Posted October 21, 2007
Ah, Colorado. Don't like the weather? Wait a few minutes, it'll change. You hear that said about a lot of places. I always felt it was particularly apropos for my home town, Cincinnati. But then, I thought Indiana was the middle of nowhere. Drive through Kansas or Nebraska, you'll see the middle of nowhere. I don't even want to drive through Nevada.
As for weather, I thought it was a big deal for a 20 degree difference in temperature from one day to the next. Here, you can get that in a matter of hours, and it's not that unusual. Lack of humidity, temperature drops dramatically at night.
At this latitude, October may or may not be warm. That much I experienced back home. You planned your costume around your winter coat, since Halloween could be 70, could be snow. Same with Christmas. That much I'm used to. What I'm not used to is the dramatic changes from one day to the next.
Yesterday, October 20, it was nice and warm, about 70. It's mid-October, but that's no big deal. It's been warm for a week or so. We still haven't had more than one night below freezing. Well, not until last night, anyway.
I wake up this morning, expecting it to be colder. The wind blew through here like angry spirits, exposing any leaks in the windows and walls. I just finished weatherstripping my front door and patio door, so I don't have many leaks. Kinda proud of that, actually. Nice and tight. Just have to get the windows.
But I digress. I knew it was going to be cold, about 30-40 degrees cooler than yesterday. Not that unusual, I've been here long enough. And yet, it still throws me. As I got out of bed, I saw through the window across the room. I was trying to determine just how late I'd slept. Didn't want to miss CBS pre-game show. I had just a few minutes to get to a TV. Without my glasses, I'm pretty blind, so I don't generally try to actually see out the window. However, I noticed that it was particularly bright this morning, brighter than it should be, even with full sun. That could only mean...no, it couldn't...that's ridiculous...
It's true! Snow! Seventies yesterday, snow today. Nothing much, maybe half an inch on some spots, light and fluffy stuff. But it's snow!!! That, I've not yet gotten used to.
When I talk to people from other areas, they assume it's always snowing here. Well, it's not. Yes, in the mountains, it snows from September on, the ski areas open as early as possible, sometimes in mid-September. They're at a higher altitude, usually 9000 feet or higher. Colorado Springs is only at 6000 feet or so (that's right, higher than Denver). One thing you'll notice if you drive around out here, the west is obsessed with altitude. Never saw altitude on signs back home, but once I crossed into Colorado, nearly all city signs, even cities with populations of 6 - and they exist - have the altitude on them.
Anyway, altitude is a factor in the weather. So is location. East of the mountains, where most of the people live, is drier than in the mountains. The first snow I heard reported Frisco, Colorado, just over 9000 feet. It's not too far from South Park - real place. Mining town.
A few years ago in July, I drove from the Springs to I-70. All I was doing was wandering around, just wanted to get to know my new state a little better. It was in the mid-eighties here in the Springs. I drove through Denver on I-25 and then connected to I-70 from there. Pleasant drive once you're out of Denver traffic. I-70 is a very busy interstate, on par with I-75 from Michigan to Florida. Could be two in the morning and it's still crowded. One big difference, though. To get a weather change like I experienced, you'd have to drive from Michigan to at least Kentucky. Not here.
I drove from Colorado Springs, 70 miles or so north to Denver, then 60 miles west to the Eisenhower tunnel. Less than the distance between Detroit and Cincinnati. It's a bit of an eyesore, compared to the landscape, but if you're into that sort of thing, really interesting history and construction. Well, I found it fascinating, anyway.
Denver is at 5280 feet (hey, that's a mile...), Colorado Springs at just over 6000. Eisenhower tunnel is over 11,000. It was in the eighties in the Springs, about the same in Denver. It was snowing at the Tunnel. Not just snowing, but blizzard. Nearly white-out conditions, actually. This wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't have the top off of my car, or if my tires weren't bald as Howie Mandel.
Did I mention it was July?
Colorado Strikes Again. It doesn't snow much in Colorado Springs, especially not compared to the mountain towns like Grand Junction. The temperature is usually pretty mild in the winter, unlike the heat sink of Leadville and Gunnison. But once in a while, you get a day like this, where it was 70 yesterday, and snowing today.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
TV Musings
Posted October 20, 2007
The new fall schedule has made my life more difficult. I have satellite and a DVR, so I have some advantage, in that I can record a show while I'm watching another. If I was willing to shell out a little more money a month, I could increase that. But really, do I need to watch that much TV? No. There are, though, a couple shows I really like. Network TV, not pay channels. Although, there are a few of those, too.
On NBC, there's the lead-in to Heroes, Chuck. Quirky little show, it's about a slacker who works at a computer store and gets tangled up with the CIA. It's amusing and disturbingly watchable. Here in the mountain time zone, it doesn't conflict with any pay channels, however, the show following, Heroes, is on opposite Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. As long as I'm not recording anything else, that's a non-issue. Fortunately, No Reservations rebroadcasts 3 hours later.
On ABC, there's Pushing Daisies. This one, I see as something you'd get if you crossed Dr. Seuss with Edward Gorey, and threw in a dash of Tim Burton. It's so absurd, it's cool. This would have been so easy to mess up, but for my tastes, they've gotten it right. It's an intelligent show, so I don't expect it to last more than two seasons.
Beyond those, there are my old standbys, like the original CSI, Criminal Minds, Numbers, and Heroes. Okay, so only one of those have been on for more than three seasons, but still...
I've also rediscovered The Simpsons and Family Guy. Gotta laugh, and those still do it for me.
Then there's what's available on pay TV. There were shows on BBC America that I enjoyed, but have since stopped watching that network. I've been waiting for over a year for the second season of Life on Mars. It's being redone for American television, with all the standard adjustments of beautiful people and vapid storylines, although maybe not so bad, since David E. Kelley is doing it. Just the same, it won't be the same. I was also hooked on Robin Hood, a lovely little show with a bit of comedy and a particularly evil Sheriff of Nottingham. Haven't heard anything about the second season of that one, either. Mostly, I'm disillusioned with BBCA, and refuse to get hooked on anything else, regardless of how interesting Torchwood looks to me.
USA has some neat little shows, like the old favorite, Monk, and a couple of new faves, Psych and Burn Notice. SciFi has Eureka, which I've been told has stolen plots from X-files. Well, since I had a hard time sticking with X-files and have no trouble at all following Eureka, I don't actually care where they get the plots. It's watchable.
At last, there's South Park. Morally opposed to the show at the outset, I refused to watch it. Nevermind the fact that I didn't have pay TV until July 2006, so I couldn't watch it anyway. A friend of mine talked so much about it, I finally caught an episode, and now I'm hooked. Intelligent potty humor. Go figure. The animators have no problems saying what's on their minds. One of my favorite episodes is "Trapped in the Closet," which basically makes Scientology look stupid. It's the show that made Isaac Hayes quit, since he's a Scientologist. He didn't have any issues with Moses as the central computer from Tron, or Jesus with his own public access show, and probably unfazed by the shows about Mormons. Pretty hypocritical to get upset over it. But it's a funny episode.
There are three channels I like to watch at any time of the day: National Geographic, Travel, Food Network and Turner Classic Movies. TCM is awesome for many reasons, not the least of which is there are movies that haven't been aired for years, and they're commercial free. On Sundays at 12 Eastern (10 Mountain), they show a silent movie or two. Anyone with any interest in the history of film should watch. I now see what the big deal was about Rudolph Valentino.
I've only had my satellite dish for a year and a half, after ten years of only having network TV. I can't imagine not having some pay channels any more. I'd lose my mind.
The new fall schedule has made my life more difficult. I have satellite and a DVR, so I have some advantage, in that I can record a show while I'm watching another. If I was willing to shell out a little more money a month, I could increase that. But really, do I need to watch that much TV? No. There are, though, a couple shows I really like. Network TV, not pay channels. Although, there are a few of those, too.
On NBC, there's the lead-in to Heroes, Chuck. Quirky little show, it's about a slacker who works at a computer store and gets tangled up with the CIA. It's amusing and disturbingly watchable. Here in the mountain time zone, it doesn't conflict with any pay channels, however, the show following, Heroes, is on opposite Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. As long as I'm not recording anything else, that's a non-issue. Fortunately, No Reservations rebroadcasts 3 hours later.
On ABC, there's Pushing Daisies. This one, I see as something you'd get if you crossed Dr. Seuss with Edward Gorey, and threw in a dash of Tim Burton. It's so absurd, it's cool. This would have been so easy to mess up, but for my tastes, they've gotten it right. It's an intelligent show, so I don't expect it to last more than two seasons.
Beyond those, there are my old standbys, like the original CSI, Criminal Minds, Numbers, and Heroes. Okay, so only one of those have been on for more than three seasons, but still...
I've also rediscovered The Simpsons and Family Guy. Gotta laugh, and those still do it for me.
Then there's what's available on pay TV. There were shows on BBC America that I enjoyed, but have since stopped watching that network. I've been waiting for over a year for the second season of Life on Mars. It's being redone for American television, with all the standard adjustments of beautiful people and vapid storylines, although maybe not so bad, since David E. Kelley is doing it. Just the same, it won't be the same. I was also hooked on Robin Hood, a lovely little show with a bit of comedy and a particularly evil Sheriff of Nottingham. Haven't heard anything about the second season of that one, either. Mostly, I'm disillusioned with BBCA, and refuse to get hooked on anything else, regardless of how interesting Torchwood looks to me.
USA has some neat little shows, like the old favorite, Monk, and a couple of new faves, Psych and Burn Notice. SciFi has Eureka, which I've been told has stolen plots from X-files. Well, since I had a hard time sticking with X-files and have no trouble at all following Eureka, I don't actually care where they get the plots. It's watchable.
At last, there's South Park. Morally opposed to the show at the outset, I refused to watch it. Nevermind the fact that I didn't have pay TV until July 2006, so I couldn't watch it anyway. A friend of mine talked so much about it, I finally caught an episode, and now I'm hooked. Intelligent potty humor. Go figure. The animators have no problems saying what's on their minds. One of my favorite episodes is "Trapped in the Closet," which basically makes Scientology look stupid. It's the show that made Isaac Hayes quit, since he's a Scientologist. He didn't have any issues with Moses as the central computer from Tron, or Jesus with his own public access show, and probably unfazed by the shows about Mormons. Pretty hypocritical to get upset over it. But it's a funny episode.
There are three channels I like to watch at any time of the day: National Geographic, Travel, Food Network and Turner Classic Movies. TCM is awesome for many reasons, not the least of which is there are movies that haven't been aired for years, and they're commercial free. On Sundays at 12 Eastern (10 Mountain), they show a silent movie or two. Anyone with any interest in the history of film should watch. I now see what the big deal was about Rudolph Valentino.
I've only had my satellite dish for a year and a half, after ten years of only having network TV. I can't imagine not having some pay channels any more. I'd lose my mind.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Capital One - Get it out of your wallet
Posted October 19, 2007
Capital One is not to be trusted. I've been getting calls from them demanding money. I closed the account back in February. At least, I thought I did. I called them and told them to close the account. I then transfered the remaining balance to my WAMU card, with a ridiculous rate, just so I could be done with Capital One. But no, they didn't close the account. Just one more reason to never go to them again.
In 2005, I had two Capital One cards. Neither had a very high balance or high limit, and they both had a better rate than my WAMU (Providian at the time) card. Not hard to do, that WAMU rate is obscene.
Both cards had payments due at the same time. I sent both payments out at the same time. What didn't make sense is that one was always late. How? They were sent the same day, sent separately. Well, every month for six months, I would get a late fee on my statement. Every month for six months, starting a month later, the late fee was removed as an accounting error. In May of 2005, I was looking to buy a home. I found one I liked, and could afford, and started the loan process. In that time, Capital One continued their misrepresentation and actually *reported* a late payment to the credit agencies. Now, if I'd consistently made late payments, that wouldn't have been an issue. It would have been annoying, but my own fault. But I didn't. My payments were on time. Something Capital One even acknowledged, by virtue of the fact that they consistently removed the late payment fee without any intervention from me.
Having late payments allowed them to increase the rate on that card, both because the payment was late, and because, by reporting, my credit score dropped. Significantly. I'd just pulled a report for myself in April of 2005, so I could see where my scores were. I pulled what's referred to as a tri-merge, a report showing my credit as reported by all three major bureaus,. Experian, Equifax and Trans Union.
Incidentally, you should check your credit at least once a year. You get one free report a year from all three agencies, perhaps more depending on state laws. Colorado, for instance, allows a free report any time a new derogatory item is added.
But I digress. Capital One reported late payments to the credit agencies. Payments that weren't actually late. Because of this reporting, my scores dropped about 50 points. That's significant. Very significant. I worked for 6 years in mortgage, I saw what sort of a difference even 10 points could make, as far as loan amounts and rates a borrower would be eligible for. I didn't know about this until after I'd already had a loan in place.
Basically, by lying about my late payments, they ruined my credit score. They ruined my chances at getting a better rate on my mortgage. I've since been able to cancel my card again. This time, I got a letter confirming that not only was my account closed, but the balance wiped out. Damn straight.
Like I said, if my payments had actually been late, that would have been a different matter. But they weren't. Capital One is a shady, dishonest company, and not one I will ever do business with again.
Capital One is not to be trusted. I've been getting calls from them demanding money. I closed the account back in February. At least, I thought I did. I called them and told them to close the account. I then transfered the remaining balance to my WAMU card, with a ridiculous rate, just so I could be done with Capital One. But no, they didn't close the account. Just one more reason to never go to them again.
In 2005, I had two Capital One cards. Neither had a very high balance or high limit, and they both had a better rate than my WAMU (Providian at the time) card. Not hard to do, that WAMU rate is obscene.
Both cards had payments due at the same time. I sent both payments out at the same time. What didn't make sense is that one was always late. How? They were sent the same day, sent separately. Well, every month for six months, I would get a late fee on my statement. Every month for six months, starting a month later, the late fee was removed as an accounting error. In May of 2005, I was looking to buy a home. I found one I liked, and could afford, and started the loan process. In that time, Capital One continued their misrepresentation and actually *reported* a late payment to the credit agencies. Now, if I'd consistently made late payments, that wouldn't have been an issue. It would have been annoying, but my own fault. But I didn't. My payments were on time. Something Capital One even acknowledged, by virtue of the fact that they consistently removed the late payment fee without any intervention from me.
Having late payments allowed them to increase the rate on that card, both because the payment was late, and because, by reporting, my credit score dropped. Significantly. I'd just pulled a report for myself in April of 2005, so I could see where my scores were. I pulled what's referred to as a tri-merge, a report showing my credit as reported by all three major bureaus,. Experian, Equifax and Trans Union.
Incidentally, you should check your credit at least once a year. You get one free report a year from all three agencies, perhaps more depending on state laws. Colorado, for instance, allows a free report any time a new derogatory item is added.
But I digress. Capital One reported late payments to the credit agencies. Payments that weren't actually late. Because of this reporting, my scores dropped about 50 points. That's significant. Very significant. I worked for 6 years in mortgage, I saw what sort of a difference even 10 points could make, as far as loan amounts and rates a borrower would be eligible for. I didn't know about this until after I'd already had a loan in place.
Basically, by lying about my late payments, they ruined my credit score. They ruined my chances at getting a better rate on my mortgage. I've since been able to cancel my card again. This time, I got a letter confirming that not only was my account closed, but the balance wiped out. Damn straight.
Like I said, if my payments had actually been late, that would have been a different matter. But they weren't. Capital One is a shady, dishonest company, and not one I will ever do business with again.
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