Archive of March, 2010
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![[Permalink 2010-03-29]](/images/fun_stuff/bfc_blueCream.gif)
Remnants Revisited
March 29, 2010:
Well, last time I talked about the big snowstorm I said that the big piles of snow might stick around until Easter. I was a little off.
This is what it looked like the week before.
After that comment, things warmed up a bit and, worse for the snow, it rained for about three days straight. The next Sunday I took Ginger for a walk and tried to recreate the shot. It turned out... just a bit differently.
Not quite as impressive seven days later.
By the following Tuesday they were gone. So, they didn't make Easter, or even the first day of spring, but they did last into Daylight Saving Time.
Overly Attached
March 26, 2010:
It really ticks me off when I get a security update for a web browser, but the company has tied its browser and operating system together so tightly that upgrading a single program requires me to restart the computer.
It's that kind of anti-competitive tying of one program to an unrelated area that can get a company sued.
What, you thought I was talking about someone else?
Remnants of Snowpocalypse
March 08, 2010:
Sure, it hasn't snowed in three weeks. We've still got some on the ground. There's a tiny bit in my front lawn (and I mean tiny, it's probably covering about half a square foot by now if that much) but the corners where they piled up the snow will be there a while.
So here's Ginger up on top of one of the piles. I couldn't back up far enough to get the whole thing (had to hold the leash) but I'll give you an idea of what you're looking at.
I'm holding my arm straight out. I'm 5-foot-7 and a human is about 7 heads tall. My shoulder is just below my head, so we'll say it's 6 heads off the ground, and round down a little bit. That comes out to about 4-foot-9, and you can see the leash has to go up to get to Ginger's harness. That puts her shoulders roughly five feet up, and means there's at least four feet of snow still piled up there. And that's after a week or so of high-enough temperatures to melt everything off the yard.
Let's see if the piles around here make it to Easter.
I Guess I Should Be Thanking Bank of America
March 01, 2010:
So if you're scoring at home (or even if you're alone)* you know that I spent most of the summer cursing Bank of America's name, as they took the better part of four months to progress from offer to approval to closing on an "approved" short sale. I may have to revise that opinion.
The rules that were in effect with regard to the first-time homebuyer credit back in July were:
- Take 10% of the value of the house, or $8,000, whichever is least
- Subtract your gross income from $95,000 and divide by $20,000. If the number is less than 0, it becomes zero. If it's more than 1 it becomes one.
- Multiply the second number by the first, and there's your credit.
- Except that it's credit like a credit card. The Fed wants 10% of that amount back every year for the next 10 years (no interest, at least). So I'd have gotten about $4,000 on my 2009 return this year, then I would have owed the government $400 on my 2010–2019 returns.
But BofA took a long time to get their stuff done. And Congress expanded the program and changed the rules, effective November 9th.
- Step 1 is the same.
- In step 2 the math is the same, but the maximum amount jumps from $95,000 to $125,000.
- Step 3 is the same, so now I'm eligible for all $8,000!
- And this is a credit in the credits-and-debits sense. The IRS gives me money and that's the end of the story. No repayments.
Thanks to BofA's dickitry I closed on November 20th, after the new rules went into effect. So in the short term I get an extra $4,000 or so, and in the long term I get to keep all of it making my long-term net $8,000 compared to $0.
Now I know they didn't do this on purpose to benefit me, but sometimes the cards come out in your favor. I'm sure it's a cold comfort to the two sets of friends I inconvenienced from September through Thanksgiving that I get more money, but maybe if I buy them all a nice dinner it'll make that bitter pill a little easier to swallow.
So, thanks, Bank of America, ya jerks.
* Sportscenter catchphrase stolen mercilessly in the dead of night from Keith Olbermann.
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