Captain Charles E. Kendall

Today is Veterans Day and we all have much and many for which to be thankful. Though my dad never went to war, he supported the war and defense efforts of our country for over 27 years in the United States Air Force. I truly appreciate those who put their lives on the line with bullets and rockets flying all around them. But today I want to also remember that behind them are guys like my dad who work their tails off helping to make sure there are fewer bullets and rockets flying around for those on the front lines to dodge. Thanks Col. Charles E. Kendall (US Air Force Retired)!

Mom pinning Colonel eagles at promotion

(Ma, don’t panic over the title… it was the only appropriate comment I could find for the title)

So, I’ve put off writing about this for a while. But felt like writing about it today. In September 2007 we “purchased” a home in Henderson CO via an owner finance deal (that’s the simplified version of the whole deal) where the owner held a mortgage from CitiMortgage (a subsidiary of Citi which has seen at least $25billion of our tax dollars) and was supposed to pass our payments through to the Citi loan for two years until our self employed status allowed us to refinance with a conventional mortgage. In September of 2008 we became aware the owner had not been passing our monthly payments back through to the CitiMortgage loan and Citi was proceeding with foreclosure on that loan. Essentially that meant we were screwed and would lose all we had invested in the owner finance deal. At the time the house we had “purchased” for $275k was valued at around $242k and the outstanding on the original owner’s Citi loan was right at $242k (our outstanding was $235k).

All that to get to this beef. On June 15, 2009 the property was sold by the the clerk’s office at Adam’s County for $263k to a single bidder. Who was that bidder that paid $21k over what the home was valued and the same amount over what the original owner owed to CitiMortgage? Yep, you guessed it… a Citi subsidiary. So the huge and failing mortgage company you and I are paying taxes to cover a $25billion plus bailout to, paid $21k more for a house than the value of the home, not to mention $21k more than the orginal loan that they were foreclosing on.

So there’s another reason for the bailout to have a bad taste in your mouth.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We are entering a whole new era in dentistry. One in which we’ll be able to eat candy to prevent cavities. Specifically, we’ll be able to suck on a licorice lollipop….

So one day soon we’ll be able to prevent cavities with lollipops. Maybe next we’ll have plaque scraping treats and edibles that floss for us. Though it is still a thing of the present, this gives me hope that a trip to the dentist will one day be a thing of the past.

http://www.slashfood.com/2008/02/09/suck-on-this-for-healthy-teeth/

TNAuctioneer: just watched Dirty Jobs and poo eating Talapia! then wife tells me we are having Talapia for dinner! can you say loss of appetite?

A winter statistic:

98% of Americans scream before going in the ditch on a slippery road. The other 2% are from Colorado and they say, “Hold my soda and watch this”.

NOW:

You’re from Colorado if You’ll eat ice cream in the winter.

When the weather report says it’s going to be 65 degrees, you shave your legs and wear a skirt.

It snows 5 inches and you don’t expect school to be canceled.

You’ll wear flip flops every day of the year, regardless of temperature.

You have no accent at all, but can hear other people’s. And then you make fun of them.

‘Humid’ is over 25%.

Your sense of direction is: Toward the mountains and Away from the mountains.

You say ‘the interstate’ and everybody knows which one.

You think that May is a totally normal month for a blizzard.

You buy your flowers to set out on Mother’s day, but try and hold off planting them until just before Father’s day.

You grew up planning your Halloween costumes around your coat.

You know what the Continental Divide is.

You went to Casa Bonita as a kid, and as an adult.

You’ve gone off-roading in a vehicle that was never intended for such activities.

You always know the elevation of where you are.

You wake up to a beautiful, 80 degree day and you wonder if it’s going to snow tomorrow.

You don’t care that some company renamed it, the Broncos still play at Mile High.

Every movie theater has military and student discounts.

Everybody wears jeans to church.

You actually know that ** South Park ** is a real place not just a show on TV.

You know what a ‘trust fund hippy’ is, and you know its natural habitat is Boulder

You know you’re talking to a fellow Coloradoan when they call it Elitches, not Six Flags.

A bear on your front porch doesn’t bother you.

Your two favorite teams are the Broncos and whoever is beating the crap out of the Raiders.

When people out East tell you they have mountains in their state too, you just laugh.

You go anywhere else on the planet and the air feels ’sticky’ and you notice the sky is no longer blue.

Slideshow via Flickr

Video via YouTube

So last night, Dan of vendorHIPPO.com, Adam (AK my son), and I went to the IgniteBoulder event in Boulder CO. It was a blast! We hooked up with Ryan Wanger (of The Reluctant Eater) before the event began and got acquainted. Ryan and Dan had hooked up via Dan’s new interest in blogging and Ryan may be a food reviewer for Dan’s vendorHIPPO.com site.

Perhaps the most fun of the night was the look on Dan’s face from about the third presentation on… (wish I had a picture) but it’s that blank stare you see when it’s obvious someone has been drinking from a fire hose of info. But he did great.

We heard/saw 20 slide (timed automatically at 15 second intervals) presentations on everything from what soap bubbles have in common with yoga (really a bizarre presentation, seriously), to info about Lucid Dreaming (maybe more bizarre than the yoga/soap), to instructions on branding yourself, perception possibility, what angel investors are thinking, and more.

Maybe next time I’ll live blog the event. A video of the event is in process. I’ll edit and post a link here when it’s available for anyone interested.

Overall a great evening of branching out and exploring new stuff. There are Ignite events occurring all over the country (world?) and you should definitely check for one in your area and go if can.

Thanks to Andrew Hyde of Boulder for coordinating this event! Let’s do another!