A Little Place Called Home

As much as I like to say that I am a person who just does something - often times without much prior planning - I have to admit, I'm taking a lot of time and planning on figuring out what I am going to do when it comes to my housing situation.

You see, I am in no hurry at all to buy anything. I am living in a prime spot and have a good roommate/landlord/slum king who doesn't charge me too much. But eventually I want to either find a place of my own or move on to my next adventure. I figure I'll give Charlotte a chance though.

Now most people figure that when they are looking for a place to live, a house is where it's at. After all, isn't it the American Dream to have property of your own, with 2 cars and maybe 1 retarded dog? Me being the American I am have definitely done my fair share of scouting out houses. Tonight, in fact, I looked at a couple of houses. One of those - by the pictures - seemed to have been a very well done renovated house. Solid brick with beautiful dark hardwood floors. Open floor plan with a bit of a backyard. The only problem is that while driving down the street to the house it occurred to me if I were to have gotten out of my car, I may not return to it again.

The other house held more promise. It was an abandoned house on the edge of a neighborhood. The cons - which are many and highly expensive - included no central heat, rotted wood exterior and was across the street from a commercial lot and a busy intersection of 2 highways. But all that aside, the neighborhood was very well decorated still from Christmas, had large old trees, and the view from the front porch was, well, quite amazing:

That is Uptown/Downtown Charlotte (depending on who you ask). The location is maybe 2 minutes from I-77 and about a quarter mile from Bank of America Stadium. Although the asking price is within my budget, the estimated renovation makeover would nearly double what I'm looking to spend.

But me being me, I have other ideas too. A thought has crossed my mind - as well as the motivation - to look for a commercial building that is two stories. The second story would be converted to a loft apartment while the down stairs would could be rented out to a business - or I could become creative and use it to start my own. There are surprisingly quite a lot of older all brick two-story buildings all around Charlotte and its surrounding towns - in fact in nearly every Main Street in America. The hard part is finding one that is priced reasonably and located in an area where renting out either a loft apartment, commercial building or both is feasible. If it were easy, some idiot would've done it already.

Only time will tell what exactly I will be doing, but for now I am enjoying the search for something that I may one day call home.

Gifts and Story Time

Oh Christmas time. A time of giving, of charity...of stress.

You see, my family decided this year to celebrate Christmas on Martin Luther King day - to avoid the stress of the season. Not having to fight the crowds and getting good discounts after the season sounded good to me. But still, there are some people who will be getting their traditional Christmas gift on (or around) Christmas day.

Which brings me to the fact that I have known for a long time but have never admitted to: I am horrible at gift giving.

I don't exactly understand the whole concept of gift giving. I see things in fairly practical terms. If I need something, I buy it. If I don't need it, I usually don't buy it. So when I am buying for someone else, my whole coordination of reasoning gets all screwy and I end up usually buying someone something terribly inadequate or give them a gift card (or a used one - true story).

So this year, if you get a gift from me, I apologize. If you don't, take it as a compliment. There is NOTHING I could get you that would be in any way useful.

That being said, a few stories to share that are just interesting and amusing.

This guy came into my office the other week and claimed that there was fraud on his checking account. Being the highly trained (and motivated) employee I am, I did my due diligence and looked through his account. I noticed the past few months there seemed to be a charge from this company - in different dollar amounts - on his account. So I asked him if he had ever heard of this company, which we will call "Gyro Pill". He said no. I asked him if he had started any kind of trail or free offer online or through the phone. He said no. So I say, "Well, I'm going to Google this company and see what they do." You could literally hear the air go out of the room.

The results of searching "Gyro Pill" was a nice list of erectile dysfunction and "performance enhancing" bedroom pills. Or as "Curb Your Enthusiasm" puts it: He was juicing.

So trying to not make things "awkward", I again ask him if maybe by chance he had done a free trial with a "supplement" company. Well now he seemed to remember quite vividly signing up for some "Cholesterol reducing pills".

Ah yes. Of course.

So I ask him if he was still receiving any of these "cholesterol pills" and he said that it was a one time deal and should have only cost him $4. Well, being I have seen this charge many times from previous months I told him that if he wanted to dispute this charge he would have to call the company and see if they would refund his unwanted purchase. And I said since you have your cell phone with you, why don't you go ahead and call them.

Needless to say, it was a fairly amusing conversation as he would never quite say what it was he "didn't order" while he was trying to get them to refund his purchase. In the end, they promised to refund his money within 3 days. He was happy. I was entertained.

The next story is one of a little more Christmassy Spirit. A lady had gone to another financial institution and applied for a car loan. She was wanting to purchase a used car for her husband for Christmas. They told her that they could do it, but at a paralyzing 17% interest rate. So she called up and wanted to know if we could do something for her.

I told her she would have to come in so we could run the loan application and to bring the things we needed in order to make a decision. And since we don't price our auto loans by credit risk - we have a flat rate of 4.75% - if we could do something for her, we could save her a lot of money over the time of the loan.

Well she drove to the branch and I ran the application for her. Pulling her credit, she seemed to be a low risk candidate. Her credit had been anchored down due to a small, but outstanding, medical collection. She had previous positive lending history with us and had a very good and steady income and a fairly low debt to income burden.

When we got through the application and to the decision, we were able to pre-approve her for the loan. She was so happy that she jumped across my desk and hugged me.

So in the Spirit of Christmas, don't always look for the reason why you can deny something to someone. Look at the whole picture and find a way - if possible - to make a positive contribution towards individuals and society as a whole. You never know when you will be the one to find yourself in need of someone who will go that extra mile to find a way to help you out.

Merry Christmas.

Tacky Christmas Sweaters

Tis the season to be...

Well, I'm sure everyone can fill in their own end to that sentence, but for me it would go: "Tis the season for tacky sweaters!"

OK, so actually I've done maybe 1 tacky sweater party in my life but being that I will be going to one this weekend I've kind of gotten into the Holiday Spirit that revolves solely around sweaters and how bad they can look.

It's amazing how there seems to be a community devoted to any subject you could ever think of. Google "Tacky Sweater" and go down the list of websites and pictures and you will find that this is a passion for many people - and also a business. But before we go into the big business side of the Christmas Sweater Industry, let us first dive into the imagination and creativity that drives the uniqueness and fun of WHY people dress up in just terrible cotton coverage.

Let's start with a creative one. Everyone remembers growing up and having those magnetic words scattered across the refrigerator. Now what brings back the nostalgic feel of being a kid and the comfort of being around grandparents than this amazing Christmas sweater?

And as we all know, everyone loves animals - more so than humans. And while they let other humans starve and freeze in the outdoors, they want to make sure that their own animals are well manicured, well fed and well dressed. Who can't help but to say "Awwww" to these adorable dogs pulling off this years Christmas sweater "Best dressed" award:

Christmas always was a fun time for me growing up. Sadly over time, I found out that Santa did not exist and that most of the toys I got growing up were assembled in sweat shops by children my age who were paid beans and housed in cramped quarters. But happily for humanity, there are those out there who still hold onto the faith of a child when it comes to Christmas time and still have that look in their eyes when they see Santa in the mall. Here's to you:

Then there are the overachivers in life. They were the ones who made sure you never got a curve on your science test. They are the ones who know how to pronounce every word in the dictionary but never seem to want to talk. When we talk about the Christmas Sweater season, they say "NO! We want to go further. Sweaters AND vests!" To you overachievers, here is a salutation:

And finally, to the friends and companions who must match at all times, this time of year creates an opportunity to spend time with that special person creating something that is unique to others but shows your closeness to each other.

But as mentioned earlier, there is also a market for these sweaters. I dare you to go to your local thrift store and try and find a Christmas sweater right now. Chances are, unless a murder had obviously happened to the former wearer of the sweater, you won't find one. This understanding has not gone past those evil corporate monsters who suck the blood out of us poor consumers.

Some retailers have Christmas sweaters going for over $800! Urban Outfitter has sweaters that say "Holiday Sweater" going for $80! Online "Authentic 1980's Sweaters" (meaning they were bought at a thrift store for $5) are going from $25 - $60! Go on Ebay, Amazon or another online marketplace and you will find that the prices for these things are insane - if you can find them at all!

Adam Smith would be proud.

So when you go out for your tacky Christmas party, realize that you might be able to sell that hideous piece of cloth for more than you paid for it next year.

Beer Me

There are a few things that interest me deeply. Politics, sports, finance, food and drink. Being the season of Merry-ness that is Christmastime, I have decided it is time to talk about beer.

Beer being what it is, can be seen as good or bad. Beliefs on that aside, nearly everyone has at one time or another enjoyed a beer - and reactions after that first taste have ranged from "Wow" (in a good way) to "Wow" (in a bad way). From my personal experience, I've found American beers very - no hugely - disappointing when it comes to taste and flavor. My nickname for Budlight is beer flavored water.

But I am not going to focus on what we don't do right in this country. Instead, I'm going to focus on something that I have steadily come to appreciate more and more overtime: Microbreweries.

As of the beginning of this year, the United States has over 1700 registered microbreweries and craft breweries (and for the sake of simplicity I will not go into explaining the differences between the two). Some of these microbreweries you have heard of, such as Boston Brewing Company (Sam Adams), Sierra Nevada (one of my favorites), Magic Hat and the Rogue Ales.

According to the Brewers Association:

...it appears that there were 1,751 breweries in 1900 and 1,498 in 1910. So we have more breweries than we have since around 1905.

So the microbrew is making a comeback of sorts.

I remember back in college, me and a few friends decided one day to make a batch of beer ourselves. One of the guys had a home brew kit he had purchased a few months before and had done it a few times. We did a little research, printed off a recipe and headed to the local brew supply store (and yes, they do have them! The one in Columbia is called Liquid Hobby) and purchased our needed things to make an Amber Ale.

The novices we were, we spent 6 hours doing what we came to find out near the end we could have achieved in maybe 2. We had consumed a lot of beer (we needed to start saving the bottles to reuse for our brew), broken a thermometer, and ran a cooling system that consisted of a garden hose, cooler filled with ice and paint buckets. At the end of the night though, we had 5 gallons of brew in the carboy and a good story to tell.

Now these microbrews are a bit more professional than our attempt at home brewery - and it shows. If you include server staff at brewpubs (like Hunter Gatherer in Columbia), the microbrew industry employees around 100,000 people! And according to Brewers Association, craft brewer retail dollar value in 2010 was an estimated $7.6 billion, up from $7 billion in 2009.

That's very impressive. In fact, to be a bit more local, North and South Carolina are some very important hubs when it comes to microbrew and craft beer production. According to NCBeer.org North Carolina boasts more craft breweries than any state in the American South, with 21 brewpubs and 28 production breweries statewide. Here in Charlotte, we have 3 of those microbreweries: Four Friends Brewing, Rock Bottom Restaurant and Brewery, and The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery. The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery is actually just minutes from where I live and I will be making a visit there shortly.

South Carolina, sadly doesn't boast quite as much as North Carolina but you still will find a few to choose from. In Columbia, there is only the aforementioned Hunter Gatherer. But you can find many places that serve microbrew beers - such as The Whig. Also, go north up to Greenville and you will find the Thomas Creek Brewery and the RJ Rockers brewery in Spartanburg, both of which are carried in many stores.

So this Christmas season, step away from the PBR and Coorslight and enjoy something with a little taste. Try a beer from your local brewery or from a company that doesn't advertise during the Super Bowl. Here is a list of the largest microbreweries in America.

Hockeytown USA

There is one thing that has really surprised me about Charlotte - we have a hockey team. Now being a fan of the short-lived Columbia Inferno, being able to watch a game of hockey is something I have missed for the past few years. I mean, you can rarely even catch it on TV these days. So when I found out on Sunday that Charlotte has a team, I did some research. I Googled "Charlotte hockey".

Apparently we have a pretty decent team. In only their second year in the league (the franchise moved from Albany only to have another team start), the Carolina Hurricane AHL affiliate Charlotte Checkers are no joke. Last night, I got to see for myself what kind of hockey gets played here in Charlotte.

The Checkers play in the Time Warner Cable Arena and compared to the Carolina Colosseum, it's like being in the Taj Mahal (I'm sure I misspelled that...). It is very well lit, they have the huge scoreboard up, and the atmosphere there is not at all what I was expecting. The people there are really into it.

Now being that it was a very dreary Monday night, I wasn't sure if I'd be walking into an empty Arena. Now granted, the second ring is closed off, but there are still probably 8000 seats that are available during the games and I would estimate 65 - 70 percent of them were filled with some people looking to enjoy a game of hockey. The front section behind goal was filled with a group of people who had cowbells. They did a good job of trying to get inside the heads of the opposing team (which were the Lake Eerie Monsters). Their goalie (last name Cann) got quite a few good ones. The whole section would start chanting "Cannnnnn...Caaaannnnnnnnnn...Caaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnn...YOU SUCK!" And it would go on to any other player who was around.

The overall experience was much better than most baseball games I've attended (minus maybe the Dodger game when I was in LA a few years ago). Not able to compete with a Gamecock football game, but overall if you go to a Charlotte Checker game, you won't be disappointed.

But no night is complete without a little twisted humor. This week I am driving a borrowed car as mine is getting some service done. Nonetheless, I am driving a hotrod of a vehicle - a 1995 Monte Carlo. Now before you start to hate on it, its only got 40,000 miles on it, so it still drives like it's fairly new. But one of the "minor" defects in the car is that the door sometimes won't unlock - even with the key in the lock. This happened, so THIS happened:

Also, for humor sake, after the game we went out to a restaurant at the Epicenter. Apologies it won't rotate but I hope you enjoy this one:

Weekend Car

The other week I was having lunch with a friend - a friend who knows a lot about cars. Now being the novice I am about all things automotive - minus of course the addiction I have to the BBC Top Gear program - I figured I would ask him what kind of car he would recommend for me to get.

Of course the most logical question, which he asked, was "what do you want out of the car?"

Now I have been recently thinking how cool it would be to own a Porsche in the not too distant future. But after some consultations with reality, and a non-interest in becoming best friends with a mechanic in overalls, I figured I needed to find an alternative to a Porsche.

So then, what did I want out of the car? I answered "American power, European handling." Seems simple right?

Well it's not. Some logical first choices were the BMW M3 and M5, BMW Z4, Mercedes SLK 350, even the Crossfire. But between high repair bills for some, lack of wanting to wear a popped collar and a blue tooth in my ear as a requisite for owning others, and having an inadequate feeling in others - imagine being in a BMW Z4 and a Camaro comes up next to you. Stout and power against sleek and elegance. In America, one's masculine, the other feminine - or at least that's how I see it - I am against going for any of those.

Then there is the Volkswagen...did I mention the expense to maintain is a large part of the equation...

Then there is the Camaro and Mustang. Now I currently own a Charger which falls into this category too, so if you own one of these no offense but...What is the first thing that comes to mind when you see one of these cars? If you are being honest, you see it parked outside of a singlewide trailer while Billy is on the front porch (in a plastic chair and wearing a wife-beater) smoking a cigarette with a bottle of Jack Daniels in the other hand. You know you saw that same image. Therefore, they are out of the equation.

Then comes the Cadillac CTS-V. Now it's not what I call a pretty car, but its got the horsepower and - they claim - great handling. It fits the "American Power, European handling" guidelines. But...

How old am I? Oh yes, I am not on Medicare writing checks to Healthcare Reform Task Force every month. Sadly, the stigma of a Cadillac is that of a Lincoln Towncar. Elegance for the elderly.

But my friend did not give up on me. We continued the process of thinking and behold, we came across a car that fits everything I want in a car. It has American power, to the tune of 333 horsepower and a 13.3 quarter mile. It has European handling in that it comes in at 3300 pounds and has been likened to "BMW handling".

Also, and almost as important, if a trailertrash muscle car pulls up besides you when you are out on a first date, you not only will feel up to the challenge in how your car looks, you will be up to the challenge in a street race. So what car has this American Power with European Handling? Why of course it's the Japanese Nissan 370z.

Now personally I would go with the Roadster version, as it doesn't have the gaudy spoiler of the Nissmo version but gives better performance and handling than the base version (although you are giving up 20 horsepower by not going with the large wing). And also new, this car comes in at under $40,000. Very comparable to a Porsche Cayman (I know, not very impressive but still...) or even comparable in some aspects to the BMW M3 - while still coming in nearly $20,000 cheaper than either of them.

So when it's time for me to buy a weekend car, as of now I'm leaning towards the Nissan 370 Roadster.

The Simple Life

Sometimes it is easy to forget why we do things. You get so caught up in the idea of "getting somewhere" that when you get there, you forget to celebrate, to stop, to reflect. It seems the mentality of "moving, keep moving, the road never stops" is a double edged blade - it can create a life of monetary wealth and supposed ease but also hedges you into a cycle to where having the time - or the people - to celebrate, doesn't exist.

When I see people who "have it together", meaning in my head they are married (or in a committed relationship), own a house, car, full time job and have a routine social life, I can't help but wonder how fragile that lifestyle is. I wonder, "Don't you want to see the world? Don't you want to get out of X and do something besides what you do every single day?" Don't get me wrong, I pretty much "have it together" by my own definition, but I always have plans. Or Plan B's. Even Plan C's. What I can't imagine is not being able to do what I want to do when I want to do it (within reason of course).

Case in point, on a whim I have set aside 11 days in May that I will be going to Prague. I've never been to Prague, Czechoslovakia, Eastern or Mainland Europe - in fact, I haven't really even researched the place. But I decided I wanted to go. So I'm going. But I know people who have never even left the southeastern United State area they grew up in. Never been outside of the country - and seemingly don't have a care to.

Now some would say "To Each Their Own", but what is the point of working, of owning things, of saving up money if you never get to enjoy the use of it? I've read some blogs, newspaper articles, even met people who are modern day nomads. They own what they can carry, they find odd jobs where they end up for a time, they survive and...they are happy. Very happy. And they have great stories, seem to be good individuals, and just seem to be happy.

My time in Taiwan taught me to always get out and find something to do. Don't let others dictate what you can do, where you can go, and who you can meet. Set goals that are both challenging and rewarding. More important, goals that are important to you and make you a person who is interesting to be around - because who cares if you become the Vice President of Sales at age 30 but have become divorced, secluded and a miserable person to be around!

Unsurprisingly though, time moves by very quickly and "convictions" on how to live seem to run into reality. Since coming back to the US, I have been in banking. First working at a large regional (corporate) bank in South Carolina and then moving to Charlotte to work at one of the largest credit unions in the US. Between the training classes, the learning curve on the job, and the literally books of "homework" to learn for the job, doing ANYTHING has seemed a bit out of the question for the most of this year. Which is why I have been lame and have pretty much sold out on just about everything I spent the last 20 minutes writing about above.

But now that some of the workload is beginning to lighten up (although December looks to be a hellish month in the making), I am starting to get back to the basics of making life both enjoyable for me personally, along with making money and doing the "adult thing". I have created a few goals for myself to get at least some bearings on what's next. Some of these are:

1. Doing something I enjoy. In this case, I am going to start working on learning (errr, re-learning) some basic Russian. I took a year of Russian language classes while in college and found them to be my most enjoyable classes. But with extra-curricular activities, major classes beginning (did I mention I double majored), and working anywhere from 30 - 50 hours a week (last semester of college doing 2 internships...) I kind of realized it wasn't going to happen. So without the pressure of graded tests and only the enjoyment and personal achievement, I will begin learning Russian again!

2. Get outside! Lucky for me, my best friend is nothing short of an outdoor junky. Pretty much with this one, I just need to not be lazy when I'm back in my hometown and just follow him when he goes out. From hiking, to camping, to kayaking down rivers, I am planning on being a bit more active than I have been. And I need to justify buying that banana boat kayak...

3. Travel. Doesn't mean I need to leave the country every few months, just means I need to make sure I'm doing more that just the Charlotte to Columbia/Columbia to Charlotte drive. Beaches, mountains, lakes, plains. All within 2 hours of where I'm at. No excuses, just need to get out and start road tripping it.

4. Begin creating a social group in Charlotte. I have been spending almost every weekend back in Columbia since I moved here in July and have locked myself away during the week "studying" for work and I fear it may have dented my social life up here. But in all honesty, Columbia is a cheaper place to do pretty much everything on the weekends, so I don't see that changing, but during the week, I am going to start going out to places - coffee shops, concerts, protests (ha!) and start getting to know some people up here as well.

So simple goals that are reasonable but also allow for a lot of good things. Doing something for myself. Doing something outdoors. Doing something in a new place. And getting to know others. All simple. All doable. All as part of doing something with the resources I work so hard for everyday.

Hopefully with these simple things in mind, some interesting things will begin to happen and when they do, I'll be sure to post about them here.

Until next time...

Gettin' Back To It

It's been...well...ages since I've last updated this thing. Between the facts that my life has been fairly boring and my lack of imagination since returning from Taiwan, it's been fairly easy to forget about this little blog.

But I'm taking the initiave and going to start writing "stuff" here again. You have been warned...