Money, Money, Money

I just adore watching Susy Orman talk about money and the foolish things we do with money and good advice about what we should be taking into account for our decisions about money. OK, she does go a little over the top, but that's what clickers are for.

So in my head I laid out my money situation for Susy--I have a five year fixed at 5.875% that's going to switch to an adjustable in 3 years. My loan to value is pretty good, but I'm afraid about what interest rates are going to do in the future and what the values will be in three years and what loans will be available at all in three years. I have an opportunity to refinance, but its a 30 year loan at 6.25% with about $2,000 in costs for the loan. So the ballpark cost to go from 5.785% to 6.25% is about 600 per year for three years, but who knows what will happen in year four.

Now, I'd probably never say this to Susy, but I hate my house. The darn thing is ugly and it dresses funny. There's no airconditioning, there's no central heat, there's a buzzing in my room that is slowly but surely driving me insane and the tap water stinks. But it is a roof over my head (and the heads of several family members, give or take), so it is what it is.

Anyhoo, $3,800 for peace of mind--what would Susy say? In my head she says, how does this five year fixed time bomb make you feel? Lousy. Can you afford the new loan? Yes, probably. With this new loan and the security of 30 years knowing exactly what you have to pay--will that give you the incentive to finally make the house what you want it to be? That may be going a little too far Susy, but I do know that I breathed a huge sigh of relief, when the bank called to say I was approved. And that Susy would say is the whole ballgame.

No Sleep for Me with diet and exercise

During tennis last week I woke up every morning at 4:00 a.m. when my tape on the tv turned on to tape tennis. I am a very light sleeper. When I didn't have the tape set up, it was the fan. It's been really hot for a few weeks so I leave the fan on, but it's hard to fall asleep with it on and it's even harder to stay asleep. This week, no tennis and for a few nights no fan, so I should be sleeping better, right? No. The news seems to have more burgleries lately, so I am certian that my house is next. The windows are open (because it is still rather hot), so I can hear all the night noises with no fan to drown them out.

Last night Adam was telling me about a midnight showing that he is going to and then he says, he won't bother going to bed afterwards, because he'll need to get up a few hours later to go to school. I remember being able to stay awake all night. I didn't do it often, but there were times. Man, I am so old. The very idea is repugnant.

Since I'm often woken from a dream sleep, I sometimes remember elaborate dreams. I try to remember details and tell myself I'm going to write a novel from all the great stuff in my imagination. I know you are supposed to write down your dreams when you first wake up to get them down, but I don't want to get up to write them in the middle of the night, because I'm trying to go back to sleep. Everytime, I promise myself that I'll remember them and every time I don't. You'd think I'd learn.

Everything I read about good health stresses getting enough "proper" sleep. I can stay in bed all day long, but deep sleep pretty much elludes me. So I am doomed to being awake in the middle of the night scheeming about how to sound proof my room and what to write my novel about.

Uncle Marcel's blog about the good life discertation on food makes me feel better about my limited food buffet--same breakfast every morning, pretty much the same lunch every day and a choice of about three things well within my calorie zone for dinner. Now if I could just stay away from all those potato chips and chocolate chip cookies trying to seduce me, I'd be home free.

Have you seen the new weight lose product made from 15 herbs and spices. It's a little pill. There was a write up in the tv guide (3 pages) in which a women described how she's tried every diet and nothing works, but with this little pill each morning on an empty stomach, she was able to lose 7 to 10 pounds per week. It saved her marriage. Right, I'm thinking--that guy needs to be history, but I digress. What's the catch? I'm looking and looking through the entire three pages, reading all the small print. The way it works is to prevent fats from attaching to cells, so they go right through you. When something sounds to good to be true, it is, so I'm looking for the catch. It's not in that article, but I had seen another product that promised fat wouldn't stay in your body, so I went back to that little booklet. That one was called alli. So I go to the material where they talk about their little pill. Buried in the middle is a warning to wear dark clothing and purhaps start taking the product on days when you can stay at home since you won't be able to control your bowel movements or even feel them taking the product. Talk about a catch.

Oh well, exercise is suppose to release endorphines and that's a good thing. I've been going to curves for years now and I'm not feeling the endorphines--I don't think I'm doing it right. So my new thing is if I don't sweat, it doesn't count. My pulse was 128 all last week and it was 133 this morning, so that's progress (I think). Isn't exercise supposed to help you sleep better? One can hope.

Tennis Update

I'm sure that you are all kicking yourself for never turning on the tv at just the right moment to see what's going on at Wimbledon--no? just me? Philistines.

Lucky for you, I'm a good detective and I can find the tiny, tiny mention in the TV guide and I have the experience to understand that start times are eastern time which means 4 a.m. pacific if it is on ESPN2 or on the middle Saturday on NBC, but not the rest of the week on NBC who could care less if the matches during the week are carried live for the west coast. Lucky for you, I don't even trust the tv guide on cable that said that tennis would be on ESPN2 at 10 a.m. and NBC at 10 a.m.--do they think I was born yesterday. Of course, ESPN2 is not allowed to show tennis at the same time as ESPN2. To their credit, ESPN2 apoligized to us yesterday if we were on the west coast and showed us the end of the late running Murray match--WoW, that kid got muscles out of the blue. I don't usually like the commentary, but every once in a while they come up with some great ones--my favorite yesterday is that Nadal is playing "scary good tennis." [I've tipped my hand--I really want Nadal to win Wimbledon.]

I was able to tape and watch most of the Hewitt/Fed match--great tennis. I didn't get to see Safin play, but he's up and down, so who knows. Federer can probably handle the rest of his draw up to the final in straight sets if Safin is not hot. If Safin is hot, Federer will still win, but he might drop a set.

Murray, though, who knew? He is playing great. He's had a tough draw--five sets against Gasquet who was also playing great. He might give Nadal a little competition tomorrow, then Clement or Schuettler, who? Really shouldn't be a problem in the semi.

Over to the Women--Jie Zheng, wow again. She is very hot. Unseeded to come into Wimbledon and had to petition to even be invited although she won a doubles title a few years back. I'm kind of hoping that she'll give Serena trouble, because I want Venus to win and she doesn't have a great record against Serena. Dementieva beat Petrova--I'm hoping that tv got some of that match, because I really didn't think Demetieva had it in her. Don't get me wrong, Venus will wipe the floor with her and would have kicked off Petrova too, but I viewed Petrova as the stronger opponent.

So far none of the tv coverage has been of doubles, but I think my favorites are still ok--I just adore the Bryan brothers and I'm really rooting for the Williams sisters. I think that I remember Martina being in the finals for singles and in the mixed doubles finals, but it is highly unusual. I wouldn't be surprised if the Williams backed out of doubles, since they both made it through to the Semi's.

I must say that I have less and less loyalty to the American men. Roddick does nothing but disappoint and Blake is so sketchy. I've been told by a friend who follows tennis to keep my eye on Sam Querrey, who unfortunately had a first round match against a very good spaniard ranked 21 Ferrero. He did manage to take the first set off him, but couldn't keep it going. Juan Carlos had to retire in the next round due to injury. Bad luck. I saw Querrey play at UCLA last year--he was great for the first set, but other than being very, very tall, I didn't see great weapons. Marty Fish also had the bad luck of drawing Gasquet in the first round. I was able to catch part of that match--I was disappointed with Fish, as usual (which is probably why I was rooting for Gasquet--let's face it Gasquet is much cuter.)

I didn't catch the Youzhny/Nadal match, but Youzhny has my gratitude for taking out Stepanek--I hate that guy. ESPN2 went to a lot of trouble to show us the end of that match--what a big cry baby and spoiled brat that Stepanek is. The commentator said that Youzhny faced the wall during one of Stepanek's "episodes" and the other commentator said, it was because he doesn't want to view the ridiculous drama on the other end of the court. I felt like saying, take the hint ESPN2.

Quarters tomorrow for the men, semi's for the women on Thursday and then Friday, Saturday and Sunday, men's semis, Women Final and Men's Final--I am so ready for a great weekend of tennis! I sure hope NBC doesn't mess it up--I have no problem getting up at 4 a.m. to watch or I should say, tape tennis. (I'm not ridiculous, just a little obsessed. Although I did seriously miss having the internet on my phone at court yesterday and having to wait until I got back to my computer to find out who won.)