Monday, September 29, 2008

Insanity?

Uhhh, yeah... Is this a good time to undertake a quarter-million+ dollar house remodel? ...while embarking on a career change that very well might have negative income? ...after buying a car for your newly-licensed teenage daughter? ...because of whom our insurance nearly tripled?

Hmmmm....

Impeccable timing.





(PS. Can I still get a TT bike and a CX bike?)


[add/edit] OK, I wrote the above before the news broke that the House didn't approve the bail-out package. This is getting even more interesting, albeit in a perverse watching-the-train-wreck sort of way. Maybe I am on the train while watching... Moving to the forward car ...I bought more stocks today, including a bank.

I consider myself a social liberal, and a radical on the environment, but I confess to being somewhat conservative financially. It's time to pay for the gross excesses and push the reset button. I'm glad the House rejected the bill.

[Note: I reserve the right to change my mind...]

15 comments:

meh-wee-uhn said...

cx bike » tt bike

Anonymous said...

"buying a car for your newly-licensed teenage daughter"

"a radical on the environment"

You do see the contradiction there, dont you?

Marco Fanelli said...

Show me a person with no contradictions in their life and I'll show you a person with no children.

...at least we didn't get a brand new car!

--

mehweeuhn, But what about:

food >> cx bike ???

Tom Anhalt said...

$250K+ remodel? What the heck are you doing...going up? In this current market you might be money ahead to just buy a bigger house.

Also...car for a teenage daughter? Why? Just get that truck running and let her use that...if she asks "nicely" that is ;-)

I know, I know...see me in 8 years when my own daughter is old enough to drive, huh?

Marco Fanelli said...

tna-

Doubtful it'll be as cheap as $250K ...I'm more prepared for $300K. And that might even be naive. New kitchen, additional bedroom and bathroom, (re)moved walls, raised ceiling, new roof, solar panels, new windows throughout, new flooring,...

Still trying to decide how much to do myself and how much to contract. Leaning toward contracting almost all of it, so it'll get done before the year 2030.

It's very scary.

Anonymous said...

New career huh? Well I think it's great that you'll finally be pursuing your dream of becoming a professional cyclist. It seems to work okay for C-Walk.

Marco Fanelli said...

Hahaha... Well THAT would certainly be a negative-income job for me!

Anonymous said...

Yes to hitting the reset button Marco!

Unknown said...

I'm sure you'll be spending boatloads if you opt for all the eco-friendly (expensive) options. Are you going with bamboo flooring? It regrows fast of course, so better than traditional hardwoods. (We went with Maple... well it's still slab, and the maple is in boxes).
Seriously, why not move? You'd likely get lots more for your money, and the work would already be done! Imagine being without a kitchen for weeks. How will you cook your home-grown veggies?
And get a bigger back yard with more room for plants...
But I guess you'd have to say bye-bye to most of your plants.

Marco Fanelli said...

Brett-

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS ON WINNING A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!! Very cool, and you beat some really fast people. I saw the results and how close it was and thought it must have been a real drama. How do you do all that points-race math while going anaerobic?!? Or did you take a lap? Anyway, good job!

Yeah, reset button. It's kind of harsh but I think we Americans need a good kick in the butt economically so we stop with the frivolous spending and borrowing. A 1930's style depression should do the trick. Well, maybe not that bad, but if we get bailed out too easily, then we won't learn our lesson. The next crisis will unfold because millions of Baby-Boomers retire with inadequate nest eggs...

---

Miss Anony-

It'll cost boatloads whether we go eco-friendly or not. Bamboo products are getting better all the time, so says Tim, the owner of Fancy Floors. We'll probably make good eco choices in some places, but maybe not everywhere. I'm not sure yet about paints with zero volatile chemicals.

Moving is something we've considered, but when we look, we don't see anything that's enough of an improvement to be worth it. And by worth it, I mean in our price range. Plus the huge bump in property tax would be unpleasant. I know you recent home-buyers don't have any sympathy for that one!

Someday I will move to a place with enough room for a small farm, but I can't imagine doing that in SB.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Mark. I had a coach on the rail and John Walsh on the infield.. They did all the thinking. Coach said 'you won that race on strength and fitness', what he didn't say was 'sure wasn't your bike racing brain'!

Brett

Greg Knowles said...

Now that it passed, how are we feeling? Is $700 billion enough? The stock market didn't seem to care!

Marco Fanelli said...

I do not mind at all when my taxes are used for the greater good of our society. What I do mind is when my taxes are used to rescue people and corporations that acted irresponsibly, driven by greed and rampant material consumerism.

I guess I'm a little bitter.

Is $700B enough? I doubt it. I'll tell you one thing it is... over $2,000 for every man, woman, and child in the US. We're told that the Government may recoup a lot of money on the bad assets they (we!) will buy. I won't hold my breath.

But guess what else? The cost of the Iraq war is approaching $700B, and will surely surpass it by the time we get out. The Iraq invasion was a moronic, reckless decision made by the most incompetent administration in history. The world is more dangerous because of Bush/Cheney/Rove, and now the US is hamstrung by an epic financial burden.

Have a nice day.

meh-wee-uhn said...

Food » cx bike?

Didn't you start a nice little edible garden?
And I'm sure there's a pretty good network of food banks down here...

Marco Fanelli said...

Hey, there's nothing little about my garden!