I Could Not Be Happier

Five months ago Bank of America filed foreclosure papers on the home of a couple, who didn’t owe a dime on their home. They had paid cash for the house.

The case went to court and the homeowners were able to prove they didn’t owe Bank of America anything on the house. In fact, it was proven that the couple never even had a mortgage bill to pay.

A Collier County Judge agreed and after the hearing, Bank of America was ordered, by the court to pay the legal fees of the homeowners’, Maurenn Nyergers and her husband.

The Judge said the bank wrongfully tried to foreclose on the Nyergers’ house.

So, how did it end with bank being foreclosed on? After more than 5 months of the judge’s ruling, the bank still hadn’t paid the legal fees, and the homeowner’s attorney did exactly what the bank tried to do to the homeowners. He seized the bank’s assets.

“They’ve ignored our calls, ignored our letters, legally this is the next step to get my clients compensated, ” attorney Todd Allen told CBS.

Sheriff’s deputies, movers, and the Nyergers’ attorney went to the bank and foreclosed on it. The attorney gave instructions to to remove desks, computers, copiers, filing cabinets and any cash in the teller’s drawers.

After about an hour of being locked out of the bank, the bank manager handed the attorney a check for the legal fees.

“As a foreclosure defense attorney this is sweet justice” says Allen.

Allen says this is something that he sees often in court, banks making errors because they didn’t investigate the foreclosure and it becomes a lengthy and expensive battle for the homeowner.

Source

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Port of Seattle

The SBX Radar is here for repairs. Everett, Seattle and San Diego are the only ports on the West Coast deep enough to accommodate the 25-story anti-missile radar.

Apparently, there was some kerfuffle about not bringing it here, but I don’t know why, as it is employment for quite a few people.

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Point Robinson

The lighthouse, built in 1885. It still has the optical glass Fresnel lens – the only one left in the Sound.



Nearby, the coastguard has a lot of high tech navigation equipment, along with a huge radio tower, and the Port of Seattle has one of their air traffic triangulation points here as well.

Heading to Tacoma:

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Get ready, y’all! Only ten days left!


NPR ran a cameo on Harold Camping’s prediction that “the rapture” is officially scheduled for May 21, 2011 at 6PM. No, I’m not kidding.

The NPR spot had interviews with followers who have planned their finances to run out on May 21, others who have quit their jobs, stopped planning for retirement, stopped saving any money…

“On Judgment Day, May 21st, 2011, …God will raise up all the dead that have ever died from their graves. Earthquakes will ravage the whole world as the earth will no longer conceal its dead (Isaiah 26:21). People who died as saved individuals will experience the resurrection of their bodies and immediately leave this world to forever be with the Lord. Those who died unsaved will be raised up as well, but only to have their lifeless bodies scattered about the face of all the earth. Death will be everywhere.

“Five months after May 21st, 2011 will be October 21st, 2011, …the last day of the Biblical Feast of Tabernacles [and the] last day of earth’s existence.” Source

“The 2011 end times prediction is a prediction made by Christian radio host Harold Camping that the Rapture (in Christian belief, the taking up into heaven of God’s elect people) will take place on May 21, 2011 and that the end of the world as we know it will take place five months later on October 21, 2011. These predictions were made by Camping, president of the Family Radio Christian network, who claims the Bible as his source and says May 21 will be the date of the Rapture and the day of judgment “beyond the shadow of a doubt.”. His followers claim that around 200 million people (approximately 3% of the world’s population) will be raptured. Source

Apparently, they also expect to be “raptured” naked. Picture that.


Harold Camping has also predicted the end of the world on Sep 6, 1994, Sep 29, 1994, Oct 2, 1994, and Mar 31, 1995. He now says he made these errors because he did not consider the book of Jeremiah, “a biiiiig book with a lot to say about the end times.”

Baaad book of Jeremiah – sneaking up on you like that!

One reason (of many reasons) that I could not get my mind around the JW silliness is that there is no shortage of people with predictions like these (they often call themselves “Messianic Believers,” and are often called “end timers” or “apocalyptic christians”), all using different biblical passages to support their predictions.
Of course, at least the JWs are a little smarter – after numerous false alarms (1878, 1881, 1884, 1910, Oct 1, 1914 [WWI was the onset of “Armageddon…” NOT!], 1918, 1925, 1941, 1975, Oct 2, 1984, 1999), they finally stopped predicting an actual date, and opted for living postponed lives of trepidation.

Jesus please save us…

…from your followers!

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Money Laundering in the Digital Age

Dear [your name here],

After reviewing your resume posted at the [xx] website, we believe that you are a good match for a Expedited Payment Analyst Position in our company.

The Company we are representing is small but respectful in IT Outsourcing market which is situated in United States. Main aim is to achieve simpler communications between US outsourcing IT services with international market in this area. The position we are offering is a part-time job, with a flexible schedule. You would spend on average 2-3 hours a day, Monday-Friday, telecommuting from the comfort of your home.

NOTE: Internet access and e-mail are required.

Parlen Group LLC covers all expenses—there is no need to invest your own money. This is not am MLM or pay-to-work position.

Once the employment contract is signed, you’ll be employed for an initial training period of one month. During this time, you’ll receive all the necessary instructions and training from your supervisor. One week before the training period ends, your supervisor will be making his or her decision, concerning whether your performance has been successful enough to offer full time position. During the training period, you will be paid $2,300 per month. In addition, you’ll keep 8% from each money transfer processed. Total income, considering the current volume of clients, will be up to $4500 per month. After you successfully complete the training period, your base salary will be increased up to $3000 per month.

If you are interested in this job offer, or would like to learn more, please forward your updated contact information to: parlen.job.hr@gmail.com.

Regards,

Michael Hills
Parlen Group LLC

The Purpose of This Post Is To ALERT You That This Job Offering Is Fraudulent.

These job postings are an attempt to lure you into cashing counterfeit checks and have you wire funds via Western Union or MoneyGram -Essentially Making You A Money or RePackage Mule.

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A Way to Say Thank You

Camille finally bought a new car, so its time to give Erin’s chariot a thorough swabbing before we give it back.

Vehicle paint takes an enormous amount of abuse, particularly here in the Northwest where there is an inordinate amount of debris on the roads. Like many other cars, her paint was a galaxy of chips and scars, some all the way to the metal (which is now rusting), and most flecked into the primer.

There were also a horrendous amount of scratches along the sides, most of which are likely the result of ignorant wastes of protoplasm who, because they don’t have anything nice, believe you shouldn’t have anything nice, either.

7First, a wax chip filler. I used a Turtle Wax product called “Color Magic,” which is a polishing compound that comes with a lipstick tube of hardened wax (consistency: an old crayon) that you rub into voids in the paint.

It is better than nothing, and if the voids you are filling are small, it works out OK. The only thing it really does is disguise the damage. It doesn’t do anything restorative.

The polishing compound, on the other hand, was an unexpected disappointment.

8To be fair, it might be that I should have wet sanded the car first in order to get a better result, but as I do not know the history of this car (How many times has it been polished? How much clear coat remains?), I opted for a simple polishing with a 10″ orbital buffer.

I certainly don’t want to “bump through” the topcoat into the primer, then have to shoot an entire quarter panel, or the bonnet. There’s no way in hell that could I match brand new paint to paint that has been baking in UV for 12 years.

11Of course, quite a few places needed hand polishing.

 

 

 

 

9I’ve had pretty good luck with McGuiar’s Wax, so on it went. Two coats in the high wear areas.

 

 

 

12Thankfully, Camille was able to help with the interior detailing, otherwise this would have taken me the better part of two days to complete.

Onward with a toothbrush, paintbrush, scrub brush, Windex Multi-Surface, Armor-All, a roll of paper towels and lots of rags.

Surprisingly, “Scrubbing Bubbles Bathroom Cleaner” was a game changer for carpet stains and grime on the rims that would not come off under a 2,500 psi jet of water. I was certain a power washer would restore the rims to showroom beauty, but the bathroom cleaner beat the power washer hands down!

13And here it is! A thing of beauty!

 

 

 

 

We deeply appreciate Erin’s generosity and kindness!

_MG_0275 e

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Yet Another Outrage

I guess this is a cautionary tale about borrowing things.

When Camille’s car was destroyed in our recent accident, her friend Erin lent Camille her BMW while Camille was waiting for the insurance payout to replace our Camry.

A couple of weeks ago, Camille went to the Chase bank at Harbour Pointe, went inside for ten minutes, and when she came back out, she immediately noticed that part of the car was missing.

1Some scumbag had stolen the rear cover from the passenger side mirror.

In a number of conversations I’ve had with people in the area, this is becoming quite common along with the rise of area “chop shops” and the continued decline of law enforcement.

(Washington State is #48 in law enforcement officers per capita. Still, the deafening shrill, “Waaaah! My taxes are too high!!” A topic for another post.)

I looked for online instructions about installation, and tried to remove the driver’s side cap in order to figure out what was in store for me.

2The instructions were wrong.

The driver’s side cover broke off clean, with the 12-year-old plastic clips shearing clean and falling to the floor.

Blue language.

Now I have to replace BOTH mirror covers.

In the meantime, I wrapped both mirrors in ziplock bags and duct tape to keep rain water and road dirt out of the adjuster servos.

3New OEM covers are $48 plus shipping each, and if you want them painted to match your car, it’s $172+.

You can get cheapies for $20, but this is not our car, so we go OEM. Obviously, I bought the primed replacements and a can of factory-matched paint, which is a beautiful deep metallic blue.

 

4First, a 1200 grit wet sanding to give the paint some “tooth” to hang onto.

 

 

 

5Next, two coats of base color, 15 minutes apart. Also, a wipe with a tack rag in between.

I was REALLY happy that the paint was actually lacquer based, because the rapid dry time eliminates almost all of the dust problems that plague finishes shot in enamels and urethanes.

 

6I’m also happy that I have had such a wide variety of work experiences that enable me to do quite a few things right in my garage.

Like every project I get involved in, this one had its share of improvisation. I used a hand clamp on the mounting clips to hold the cover from the backside while they were shot, and then I hung them from wire coathangers while they dried overnight.

The next day, two coats of clear coat, and another 12 hour dry.

Tomorrow, I install!!!

 
10Voila! No one would ever know, if I had kept quiet! 😀

They install very simply, and come off easily if you know the technique.

There is no question in my mind that some a-hole needed a mirror cover for a car he was working on, and simply stole Erin’s.

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