Friday Thoughts 3/2/2012

1. Deep sympathy to the families of the victims in the Chardon, OH school shootings. It's a terrible tragedy and hits home, as that's an area that many of my relatives still live.

2. School shootings always bring up a lot of difficult topics. I have one I want to talk about, but I'm going to wait a bit until things calm down some. Especially since my topic may have nothing to do with the motives or situation in Chardon and I don't want to make any assumptions about the event anyway.

3. Man brings cell phone jammer device on bus to prevent loud talkers. I have a bit of advice for him, invest in noise blocking headphones or ear buds.

4. Creepy school teacher resigns. Unfortunately I have no advice for this couple. If and I stress "If" the relationship developed as they said it has, there maybe nothing legally wrong with it. However, I do believe their is an ethical obligation for a teacher to not take advantage of their relationship with a student. I try to refrain from judging people, but 'falling in love' with a 15 year old or (even an 18 year old) would make me question your mental capacities. Any adult that has a conversation with a teenager can easily see that there are significant differences in interests, conversations, and just about everything else. My amateur psychology analysis, would say that this man has confused a mentoring role and an interest in a student with love.

5. Thank you "Mother Nature" for this mild winter. After a number of hard years with the economy, I think it's one of those things that people in the Midwest and Northern climates may get a real emotional boost from.

6. Another 1st quarter brings more layoffs for my company. I was caught off guard by it and hadn't gotten any wind of these. Which means I haven't been able to establish the same inside network, that I had in my old position. I hate days like this, as you realize that it's likely to be you on that list someday. Considering the fact that the company I work for is rather successful, I cringe when I try to imagine what people in other businesses are experiencing.

7. Burger King chicken sandwiches are 2 for 1 this week. I consider them to be the crack cocaine of fast food and a direct contributor to my 300lb+ days. However, I do think I'll be indulging in them tonight.

8. Next week brings another job fair for my wife, and some visits from friends from out of town. One of my friends is likely coming down mid-week while the wife is off at her job fair, and over the weekend, another one of my best friends and his wife are coming down and the four of us will be heading out for a night on the town. It's always nice to visit with friends, even more so now that we don't live in the area anymore.

9. My wife is obsessed with the electric cake pop maker I got her. Between the dozens of cake pops she's made, we also regularly have pancake balls (as I call them) for breakfast now. For a $20 appliance, it's sure getting a workout.

10. Have a great weekend, stay away from tornadoes and snow.

At least I'll only have to think about it once every four years

Late last week, we received approval from the bank to complete the short sale, after the buyer sent over the addendum extending the offer to 2/29. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough time for the realtors and title co. to get things processed, so I sit hear waiting on another addendum from the buyer for an extension of that date.

From the trail of emails, I can see that the buyer's realtor has consistently tried to convince the buyer that they have assisted in delaying this process and that they have some obligation in trying to see things through on the sale. The buyer's inability to provide required paperwork has caused as much grief as the bank's requirements for it. It's also left us completely handcuffed to any other options. I'm thankful to the buyer's realtor for having an understanding of what's truly been happening.

From my understanding the buyer's realtor is now trying to convince (beg) them to sign another extension, the bank had requested an extension to 3/15, of course the buyer chose 2/29. It's amazing to me how people create more work for themselves and like to blame everyone else for problems that they contribute too, in no instance have I seen as much of this as I have in the short sale process.

So I sit here waiting and refreshing my email, hoping the file comes over before 6pm eastern time, in order for us to sign, scan, and send back to our realtor, so he can send off to the bank. (who of course will close the file today if the extension isn't processed, they of course are not blameless either in this debacle).

It's interesting sitting here waiting with anticipation for the email. I'm feeling a range of emotions. Excitement, disappointment, and exhaustion are three that I can identify. I haven't sat with this level of anticipation of something in a long time, it reminds me of waiting for a call during my teen years from a girlfriend in a new relationship. (That reminder also likely explains the disappointment I'm feeling as well).

So within the next 90 minutes we shall see how things go, either we'll have an extension and we can close on the house, or we'll likely find out what the next steps are during foreclosure mediation.

Earlier in the week, when I thought the finish might be possible by the 29th, I was thankful for the extra day in February, it appears it doesn't matter now that we need an extension, however maybe an unusual day will result in an unusual outcome.

*Update*

Well it appears I've developed some wisdom over the years, instead of waiting patiently for an updated addendum that didn't come. I proceeded with my plans and took a trip to a restaurant about 30 minutes away to pick up some deep dish pizza, to bring home. It was delicious. I have no idea what the outcome is now, since we didn't get the extension in by the bank's deadline.

Weird thought for the day: "Who to really blame for Guy Fieri"

I'm fascinated by society, although I earned my degree in Psychology, my Sociology classes were far more interesting. I believe there is a lot of value in trying to understand one's own society. It's an important tool in understanding situations that develop during our social lives.

That leads me to my weird thought for the week, while catching up on 'Shark Tank' episodes last week. In the episode I was watching, an inventor of a truck rack that was collapsible was adamant that he wanted to produce the rack in the United States. The investors of the show rejected his offer based on the business principle that we just can't produce things here in the quantities needed at a price that's competitive with those that are producing in other countries.

I won't get into the global economic arguments related to it (those can be handled with far more skill by others). It did make me ask the question, "How has the loss of manufacturing changed our sociological outlook/makeup?" Since this is just a weird thought for the day and I'm working on being less verbose, the thought that came to my head is that we have an emptiness that comes from not creating. I believe there is a strong inherent desire in us as individuals (and as a result society) that drives us to create. Manufacturing would be one way for people to satisfy this need. Without it, I'd expect that from a sociological point of view, we'd see this desire manifest itself in other areas.

I believe you can see the results of this in many aspects of our daily lives and trends we've seen over the past couple of years.

1. Explosion of food programming. Don't you know at least 5 foodies right now and those that are talking about there new recipes and creations?

2. Social networking: blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc. I think those participating understand they are creating something for those that interact through these tools. (even ones like this, where you get me typing as I think, which I'm sure means its a mess to read on certain days)

Those are the only two I came up with right now, but I do wonder if the newer toys we see today could also be a factor of the change. Lego is enjoying huge growth with their new kits and licensed properties, and I've seen more Moon Sand/Dough, Pixos, Orbeez, and foam kits advertisements then I thought were possible.

Anyway, that's my weird thought for the day. The Food revolution is an indirect result of America's manufacturing base being moved offshore. As I wrote this post, all sorts of fun headlines came to mind for the title, here are some of them.

"Is America's Food revolution the result of it's manufacturing demise?"
"Model T's and TV Dinners"
"How to make a country fat"