooring in the kitchen and dining nook
• Finish the basement (possibly into an entertainment center with a wet bar)

I think I watch too much HGTV.

After touring 20 (or so) townhomes and single-family homes throughout Fort Collins with my realtor until we came across just about the perfect unit in the center of town. It’s a 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath townhome just off (like 50 feet off) the Spring Creek trail. It has a single-car attached garage and an unfinished basement. I should have pictures online soon!

Location-wise, it’s perfect. It’s right on one of the main bike trails in Fort Collins and practically around the corner from old town. It’s also right around the corner (but the other way) from Whole Foods.

I signed the contract (after a negotiation with the seller) on Friday. The inspection is tomorrow — here’s hoping it goes well!

Cheers!

Problem:
# php -v
Extensions are not supported on this platform.
PHP 5.2.5 (cli) (built: May 15 2008 16:54:51)
Copyright (c) 1997-2007 The PHP Group
Zend Engine v2.2.0, Copyright (c) 1998-2007 Zend Technologies


Solution:
build% cd php-5.2.5/ext
build% tar xfz xdebug-2.0.3.tar.gz
build% mv xdebug-2.0.3 xdebug
build% cd ..
build% ./buildconf --force
build% ./configure --enable-xdebug
build% make && make install


This builds Xdebug straight into PHP for profiling goodness. One caveat, I get this warning when I start PHP:
PHP Warning: Xdebug MUST be loaded as a Zend extension in Unknown on line 0


The warning doesn’t seem to affect much; I still get (reasonable looking) profiling data out of Xdebug.

This city has some amazing bike/multiuse trails winding throughout the city. Today, I (with co-conspirator Dave) rode about 30 miles of them. We started off just outside Dave’s place near Edora Park on the Spring Creek trail. We rode it out to the Poudre trail and rode the length of it until we hit Laporte. This trail was simply stunning. It hugs the Cache la Poudre River for most of its length and it’s green. Trees, plants, everything is green! Absolutely gorgeous.

We rode out past the Poudre Trail until we hit Laporte. We made a quick detour to Vern’s, where, due to a lack of a bike lock, we failed to have lunch. A lady I met at the Colorado Democratic Convention, Mary, called the bike trip out to Vern’s “The Bacon Run.” So apt. Note to self, bring a lock next time!

On our way back, we skipped the Poudre Trail and skipped up onto North Overland Trail (which is actually a road, not a trail). This was the hardest part of the ride due to the gently sloping hills. My poor conditioning and a gentle headwind made this a tough ride. That said though, it was still fun. We rode Overland Trail until Cottonwood Glen Park (maybe 4 or 5 miles). For those that have visited me, Cottonwood Glen Park is the park with the bike trials course.

From there, we rode home along the Spring Creek trail. Dave continued home down Spring Creek whereas I parted company at the Mason Trail. I continued down the aforementioned Mason Trail (which isn’t really all that visually interesting) and onto the Fossil Creek Trail until it ended at South Lemay. I then rode the short bit down Lemay back to my place.

All in all a fun ride. I posted some photos of the Poudre Trail part on Flickr.

We talked a bit about the seemingly unified themes coming out of the Colorado (and to an extent, the national) campaigns — themes like alternative (maybe we should say “smarter”) energy, health care, and ending the war in Iraq. These things are rallying points for Democrats and ideas amenable to some Republicans. The focal point for the message contrast seems to be our current administration and their friends in Congress.

Lets take the war in Iraq as an example. Betsy Markey, Mark Udall, and Barack Obama are both calling for a smart withdrawal of our troops from the region. One of their main arguments is the sheer cost of the war — some put it in the high billions, even trillions. Unless we’ve found a way to literally grow wealth on trees, if these numbers are even slightly accurate, we’re plunging ourselves into massive debt in order to finance the war. This is interesting, because unlike some other wars we’ve fought: we haven’t raised taxes to pay for this war.

Americans are an intensely generous people. We send aid at the drop of a hat to regions devastated by natural disaster: China, Myanmar (as we can), Indonesia, and New Orleans to name a few. Ostensibly our goal in Iraq is to rebuild their infrastructure, economy, and deliver a democratic regime friendly to our interests; noble goals, to be sure.

Why haven’t we, as a people, been asked to help this effort (short of enlisting)?

Iraq is war-torn (we should know, we did the a lot of the tearing) and country desperately in need. Why haven’t we seen a national push to give aid to our brothers and sisters there? Our troops, who do good work there, don’t work for free and we certainly know that their equipment isn’t free. Installing and maintaining a logistical support base also can’t be a small cost. So, to my friends who support the war in Iraq: I suspect you think of yourselves as the fiscally-responsible sort, so, would you accept a tax increase to pay for this war?